Chapter 60
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„How do you feel?" Jungkook asked, falling into pace next to him. He had just come back from a nearby café and brought Yoongi a drink the older had asked for.
"I'm okay. Another day locked in at home would have made me go insane." Yoongi joked, pushing his bangs out of his face, grabbing the drink and taking a sip. "Aren't you happy to have me back?" He joked before making a short grimace at the stinging in his chest.
"Be careful, okay?" Jungkook begged softly, reaching for Yoongi's backpack and pulling it onto his own back. "And let me carry that."
"Awww so sweet. I didn't even know you like that? Don't you want to go back to being the brat you used to be?" Yoongi joked taking another sip, almost burning his tongue, while Jungkook grimaced. "Sorry for being a decent human being."
"Decent human being? What's that?" Yoongi teased, turning around and smiling at him, while lifting the cup in his direction. "Thanks for the drink by the way."
Rolling his eyes Jungkook moved along. "Yeah yeah, love you too."
When they reached the entry of the cafeteria Yoongi remembered something... something he should probably give Jungkook a heads up about. "Wait, Jungkook."
Jungkook, who was about to enter the hall, turned around, confused as to why Yoongi had stopped him. "Yeah? What is it?" He took a couple of steps back, raising his eyebrows questioningly.
"I want to introduce you to a friend of mine... who also visits this school and I beg you to give him a chance." Yoongi asked, running his hand through his hair while Jungkook furrowed his brows in confusion. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Things are a bit complicated. You'll know what I mean once we talk to him, but please don't hate him? At least give him a chance?" Yoongi asked a bit awkwardly and Jungkook shrugged his shoulders.
"No idea what you're talking about but alright I guess."
Content with his answer Yoongi nodded before grabbing his arm and pulling him into the cafeteria. He'd given a heads up that he'd be back to school today, so the boy was expecting both him and Jungkook... Yoongi had warned him about that as well.
"You're so gonna hate me..." Yoongi muttered under his breath, confusing Jungkook even further.
Not wanting to prolong this any more than necessary he walked over to the table were Jimin was sitting, focused on his phone and not noticing them. He was wearing a plain white shirt today, tight leather pants, had black studs in his ears and his hair was pushed back in a careless manner which probably meant he had spent the whole day running his hand through it over and over again. Yoongi knew Jimin's nervous mannerisms at this point.
"Jimin." Yoongi said when he reached the table, Jungkook having stopped a meter before and looking at him with wide eyes that told him Jungkook had officially declared him as in insane. Yoongi couldn't help but feel the slightest tingle of nervousness. After all he still couldn't know for sure that Jimin wouldn't react differently with all eyes on him, which certainly was the case. Ever since he had said Jimin's name it felt like the volume in the room had gone down and wasn't even half as loud as it had been before.
Jimin looked up, before breaking into the most beautiful and relieving smile Yoongi had seen in a while. "You're here." He stood up grinning, before wrapping his arms around Yoongi. Now he was pretty damn certain the whole room was quiet. Just how much attention did Jimin get around here?
Ignoring the stares for now Yoongi hugged him back, before taking a step back to be able to talk. "Jimin." He said pointing somewhat into Jimin's direction before turning in Jungkook's direction. "Jungkook."
The younger was staring at him with such a look of betrayal that it actually hurt Yoongi. But he'd have to get through that. Instead of saying anything Jungkook turned around, his backpack carelessly thrown across his one shoulder, but Yoongi stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"Jungkook. Sit down. Let's talk." He begged and Jungkook turned around, looking at Jimin with so much disgust in his eyes that Yoongi felt bad he hadn't warned him more. He could see Jimin glance at the ground in guilt, avoiding Jungkook's eyes.
"Why should I? I have nothing I want to talk about." Jungkook spat, trying to break free from Yoongi's hold, but the older held his grip.
"Jungkook. I swear, I know how you feel right now and you have every right to hate him, but at least hear me out... we are friends, aren't we?" Yoongi begged and Jungkook glanced at him, looking pretty damn pissed.
"Whatever." He walked into the direction of the table and sat down on the opposite side from where Jimin was sitting, as far away as possible, which wasn't much since it was a rather small square table. "Tell me whatever you want to tell me and I'll fuck off once you're done... and I'm going to be listening to you since you're my friend. Not because I want to hear anything about it." Jungkook said, not sparing Jimin a glance and instead just looking straight at Yoongi.
Yoongi sent Jimin a short reassuring smile, before gesturing for him to sit down. He did, but Yoongi could tell that he felt pretty bad for Jungkook having a good reason to react to him like this.
"So..." Yoongi began, sitting down right on the opposite side of Jungkook so he could hear him properly. "...I know you must be pretty pissed at me right now..." Yoongi began and Jungkook deadass nodded.
If it hadn't been for the situation they were in Yoongi probably would have chuckled at Jungkook's reaction, but now he had to play his role as the bad guy and continue. "Jimin and me already knew each other before I changed schools. It sounds super weird, but we were pretty close internet friends for about half a year... and I know me saying this doesn't really help you but Jimin's pretty nice at his core. He needed some rough finishing touches, but he really is. When I came to this school I had no idea he was here until you told me. And I kind of kept it secret from him. Found out because when those guys from before were beating the shit out of me, he stepped in."
