Chapter Text
Jimin watched the docks getting nearer while he collected his suitcase and backpack. The ferry was the only watercraft moving in the entire area. A few inflatables and a sailboat were stationed by the piers, but other than that the harbor was empty. The island wasn’t big; consisted only of a small village where most of the population were fishermen and bakers. It was surrounded by a forest with many hiking tracks that attracted tourists all year long.
The reason why Jimin was there wasn’t for the tourist attraction. It was something much more than that. Just outside the village was the country’s most famous Dance Academy, and every year it invited students all around the world to participate in their summer camp. The next ten weeks would be filled with dancing and he wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
Even if renting a cab was needed to get to the location, it wasn’t long before Jimin stood outside the main entrance. After paying for the ride and unloaded his luggage he took a quick look at the campus. It consisted of five buildings, with the main building in the center. The dorms, the practice rooms, the auditorium, and the cafeteria all had their own. Near the water was a stage for shows being held outside. A small shore with docks was just outside the cafeteria, making the campus a little windy but the breeze was welcome in the summer heat. Jimin took a deep breath, smelling the mixture of saltwater and forest in his nose.
Even with its impressive exterior, the school felt discreet. It wasn’t hard to believe that everything had been built with the trees from the forest and details like birdfeeders and fireplaces were placed all around the area. When entering, he could see that the inside was no different. From the look of it, nature had found its way into the houses, creating the feeling of being in a cottage and not a big office building.
Jimin walked towards the desk with the sign Reception nailed to it. The woman behind looked up at him as he came closer.
“Can I help you with anything?”
Jimin fiddled with the straps on his backpack. “I’m here to meet Sanghoon. He’s my uncle.”
She held up her finger as if his words reminded her. “Ah, yes, of course, he told me you would show up a little earlier than the rest.”
With no hesitation, she stood up and rounded the desk. “Do you have any more luggage in the car?”
“No, this is all,” Jimin answered and grabbed his suitcase.
The woman who was short but quick gestured him to come with her. “Follow me then. Mr. Park is in his office.”
Jimin hurried after her, struggling to keep up with his bags. It had been over a year since he last saw his uncle. Not because of bad relations, but because the Dean of an important school like this, don’t have much time for anything else.
“Jimin!” Sanghoon took him by surprise when they entered the office. The middle-aged man came forward to hug his nephew. Jimin embraced him while the woman giggled on her way out. He managed only a quick thank you for the help before he saw her disappear.
“How have you been?” Sanghoon asked, leading Jimin to the couch in the corner of the office. It was a big couch, but it didn’t take much space in the room. The desktop was neatly tidied up, ready for visitors every hour of every day. “How’s the family? Is my sister good to you?”
Jimin nodded while looking around, finding pictures of his cousins and grandparents on the walls. “Everyone’s fine. Mom has been promoted…”
“Oh, right, she told me about that,” the man beamed. “That’s great news. How about you, huh? Still in college?”
“Yes, just finished my third year.”
“Ah, you gotta be a little tired of school then. And on top of that, you will spend your summer here with me.” Sanghoon blinked at him. It was an obvious joke because he knew very well how much Jimin looked forward to this.
“Are you kidding? Thank you again for making this happen.”
A finger was pointed at him. “No no, Jimin, you got here yourself, I can’t control which students get an invite. Your dance teachers at the university were very happy about you, and your classmates.”
As if being invited wasn’t enough, his friends would be there too. Taehyung and Jungkook had both gotten their letter around the same day as him and they hadn’t talked much about anything else since.
“I know, but I couldn’t afford it if it wasn’t for you,” Jimin said. “My mom wanted me to thank you for both of us.”
Sanghoon stood up from the couch and walked around his desk. Leaving Jimin feeling small on the black leather cushions.
“It’s not like I am giving you the money, you have to work for it.”
“Yes, I know, but I wouldn’t be able to get this job if you hadn’t helped.”
The man opened a folder and pulled out a couple of papers. “All my workers have to sign a contract of course. That includes you.”
Jimin got up and walked to the desk, taking the pen the elder was holding out for him.
“I’ve been calculating the prize of the camp and your work hours,” the man said and signed the contract after Jimin did so. “You don’t work anything more than you’ll have to, but also not less than what you’ll need to be able to pay for it all.”
“Sounds fair.”
Sanghoon ruffled his hair. “I would’ve loved to show you around, but I need to leave that to Min. He’ll make sure that you’ll know what to do tomorrow. Let’s go, you can come back for the bags later.”
