Jimin smoothes down her pink-pleated skirt and leans back into her chair. She didn’t know that pink school uniforms existed until she’d enrolled into this particular high school - it looked like something out of a Japanese anime and she didn’t know how to feel about that. Taehyung, however, loved her uniform for that exact same reason.
She still couldn’t get used to her life as a high school student. Middle school was easy. She’d go out every weekend (and even some weekdays) with her friends, heading off to the university areas for cheap street food and karaoke. In high school it was expected of them to hole up in school and study till 9pm or even later. At least they give you dinner, she supposed, but still it wasn’t a good enough compromise for her lost freedom.
“Dude, you sure you don’t want any lunch? I brought you some bread.” Taehyung collapses into the chair next to her, having returned from the cafeteria. Jimin easily catches the bread Taehyung threw and takes a bite, mindlessly looking out the window. There was a group of students playing basketball on the court outside, and Jimin marvelled at the carefree attitude they seemed to exude.
“Tae, why are they playing basketball? Shouldn’t they be studying?” Jimin received countless lectures from her mum about how high school education was important, thus she worries about them falling behind. Taehyung, at Jimin’s words, sticks her head out the window to get a better look at the crowd. Her eyes shine in recognition, and she settles back into her chair.
“I wouldn’t worry about them, they’re probably practicing for their basketball team.” she casually replies, “besides, they’re insanely smart. They’re all in their last year of high school but some of them are at the top of the national rankings. Pretty sure they’ll go to Seoul for university.” Jimin nods. She now views them with a whole new outlook. A pale, short girl takes a shot and the ball sails through the air, going perfectly in through the hoop. She gazes at them in wonder.
Maybe it’s the accumulated idolisation that made her choose basketball as her extracurricular activity. Taehyung bounces next to her on their way to the teachers’ office to hand in their signup sheets, complaining about now having to attend kpop dance sessions alone since Jimin betrayed her for basketball.
Thus the first time she meets Yoongi, she’s at her first basketball meeting. Jimin, along with a couple of other new members, awkwardly introduces themselves. Yoongi, as the leader of their group, walks up front after their introductions, welcoming them sleepily. Her long black hair is haphazardly tied into a ponytail, and her pale skin is coloured with soft bruises. She’s in her oversized navy gym clothes. Jimin's sure she’s in love.
She doesn’t panic about it until school is over. Instead, she suffers a minor breakdown on her way home to the bus station, with Taehyung’s attempts at calming her down causing her to panic even further. They sit down on the ground of some alley when it’s over, leaning on the scratchy brick wall. It’s eleven o’ clock, and it’s definitely dangerous for two girls to be in a dark alley but they didn’t have the strengths to give a shit.
“Dude, we’ve only spent a month as a high school student, it’s way too early for an academic panic attack,” Taehyung sighs, “I know we haven’t been friends for long, but you can always talk to me.” Jimin meets her gaze and feels the sincerity within, the start of a friendship which could last years, unlike all her other friendships that seemed to fade away with distance.
“I think I’m gay.” Jimin stutters mid-sentence and looks away, scared of Taehyung’s reaction. However, she relaxes once she feels Taehyung’s sudden embrace and let’s out a relieved sigh, glad that their friendship is still intact. “Dude, I’m okay with gay people, I’m pretty gay myself and all. It’s okay.” she starts to stroke Jimin’s hair, “but this seems a bit sudden. What brought this on?”
Jimin turns back around to face Taehyung, eyes wide. “You’re gay?” Taehyung just shrugs, “well, I’ve always been gay? I mean I figured it out pretty early.” Jimin silently urges her to continue.
“In kindergarten I played house with this girl and we called each other yeobo (여보). I met her once we grew up and she said it was just what kids do when they’re young but I never really grew out of it. I dated during middle school. I mean, lesbians in an all girls’ school is cliché but who cares, right?” Taehyung leans back into the wall and lays Jimin’s head in her lap. “But really, what brought this on?” Jimin figures that she should at least get comfortable and settles down into a more comfortable position.
