Work Text:
i don’t care if monday’s blue
on the first day of junior year, taehyung wakes up with a headache.
there are no eggs in the fridge and he wakes up too late to cook anything else, so he goes to school with an empty stomach, and the day is so cold that it feels like his face is going to freeze as he rides his bike. a car passes by him and splashes water all over his shoes.
he has no hopes of having a better year than the last, and his first day so far has been proof of that. taehyung sighs. maybe one day he won’t feel blue and the world will be full of happy, warm colors, but today is not that day. this year is not that year. there’s nothing much he can do except to learn how to appreciate the monochromatic shades he’s been given.
that is, until he feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around to see a boy with blonde hair and a pretty smile grinning at him and asking if he could borrow a pencil. he tells taehyung he’s new at this school and he seems to need a friend just as desperately as taehyung does. most importantly, he seems nice, and there’s something kind about the way he bows his head to say thanks even though they are likely the same age.
they end up having lunch together and talking about movies and music and comic books and they exchange telephone numbers because jimin promises to let taehyung borrow his copy of the latest legend of zelda game and taehyung doesn’t feel that lonely anymore. the boy is nicer to taehyung than anyone has ever been in three years of high school.
his name, taehyung learns, is jimin.
tuesday’s grey...
on tuesday it is raining again. fall doesn’t take a break.
taehyung’s father also doesn’t take a break; early in the morning, they argue about something silly but it’s enough to make taehyung hide in the bathroom to cry. his father hears him weeping and calls him a pussy because of it; tells him to man up. taehyung has to walk to school in the rain because his father forbids him from using the bike and, of course, he’s not going to give taehyung a ride, and taehyung feels more miserable than he’s been in a long time.
that is, until a red truck pulls up by the sidewalk and the door opens to reveal an ever-so-smiling jimin, his curly hair tucked in a red beanie, asking if taehyung needs a ride to school.
he doesn’t ask why taehyung is walking in the rain. he doesn’t ask why taehyung’s been crying, even though he probably can tell by the puffiness in taehyung’s face, nor does he care about the fact that they have only known each other for a day. instead, he takes taehyung to his favorite diner, buys him breakfast, and makes jokes to lighten up the mood, and they laugh laugh laugh. when they get to school taehyung doesn’t even remember that when the morning started, he was sad.
jimin, taehyung learns, is the kindest soul in the world.
and wednesday too
on wednesday the rain is gone, but taehyung still feels grey inside.
he is allowed to ride his bike to school this morning, but he has no classes with jimin today, which makes him blue again. and it doesn’t help that the only classes he does have are with people who treat him badly, make him feel small and scared. he still isn’t really sure how to be stronger, how to be better. he is trying, though. he feels stronger around jimin, because jimin allows taehyung to be himself. he knows that because he can see the way jimin listens when he talks - they became friends so recently and still jimin listens to what taehyung has to say in such a way that no one had ever done before. because of that, taehyung feels like he can allow himself to feel bigger, to feel like other colors.
but when jimin is not around taehyung is back to being small, grey, and scared.
that is, until he heads out for lunch and finds jimin, once again grinning at him, holding a snickers bar with a note on it, saving a spot for taehyung by his side. taehyung reads the note and it says,
“i missed you today; class is really monotone without you to make it colorful
xxx jimin”
taehyung smiles at a blushing jimin and they have lunch together, and taehyung is the one who makes the jokes this time because jimin won’t admit it, but he is feeling shy and won’t stop stuttering over his words.
when lunch break ends and they have to part ways, taehyung tells jimin he misses him too.
jimin, taehyung learns, is the cutest when he’s embarrassed.
.
thursday, i don’t care about you
on thursday, like villains on a star wars movie, the people that made school a personal hell for taehyung strike back.
they find him when he goes to the bathroom just before the break, and ask him if he found a new boyfriend. they tease him about jimin and shove him against the wall and call him a pussy, just like his dad had done. each of them kicks his shin and one of them spits on him. when they finally leave him alone, taehyung once again hides to cry. he wonders what he has done to deserve such things. he knew this year was going to be bad, high school is bad, but he had hoped for a little happiness. just a little. it feels like the universe has different plans. the colorful life he so desperately wants seems to be slipping farther and farther away from his reach, and he’s trapped inside a black and white movie that he’s not the director of.
to make matters worse, jimin is nowhere to be found. as he walks home, taehyung wonders if jimin got sick of him, like people always do.
that is, until taehyung gets home and his phone rings and it’s jimin calling, and taehyung can hear the smile on his voice when he greets taehyung good afternoon and explains he couldn’t go to school because he had a doctor’s appointment but he’s fine now and he hopes that taehyung had a nice day. taehyung tells him with a smile that, well, he did not have a nice day, but that it was nice to hear his voice and that is all that really mattered, in the end. jimin says he’s sorry and promises to be right by his side tomorrow.
jimin, taehyung learns, cares even when he is away.
it's friday, i'm in love
on friday, jimin picks taehyung up in his house in the morning.
instead of driving to school, jimin takes a different route, which leaves taehyung feeling confused. jimin tells taehyung he decided to have a day off and head out to the city today. taehyung laughs and just goes with it because he has absolutely no reason not to do so. he doesn’t care about school enough to disagree.
they drive through buildings and stores and jimin confesses he doesn’t know what he wants to do, so they park jimin’s car somewhere and decide to just walk around the city, entering random museums they find along the way and talking talking talking. they talk so much that taehyung even forgets it’s a school day, forgets where he’s supposed to be.
jimin tells taehyung about his life, about where he’s from, about the sea, about how lovely his mom is, about his little brother and about how he thinks architecture is the coolest thing in the world. taehyung thinks about how jimin is so colorful, about how there are so many sides to him, about how jimin views the world in such a kind manner that it makes taehyung want to be kind as well. and when taehyung looks at jimin, he sees all the colors in the world. most importantly, he realizes he’s learning to see colors in himself as well. for the longest time, all taehyung saw in himself was blue and grey.
that is, until jimin came into his life and showed taehyung that it’s okay to be all the colors of the rainbow if he wants to.
after that one day, for almost every friday in the years to come, taehyung and jimin go out somewhere after school - and later, once they graduate, after work or classes at college - and talk. sometimes they’d go to the museum, sometimes they’d take a road trip, sometimes they just sit inside the car at a random parking lot. sometimes one of them would cry and the other would comfort him, sometimes one of them would be so happy and they’d laugh so hard their bellies hurt.
somewhere along the way, taehyung realized he was utterly, completely in love with jimin.
jimin, taehyung learns, is a good kisser.
jimin, taehyung learns, loves him back.