"i mean... she's not so bad," namjoon said, taking a sip of his coffee.

namjoon and jimin were sitting at the café together, for the fourth time that week. not a day passed where they didn't visit it. a plain black coffee, a hot chocolate with extra whip, and a piece of danish. that was now the routine and both of them seemed beyond happy with it, honestly.

namjoon was letting his guard down a little and the both of them seemed a bit more... comfortable.

for once, namjoon actually saw the possibility of having a friendship with someone.

a real friendship.

he hadn't ever seen anyone fight so hard to be his friend like jimin did. he hadn't ever seen someone care enough to fight for him.

"i knew it," jimin said, smirking.

"what?"

"you totally have the hots for her, don't you?"

namjoon flinched.

sure, he thought their sociology teacher was smart, bold. but he never got anywhere- even close- to thinking of her romantically.

"no, no... it's not like that."

"not like that?" jimin asked, smirking.

"i mean..," namjoon felt flustered, "she's intelligent and kind, and outgoing..."

"but?"

"but... she's... she's not... my type," namjoon said, looking down at the floor.

"your type?" jimin chuckled, "the great kim namjoon has a type now? please, enlighten me."

namjoon just sat there, not answering him.

"fine," jimin said, laughing a little, "i'll drop it."

jimin knew namjoon wasn't interested in their teacher. but, what he didn't know, was that it had nothing to do with the women's personality. in fact, he found outgoing and loud people rather alluring. the real reason he had no attraction to her, to put it simply, was that she was a woman.

namjoon had known he wasn't straight for awhile now, but he hadn't ever said it out loud before. he hated to admit it, but he was honestly ashamed of it. it's not like he wasn't accepting of homosexuality- he always thought it was completely fine his entire life. he would be fine being attracted to men if society hadn't pushed him into such a box and made him feel like he was so different. made him feel like... like he was all alone.

his whole life he just wanted to blend in, be like everyone else. but now with this huge weight on his shoulders, he honestly felt like that was impossible.

"namjoon?" jimin asked, seeing the boy staring off into space.

joon flinched.

"s-sorry. i was just thinking."

"about what? some poem you're working on?" jimin asked, laughing, "i wish i were smart like you. it's very attractive."

namjoon jerked his head up from his lap, seeing jimin not pay any mind to what he said, mindlessly sipping his hot chocolate.

he felt heat travel to his face, blushing wildly.

"i'm... i'm really not..," he said, smiling and looking back to the floor.

"uhm, excuse me?" jimin said, becoming jokingly offended.

he reached over to joon's book bag that was sitting in the chair next to him and pulled out a notebook.

"jimin, don't!" namjoon said, embarrassed, quickly reaching for it.

but it was too late. jimin was already reading the poem he wrote aloud.

"a caged bird," jimin read, a smile on his face, "it wants nothing but to be free. it wants to fly away, feel the wind, which lets him soar. it wants the taste of freedom again, to have no boundaries. but those feelings of freedom and privilege seem so far away now. so far gone. thus, in the cage he stays, despondent, waiting for someone to open it and set him free."

jimin looked up at joon, the smile wiped from his face.

namjoon's face was bright red, feeling beyond embarrassed.

"namjoon," jimin started, "this is beautiful."

he stared down at the words namjoon had written on the page, running his hand over them.

"it's nothing, really," namjoon said, grabbing the notebook back, finally, "it was just a rough draft for the creative writing assignment. it's sloppy and-"

"no!" jimin said, not believing what he was hearing, "don't talk so little about your work! that was amazing, joon! people need to see that!"

namjoon shoved the notebook into his bag, shaking his head.

"no, no. it's nothing, jimin, i swear. it took me five minutes,"

that was a lie. it took him days to get it just the way he wanted.

namjoon continued babbling on, desperately trying to get jimin to drop it and forget he ever read the poem.

"you're gonna be a writer one day, namjoon. i know it. that's what you want, isn't it?"

namjoon just sighed, admitting defeat and nodding.

"i want to like... write poetry," he said, embarrassed.

"that's... that's amazing, joon. you'll be great."

namjoon just blushed, once again.

"thank you," he said, not being used to receiving such kindness.

it was silent for a moment, both of them finishing up their drinks.

"jimin?" namjoon asked, breaking the silence.

"yeah?"

"um..," namjoon started, shyly, "what do you want to do? like... after college."

jimin just laughed, shaking his head.

"honestly? i have no idea," jimin said, "i thought i wanted to do something in writing, but now that i'm actually doing it... i don't know. i'm not too worried about it, though. i'll figure it out."

namjoon nodded.

"i'm sure... i'm sure you're a great writer. if you don't enjoy doing it, though, then you should find something else. something that makes you... happy."

jimin looked up at namjoon, meeting eyes with him.

looking namjoon in the eye was not a usual occurrence and jimin could have sworn he saw his eyes sparkle.

"yeah, you're right," he said, smiling.

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chapter 3 is complete !

im almost finished with the next chapter and i'm really liking it so far 👀