[M] Chapter 1 (1/1)
2017 JANUARY If you were to say my first week back from Christmas break isn’t the luckiest, it would be an understatement.First of all, I’ve got my hands full of my best friend’s petty relationship drama as per usual – trust Kim Taehyung to find a reason to be mad at his boyfriend for no reason whatsoever and then complain about it all day. Teachers are going bonkers over the end of semester grades – not that I need any more improvement. See, just four months ago I was failing Biology pretty badly, but that’s a story I’ll get back to in a minute. So the teachers are crazy, swarming us with assignments upon assignments in hopes of getting us ready for the exams and barely leaving us with any free time to speak of. I’m honestly trying my best to be a decent student, but can you blame me for favoring sleep over writing the fiftieth essay for the same class, about the same topic? I thought so.I also need to get back in shape as fast as I can, since I spent the majority of my time at home on Christmas break either lying down or eating. My abs are visibly fading now with the added calories which I insisted on consuming while at home, and now I have to pay for it by putting extra hours in at the gym. Hoseok (aforementioned Kim Taehyung’s boyfriend) can’t have me slacking off in dance, especially with Nationals coming up in two months or so.So I have plenty on my plate right now; nothing I can’t handle, just enough to keep me occupied.Or that would be the case, if I didn’t have a huge pile of shit on top of all that.“Stay–” Jiho hisses in my ear while delivering a punch right into my gut.“The–” Another punch.“Fuck–” A kick to my thigh.“Away–” A painful punch to the face.“From–” And another.“Him!”He releases me and I slump back against the wall. The coolness of the tiles is an odd contrast to the hot, throbbing pain that rushes over my body. I curse myself for coming out to this club tonight, though I did not expect to get beaten up as soon as I left my friends to take a bathroom break.“Do I make myself clear, Jeon?” he asks. His voice is calm again, collected, like he didn’t just punch the lights out of me.I spit some blood on the floor.“Clear as day,” I answer with only a tiny bit of mockery in my voice. I shouldn’t piss off Jiho again if I know what’s good for me. The whole train wreck of a situation I found myself in is not even his business but count on him to make it just that if any of his friends are concerned. To be fair, I didn’t even know he was friends with Jimin in the first place, but hey, what can you do? That’s just my luck.Jiho shoves me one last time just to get his point across, then stalks out of the bathroom. I push myself off from the wall and examine the damage in a mirror. My nose looks the most fucked up, all purple and bleeding right into my mouth. I wash my face quickly best as I can and pull up my shirt to see a couple of bruises already in bloom across my torso. I curse to myself quietly.Suddenly, the bathroom door bursts open and a seemingly drunk guy stumbles in. I let my shirt fall back and run my hands under the tap.“Man, you— hick!” he hiccups at me, sliding into a stall but stopping halfway. “You got yer ass handed to ya, huh?”I ignore him in favor of leaving the scene. I shoot a text to my friends and take my leave, calling a cab after checking if I have enough cash on me. That’s quite enough for today, thank you very much. I’m not a coward, but only a man who wishes his own downfall would want to cross paths with Woo Jiho two times in one night.Now, as for how I got myself into this fucking mess: a bit earlier I mentioned I used to be pretty bad at Biology. I know what you’re asking, what the fuck. Why am I getting beaten up because of Biology? I’m as confused as you are if I’m honest, but let me fill you in. 2016 SEPTEMBER – FOUR MONTHS AGO The 5th floor study is unusually quiet today, even for a Saturday afternoon. Some of the boys who live closer to school will leave every weekend, spending their Friday to Sunday at home with their families, so it is bound to be calmer as usual. However, this heavy silence that sits above me is highly unusual. It’s distracting. As for me, I’m not that far away from home – my city is a 3 hour train ride away, but I only visit my parents about once a month, sometimes even more rarely. My mother complains, of course, that I could really travel home more often, but most of the time I’d rather spend my weekends either practicing or relaxing. Sometimes I’ll go out to a party with my friends which then I’ll, without fail, regret in the morning after every time.I close my English textbook and gather up my things. I can’t study in this ridiculous silence; I’m used to at least ten other boys conversing over me while I memorize words or solve problems. I walk back to my room, thankful to find Taehyung already back from the city.“Kookie!” he greets me with his trademark box smile. “You won’t believe who I ran into!”“Who?” I ask him, but he’s already speaking excitedly.