Sticks and Stones • Park Jimin

xviii.

i should have waited longer to keep you guys in more suspense but i am just too nice

"Jimin?"

Jimin wasn't sure who had said it.

All he knew was that he wanted to jump.

"Jimin, are you all right?"

He wanted to stand on the edge of the roof with the toes of his shoes sticking out over nothing.

"Jimin? Bro, what's wrong?"

He wanted to take a step forward with his left foot.

"Yo, Jimin?"

He wanted to follow through with his right.

"Jimin, man, snap out of it."

He wanted to jump.

"JIMIN." Hands on his shoulders. A face. Taehyung's face. Taehyung, his first friend.

You look horrible.

Because Jimin is ugly.

Shorty.

You don't want to get fat right?

Not his friends. Just like everyone else. They'd pretended to be nice, but in the end, they would still aim to hit Jimin where he hurt.

And Jimin would rather have no friends than keep being hurt.

Jimin pushed away from the hands. His bangs fell into his eyes so he couldn't see, but it was better that way. He didn't have to look at them.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," Jimin mumbled, his words coming out in the same dead voice he used with Kyung-soo. "Funny. You guys got me. Good job." He turned around, trying to stop the prickling in his eyes that he knew meant tears were coming, and soon.

"What? What do you mean, got you?" J-Hope asked in confusion.

Jimin didn't answer, just left the roof through the door. It wasn't the way he wanted to leave the roof, but he wasn't ready to jump yet. He needed to see his mom. She was the only person that loved him. Probably only because she had to.

So Jimin left school early and went home, searching for a reason - any reason - to keep his feet on the roof.

***

"What a little bitch," grumbled the new addition to the rooftop lunch squad, one Min Yoongi. "Is he always like that? What, did someone wake him up from a nap?"

"No, he's not," Taehyung said slowly, confused. He didn't understand what Jimin had meant with his words, but no matter how much he tried to wrap his mind around them, he couldn't crack the puzzle.

"He probably just had a bad day," J-Hope piped up, shrugging. "We should just leave him alone."

"Maybe," Taehyung said noncommittally, but something was bothering him. "Ay, Jungkook, what was that thing you said to Namjoon the other day?"

Jungkook cocked his head. "Aish, I don't know. How am I supposed to remember everything I've ever said?"

"He told me to jump off the roof," Namjoon said politely, indicating no sign of irritation toward the younger.

"Ay!" Jungkook snapped, already arguing with Namjoon, but Taehyung tuned them out.

That was the thing that had been bothering him.

Jimin had been staring at the edge of the roof.

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