anonymous || pjm

Pt.14

It's weird to think that there was once a time you didn't know of Jimin's existence.

Well yes, you knew of his existence, but you would never have guessed that you would be looking for him, thinking about him with every tiny little thing you come across. It's weird to think that he was always there, there without your knowledge, there greeting cats in every alleyway and there reading books from the school library, haunting a corner where no one would see him. He was there long before you were aware of him, and you wonder how long ago you could have befriended him if you'd known of that fact.

You don't talk every day. In fact, you're almost sure you talk to him more often through messages, through pictures at the end of your days. Flowers. The boys. Fat cats in the park. Him with a face mask that is now your phone's lock screen wallpaper. A drawing of his baby cousin that's honestly terrifying and looks a lot like some sort of naked mole rat.

"Have you ever seen a naked mole rat?" You ask Yuna one day, to which he shakes her head.

You both look it up together. You shouldn't have looked it up together. You both promise each other to never again look up any cursed images.

~

"So what's the answer?"

Jimin's voice cuts through your thoughts, and you blink rapidly to adjust to this new reality. Ah yes. You're in Jimin's room, a desk in the far off corner, and he made sure to leave the door wide open for you not to feel uncomfortable (not that you would, you trust Jimin a little too much). You're right beside him, sprawled almost completely on the table before you spring upwards, and there's a post-it note stuck to your cheek when you come to. Jimin plucks it off with a hearty giggle.

The table is a mess of books and past assignments and Jimin's colorful markers among other supplies and, most importantly, gummy worms. Jimin's adopted this studying method in which whenever you get a correct answer, you get a gummy worm. You're surprised he helped you study so willingly, especially with how difficult you're being.

You mutter a drowsy, indecipherable "hurm?" that almost sounds coherent enough to be an acknowledgement but not quite. Jimin laughs anyway, patting your head fondly.

"The answer." Your gaze shifts to the textbook, the man pointing at the question he's written in pretty handwriting. Your eyes flicker not so discreetly between the textbook and the actual book, hoping to spot the answer in the page it's open on. Jimin closes the book. You grumble.

"I don't know."

"I know that you know."

"I know that you know that I don't know."

"I know that you know that I know that you know."

"I know— okay this is dumb." You huff, crossing your arms indignantly. "Who the heck cares about this war anyway? Can't we all just be happy?"

"Tell that to the citizens of the eighteenth century." Jimin snorts, hand inching closer to the bag of gummy worms. "So? Answer?"

"Wait wait wait!" You slap his hand away from the half eaten bag (mostly because of Jimin), "Okay, so." You clasp your hands together. "The French Revolution was a period in.. well, France..." Jimin nods, supportively. "In which the result was the end of the monarchy, and the people taking control of the government. It, uh, had a profound effect on western societies and the world of today."

"What kind of effect?"

What kind of effect. What kind of effect. What kind of effect. What kind of effect.