Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“...And remember that the project is worth 10% of your final grade for this semester. I’ll be assigning your groups next week after the weekend is over.”

Jimin raised his head finally and shook his head as the rest of the class collected their belongings and got ready to move to their lockers. A crowd was forming at the door, as they waited for the bell to bring the sweet absolution of their lunch break. Honestly speaking, he was much more excited than he should have been. The day had a relatively rough start, with all the rain and mud he had not accounted for, with much of it coating his shoes throughout the entirety of the first few periods of the day.

Jimin kept his head down and kept to the outskirts of the large group of people, focused on fiddling with the corners of the test papers and binders in his arms and listening to the small snippets of conversation that meandered its way outside of the barrier of bodies.

When the bell finally went, a couple of people rushed passed him and bumped into him. He lurch forward and dropped all his belongings onto the ground, with some of his binders hitting some poor fellow. He watched helplessly as the last few papers fluttered to the ground like feathers. A few people stopped their rampage to watch without actually bothering to help pick up the novella worth of paper that was scattered on the floor.

Jimin kneeled down and shuffled around gathering up some stray papers or pencils, before feeling the warm body of another press against his and help him gather all his belongings. A boy, and unfortunately a quite familiar boy was beside him, picking up essays and drawings that he prayed to god that nobody saw. They both stood up, Jimin wobbling a little, before the boy standing in front of him that towered over him handed him his fallen goods.

“Th-thanks”, Jimin mumbled quietly, before reaching for his papers.

“No problem,” The other boy gave him the cutest box grin. Jimin blushed a to a degree that was most likely unattractive and tried to squeak out something before running out of the room while internally slapping himself, leaving behind the very confused and dazed boy.

"That stupid Kim Taehyung is going to get me killed one day."

Park Jimin was the deemed shy, introverted, cute, quiet nerd that every class, grade, or school had, and fit the description perfectly. Quite literally, he was that one kid that wore those massive, thick rimmed glasses that constantly had to be pushed up while his arms were wrapped around a mountain of binders and notebooks. Like the characters in TV shows and questionably written and cliche stories. Nobody really knew much about him, as he never spoke unless spoken to, other than he was overly kind and polite whenever he did speak, which happened basically never. While others would pass notes, whisper to one another, scroll through their phones while the teacher had their back turned, Jimin would be in the back of the class, alone and isolated, listening attentively to the teacher or working diligently on an assignment that the teacher had given him privately since he finished the assigned work WAY too fast.

He wasn’t friendless, in fact, many people liked him because of his kindness or the warm aura he exuded, but he mainly stuck to one set group of overprotective friends because they all cared way to much about their “precious little Mochi”.

Taehyung, on the other hand, was the deemed confident, extroverted, hot, loud popular kid that every class, grade, or school had, and he fit the description perfectly. Tousled perfect light brown hair, sharp eyes, tall, with an overly attractive box smile that was branded in the minds of whoever he flashed his teeth at. While others would pass notes, whisper to one another, or scroll through their phones while the teacher had their back turned, Taehyung would be in the center of it all, participating in every single rule breaking activity going around the room. He never finished any of the assigned homework on time, always a day or two late, and yet somehow for some inexplicable reason he managed to ace every single test thrown at him. Was it magic? Did he cheat? Nobody would know, He had branches and twigs of friends to choose from. If he was honestly speaking it was tiring some days.

Everyone liked him. He had endless bounds of energy, was charismatic and inviting to everyone unless you pissed him off, and exuded a positive and energetic aura. The only reason you wouldn’t like him is if he broke your heart once or a couple times, as he for the love of god wouldn’t do relationships, and if he ever did, they never lasted more than a week, flirting with everyone and anyone to endless bounds. His actions were questionable and from a logical perspective they were things assholes would do, like having heated sessions with people he couldn’t remember the names of. He was the epitome of social and thrived in environments full of people and abundant of social situations.

