bloomsbury's pride // bts ot7 // editing

-awakening]

he regrets opening his mouth he regrets saying anything why did bad things happen to him? it's his fault it's his fault it's his fault as always everybody hates him and he's going to die alone because no one can stand him-

"namjoon? come on, i still want to walk you to first period." hoseok grabs hold of his hand again, pulling him out of his little episode. with a little tug, the three are off to the english hall, standing in front of the AP teacher's door. "let me see your schedule again, joon." the younger does as he's told, pulling out the folded square from his pocket and handing it over to hoseok. it takes probably two seconds for him to unfold the paper and take a picture with his phone.

"i'll definitely see you in second period, m'kay? math is only a building away. bye, joon!" hoseok leaves namjoon with a pat on his head and a stoic yoongi at his side. as soon as namjoon steps inside, he's greeted with the familiar scent of stinky dry erase markers and freshly sharpened pencils. the group of boys in the back laugh like the little birds outside, constant and effortlessly. the only thing in sight is the projected image of a seating chart and a middle aged woman happily clacking away at her keyboard.

namjoon doesn't attempt to read the mess of a seating chart, so instead, he chooses to sit by the large window, waiting for the bell to ring so he can get this day over with already. "hey aren't you the new kid who moved in with hoseok? room 4340?" one of the guys from the back had ventured over to his isolated self-made seating arrangement.  "uhm, yeah?" he breathed it out into a question, the teen in front of him giving him a blinding smile. 

"sup, i'm jackson! ya know, you're really cute." jackson pinches namjoon's cheek, leaving the other disoriented at how quickly a bond was formed. "thanks, i guess? you're cute, too...?" the bubbly boy burst out in a fit of giggles, his entire being lighting up like a fluorescent christmas light. with an awkward chuckle, namjoon nods along. after all, he wasn't expecting to meet the human version of a disco ball.

"thanks, cutie. what's your number, if you don't mind?" namjoon doesn't mind, exactly, just sort of feels bewildered at how fast he was able to make a friend- if he could even call jackson that. "d-do you want me to write it down for you?" with a shake of his head, the other male pulled out his phone and selected the option of a new contact. namjoon easily obliged.

when the bell rings, the teacher begins rearranging everyone's seating, putting namjoon on the other side of the room near the large, towering filing cabinets pressed up against the wall. she begins by handing out a syllabus, a calendar with due dates and assignments, and finally the first assignment: pick a short story to read and write a paper on it, using comparison to talk about yourself. then she gave out more papers to fill out the beginning of namjoon's binder. 

the beginning of second period was very similar, except hoseok had roped him along into a conversation with another boy named seokjin. 

seokjin is taller than hoseok. he's more lean and broad shouldered, but there was something about him that naturally caught namjoon's attention. he was a very effeminate man-  a hidden duality that encapsulated the younger's attention. along with his witty personality and hoseok's shining presence, something clicked in namjoon's mind. these were the people sandeul was worried about because there was a substance to them that outshines every other person in the room.

"hi, you must be namjoon. seokie and jimin've been telling me a lot about you." the way the elder wraps his arm around hoseok leaves namjoon confused, because it's similar to the touches between hoseok and yoongi, between hoseok and jimin. sandeul's words flash dangerously in his mind, screaming "it's weird- it's just weird. it's weird. weird weird weird- not opposed to that lifestyle." namjoon had heard of this type of relationship before from his older friends in his last high school. one of them called it 'poly' while another called it 'an open relationship.'