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sometimes it's the plain sounding of bells, sometimes a jingle of a song, sometimes the the tolling of wedding bells; it differs for every pair of soulmates when they cross paths- some a song that keeps changing, some a loop of a particular part of a jingle. sometimes they never get a chance to hear it for themselves.
jeon jeongguk's been waiting his whole life to find the other person that will hear the same ring as he does. will it be a sweet song? will it be a ballad? or maybe something more hardcore and noisy? he doesn't know, and he ardently desires to find out. his parents had met hearing the sound of windchimes and bells fluttering in the wind when they boarded the last train to get home, and his father had chivalrously offered his seat, seeing her ankles sore from high heels. probability of meeting soulmates were getting more and more common these days, due to the changing dna patterns and advanced technology that somehow aided this lifelong mission- some passed on happy, but never knowing who their one true love was. he'd been fascinated by all the love stories from all sorts of soulmates, both the happily ever afters and the unrequited and toxic ones, and every night before be sleeps, be prays for his soulmate to be happy.
park jimin is a hopeless romantic. he's obsessed with the idea of true love, and he preaches it to all those that call him foolish and naïve. he states his parents, who had, in his opinion, such a dreamy backstory. his father had clumsily left his wallet behind at the university's library, rushing home to greet his brother that had went abroad for further studies and hadn't been back in years. his mother had picked it up, worried that the owner’s cash and cards might be stolen, or that he might be in panic on the loss of his identification card and driver’s license, had made her way to the stated address to return the wallet. the house was making merry and he didn't even notice the missing wallet until the girl had personally delivered it back to him. it was love at first sight, jimin sighed dreamily, remembering how precious it was that the bells that chimed for them were in tune to mendelssohn's wedding march. his parents often gazed at the stars while in courtship, and he too developed a similar interest. every night when he looks at the stars, he prays for his soulmate’s happiness.
it's orientation.
the freshmen are all hustled into their groups, with invigorating and exuberant group leaders and facilitators to guide them through the week around campus. it would be all fun and games and making friends and getting familiar with their new school- but jeongguk had a funny feeling about it. it wasn't nerves or anything, despite being more socially introverted, but more of a premonition that something major would happen. it's just a feeling, he repeated to himself, it'll go away. besides, he knew yoongi hyung, an old family friend that doted on him, who was also a student at said college. he would be in good hands.
assigned to a group with a bubbly, cheery facil called jung hoseok and a soft spoken, intellectual called kim namjoon, he slowly eases his way and blends in, making new friends with similar interests in drawing and bowling, listened to similar music.
when jeongguk finally feels like he's was starting to fit in, it happens.
as fate would have it, whimsical duo kim taehyung and park jimin are assigned to a bunch of kids that were good natured and nice, but also with a fraction of the group that were wild and liked to party. after warming up to each other with icebreakers and name games, trial lectures and briefings, it got suggested.
“how ‘bout we play truth or dare?”
it was lunch hour, which called for more ‘bonding time’ within the group, and hoots were in unison to let the game be put into motion. the good sports they were, a fun loving taehyung and sweet jimin gave in and played along, the group slowly getting closer and unsurprisingly more brazen and outrageous to the truths and dares they voted for.
it was all in good fun, until they dared jimin and taehyung to kiss.
jimin looked a little worried at first, but taehyung, a theatre major, patted his back in a bid to soothe his best friend. “if you're uncomfortable i can always worm us out of it,” taehyung whispers, as the kids in the background fade away (according to jimin's ears) as a recurring soft chant for them to kiss! kiss! kiss! jimin gingerly takes a glance at their expectant faces and gulps in regret, blanching a little. he'd saved up his first kiss for his soulmate, and that taehyung knew, since jimin had pecked him on the cheek once when they were still tiny children in diapers and wailed when he realised he was ‘betraying his soulmate’. taehyung had always rubbed it in his admirers’ faces that he received jimin's kiss first, first in the whole universe. those people can suck it.