Jimin thought that Taehyung was scary. He couldn’t see how someone could be so talkative and loud. How he could sustain a conversation with admirers he barely even knew, and how he could blatantly and bravely flirt with so many people and how he has able to break so many hearts.

Jimin always put schoolwork and high school education in front of everything. He liked it that way. He was focused on things that mattered, like grades, and possible post secondary institutions to keep an eye on, and not meaningless rumours that was probably fake, or a crush that had no chance of blossoming into anything promising.

Crushes were always the worst. But he learned to cope. He got over them all easily after the first time.

Being in love hurt so much.

•••

5 years ago~

It was his first year of middle school, and Jimin had just turned 12. There was a boy that he liked that was a year older than him, named Chulgi. He was gorgeous. Some stereotypical jock that only did well in Gym and was part of all the sports teams. No brain to him at all, as smart as a brain dead monkey. When Jimin looked back to these years, he thought you honestly could probably switch his brain out with a monkey's brain and nobody would notice a difference. He was popular and didn’t really care much for others, having stacked up lines of people to choose from, Jimin being one of them. Jimin had a small handful of friends at the time that he didn’t actually know very well, but they seemed nice as accepted him into their little group. He didn't actually really like them, and if he was smarter back then he wished he was honest enough with himself to tell him that. But even then being insecure and attention driven was a virus that everyone going through puberty had caught, so he figured he might as well get by with whatever people were around him at the moment.

One day during lunch the group was sitting behind the school and everyone except Jimin, who was reading, were gossiping and talking about crushes and what not, making fun of each other about who they like etc etc.

“What about you Jimin-ah? Who do you like right now?”

Jimin, being the awful actor that he was, blushed a bright rose and stuttered something incoherent that sounded like him disagreeing before stuffing his nose back into his textbook. He had forgotten to study for a unit final and he needed an excuse to keep cramming.

The other kids pulled him out of his study material and surrounded him.

“Awww little Chim has a crush on someone! Cmon buddy it’s okay you can tell us! We won’t tell~” someone exclaimed.

Liar.

After a while, the group essentially peer pressured him into telling them his crush, and the whole incident was forgotten about for about a month before the storm came.
It was the last period before lunch, and Jimin was shuffling around some binders and papers in his locker.

He didn’t hear the approaching footsteps over the sea of people in the hallways.
He didn’t see the ocean split as a very large and tall boy made his way through the crowd towards his lockers, followed by a small group of people behind him, including one of the people who he told he had a crush on.
Jimin turned around and almost bumped into Chungi and yelping a little at the sight of him.

“U-um, c-can I help you?” He said quietly. The crowd around them quieted down in the presence of Jimin’s crush.

Chunghi smirked. “Funny. Who would need help from someone like you, someone who can barely stand up on their own. No, just checking out the lamest excuse for a secret admirer,” and came uncomfortably close to his face before shoving him away. Jimin was stunned as his back hit his locker. He stared at his “friend” who just smirked and shrugged like it was worth nothing to him.

“Ha, potato sack. You can barely tell there’s a human under all of that sweater.”

“Jesus, are you so stupid that you don’t even know your own size?”

“ I thought with glasses as thick and huge as yours you’d be able to see.”

“ Why the hell are your cheeks and thighs so chubby huh?”

“Fatso.”

“You should eat less. Maybe actually try to be useful during sports. you’d probably need a miracle though.”

“Jesus I should be ashamed that someone as lame as you has a crush on me.”
“Cmon kid, scram. Your blocking the way to the cafeteria.” He smirked as he say the tears pool in Jimin’s eyes.
Jimin whimpered, before running out of the building while wiping his eyes. He didn’t stop until he was deep into the forest behind the school. He sat down with his back against a tree and stayed there, crying until the sun went down, streaking pinks and purples through the clear sky.

The next day, he kept his head down, his eyes still a little red and puffy from crying the entire night, and let his hair fall before his eyes.

They stared.

They whispered.

They laughed.

The day didn’t get any better.

Jimin remembered spending so long painfully scrubbing away at the names that were scribbled all over his desk off.

