~엄마, 지민이 집에 오면 괜찮아요?

   "Mom?" Taehyung called as he let the door close behind him.

   "At the table, Taehyung," She answered. Taehyung marched into the kitchen, hanging his backpack on the back of a chair. "How was school?"

   "Pretty normal, pretty boring. How was work?" He untied his shoes while he spoke. His mother had clearly just returned home, her blazer discarded and hung neatly over the back of the chair she sat in, her black heels still on her feet.

   "All the same. Numbers and typing. Being an accountant is probably the most boring job on earth and I regret paying money to go to college for it." She smiled while she spoke, but she meant her words.

    "Noted," Taehyung remarked. "Can I have Jimin over tonight?"

   "Sure. Is he going to sleep over?" Taehyung shook his head in response.

   "We're just gonna do homework and make bracelets or something," Taehyung clarified, shrugging his shoulders.

   "That's fine. He can have dinner with us," She offered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. The boy nodded and stood.

   "I'm gonna go get him." He left the house again, stepping out into the yard and waving Jimin over from where he sat, waiting, on his porch. Jimin strolled into his yard and followed Taehyung inside. Jimin had changed his clothes, now in a pair of shorts instead of the painted jeans he wore to school that day, Taehyung hadn't changed.

   The two entered the house, walking directly into the kitchen. Jimin offered Taehyung's mother a polite nod. "Hi, Mrs. Kim," He greeted.

   "Hey, Jimin, how are you?" She responded pleasantly, always happy to see the neighbor boy.

   "Good, but I'm about to be crying when we start doing chemistry homework," He joked, and Taehyung nodded, sympathizing.

   "Chemistry is rough." She grimaced. "You probably won't even use it ever again. I just need you to do enough to pass, and beyond that you can decide how hard you wanna work." She stood, and ruffled Taehyung's fluffy hair.

   "Thanks, mom, that's very  encouraging," Taehyung commented, his mother smiled. "Welp, let's go cry, Jimin." Jimin laughed and nodded, following Taehyung upstairs once he'd slipped his backpack off the chair. Taehyung opened the door of his room and flopped onto his bed, yawning quietly, his backpack falling to the carpet with a quiet thud.

    "Stupid chemistry," Jimin griped.

   "Let's get it over with," Taehyung sighed and sat up to slide his books out of his backpack. "Valence electrons... I hate these things." He tapped on the textbook with the eraser of his pencil, annoyed already.

   Jimin slid onto his stomach and read alongside Taehyung, writing down a few sentences as notes. Taehyung did the same. Their chemistry teacher had assigned more work than usual, and of course it had to be a difficult and confusing topic.

   "Okay, I'm so confused. I'm gonna draw frogs until I understand." Taehyung shook his head in confusion, a puff of air slipping through his teeth. Jimin playfully smacked his head.

   "I'm confused too; you gotta at least try to figure it out with me!"

   "Alright fineeee, I'll try." He glanced back down at the text. "What even is a subshell? Did they actually tell us?"

   "Um... I really feel like I should know what that is. They've used that word so many times," Jimin stated while Taehyung flipped back through the textbook to find a definition. Their study session continued for an hour or two, until they'd stuffed their brains full of information and couldn't shove any more in.

   Taehyung flicked his textbook shut and kicked it away, sprawling out on the floor. "My brain is so tired," He mumbled, voice muffled by the carpet. Jimin couldn't figure out what he'd said.

   "What?"

    "I said," Taehyung rolled over. "My brain is tired."

   "Oh. Mine too. Let's do something that isn't homework, now." 

   "Let's make bracelets! I got those new beads a couple days ago and I wanna use 'em." Taehyung pulled a clear, plastic case of beads out of his closet and clicked it open. He scooped up a handful of his new, rainbow-striped beads and let them fall from his fingers to the carpet.

   Jimin scooted closer and fumbled with a strand of string, trying to thread a few colorful beads onto it. "So," He started as he slid on his first bead. "You like Jeongguk?" 

   "We're not done talking about this?" Taehyung sighed, secretly smiling. Jimin shook his head.

   "No, we're not. You said he was cute. You like him?"

   "Keep your voice down!" Taehyung chided, worried that his mother might hear Jimin from downstairs. "Anyways, I don't know." Taehyung shrugged while he tied one end of his string. "I've hardly spoken to him. He's very pretty, but I can't say for sure until I get to know him."

   "You should talk to him then!"

  "Maybe."

   "Just maybe? Why? Are you shy~"

   "Maybe."

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aaaa my laptop is gonna dieeeeee