“It’s Yoongi,” she pouts, “I met her today and I don’t know, I’ve never really liked anyone but I’m pretty sure it was love at first sight.” she frowns, “I don’t even believe in love at first sight, what the fuck."
Taehyung starts patting Jimin’s hair again, “Well, maybe you should get to know her better. Wouldn’t hurt, right?” Jimin tentatively nods. Taehyung grins widely in return, “And if it doesn’t work out, we’re still in a girls' high school, so we could look at hot girls together. We'll be sad and gay.” And Jimin thinks, that she was right, that this was really a start of a beautiful friendship - tied together by mutual queerness and figurative rainbows.
They’re still sitting in a dark alley somewhere. Taehyung’s fingers are still in Jimin’s long brown hair and Jimin’s head still in Taehyung’s lap. They sit there in silence until Jimin’s phone rings, with her parents panicking about Jimin potentially going missing.
After her talk with Taehyung, she’d somewhat come to terms with her feelings for Min Yoongi. Yoongi is smart, good at basketball, and is really cute. It’s perfectly normal to have a crush on her. She is determined to talk to Yoongi during their next basketball practice and spends the weekend searching up various renditions of “help I think I’m gay” on naver and google. It’s always good to have multiple sources.
She faces Monday prepared. She’d ironed her pink uniform, had taken a shower last night and her hair isn’t frizzy at all. She’s armed with her newly-found knowledge from her research.
She was totally not ready to face Min Yoongi standing alone at the bus station.
What the fuck, Jimin thinks. She’d taken a bus at this very station for a whole month yet she'd never seen Yoongi before. She’s still a couple steps away from the station and wonders if she should wait until Yoongi’s gone but Yoongi chooses this very moment to turn left, accidentally meeting Jimin in the eye.
Yoongi’s face splits into a wide grin. Jimin almost gets a heart attack. “Hey, you’re the newbie in our basketball team, right?” she calls out. Jimin nods, robotically. Yoongi gestures at her to come closer, and Jimin stiffly walks up to her and stands beside.
“Jimin, right? I’m Yoongi.” she sticks out a hand for the latter to shake. Jimin tries not to marvel at how soft Yoongi’s hands feel, despite the calluses from years of basketball training. She can’t believe how different Yoongi looks. During basketball, Yoongi seemed soft and sleepy with her oversized clothes. Now, with her round spectacles, ironed uniform, and brushed hair, she looked intellectual and sharp.
She looks hot and sexy, a traitorous voice whispers in her mind. It suspiciously sounds like Tae. She ignores it and tries to start a conversation with Yoongi. “Umm sunbae, I’ve never seen you at this bus station before. Did you move recently?” Yoongi seems amused by how nervous Jimin looks, “Nah, I live in that apartment over there,” she points at the exact same apartment that Jimin lives in, “but I’m in student council so I had to go early to discipline kids and shit, you know? Like making sure their hair and uniforms aren’t against school regulations. I traded shifts, though. You’ll see me a lot more often now.” Yoongi smirks down at Jimin, “I hope you don’t mind.” Jimin definitely doesn’t mind.
Jimin finds out on their way to school that, for a good student with a position in student council, Yoongi swears a lot. She spends their whole walk uphill complaining about how all the high schools in Busan are located at mountaintops, and that if her future university is also in the mountains she’s going to cry and drop out of school. (“Daegu wasn’t like this, fucking hell, I should’ve just stayed there” and “I’m definitely not going to Busan University, did you see their fucking maths department? It’s in the goddamn forest, I’m not fucking kidding. If you go out back and hike up far enough, there’s a fucking buddhist temple.”)
This continues. Jimin settles into her high school life. Jimin is amazed at the difference between an all-girls’ and a unisex school. Girls change into their gym clothes in the middle of the classroom. Sometimes someone from the next classroom pokes her head in through the back door and yells for a tampon. There are girls playing cards at the back. At the front some of them are having a heated discussion about gay anal sex.