“Zico hyung! I got some stuff from him, you wanna smoke?”Oh well. Jiho is kind of a friend of ours, a good couple of years older than the both of us. We used to party with him a lot in our junior year. He has some above average paying marketing job in the city but sells drugs on the side – never understood why but hey, who am I to judge. We bumped into him last year at a party, he made conversation and sold us some weed. Since we frequented almost the same variety of places we saw him a lot and usually ended up partying together; once I even ended up at his place. I woke up with a pounding headache on a couch that was probably worth more than my car, with some girl in a bra passed out on top of me. I remember turning her down a couple of time throughout the night, I even explained to her how I’m into dick just to get her off my back.Ah, the memories.“Sure,” I give in without a fight because it’s been a while since Taehyung and I got high. We were almost always together during the summer back home but without Jiho in the picture we didn’t really think to smoke.So we sit on the floor while Taehyung gets his stuff out, and he tells me about this new Biology teacher he saw today. We’re both taking Biology this year but Tae’s class is at another time than mine so I haven’t seen him before.“—and he’s like, crazy hot,” explains Taehyung while crushing up the weed. “Your type.” He winks at me.“I don’t even have a type.”“Yes you do you big fat liar!”“What’s my type then? Go on, tell me.” I lay back onto my elbows with my eyebrows raised.“Dunno man, you have this thing for like… small dudes. Pretty face, cute voice,” He licks the side of the cigarette paper. “Killer thighs, nice ass.”I would’ve protested that I’m really not only into one specific body type but Taehyung kind of has a point. I mean, I could go for a tall, lean guy and I have before but now that he’s said it, I’m pretty sure what Tae just described could be my type.Taehyung is looking at me with that smug all-knowing expression as he hands me the joint. I take it in between my lips.“Whatever,” I mumble while he lights it up for me. I don’t feel much after the first hit but I know I will soon. Jiho has good stuff and Taehyung always rolls strong joints anyway, more weed than tobacco. Jiho also taught us a pretty cool trick – you can take the joint in between your ring finger and your pinky, make a tunnel out of your hand and cover the hole at the end with your other hand. Then you can smoke out of the uncovered end of the tunnel, which turns your hands into kind of a mini bong. It gets you high in seconds and me and Tae have taken such a liking to it that it’s mostly how we smoke now.Soon we’re both pretty sated, giggling away over nothing for a good hour. Hoseok shows up when it’s starting to wear off a bit and we all watch a movie together before the two leave to do whatever they do these days. Boyfriend things.Hoseok is pretty cool, a university-student-slash-dance-prodigy who is better known as J-hope for most people – we befriended him after attending one of his workshops. We became good friends pretty fast, and since he obviously had heart eyes for Taehyung I played wingman and made sure to leave them alone whenever I could. They’ve been going strong ever since, Hoseok being a good contrast to all of Taehyung’s previous boyfriends who were mostly only using him. Sometimes he gets mad jealous and clingy because of that, but Hoseok is handling him pretty well. You can tell they’re in love just by looking at them for thirty seconds. It’s so gross.In the following week I try to focus on my studies because I don’t want to fuck up my senior year by starting off with bad grades. The more the teachers see me trying, the better. So I mostly forget about the Insanely Hot Biology Teacher – as Taehyung refers to him – up until I’m actually supposed to have a class with him. I would like to emphasize that at this point, we’re not yet two weeks into the school year and I’m about to have my first mental breakdown. Now, I hear you asking “Why?” but I’ll get there in a second. So I’m sitting at my desk, doodling onto the cover of my empty exercise book and chewing a granola bar when the bell rings. I look up when the door opens and in walks a short, silver haired man.I almost choke.He’s young, younger than most teachers and the nickname Taehyung gave him isn’t a stretch by any means. He’s gorgeous. Very much that specific type that I like so much, according to my best friend. He’s making the simple white button up and black jeans look high fashion, that’s how attractive he is. And what teacher even has silver hair? Is this an anime? He greets the class in a friendly voice and most of them greet him back, all eyes fixed on him. While he’s putting his stuff on the teacher’s table he scans the room and we make eye contact. It’s almost comical, the way his eyes widen in recognition and a brief expression of panic flashes across his face before he collects himself. I probably look the same if I’m being completely honest. Of course I recognized him too. To my relief, nobody seems to notice something’s off besides me, and that thankfully remains the case for the whole period.