“show must go on, huh,” jimin mumbles back, their foreheads touching to just let the kids have their fun, not knowing how close and attached to the hip they were since day one. taehyung holds his baby cheeks in his large, warm hands and gives him a tender little smile and nod as jimin breathes in and out. taehyung also purses his lips to make a kissy face and jimin bursts out laughing, tension clearly relieved. “taehyung-ah, let's do this!”
they stand up in unison, plan conveyed with a twinkling glance and a smile, and their group members stare in awe at the performance put up by the two facils. jimin makes sure there's plenty of space behind taehyung before he loudly exhales, and his eyes turn into a playful, seductive glint. the gaze makes taehyung somehow shyer, knowing how alluring jimin can be, and he renders himself to fall into that charm as well. jimin pushes him by the shoulders, and he plays the vulnerable prey, captivated by jimin's overwhelming presence, until he gets cornered into the lockers, using an arm to hit the metal and make it seem like jimin did it forcefully- and boy do their audience react, loud gasps and exclamations, phones fished out to put this on snapchat or something.
to the actors, the lip biting and winking are far too exaggerated, and many a time biting of the lower lip served to suppress laughter and breaking out of the role- jimin would never hurt a fly, and taehyung would probably have said something coy or random or dirty (or a combination of all three) in a sentence by now, in retaliation to being faux seduced by his best friend. it gets progressively funnier to them as they see the girls dying and the guys blushing, switching angles to take a peek at the reaction while angling themselves to make their kiss look real. there's a siren that goes off to signal a change of venues, and hoseok’s loud laughter indicates the oncoming arrival of his group, followed by four others of the same house.
the hearty doubling over and howling by hoseok (and later joined in by namjoon) who's witnessed the entire comedy cause them to start bursting out in raucous laughter as well. hoseok's laugh was truly infectious, as they had learnt when they first went to dance class together. “seriously, you two are awesome, doing something shameless like that in public? i'd totally give you a daesang if i could, fighting!” their dance captain smiled, patting their backs in salute.
both ‘95 liners grin in tandem, and hug in celebration of their lauded act that garnered them a grand prize, leaving their freshmen gagging and clapping at their bravado. as they walk back to meet their cheers, and he hears it.
the bells.
like seashells being strung together, and a person holding it up by the windy beaches in busan. the flutter of a welcome bell. the tinkling of glass bubbles. he whips around, desperately searching for the source, a futile hope of knowing who his soulmate might be, even a hint- but all he sees is a sea of unknown faces, ceaseless chattering that now become the opening and closing of their mouths. he can't hear anything else- his head reverberates will the call of the bells of his soulmate.
he hears a gasp somewhere in the crowd, but he doesn't know where it's coming from- could that be his soulmate? they were all huddled in the T junction where groups of students often flooded during a change of period or lecture, and more often than not, students either swarmed the area, or nobody was in sight.
had his soulmate literally walked past him? his heart starts beating rapidly, breaths shallow, and taehyung asks if he's feeling okay since he's apparently gone a little pale. he hears someone yelp about dropping their phone, losing their bottles, and his faith starts to dwindle. perhaps it'd been wishful thinking again. jimin dismisses it as a figment of his imagination.
but deep down in his heart of hearts, he hopes it isn't.
jeongguk was mentally making a note that he should hold his things tightly and try not to get lost in the sea of students during a period change between the arts, humanities and science factions, especially in the T juncture. namjoon had recounted a story on how he dropped his glasses by accident and when the crowd cleared all was left was an extremely dissected pair of lens, frame, and a broken leg of the plastic.
the line to move to their next venue for a house meeting on their house cheer and dance was moving progressively, until the line started to move more sluggishly, apparently due to some blockade along the stairs, but jeongguk paid no mind. out of the corner of his eye, he noticed hobi hyung pausing to speak to some facils with similar lanyards that he seemed to be very friendly with. instead, he surveyed his surroundings, spotting the directions towards the laboratories and library.