Yoongi still goes to school with Jimin. It’s become a pattern. When one of them comes early, they sit at the bus station and waits for the other to arrive. Sometimes they bring sandwiches or other snacks for breakfast and always split them in half. Jimin’s in love with Yoongi’s mum’s kimbap. Yoongi never fails to complain about their walk uphill. (“Did you know that there’s a fucking hiking trail in the middle of Busan University? It’s a fucking forest, jesus fucking christ, there’s even a river. Apparently they used to be able to go under the bridge and hang out by the river a long time ago, like play guitar and shit, but the path’s blocked now.”). When they pass by each other in the corridors, Yoongi winks at Jimin, smirking as she walks along with her friends. Jimin is still in love. In fact, she’s pretty sure she’d fallen deeper in love than before.
Taehyung’s also in love. She runs up to Jimin after her first dance session and goes off into a long rant about a fellow first year named Jeongguk, who is apparently beautiful and looks hella sexy when she dances the choreography to bts’s dope. A week later they walk into the classroom with their hands linked, and Jimin laments at the loss of a fellow single. They’re in love and feeds each other tteokbokki when they go for a snack after school, with Jimin seated across from them with a disgusted expression. Jimin finds them gross. Jimin also wants to be grossly in love together with Min Yoongi like Taehyung and Jeongguk are.
There is a problem, however. It turns out that Min Yoongi is popular. Jimin is shocked by the amount of sweets stacked on top of Yoongi’s desk on White Day and consults Taehyung about it, stealing her away from Jeongguk with a solemn face.
Taehyung’s not that bothered. “It’s an all-girls’ school, what do you expect?” she sticks a freshly unwrapped lollipop into her mouth, “due to the sheer lack of males in this area, some girls date each other. After high school they either stay lesbian or just say that it was a phase.” She frowns, “For most people it’s a phase.”
Jimin wails, “but why Min Yoongi? Why are they giving candies to Min Yoongi?” She frowns, “And I thought guys give candies to girls on White Day? They’re all girls?” Taehyung shrugs, “I don’t know, maybe they just like Yoongi-sunbae so much that they’d take any opportunity,” she pulls on her lollipop stick with a loud pop. “And besides, sunbae has this aura, like a girl crush thing? She looks intimidating but hot, you know? Like a sexy, independent woman who takes no shit from men.” Taehyung shoots a solemn look to the ceiling, as thought she’s paying her respects to all independent women out there somewhere. “Besides, if you’re that much worried, why can’t you just confess to Yoongi sunbae? I’m pretty sure she’ll say yes.”
Jimin pouts, “I don’t even know if she likes girls,” she steals a lollipop from Taehyung. “And it’s not like I could just ask, you know? What if she gets suspicious?” She unwraps the stolen lollipop. Taehyung frowns, “dude, I got those from Jeongguk, what the hell, don’t steal it -" she reaches out for the lollipop but Jimin stands up, keeping it out of reach.
“Dude no -“ Taehyung grabs for the lollipop and they crash onto the dusty wooden classroom floor, Taehyung’s bony elbows digging painfully into Jimin’s wrists. “Fine, here’s your lollipop, get off me,” Jimin mumbles, trapped under Taehyung. They both stumble to a standing position and Taehyung hugs her with a guilty expression, “I’m so sorry,” she pouts for forgiveness and looks down, “dude, your wrists are bruising, let’s go to the nurse’s office.”
Jimin complains all the way. She’d gotten plenty of bruises and scrapes from having dancing as a hobby and she’s used to it, she doesn’t need medicine. But Taehyung’s determined. She drags Jimin to the office and opens the door with a flourish, the sliding door skidding sideways and making a loud clacking noise as it crashes into the side wall.
The door opens up with a flourish, revealing Yoongi kissing a girl. She’s sitting on a foldaway bed, her blouse halfway undone and her pink skirt scrunched up due to the girl standing in between her legs. They part away slightly, a line of spit trailing between them until the girl moves onto Yoongi’s breast, sucking on the porcelain skin above her black lacy bra. Yoongi’s lips bloom red as she bites into them, trying to keep quiet.
