Ch.31
Jimin and you were coloring on the coffee table in the warehouse. The both of you sat on the floor, doodling whatever came to mind. Jungkook was sitting on the couch with an actual sketchbook. His drawings were really good! He was really shy about showing them though, but he did give you some peeks. Then Taehyung was spray painting the area behind the couch. He was trying to do portraits of everyone the best he could. It didn't smell pleasant, but the members appreciated the attempts. Currently, Jimin was carefully coloring something in since he didn't trust his coloring skills. You were just messing around with the white piece of paper you were given. Today was a very chill day in the warehouse. The three oldest members were laying cards at the table while Namjoon was spending the day with his mom.
That meant Yoongi was in charge of us for another day. It was strange to not have the pink hair around, but you were slowly getting used to it. That didn't mean Namjoon was forgotten. Everyone missed him, but his mom was getting suspicious. He usually hung out late which was okay with his mom. She's just been wondering what he's up to since he disappeared when she was sick. It's finally making her wonder what exactly her son has been doing. Hoseok said that we all had to try our hardest and pretend not to be in a gang when around Namjoon. That was the plan and it wasn't that great. Taehyung shook his spray can violently before finally getting the pink to spray on the wall.
Namjoon wasn't aware the warehouse was getting a makeover. It'll be a like a little surprise for him. Taehyung was making him right now. Since Taehyung found the warehouse, he made the decision to paint but did ask Yoongi where he could do it. Yoongi wanted to play cards and didn't want the fumes bothering him so he made the silver hair do it where you were. Too bad for him, Taehyung handed you guys face masks and wore one himself. It helped not make any of you guys light headed while he worked. As Taehyung threw cans around in his duffel bag, his phone alerted him of a message. The male took it out of his flannel to read what was sent to him.
"Namjoon hyung approved the deal I told him about!" Taehyung pulled the face mask down.
"Good." Yoongi gave him a thumbs up.
"Sweet. I get to protect Namjoon from getting himself beat up. No more extra scars!" Jungkook chuckled, sharpening his pencil. Hoseok gave the maknae a look to respect his hyung. It only made the brunette grin like a troublemaker. Jimin set down his purple marker, raising his head up to see Taehyung.
"When's the deal?" Jimin asked.
"This Saturday!" Taehyung cheered, putting his mask back on and turned back to his wall.
Laughing at his energy, you turned to face Jimin with a smile. His expression was the exact opposite of yours. The blonde's eyes were wide and he was beginning to shake. Losing your smile, you opened your mouth to call his name. Before you could even get your voice to call out his name, Jimin was already running out of the warehouse. Jungkook was too busy focusing on his drawing to notice and Taehyung was loudly humming a weird tune. Hoseok was cheering at his win, Seokjin was groaning at his loss, and Yoongi was looking at his cards. Getting up from the ground, you ran out to find Jimin crouched down in front of the warehouse.
His back was pressed against the wall. Jimin didn't lift his head at all when your foot steps came closer. The boy kept his face buried in his knees that he was tightly holding up to his chest. Placing one knee on the ground, you went low to the ground to try and see his face. You had no idea what was going on. You bit your lip and wondered what you could do to cheer him up. He was so ready for a deal so why did this bring him down all of a sudden? Slowly reaching towards his shoulder, you rested your hand there before rubbing his back. Jimin sniffled, eventually lifting his face enough for you to see how red his eyes were. Immediately, a bullet shattered your heart and it was painful.
"Jimin...what's wrong?" You spoke in a soft voice. Furrowing your brows, you pulled him into a tight hug. "I don't like seeing you sad like this."
"The callback...it's the same day as the deal." Jimin coughed out, trying to clear his voice. He was right. He tried wiping his tears away with his sleeves though it was fruitless. Only more tears escaped the male in front of you. "It's not fair. I k-keep getting chances to d-dance and...they're p-pulled away from me like..." Jimin smacked his knee in frustration.
"What if you tell the guys you can't do Saturday?" You suggested to only have him shake his head.
"Deals are top priority." Jimin sighed, his entire face pink as he looked away from you. "Besides...they need me."
"What if I take your place?" You grabbed his shoulders tightly to get a glare from him. You weren't joking but he must have taken it that way. He removed your hands away from his body and stood up.
"Unless you want them dead. God, dancing is supposed to make me h-happy." Jimin ran both of his hands through his hair. He started to walk in circles, almost talking to himself. "I've had a lot of f-fun dancing, again but f-fate is so cruel. Maybe I'm not cut out to d-dance. This is a sign...I'm done."
"No, Jimin!" You jumped onto your feet.
His confidence is always easily destroyed. Anything could make him unsure of himself and you hated that. Jimin is so talented but he couldn't believe any compliments handed to him. He enjoyed them but didn't accept them quickly. The boy was extremely guilty of self-doubt. Once Jimin entered this state of mind, it was really hard to pull him out. Especially now. It's never been this tough before. Horrible timing has struck again just like with the free dance class. It made him actually think he shouldn't try dancing anymore. Grabbing onto his shoulders, you gritted your teeth to see him not crying as much. Just seeing Park Jimin like this made you feel sick. You wanted to see his eye smile and hear his cute laughter. Not this.
