Work Text:
To be fair, 2017 has had its fair share of ups and downs.
In 2017, Jimin got a decent job as an accountant in an insurance firm in the city, moved into a shiny new apartment studio a 10-minute walk away from his office and fallen in love with his co-worker after too many nights of overtime and soju spiralled into a permanent heart boner residing in the confines of Jimin’s chest cavity.
(“Seokjin sunbaenim, please teach me well!” he’d squeaked on the first day on the job after finding his new office cell.
Seokjin smiled easily. “Jimin-ah, you can call me hyung.”)
It isn’t easy not falling in love with Kim Seokjin when he looks like fucking Adonis with his stupidly broad shoulders and unexplainably adorable plush-lipped smile. Not to be dramatic but Kim Seokjin was the best thing to happen to Jimin in 2017, even with — no, especially with — those terrible dad jokes he never seems to run out of and that squeaky windshield wiper-esque laughter.
(“Jimin-ah! How do you ask somebody not to fart in English?” Seokjin had asked one day, sticking his head into Jimin’s cell and trying his best not to laugh.
At this, Jimin grinned at him, anticipating the punchline. “I don’t know.”
”Tonkatsu!” Seokjin burst into laughter the same time Jimin fell off his seat in a fit of giggles.
The next day, their co-worker in the next cell over filed a complaint for ‘lame jokes and raunchy laughter’.)
Coincidentally, Kim Seokjin was also the worst thing to happen to Jimin in 2017. It’s Jimin’s fault, really. He’d fallen too fast, too hard and had been blindsided by the exhilaration of falling in love and the adrenaline of having one too many bottles of peach-flavoured soju, too caught up in it all to realise that Seokjin had a boyfriend.
(”Jimin, I heard you’re working overtime today,” Seokjin said, concern etching his features into a frown. “The higher ups are too much, they gave you so much work to complete!”
Glancing towards the pile of unfinished paperwork on the table, Jimin merely waved him off. “It’s okay, I can manage it.”
”No, I’m going to help you until we finish this together,” Seokjin set his bag down and took half the stack of papers back to his own cell before Jimin could retort.
They finished it in no time, and Jimin took it to himself to take Seokjin out for lunch as thanks.)
The thing is, he didn’t even know of Seokjin’s boyfriend’s existence until just a few hours ago, when said boyfriend had crashed their New Year’s Eve office party as Seokjin’s plus-one. Heck, he doesn’t even know why he was so surprised to find out that Seokjin was taken, did he really expect somebody like Seokjin to be single? And even if he was single, he would never look Jimin’s way, Jimin doesn’t even stand a chance against Seokjin’s current boyfriend.
(The first time Jimin had lunch with Seokjin, he realised how much he enjoyed watching Seokjin eat, stuffing his mouth gleefully and without a care in the world. It was comforting, rather strangely.
He made it a point to treat Seokjin to lunch every now and then.)
His boyfriend was undeniably handsome, almost as gorgeous as Seokjin was, could probably appear on a billboard with Seokjin and take over South Korea with their blinding smiles. They looked like a fucking power couple standing side by side and Jimin had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t in line to watch the music awards because he was pretty sure they’d fit in there better than in a dingy little office. He couldn’t compete with that!
(The company gala dinner had been extravagant, in a ballroom with huge hanging ornamented chandeliers and the highest ceilings. The floors were polished to perfection and the paintings hung on the walls were beautifully done. Everyone was dressed to the nines.
Seokjin though, was on a whole different level, clad in the most dashing navy blue suit and looking very much like a prince with his hair styled back and his plush lips pushed into a smile.
It was that very day that Jimin realised that out of everybody and everything in the room, his eyes would always find Seokjin.)
Before long, Seokjin’s boyfriend was out charming their other co-workers with his boxy smile and overflowing charisma and Jimin was hiding by the fruit punch table, hyperventilating and staying away from Seokjin.