“Well there’s your answer,” Taehyung mumbles. The noise echoes too loudly in the open space and the couple startles, the girl pulling off Yoongi’s breast with a pop. They both look at the entrance in panic. Jimin fails to ignore the red mark slowly forming on Yoongi's skin.
“Shit, I’m sorry, totally didn’t mean that to come out -“ Taehyung stutters, then takes a look at the girl. “Wait, Hoseok unnie?” The girl in question, Hoseok, sheepishly waves a hand. Jimin can feel Yoongi’s gaze on her but she can’t make herself meet it. The hickey is a shocking contrast against pale skin, and the open blouse further reveals the smooth expanse of her flat stomach. Her legs are still partially spread open and Jimin doesn’t want to feel guilty about accidentally sneaking a peek. She also knows that, once she starts looking she won’t be able to stop, and that’ll be awkward for everyone involved.
Jimin runs off. She can’t make herself look at Yoongi without wanting to cry. She faintly hears Yoongi calling her but ignores it. She’s upset about Yoongi liking girls yet still not liking her, and she mourns for the feeble end of her first love, crouching on the stairs.
She avoids Yoongi for a whole week. She demands a ride from her dad even though he has to go early for work and hides under the desk whenever Yoongi comes to her classroom to find her. She makes Taehyung buy her packaged burgers from the shop for lunch. Taehyung is understanding but also mildly annoyed. “Look, just talk it out with Yoongi sunbae, I talked to Hoseok unnie and she said they were just friends,” Taehyung continues, “she’s the leader of our dance team and she’s super nice, and she’s not looking for a relationship anyways.”
Jimin didn’t have a choice, it turns out. She runs into Yoongi outside her apartment. She'd spent the whole Saturday watching chick flicks and having ice cream to live up to the cliché and had gone out to the convenience shop right outside her apartment. She figured she’ll eat her sorrows away with 1000 won packaged americano and that cheese bites she loves. It was dark out so she’s still in her stretched out grey t shirt and pink pajama pants with embarrassing white hearts, she’s a mess when she runs into Yoongi, who’s smoking a cigarette leaning against the entrance.
Yoongi flicks the ashes from the tip of her cigarette. “Hey Jimin, can we talk?” she takes a long drag. Jimin objects, “smoking is bad for you.” Yoongi merely waves her off, “I only smoke when I’m stressed, I’m not going to die.” However, with a glance at Jimin’s glare, she stubs it off. “Look Jimin, you’re a nice kid, I don’t know if you’re homophobic or not but I really enjoyed spending time with you,” she sighs, “can we still be friends? It’s okay if you say no, I won’t bother you again."
The silence drags on before Jimin finally speaks. “No,” she whispers. Yoongi sighs, resigned. However, Jimin continues on speaking. “I don’t want to be just friends, I like you.” Yoongi frowns, “Wait, like like?” Jimin nods hesitantly, “I’m sorry, sunbae, I know you don’t feel the same -“ Yoongi cuts her off, hands waving frantically to express her disagreement, “no, no, no, I like you Park Jimin. I always complain on our way to school because you always laugh when I do that and your pout when you lose a basketball game is cute so I try to win every time, and - I just really like you, Jimin. I’m sorry you saw me like that in the nurse’s office.” She slowly holds Jimin’s hands. It feels overwhelmingly warm against Yoongi’s freezing ones.
Jimin’s face slowly spits into a wide smile. Her eyes crinkle as she looks up to Yoongi’s, “girlfriends?” Yoongi grins, “if you want, yes. Girlfriends, I like that.” She hugs Jimin. They stay there in that position until Jimin pulls back, a pout on her face, “Next time, it’ll be Hoseok sunbae who finds us kissing in the nurse’s office.” Yoongi bursts out laughing, “Sure, Jimin-ah. I’ll have you know, the nurse’s office is the best place to make out."