"I shouldn't have even gone to the first audition. Hyungseong got a callback too and now we won't get to dance together again!" Jimin huffed, balling his small hands into fists.
"You just have to push through these tough moments. Becoming a dancer won't come easy, but you can do it! Park Jimin, you're so talented." You tried to get through to him. "You just need some faith in yourself."
"I shouldn't have listened you." Jimin narrowed his eyes on you as he wiped his cheek. Stunned by his words, you took your hands off him. The blonde was usually so cute and kind, but his cold stare made you shut up. He was scary when he was angry. "We shouldn't talk about dance anymore. I'm done with it, alright?"
"Jimin..." You frowned as he looked away from you.
"What's going on here?"
A voice made you jump. Jimin continued to keep his gaze on the ground. It was obvious he had been crying. His eyes were still puffy and certain areas of his face were bright pink. Turning to face the owner of the voice, Yoongi stood there with his hands in his pockets. You didn't speak a word since he hated the mention of the word 'dance' when Jimin was involved. The blue hair walked over to the first year, protectively bringing him into a side hug. Yoongi glared down at your form as you felt some tears forming too. Crossing your arms, you let your gaze fall to the floor as Jimim mumbled the truth. He had officially given up on his dreams of dancing.
"That's hard, but good for you." Yoongi petted the blonde, letting him weep some more into his jacket. "I told you that dancing was no good for you. Don't worry, Jimin, you still have the gang."
"Jiminâ" You started only to jump back.
"You've done enough!" Yoongi barked furiously. Shrinking down, you watched as Jimin didn't bother to spare you a glance. "Let this be a lesson to you to stop telling Jimin to pursue dancing."
"I wanna go back inside, Hyung," uttered Jimin. Yoongi nodded at his request.
"Yeah, let's enter from the back so you can clean yourself up before seeing the others." Yoongi gave you one last scowl as Jimin thanked him. "You can leave."
Yoongi continued comforting Jimin as he took him to the backroom. You didn't move from your spot. All you did was stay tongue tied. The dancing dream was gone now? Feeling your throat tighten up, it made it really hard to breathe. Not to mention your eyes were burning and so you closed your eyes tightly in hopes to prevent tears from escaping. Letting out a shaky breath, you wondered if you should actually go home without saying goodbye. Maybe that would be for the best. Walking onto the little road, you only made it so far before Jungkook's voice shouted your name. At first you didn't turn around only to have him chase after you.
"(F/n), are you going home? You didn't even say goodbye..." Jungkook stopped to see your lip quivering.
"Yeah sorry. I just don't feel well," You lied to see him frown.
"Whatever is going on, it's gonna be okay." Jungkook wrapped his arms around you. Nodding your head against his chest, you stayed in his arms and managed to calm yourself down. He stared happily down at you and pushed away a stray strand of hair. Giving him an appreciative smile, his grip loosened on you as you took a step back. He put his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he watched you take a few more steps down the road. That's when the both of you saw a certain pink haired male making his way over. "Do you wanna stay now that Namjoon hyung is here?"
"Nah, I'm gonna go now. Tell the others I had to go." You waved as he reluctantly agreed to let you go. You passed Namjoon, talking to him briefly. He let you go once you lied to him too about not feeling well. It wasn't a complete lie, but it's not like you were sick. Gosh, you have no idea how physical education will be like tomorrow.
*~*
Physical education was lonely. Jimin didn't talk to you too much which was better than you thought. You figured he wouldn't pay attention to you. That he would possibly treat you like the scum of the earth. Instead he made a few small comments. The two of you talked once during the hall and luckily the other two first years didn't spot anything weird. Jimin and you were like the best of buds, but now you didn't know what to think. He was on Yoongi's side of avoiding his dream of dancing. You didn't mean to force him at all. You just thought you were being supportive, but it was too late to feel bad.
Jungkook talked to you a lot more during math class. Taehyung was surprised that Jungkook was coming out of his shell with all these students around. Mr. Pyo gave Jungkook his fair share of glares today. You knew the light-haired brunette was just trying to see if you felt better from yesterday. He was right on the dot when guessing that it wasn't your stomach feeling sick. Somehow Jungkook was able to pick up on that but didn't ask what was really wrong. Jimin and you headed over to Ms. Lee's line without saying a word. When you guys had to do partner stretches, he still chose you.
It was surprising at first. You could have sworn he was going to leave you for someone else. When he chose you, you didn't question him about it at all since you wanted him to stay. Towards the end of class is when the two of you would always dance for fun. Jimin didn't dance or look at you for the last five minutes of class. Ms. Lee then sent everyone to go change out. Sighing, you went over to the changing room and got into your normal uniform. Things between Jimin and you had changed. It made you want to scream into some kind of void. Why did things have to go down like this? Exiting the locker room, you were surprised see Jimin waiting for you outside. You assumed he was going to stop doing that.
