UNIVERSE / BTS.

81: promise / namguk

PROMISE
( part one )

WORD COUNT 4.2K
OVERVIEW namjoon hears a new voice on campus, and it soon develops into a friendship fueled by infatuation. ( soft art school au / jeongguk is the cutest thing ever!!! )
PLAYLIST infatuation / brockhampton, promise / jimin, bellyache / billie eilish, lucky strike / troye sivan

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IT'S NOT UNCOMMON to hear music being played in the corridors of tokyo's art student dorms, especially in the musicians wing. it's even less uncommon to hear singing. but this is... different. namjoon doesn't know why.

kim namjoon sits on the small balcony of his equally small student apartment, golden skin soaking up the sunlight gratefully. it's the first month of spring, and he adores the warmth, the beautiful pastel colours springing up around the dorms, the sakura blossoms blowing everywhere in the soft breeze. it's exactly what he's sketching in chalk; the view of the courtyard from his balcony, in soft pastel. gentle music plays from his bluetooth speaker, perched on the small table he's using as a footrest, and all in all, namjoon feels relaxed and content.

he's just etching a student walking across the courtyard when he hears a pretty song. the pretty song. he lifts his gaze from the paper, attention piqued, and tries to identify the song, tries to find it's player. he turns off the music he was listening to, and searches.

"my v is for vendetta, thought that i'd feel better, but now i've gotta bellyache..." the song makes namjoon think of far too sweet lemonade at the spring flower festival back in his hometown, ilsan, and frosty spring mornings. it's comforting, sung by a gentle voice that could be perceived as feminine, but there's a tone to the pronunciation that makes namjoon think it's a boy singing.

he stands from his seat, still looking. he sees the comedy club kids — on more drugs than you'd expect — the harajuku style kids — they're fun, they throw good parties — and then, finally, the musician kids, namjoon's own crowd. that's where his eyes meet the source of the gorgeous voice.

dressed in a white t-shirt that makes his skin glow a soft golden hue, and a pair of mom jeans with rips exposing his thighs. he holds in his petite hands a pretty white ukulele, with flowers painted on the wood, and his fingers strum what namjoon assumes is an original tune. being on the second floor of the apartment blocks, namjoon can see him almost perfectly from his spot under the weeping cherry trees, sat on a bench with two other students namjoon recognises. he's gorgeous; his lips match the pink blossoms, his eyes — rimmed with gold eyeshadow and perfectly winged eyeliner — sparkling in the sunlight. but, above all, he's intriguing.

namjoon knows the boys sat with him; kim taehyung, a jazz nerd who owns a small dog that all the girls go crazy for, and park jimin, a dancer with thick thighs and a cute laugh. both are korean, same as namjoon. they're also both in the class he has in around thirty minutes, so he's sure he'll be able to talk to them during that.

namjoon curls a scarf around his neck and grabs his backpack, making sure his pencil case and music history notebook and book are all in there, before grabbing his coconut water from the fridge and heading out, troye sivan playing in his headphones as his yellow doc martens slap against the floor. the music building is a five minute walk from his dorm, and it's one he walks nearly every day, normal, but he almost walks into a tree when he sees the same ukulele boy walking the same route. cheeks pinkening, namjoon darts to jimin's side.

"minnie, minnie — who's the guy with the ukulele?!"

jimin jumps in shock, a hand on his chest at namjoon's sudden outburst, painted nude lips parted in an 'o'. "jesus, joon, calm down!" he chuckles with a smile, wrapping an arm around his significantly taller counterpart. "what was that, then?" he turns up his hearing aid so he can hear namjoon's rambling. this is a usual occurrence.