"Kim Taehyung."

"Kim Taehyung."

"KIM TAEHYUNG."

Tae jerked, startling awake to the yelling of his name. "Y-yes?"

"The answer, please, Taehyung," the teacher said, her arms folded as she tapped her index finger against her other arm.

Taehyung blinked and stared at the board. "Uh...it's..."

Jungkook coughed and mumbled something under his breath.

"7 pi squared."

The teacher raised her eyebrow. "This is trigonometry, Taehyung, not the area of a circle." She made a sound of disappointment in her throat before calling on someone else as Jungkook murmured a quiet, "Shit."

Taehyung hesitated before whispering, "Thanks for trying."

"I wish I actually knew what the answer is, but it looks like you had more of an idea than me and you've been asleep for the whole lesson," Jungkook whispered back, deflated.

The two went back to their quiet companionship, but both Taehyung and Jungkook couldn't help but feel their hearts beating a little faster. Slowly but surely, their relationship was mending, whether due to their brief fight or due to Jimin's return. They were speaking to each other in school, even if they were only small dialogues about a math problem.

Still. It was something.

***

Jungkook sat alone at a lunch table in the back. He knew that he could be popular if he tried. He was attractive enough, and he could be funny when he wanted to. But he hadn't felt like doing any of that, not for a long time. Partially because it was a lot of effort, always keeping up with people, always having the next joke ready, always prepared to smile and talk and know the name of every person he saw.

But also because he remembered the last time he'd truly been popular.

Pre-school.

He felt ridiculous whenever he thought about it because it was such an insignificant thing, but he couldn't forget about it. Because it was his popularity - his need to be liked and appreciated and given attention - that had led him to neglect Jimin.

And he couldn't ever forgive himself, not even if Namjoon forgave him, not even if Tae forgave him, not even if Jimin forgave him.

It would always be his fault, and he knew that.

And so whenever he thought of trying to get in with the popular crowd, he shuddered away from the thought.

Jimin might be coming back to school with us soon, he thought to himself, staring down at his lunch. He said he's been doing really well in all of his subjects with his tutor. He might be in my class. What am I going to do? How am I going to treat him? If I make other friends, won't I just be neglecting him again? What if something happens, if someone picks on him and I'm not there because I'm hanging out with someone? Who will protect Jimin?

"Mind if I sit here?"

Jungkook looked up.

Of course. Tae will.

"Um...-"

"It wasn't really a question," Tae said, already sitting down. "Or if it was, the only correct answer was yes. I'm your brother for one, and you don't own the table for two, and I'll sit where I want for three."

"Oh."

Tae smiled tensely at Jungkook, still trying to get back into their old rhythm of how they used to be, back when they weren't at each other's throats all the time or trying to avoid the other altogether. He took a bite of his sandwich, and he and Jungkook sat in relatively uncomfortable silence for several minutes. Then, "Thanks again for that thing in math class. I owe you one."

"I didn't even have the answer right."

"But you tried," Tae countered.

More silence.

"Okay, look, this is me trying to not make things awkward between us but you're really not helping me out here," Tae finally said, and Jungkook jolted in his seat.

"Oh...um...okay..." Jungkook struggled to think of something they could talk about. "Um, why were you asleep in math class in the first place? I thought you liked all that stuff?"

Tae looked surprised that Jungkook even remembered his interests. "Well...I don't know," Tae said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down. "I just...it all seemed so important when Jimin was- you know, not here. Like the teacher might tell me the answer at any moment, and I had to be listening every second in case I missed the important clue that would solve everything." He laughed to himself. "Stupid, I know."

It's not stupid, Jungkook wanted to say, but he kept his mouth closed, still not completely comfortable talking to Tae again.

"And...well...now that Jimin is back, it all just...I don't know. It's not a clue anymore, it's just geometry. If I figure out the answer, I'm not bringing Jimin back home, I'm just finding the sin of x. It's not...it's not special anymore. It's just boring."

"Join the club," Jungkook mumbled, and Tae was startled into laughing. Jungkook flushed, looking down and tapping his shoes together. "At least you're smart. Even if it's boring, it's all easy for you."

"Maybe, but only if I stay awake," Tae said, and the two looked at each other and smiled.

"No, but really, I had no idea what she was asking," Tae said after a moment, and Jungkook laughed.

"Me too!"

"Seriously, Jungkook, it was a triangle. Where did you even get pi from?"

"Maybe if you would've been awake, I would have told you."

"Hey! I'm your hyung!"

"By like a minute!"

"Ask Jimin! The minute counts! Because he was-"

"Born in Busan first! Shut up, I already know!"

They two yelled at each other, not even realizing how easily their words were coming out, and other students stopped to stare.

"Do they even know each other?"

"I thought they never talked?"

"Didn't they hate each other?"

But neither Tae nor Jungkook paid attention to anyone else, because they had something they hadn't had in a long time: each other.

"I can't wait for Jimin to come back," Tae said, grinning, and Jungkook smiled as well.

"I'm a little nervous," Jungkook admitted, speaking freely, and Tae looped an arm across his shoulder.

"It's going to be fine, Jungkook! It wasn't your fault, and Jimin knows that. Just think how fun it will be for all of us to be in the same class again!"

"Yeah, but I bet he's going to be super shy. You know how he is. What if the other kids don't like him?"

"Then we'll beat them up."

"But Jimin will be mad if he finds out."

"Then we won't let him find out," Tae said, giving Jungkook a look.

Jungkook slowly nodded. "All right."

"I feel bad for him," Tae said after a while.

"Why?"

"Because he's so short and he still has a bit of a baby face. None of the girls are going to like him. He just doesn't look very manly."

"Yeah, I guess he doesn't really have any muscle on him. Oh well," Jungkook said, shrugging. "Maybe he'll get more muscular later or something."

"Yeah, right."