A/N : It's a long chapter but I decided against cutting it into two chapters.

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The next day, when leaving his room to join Taehyung who continued to get ready in his own room, Seokjin was surprised to see that Jungkook was standing next to Taehyung and was waving at him. His head was still bandaged, easily recalling what had happened the day before.

 Next to him, Taehyung looked at him angrily.

"What is happening?" Seokjin asked, a little worried. "We have decided on a truce, I hope you are not fighting?

"No, I didn't fight but Taehyung is angry because I said you were going to come with me to the canteen and have breakfast with me."

"I am?" Seokjin wondered.

"No," Taehyung answered for Jungkook. "he is delirious, ignore him. Let's go now." 

He grabbed Seokjin's arm and started to walk away when he heard groans of pain that made him roll his eyes, especially when he saw Seokjin immediately turn around to observe Jungkook.

"Are you okay Jungkook?" Seokjin asked worriedly.

"No, it's my head that hurts," Jungkook explained, holding his head, grimacing in pain and leaning against the wall. "I'm going to have a hard time getting to the canteen alone like this, but I still have to eat to take my medicine... What am I going to do?"

"I will help you!" Seokjin hurriedly said, wanting to rush towards him, remembering that Jungkook was his responsibility until he was healed. But Taehyung held him tightly. "Let me go Tae."

"No," Taehyung retorted, annoyed, "can't you see he's pretending to be in pain just so you can stay with him?"

Stunned, Seokjin turned to Jungkook and looked at him with a frown.

"Are you making fun of me?" he asked.

"Do you think I split my head open and shed my blood for the pleasure of making fun of you?" Jungkook replied.

"No, of course not," Seokjin said quickly. "Sorry, I'll help you." 

He forcibly detached Taehyung's arm who was very upset and went towards Jungkook to whom he offered the same arm that Taehyung was holding a few seconds before.

"Here, lean on me to walk," he suggested.

"Thank you, Jin," Jungkook thanked him, smiling and happily grabbing the outstretched arm.

As he passed Taehyung, he changed his smile of gratitude to a mocking smile without Seokjin noticing and said:

"You know, Taehyung, you're going to have to tolerate my friendship with Jin if you want your secret to remain preserved. Otherwise, I can immediately go see the Rat to tell him that it was you who hurt me."

"No!" Seokjin quickly intervened, feeling that Taehyung was on edge. "Tae accepted our friendship so don't provoke him about it, okay?"

"I'm not provoking him, I just want to go eat with my friend, but it's inconceivable for him," Jungkook said mischievously.

"You won't eat with Jin, I'll eat with him," Taehyung shot back.

"He has to eat with me at every meal until I'm healed to help me take my medicine, right Jin?" Jungkook replied.

"Out of the question!" Taehyung exclaimed making big eyes at Seokjin to tell him that it wouldn't happen.

"We're going to eat together with Jimin too and you'll see that no one is going to die from it," Seokjin said in a conciliatory tone. 

In reality, he was happy with the way things were going because he told himself that if Jungkook spent time with him like this he would also spend time with Taehyung and that, possibly, relations between the two cousins ​​could improve. 

"No, if he's here, I won't eat with you!" Taehyung exploded, glaring at Seokjin.

When Jimin joined Seokjin and Taehyung for breakfast, he was surprised to see Jungkook sitting with them. He looked at Taehyung who was sulking in his corner, then at Seokjin who seemed radiant and understood that it wasn't Taehyung's decision. 

"What is he doing there?" he asked with the same displeasure as Taehyung.

"Hello to you too Jimin," Jungkook greeted with a smile.

"Jimin, Jungkook is my friend now, can you agree to him eating with us in the coming days?" Seokjin asked him with that charming smile that Jimin couldn't refuse.

"Okay," he grumbled.

Annoyed to see him give in so easily without trying to argue, Taehyung gave him a resounding tap on the shoulder which made him let out a cry of protest.

"Hey!"

Surprised to see Jimin screaming, Seokjin realized that he had really been hurt.

"Don't do that Tae, it's mean," he told Taehyung in a disapproving tone.

