“tae tae, s.o.s,” jimin whispers in despair, staring warily at the half sheet of pop quiz sitting before him as if the little piece of paper is just waiting to explode at any given moment.

taehyung continues to scribble on his own paper, adamantly ignoring jimin’s cries for help.

glancing up at the clock hanging above the whiteboard, jimin realizes an entire fifteen minutes have passed, and the only thing he’s written so far is his name on the top right corner.

only forty-five minutes left.

jimin’s eyes wander back to his quiz paper, reading the first question for the umpteenth time, and still not understanding what it means.

correlation coefficient? but isn’t that like a math kinda thing?

jimin had been so sure he was in an environmental science class?

apparently not.

“help,” jimin whimpers silently, desperately, tugging at the hem of his sleeve in agitation.

if jimin doesn’t pass the pop quiz, again, he’ll be dropped out of discussion for sure. and jimin can’t risk getting dropped out of another class. he’ll be kicked out of school for sure.

how disappointed his parents would be.

“tae please,” jimin is nearly in panic mode now, breath coming and going in quick, shallow pants.

with a heavy sigh, taehyung decides to take pity and repositions his arm so that jimin can take a quick peek at his paper.

“thankyouthankyouthankyou,” jimin exhales a shaky breath with relief, subtly leaning over to glance at whatever taehyung has written on his quiz paper so far.

‘who the hell is even this pearson guy anyways?’ jimin wonders to himself, alternately stealing glances at taehyung’s answers and scribbling reworded versions of them on his own paper.

fourteen minutes before the hour, jimin has managed to fill out all but one of the five, four-part, questions that the t.a. had passed out in the beginning of class.

feeling a small spark of victory in his chest, jimin glances over to peek at the final answer on taehyung’s paper, almost finished, when something very solid comes slicing through the air, making contact with the back of jimin’s head and startling him out of his seat.

“oh,” jimin’s eye turn round and wide, lips slightly parted and gasping for air like a fish out of water.

despair once again settles in the pit of his stomach as jimin comes face to face with the class t.a., grad student min yoongi, slowly swatting a rolled up stack of worksheets into his palm, a not so amused expression on his face.

“i’ll be taking that, thanks,” yoongi says in a low voice, plucking the unfinished pop quiz off of jimin’s desk.

the bottom of jimin’s stomach plunges, suddenly feeling dizzy and nauseous. he stares beseechingly into yoongi’s eyes, begging, pleading, but unable to push a single coherent word passed his clamped lips.

the fact that the entire class is now staring at him doesn’t even register into jimin’s chaotic thoughts, knees giving way as he topples back down into his seat.

“ten more minutes,” yoongi calls, turning away to head back to the front of the room. the rest of the class turn back to their own quiz papers, rushing to jot down whatever finishing touch they need to before the time is up.

jimin whimpers, and yoongi glances back over his shoulder.

“see me after discussion,” yoongi says quietly, and jimin curls in on himself in a mixture of mortification and terror.

those ten minutes melt on by more quickly than any other ten minutes jimin has had to wait. and soon enough, the rest of the class are packing their belongings and filing up to the front desk to set their quizzes down in a neat pile before heading out the door.

jimin waits until the others slowly amble out the door, taehyung leaving last with a sympathetic look and a comforting hand on jimin’s shoulder.

“see you back at the dorms,” taehyung whispers before taking his leave, leaving a loud, ringing silence in his wake.

jimin whines into his desk, cheek pressed into the cool, wooden surface.

a soft clearing of throat makes jimin’s head pop up, startled, wide eyes staring across the room to find yoongi staring back expectantly.

jimin slowly rises from his desk, feet dragging across the floor as he makes his way down the aisles of desks, eyes glued to his shoes.

jimin stops a few feet in front of yoongi’s desk, hands clasped in front of him to prevent his jittery fingers from lashing out unexpectedly.

“so what happened?” yoongi’s voice is soft, but it stings jimin like a whip.

a mixture of words become lodged in jimin’s throat, resulting in a sort of gurgled cry.

“why were you cheating off of taehyung’s paper?” yoongi continues, jimin desperately avoiding his gaze.

yoongi sighs, rubbing his face tiredly with his hands.

jimin shoots a furtive glance, chin still tucked into his chest.

yoongi curls his finger, indicating for jimin to come closer.

jimin takes a cautious step forward.

with an irritated huff, yoongi’s hand shoots out to grab a fistful of jimin’s shirt, tugging him closer until jimin is leaning over the stack of quiz papers, palms flat against the desk top to prevent himself from falling over. jimin is almost nose to nose with yoongi, going slightly cross eyed from the proximity.

“again, why were you cheating off of taehyung’s paper?” yoongi repeats in a delicate voice, and jimin gulps, breath stuttering. “i thought i taught you better than that. what did i spend an entire weekend tutoring you for, if you’re not going to pay attention?”

“i tried!” jimin suddenly bursts out, and it’s yoongi’s turn to flinch. “i tried to remember all the stuff you taught me, i did!”

yoongi releases his hold on jimin’s shirt.

“but?”

“it’s kind of hard to remember things when your face keeps popping into my mind,” jimin forces out, cheeks burning pink from embarrassment. “i try to remember the things you said, but i keep thinking about… things,” he finishes lamely.

yoongi blinks in confusion.

then, a slow smile begins to spread across his cheeks.

“don’t you dare,” jimin warns, straightening up and crossing his arms.

yoongi can’t help the laugh that bubbles in his chest, jimin cringing away, wishing the floor would open up and swallow him whole.

“stop laughing at me,” jimin stomps his foot on the floor, tears of frustration wetting the corners of his eyes.

damn those stupid tears.

one manages to leak passed jimin’s defenses, and yoongi’s laughter wheedles down into a light cough, trying to catch his breath.

“come here,” yoongi smiles warmly, waving jimin over.

jimin shakes his head, feet planted firmly to the spot, arms crossed defensively over his chest.

yoongi sighs, slowly rising from his chair and making his way around the desk until he’s standing right in front of jimin.

jimin stares determinedly at the floor, blinking away the angry tears as he keeps his eyes trained on the ugly maroon carpet.

“jimin,” yoongi’s voice is soft, kind.

jimin shakes his head, lips pursed in a pout.

with another heavy sigh, yoongi wraps his arms around jimin’s shoulders, pulling the younger into his chest.

resistance lasts approximately about the span of a millisecond before jimin presses his face into yoongi’s chest, and yoongi tucks his chin into jimin’s fluffy, dark hair.

“i guess i went about the wrong way tutoring you,” yoongi teases, and a strangled laugh escapes through jimin’s lips pressed into yoongi’s shirt.

“i’m sorry, my fault,” yoongi’s arms tighten, enveloping jimin in a protective hug. “i’ll give you some extra credit assignments to make up for this one.”

“thanks,” jimin’s words are muffled by the fabric of yoongi’s shirt.

“and next time, we’ll keep it pg.”