𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 — 𝟏. 𝟑
❛  now you can have
seven pairs of ears !  ❜

The dinner time, as usual, was always loud with excited chatters of her little cousin, Daisy. Her aunt talked about her busy day and mischiefs of Daisy, and Tina was also asked about her experience at the school. While Tina gossiped about it, she made sure to avoid the embarrassing parts- there was no need of sharing that anyway. But throughout the time, the thoughts of TinyTANs had not left her mind at all. She talked, listened to her aunt and her cousin, but still all she was thinking of was about them. She had made up her mind that it had been her imaginations when she was at school, all until it was proved otherwise.

But was it for real? And what were they? Something magical? Supernatural? Or paranormal?? But they did not seem to be spooky or frightening at all.... whatever or whoever they were, they seemed to be nice and eager to be friendly. Whatever they were, were they alive? Did they have a fixed lifespan like humans or any other creatures? Perhaps so... What was actually interesting was that they could talk like humans, and even understood and spoke her language. Weird. So they had similarities with men... except their unique sizes, the physical features looked same as well. Were they just dwarfed naturally??

As she finished her dinner and sipped water from her glass, she realized it was time to go back to her room and meet them again. On one side, Tina could not wait to go back to her room and see them again; on the other hand, she just wished to delay it for as long as she could manage- for she did not know what to say or do with them. Tina eyed Aunt Cass who had started to take the empty dishes into the sink, and then followed after her to assist. But finally when Tina was done with the dishes, she found herself to be nearly running up the stairs to her room. She paused briefly just before grabbing the door knob. She did not wish to startle or intimidate them by making a sudden appearance.

Just as she squeezed the doorknob, a thought occurred to her. What if she did not find them again? What if....it was really some imaginations of hers? Even though they barely had started to get to know each other, the thought somehow made her feel gloomy. Tina pushed the door open slowly and gently, then looked around in her room that surely felt undisturbed by anyone else's presence. The light was still lit as she had left it for them, surely it was not nice to switch off the lights with occupants in the room; although if she was caught by her aunt, she might had to lie about forgetting to switch it off. Tina cautiously stepped in, then closed the door behind her.

"Hello?" She whispered without realizing, as she peeked at her table and around the room, but there was no sign of them. "Guys...??" Maybe...it was already late for them...and they went back to their hideout or wherever they stayed usually? That brought another question to her mind: did they need to sleep......and possibly eat, too?

But where were they? Did they really leave??
But that would not be so nice...since they promised to wait for her.

"Hey, guys?? It's me! ......I'm back?" She raised her tone a little hoping they would hear her this time, but with no response, she plopped down on her bed.

Or perhaps, they really were specks of her imaginations...? Or how else would she explain that to herself?But she was not that pathetic and lonely to start to have hallucinations of unrealistic miniatures trying to befriend her. Tina sighed, feeling defeated, deciding to lie back into the bed; perhaps, she needed some rest. She made to lie down— but just before her back hit the bed, she heard muffling sounds and something brushed past from beneath her and her hair, and as she landed, she noticed motions around her. She jumped to sit up, and finally saw them again.

There they were, standing on her bed and surrounding the small curve where her head lied a second ago. "Oh! Here are you!" She took a look at all of their faces, "But...why are you guys late to appear? You didn't even respond... I had thought you guys left- urgently," she added quickly.

"Aniyo(no)... we wouldn't do that," J-hope shook his head cutely, "Unless you want us to— since we thought it would not be so nice to disappear without telling you."
"Uh, no why would I want that?"
"We decided to see how you react if it looked like that we have left... hence we waited a minute or two to reappear," explained Jimin with a sheepish grin.
"Don't forget to mention that we ended up...being tangled with the blanket and bedsheet..." Suga mumbled, and shrugged seeing Tina gaping at him, "Er- it happened just minutes before you came back."
"I thought we were going to be squashed under you!" Jungkook said and giggled, and V, too, flashed a small boxy grin. RM waved his hand excitedly and Jin flashed a smile.

"Oops, sorry," Tina visibly bit her lips and pouted while also waving back to RM so he would not be upset. Slowly a smile slipped into her lips; they did sound like trouble, but like fun, or in a good way.

"So you came back to see us again!" blurted a jolly Jin, who became flustered right after but instantly pulled a poker face.

Tina chuckled softly, "It is my room after all, I couldn't have avoided coming here..." Just as she said so, she scolded herself as it occurred to her— may be he was being a little awkward with socializing just as herself and she didn't need to point out like that.
And there went Jin's ears all red and he immediately started blurting again. "Ahh, I meant- You might not have wanted to come back for the night being spooked by us— not saying that you are a coward or anything but- you know our first impression didn't work out the way we had planned, so we thought you might decide not to return tonight- that's what I meant..!" He rapped on as his cheeks flushed red and his eyes were squeezed shut in embarrassment.