Jungkook watched the scene with amusement. It was always funny for him to see Seokjin scold Taehyung without Taehyung getting angry.

"I didn't hit him that hard, he was exaggerating," Taehyung defended, before frowning and saying to Jimin, "since when have you been yelling at me like that?" 

"I didn't do it on purpose but you hurt me. I'm sore from dancing," Jimin explained, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at Taehyung.

"And bruises," Seokjin reminded him, "and you look tired," he added, analyzing his face with its drawn features and dark circles around its eyes.

"It's the exam period that has just ended, it deprived me of sleep but I'm going to make up for it."

Seokjin and Taehyung exchanged a shocked look which escaped neither Jungkook nor Jimin: they had no idea that Jimin could have worked hard for his exams because that wasn't his type. He was more of the type to settle for low rankings because he hated studying, even when Seokjin dragged him and Taehyung to the library.

Thinking that he was making fun of him as usual to hide the fact that he spent too much time practicing dancing, Seokjin corrected himself and said to him:

"It's okay to work hard for your passion but remember to get enough sleep, okay?"

Jimin was about to respond but was interrupted by Jungkook's laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Jimin replied.

"Surely his stupidity," Taehyung said.

"It's funny how even your friends don't believe you when you tell them you're studying. However, I heard you say that you would be first in the math rankings. Proof that you are bragging, you don't have the level."

"Shut up," Jimin replied, angry.

"It's true, is that what you said?" Seokjin wondered. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, I thought you were joking ."

"No, I wasn't jokking," Jimin grumbled, looking down and fixing the content of his bowl.

"But it's great! I'm proud of you Jimin," Seokjin assured. "I hope you will be first in maths, like you wanted."

"That won't happen since I'll get first place in all school disciplines," Jungkook told him tapping him on the shoulder. "I hope you will be proud of me."

Seokjin nodded kindly but Taehyung and Jimin glared at Jungkook.

"Relax guys, I'm just establishing facts," Jungkook calmed them by raising his hands innocently. "I'm the best among first year students, everyone knows that, Jimin can be second if he wants but I'll get first place."

Aware that his superiority over them was unmistakable, Seokjin hastened to say to Jimin:

"Second place is admirable too!"

"You don't think I can be the first?" Jimin asked, frowning.

Embarrassed but unable to lie, Seokjin said:

"I'm really sorry Jimin but I don't think you can get better results than Jungkook, not in math anyway." He added with just as much honesty,  : "but if you worked hard I am sure that you will have good results and a good ranking, because work always pays off!"

He thought he had managed to cheer Jimin up and smiled at him but Jimin didn't smile back. Jungkook gave Jimin a triumphant look and, annoyed, Jimin replied to Seokjin:

"I see, Jin, thank you for your trust in me."

He ironized without any kindness in his voice unlike the way he usually joked with Seokjin.

"You're welcome," Seokjin said nervously, because even though he hadn't picked up on Jimin's irony, he had lost the cold tone.

Even more annoyed by this ingenuity that he usually found adorable in Seokjin, Jimin rolled his eyes.

"Wow, what do I see? Cousins ​​Jeon and Kim at the same table? Amazing!" exclaimed a voice which made them turn towards two third year boys who had just arrived behind them.

It was the student president Kim Joonwoo, accompanied by Cho Heungmin, the captain of the football team. Taehyung glared at Joonwoo who just burst out with hearty laughter, visibly amused by this sight. 

Seokjin smiled when he sees the two boys. Not only did he like his captain but he also liked Joonwoo. He was a boy who exuded self-confidence and who was kind to everyone, even to him. He had helped him sometimes when he was lost in school at the beginning of the year and since he was friends with Heungmin, Seokjin had already had the opportunity to see him often when he had to speak with his captain. 

As his natural charisma intimidated him, he did not speak to him first and only responded if the other started the discussion with him, but with a shyness that he did not know he had. Moreover, Seokjin was fascinated by his face which, according to him, was the most beautiful he had ever seen. According to him, the boy should become a model, not work in an office when he finished his studies. 