Jimin released the backpack so it fell on the ground with a hard thud. With the weight off him, he rolled his shoulder to loosen up the muscles.
They left the office, walked out of the building, and continued across the grass towards the cafeteria. To his relief, the campus was still empty from students, which meant that he didn’t have to meet up with his friends just yet.
The cafeteria was smaller than Jimin expected, but for its advantage it was comfy, making up for the cramped space. Plants climbed over the walls and the tables were decorated with tablecloths and flowers, in the same tone as the rest of the school.
They zigzagged between the seats and walked through the door leading to the kitchen. First, they passed a room where Jimin figured they cleaned the dishes. From there, through another door, they followed a short corridor with beige walls, not as inviting as the cafeteria. Then they arrived in the kitchen.
“Min?” he said, looking around.
Clean. That was Jimin’s first thought when he looked around. And white. Clean and white. Nothing else could’ve been said, it was big, with big refrigerators, big stoves, and big ovens. Though, the man standing in the middle of it was small. Not smaller than Jimin, but still.
“Min, let me introduce you to my nephew, Park Jimin,” Sanghoon said hugging Jimin’s shoulder with one big hand. “Jimin, this is, well, your boss, he is the one that decides what you do and doesn’t do. Should you for some reason have a problem with him, come to me, is that clear?”
Jimin nodded and took a few steps forward, holding out his hand. “Hi.”
The other looked tiredly at it for a couple of seconds before taking it. Jimin noticed that even though they were similar heights, the other’s hands were much bigger, swallowing his own without a struggle.
“Min Yoongi,” he said. “Nice to me you.”
Jimin wasn’t sure that he meant that. His voice was dark and raspy, and if he wasn’t his supervisor for the summer Jimin would probably not even tried to make an effort to get to know him.
“I’m gonna leave you to it,” Sanghoon said. “Jimin, good luck, just knock on my door if you need me. And Min, please show him around.”
Yoongi nodded and waved him off. “Will do, boss.”
When the absence of his uncle was creeping under Jimin’s skin, he had a hard time keeping still. Yoongi didn’t strike him to be a person you wanted to make a first bad impression on.
“Okay kid. Park, was it?” Yoongi said over running water while washing his hands and then dried them on his apron. His movements were nonchalant and made him look more intimidating as if he had been there for years doing this.
Jimin nodded and fiddled with his shirt. “Yes, Park Jimin.”
“Okay, so, have you worked in a kitchen before?”
He shook his head. “No, sir.”
Yoongi stopped. Without a word, he looked at him, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
“Did my uncle say that I had?” Jimin suddenly felt warm in his clothes, hoping he wouldn’t have to do something difficult like… cooking.
Yoongi shook his head. “No, no, that’s… never mind.”
Jimin could still see the hint of a grin on his lips and the warmth he had felt in his body before gathered in his cheeks instead. It had been two minutes and already he had made a fool out of himself, even if he didn’t know how.
“You’ll be here for three hours every day. One hour between 7 and 8 a.m., helping me with breakfast. Dinner is at five, and you’ll work between 6 and 8 at nights to wash the dishes and prepare for the next day, is that clear?” Yoongi held out a paper with Jimin’s whole schedule for the summer. “You are free on Saturdays, me too actually. So, don’t bother me. All the meals are ordered from the village that day.”
Jimin knew it was work, and he knew that he shouldn’t feel anything but grateful for having this opportunity. But having to wake up before seven every morning for the whole summer wouldn’t be easy. He tried keeping a straight face as Yoongi continued.
“This is your workstation,” Yoongi pointed at a corner of the big counter centered in the middle of the kitchen. Then he walked to the corner on the other end, “and this is mine. You’ll be mostly in charge of making the salads and cutting vegetables. Keep it clean, always. Any questions?”
Jimin looked around. “Do I have any work clothes?”
“I do, you don’t. Mostly because you don’t deal with the hot food and stuff that leaves stains. I suggest you were an apron though.”
Jimin looked down at Yoongi’s own, who was speckled with food. Underneath he wore a white shirt with calved up sleeves, showing his wrists, and black slacks.
“Also, don’t be late, but I shouldn’t even have to say that,” Yoongi said. “Just because your uncle is the Dean doesn’t mean that I tolerate sloppiness.”
Even if Jimin was prepared that someone would point this out, it still bugged him that he hadn’t been there an hour without being accused of riding on his uncle’s high position.
“I promise I will work hard,” he was quick to say. “I believe Sanghoon would kick me out himself if I misbehaved.”