(“Seokjin sunbaenim.”
Seokjin gave him a pointed look.
“I mean hyung,” Jimin smiled sheepishly, “did our client sign the insurance package?”
“Yep,” Seokjin replied, popping the ‘p’.
“Nice! It took so long for them to crack, how’d you get them to sign it?” Jimin asked, eyes lit with wonder.
“I’m a charming guy, Jimin, they could never refuse.”)
“Jimin, is it?” Seokjin’s boyfriend had approached him with that stupid charismatic grin of his. “Seokjinnie hyung‘s told me so much about you! Nice to meet you, I’m Taehyung!”
Jimin would have had an easier time hating him if he were a little meaner.
”Yeah, you came with Seokjin hyung, right?” Jimin replied, trying his not to grit his teeth as he does so. Just be cordial and he’ll go away.
Taehyung chuckled, patted Jimin’s shoulder. “Yeah, hyung and I go way back! Ever since he invited me to come to the New Year’s Eve party, I‘ve been really looking forward to—”
It was a mistake.
On the account that Jimin had earlier that night snuck some alcohol into his fruit punch and allowed the envy simmering in the pit of his stomach to bubble into an angry beast, he found himself dumping his entire cup of fruit punch (and soju) onto Taehyung’s head, dousing him in the red liquid. It quelled the beast for a moment and Jimin had had the audacity to allow himself a satisfied little smile for a split second before realising with a terrifying jolt what he’s just done.
Sure, blame it on the alcohol.
(The first time Jimin got to see Seokjin drunk was some time after their team lost an important client to another insurance firm.
”It’s my fault we lost them,” Seokjin had wailed, slamming a soju bottle on the table and stuffing another piece of meat into his mouth. “Please bring more beef to our table!”
Jimin managed a fond smile, hand rubbing circles into Seokjin’s back. “It isn’t, hyung, don’t blame yourself.”
Seokjin only sobbed harder. When Seokjin buried his face into Jimin’s shirt, Jimin couldnt find it in himself to pull away.
That day, Jimin learnt that Seokjin smelled of Christmas candles of wood.)
“What the fuck, man? Seriously?” Taehyung growled, cursing in irritation.
All of a sudden, the blaring music was replaced by whispering, impossibly louder than the music ever was. Every pair of eyes in the room was focused on Jimin and Taehyung, either waiting for something else to happen or conjuring up some rumours to fuel their boring work lives. It’s not everyday you see drama like this in your office.
Having everybody’s attention trained on him should leave Jimin embarrassed and flustered and on his knees begging for forgiveness from Taehyung but out of everybody in the room, Jimin’s eyes always seem to find one person. And it was enough seeing the expression on Seokjin’s face twist into something unreadable to make Jimin’s throat go dry.
(On Christmas Eve, Seokjin had once again stayed back to help Jimin with an overload of paperwork, much to Jimin’s protest. It was some time between 12 and 1am that Seokjin had fallen asleep on his desk, hunched over the last bit of work and emitting light snores.
Despite his heavy eyelids, Jimin watched, if only for a little while.
And the faintest whisper left his lips, hung heavy in the air as if unknowing of the weight of the words it carried.
”Hyung, I think I love you.”)
Jimin turned and ran.
-
And that’s how he ended up at Hoseok’s party, drunk off his ass and yelling about his terrible day into the expanse of the night.
Jimin’s not smart enough to stay away from alcohol on New Year’s Eve, especially so when he’s been given an invite to Jung Hoseok’s Thank-Fuck-2017’s-Over party. A mouthful, but pretty true, considering what’s happened to Jimin in 2017.
Drowning his sorrows in alcohol and tears wasn’t the way he‘d planned for 2017 to end, but it seems like the only acceptable way to end off now. He’s already wailed about how terrible his day has gone to seven strangers, all of whom have ofreed him awkward and sympathetic hugs and left him crying in the corner of the room.
