There are a lot of perks to falling in love, Jimin learned. Whether it's the butterflies fluttering in his rib cage every time he saw you, how a simple smile from you in his direction could send him onto cloud nine, or how a mere greeting could be enough to send him barreling towards the edge and make him smile nonstop for hours on end; or at least until one of his friends stopped to ask if he was drunk and/or doing drugs.
The entire concept just seems so odd, complex, intangible. He still doesn't know how it happened, whether it happened from one moment to the next, but one day he suddenly found himself dwelling on your image for much longer than necessary, and that's when he knew his feelings had fallen into a category far beyond just simple attraction.
So naturally he couldn't help but sneak glances in your direction with every opportunity he had, watching the furrowing of your brows and the adorable scrunching of your nose as you try to analyze the words in front of you.
"What in the goddamn are we even doing anymore?" You muttered- more to yourself than to the male beside you- but Jimin laughed anyway, skimming through the pages of the thick book in his hands before turning towards you,
"Y/n, just stick to the topic. And stop copying from the book, we're supposed to be using our own words, don't think I don't see you."
You prop your elbow on the table, resting your chin on your palm as you release a deep sigh, "I did! The book said 'he died in 1798', I said '1798 was when he died', that's good enough."
He only snorts, rolling his eyes as he reached out to grab a pen, his hand falling on top of your own as you two then share eye contact. He immediately retracts his hand, coughing out a small, meek 'sorry' before hiding his face in the book.
Even though what he feels for you has gone beyond mere attraction, he enjoys this feeling. Seeing you is something he looks forward to in his otherwise mundane days or activities. It gives him unique thoughts, a unique perspective; although one could argue that said perspective could often be easily skewed, considering just how often people could do stupid things for love.
But naturally, in Jimin's case, it would be more appropriate to say 'being stupid for love', instead.
"THAT WAS GOOD." Jimin jumps at the sudden scream in his ear, nearly falling off his seat from how much he was startled, his chair being violently pushed back as he struggled to not, well, fall off. He blinks, frozen in an awkward position, only remembering at the worst possible time about the stupid earpiece that he was given as you stare at him in nothing but both confusion and worry. And maybe just a tinge of amusement.
He clears his throat, "Sorry, sorry." He smooths his shirt before adjusting his position, standing up with stiffened shoulders, "I'll.. please excuse me for a second."
You only nod, and he takes that as enough of an answer as he takes refuge behind a nearby door just outside the library. He pauses. Sighs in a mixture of emotions. Takes a deep breath. And- "What in the actual hell was that?!" -screams into his earpiece. That Taehyung, again, owns, for whatever reason. He might have to start questioning what that boy does in his spare time.
"Relax, hyung!" Jimin hears Jungkook's distant voice from the audio, standing in place with a surprisingly blank expression, hoping to any god above that his patience won't wear thin. And that no one would pass by in the hallway and think he's talking to himself. Jungkook continues, "We know what we're doing."
"Like hell you do." The older mutters under his breath, ruffling his hair as he inspects his surroundings, "And where are you both hiding, anyway?"
"It's a secret!" Taehyung singsongs, Jimin feeling the cheeky grin he held even through the cheap earpiece (or expensive, he wasn't sure just how far Taehyung was willing to spend his money on stupid items). "And stop being a scaredy cat and come back to the library where we can spy on you."
"whAT-"
"What are you doing?" He freezes, slowly turning his head towards the source of the voice, finding himself face to face with none other than you as you slowly assess the odd situation. "And why did your friend Jungkook walk up to me and tell me you were dying?" God freaking dammit-
"Uh.. W-well-" He stammers, tripping over his words enough to make you raise a brow, and the look you're giving him only helps fuel his embarrassment further- if that's even possible. His feelings, overall, could basically be summed up in a single word: fuck, and even that's not enough to describe the amount of embarrassment and apprehension that colored his cheeks red and stopped him and his thoughts in their tracks.
"Well?" You don't know what to think as you watch the male remain frozen in his awkward position, so you instead sigh in defeat; internally wondering how you got yourself in this mess. "You know what- never mind, let's just continue next Friday, okay?" The project wasn't due for another few weeks, and you still had quite a lot to do, but you two could probably pull it off.
Jimin nods furiously, standing up slowly from his spot. Despite his somewhat short stature, he still manages to tower over your form in the most unexpected way, and you have to remind yourself of how oddly his dark and unkempt appearance and shy personality clash together.
"Okay." And despite everything, he still catches the two younger males- also known as the reasons for his distress- sprinting from one corner of the library to the other. Damn them.
~
It's now 3:30 am. After Yuna practically barged into your house, you both busted out the ice cream, the dramas and the sleep deprivation and that was your night. From then until the early hours of the morning all you did was make stupid jokes, talk about unrelated things that mostly didn't matter, eat food (mostly unhealthy) and watch dramas in your dimly lit room when you should have been sleeping. So a regular night, really.