“My name is Park Jimin,” he introduces himself and clears his throat. “I’m new, as you can tell, so please be patient with me. I will probably ask a lot about what you’ve been covering so far so I know where we need to pick up, okay?”He speaks with authority, in a calm and confident voice but he still manages to come off as a cool, friendly guy. He looks young, around 25 is what anyone would say I believe, although he tells us he’s turning 28 soon. He then asks all of us to introduce ourselves one by one, starting from the front. When it’s my turn, I just say my name and some general stuff everyone’s been saying, hobbies, likes and whatnot. He listens to me with an unreadable expression and only tears his gaze away from mine when the next student starts speaking. After that, I remain silent.I linger back when the bell rings because I have a free period anyways, and I see him doing the same. I take my time putting away my stuff, and when the classroom finally clears out I’m met with silence. I zip my backpack up and fling it over my shoulder while I step closer to the teacher’s table. He leans against it, looking up at me.“You’re not 22,” is what he opens with. I nod.“No I’m not.”“Please tell me you’re at least eighteen.” He’s chewing on his lower lip like he’s afraid of my answer.“I am. I turned eighteen on the 1st.” I answer quickly, not realizing that my confession doesn’t help my case in the least bit. Jimin looks ready to throw himself off this building.“Jeongguk, we had sex in August,” his voice drops to a whisper and his eyes go wide with panic. “That makes you seventeen. Are you seriously telling me I fucked a minor?”“Technically, I fucked you but you know—”“Not fucking funny!” he interrupts me, looking around frantically. “And speak more quietly!”“No one is in here, Jimin.” I decide to humor him, toning my voice down.“Sir! It’s sir to you! Because I’m your teacher!” He grips the edge of the table so hard his knuckles fade into white. I smirk suggestively, but I manage bite back an innuendo that’s just so ready to roll off my tongue. “I’m going to faint.”At this point, I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry. What’s the possibility that my summer fling who I picked up at a party and literally thought I would never see again would turn out to be my teacher? Things like this are not supposed to happen in real life, they’re supposed to happen only in dramas with awful special effects that my mom likes so much.“Hey, hey. Jimin.” I ignore his former command to address him formally. “This isn’t a big deal. You thought I was older, I look older than I am anyways, no one can blame you. It wasn’t even while you were my teacher, it was before that!”“That doesn’t change the fact that I had sex with a jailbait kid—”“Hey!”“Well, I’m sorry, but you are!”“I sure don’t fuck like one, do I?” I ask with a smirk and immediately regret it. Oh God, Jeon, don’t be a fuckboy, I tell myself. You’re better than that.Jimin looks violated. The way he’s losing it is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen but seeing how torn up he is, I try to keep my entertainment hidden.“Stop saying things like that! You’re eighteen! Stop it!”I reach out to touch his arm in an attempt to comfort him but he tears it away immediately. I put my hands up in a surrendering manner, just so he knows I’m not a complete prick.“Look, this doesn’t have to be such a big deal. I won’t tell anyone, that much I can promise you,” besides Taehyung, my piece of shit brain immediately offers. “It was a one night stand, we just had some fun. I mean it was pretty amazing—”“Don’t even—” he starts with a warning look in his eyes.“Sorry, sorry.” I can’t help but smile. It just this knowledge of sharing a secret that’s so intimate and dirty that just has me light headed for some reason. It puts me on the same level as him in a way, but he’s still my teacher so I know no one else should witness anything like this conversation between us.“Okay, I guess… let’s just forget it? I’m just your teacher. There was never anything between us. Deal?” I stare at his extended hand for a good five seconds before taking it in mine. It’s just as small as I remember it.“Deal.” I look down into his eyes mischievously and drop my voice to a suggestive tone. “Sir.”He swallows thickly.“Get the fuck out,” he warns me. I can see him fighting a laugh. “Shit, I have a class in like five minutes!”I take that as my cue to leave.I’m honestly not sure how I should break this to Tae though. After a few minutes I come to an all-around truth in conclusion: when in doubt, make a meme about it. So I pull up my photo editing app and make quick use of it. I shoot it to Taehyung who replies with an expressive “???????? What the FUCK”.(The picture was taken by Jiho this summer, just after I finished up one of his famous joints. Apparently it hit me so hard I sat there like this for three minutes and would not respond to anything.)Upon my arrival I’m greeted with the biggest fucking pizza I have ever seen – seriously, I think they had to tilt it just so they could get it past the doorframe – which is honestly why I love Taehyung so much. When will your roommate ever?“Spill the fucking beans, Jeon Jeongguk.”