When he finds his next victim, he’s already gone, having emptied four bottles of soju and his stomach once in the past hour. He drapes an arm around the poor stranger’s shoulder and slurs, “You wanna know what happened to me today?”
”Jimin-ah, you’re really drunk,” the stranger says, concerned, and Jimin finds that voice achingly familiar.
“Wait, wait, just listen to me, okay? Nothing you did in 2017 can beat what I did today,” Jimin tells the stranger, tipsy smile hiding the pang in his chest. “Do you have a special person that always gives you butterflies in your stomach no matter how many times you look at them?”
The stranger by his side hesitates, but mutters a quiet, “Yes.”
Jimin continues, a little louder, “Do you have that special person that makes your palms go sweaty and sends your head spinning?”
“Yes.”
Louder. “Do you have that special person that you sometimes look at and go, ‘Wow, I’m so fucking lucky to have them here by my side’?”
The stranger yet agains answer ‘Yes’, voice sounding a little strained now.
“Well, I’ll bet you’ve never fucking poured fruit punch over your special person’s boyfriend!” Jimin wails, burying his face in the stranger’s shoulders.
The stranger chuckles, shoulders shaking with soft laughter and Jimin pouts. “It’s not funny.”
“Jimin-ah,” the stranger says, “what’s your resolution for 2018?”
Jimin finds himself quite liking the way the stranger calls his name. “Getting over stupid Kim Seokjin.”
He doesn’t notice that the stranger stiffens by his side, but notes that strangely, he smells of Christmas candles and wood.
Christmas candles and wood.
He dries his tears on the stranger’s shirt and looks up, confused.
Kim Seokjin is staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face, a mixture of emotions swirling behind his eyes. He’d heard everything.
“The countdown is starting, quick!” somebody yells in the background and all of a sudden, everybody is scrambling to find somebody around them to share a New Year’s kiss with. It’s tradition, locking lips with somebody else in the new year, and Jimin up until now would’ve given anything to be that somebody else for Seokjin.
Ten.
“Hyung,” Jimin says breathlessly, bunching up the material of Seokjin’s shirts in his fists, unsure of how to explain everything to Seokjin. He’s really done it now, Seokjin’s going to hate him for the rest of his life. There’s a stinging sensation behind his eyes and he registers faintly that there are fresh tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry.”
Nine.
Here’s where Seokjin’s supposed to slap him and call him out on his bullshit, here’s where Seokjin’s supposed to say he hates him. Just not:
“Jimin-ah, you’re my special person too.”
Eight.
Jimin’s heart almost stops in his chest. “B-but Taehyung—”
“—is my cousin.” Seokjin finishes for him, a sweet smile etched on his perfect plush lips. “He’s still kind of mad at you though.”
Seven.
“And I’m your—”
“—that’s right, you’re my special person.”
Six.
All at once, Jimin’s brain goes into overdrive, a whole head of emotions crashing down on him like a tsunami. He might’ve drowned a long time ago if not for Seokjin being there for him, squeezing his hand before an important meeting or telling his stupid jokes and giving Jimin the privilege of listening to his squeaky laughter almost every other day. He would’ve gone mad in that corporate hell if not for Seokjin by his side.
Five.
Seokjin pulls him into an embrace, long arms wrapping around him and he melts into the hug, head resting on Seokjin’s shoulder, not realising how long it’s been since he wanted to do this.
Four.
There’s a question hanging in the air between both of them, and Jimin pulls away from the hug, meeting Seokjin’s gaze.
Three.
He finds the answer in Seokjin’s eyes.
Two.
“Hyung,” Jimin breathes, finally able to find comfort in Seokjin’s eyes, “I think I love you.”
One.
“Jimin-ah,” Seokjin whispers, carefully threading his fingers through Jimin’s hair, “I think I love you too.”
Zero.
When their lips meet, the world around them explodes.
”Happy new year, Jimin.”