STRAWBERRY FIELDS|| BTS

twelve

Kim Seokjin is what he introduced himself as, he added an apology of not wanting to intrude, and also promised not to tell anyone about this room.
To Jimin Kim Seokjin seemed like a nice person, and he even offered the older to find his own chair and table and take a seat.

Taehyung was rather amused at his friends sudden social interaction, but he didn't stand against it and even encouraged him.

That's how they ended up sitting through the last few lessons left of school, gone without a trace from the classroom and feeling like what they missed wasn't important at all. And maybe it wasn't important to them, perhaps they had different priorities and plans in their minds.

"I came back from USA, so I was set back a year." Seokjin explained, "father has a few connections, so it wasn't a problem joining so late in the year" and that confirmed all the rumours Jimin heard around school. And his thoughts showed to clear on his face.

"It's ok if you think it's unfair, I would think it's unfair too if I had to sit through 10 different exams just to prove that I'm worthy of this schools time on me, not the best school either."

It started to pour rain outside. Jimin wondered if he had packed an umbrella that morning.

"But to be completely honest, if any of them, or any of you, had the connections, the ability to go wherever you want and settle in, you'd use it too. You wouldn't choose sitting through exams and proving that you can still catch up on the academic material in a short period of time if you had the choice not too."

Jimin did not pack an umbrella with him that day, but his brother came to pick him up with an extra rain coat. He stood by the entrance under the roof, a bit to the side to not block any students from exiting the school, and either walking in huddles of friends under one compact umbrella, or running to the nearest convenience store with their bags over their heads, to sit in it with a cup of hot noodles as they wait for the rain to pass, or become a drizzle.
He watched his brother search for him quickly, rain water dripping down his cheeks and under his jaw. He must've walked all the way here.

"There you are, come on, lets try to get home quickly; mom wouldn't want you sick with a cold"
Jimin pulled on his yellow raincoat, smiling at how he hasn't seen the coat in so long, and how it was the most generic and cliche colour for a raincoat ever. His smiled quivered a bit as he wondered if mom would care less if his brother got sick. Maybe his own metabolism was just weaker, maybe he lacked some vitamins that his brother had- and that was the reason she wasn't as worried for his health as she was for Jimin's. He shook his head as he pulled on the hood.

Mom loved them equally. She loved them both with an equal amount. Thats how families worked.

They walked rather quickly home, though it still took them a bit more than an hour to get home, it wouldn't have taken his brother 2 hours to get home after school if he hadn't come to pick him up everyday, and he wouldn't have to spend 2 hours walking in the rain if it wasn't for-
the letter was in the spot where he would usually place his shoes in, on the second shelf of their dark wood shoe rack, the last one of the line.
It was in the usual envelope that it was always in, he slipped it into his school blazer inside pocket, making sure his brother didn't see it, and opened it right before bed, when his brother was in the shower.

"Hello Jimin, it would be quite a rainy day when you read this, and you would have met someone new, but I'll let you know that Kim Seokjin wont be the last Kim you meet. You skipped class today, but your mother has said nothing about it during dinner, and she would still prepare twice the amount of food to place in your lunchbox tomorrow; it is my advice that you keep her from knowing that you're not the only one eating her food.
Tomorrow stop by the convenience store at the gas station, Taehyung will be there."

The door clicked open and his freshly showered brother came in, skin pink from the heat of the water. Jimin quickly stuffed the paper under his pillow, and leaned over his bed frame to face his brother.
"Hey, can we...can we stop at the convenience store tomorrow."
The older raised an eyebrow at him as he fell into his bed, hands under his head as his eyes questioned him profoundly. Jimin, following a schedule that was something else but straight to school and straight from school. He laughed- a rather joyful and happy laugh, and not amocking giggle that Jimin had expected.
"Is my brother finally getting out of his comfort zone?"
Jimin blushed, he attempted to nod.
"Alright, which one? You know theres a shit-ton of corner stores"
" Hey, watch your mouth!" Jimin joked, though he was more than used to his brothers casual use of swear words. "And... the one at the gas station."
"why-"
"Taehyung might be there." he cut him off before he asked for reasons.
He understood and nodded.
"Sure thing, we'll go there after school"

The gas station seemed like a different world to him, though it wasn't his first time here, it was his first time here outside the car. The smell of the petrol even more prominent than in the backseat, there were small pools of leaked petrol or diesel that created dirty rainbows of the pavement, and he counted at least 10 different signs warning people not to smoke on the premises of the station. The convenience store glowed rather light compared the the grim colours of the gas banks, and the emotionless faces of the workers that tended to the drivers' needs.
The store wasn't an abnormality to him in itself, though he could count on his fingers how many times he'd been to one. His brother stood right behind him as he waited for the younger to decide what to do. He decided to walk around the crisps isle and the drinks isle and the ramen isle and- that was the whole shop, so he walked up to the little table that found its way against the glass wall that looked out onto the road.

"Hi Taehyung" Jimin said as he slid onto the seat next to him, his brother following to the same next to Jimin, dumping two bags of crisps and two drinks onto the table, and pushing the basic salted ones, and the strawberry flavoured water towards his younger sibling, because he knew that thats what he liked best.
Jimin smiled at him as a thank you.
"This is my brother- he's two years older than me."
Taehyung pretended to notice that the uniform wasn't the same only now
"I go to a different school" he laughed, ripping open his crisps and stuffing his mouth with some, before stretching his arm forward to offer him some; in his books, a friend of jimin was his friend.
Taehyung declined blaming that sour cream and mushrooms were not on his list of edible foods.

"I'll ignore that offensive comment only because you are a friend of jimins, nice to meet you Taehyung, I'm Hoseok"