The day he said that without thinking and Joonwoo heard it, the latter had laughed and told Seokjin that since his face was very beautiful too, if he wanted, he would hire him as a model to advertise his family business. To which Seokjin didn't respond, too busy making his face cool, red and burning with embarrassment.

The day Taehyung had heard this story, he had replied that if Seokjin was going to be a model, it would be for his own family's business, not Joonwoo's. To which Seokjin had replied that he didn't want to be a model but to play football, which settled the matter and silenced Taehyung's jealousy.

Taehyung for his part didn't like Joonwoo, in the same way that he like almost no one, but even more so because this boy shares the same position within the school as Namjoon, which was another reason not to like him. In addition, as Namjoon's roommate, Joonwoo was in his eyes too close to his brother to be anything other than hateful to him.

"Hi Jin," Joonwoo said with a smile, spotting Seokjin staring at him. 

Embarrassed at being caught staring, Seokjin stuttered, intimidated: 

"Uh, h-hi."

Taehyung turned to him and saw that his ears were all pink so he gave him an exasperated look. Joonwoo burst out laughing again.

 "How cute you are," he said to Seokjin who blushed even more.

"What do you want?" Taehyung asked sharply, judging that he was already bothered enough by Jungkook's presence during this breakfast and that he did not need another source of inconvenience in the person of Joonwoo and Heungmin who he did not care about royally but that Seokjin seemed love, like almost every footballer he knew.

"I came to check on my teammate if you don't mind," replied Heungmin who found Taehyung as antipathetic as possible. "How are you, Jungkook?" he asked, turning to Jungkook.

"Perfectly, captain," Jungkook assured with a thumbs up.

"That's not true," Seokjin intervened, "he's not doing so well, he was dizzy this morning and he still has a headache. Unfortunately, he won't be able to train with us tonight again."

Stunned that he let himself be fooled like that because of his lie earlier, Jungkook pouted and couldn't reply, lest Seokjin find out that he had lied earlier. Taehyung gave him a mocking look that he tried to ignore.

"Ah, that's a shame," Heungmin regretted, "but the main thing is to take care of yourself. Don't rush, our next match isn't for another two weeks, and it's best to take the time to heal properly before playing again, it is important. And if necessary, you will stay on the bench, we will replace you. I'm sure Jin will do very well offensively in your absence."

He looked at Seokjin questioningly. Happy to see that Heungmin was thinking more about Jungkook's physical condition than the team's victory at all costs and wanting to reassure Jungkook so that he would take the time to rest without fear for the team, Seokjin hurried respond :

"Of course, don't worry! I'll do anything to make the team win even without Jungkook!"

"I'm sure you will," his captain assured, smiling and giving him a friendly pat on the arm.

Seokjin smiled sweetly at him while Jungkook cursed inwardly, refusing to give the team the opportunity to believe that he was replaceable.

"I'll be up for the next match, and I will come to attend training even if I do not participate, to stay up to date with our strategies" he assured, "so there's no point in thinking about replacing me for the next match."

Joonwoo exchanged a knowing look with Heungmin. 

"Of course the Golden Boy never disappoints you," Joonwoo said to Heungmin, "you're lucky to have such new recruits for your team."

"I know," his friend replied.

"We'll let you finish breakfast in peace now," Joonwoo said to the four boys seated at the table to end the exchange. "See you soon, Jin, Jungkook, Taehyung... Jimin."

Jimin, who had remained absolutely silent during this entire exchange and had focused solely on his breakfast, jumped when he heard his name, as if he had forgotten that he could be seen. He looked up to meet Joonwoo's gaze, then Heungmin's. This exchange of glances only lasted a second but it was enough to make you feel a strange tension in the air.  

Jimin briefly turned towards Seokjin, Taehyung and Jungkook who were looking at him with perplexity and he ended up responding to Joonwoo himself in an almost inaudible voice:

"Yeah, see you soon."

Joonwoo gave him a smile and turned on his heel, followed by Heungmin who greeted Seokjin and Jungkook with a wave.

"I hate these guys," Taehyung grumbled as he started eating again.

"Why?" Seokjin was surprised, "they're nice." 

