SUMMER OF SOUR SEVENTEEN

3. wish you were here

week four was just as smooth as the others except for the brand new beef he had wrapped around his pinky.

he didn't really mean it, and he genuinely didn't mind the kid being anywhere close to his presence, it was simply the way the other boy seemed to get worked up, cheeks red eyes wide and frowning as if jimin had wedged his underwear up into his butt crack
or maybe kissed his girlfriend or something,
which made him roll his eyes and scoff whenever the kid; jungkook, jimin found out he was called (says he as he dramatically traced the chipping, dirtied white letter sprawling over his desk), would be stood up to answer and failed, or whenever they crossed each other walking down the corridor.

it was a nice little bit of entertainment he had discovered and didn't at all mind it.

which all shattered when he was sitting wrong on his chair, turned back, facing namjoon haphazardly copying his chem homework before the morning bell, keeping an unconscious eye on jungkook sitting on a bench further back than he usually did, relaxed and unaware, listening to something jimin found himself wondering what it was. losers had some good music up their butts, he'd learnt from the unhealthy amount of young adult books he owned thanks to his overly encouraging soccer mom. jimin was downright staring at the boy from the corner of his eyes, chin resting in the crook of his crossed elbows on the table in front of him, when he saw jungkook shoot up from his seat, yanking his earphones off, phone flying to god knows where, and dashing to the back, or front, of the class. jimin turned around too, half heartedly expecting to see a gang waiting to beat jungkook up and was instead mind blown when he sees another kid
with bright, fucking bright blue hair. the kind that couldn't really escape your line of vision and doesn't just hold you hostage but also sucks the living lights out of eyes.

jungkook was literally hopping in circles around the new kid and jimin swore he'd never seen the boy smile and the air was getting knocked out of his lungs for some reason.

jimin was now sitting up a little straighter and half twisted towards the scene, watching the blue haired kid laugh and giggle with slitted eyes, and even more air was pushed out of his lungs. the new kid was fucking gorgeous. and oddly familiar. he continued staring(read:observing) as jungkook took the boys hands and walked him to the second to last bench he had been momentarily been sitting on.

jimin followed them, looking away only when jungkook threw a preoccupied glance towards him.

///

things were getting out of hand by the second half of the day. jungkook and the blue haired kid had already been separated thrice in the span of four periods which wasn't a very jungkook thing to happen to jungkook, as jimin had observed the past weeks.

they were constantly giggling and snickering and whispering which was actually getting to jimin and he was beyond tempted to throw a chewed piece of bubblegum at them.
what had originally put him off was when he had deliberately threw jungkooks notebook onto his bench when mr. song had asked him distribute the corrected chemistry homework and jungkook had merely slid the notebook into his desk, all ears to what the blue kid, Kim Taehyung, was saying.
jimin had rolled his eyes and gone back to his seat.

he was being a little too dramatic. he admitted to himself. but jungkook had no right to have him involved and then turn a blind eye on him. on jimin. no one did that to jimin, they hated him or loved him but they never ignored him.

///

when jimin found taehyung and namjoon conversing on the stairwell to the school lawn, he was more than just shocked. he felt betrayed yet felt an itch spread in his chest. in, his chest, thank gods, he was adequately aware of himself to know it was because jungkook stood right next to them. engrossed in his phone, goddamned earphones dug in.
jimin walked towards them with cautious, careful steps, as if walking on a mine field.