~~~

"And that is why coral reefs are endangered. Your assignment is to create a model of a dying coral reef and to write a paper on how your coral was affected by pollution," Namjoon spoke to his class. "There's the time! Get out!" He said with a smile, gesturing to the door. After many kids started putting away their materials, he walked over to his desk, organizing papers and other teacherly things.

Jimin zipped up his backpack and stood up, ready to leave. As he was headed to the door, he suddenly had a question pop in his mind, making him turn back around and walk towards his teacher's desk.

"Professor Kim?"

"Oh please, Jimin. No one is here, you can call me Namjoon," he smiled again. "What's up?"

"Ok...Namjoon, how would the deaths of coral reefs affect ocean life?" He wondered.

"Well," Namjoon started, "the population of fish would decrease due to the lack of shelter they have. Not only fish, there are sponges, eels, sharks, jellyfish... corals are very important to marine life. Corals also regulate the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They have an algae which produces oxygen. If corals become extinct, a lot would be affected."

"That's so interesting," Jimin says as he pulls up a chair from a desk to sit across from his teacher. "Is there a way to save them?"

"Well...not exactly, I do have a theory thought."

"What is it?" Jimin asked, eyes wide. He's never really this interested in things, but ever since he began this class, he's fell in love with the ocean and it's species and yearns to know more about them since he can't physically be there to see.

"Well- ah nevermind, I couldn't possibly tell you."

"What? Why not?" Jimin questioned.

"There's no way you would believe me!" Namjoon chuckled, typing something onto his computer.

"Just tell me!" He whined.

"I couldn't."

"I'll tell Jin hyung that you're depriving me of my education!" Jimin threatened.

"Ok fine!" Namjoon sighed before reluctantly standing up and walking over to a shelf.

"What are you doing?" Jimin questioned.

"Jimin. Do you believe in miracles?" The said male was taken aback, not believing that this man of science would ask him such a thing.

"Huh?"

"Miracles," Namjoon continued as he grabbed a jar and turned around. Jimin could barely see what was inside as Namjoon walked to a student's desk in the lab that had a microscope on it. Jimin stood up and followed when Namjoon waved him over. "Do you believe in them?"

"I guess."

"Well how about metamorphosis?"

"I mean, yeah. Caterpillars turn to butterflies, tadpoles turn into frogs. What's your point?"

"What if they could be merged together to create something extraordinary?" Namjoon opened the jar and picked up a pair of tweezers that was sitting next to him. Jimins eyes widened when he saw what the man pulled out of the jar.

It was a piece of skin.

"What the heck?" Jimin questioned, making Namjoon chuckle softly.

"I know what you're thinking, it's a piece of skin. But just wait, it gets better." Namjoon placed the skin on the microscope plate and placed it under the microscope. He looked through the lens at the close up of the skin. He passed it over to Jimin to see.

"It looks like regular skin to me," the boy spoke, not seeing where this was going.

"Wait for it."

Namjoon picked up a dropper that was conveniently placed next to him and turned on the sink at the station. Water spewed out of the faucet with quickness, shocking Jimin and making him take a step back.

"Sorry, hehe, I should've warned you that the nobs are a little hard to control."

Namjoon sucked up some water with the dropper and poured a few drops over the skin. In exactly 10 seconds, it bubbled and started to change.

Jimins eyes widened again.

It was a scale.

A scale that he recognized as one of his own.

The brightness of the blue was dull, since it was no longer apart of him, yet Jimin still recognized it. How could he not? It was his scale.

Namjoon noticed his facial feature and decided to explain.

"I know. Beautiful isn't it?" The taller man smiled at his discovery. "I found it a couple months back at the beach near your house. I saw it glittering in the ocean, and once it dried off, it turned into skin. Ever since, I've been doing my own research on this, and I've found something else."

Namjoon dropped a few more drops of water over the scale as he noticed it was drying up. Then he picked up a small scalpel and cut the scale in half.

Jimin watched as the scale grew back its other half, as of it wasn't even cut off! He knew he could regenerate, but he didn't know that his scales could even after death! He was so shocked.

Jimin looked at the professor nervously, wondering how much he learned from his research. This could be bad! This could be very bad! What if he told colleagues? People would want to know what species produced this metamorphic matter. He had to do something!

"I know how crazy this looks, but if I could find the animal that produced this and extract some stem cells, i think there could be a cure for not only the coral reefs, but other sick species as well!" Namjoon looked so optimistic, so proud of what he'd found, that Jimin almost let him keep the scale, but he knew he couldn't leave it here.

At that moment, Namjoon got a call.

"Oh! Its Jin! Excuse me, please."

This was his chance, he waited until Namjoon walked out of the room to look at his scale, it was so pretty as it sparkled under the light. Jimin was so sad, since it was a part of him at one point, but he had to destroy it, and fast.

He lifted his hand, focused at the scale, and slowly began to close his fingers into a fist, drying the water out of the scale. It turned back into skin, but Jimin couldn't stop there. He continued with his hand, coming to a close when his fist was closed. The piece of skin charred until it was too burnt to save.

He heard the door close and quickly dropped his hand, looking back at Namjoon as the professor moved back over to the station with a smile. A smile which went away after not seeing the scale on the table, and instead a burnt piece of skin.

"What happened?!" He cried, looking up to Jimin before focusing all his attention on the skin. He looked through the lens again.

"I don't know! I just looked up! Oh I'm so sorry!" Jimin said apologetically.

"Why are you apologizing, you couldn't have done this," Namjoon said with a sad tone.

"Yeah, how could I have? Maybe it couldn't handle all this light for so long?" Jimin suggested, hoping it was a good enough reason for something like that to burn.

"Maybe, or maybe I was stupid and put the microscope in the sun's ray, which could've magnified the affect of the light from the sun, causing my beautiful discovery to burn and take my heart with it." Namjoon sighed, not knowing what to do now. This was his life for the last couple of months, what did he have to work for now?

Jimin awkwardly smiled, hoping that Namjoon's last statement was a joke.

"At least I got to share it with someone before it passed. Don't tell anyone about this. If anyone tries to find another sample and claims that they discovered it instead of me, I dont know what I would do."

Jimin just nodded his head. He was definitely not going to tell anybody.

"Well," Jimin began, "thank you for answering my question and showing me that wonderful thing but, I actually have to be somewhere. Yeah, ok bye!" He smiled and waved before running out of the class, leaving Namjoon alone with his ruined future.

~~~

Jimin walks up to Yoongi's studio and prepares to knock before he hears laughter beyond the door. His hand paused in the air as he wondered who was in there with Yoongi. His curiosity finally got the better of him and instead of knocking, he just pushed in the password. The door unlocked and he walked in, startling the two men in the studio.

Jimin let out a breath of relief.

It was just Hoseok.

He's been glad that his boyfriend and best friend were getting along these days, it makes his heart swell with joy.

"Hey guys!"

For the rest of the night, Jimin and Hoseok did homework while listening to Yoongi make beats. Hoseok was even inspired to dance for a minute, Yoongi's music being felt in his soul.

Jimin just smiled at him. At them.

He loved this moment.

He didn't want it to end.

~~~~~~~

1508 words

This is way overdue and I'm so sorry ;-;

Ik daechwita doesnt fit this chapter but I must make it the song of the chap you know lmao

LOVE YOU ALL STAY SAFE