"Just because one is handsome and the other is a footballer doesn't mean they're nice." Taehyung replied. "Unlike you, I'm not in love with them so I remain objective."

"I'm not in love with them, you're really talking nonsense, I like them that's all!" Seokjin protested, sulking.

"Yet you were very shy and all red when Joonwoo spoke to you," Taehyung pointed out to him, feeling his still warm ears.

Seokjin glared at himand pushed his hand. As he saw that Jungkook was looking at him curiously as if wondering if it was possible that he was really in love with a boy, he quickly said:

"He's talking nonsense, just because I like them and I have the right, please don't pay attention to what he says!" Then, he turned to Taehyung again and argued: "Heungmin is my captain and he is awesome like you have no idea, Seung agrees with me. As for Joonwoo I know him less well but he has already helped me and he was always nice to me. Besides, Jimin is friends with him, that proves he's nice, right Jimin?" 

Seokjin, Taehyung and Jungkook turned to him and Jimin frowned

"I'm not friends with him," he replied. 

"Ah really?" Seokjin wondered, "yet you greeted each other like you knew each other and he seemed to like you." 

"Knowing each other doesn't mean being friends," Jimin replied, getting up, his breakfast finished. "I need to go back to my room to get some things, don't wait for me to go to class, I'll join you." 

With these words, he cleared his tray and walked away from the small group. 

"But what's happening to him?" Seokjin asked, growing more and more confused by Jimin's behavior. 

"I don't know," replied Taehyung, who didn't seem to care. 

"It's probably my fault," Jungkook said, shrugging his shoulders thinking about their conversation earlier about exams. "He must be very upset to know that he worked for second place and not first."

"Maybe..." Seokjin said, still concerned.

When they went to class and their math teacher Mr. Cha posted the results of the first term exams on the board, Seokjin and his friends rushed with everyone else to find their place in the rankings.

Seokjin looked for his place starting from the bottom and very quickly found himself, far from the top of the ranking so he moved back, not very proud. But since he was closer to the middle than the end, he decided to be satisfied with it. After all, in middle school he was always among the last because of his academic delay and he knew that he had progressed and that his mother would be proud of him, unlike Mr. Kim who would probably scold him the next time he visited home.

"You must be kidding me," Jungkook whispered for himself next to him.

Seokjin turned to him and saw that he was stunned.

"What's the matter?" Seokjin asked, turning back to the leaderboard and this time reading from the top.

His eyes widened when he saw that the first name displayed was "Park Jimin". "Jeon Jungkook" only came in second place.

Many students started to make fun of him, saying that the genius of the class had finally been dethroned at the end of the term and Jungkook became even more frustrated.

"You see, not only did I not manage to be first but what's more, it was little Park who stole it from me and not the Golden Boy," Cho Heechan trumpeted, the little brother of Heungmin.  He was third in the standings and although he was happy that Jungkook wasn't first for once, he seemed unhappy with his position and glared at Jimin.

All students placed particular importance on mathematics which was the most important subject to get a good university after high school. Seeing Jimin in first place in the quarterly math rankings aroused the jealousy of some people. Especially since Jimin had never given the impression of standing out from the crowd with his intelligence or his knowledge, in any discipline, apart from sport. So how come he passed his exams better than everyone else, including Jungkook? 

This was what many were wondering, but the teacher did not seem surprised by Jimin's performances, which caused the general excitation to subside when he answered questions from several students regarding incorrect answers on their exam.

"I want to see the copies otherwise I wouldn't believe it," Jungkook grumbled, who was the last one whose frustration with his position did not subside. After all, it was only the first term exams of the first year in one subject, it was not yet entirely decisive for their secondary studies and they still had the possibility of doing better. But decisive or not, Jungkook was serious about it.

Seokjin looked at Jimin who, despite his incredible results, didn't seem particularly happy. He thought it was because no one was supporting him, including Taehyung who quickly went to sit down after seeing his own ranking, waiting for the teacher to distribute the exam papers.

"Congratulations Jimin," Seokjin told him, patting his arm. "Sorry for not believing in you earlier, I hope you forgive me.