Yoongi hummed in agreement before showing him the rest of the house. With little enthusiasm, he explained where everything went and what rules he had to follow. The job was boring and Jimin rather danced those hours, but it was his only option for him to be able to be there.
“You’ll understand better tomorrow when you’re working,” Yoongi finished the tour while picking a cup from a shelf. They were back in the kitchen again, standing in front of the massive coffeemaker that looked like it’s been well used. “Coffee?”
Looking at the clock, Jimin figured that he didn’t have time. There wasn’t long before his friends arrived, but there was still one more thing he had to talk to Yoongi about.
“No, thanks, I need to get going,” he smiled. “But it’s one thing I want to talk about.”
Yoongi turned his whole body towards him, a clear sign that he was listening. Jimin found that it was hard meeting his eyes while trying to put his thought into words.
“I, as you know, am here because my uncle got me this job,” Jimin started and fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt. “Because I can’t afford to pay for this camp, my family don’t have that much money.”
He went silent for a few seconds, giving Yoongi a chance to respond, or merely wanting to see his reaction. But his face remained unreadable.
“Yeah, I kind of figured. Why are you telling me this, though?”
Jimin swallowed, his eyes darting back and forth between Yoongi and his hands. “I don’t want anybody to know that I work here.”
Nothing.
Jimin was prepared for any reaction, but not no reaction. Yoongi looked at him, with no change of face. Not even a raised eyebrow.
“Okay.”
Again, Jimin was stunned. On the way there he had gone through all the scenarios in his head and had even prepared a speech on what to say if someone questioned him.
“Really?”
Yoongi poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip, unbothered about the news. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t really care. I don’t get it though, don’t get me wrong, it sounds stupid, but I won’t tell any of your friends.”
“It’s not that stupid,” Jimin muttered. “You don’t know how it would feel if they found out.”
Yoongi glanced at him over his coffee, the steam dancing upwards in front of his eyes. “You’re right, I don’t know. Don’t care either. So, if there wasn’t anything else, I’m gonna prepare the welcoming dinner.”
Jimin should’ve been relieved, but Yoongi’s reaction, or non-existent reaction, made him unsure. The need to justify why he wanted to keep it a secret made him want to explain himself. It wasn’t a stupid idea. Surely Yoongi could come to understand that it was embarrassing for him, having to work to pay for his place. He needed-
“You can go, you’re not starting until tomorrow,” Yoongi interrupted his thoughts. Jimin slumped his shoulders. Defeated.
“Uhm, okay, well, thank you,”
He left the kitchen and found his way back to his uncle’s office, to pick up his luggage. The important thing was that Yoongi wouldn’t tell anybody. He tried focusing on that instead.
***
Jimin sat on the porch outside the main building waiting for the others to show up. One cab had already arrived with a couple of excited girls. They smiled and greeted him but had then disappeared to the dorms. Jimin thought about going there but wanted to see the place with Jungkook and Taehyung.
His friends arrived together with the rest in a minibus, most of the participants took the same ferry over to the island, so the school had arranged a ride for them. It had been a couple of weeks since he saw them, and even with that short amount of time, he had missed them a lot.
He watched how his friends unloaded their suitcases, talking and laughing with the rest of the group. It would have been fun to ride together with the rest of them, especially when noticing that his friends already had bonded with a few others. Not wanting to be left out, but figuring that with him sneaking away for work during the summer, he would have to get used to the feeling of missing out.
“There he is,” he heard Jungkook’s voice over the others and saw the youngest elbowing Taehyung’s side. “Hi, Jimin.”
Taehyung’s face lightened up with his boxy smile and he used his whole arm to wave at Jimin’s direction. “Where were you? I was about to call…”
“We got really worried when you weren’t on the ferry,” Jungkook stepped in. “Why are you here so early?”
Jimin walked up to them, giving each one an awaited hug. He had missed them too much these two weeks, usually, he hanged out with them every day at school.
“No, I read the schedule wrong and was here an hour before we had to,” Jimin lied. “I’ve just been waiting for you guys to show up. Took you long enough.”
He needed to guide the conversation away from him being there early. With his luck, the others would accept his answer and talk about something else instead.
Jimin was lucky.
“Taehyung was so late that we had to run to catch the boat,” Jungkook said and Taehyung rolled his eyes.
“That’s not true,” he defended himself. “You were supposed to tell me when you and your mom were outside my building. I thought you were the one who was late, I didn’t know you waited.”