once the beeline started gaining speed again, he sleepily made his way, trudging along with the numbers in front- and then he heard the sound of bells. shocked at the current revelation, jeongguk didn't even notice he had gasped quite loudly, until his partner yugeom had to nudge him and ask what the matter was. jeongguk remembers stammering and cooking up an excuse, good enough to make yugeom snicker and punch his shoulder. he remembers trying to turn around frantically to find his possible soulmate, pushing up the bridge of his glasses to try and locate the one he was destined for, but to no avail; the crowds moved him up the stairs with their sheer numbers.
he remembers faintly in retrospect, at the back of his mind, hoseok hyung complimenting two boys kissing or hugging or something- remembers his heart hammering when he noted they were good looking, especially the one with soft blonde locks and a boxy smile.
he doesn't remember how the one with black hair looks like, but his heart flutters when he tries to recall.
jeongguk had come to love his facils very much, and they take very good care of him, always looking out for him and asking for his opinions in their group when he's to shy to suggest his little ideas, always making sure he eats well and is settling in nicely. hoseok's a people pleaser by nature, and everyone loves him- it's no wonder why his whole camp group and tons of other people are cramming into the auditorium to watch the dance showcase.
the freshmen are all expected to join clubs as soon as possible, in light of limited vacancies, and dance was the obvious fan favourite, be it with an intention to join, or just to admire from their seats. namjoon has gotten them a better view, since he's there early, a member of the book club. he laments that people these days don't treasure the printed versions, instead relying on online versions and simplified renditions- and jeongguk nods furiously, a staunch supporter of namjoon’s ideals and his way of life. joonie hyung is really cool, jeongguk remembers thinking, the first time the facil had approached him with those killer dimples and asked him simple questions and listened to him keenly, like a big brother would.
the curtains go up, and jeongguk's jaw drops. he doesn't realise he's been staring so hard, until namjoon teases him about how flies would be able to enter with great ease. he applauds and yells so loudly for hobi hyung, but another reason for clapping till his hands are all red is because of that unit dance.
this must be them, jeongguk ruminates, blonde and black. he comes for hoseok hyung, but he leaves thinking and thinking and thinking only of the one with black hair- to think he had forgotten the cherubic face of such a beautiful creature. his hands fiddle with his fingers under his sweaterpaws, somehow feeling a little attacked at how much of a stage presence and effect the boy with black hair has on him. exhaling small puffs of air, he untwines his fingers to poke at namjoon’s bicep shyly.
“h-hyungie, who's that with black hair, the one dancing with hobi hyung?”
“ah, that's park jimin. scene stealer, complete heartthrob, a total sweetheart. i think every single girl on campus has fallen for him before- wait, i think some guys too. jimin’s that powerful.”
when jeongguk goes to congratulate hoseok for a standing ovation and a magnificent, seamlessly woven performance, he hesitantly asks about jimin, bringing some snacks to offer as a peace treaty. “i don't think there's a single good thing that our jiminnie doesn't have,” hoseok tells him fondly, sipping his water, “good grades, good looks, very kind, very soft, our jiminnie has it all!”
from then on, jeon jeongguk develops a full, head-on crush on park jimin.
if he ever sees the black haired senior, he ducks, turning the other way and scampering off, aware at how hot his cheeks are and how fast his heart is beating. that's because he ran, of course.
he sits somewhere diagonally across jimin in a common lecture every wednesday morning, and he ends up daydreaming and doodling in his sketchbook, dreamy sighs escaping his lips whenever jimin smiles, having answered a question correctly, or when he chews his pen, deep in thought. he's so beautiful, jeongguk thinks every single day, if only he knew i existed.
since yoongi is also a liberal arts student, jeongguk has similar breaks with him, and often camps at the same table during lunch. a warm cozy silence will safely nestle between them, jeongguk drawing and yoongi writing lyrics, and occasionally yoongi will silently push a banana milk towards the younger, and jeongguk offers vitamin c gummies to the elder in an equally passive way.
jimin is late. a rare occurrence, so hoseok and taehyung let it slide. jimin comes running into the cafeteria, lithely dodging and weaving his eay through the meandering groups of students.
the bells.
when he turns to survey his surroundings, he almost gets knocked down in his daze. he vaguely remembers it being yoongi hyung’s table he had whizzed past, and oh god, could it be min yoongi? yoongi’s cool, legendary composer of all the soundtracks for the school's musical productions, some of which used for dance too. but secretly, he hopes it's the cute boy with large round glasses and a navy and white sweater that had said something to make yoongi smile.
