Work Text:
Eros
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"Have you ever been in love, Jimin?" Yoongi asks. It's a pretty loaded question to ask anyone in the first place, not to mention Yoongi is basically his coach now - in a position of power over him no matter how eagerly and willingly Jimin had agreed to it - not to mention also that when Yoongi asks a question it always sounds kind of critical, like even though it's a personal experience there's a way for Jimin to answer wrongly. Jimin swallows hard.
"Yeah," he admits. He's twenty-three, and even if his life has been entirely dedicated to the art of ice dancing thus far he's not dead. Girls have caught his eye before, he's dated! "A couple of times."
"So, what was that like?" Yoongi asks in his satoori-laden drawl, a smirk rising to his face. Jimin feels his cheeks puff up; it's like Yoongi knows he's going to say-
"Awful!" Jimin hides his face in his hands, his hoodie sleeves so long that they're what actually make contact with his cheeks instead of his palms. "Embarrassing. Painful." But at the same time, "amazing. Like… flying. Warm, light, free. But also weighty and full of obligations and expectations."
"That's a lot of negatives."
"Well, that's why they didn't work out in the end, sunbae," Jimin shrugs. He doesn't like to dwell on it. He has a busy life and a dedicated schedule, and nobody really understands unless they have a similarly demanding job. Yoongi accepts his reasoning with a silent nod, and then seems to recall the purpose of starting the conversation.
"I'm glad you understand," he says, "that love is complex and complicated, and full of a lot of different emotions, it's not just happiness or caring for someone. Because it's a brilliant subject for people to tackle in any area of the arts. There are a million love songs, for example. I think you should perform a routine on the theme of love. Romantic love. Really capture the hearts of the audience."
"S-sunbae?" Jimin asks weakly. "I don't think I'm capable of… I mean, it's been a really long time since I-" he flushes, "no, wait! I don't mean it to sound like that!" Yoongi is smirking at him. "I don't remember what it was like to be in love! It's only faded memories. And it was different both times." And Jimin has just revealed for definite that he's only ever had two serious girlfriends, well done, Jimin. "I think if I fell in love now it'd be different still. I'm different now. And the person I loved would be different to anyone else I've loved before too."
"You're quite the poet, Park Jimin. I'm sure you'll do fine with a healthy attitude like yours." Yoongi takes a sliding step backwards, pushing away powerfully onto the ice. He calls over, "maybe the best way to understand love is simply to be open to it."
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"I thought you were in love with Yoongi-ssi," Taehyung says. Jimin spits out his smoothie.
"What?!" He demands. "Taehyung!"
"What?" Taehyung echoes as Jimin flails and starts moping about his favourite sweater being stained with blended fruit.
"What do you mean 'what'?" Jimin demands. "You're the one who said something crazy like that! What on earth made you think that way?"
"I guess I always thought it," Taehyung shrugs, as if he isn't revealing that he always thought Jimin was a completely different person than he actually is! "Like, when we were little kids you admired him so much. So much that you followed in his footsteps! Back then we didn't know what it meant to be in love, but you hero-worshipped Yoongi-ssi. You wanted to be like him so much. You wanted to meet him, you wanted him to like you. As we got older and learnt about love and romance it just seemed to me that that's how you felt about him. I didn't think we needed to talk about it because it was something we both just knew."
"Taehyung, I did not know you thought that way at all!" Jimin squeaks. "I'm not in love with Yoongi-sunbae! I'm straight; I date girls!"
"A guy can date girls and still not be straight," Taehyung retorts. Why is that the only section of Jimin's words he listened to? "And you haven't been on a date in years. Have you?"
"I've been busy," Jimin mutters.
"Busy trying to make it onto the same stage as Yoongi-ssi, to meet him and compete with him. All of your waking moments have been spent aiming towards him." Taehyung is starting to sound a little smug. Jimin doesn't like it one bit.
"Ohmygod I'm not in love with Yoongi-sunbae," he whispers harshly to himself. "He's the most amazing solo male ice dancing talent South Korea has ever seen, and just because he inspired me to take the path of my dream doesn't mean I'm in love with him!"
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