Chapter Text
Your story: [picture of a scene in 8 Mile movie with the caption: 8 Mile to celebrate 8th week in Insta #tigeremoji #partypopperemoji]
“There, for the people who wanted to know what I’m up to today. If ever there were any. A picture of the rap god Eminem y’all,” Taehyung thinks to himself as he posted his recent Instagram story.
Five minutes later, Taehyung checks who viewed his recent Instagram story. He adjusts his glasses to see clearer and to verify if what he saw is really true. Apparently, there are many people who are either interested in “what’s up with Taehyung today” or those who were just jumping from stories to stories. Taehyung reads carefully the users who viewed his story: 0901kook97 and 355 others.
Of course, of all the days his crush, Jeon Jungkook, could view his story, it has to be today when he posts an unpopular part of him. The day when he posts a bit more about what kept him sane all through the years. The day when he shares about his passion about hip-hop, in the form of the 8 Mile Instagram story.
To say Taehyung loved hip-hop is an understatement, his friends Namjoon and Yoongi would know. One time, he went rambling about his feelings about the matter on a group call with Namjoon and Yoongi for about four hours. It could have gone longer if the other two people on the line didn’t fall asleep on him. Even then, he didn’t feel bad about them falling asleep on him because he felt good after pouring out his thoughts.
There is something about the raw emotions oozing out of the lyrics, with or without beats. There is something about the diversity of styles rappers has and the community that encompasses them. There is something appealing to his inner self every time he hears about the stories chained to the songs.
But the online world has not yet been introduced to that part of Taehyung – until the 8th week. Still, he likes 8 Mile (and hip-hop in general) so much that he didn’t care if this story will “ruin” his established mood for his Instagram feed. All these week, he tries his best to maintain his own kind of aesthetic. There aren’t that much posts yet, since it has taken some quality time for him to decide what to post, but the majority are of himself and his photography.
Really, Taehyung wouldn’t have minded that his crush viewed that particular story; he’d gladly talk to him about it, given the opportunity. What bothered him is the timing of it.
Kim Taehyung (kimtaehsthetic.v) followed Jeon Jungkook (0901kook97) one week after the creation of his Instagram account. He originally planned to follow the boy a day after he created the account but delayed the plan due to the cons outweighing the pros of the action.
Pro: he would be up-to-date about the things the boy wanted to share about his life
CON: he hadn’t followed that much people yet and the boy may be suspicious about the action
Pro: maybe the boy wouldn’t think much about the action and just follow him back because they were real life acquaintances
CON: he could do the 1st pro even without following the boy since the boy’s feed wasn’t private (so delete 1st pro. 1 Pro – a maybe pro – but 2 Cons.
Taehyung wasn’t going to risk taking the action with those two cons in mind. After following more than 100 people over the week, he decided that it’s an okay time for him to follow Jungkook (after making sure he’d been online by checking if he recently liked a post). To his delight (and to his lungs’ delight to suck in fresh air after he held his breath), Jeon Jungkook followed him back minutes after he followed the boy. Win-win.
Taehyung went on posting stuff on his stories as usual. But, prior to his 8th week, there wasn’t a time when Jungkook viewed any of his stories.
Then, the 8th week Instagram story happened. Taehyung should have known that there was a great chance of his story being viewed by Jungkook. First, it is their winter vacation and people tend to be more active during the time. Second, he knows the boy is online as well – Jungkook’s recent activity: 0901kook97 liked 17 photos/videos of bunnies (in just a span of 5 minutes after the story was posted, not that Taehyung was counting). Third, he is an active Instagram user and that, by default, increases the chance.
Taehyung takes three deep breaths to regain his composure. After all, it’s good that Jungkook finally noticed him, right?
. . .
Your story: [picture of a very nice flat lay of nine chicken wings, milkshake, and tissues with caption: 9 delicious wings at night ~9th week in Instagram #tigeremoji #partypopperemoji]
Taehyung likes celebrating the small things. In his social media, he has ways of making sure his presence is felt. Like celebrating weekly milestones in Instagram, daily updates to Facebook’s My Day, regularly posting tweets to his two photography threads – one for film photography and the other for digital – in Twitter, and monthly musings and recap in Tumblr. He is thankful that other people are somehow one with him in all these efforts. Judging by the average of 600 likes per post and 400 views per story – after an hour, it seems to him that his followers (or “online friends” as he pointed out to his roommate and best pal Jimin) share his sentiments to some degree.
Out of habit, Taehyung checks the users who viewed his recent story. There are the regular ones, his “in real life” friends – jm_park, njmnstr, jinjjang92, hobijung, and yg_dboy – and 440 others (a significant increase compared to last week’s views, he noted).
But none of the viewer of the recent story is 0901kook97.
Taehyung’s heart sinks a little. It is petty and irrational, he knew.
It is just a simple crush brought about by the goofy smile the boy gave him during the orientation. As a junior and part of the student council, he was part of the welcoming committee. The committee was in charge of giving a campus tour and handing out freebies and kits to the freshmen. After the boy filled up the sign-up form at the desk supervised by him and Jung Hoseok, the student council president, he gave the freebies to the boy, together with cute grin. Then, the boy gave him a goofy smile. Taehyung melted right after the boy turned his back. After the tour and the judgment of his friends – especially council secretary Kim Namjoon, he made sure to get the social media info of the boy. That was how he got to know the boy’s Instagram.
Taehyung tells himself to be rational and accept things as they are. It is just an Instagram story. It is just an Instagram story. It is just an Instagram story. It is just an Instagram story. It is just an Instagram story. It is just an Instagram story. It is just an Instagram story. It is just an Instagram story.
Taehyung searches for Jungkook’s profile. Once again, he giggles at the adorable name Jungkook put: jungkook seagull.
. . .