Yoongi took his seat in the back corner of the classroom. He liked it back there because he didn't have the pressure of everyone looking at him. Instead, he could see everything, and no one could see him.

The teacher let him sit there because he had "a smaller radius of destruction." Whatever that meant.

He didn't really mind though. Most of the kids in his class were either boring or stupid. They simply weren't interesting enough to catch his notice.

He didn't actually know the names of anyone in his class. Although that probably had more to do with sleeping than negligence on his own part.

"-no! Red is the best!"

"Black!"

"Red!"

The two boys turned to him expectantly, and Yoongi just blinked, having missed the conversation.

"Well? Which is it?" they asked in unison.

"Which is what?" Yoongi asked, frowning.

The boy who sat in front of him sighed. "Which color is the best. It's red. Say red."

"No, the best color is black. Tell him, Yoongi!"

Yoongi just shrugged. "Black?"

"Haha! I win, Kihyun!"

"Shut it, Wonho! That's just one opinion!"

"Boys in the back!" the teacher shouted, and they got quiet. "Either be quiet and respectful during class, or you can go and sit out in the hallway."

Kihyun and Wonho sank down in their seats a little. They were the self-proclaimed "bad boys" of the first grade class (which really just meant that they drank their juice box without using a straw), but they were scared of actual punishment.

A little while later in class, the one ahead of Yoongi - Kihyun? - started humming, and Wonho picked up the rhythm and joined in.

Yoongi was surprised.

Not that they were humming, necessarily, but that the music was actually good.

They stopped humming when the teacher glared at them, but whenever she looked away, they started again.

Finally, the teacher got frustrated to the point where she handed out coloring materials. "You have half an hour to draw a picture. Then we'll take a class vote and hang up the best one on the picture wall."

Yoongi stared down at his sheet of paper. Normally, he liked coloring. But normally, he was sharing crayons with Jin, Hobi, Jimin, Tae, and Kookie. He didn't like coloring at his own desk without five other pairs of hands always trying to steal the blue.

And another thing. The paper his teacher had handed out had a design already on it. Everybody had the same image, a pumpkin (because the teachers decided that skeletons were too scary for first graders).

Yoongi didn't like it when he had to color what somebody else wanted him to color. He wanted to make his own picture, not a stupid pumpkin. He didn't even like pumpkins.

As soon as the teacher passed out crayons, everybody made sure to hold them in their hand so Yoongi didn't steal them (as he'd done on plenty of numerous occasions).

Yoongi just stared at the paper. He knew that a pumpkin was supposed to be orange. The leaves were supposed to be green. The eyes and mouth were supposed to be black.

But he didn't want to do what he was supposed to do. It was so boring.

School in general was boring to him.

Instead, he took his black crayon - the only crayon the teacher had given him since it was the only color he ever used - and worked on words to a song instead, writing his way right across the pumpkin, ignoring the lines.

Then his teacher came by and took his sheet away, giving him a new pumpkin, and told him to color more seriously.

Yoongi just rolled his eyes and started again, coloring the way she wanted him to, but he thought it was stupid. He finally finished shading in the pumpkin, only because it was all black, it only appeared to be the silhouette of a pumpkin rather than the actual thing.

His teacher came to collect everyone's and stopped at Yoongi's desk. "Yours is wrong."

"What?" he asked, frowning. He knew the teacher didn't like him (probably for good reason), but he didn't understand what he'd done wrong this time. Usually, he knew. Or at least had an inkling.

"You didn't color inside the lines. See? Here. You colored outside the lines," she said, and went on to collect Kihyun's and Wonho's papers, leaving Yoongi's on his desk.

"It's okay," Wonho said, turning to Yoongi. "She just doesn't want yours to win, which it totally would because it looks awesome."

"Okay," Yoongi said, but it wasn't really okay. He wanted to be liked. Somewhat. He wouldn't mind it if his pumpkin did win. But just because he'd stabbed someone with a pen one time and just because he'd threatened his classmates a few times and just because he'd sworn and rapped in class once or twice-

Well, maybe Yoongi understood why he was being excluded.

The teacher hung all the good pumpkins on the board and smiled, asking for all the students to vote.

"Everyone gets one vote," she said.

Yoongi wasn't really paying attention. Wonho and Kihyun were talking about music, and he was eavesdropping without trying to appear as though he were eavesdropping.