"Thanks, Jin. Of course I forgive you," Jimin said detachedly as he walked towards his seat at the back of the class.

"I'm really impressed, I didn't know you were so good at math," Seokjin continued, following him, "can you tutor me from now on to help me improve?"

"No, sorry, I can't," Jimin refused. "It's better you ask Jungkook since you're friends now."

"But you're first, that means you're the best!" Seokjin insisted. "I really wish it was you who-"

"Jin, I said no!" Jimin replied brutally ,cutting him.

Seokjin backed away in front of Jimin's annoyance, not understanding his behavior. Jungkook and Taehyung looked at them, perplexed wondering what was going on. Realizing that he had been more brutal than he wanted to be with Seokjin, Jimin corrected himself, with his usual tone this time:

"I'm sorry Jin, I didn't mean it like that, it's just that I'm tired. It's not that I don't want to help you but I don't really have the time these days, you noticed, right? And I'm sure Jungkook is more qualified than me to teach you math."

Surprised to see that Jimin preferred Jungkook to help him rather than himself, Seokjin said in a small voice:

"I understand, sorry for insisting, I should have understood the first time that you couldn't."

Even though he felt like he had hurt him, Jimin didn't say anything more. He gave him a grateful smile and returned to his place. There, Taehyung made him turn around with a flick on the back.

"Why have you never shared your skills with us?" he asked him.

"Because I don't have more than you, I just worked hard for it, unlike you," Jimin replied, turning back to the side of the board, uncaring of the glare Taehyung gave him, nor of the suspicious one Jungkook kept throwing at him.

However, when the teacher returned the papers, Jungkook had to face the facts: it was not a mistake, Jimin had indeed gotten a better grade than him.

"Pass me the ball Jin."

"No, you're not allowed to play, you're injured," Seokjin refused, continuing to juggle his ball in front of Jungkook, before passing it to Seung.

"Seung, pass me the ball," Jungkook asked the other boy instead.

"Jin said no," Seung said, smiling playfully, juggling as well as Seokjin before handing the ball back to him.

"I guess this is my punishment for asking Jin to take care of me," Jungkook sighed as he sat down on the grass in front of them to watch them warm up before practice.

They had gone to the football field together at the end of the day, under the scrutiny of Taehyung who had ended up going on his own to his music club. Having to spend the whole day with Jungkook had annoyed him so much that he wouldn't have given up his break with his club just to check on him again.

He left Seokjin under Seung's supervision and if this idiot wasn't able to properly watch over Seokjin, then he would make him regret it bitterly. These were his own words.

In reality, right now, it was more Seokjin who was watching over Jungkook and stopping him from being reckless with his head injury. Forced to stay on the sidelines without being able to play, Jungkook observed him playing with Seung and had to recognize that Seokjin was really talented, with his own style. 

All his passion exuded from him when he played, he was very serious and in addition to being extremely talented, he was particularly handsome and this visual would undoubtedly make him a real star when he played at the professional level.

Seokjin, however, didn't seem to be aware of her true beauty. It was as if the criticism he had received all his life from the rich and arrogant people around him regarding his social status and who had belittled him prevented him from realizing that he had a different supremacy on them, other than football, which they should buy with plastic surgery.

"Careful Jungkook!" shouted Seung who had just missed the ball that Seokjin had sent him.

Coming out of his reverie too late, Jungkook received the ball in the face.

"Oh sorry!" Seokjin exclaimed, raising a hand to his mouth before running to Jungkook to check if he was okay. "As you looked at me, I really thought you saw the ball coming and were going to catch it!" 

"There's no harm," Jungkook replied, rubbing his sore nose before looking at Seung, "It's more up to Seung to apologize, he's the one who missed your perfect pass."

"Sorry dude, but you would have caught it easily if you weren't admiring Jin," Seung pointed out with a mocking smile.

"Were you admiring me?" Seokjin asked Jungkook with a big smile.

"What else do I have to do at the moment since you forbid me from playing?" Jungkook said without trying to deny it. "It's good sometimes to be a spectator, I can try to copy your style to try to be the best."