"No, no, it's okay- It's me who shouldn't have said that- So sorry! My bad, again!" She almost laughed raising her arms in defeat, "I'm so sorry!" But then she remembered it again— she had to ask them a specific thing to which she might need to tend. "Oh, I was almost forgetting again- I was wondering if you need to eat to live, too?"
"Oh, yeah, we do," nodded J-hope, "We are living beings after all."
"Basically, humans and us are quite alike! We need energy to move and so we need to breathe, eat and sleep, too, like you do," RM chanted cheerfully.
"Oh....I see," she nodded again, "Then, have you had dinner or supper already?"
The TinyTANs seemed to be clueless for a moment before they started to exchange glances sideways, so she spoke instead, "No?? ...I'll take that as a no. Okay.... then... I'll be real quick!" With that she jumped to her feet and disappeared through the door. The TinyTANs would have gaped after her enthusiasm if they were not hungry, but they were and so they were more grateful to her.
But their jaws dropped when Tina had appeared at the door after another minute or two of waiting, carrying a little bottle of juice, two saucers and a jar full of cookies.

She had to quietly sneak into the kitchen since the lights were put out already, it was already bed time in the house and she did not have any proper explanation or excuse for her aunt if she had been caught. She had proceeded to the fridge at first, but after taking out a small pack of juice, she changed her mind and went to rummage through the cupboards quietly- she knew one or two of them stored a stack of snacks for her and Daisy, as she wondered what to take for them. She had no idea what was edible for them and what was not, given their tiny heights and undoubtedly littler mouths, and she might have run back to her room to ask- until when she saw the jar of cookies. No one could hate cookies, no one.... the thought of anyone to be hateful regarding chocolates and cookies did not make any sense to her. At first, she took a saucer and stuffed it up with as much cookies she could put on it. She turned to leave when she wondered if it would be enough to feed the seven of them- she took another saucer and filled it up with cookies to her content. But just before she would leave, her eyes fell on the cookies jar again— who knew what she had occurred to her then but she grabbed it under her arm and cautiously paced back to her room.

Tina barely avoided a fall from a slip with the mattress and landed hastily on the bed, quickly setting the saucers full of cookies and the jar before them. "Ah..haha... sorry about that..." she scratched her neck sitting comfortably on the bed, crossing her legs. But when the TinyTANs were still not starting with the cookies but watching her, perhaps, in a little amusement, also waiting for her permission, she tapped on the cookies, "Here, have them. It's for you... It's cookies, if you don't know. Are these okay? I- uh- don't know what you like or eat or what are your preferences...but I assumed... nothing could go wrong with cookies...."
"Of course, we know what cookies are," Jin blurted as his eyes secretly sparkled.
"Cookies are perfect!" Jungkook yelped in joy.
"I love cookies-" V tumbled over the saucer getting her permission and made to stuff down cookies happily but Suga smacked his hand and V stopped with a frown.
"Thank you so much!!!" J-hope squealed.

The first few seconds they were trying hard to be polite, but soon they were just bustling to stuff the cookies in their mouths. She rested her elbows on the jar which was in her lap and watched them, adoring their cute bustling movements— they did look so hungry. However, before a whole minute passed like that, they noticed her gaze, paused composing themselves and grinned sheepishly. "Ah, sorry, for that,' J-hope shyfully scratched his neck. "That was not so decent," added a sheepish Suga. "Sorry...?" RM grinned innocently, while Jungkook and V still tried to avoid her eyes and take another bites.
"That's okay, I don't mind at all. You can be yourselves with me," Tina assured them with a giggle. They were cute. Just cute, not creepy anymore.
"Ah, thank you for that," RM smiled revealing tiny dimples on both of his cheeks.

"Ahaha, welcome?" Tina smiled, "I don't know how much you guys need to eat...If you need more, all you need to do is ask, okay?" They nodded but didn't say anything further. That's when she noticed that they were already done with the cookies she had served them. "Oh? You guys seem so fast... Maybe it wasn't enough for the seven of you? Would you like some more?" Tina quickly opened the jar's lid to put some more cookies for them in the saucers, pleased with herself that she had brought the jar along. But as she closed the lid and made to put it down, somehow she nudged her ankle and grunted little louder than she should have if it was just a normal prod. Immediately her hand shot to rub at where it hurt, wondering if it was bruised under the sweatpant. The skin had turned a little bluish, perhaps from the slight blood clot. She averted her focus and looked up and found the TinyTANs watching her with.......concern?