“what should i do? yoongi hyung’s really cool and nice and all, but like- i'm not sure if it's him, and i kinda hope he's not my soulmate, but if he was i think i'd be happy? i don't know… guys, please help me,” jimin whines, and hoseok starts patting his hair and taehyung starts teasing him for being such a romantic aficionado, to which jimin goes positively pink.
“you want the cute one at his table, don't you,” taehyung smirks knowingly, and jimin punches him softly in embarrassment.
“jimin-ah, whoever this yoongi guy is, he's going to be nice if he's your soulmate, yeah? if he isn't, i will fight him, and if it happens to be someone else, he will be better, trust hyung!”
jimin feels extremely comforted, somehow.
“so, um, hyung. i think… i might have found someone, but also like someone?” jeongguk says softly to yoongi, who immediately puts down his pencil and looks into jeongguk's eyes. his cat-like eyes are filled with such serenity and happiness. to make yoongi pause while writing his bars is no mean feat, and jeongguk feels extremely honoured.
yoongi's never one to have paid much heed to the soulmate thing, if it comes, it comes- likewise if it doesn't, then he won't pursue it further. he knows jeongguk's one of them, with the golden dream of crossing paths with his lover, red string of fate and all that.
“your soulmate?”
when jeongguk turns crimson and tucks his hands between his thighs, he knows he's hit the nail on the head. cute.
“so like, i was walking up the stairs and i heard the bells! it felt like a dream, a-and-! i don't know if i'm betraying my soulmate, but i find this facil really cute too, and i- oh!”
he abruptly cuts short when he hears the faint chime of the bells, but when he turns around to find who it is, his eyes somehow betray him and spots the table with taehyung, hoseok, and of course, park jimin.
“ngh…”
jeongguk face plants into the table with his hands, and yoongi just laughs. he's found a perfect title for his newest song.
first love.
subsequently, he sees jimin less and less- but it's a good thing, he guesses, for him to be more focused and less distracted as the school term carries on into a more hectic season. a part of him feels sad, as he walks out from the art room, that jimin doesn't even know he exists, his lame gamer and dweeb-y self. he sighs, looking down at his laces, sighs again, and cheers himself up by remembering a new haikyuu chapter comes out today. caught up in his own thoughts and sighs, he doesn't see the apple of his eye coming his way.
through the windows, jimin sees the cottony clouds and the sun peeking out, and he gets reminded of that one fuzzy woolen sweater jeongguk had worn, the day hoseok had pointed him out. the teasing was relentless, since even jin, taehyung’s theatre president, had joked that jeongguk was ‘park jimin’s number one fanboy’- word travelled pretty fast, right? the clouds seem to morph into tiny hearts, and jimin smiles, wondering why he hadn't seen jeongguk that often these days. maybe a change in the modules and timings, he muses. eyes still fixated on the heart clouds, he doesn't see said boy walking towards him.
they walk past each other in the empty hallway.
the bells ring.
jimin straightens up and freezes. jeongguk completely lets go of his sketch book and graphite pencils. all the sketches on random scraps of paper fall out and fly, and jimin scrambles to catch them, making unconscious elegant ballerina spins and picking up all the pieces he can find as jeongguk collects his pencils first.
as he kneels down, jimin spies the fallen book, flips it open before meeting the eyes of its owner. everything seems to happen in slow motion, the way the paper had cascaded down in spirals, pencils rolled with a loud echo, hallway empty as if a bridge to reveal their significant other;
in nine seconds, jeongguk starts spewing inarticulate noises, and trying his best to barricade him from touching the book. no wonder why the drawings looked familiar- the beguiling eyesmile, the carding back of black locks, the sharp jawline, baby fingers;
it's him.
jeongguk's whole book was filled with him, and beneath every page of a sketch there would be a song recommendation below it. ilysb, paper hearts, dear no one, there for you;
jeongguk's blushing furiously as he yanks the book out of jimin's hand in pure embarrassment, “t-that's mine, please g-give it back,”
“is that supposed to be me?” jimin asks in wonder, marvelling at such raw talent and such a pure heart with a mellifluous voice. the boy in pastel pink adverts his eyes before nodding shyly, eyes trained on his dr martens.
