Junhyeon:
meet me in the locker
room during lunch

Taehyung:
ok?
✓read 11:57

❦

It was the following day and Taehyung had received a strange text message from Junhyeon.

He trudged down the dark basement hallways trying to conjure up why his teammate would want to meet somewhere private. The jock nervously slid his hands into his pockets, exhaling a shaky breath before entering the football locker room only inches in front of him.

Taehyung stopped. To his surprise, the entire football team was standing just short of the doorway, arms crossed with unreadable expressions. Junhyeon stood stark front and center, greeting Taehyung with a devilish smile.

"Tae, come talk for sec." Junhyeon tossed his head in the direction he ordered the silver-haired boy to go. Taehyung gulped. He found a seat on a wooden bench, staring up at his teammates, oblivious to what was going on.

"What's up, guys?" Taehyung nervously laughed.

Junhyeon squinted his eyes as if his best friend was playing dumb. "Quit with the act! We all know your dirty little secret!" He hissed.

"Secret? I don't have any secrets!" Taehyung defended himself, doubting what just came out of his mouth.

Junhyeon snickered, "Oh really? Then why did I find you and Jimin on a little coffee date yesterday at the cafe?"

Taehyung's heart sunk. "Date? What?" Sweat began accumulating in his palms.

"Give it up, Tae! We all know you've been lying about where you've been. Constantly flaking on me... missing practices. And now we know it was all for the nerd." Laughs erupted from behind Junhyeon as he unleashed humiliation onto his best friend.

Taehyung's eyes darted from teammate to teammate as they all laughed at him. "No! You guys don't understand! I can explain!" Taehyung was livid, now. No matter how much he cared about hiding his tutoring from his friends before, not one bit of it lingered inside of him anymore. He had to act fast before his entire social life collapsed right in front of his eyes.

"Alright then, let's hear it." The laughter had died down at this point giving Taehyung the spotlight to make or break his social status.

"Okay, look. The last few grades I made in Mrs. Lee's class weren't the best, and I sure wasn't gonna let a stupid grade have me kicked off the football team, so she made Jimin tutor me. The only reason I was out with him was because we were studying!" Taehyung desperately searched for reactions on his teammates' unreadable faces.

Junhyeon smirked, "I'm still not convinced."

Unfortunately, Taehyung's miniature rant didn't settle well with Junhyeon. He was at a loss of what to do. The only thing he knew would work would be to bash Jimin, but the mere thought of that made his stomach churn. Conflicted, Taehyung finally set on a decision that he knew he'd regret later. "Believe me, I wouldn't even look at that kid if it weren't for me playing him for a grade. Plus, I'm straight for crying out loud! Do you really think I'd stoop that low? There's nothing going on in between us except for tutoring, point blank period." The rest of the teammates exchanged looks, nodding their heads.

"Whatever," Junhyeon finally gave in. "Thank god he's only your tutor. You had me worried for a second. No hard feelings, bro?" He held out a hand for Taehyung to take.

"None." Taehyung forgave him, pulling his hand towards his chest so that their shoulders collided. "Alright, see you guys at practice." With that, the silver-haired boy disappeared from the locker room with his social life still in tact, but his conscious feeling as filthy as ever.

Although, Taehyung wasn't the only one feeling grief.

❦

[Jimin's pov]

Jimin's eyes scanned the cafeteria, no luck in spotting a boy with silver-hair.

     "Where is he?" Jimin whispered to himself out of habit. "The only possible place he could be would be the football locker room." Jimin recalled Taehyung informing him from a past conversation that during lunch he would sometimes sneak off to the locker room to get some quiet time. With this in mind, Jimin wandered out of the lunchroom and down the stairwell leading to the basement.

     He navigated the dull hallways in hopes of finding his crush. As he approached the locker room he noticed that the door was opened, allowing several voices to spill out. Cautiously, he inched closer towards the doorway, peeking his head inside while being sure to not get caught.

     Inside stood the entire football team surrounding a clearly panicked Taehyung. Curiously, Jimin listened.

"Secrets? I don't have any secrets!" Jimin could hear Taehyung's shaky voice helplessly plead to his teammates.

What is he talking about?

"Oh really? Then why did I find you and Jimin on a little coffee date yesterday at the cafe?" Junhyeon's voice stabbed Jimin's ears as he registered what the football player said. His heart sank, causing him to yank his head out of the locker room and shove his back against the wall with his ears peeled.

Jimin recognized Taehyung's voice as he pretended to play dumb.

"Give it up, Tae! We all know you've been lying about where you've been. Constantly flaking on me... missing practices. And now we know it was all for the nerd." Laughter swarmed Jimin's ears as the team shamed Taehyung.

What is going on!?

The sound of Taehyung whining to explain himself poked at Jimin's heart, threatening to break it. He hated that sound.

With approval from Junhyeon, Taehyung continued. "Okay, look. The last few grades I made in Mrs. Lee's class weren't the best, and I sure wasn't gonna let a stupid grade have me kicked off the football team, so she made Jimin tutor me. The only reason I was out with him was because we were studying!"

Jimin's face scrunched. Wait... that isn't true. Yesterday, he asked me to hang out just for fun, not for studying. Is he really that ashamed to admit being friends with me? That same feeling poked at Jimin's heart but for a different reason this time.

"I'm still not convinced." Junhyeon scoffed, alerting Jimin's ears once again.

The fact that Taehyung had just confessed to being tutored just to avoid admitting his friendship with Jimin lingered in Jimin's mind.

"Believe me, I wouldn't even look at that kid if it weren't for me playing him for a grade. Plus, I'm straight for crying out loud! Do you really think I'd stoop that low? There's nothing going on in between us except for tutoring, point blank period," said Taehyung.

Jimin's heart shattered. Even if Taehyung didn't really mean what he had just said, Jimin wasn't aware of that. His eyes welled up with tears as he tried to prevent them from spilling over. Although, it was no use. Scorching hot tears, burned down Jimin's cheeks as he replayed the words his crush uttered over and over.

Why would he say that about me?

Before any sobs escaped his trembling lips, Jimin took off running down the basement hallways, wiping his blurry eyes and tear-stained cheeks. He needed to get home and he needed to get home, now.

❦

"Jaehee, c-can you come over?" Jimin managed through a hoarse voice as he sat in his car in the school parking lot, crying to his best friend over the phone.

"Oh my god, Jimin! Are you crying?" Jaehee questioned through the phone.

"I'm a fucking mess, Jae... I need you," he swallowed the lump in his throat, barely audible through his sniffles.

Jaehee became immensely concerned. "Please tell me you're okay! What happened?"

Jimin paused in attempt to contain himself enough to speak again. "I'm no where near okay. Taehyung..." Sobs poured out of Jimin, leaving him unable to finish his sentence.

"Just tell me when I get there, Jiminie." It hurt Jaehee to hear her best friend in such distress, so she decided to handle everything in person where she could comfort him. "You're lucky my parents are away for the week. I'll drive there after school."

"Th...thank you," Jimin whispered, hanging up the phone and driving home.

[a/n:
you mad sis? hehehe
also i would like to inform y'all that i will be a hard stan this era after seeing the new concept photos.

I FUCKING NUTTED!!!
this comeback is gonna turn me straight, i'm telling y'all.
(also i'm still not over that photo^^ i honestly feel so attacked rn,,,like,,,whomst the fuck does park jimin think he is?!?!?)
brb i gotta go collect my mans ;) xx]