Maybe Yoongi was just imagining things but Jungkook's gaze seemed to soften the slightest bit.
"The reason I want to tell you right now because you're a friend of mine and I'm not going to leave you alone here so if you want absolutely nothing to do with him, that means he'll continue being alone here... which I was hoping doesn't have to be the case, but it's up to you to decide." Yoongi ended his explanation.
Jungkook nodded slowly, glancing at Jimin, who was trying his hardest not to look intimidating. "And he's just okay with spending time near me, when I'm g... wait... does he know?" Jungkook asked, looking at Yoongi. Of course he didn't mean whether he knew that Jungkook was gay. That one was obvious and why else would he have bullied the younger back in high school when the size difference was still in Jimin's favor. He was asking about whether Jimin knew about Yoongi.
Jimin answered in Yoongi's place. "Yeah, I do." There was a short silence, before Jimin added something. Something Yoongi was certainly not expecting. "I might also be... somewhat... I like Yoongi." He chuckled a bit awkwardly, running his hand through his hair.
Jungkook's eyes widened, all the previous anger vanishing into thin air. "Wait, seriously? Are you two?" He pointed at the two of them and Yoongi laughed, feeling relieve over Jungkook letting go of his defense stance.
"We're trying. It's been a couple of days and quite a confusing ride. No idea how this will turn out." Yoongi answered again, Jimin sitting back and simply hoping his presence wouldn't provoke Jungkook again.
"That's... weird."
Yoongi laughed. "I know right?"
Taking a deep breath Jimin got up, gesturing for Yoongi to scoot over a bit for Jimin to sit down in front of Jungkook. Yoongi did and Jimin slipped onto the seat, leaning forward and making eye contact with Jungkook. "I know you might not take this seriously and it isn't nearly enough to compensate for the shit I did to you, but I'm really sorry." He hesitated for a second before deciding to say more, than he would usually be willing to share. "I was going through a pretty dark time and for some reason thought it was okay to use others to vent. I've been a real asshole and you never deserved that." He sighed. "I hope you might be able to forgive me at some point and we can get along... maybe even become friends. Sheesh that sounds so fake. But I swear I mean it." Jimin chuckled a bit awkward, biting his lip. "If you want you can think about it some more. I'm done with my lunch anyways so if you'd rather have me leave, I'll go." Jimin suggested, already getting up and grabbing his plate.
"Wait... it's alright. You can stay." Jungkook said, reaching his hand out to stop Jimin from getting up by grabbing his arm, before pretty much flinching away when he realized what he was about to do.
Jimin glanced at him, of course having noticed the way Jungkook had reacted. "It's okay. I won't hurt you. I swear." Jimin said raising his hands in a submissive manner and smiling at Jungkook reassuringly as he sat down again.
When Jungkook seemed to relax a bit again Jimin groaned, supporting his elbows on the desk surface and burying his face in his hands. "I sure did fuck up quite a bit when I was younger."
Hesitating Jungkook leant forward. He didn't quite feel comfortable around Jimin yet but he'd try for Yoongi. "Why did you do it? You said you were going through a dark time? If it's not too personal." Jungkook quickly added and Jimin chuckled.
"It's okay. Just ask."
Yoongi could still feel quite a few eyes on him, but he was pretty sure they couldn't hear what they were talking about anyways. They were just coming up with crazy stories as to why Jimin suddenly spoke to people that weren't Taehyung and Jessie.
"Back then I was very angry at pretty much everyone. I was alone, you know. Because I didn't want to have anyone around me since I knew they'd just use me anyways and was super paranoid about it. My parents didn't give a shit either. I needed something to let out my aggression. And I just used people like you, who were casted out by everyone from the beginning. And I know it's horrible and I might have ruined some people's life because of it, but I can't really change the past. I'll try being better now. I already do. Yoongi has helped me with a lot of things." Jimin explained, glancing at Yoongi, who was listening to the story he had heard before, just with different words.
Just to ease the tension a bit Jimin added "Maybe aside from some of the idiots here that deserve some ass beating." He seemed to remember something. "Wait. Yoongi told me those assholes were after you too, right? The ones that beat Yoongi up. Did they do anything while he was gone?" Jimin asked, leaning forward and Jungkook seemed to finally relax a bit, although it was obvious that the two of them would need a lot more time to actually let their guards down around one another.
"Haven't seen them. So I think they might have enough for now." Jungkook explained, shrugging his shoulders.
"If they come after you again you can tell Yoongi or even me okay? I'll make sure they won't." Jimin said and Yoongi had to admit he did look a bit scary like that.
Jungkook chuckled. "From bully to savior?" There was a hint of bitterness in his words, but Jimin did a great job at acting like he hadn't heard it.
"I'll try."
All in all, Yoongi felt relieved. He certainly wasn't quite where he wanted all of this to be, but they were on the right way.
A/N
A question for the native speakers reading my story.
Are there any mistakes I make that I should try to keep in mind and how fluently does this story let itself be read?