“you made me look so beautiful, jeongguk.”
“but you are!” jeongguk retorts immediately, turning redder as he realises how he had snapped his head up at once to answer indignantly, and god, jimin was really even more beautiful up close. “i mean, i- how do you even know my name, i don't-”
jeongguk's chewing on his lower lip, hands gripping his sketchpad protectively like a shield. “i noticed you the moment you step foot onto campus, actually, but i- i got shy so i asked around instead.” jimin replies softly, hand lifting jeongguk's face to meet his, in spite of the latter being taller.
“and the bells started ringing everywhere and i just kept praying it was you and not yoongi hyung or something,” and jeongguk laughs at that. “yoongi hyung’s a really good guy, you know-”
“yeah, but i think you're better, in my eyes.”
they go out one day after school to get to know each other, and jeongguk's an art major, while jimin dabbles in computer science. jeongguk realises how much jimin likes to be praised, and buys him baby’s breath and purple lilacs.
they study together, share earphones for starters, and it feels nice when your soulmate listens to your favourite songs too.
“jeongguk-ah. if you can figure this out, come back for your reward,” jimin tells him sweetly when he walks jimin home. he still stands at the door, waiting expectantly, even as jimin turns his back.
he stares helplessly at the odd combination of numbers, wanting to cry. not maths!
“u-uh, hyung-” jeongguk croaks out, using his hands to beckon him over, wetting his lips in nervousness. “i think i forgot something,”
jimin's face morphs into one of worry and he totters back, asking what it is, and- oh, jeongguk just kissed him on the cheek. it's a little wet, and jimin giggles, cupping the younger’s rosy cheeks, his hand still tightly gripping the paper with numbers. “g-good night, hyung,”
jimin kisses jeongguk on the nose (so boopable), on each cheek, and on the forehead. “good night, jeonggukie.”
the next day, a distressed jeongguk bursts into the music studio, wailing and pulling his best crying face, evoking the sympathy of both namjoon and yoongi.
“h-hyungs! i'm so stressed! what on earth is all this, i have to figure out all this is by tonight and i don't get it! is it hangul? or like morse code-”
“it's binary code,” namjoon laughs, “the only nerd that would ever pull something like this would be none other than-”
“park jimin.” yoongi completes. “why, brat, you think you found your soulmate so you can just barge in while we're doing our music?”
jeongguk feels the cold sweat form on his forehead and he bites his fingers peeking out of his red hoodie, unable to meet yoongi's deadpan countenance.
“s-sorry hyung…”
“just kidding. there's banana milk in my bag somewhere. help yourself.” jeongguk can hear the smile in his voice (as namjoon whispers to himself a rather loud‘so cute…’ ) and he flings himself onto yoongi in a tight fluffy hug, causing the elder to fall over and land on his butt, almost doubling over his keyboard and maschine.
“jeon jeongguk i swear to god-”
but the younger’s already skipping out of the room, scot-free. yoongi sighs, and fixes his glare on namjoon.
“kim namjoon how dare you give me your spoilt chair, the level of disrespect-”
01001010 01001011 00101100
01001001 01001100 01011001
JK, ILY
jimin buys him a little cat night light for solving it. he balls his tiny fists and brings it to his cheeks, looking very much like a cutie pie rather than a cat. “it was pretty, and my patronus is a calico cat, according to the official quiz i took, and also, don't i look like a cat, jeonggukie?”
it's too much. jimin is absolutely the most adorable little mochi boy in the universe. his angel, his world.