The two of them lived closer to each other than Jimin, and it wasn’t the first time something like this happened. But during school the three of them were inseparable. He’d met Taehyung when they both started in the same dance program at university. Instantly they became friends and for the first year in school, it was only the two of them. When the second year came along Jungkook started at the same program. The youngest was a genius and had skipped a grade during high school, which meant that he was two years younger than the others but smarter than the two of them combined. It took a while before he understood that Jimin and Taehyung wanted to hang out with him because even with the brain of his, the confidence wasn’t great. In the first six months, he was sure that the others were only playing with him and would eventually find better friends. It had taken Jimin and Taehyung a small intervention to get the kid to understand how much they loved him.
“You got here, that’s the important part,” Jimin said. “Let’s go and get our keys to the dorm.”
He showed them the way towards the main building.
“I’m so tired, maybe because of all the running I had to do on the way here,” Jungkook mumbled behind him. Jimin smiled, there clearly wasn’t any irritation behind his words.
“You know this is a dance camp, huh?” Jimin smiled. “It’s way harder than running, and you gonna do that the whole summer.”
“Yeah and have movie nights with you guys in the dorms.”
“About that, let’s go and pay for our room,” Taehyung said and took the lead towards the main building.
Jimin swallowed, as he hadn’t thought about that. Everything was already taken care of by his uncle. Should he pay anyway and come back later? He hoped the receptionist didn’t mention anything about earlier.
Reluctantly he entered the main building the third time that day. The same woman sitting behind the desk, looking at her computer.
“Hi,” Jimin said, hoping she wouldn’t mention him or his uncle.
Being the Dean’s nephew was another thing he wanted to keep for himself. Everyone would think he was there only because of that.
The woman saw him and smiled, clearly recognizing him. Before Jimin could even react, Taehyung saved the day.
“Hello, we’re here for the summer camp,” he said. “We are supposed to share the same dorm and we are here for our keys.”
“Just show me your IDs and we’ll fix that.”
All three of them placed their identifications on the desk. Only a minute later they had their keys in their hands.
Taehyung and Jungkook paid and when Jimin reached out his card she shook her head and refused it.
“No, you’re already taken care of.”
Jimin’s eyes widen and glanced at his friends who watched him.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” he said more to them than to the woman. “I paid when I got here earlier. Let’s go to our room, come on, I want to see how it looks like.”
The others didn’t even raise an eyebrow over the lie, and quickly followed him out of the building, talking about how great the summer would be. Jimin breathed out; this wasn’t that bad.
***
Their room wasn’t big, mainly because it was a double room originally, but an extra bed had been brought in. It didn’t matter that it was a little crowded, they wanted to share a room either way. It consisted of a bunk bed on the left side of the room, and on the right stood the third bed. Two desks were pushed together in one corner to leave room for it. Two wardrobes were standing in another corner, but Jimin was planning on keeping his clothes in his suitcase the entire camp, it would be messy, but he would manage.
Jungkook on the other end was already unpacking his stuff to neatly place it in the cabinet. Taehyung looked at him before he groaned and unpacked his stuff too, but not with the same grace.
“Should we leave some space for you?” Jungkook asked and sniggered when he saw the mistreatment of Taehyung’s clothes. “If we fold Tae’s stuff there would be a lot more room for you.”
“Don’t touch, it’s an organized mess,” the other warned.
“I’m good, I can have my suitcase under the bed with my things in it.”
Taehyung walked to the middle of the room, looking from side to side. “I want the top bunk.”
Both Jungkook and Jimin protested loudly.
“I want it too,” the youngest whined while the three of them glared at each other.
With Taehyung and Jungkook, it was easy for Jimin to forget that he had responsibly that his friends didn’t have. He enjoyed bickering about the bunk bed, even if it wasn’t that important.
“Na ah,” Taehyung was quick to answer. “You go to the bathroom like five times when you’re sleeping, and I won’t stand being woken up by you climbing up and down this ladder all night.”
It was a good point. Jimin’s smile faded with the realization. With him sneaking out every morning the top bunk wasn’t ideal, and he did best to avoid the bunk bed all together
“I can sleep here,” he said and hurried to the extra bed and sat down, hoping no one would fight him on this.
Two dropped jaws were what he saw when looking up.
“Wow, I was sure we would both lose to you,” Jungkook said.
“Yeah, we never win these fights.”
Jimin tried a smile but it wasn’t believable. Instead, he turned to his suitcase to have something to do while thinking about a good explanation for his retreat. But a knock on the door interrupted them. The three of them looked up and noticed a girl stuck her head through the opening.
“Hello, I just wanted to tell you that the camp leaders are expecting us in the lounge now.”
