Praise Me || Jikook FF

Jimin, to say the least, hated his English class. It wasn’t that he was failing or that he didn’t enjoy English. As a matter of fact, he adored English and writing. Hell, English was his minor for college (Dance being his major, he knew it was probably not going to have anything to do with his career, but he couldn’t help himself. He loved dancing). So, he didn’t not like English. He just didn’t like his English class.

Why you ask? Well, because the people in his English class were awful.

The professor was an older, stern man who had a stick up his ass. He was clearly homophobic, which sucked for Jimin’s rainbow self, and he hated creativity. He didn’t like any self-expression or opinions. He wanted fact and majority rule. It was annoying to the free-spirited college student. He found himself not wanting to do essays for his professor because he felt like he either couldn’t find anything to write about that would get him a good grade, or that his professor would hate any idea regardless.

He also despised the other students in his class. None of his friends were with him in that class, so he felt like making some at the beginning of the semester. However, when he walked in the first day and looked around at everyone, he backtracked that idea, realizing everyone was either a stuck-up bitch or a conceded jock. So, he just went to his seat and decided he would be lonely the whole semester.

The one highlight of his class was when, twenty minutes in, the door would burst open and a kid would walk in, late. It was always the same guy. He was clearly a freshman or sophomore who somehow got into their class, and slept in constantly. Jimin understood the first few times, it was the beginning of a new semester and he had to be up for an eight AM class.

However, when he continued doing it, almost every day until November, Jimin understood less and less. Surely the guy would’ve gotten into a routine soon enough right?

His professor had quickly gotten fed up with the kid, as did his fellow classmates, but Jimin just found it entertaining.

The guy was pretty cute if he was being honest. He always wore skinny jeans and combat boots, with some kind of shirt that was too big on him, but somehow still showed off his broad figure. Him coming in late and blushing, saying a quiet sorry, and dashing to his seat a few rows down from Jimin just gave the older boy an excuse to look at him for a few moments almost every day.

Despite always being late, the guy clearly cared about passing the class. He would take notes on everything and always ask the girl next to him for the notes on whatever he had missed, to which she would roll her eyes but slide her paper over to him anyway.

Jimin often found himself being distracted by the younger boy. His focus would drift from how to properly use past and present tense in writing, to where the guy would be writing down a word, decide he didn’t like the way it looked, and erase it. Then, he would re-write it and erase it again. He would do this a few times, before deeming it worthy and leaving it alone.

Jimin thought he was cute, and gladly let himself be distracted by the mystery boy.

He wasn’t a mystery for long though.

Their professor had come in on a slow Monday morning and set all of his things down on his desk.

“Good morning class,” He grumbled, and everyone said good morning back in unison. That was another thing he made his class do that Jimin didn’t like. It was stupid in his opinion. He felt like he should say good morning if he wanted to say good morning, he didn’t like being told he had to say good morning to the man who gave him a seventy-three on an essay Jimin thought was some of his best work.

He rolled his eyes and slouched in his seat, already wanting to leave.

“Today I won’t be lecturing,” He told everyone. The students gasped, whispered quietly amongst themselves, and cheered. No one liked his lectures because they were long and boring. It was the first time he had ever said he wouldn’t be lecturing.

“Instead,” He began and picked up a paper from his stack of folders. “I am going to assign you a partner that you are to work with on an essay that is due in two weeks.”

Suddenly the happy sounds turned to groans and whines. Of course, they couldn’t just be let off the hook.

Jimin panicked a little at the word partner. He did not like working with other people. Don’t get him wrong, he was a social person and loved talking to people, but he didn’t like partner work. He would always get stuck doing all the work and still giving credit to whoever he worked with. It was painfully annoying and he didn’t enjoy it.

He pouted and leaned further back in his seat, regretting all of the choices he made in life that got him to this point.

“Okay,” The professor said, looking at the paper now. “The partners will be as follows: Jennett and Kyle, Mark and CJ, Sehun and Marcel-”

The lecture room door suddenly creaked open and in came the mystery boy, a grey hood over his head. He walked in and went over to his desk, mumbling a soft “Sorry.”

The professor didn’t wait for him to sit down, just continuing to read off names. Him coming in late had become just a normal part of every class.

“-Chance and Jackson, Mary and Nikkie, and Jimin and Jungkook,” The professor finished and put down the sheet of paper.

Jimin’s brows furrowed because who was Jungkook?

He hadn’t heard of anyone by that name. Then again, he didn’t really pay attention to his classmates so that was probably his fault. He glanced around the room, in search of anyone who looked like a Jungkook.

He saw other people getting up and sitting by their partners, and, after just a few moments, only he and mystery student were still looking around for their partner.

Jimin and the mystery guy made eye contact and Jimin got up, realizing that he was probably his partner. He felt his heart beat a little quicker at the prospect of working with the person who’s been his eye candy for the last four months. It was exciting and nerve-wracking.

He gathered his bag and notebook and walked over to the younger boy, who was just watching him. His stare wasn’t creepy or weird, just blatantly curious from what Jimin could tell.

He blushed a little under the younger’s gaze and finally took a spot at the empty desk beside him.

He cleared his throat and sat his bag down on the ground next to him. “I’m guessing you’re Jungkook?”

The boy nodded silently and Jimin pursed his lips, looking him over. He was somehow so much more good looking up close. His doe eyes were bigger and darker. His hair looked ridiculously soft, and his shoulders and chest were a bit broader. Jimin thought he looked manly yet cuddly in the big, grey sweatshirt. His jawline was sharp and lips pinker than pink itself. He looked at Jimin with so much intensity and interest, it was mesmerizing, to say the least.