the noises in yoongi's head keep recurring; it's the only thing distracting him other than his sore butt. he usually doesn't look up, being deep in thought of what sequence of musical notation would fit better, what transition or chord progressions would make his music flow, convey the feelings and emotion he wants to express.
but really. this song is too much. too fucking much.
at first he dismissed it as a song stuck in his head, stressed and overworked with 5 cups of caffeine a day and operating on even fewer hours of sleep than that. there's this tune he has stuck in his head, the perfect inspiration for his new track- and this idiot, his soulmate or whatever, just had to walk past him in the corner of the whole cafeteria, the nerve-
“who the hell just walked past me with your head playing jingle fucking bells, i just wanna talk-” yoongi exclaims, as he stands up in exasperation, one hand slammed on the table, the other pinching his nose bride. damn, the fleeting moment of the perfect bar for the bridge before the beat drop into the chorus-
every single head turns towards him, but yoongi’s too concerned if the exact musical notation will ever strike him again. the whole hall of students go silent, and then, after a good four solid seconds of peace (utter silence) a group of boys start shoving a boy out as tribute.
he spots namjoon shouting his soulmate’s name. there's another guy with broad shoulders- namjoon’s best friend, seokjin- pointing at yoongi and nudging him over. yoongi has made eye contact with his soulmate for the first time in his life.
oh.
jingle bells, or should he say, jung hoseok, is so… cute. he meets yoongi’s eyes for one and a half seconds, already tomato red, and gives a small, shy wave with his fingers. but yoongi has had enough of this bullshit. he grabs his notebook and pen, shoves his earphones into his pocket, and sprints over to grab jingle- hoseok’s wrist, and drags him past a bend all the way to the corner in the hallway.
he puts down his annotations and phone onto the floor, panting lightly before releasing his grip, looking at jung hoseok properly and up close, before bowing. hoseok is so cute.
“i'm sorry for shouting at you. i'm… your soulmate, i guess? min yoongi.” he says politely, the tips of his ears turning red. hoseok’s so cute and he really looks so sunshiney and bright. now that he's looking down, hoseok’s fingers are so slender and feminine, his skin looks so dewy and soft, his voice like puffy clouds and marshmallows-
“hello, i'm jung hoseok! nice to meet you, uh, yoongi? or would you like me to call you hyung?” his significant other is just like the sun, to yoongi’s quiet solitary full moon. he even knows hoseok's age, blood type, birthday, and some other stuff thanks to namjoon’s yelling. theatre guy was also saying something like ‘take care of hoseok because he's precious’. of course hoseok is precious, look at his little ears(!) and his dimples(!!!!).
“i'm older than you,” is all yoongi curtly replies, and he bites his tongue for being blunt, not looking at hoseok straight in the eye because he's ashamed for yelling at such a sweet boy, mildly embarrassed and thankful for hoseok, and also, he's just short.
“so, yoongi hyung! you said, uh, you wanted to talk?” hoseok nervously asks, “i'm sorry for making you so angry, i didn't quite think it was the ring for soulmates, i mean i dance, so i always have jingles and songs stuck in my head-”
“don't be,” yoongi says resolutely, pouting as he meets with hoseok's worried gaze. “i shouldn't have shouted, that was rude- but i just, inspiration hit me and i was gonna pen it down and then jingle fucking bells-” yoongi halts dead in his tracks, masculine hand flying up to cover his mouth, kittenish eyes all innocent. “ah, i didn't mean to swear at you, um,”
the mumble from the shorter black haired boy causes hoseok to cackle, yoongi is so terribly cute- he looks grumpy and pouty on the outside but he's awfully soft on the inside. a thought at the back of head reminds him about the incident where jimin thought this honey boy would be his soulmate, and it makes hoseok smile even wider. he's so lucky.
“don't be,” hoseok says back, and yoongi breaks into a small smile. “joonie gets mad like that too when he can't get inspired and he starts breaking stuff, so i really understand! hey, wait,” hoseok leans in to stare at him more intently, fingers tipping his chin up and to the right, and yoongi's blush intensifies.
oh god, are we gonna kiss? like right now? i know i said i don't really care about the whole soulmate saga but i'm not prepared, who does he think he is-
“oh my god. you're agust d.”
he didn't really see that coming.