"Are you alright?" blurted V, eyes moving from her eyes to her ankle.
"It couldn't have been just that plastic jar..." mumbled Suga meeting her eyes.
"It must hurt..." Jin murmured watching her bluish spot closely.
"Huh? Oh, that, yeah-" Tina stopped as a shot of embarrassment flushed her, suddenly remembering how she had hurt herself there.

And suddenly the TinaTAN were throwing questions at her being worried.
"What's wrong?" asked RM tilting his head.
"Are you okay?" Jimin looked genuinely concerned.
"We could may be help if something's happened...?" murmured Jungkook looking at her.
"If you wish to share with us, that is," quickly added Hoseok.

"Ahh....it's nothing like that....nothing so serious," She paused as they loosened up only a little, "I'm just a clumsy idiot who keeps fooling and embarrassing myself before others.... It was- I- uh, why did I embarrass myself like that?" She almost howled digging her head down into the bed and pulled the sheets to cover her face dramatically, forgetting to act like a grown up since she was drowning in embarrassment again, and she stayed like that, muttering, for some more seconds until Jin, the one to be standing closest to her hesitantly decided to give a shaky pat with his tiny hand. "Whatever happened.... it'll be alright..." he mumbled hesitantly.

"Ahh....whyyyy..... I was just asked to stand up...how hard could it be to stand up like a normal person??" Tina sprang to sit up again, "You know, what happened? I was just called...by the class teacher to stand up so that he could introduce me to the class... You know- it was supposed to be- I mean it was my first day at this school- and I was supposed to make a good first impression or just simply be 'not bad'... Instead, when I was called, I got too flustered...and got up from the seat hastily only to hurt myself hitting with the desk and almost stumbled- Ahhhh! Everybody was watching me! They did not hear my grunts or anything and I tried not to show the pain on my face... But they could see me stumbling..!" And again she dived down to hide her head under the blanket, squirming and grunting in frustration.

For a second, the TinyTAN carefully thought how to react or respond to that. It was quite funny to be honest in one sense, also very natural to them since they always dealt with a clumsy RM. But they did not laugh at all. Suga approached to pat on her head over the blanket, "It'll be alright."
"They didn't laugh, did they?" asked Jimin with a frown on his face.
"There's a chance that they didn't actually notice or realize what happened..." said RM hopefully.
"They can't have remembered it more than a minute," Jin consoled her, "Don't worr-"
"No.....they won't forget..." came her muffled tone as she still buried her face on the bed sheet in what it looked like defeat. "Oh, what a miserable day......"

There was silence for another few seconds until J-hope tried to cheer her up. "It's okayy- I mean, not okay...but it'll be okay! Don't lose your heart! It'll be better tomorrow!"

"And, it can't have been all worse for the whole of first day, right?" Jin tried to reason.
"Right! What was the best thing to happen today?" asked Jungkook, hoping it might help.
"It was miserable all day long...!" whined Tina.
"Why, what happened again??" asked RM wondering what more could have happened that was bothering her. The boys exchanged glances in bewilderment.

Tina rose to sit up again, then pulled the cookie jar in her lap, set her elbows on top of it and rested her chins in her hands as she stared down at them. Her face now looked gloomy. "You have no idea what happened....you wouldn't be able to imagine what happened... What did not happen could be more appropriate to everything that happened today at school..." she heaved a sigh. "Everything went to chaos from the moment I stepped inside my classroom... want to listen to my miserable story??"
The TinyTANs were confused how to react to that, some of them faintly nodded and some of them just waited for her to start on her own and so she started her tale about what happened at the school on the morning, during her entrance to the classroom.....

She slouched over and heaved a long but almost quiet sigh having finished. "See? Nobody is forgetting me any sooner.... I'll be in their minds for a long time to be teased and laughed at.... I'm already a magnet for mess and chaos to get myself humiliated or embarrassed before others," Tina's undertone sounded exhausted and beat.

"That did sound....quite...miserable... assuming she's the shy type," whispered Jimin into their ears, careful enough so that Tina had no chance of hearing them. The others nodded and maintained silence until Jin again opened his mouth in attempt to comfort her,
"Still....don't stress too much or overthink about it.... Soon, it will turn out better... and who knows? Maybe none of them will be rude to actually make fun of that accident, right?"

Somehow they were quite sure she wanted to say something against it, but then Tina just sighed louder and nodded. "I just wish....I don't make a fool of myself in front of them ever again... I tend to get myself into things and accidents that only earns me strange perception of myself from others... Ahh, I'm so clumsy. Why am I so clumsy??" She was mumbling in undertone again, but then she realized all that she had been doing for a while was whining and mourning over this single topic- it had to be so annoying and boring for them— Tina immediately decided to apologize, "Oh my! I will stop with these- Sorry for going on and on with my stupid blabbers and gloomy rants... it must have been tiring to keep listening to all of these..."