"Oh no, you can't, even if you try!" Seokjin replied confidently.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because it's a style I've worked on for years, you won't be able to copy it unless you do magic."

"Like Jimin who came first in math?" Jungkook asked.

"It's not magic, it's work," Seokjin replied, picking up his ball and starting to juggle again.

"Do you really believe it Jin?" Jungkook asked wryly. "Your friend is almost as stupid as Taehyung."

"Please don't say bad things about my friends," Seokjin scolded him.

"These are facts! You've known them for a long time, you even were in the same class as them in middle school, does this suddenly excellent level at the end of the term seem plausible to you?"

Seokjinhad to admit he found it weird too but he just wanted to be happy for his friend and didn't try to look further unlike Jungkook for whom being the best mattered more than anything.

"He must have cheated," Jungkook added.

"Jimin isn't the type to cheat," Seokjin replied, suddenly stopping juggling to glare at Jungkook.

"Jin, sorry to remind you, but Jimin isn't exactly what you'd call a saint," Seung interjectedreminding her that Jimin had been her school bully as much as his.

"I don't need to be reminded, I haven't forgotten and I'm not saying he's a saint," Seokjin replied, "but he doesn't do bad things anymore and I know he doesn't cheat. Besides, it never bothered him not to get good grades."

"You mean getting lower grades than Taehyung?" Jungkook asked.

Seokjin suddenly seemed to think of something because indeed, Jimin had always had lower results than Taehyung.

"Before Jimin always obeyed Tae, maybe he is secretly very intelligent but he was preventing himself from getting good grades so that Tae would have better grades than him!"

"Maybe," Seung said, unconvinced.

Even less convinced, Jungkook gave another hypothesis:

"Maybe there was cheating on the exam and some students had access to the mathematics subject before others. That would explain why that idiot Heechan was ranked so highly. Otherwise, we will have to reconsider the possibility that magic exists."

"But how can we explain that Jimin received such help and not Taehyung?" Seung wondered, "after all, socially speaking Jimin's family is much less powerful than Taehyung's or yours, he could not have benefited from such preferential treatment while you do not benefit from it."

"This is what I have to find out," Jungkook declared, pensive.

Distraught by the accusations that Jungkook was making and that Seung seemed to be considering with attention, Seokjin hastened to intervene:

"Stop, listen to me both : what you say is impossible! Remember, on the first day at Eunma the director and the main education advisor both reminded that it is a school which advocates equality and which does not differentiate between students based on the power of their family!" 

"Well, I think we got a little fooled by this talk of equal opportunities and that we kind of forgot that money is power everywhere," Jungkook replied, frustrated with himself. "There is necessarily a hierarchy which has settled in the shadows and which means that Heechan must be third in the ranking without having the slightest logical mind and that his big brother is captain of the football team while he is far from being the best even among our elders."

He glanced at Heungmin, who was further down the field warming up with some other boys.

"You mean there would be corruption at school?" Seung asked following his gaze, disgusted, before adding : "If so you could benefit from it, your family is one of the richest."

"As if I want to succeed like that," Jungkook replied, sounding even more disgusted. "I work hard to succeed on my own and there is no way others are going to get ahead of me by cheating."

"Jimin and Tae don't cheat!" Seokjin persisted.

"It's obvious that Tae didn't cheat," Jungkook said, thinking back with satisfaction at Taehyung's position in the rankings which was very low and which did not make Taehyung his competitor, "but Jimin must have cheated and I intend to find out how."

Displeased to see that Jungkook continued to accuse Jimin, Seokjin turned to Seung and, grabbing him by the arm, said:

"Come on, let's join the rest of the team for the rest of the training."

"What, you want to leave me alone already?" Jungkook said.

Seokjin turned to Jungkook and said:

"I'm sorry but I think you fell on your head. You better go back to the dorm, take your medicine and rest, because this headache is stopping you from thinking straight."

Jungkook could see that Seokjin was sulking because of the accusations against his friend but himself was even more sulky because of his math ranking, so he decided to leave the field earlier than expected.

As he walked away from them, he whispered:

"Sorry Jin, but whether he's your friend or not, I'm going to expose what he did."