Chapter 2: STAGE II

...If anyone could manage to cause trouble in his first few days back on campus, it was Kim Taehyung. He was known as one of the biggest troublemakers in his year and he sure as hell wasn’t about to let that title go simply because he was one year older. It was a mystery to most students how he seemed to always get away with his stunts; the RAs never pushed any consequences on him. Most people don't really want to know how the Legend Kim Taehyung keeps his record clean – what’s a legend without a mystery backstory?...

...No one other than Jimin, Taehyung’s oh-so-tolerable roommate, knew how the legend kept face around campus. It was all because Jimin was the one to take the fall, nine times out of ten. It wasn’t because Jimin had ever participated in these activities; in fact he vehemently encouraged his roommate to not do these things. That being said, Taehyung always managed to find a way out of being caught himself and always left the cleanup for Jimin, much to the latter’s dismay....

...This year would be no different, of course....

...Taehyung was a big smoker – there was nothing wrong with that. Jimin didn’t like it all that much, but would occasionally join in with the other if he had been having a rather shit week. It helped calm his nerves and since there wasn’t any chance of long-term addiction, Jimin was cool with it. What he wasn’t cool with, though, was Taehyung smoking so much that the smell began to seep into every susceptible material in their room. If it had been cigarettes, it would have been possible to blame it on another set of boys in the hall; but no, it was weed and the distinct smell of it had started to become just another constant in their room....

...A couple people complained one night in particular about the smell. It was late, around one or two in the morning, and the persistent knocking on Yoongi’s door was the only thing that pushed him off of his bed and out of his late-night stupor. His feet shuffled across his almost-clean floor as he approached the door, rubbing the threat of sleep out of his eyes. He opened the door to see two equally unrested males standing with their arms crossed over their chests....

...Before Yoongi could ask if the two were okay, one of them spoke up, “Hyung, do you smell this? That idiot is stinking up the entire floor again. Please do something about it,” If it weren’t for the twinge of a whine in his voice, Yoongi would have sworn the male was going to have his head. He was minimally confused at the straight complaint; he blinked a couple times and pushed his fringe out of his eyes, thinking....

...He sighed in defeat; this was the third time someone on his floor had come to him with a complaint regarding room 309. Yoongi stiffened his back and straightened his posture, as if to throw on an air of authority. “Alright, fine, I’ll deal with them tomorrow morning. I’m sorry this keeps happening, but please let me know if it continues after I talk to them.” He couldn’t help but let his disappointment show on his features. It was too late at night for this kind of problem, and he was truthfully too inexperienced with troublemakers to truly know what to do. “Go back to your room, guys. Have a good rest of your night.”...

...Yoongi closed the door of his single room again, heaving out a sigh as he heard the latch lock into place. “Those shit kids don’t know how to behave themselves, Jesus Christ,” his body limply fell back onto his bed; one of his legs hung off the edge but he paid no mind to it. Sleep was too tempting. “They don’t know what’s coming for ‘em.”...

...–––...

...On regular Tuesday mornings, Jimin was able to sleep in until about noon until he had to start worrying about getting to his one thirty dance class. Taehyung was up and out of the room by eight thirty; he had a nine o’clock biology class that he completely regretted signing up for after going to the first class. Tuesdays were the days where Jimin could get a full night’s sleep and then some, if he was lucky. This Tuesday was not one of those days, though....

...Yoongi walked down the small expanse of hallway between his own single room and room 309. Truthfully, he hadn’t yet remembered the names of the kids who lived in the room, though the cheesy sign on the front of the door soon reminded him. He poised his hand in the air, preparing to knock. It was a little after nine in the morning and Yoongi was only up because he wasn’t able to get to sleep the night before – not after he mentally beat himself up over being a terrible RA. The feeling didn’t run deep, though the colorfully-haired male did feel a pang of remorse when he realized he was meeting his requirements as an RA only minimally. His knuckles rapped on the door, lightly at first; when he didn’t hear an answer he knocked again and called out, “Taehyung? Jimin? Anyone there?” The chances of two third years being home this early in the morning were high, Yoongi figured. As long as he was up, he may as well try to address the problem that kept him awake all night....