RM smiled, "It's okay. We didn't mind at all for opening up with us, rather, you can say... we're quite happy... that you found us to be comfortable to talk to...."
"And we don't have any problem to listen to more of them if you need an ear," J-hope flashed a brilliant smile.
"-Seven pairs of ears," added Suga with a little grin.

"We'll always be here to listen to you!" Jimin smiled and his eyes were adorably squinted.
"And we could probably try to help you, too," Jungkook joined, "we're not sure how much helpful we can be, but we can always try."
"You can trust us!" V threw his arms in the air gleefully.

Jin just smiled and gave a slight nod when her eyes met his, and although he did not say anything like the others did to comfort her, the compassion his eyes held, and his endearing smile made her feel warm fuzzy feelings in her chest.

Tina blinked, her lips slowly parted in awe and happiness and she finally beamed, "Aww, gosh, thank you!!!" She was feeling uplifted and smiled lowering her gaze, and missed to see that her smile had put smiles on the rest of the seven faces. "Though I'm not sure if I should burden and trouble you with my silly problems..." she murmured.
"It won't be a bother to us at all. Really," assured Jin and winked, "And if anything, we can understand your situation when we've our clumsy RM among us... We know how it can be when you get into unintentional troubles."

"Oh! Really?" Tina looked at the faces of the seven miniatures to try and recognize which one might be RM. She stared at V in confusion, "Are you...?" But before V could correct her, she herself shook her head. "No... He had unique hair color..." She gazed upon Suga and RM now. It was still hard for her to remember their faces by their names; she hadn't adjusted with all the new names completely. "You? RM?" she asked pointing at the purple hair coloured one, and he smiled happily and nodded, making her relieved that she did not mess this one up.

"You tend to mess things up, too??" She bent down an inch to take a better look at him who suddenly looked a little flustered and nodded.
"Ah, it's nothing to be flushed about, I guess, not before me when I myself is the same...." she gave a mini pat on his head, "But, it's never our fault, don't you think so? We do try so hard not to mess up or damage anything but instead end up in those situations and often get laughed at for that. I wish the others would understand how it feels for people like us.... and not be judgy." Tina was ranting on again and RM nodded with a smile.

"Sorry, for reacting like that earlier, when I came back home and in the morning... That surely wasn't nice..." Tina heaved a sigh. "We didn't mind," V assured her with a boxy smile, ushering her worries away. Tina frowned even more remembering she hurt him, and gently patted his head. "Does it still hurt?"
V gave a boxy smile, enjoying her affection, "Not anymore."

"I don't want to leave,"  Jin slowly started, "But it's getting late."
"Yeah, and she has school tomorrow," RM reminded the others.
"Maybe... we should leave and let you sleep now," J-hope said pursing a smile.
"But I don't want to leave..." Jimin held onto Tina's finger making her giggle.
"Huh! Move aside, hyung! I need love, too!" Jungkook rushed and held onto another finger of Tina making her giggle more.
"Ahhh! Meeeeeeeee!" V too dashed and hugged her thumb finger as she now cooed at their adorable behaviours.

"Ughh... Kids..." Suga mumbled acting to roll his eyes, but as his eyes met with hers, he grinned. Tina smiled at him making him flustered, and stroked his hair making his ears go red. "I know you like it," Tina whispered and winked, then proceeded to stroke on the heads of Jin, J-hope and RM. "It's okay, guys. We can all meet tomorrow."

"Does that mean we are friends??" V squealed all of a sudden, visibly sparkling in excitement. The rest of them, too, looked up at her.

Tina smiled glancing at all of them and winked.

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AUTHORS NOTE

𝖠𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝗃𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗇𝖾𝗒 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗌...! 𝖶𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖾𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗌𝖼𝖾𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗈 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖺𝗉𝖾𝗇? 𝖦𝗈 𝖽𝗋𝗈𝗉 𝗂𝗍 𝗂𝗇 𝖺 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍, 𝗐𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖺𝖼𝖼𝖾𝗉𝗍 𝗌𝗎𝗂𝗍𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗊𝖾𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗌. 𝖳𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗎𝗉𝖽𝖺𝗍𝖾,  𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗋𝖾 !

✧ 𝗪 𝗘     𝗣 𝗨 𝗥 𝗣 𝗟 𝗘     𝗬 𝗢 𝗨  ! ✧

Assalamu alaikum!
November 16, 2020