Archive of Our Own ^beta

The world is cruel. Every day, people are born, every day, people die. Jimin knows that. So he considers himself a realist. And in being a realist, he knew high school was going to be one of the shittiest experiences he’d ever have to go through.

Luckily, he had his best friend.

‘Hey man! How was your summer?’ Taehyung signed.

‘Boring. All I got to do was sit inside. You?’ He replied, trained hands moving through each word quickly.

‘Nothing much. How’s your knew neighbor?’

New neighbor. Jimin had hoped to avoid the subject for as long as possible, but Taehyung seemed to have something different in mind. However, as insistent as Taehyung was, Jimin wasn’t going to crack.

*flashback about a month*

Jimin sat in his room, fiddling with new calligraphy pens when he felt the humming of a car outside. He looked out his small window to see a moving van parked right next door.

He knew that new people would move in soon, as the house had been sold a month or so back. He didn’t think much of it, until his mom opened his bedroom door.

‘Hi honey. The new neighbors are here if you want to come say hello. They have a son about your age!’

‘Okay, I’ll be down in a second.’ He answered swiftly.

Meeting new people was hard, especially when they didn’t know a drop of sign language. However, he tried not to let it deter him much. It’s not like you can go your entire life without any contact.

Jimin sighed gently and stood up from his desk. He took a moment to look at his drawings on the wall, his eyes focusing in on one he’d done about a week ago. It depicted a boy, small, but not young, playing a piano.

Jimin loved pianos.

Being deaf means many things to many people, to people like jimin, it meant not necessarily hearing music, but feeling it.

And pianos, in his opinion, made some of the most beautiful vibrations and feelings.

After admiring his most recent work, he turned and headed downstairs to find his mom having a conversation with a woman about her age. Most likely their new neighbor.

“Oh Jimin! Mrs. Min, this is Jimin, my son.” She spoke softly, the way she always does when jimin is with her.

“Oh Hello! I’m Min Eunji, you can call me Eunji.” The woman says, a little more energetic than his own mother, but nice nonetheless.

When Jimin doesn’t respond for a couple seconds and looks to his mother, he finds her staring back at him, seemingly as nervous as he is.

‘I’m sorry, I’m deaf’ He signs, slower than he normally would.

A quiet ‘Oh’ leaves Mrs. Min’s lips, understanding dawning on her face, but she still doesn’t seem to know how to react.

This is normal for Jimin, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

That’s when he sees a boy about his age walk in and stand behind the surprised woman. He looks confused.

“It’s okay Eunji. He’s deaf, I can help translate anything you say to him. He understands.” His mother quickly explains. You can’t be very sensitive about a subject when you’re surrounded by it every day. Jimin gives her a quick smile, still paying close attention to the boy standing next to her.

“O-Oh. Okay.” She turns, catching the boy just as he slowly begins to back out of the situation he just stumbled into. “This is Yoongi, my baby,” she pinches his cheek. Yoongi rolls his eyes. “He’s about your age Jimin, and he’ll be attending the same high school as you, so i’ve heard!” She seems to be getting back to her previous energetic state.

“H-Hey.” The boy mumbles, still looking uncomfortable as ever.

Jimin’s mother signs everything and Jimin watches intently.

Yoongi and Eunji leave soon after, and Jimin goes back up to his room to doodle, wondering when he’d see that boy again.

Late that night, he could’ve sworn he’d felt the vibrations of a distant piano.

*back to present*

And that is why Jimin doesn’t want to talk about his (kind of hot) new neighbor.

‘They’re really nice, mom wants to invite them over for dinner sometime. Maybe you could come?’ He signs as they walk to their first period classes. To which taehyung responds with a nod and splits off to go to his class.