...When still no response was heard from the other side of the door, Yoongi took it upon himself to open the door a crack. It was unlocked, much to his surprise, and made a small creaking noise as it opened. He poked his head in between the door and the doorframe. One of the beds was empty and unkempt; he peered over to the other side of the room and saw that there was a lump still underneath the sheets. Yoongi’s eyes widened a little bit. He didn’t really want to disturb the student, though he also wanted to just get this over with....

...He opened the door completely and stepped into the room carefully. He closed the door behind him gently and padded his way over to the sleeping figure in the second twin bed. The figure had a head full of dyed, though fading, red hair; Yoongi immediately identified him as Jimin, or as he liked to better identify him, the Tame one. As he reached his hand out to shake the other boy’s shoulder, a small voice in the back of his head questioned whether waking up a sleeping university student was moral. He shoved the thought away and grabbed a hold of Jimin’s exposed shoulder. He shook it ever so lightly, begging a Higher Power for the other to wake up quickly. “Jimin, wake up,” he whispered, leaning into the other’s ear. “It’s Yoongi, the RA from down the hall.”...

...The redhead stirred underneath Yoongi’s hand, though light snores still floated up from his mouth. Yoongi really wished he was back in his own room right now attempting to get at least a few hours of sleep. He bit his bottom lip pensively and repeated his attempt at waking the sleeping boy. “Come on, Jimin. I know it’s early just please wake up–”...

...Jimin rolled over onto his back and Yoongi snapped his hand back in surprise. The redhead’s eyes fluttered open, squinting at the sudden intake of sunlight. His eyes landed on Yoongi’s uneasy visage and pure confusion sprung up on his own. “Y-Yoongi-ssi? What are… Why are you in my room? What time is it?” Question after question tumbled out of Jimin’s mouth in a slur as he sat up in bed and peered up at the RA....

...“Oh, um… I need to talk to you about something,” Yoongi muttered unconfidently. He rubbed at the back of his neck with one of his palms. “But you can wake up first– sorry for waking you, but it’s kinda important.”...

...Jimin rubbed the sleep from his eyes and picked up his phone from the bedside table, grumbling when he saw it was still before noon. Stretching his limbs out, he let out a loud sigh and straightened up in bed. He crossed his legs underneath of him and offered a spot on his bed for Yoongi to sit on; the other politely refused. “This won’t take long, don’t worry,” he reassured the redhead. He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his sweatpants, gathering his words together. “So… I need at least you to know that there were a couple of guys that complained to me last night about the smell of weed, and they made it very clear that it was coming from your room.” Yoongi watched as Jimin rolled his eyes and gripped tighter onto his phone; it seemed as though the piece of technology was grounding him and keeping him from punching something....

...“I swear to God it wasn’t me, Yoongi-ssi,” Jimin groaned and looked like he earnestly wanted to rip his hair out of his scalp. “At least not this time.”...

...“I’m not here to pin the blame on you, don’t worry. I know you have a roommate and trust me, I’ve heard the stories about him,” Yoongi chuckled a little at the thought of Taehyung’s legacies. The kid was only a third year and yet he had managed to be the buzz of campus already. “That being said, you guys do need to keep the smoking to a minimum, or at least a smaller frequency than now. I’m not gonna rat you out for doing it, but just know that if I have to come back here that means that I got in trouble too; got it, buddy?” Yoongi tried to flash a smile at Jimin, though he could tell the other was about to implode on himself – if not now, then later....

...Jimin heaved a sigh of annoyance. He was thankful that the RA hadn’t completely called his *** out on something he didn’t do, like so many RAs had done before. Yoongi seemed to be a lot more understanding than the others. “Thanks, Yoongi-ssi. I’ll let Taehyung know you said something,” His tone was calmer than Yoongi had expected. The redhead’s iron grip on his phone hadn’t let up the entire time, though Yoongi could at least tell now that his anger wasn’t directed at him. “I’m gonna fucking kill that kid, I swear to god.”...