“i love your music, shit! i remember screaming and waking my roomate up when the mixtape dropped- can i tell you something? wait, why didn't joon tell me i'm so offended!” hoseok begins talking so animatedly and excitedly and loudly that yoongi melts, his raw, nail bitten and course fingers rubbing at the name of his neck in pride and shyness. hoseok is seriously too cute.
“what was i saying, oh yeah, that time i got so excited and like my earphones were spoilt so after listening for like, twenty times blasting on speaker, i used headphones and i could only hear the bass line so uh, that part you sang about kissing your ass just became. well. ass ass ass ass. can you believe it? it was awesome! and it made my day!” there's an awkward pause in which yoongi's extremely embarrassed and enamoured all at the same time, he really wants to bite his nails, but hoseok's gripping his hands so tightly and yoongi doesn't want to let go.
“sorry, was that not funny? okay, that was pretty bad for an introduction, and i'm not a hormonal teenager, i swear! but i really do like your music and you're just so cute and i'm just so happy it's you, even though i kinda don't really know you but you seem so small and cute!” shit, hoseok thinks, you called him cute twice in a sentence. he's going to know you are whipped.
“i think we'll get along well,” is all yoongi says, every word truthful, he'd never quite believed too strongly in the notion of soulmates, but this was something else altogether. hoseok looks like such a beautiful person inside and out. he may talk a lot in comparison, but hey, opposites attract, and they balance each other out.
hoseok beams, dimples showing, and his hair looks so soft and shiny. “yoongi hyung, can i… can i have a hug? you don't look like the hugging type but i like hugs and i thought there wasn't any harm in asking, so, can i have… a hug?” there's that nervous laughter again, and yoongi breaks into a gummy smile. yeah, they could work.
“don't step on my phone and notes, seokseok,” is all he mumbles, opening his arms a little wider with cheeks puffed, as hos- his soulmate takes two steps forward, and takes him into his arms.
his soulmate’s just lovely.
jeongguk's agreed to go for breakfast on a saturday morning, and jimin's busy taking photos of his food, trying to get that angle with the natural sunlight.
“honey?”
“yes?”
jeongguk's blushing as he pushes up his glasses, “um, i actually meant if you would, um, like some honey for your pancakes but if you would like i could... call you that,” it's jimin's turn to turn a pretty pink. “s-sorry, i thought that maybe you would've- ah, nevermind.” he's so incredibly shy that the hopeless romantic in him had thought such a preposterous thing. he's not being fair to his sweetheart- and he automatically deflates, frowning.
“did that make you uncomfortable, jeongguk-ah? i'm sorry, i shouldn't have assumed anything, maybe we should take things slow-” the timid, fond look in jimin's eyes and the softness and gentleness in his caress and touch makes jeongguk feel so, so loved, and he never wants to see jimin sad.
“hyung, that's not what i meant, don't take it that way,” he coaxes, their hands clutched tightly together, but jimin's offered smile is but a wistful one; like he's knocked off a prized ornament on display and even though it stands unbroken, put back into its rightful spot, the guilt and consciousness behind it still remains. an idea pops into jeongguk's head, as he abandons his precious food, grabs a pen out of his pocket and starts writing on a napkin placed on his lap, brows furrowed as he types onto his phone and copies something else down.
“jeongguk-ah, everything alright?” his angelic soulmate asks staring at his earnest ministrations, before putting down his fork and knife in worry. “if there is you can always tell me, i-”
the napkin shoved in his line of sight causes him to pause and slowly lift the corners of his lips into a graceful smile, eyes bunching up in beautiful crescents. mission accomplished.
“you're cuter, though, my kookoo.”
“hyung is the cutest. that's all.”
(he'd written out a message for jimin in binary code :
01110101 00100000 01100011 01110101 01110100 01100101 00111100 00110011
u cute<3 )
“hyung! i found out why you're always falling!”
as jimin swivels around, jeongguk takes the opportunity to wrap a red plaid scarf around both their necks. it's getting chilly, and jeongguk thinks jimin looks very ravishing in red.