“You’re Jimin?” Jungkook asked softly, still looking directly at him.

Jimin gulped and tried not to shiver at the way his name sounded coming from the boy’s lips. He really didn’t want to find him any hotter than he already did. Eye candy could not turn into a crush, he wouldn’t let it.

He nodded and found it in himself to smile, sticking out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Jungkook.”

The boy looked down at his hand for a moment, as if trying to figure out why Jimin put it in front of him in the first place, before he looks it in his own large, tan hand.

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” He mumbled, shaking Jimin’s hand.

The exchange in and of itself was a little awkward, sure, but Jimin was distracted by how much his manly hand did not match his cute, almost baby-like features. His hands were tanned and strong feeling. His fingers were long, slim, and actually looked well taken care of. Jimin fought the urge to shudder at the thought of what those hands could do to him.

The retracted their hands after a few moments and Jimin reached down and pulled out his pen from his bag. He flipped open his notebook and put the pen on his paper, before looking back up at Jungkook and giving him a half smile.

“I’m sure we’ll work well together,” He reassured both of them at once, before turning to their professor, who was watching as everyone introduced themselves to their partner. “Now we just have to wait for him to give us our prompt.”

Jungkook didn’t reply but that was fine because a moment later, their professor spoke.

“Alright, now that everyone has gotten paired up,” He began. “Let me tell you about your project.”

“You are to write a five-page essay about a topic that is controversial. It must be something that is of moral debate but, other than that, I do not care what it is about. You must use the databases online or the campus library to find four sources to discuss both sides of the controversy. I do not care who types what, so long as both of you do work. This will be due two weeks from now on Monday. Understood?”

Everyone said their replies and he nodded.

“Okay, great. Use these next ten minutes to decide on a topic and a time and place to work with one another.”

Then, everyone turned to their partner and began talking.

Jimin turned to face Jungkook and sighed, “Okay, what should our topic be about?”

He tried to rack his brain for a good, original idea, but couldn’t come up with anything. He figured, like always, he was going to be forced to be the one doing all of the work and coming up with the ideas, so his question was more so rhetorical than anything.

However, Jungkook piped up.

“What about marijuana legalization?” He asked, looking at Jimin.

Jimin looked up from his pen and gave him a surprised look. He didn’t expect to be given an answer, let alone a good one.

Jungkook must have taken his face as something bad, because he backtracked almost immediately, “I-I mean unless you think that’s a dumb idea. W-We can totally pick something else if you don’t want to-”

Jimin cut him off with a reassuring smile, “Oh, no, no, Jungkook. That’s an amazing idea. We should do that.”

He saw the boy’s eyes widen before he chuckled and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, okay. Good, that’s good. Okay.”

The older boy wrote down their topic idea and then looked back up at Jungkook, “When is a good time to meet? And where? I don’t have classes Friday, and I’m off work on Friday and Saturday.”

Jungkook thought about it for a moment and then said, “Friday sounds good, I guess. I think I have a football game on Saturday.”

“Okay,” Jimin nodded. “Do you wanna do it at my place? I don’t have a roommate to disturb my peace.”

He joked at the end and heard Jungkook chuckle at the comment before the boy looked up at him and nodded, “That sounds good.”

Jimin pursed his lips and nodded. “Do you want my number?”

Jungkook looked at him in an almost scandalous manner for a split second, before Jimin continued, “So I can send you my address?”

The younger boy’s wide eyes went back to normal and he laughed a breathy little laugh, “Oh, yeah, sure.”

The brunette got his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Jimin, who turned on his lock screen and tried not to awe at the cute background photo, which was of Jungkook in a football uniform, smiling with another boy, who looked a lot like Jungkook, was hugging him. It was probably his younger brother or something. They looked like they were on a field, a football goal and a bunch of grass behind them.

Jimin stopped himself from being distracted by the photo any longer and hit the phone button, which revealed a keypad to enter a number.

He quickly typed his number and saved himself as a contact in Jungkook’s phone.

He then locked the phone back and handed it to the younger boy.

At that exact moment, their professor said, “Everyone is now done I think. So, are all now free to go. I want your project in by Monday night at 11:59 PM.”

Everyone quickly got up and left, clearly happy to be leaving class early. Jimin and Jungkook were pretty much the same, but only a pinch slower, still kind of wanting to be near one another, whether they wanted to say it out loud or not.

“So,” Jimin began as he finished putting his things in his backpack, zipping it up, and slinging it over one shoulder. “You’ll text me?”

Jungkook smiled and looked up at him, finishing packing his own things. “Definitely.”

The older boy tried not to read too much into the comment and smiled back, before getting up and making his way to the door. He made sure to say goodbye before leaving though, throwing a little “see you Friday, Jungkook!” over his shoulder as he opened the door and exited out of it.

Jungkook watched his figure disappear, that smile still on his face. He thought the blond boy was cute and was no longer upset about being paired with someone for a project.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked over to the door, pulling out his phone from the back pocket he had put it in only a moment ago.

He unlocked it and bit his lip to conceal the grin fighting its way onto his face.

Jimin had saved his contact name in Jungkook’s phone as:

Jimin (That cute guy from English) 💕

Jungkook couldn’t help the smile working it’s way onto his face, in the end. It was officially official.

Jimin was cute.