...Yoongi chuckled and encouragingly patted Jimin on the shoulder. “Well I would advise against murder, but let me know if he gives you any trouble, okay? I’ll talk to him one-on-one if I have to,” Yoongi held up a fist in the air and sent a small wink in Jimin’s direction. “Sorry for waking you up again. I’ll leave you to your sleep,” Yoongi started back towards the door and could have sworn he heard a small “ Don’t worry about it ,” but he was already out the door....

...–––...

...It was now a little past ten, and Jimin was standing in front of Jungkook and Hoseok’s dorm room, knocking furiously on the door. He held his phone in his free hand, still with an iron grip. “Jeon Jungkook, I know you don’t have class ‘till eleven thirty, open this door!” He continued knocking on the door until he heard grumbles and muffled footsteps from the other side of it. His face was hot with anger and he was just about fed up with everything at the moment, though he really hoped he wouldn’t direct any of it at the other boys....

...The door opened to reveal a disheveled-looking Jungkook; his hair was a mess and his loose tank top hung off of one shoulder precariously. Jimin looked him over once and grunted a greeting; he shoved past the taller and walked straight into the room. Hoseok was laying on his bed, probably half-asleep, with one arm slung over his eyes to block out the sunlight. “Hoseok hyung, get up, you need to listen to this too,” Jimin grabbed a pillow off of Jungkook’s bed and threw it at Hoseok’s stomach, hitting the mark indefinitely. The older jerked up at the unexpected contact and grumbled in protest....

...“Hyung, what the hell is going on? Aren’t you usually asleep now?” Jungkook shut the door and quickly padded back over to his bed to sit on it before Jimin invaded even more of his space. “It’s only ten-something–”...

...“My RA came and woke me up, that’s why I’m awake so early,” Jimin unintentionally snapped at the younger boy. He immediately realized it and softened his tone before he continued. “He woke me up ‘cause some other kids on my floor complained to him last night about Tae’s… smoking habit .”...

...Hoseok perked up at this and sat up in bed, the sheets still clinging to his torso. “Yo, what? That little brat said he didn’t have any more left– I swear to God.”...

...“Hyung, not important. You can deal with your weed inequality later but just listen to my story,” Jimin held a hand up in Hoseok’s face as he stepped over and plopped down on the older’s bed. “As I was saying, my RA woke me up super fucking early and told me about the complaint – mind you, he kinda blamed me at first–”...

...“But Jimin, you smoke too, it’s not like he was making shit up–” Hoseok interrupted from beside him. He pulled his face into an extremely confused expression and leaned back on one arm to support himself....

...“Okay, yeah, but I definitely haven’t done that since like, the first night back.” Jimin could feel his cheeks getting hotter by the second; he played it off in his head as a result of his frustration and willed it to subside. “My point is , he’s like, getting on my *** because of Taehyung’s troublemaking and– I don’t know why I’m so annoyed by this. Like the guy actually turned out to be pretty understanding in the end but I think he’s still a little peeved at us– I mean, at Taehyung.” He trailed off his words and forgot where he was going with all of this pointless complaining. He had taken to playing with his fingers subconsciously, trying to crack the knuckles that just wouldn’t crack. He glanced between Hoseok and Jungkook; they both were looking at each other and exchanging Cheshire grins. “Oh my god, what now ?”...

...“Hyung’s got a crush!” Jungkook sing-songed and Jimin nearly flew off the bed as he raised a fist at the younger....

...“Oh, **** no! Jeon Jungkook, where did you get that idea from?!”...

...“Jimin, your cheeks are literally the color of a ripe tomato. Please reconsider punching the child,” Hoseok laughed from behind Jimin, having collapsed back onto his pillow from the hilarity of the situation. Jimin whipped back around to look at the older male. The redness in his face had calmed down a bit and his expression expressed an emotion of pure, unadulterated annoyance....

...“I don’t even know my RA that well; why in the world would I have a crush on him ?” Jimin spoke through his teeth and the other two simply giggled along together. He sighed and carded his fingers through his unkempt hair. Jimin refused to believe that anything was changing his opinion about the RA he knew no more about than his name. He wasn’t even exactly sure what year he was in, to be quite honest. Jimin stood up and sucked on his teeth judgmentally before turning on his heel and walking to the door. “You guys are assholes.”...

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