“you've been tripping over our red string of fate, hyung… you need to be more careful, okay?”
jimin hides his blush in the wollen scarf, but the vermillion shade only serves to bring out the colour in his cheeks. jeongguk's pouting and it makes his heart flutter. “jeongguk… we have different classes now, how are you going to-”
deft hands undo the draping, and jeongguk gives him a tender smile as he rearranges the scarf around jimin's neck. he looks so gorgeous. “we're soulmates, hyung! and now that i've wrapped the red string of fate around your neck, you're not gonna be clumsy and trip anymore!”
“gukguk… you didn't have to…”
“i wanna keep you warm always... because i love you,”
jimin plummets himself into jeongguk's arms, and they stand in the middle of no where until the bell sounds for jimin's class. “hyung, you're going to be late,” the taller murmurs into black hair, that smells like mandarins and jasmine, a whiff of strawberry. jeongguk smells like jimin's portable home.
“five more minutes, please. i love you…”
he'd almost forgotten to set the cat lamp up, rushing through some assignments and projects, and when he's done, he compares it to a candid photo of jimin and him holding hands and smiling brightly on one of their dates, printed in commemoration of achievement the best possible soulmate in the whole world. he kisses the jimin in the photo, before embarrassingly clutching the picture to his chest.
“i was right. the original still shines brighter.”
“hello, jimin hyungie?”
“yes? what's up, gukkie? you can't sleep? or do you need something? did you forget-”
“hyung!" jeongguk whines into the phone, but he's smiling at how thoughtful and considerate jimin is. “hyung i just wanted to tell you to sleep early, and that, um, i love you. the cat light is really pretty, but you're prettier,” his voice progressively falters and gets softer and more slurred in shyness, but jimin catches every word, as always.
“oh,” he breathes back on the other side of the receiver, partially guilty of scrolling through twitter and instagram past 1am and also charmed by how sweet jeongguk is. silence ensues, although it is evident that they're both blushing messes on each cellphone, bashful and in love and so terribly whipped. busan boyfriends and soulmates, indeed.
“i love you more though,” jimin manages to mumble back somehow, “remember to charge your phone before sleeping okay, and no eating of ramen at 2am, no gaming on overwatch, no binge reading manga; you better wake up early for your lecture tomorrow, and-”
“hyung!” jeongguk whines, pout evident in his voice, and jimin tries so hard to suppress his giggle and still fails. “i'm not a baby!”
“that's right, you're not just a baby, you're my baby. my overgrown, extremely cute, sweet little baby gukkie.” the cheesiness and fondness in jimin's satoori makes jeongguk feel so warm. makes him feel so whole and complete, makes him feel like he's back home.
“you're my honey, jimin-ah.” he blurts suddenly, and embarrassment starts coursing through his veins, as he muffles his own cringe and incoherent shy noises into his pillow, jimin laughing into the phone. it's a cathartic melody and a lullaby all in one. like the tinkling of bells.
“i know. now go to sleep. i love you, jeongguk-ah.”
“me too, hyung. i love you… so much.”
jimin catches how he has to mumble the extent of his love towards the end, just to stick it to him, and curls into his duvet like a small ball of happiness and bliss. silence enshrouds both of them, only light source a cat lamp and fairy lights and paper lanterns respectively, but the line isn't cut yet.
“gukguk, you hang up first, i'll hang up when i know you've slept,” jimin murmurs, mildly drowsy.
“no, you hang up first! i'm not- 'm not sleepy yet, hyung, go to bed,” the latter whispers, stifling a yawn.
“i already am in bed, now you hang up…”
they bicker back and forth, each interval becoming longer and longer. they fall asleep. the phone delivers across the faint snoring and the tossing and turning of the covers of their soulmate. the line only disconnects when jeongguk's alarm goes offthe next morning. jimin waits patiently for the habitual fourth snooze to sound, before calling again to hear jeongguk's breath hitch, deep and raspy.
“good morning sunshine, i love you.”