Jimin waited for you to come out to get a couple things off his chest. He wanted to apologize for yelling at you yesterday. His thoughts about giving up dance hadn't changed. That was something he felt was really important for you to know. He wanted you guys to continue having your close friendship, just no dancing. You understood and accepted, but you felt greatly disappointed. You believed the reason your friendship with Jimin was so close was because of dancing. First you embarrassed yourself in front of him by dancing and discovered his dream. Then you were supportive of him in something he hadn't told anyone else. For now, you'll just do what he wants, but you're ready to dance if he comes back to it.
Now it was time for lunch. The awkwardness between Jimin and you hadn't disappeared completely. The both of you came outside to eat with the others. Jungkook had a space next to him that he made after shoving Taehyung farther away from him. The silver hair grumbled about being mistreated every time he wants to eat peacefully. Jimin took his spot next to Taehyung while you sat down in the space Jungkook had left for you. Smiling at Jungkook, he gave you a side hug that made Jimin look away. All of you started eating your food with Taehyung being the only one talking. He was talking about bumping into Mr. Pyo in the hall. He couldn't finish his story when the third years came out.
"I told him to sleep with his eyes open andâonly the third years?" Taehyung tilted his head as Yoongi and Seokjin sat down.
"I don't know where Namjoon is. He didn't text me and neither did Hoseok." Yoongi sighed, opening his bag of chips.
"Man, Namjoon is never here anymore." Taehyung frowned with a mix of annoyance and sadness in his eyes.
"Yoongi is now our new leader." Jungkook chuckled, taking his sandwich out of his lunch bag. Seokjin then laughed with the maknae as he looked over at the blue hair. Yoongi had a smirk on his face to see the first years acting like this.
"Min Yoongi is the right hyung for the job." Jimin smiled as Taehyung stared up at the sky with a lost expression.
"Wow, you kicked out Namjoon without even trying." Seokjin patted Yoongi's back.
"Aw come on guys. Namjoon is a good leader," You said.
The mood then shifted from your comment. That's strange. Jungkook's joking smile was now gone and Jimin shifted uncomfortably. Yoongi didn't care about your opinion. Taehyung stopped staring at the sky to give you a light smile. Seokjin went on as normal, telling the group a pun he came up with himself. He managed to make everyone laugh and you felt a grin form on your face. At that moment, the door open to reveal Namjoon and Hoseok coming out to eat. Jungkook and Jimin immediately started poking fun at them for being late. Seokjin enjoyed the show as Jungkook tossed a piece of bread at the pink hair's head.
"Look who finally decided to show up?" Jimin crossed his arms.
"Who are these men?" Jungkook shouted. Namjoon and Hoseok were instantly confused to the sudden hate they were receiving.
"Why are you never here Namjoon hyung!?" Taehyung narrowed his eyes on the tall male. "You said you were going to be our old leader again. Don't go back on your word."
"I only went to the bathroom first..." Namjoon stared at the first years with a frown.
Seokjin started to crack up even louder as embarrassment fell on the younger members. Jimin pretended he wasn't involved in making fun of Namjoon. He drank his orange juice and looked the other direction while Jungkook stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. Taehyung puckered his lips and raised his eyebrows. The eldest was clapping his hands when Yoongi finally made him stop. Hoseok sat down next to the black hair to smack his shoulder. Namjoon did his bet to muster a small smile, but it didn't stay for that long.
"Sorry, Namjoon." Seokjin calmed down. "The first years were already declaring Yoongi as the new leader."
"What?" Namjoon dropped his food. He stared at the eldest with wide eyes before facing the young members across from him. Taehyung looked down with a lot of shame.
"We were just messing around," He let his silver bangs cover his eyes.
"Yeah, we meant no harm, Hyung." Jungkook grinned.
"We know you're our leader." Jimin assured the second year who was staring at them with unsure eyes. Yoongi hadn't said a word at all. He was just munching on his chips and drinking his soda.
"The first years are stupid. Don't listen to them," Hoseok told his friend, waving his hand at you guys.
"I defended Namjoon." You pouted.
"They were just joking around. It's not like they actually want me." Yoongi gave you a sharp glare.
One look from him and it was enough to leave your lips sealed shut. Namjoon nodded and laughed it off with everyone. You could see it in his eyes that he didn't like these types of jokes. Last time the first years joked about this, he was too tired to care. The joke wasn't gone yet so it was probably making him worried if they started taking it seriously. He's their leader though. Yoongi may be older, depend on the group more, but he didn't have the right qualities you saw in Namjoon. Jungkook and Jimin didn't make eye contact with any of the other members, especially their real leader. Taehyung remained playing with his fingers and staring at the ground. Look likes the group is having another tough time. Just great.