Paper Hearts & Paused Glances

The worst words in any high school class?

“Pair project.”

Especially when you're Jeon Jungkook, who had planned to spend the week quietly vanishing into the background.

And especially when Kim Taehyung turned around the moment the teacher said, "Find a partner," and stared at him like fate had rolled the dice and smiled.

“Wanna pair up?” Taehyung asked, too fast.

Jungkook blinked.

He didn’t answer right away.

Because his brain was suddenly full of static and his heart was doing that annoying thing again—the one where it beat too loud, too fast, for no logical reason.

He saw the tiny shift in Taehyung’s face—hope, then hesitation, then the shadow of oh, never mind—and that was enough.

“…Yeah,” Jungkook mumbled finally. “Okay.”

---

They met after school in the library, side by side at a quiet corner table, surrounded by the smell of old books and awkward air.

“I’m not gonna bite,” Taehyung joked, pulling out a notebook.

Jungkook’s ears turned red. “I didn’t say you would.”

“Then why do you look like I did?”

He didn’t answer. Just stared down at his blank page.

Taehyung’s smile faltered a little. “Did I do something wrong?”

Jungkook looked up sharply. “What? No. You didn’t.”

“Then why are you always running away?” Taehyung’s voice cracked, just a little.

The question sat between them, heavy and raw.

Jungkook opened his mouth. Closed it again. His throat tightened.

Because he wanted to say I’m scared or you make me feel too much or I don’t know how to be around people like you.

Instead, he said nothing.

And Taehyung looked away.

---

Across campus, the art room smelled like turpentine and dried acrylic.

Jimin was waiting beside a canvas that wasn’t his.

Yoongi had been asked to help with sound design for the upcoming exhibit.

Jimin had volunteered to paint the visuals.

Neither of them had volunteered to work together.

But the teacher insisted.

“I won’t bite either, you know,” Jimin said, echoing Taehyung without knowing it, as he dipped his brush in blue.

Yoongi didn’t respond. Just unpacked his laptop in silence.

“Why do you always look like you’re holding back something?” Jimin asked quietly, not looking at him.

Yoongi’s hands stilled over the keys. “Why do you always try to figure people out?”

“Because I like to understand what I’m feeling,” Jimin answered, simple and soft.

Yoongi looked at him then. Really looked.

“You scare me when you say things like that.”

“Why?” Jimin asked, head tilted.

“Because I don’t know how to answer.”

---

Back in the library, Jungkook was still staring at the page.

Taehyung finally sighed and said, “You don’t have to like me back, you know.”

Jungkook’s head snapped up.

“I never said I—”

“But you act like I make you uncomfortable. Like I did something wrong.” Taehyung laughed quietly, but there was no humor in it. “It’s okay, Jungkook. I just… I thought there was something there.”

Jungkook’s heart dropped.

There was something.

He just didn’t know how to handle it.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he admitted, voice so soft it almost disappeared.

Taehyung blinked.

“I don’t know how to like someone properly. I don’t know how to say things without messing it up.”

Taehyung smiled—really smiled this time. “Good. That makes two of us.”

Their hands brushed across the table.

Jungkook didn’t move away.

---

At the art room door, Jimin watched Yoongi pack up.

He didn’t say anything. Just waited.