BTS One Shots {REQUESTS OPEN}

Vmin - Transitioning

Contains:

- fluff

- talk of gender confusion

- non-binary characters (Taehyung)

Plot: High school is usually enough to give the average person harrowing trauma to deal with when they get older, but Jimin's different. He's one of the few who's dumb enough to go back there every single day, because he loves his job.

Story:

Glancing out of the window, Jimin gives a contented sigh. Lunch is his favourite time of day, not because he gets to take a break from work and sit in the teachers' lounge flooded with natural light, but because it's when he mainly gets people coming to see him. Yeah, he sometimes gets one or two students during their free period, but lunch is when it all happens.

He's not a teacher, but a guidance counsellor. He loves his job though, even with how difficult it is sometimes. A fickle thing is high school, full of raging hormones and emotions and all that. Mental health, finicky relationships, pregnancy scares, he's seen it all.

"Um, M-Mr Park?"

Turning at the sound of his name, Jimin smiles. In the doorway stands a tall boy with a mop of shaggy brown hair on top of his head, not super short nor super long, and with a straight fringe that covers his eyes. He gestures for the boy to sit down, which he does, then looks calmly and warmly at him.

"What can I do for you, Jihoon?"

"I, um... I don't feel like I want to be a boy... but I don't feel like I want to be a girl either... Is there something wrong with me?"

Jimin shakes his head, smiling. "There's nothing wrong with you, Jihoon, I promise. Have you ever heard of a term called 'non-binary'?"

The younger shakes his head.

"Well if you're non-binary, or NB for short, it means you don't fit a binary gender. So basically, if you don't feel like you're a boy or a girl, you can be non-binary."

"Okay..." Jihoon sighs, glancing at the ground. "I read somewhere about non-binary people changing their name and pronouns, do I have to do that?"

"You don't have to. A lot of people who are NB keep their birth name and stick with the pronouns they've had their whole life. It's all down to how you want people to address you."

Silence fills the air for a few moments, before Jihoon looks back up. "I'm still confused... If I'm not a boy or a girl, does that mean I can't fall in love?"

"No, of course not." the counsellor waves his hand slightly. "Sexuality, just like gender, is a spectrum. For instance, I'm pansexual, which means I like boys, girls and everyone else in between. And my partner is non-binary, so you can still fall in love if you don't have a gender."

"That... makes sense, actually. Thanks, Mr Park."

"No problem," Jimin gives another smile. "Feel free to come back and talk to me again if you need to, I might be able to give you some guidance. After all, I'm a guidance counsellor."

His expression doesn't change until Jihoon's gone and has disappeared down the hall, fading into a frown. He needs some professional advice on this.

That night...

"Anything interesting happen at work?"

Jimin sighs. "Tae, you're non-binary, I need some advice."

The younger kisses the top of his ear gently. "Go ahead."

"So there was this kid who came to see me earlier, saying that even though they were born a boy, they didn't feel like one, but they didn't feel like a girl either. I mentioned that they might be non-binary, and they were confused about what pronouns to use and how to go about getting people to address them the way they want. I just... I don't know how I'm meant to help him - I mean, help them -  through it all."

"Who says they have to decide right now? Gender is a difficult thing, especially when you feel like you're not how you were born. It might feel wrong, it might be confusing, but there's a result at the end, no matter who you are and how you feel about it. Personally, it took me 2 and a half years to figure out where on the gender spectrum I stood, but everyone's different."

"And the pronoun thing?"

"Again, it differs from person to person. For example, I don't particularly care what pronouns you address me with, as long as you treat me as a living, breathing human being, but I have friends who only go by they/them or use neopronouns like 'ze' and 'zir'. Does that help at all?"

Smiling a little, the shorter nods and pecks his partner's lips. "Thanks, TaeTae."

"You're welcome, gorgeous."

There's a brief silence, before Jimin gives a thoughtful smirk. "D'you think you could do me a favour?"

A week later...

Jimin gives a gentle smile, knocking at the door. Once told to enter, he steps inside, a green slip of paper between his fingers.

"What can I do for you, Mr Park?" asks the teacher, and all of the students turn to face him.

"Could I take Jihoon for a little while? He can leave his things here - we shouldn't be too long - or take them."

As the boy packs his things up, a few other kids share whispers or mumbles about where he's going, but the teacher quickly shuts them up by resuming the lesson. Once out of the classroom, Jimin leads Jihoon back to his office, where a triangle of chairs has been set up but only two remain empty.

"Take a seat," he says, gesturing to the chairs. "Jihoon, I want you to meet Taehyung."

"Nice to meet you, Jihoon." Taehyung extends a hand with a warm grin.

"H-Hi," the brown-haired boy shakes it.

"Tae's non-binary," Jimin explains. "I brought him here to talk to you about some of the feelings you might be having."

"Gender's a weird thing," Tae chuckles. "But you'll get through it, even if it takes a while."

This was shit, I know, but I felt obligated to get something out since it's been a while since I published anything. One word: school.