Then all the other students got up and went to put tally marks under their favorite. Yoongi was going to remain seated but Wonho again turned to him.

"Vote for mine!" he said excitedly, grinning. "It's the one with tattoos!"

"No! Vote for mine!" Kihyun argued. "Mine has a tail."

Yoongi shrugged and went up and voted for both of them.

Then the teacher told him he was doing it wrong again and erased his votes.

Yoongi just sighed and sat back down. He was tired of being "wrong."

He laid his head down on his desk.

When will class be over?

He woke up to the sound of the bell. He moved slowly, sluggishly, before remembering that Jin was probably waiting for him. Then he hurried up, shoving his books in his back and quickly exiting the classroom without bothering to figure out what he'd missed.

Almost immediately as he stepped outside of his classroom, Yoongi felt an elbow link with his, and he turned to see his hyung smiling at him.

"How'd your day go?" Jin asked, smiling at Yoongi, who looked down at the ground, scuffing the sole of his school against the worn tile.

"Not well. The kids won't talk to me because they're afraid I'm going to stab them with a pen or steal their crayons." For good reason. But only because they were annoying me.

Jin clucked his tongue. "Yoongi, that's not good! You have to make friends!" He turned to face Yoongi. "I'm friends with everyone in my class! It makes school so much more fun! Promise me you'll try to make friends tomorrow?"

Yoongi sighed, looking away from Jin for a moment. He knew that Jin was popular, but that was because Jin was basically perfect, whereas Yoongi was always wrong. "All right. I'll try tomorrow." He paused, thinking back to class. "There are two brothers who sit next to me, Kihyun and Wonho. They were talking about music. I wanted to talk to them but I was afraid. Maybe I'll try talking to them tomorrow." Or maybe I'll just tell that to Jin so he'll get off my back and go back to his perfect world where everybody loves him and I'm just the brother who's always screwing things up.

Jin smiled at him like he was proud of him. Why? Why are you proud of me? I mess everything up. I'm always in trouble. I'm always wrong. "You should! I bet you'll make friends in no time. You should rap for them!"

So they can make fun of me? Yoongi paused, trying to think of a way to phrase his words so Jin wouldn't get mad at him or frustrated with him. "Do you think...they would like that?"

Jin nodded enthusiastically. Again, why are you so worried about me? Shouldn't you be thinking about all of your friends? Why waste your time on me? I'm nobody. "Definitely! And if they don't, you don't need them."

Yoongi smiled. Okay. I'll go along with it to make you happy. But you're not in my class. You can't worry about me all the time. You can't watch over me every second. When you're gone, how are you going to make me perfect like you? When you're gone, all that will be left is me. "You're right. Okay. I'll talk to them tomorrow."

Jin smiled. He believed Yoongi. He always believed Yoongi. He had no reason not to.

It wasn't that Yoongi didn't want Jin to be proud of him. He did, just...he wanted it to be on his own terms.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you! I got in trouble again today," Jin said, laughing, and Yoongi rolled his eyes, grateful for something to relieve the tension.

"Did you take someone's juice again?"

Jin smiled. "They gave it to me! I swear! It was cherry flavor, too."

"Oh. Well, if it was cherry flavor..." Guess what, hyung? I got in trouble too. I'm always in trouble.

"Exactly!"

"How did school go? Are you guys making friends?" Namjoon asked, turning back and smiling at Yoongi. Yoongi looked away.

Jin smiled brightly. "It was great! I made lots of friends!"

Yoongi shrugged. "It was all right, I guess."

"Did you guys stay out of trouble?" Namjoon asked, raising his eyebrow and looking back and forth between the two of them.

Jin giggled. "Of course!" He looked back and winked at Yoongi, who tried to wink back at him. Or tried to.

"Of course," Yoongi echoed hollowly. How am I supposed to make friends? Nobody wants to deal with me. I'm too much work. I'm too weird. I'm too much trouble.

Namjoon smiled. "Good job." Then he started driving.

Yoongi stared at the rug that was still on the floor of the car.

Why didn't I bring that in with me?

I could have used it as a pillow.

Or a friend.

Yoongi looked up at Jin, who turned to smile back at him.

I'll make friends.

Just for Jin.

To make him proud of me.

Then I'll steal his dessert so he doesn't suspect anything.