bloody beautiful (bts)

prelude

"that's cheerful isn't it?" one of the shortest boys chuckled dryly, the others not even cracking a smile at his remark.

"well, uh," another boy began, "maybe we should introduce ourselves?"

"sure," the others mumbled.

"i suppose i'll start," the same boy began, "my name's kim namjoon. i'm a musician but no-one really knows it yet. i guess you could say i'm an underground rapper." he chuckled. "next year i'm entering this rap competition to get into my dream record label's company, i've been practising for months and months but," he trailed off, noticing the other boys' bored expressions.

"but that's enough of my rambling," he breathed. "how about you?" he gestured to the boy next to him, wearing a cold expression and dark circles around his eyes.

"okay, uh, where do i start." he sighed. "i'm min yoongi."

"hi yoongi!" namjoon chirped, much to the annoyance of yoongi.

"...and i'm a producer. i want to work for a label one day, but for now, i just produce my own stuff. the rest of you guys might be alright, but i fuckin' need this fifty million won. i need it for my career- and, and i need it for myself. i can't afford food at the moment so," he breathed. "but anyway."

after a few moments of awkward stillness, the boy next to yoongi began to introduce himself.

"uh, so, i'm kim seokjin." he mumbled, "and i'm quite nervous," he laughed shyly. a few of the others breathed a laugh at this, releasing some of the tension in the room. "i've got two kids, jun and hana." he smiled as he said their names, his eyes sparkling with a certain glint, "i kinda work a lot of jobs really. i'm doing my master's degree at the moment- which is tough as a single dad," he sighed, earning a few sympathetic looks from across the table.

"but as long as i've got my kids, i'm okay. i'm here for them."

the boy next to him smiled softly, his cheeks dusted a pastel pink. "nice to meet you seokjin. i'm jimin." he said, trying his best to look at each person at the table. "i don't have any kids or much of a family, but i'm a ballet teacher, and i fuckin' love my job." he smiled. "i teach a bunch of kids and some adults but we all join together when we enter competitions, and they're so fun. i can't afford to keep it running for much longer though, since my parents' life insurance money is running out this year. but... my dance company's a team, we can all make it work."

the atmosphere in the room was getting an ounce lighter with each introduction, and the boy next to jimin began to speak, smiling with such a brightness that was almost comedic when compared to the direness of the situation.

"hi, i'm jung hoseok, and i'm a dancer too." he smiled at jimin with a sense of familiarity. "i'm part of a hip-hop group, and we perform in competitions and i'm a back up dancer for some of the new rookie boy groups. i love dance so much- it keeps me sane." he chuckled, earning a few smiles from some of the boys. "but yeah," he mumbled, unsure what else to add. "i don't really have much to say, i mean, i'm quite boring."

"i'm sure that's not true," jimin said, "what do you do?"

"oh, you mean what i do for a job? well, well i don't have one, at the moment, but... well, i do dance. but it doesn't pay the bills."

the boys around the table shared cringed expressions with one another at hoseok's awkwardness.

"but i do love dance. and i thought this would be fun, to come here, you know?"

seokjin's eyes widened in confusion at the very thought of this room as being remotely 'fun'.

silence started to fill the room again before a blonde-haired boy began to speak.

"so..." he started, clearing his throat. "uh, hi. my name's kim taehyung and i," he paused for a moment, "well, i suppose i should probably address the fact that jeongguk and i know each other." he said, gesturing to the last boy left to introduce himself, who had big eyes and lustrous curls falling down to his cheeks. tiny tendrils of dark hair framed his face and he looked across the table at taehyung. at this sight, taehyung's lips began to break into a small smile, despite all his efforts to stop himself from doing so.

"yeah," jeongguk breathed, his voice almost at a whisper and the corners of his lips in a grin.

"but anyway," taehyung chuckled, "about me... i'm a photographer, and i live in seoul. it might not seem like it, but being a freelance photographer is as good as having no job at all. the pay is pretty shit. but i'm hoping to get that money before i get evicted from my place and become totally bankrupt." he was laughing softly, but the boys around the table could tell that he wasn't really kidding.

"you wanna go next, gguk?"

"sure," jeongguk breathed. "well, tae already said, but my name's jeongguk and i live in seoul too. i'm still in college and don't know what i'm doing with my life, but... well, i guess i'm figuring it out along the way." he giggled. "but as for why i came here... well, i didn't want taehyung to be here on his own. if he ends up being the one having to take that pill, i promised myself i'll take it instead."

this earned a mixture of looks from the other boys, some shocked and others touched by what he said- but the strongest of expressions was worn by taehyung.