It didn't help much that Yuna couldn't stop talking during the entire damn time. "I can't freaking believe this. How dare this drama make me feel feelings?! This is an attack on me and my family and my dog and my crops. I just shed approximately three buckets of water in only a single hour and I am physically and emotionally upset-"
"How much longer are you going to continue?!" You huff in exasperation, crossing your arms against your chest as you inwardly question your choice in friends. Not really, but you're damn well close to.
She only slumps down on the cushions of the couch, "Until the two main characters love each other mutually. The end of both this season and the world is nearing and I can't take much of it any longer- oh my god, is that it?!" She flings a nearby pillow on the television with enough force to possibly break the screen as your eyes widen in incredulity.
"That's my property! What in the heck!" Your mouth hangs agape as she only holds another pillow to her chest, sobbing with enough exaggeration to make you laugh and forget the reason for your anger entirely. You lean against the couch, staring at the spinning blades of the fan above you in pure boredom. You glance towards your friend, watching her nonchalantly scroll through social media on her phone, contrary to how upset she was just a mere minute ago. You paused your thoughts to wonder if you had weird friends because you were weird yourself.
"I'm gonna get more popcorn or something." You state as you stand up from your seat, shrugging to yourself when Yuna only grunts in response. You only manage to take a few steps towards your destination, though, as Yuna suddenly gasps loudly from her spot,
"Oh my fucking god." She exclaims as she hurriedly sits up from her position, turning towards you with nothing but horror plastered on her features. She stops, hesitates, her gaze flickering from you to her phone screen. Her next words are enough to make your whole world stop entirely. "Min Yoongi just got a girlfriend."
~
There wasn't much that could make you upset. It would be more like a buildup; a collection or pile of things one after another that could truly give you a bad day. Maybe stress that accumulates in your chest when you find yourself procrastinating for something, the realization that you did badly on an exam, or when you find out that the food you have been craving isn't in your fridge. Small yet major things like that.
You wouldn't imagine this occurrence to be in that list.
Yuna had been kind enough to be with you the whole night, your parents not doing much about it as they wouldn't even guess that you two were still up at the crack of dawn in the first place. She prepared a box of tissues and "the rest of the chocolates I was going to eat but will kindly give to you since I'm a great person" (-her words, not yours).
Thankfully it was the weekend and it gave you some time to cool off. That's why you weren't as emotionally distraught when you entered school on Monday, though you weren't sure how you were going to cope if you were to catch Yoongi with his apparent girlfriend.
She was most likely prettier, smarter, more sociable than you. But you weren't going to delve further into those kinds of thoughts.
There's an unknown tension that hangs in the air as you approach the seven boys- all whilst having to force your gaze not to travel back to the man that filled your weekend with tissues and regrets- tapping one of the males on the shoulder and saying the cursed words- "Hey, Jimin, can we talk?" You don't take notice of the way the boys' eyes bulged out of their sockets.
It takes a while for him to process your question, but as soon as he does he's at a complete loss for words besides a curt, brief, "Um." You take a hold of his wrist and drag him away before he could properly think of a coherent response.
You're sitting by the oh so familiar table in the library, the only place you could think of at the moment as you chance a glance towards the male you had dragged away in the spur of the moment. You got caught up in your own emotions and you weren't sure how else to approach this besides being completely blunt and- "Is Yoongi dating anyone?" -getting straight to the point.
Jimin- disregarding many of your previous encounters- was the one you felt the closest to in the small, seemingly unapproachable group of seven. Maybe that was why he was the first one you thought to ask, the first one you thought to drag away and bother with a simple question. But you don't catch the way his expression falls, you don't catch the way the bright glint in his eyes darkens, you don't catch the way his beating heart continues hammering in his chest for a completely different reason.
You don't catch anything, too lost in your own thoughts.
He could lie. Jimin could be selfish; he could lie then and there to your face and be the one to comfort you, he could watch as your own expression falls at the thought of the one you loved with another, he could be the one to wrap his arms around you as you cry into his shoulder. But he didn't.
He couldn't.
"No." He starts, swallowing dryly, "He's not." His response is short, cold, so embarrassingly breathy.
You release a sigh of utter relief that had his chest aching so much that it hurt. "Oh." The smile that slowly graces your features would have him smiling back in any other circumstance, but he simply can't bring himself to do so. It hurt too much to breathe. "Ah.. that was really random. I'm sorry about that." You smile at him, gathering your things into your bag, "Sorry again for bothering you. See you, Chim!"
He lifts his hand as a polite wave right until you disappear from his sight, his hand falling limp right as you turn a corner. He knew, he always knew. He just didn't want to admit it.