Jungkook looked at his clock. “Oh, right, thank you.”
The girl let her eyes sweep across the room. “Fighting over the bunk bed?”
Jimin smiled. “Only these two.”
“Ah, I bribed my roommate with chocolate to get the top,” she said and took a step inside, throwing her brown hair over the shoulder. “You should do that too.”
Taehyung and Jungkook looked at each other and smiled, knowing that they both had their bags filled with candy.
“I’m Jia by the way,” she said and shook each of their hands. “You can tell me who you are on the way out?”
Jia was easy to talk to; they manage to cover where they came from and how old they were on the short walk to the lounge. She was one of the girls who had greeted Jimin on the porch earlier, so none of them had talked to her before. She was there with her friend from across the country, meaning they had traveled for the whole day to get to the island. They shared a room next to the guys, as all the participants had rooms in the same corridor.
The lounge had room for three couches, a TV, and a couple of refrigerators. A fireplace was glowing in the corner surrounded by a couple of gigantic cushions to sit on. The guys and Jia were the last to show up, the rest of the participants were squeezed together on the sofas. Jimin, with some help from Jungkook, carried one of the big cushions to the others while Jia joined her friend, and Taehyung was offered a space next to a couple of guys from the minibus. Two older men stood in front of them.
“Welcome,” the first one said, introducing himself as Donghyun, looking around forty with a round face and lean body. “I’m the camp leader. Turn to me with any problems with anything that has nothing to do with your dancing.”
The other smiled. “He can dance, he’s just not as good as me. I’m Minsoo, your teacher. You’ll see me every day and if you don’t hate me at the end of this camp, you’ve not worked hard enough.”
There was careful laughter around the room. The tension in the group slowly went away when the two men joined in.
“Joking aside, you guys are here to have fun and hopefully learn something,” Minsoo said, looking them all in the eyes. “Don’t take it too seriously, dancing should be fun. But that doesn’t mean that you can be lazy, you are all here because you got invited. Don’t ruin it for yourself.”
“Minsoo will go through all the rules in your first lesson tomorrow,” Donghyun continued. “I believe you all just want to eat and get to know each other tonight. And you should. Breakfast at eight tomorrow morning. Before we go to the welcoming dinner I just want to get your names, so we know that everybody is here. If you have any problems with payment or the dorms you can tell me, and we’ll fix it during the evening.”
There were ten participants at the camp, seven boys and three girls. Except for Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook, there was Jia and her friend Minji. The third girl, who was sitting in the corner of one of the couches looking extremely scared, named Soojin, slowly raised her hand when her name was called out. Jinwoo was the youngest of them all, fresh from high school, and he looked like it too. He was the most talkative and if he was nervous, it didn’t show. Then there were three participants from different parts of the world. Andrew, Shawn, and Arin, who had found each other on the minibus, sharing their experiences being foreigners.
***
Everybody was looking forward to the night, eating and getting to know each other. The walk from the dorms to the cafeteria was filled with energetic talking about themselves and the food; everyone was hungry.
In the cafeteria Jimin saw Yoongi again, standing by a table handed out welcoming drinks. Yoongi had promised him to not say anything, but Jimin couldn’t help his palms getting sweaty when coming closer.
The queue wasn’t long and soon enough he had to face the man again, pretending that he didn’t know who he was.
Jungkook was ahead of him, receiving his drink.
“Is there any alcohol in this?” The youngest glanced at the glass, and Jimin was able to smile. He had never been drinking and didn’t want to start today.
Yoongi hinted a smile. “Don’t worry, I don’t have any alcohol here.”
Jungkook smiled back, clearly relieved. “Oh, that’s good, thank you, I don’t drink, so that’s… yeah, thank you.” He quickly walked away. Jimin looked after him for a couple of seconds. Jungkook was smart and a great dancer, but he was a bit shy in front of new people.
He turned to Yoongi again, who looked at him.
“Your friend?” he asked.
Jimin nodded warily, unsure about what he was going to say.
The older chuckled. “I like him.”
Then he offered Jimin his drink, without so much as a look. Wanting to get out of the situation he nodded as a thank you and hurried over to his friends again. Yoongi was weird, but he was nice. And at the same time, he was intimidating. When Jimin glanced his way later that night he looked just as tired and grumpy as he had done earlier that day, while he talked to the other workers. He hadn’t told anyone anything, and this made him relax when going to bed. It would only be a few hours until he needed to get up for work. But getting to know the group and talking about dancing, that made it all worth it.