Fag.

Dyke.

And things of that nature. To be honest Jimin couldn't quite remember the details of the words, he just did his best to block out that week because it just made him cringe.

He remembered looking to the teacher for some sort of help or guidance, and for the teacher to barely spare him a glance before beginning the class lesson.

He remembered being shoved so much he spent more time on the ground then walking.

He remembered being cornered at his locker, and being hit in the stomach and chest so much his body turned blue.

He remembered being alone.

Alone.

That was all he ever knew.

This school was going to eat him alive.

•••

His first crush. Something so little, so innocent, that got shoved straight back into his face, bruising him. How had something so small and miniscule turn into something so dark and painful? What if he had seriously crushed on him? How much more would it hurt?

Better yet, what would have happened if nothing had happened at all? What if he never ended up like Chulgi?

He hated that feeling.

But he didn’t want to be weak. He wasn’t going to let some random guy creep his way into his weak heart just to break and tear it apart from the inside. If they got braver and cockier, he got tougher. He built walls from scratch, and weaved armour around his heart so that it wouldn’t break.

If they tried to push down walls, he pushed back 10 times harder.

Being in love hurt.

So why did it have to happen again, five years later?

Chapter Text

4 months ago~

Taehyung was whipped the moment he saw him.

He had ashy blonde hair that fell lightly before his eyes, thick glasses that made his face look even smaller, large hooded warm auburn eyes that you could see even with his glasses, a small button nose, light pink plump lips, and soft looking smooth skin. He had a petite, but lean looking body, except for those thighs and ass, and also his cheeks. Taehyung could have sworn the heavens crafted those thighs, because they were god-send. His cheeks were slightly plump, and reminded Taehyung of a fluffy rice cake. He topped it all of with a large pastel hoodie that was a bit too big for him, giving him sweater paws, that made him look disgustingly adorable.

He was beautiful.

And Taehyung got even more whipped when he heard him speak.

They were playing some crappy icebreaker sitting in a circle outside in the school field, and everyone was to get up one by one, introduce themselves, and tell them two things they would want the class to know about themselves, and then pick the next to go. Why they were playing an elementary school game in high school was a mystery to the students.

“Now then class, who would like to go first?” Their homeroom teacher asked, waving her arms around in dramatic motions. She was a little weird, but she was very outgoing, kind of reminded Taehyung of himself, so the class seemed to like her.

“I’ll go!” Taehyung volunteered. “Helllooo~ I’m Taehyung (a ripple of “we already know” and “oohh's” and “ aahh's” ripples through the crowd), I’m planning on trying out for the school basketball team even though I’m pretty sure I’m gonna make it anyways (Taehyung’ s heart did a happy little flip when he saw the cutie he was admiring giggle quietly), and my favorite food is mochi!” He finished off.

“Very good Taehyung. Now who would you like to go next?” the teacher asked.
Taehyung pointed at the blonde head, and the expression of fear that washed over his face was heartbreaking, and Taehyung almost regretted choosing him, but he really did want to learn more about the boy that was curling into himself.

“U-um, h-hello, my name is Jimin, I just transferred here this year…..and um, I like reading.” He finished off awkwardly. Taehyung listened to his extremely short speech hungrily. His voice could have lulled him to sleep if he listened a second longer, in a good way. His voice was soft and smooth,slightly higher pitched, and sounded like honey. He wondered what this “Jimin” would sound like singing. His voice already sounded like music.

Taehyung failed to ignore the other hungry glances that Jimin was getting from his fellow classmates. The other people in the classroom made Taehyung want to run over, pick him up, and run away so that only Taehyung could keep him safe. It WAS the second last year of high school after all, so it made sense that many people were looking for some one night stands or meaningless relationships before they headed off to university or college, where there wouldn’t be enough time for romantic things.

“Why do you care so much?” He thought to himself.

Jimin’s introduction also helped clear up why Taehyung had never seen Jimin in the previous years of high school, since he had only started to attend school this year. Which probably meant that Jimin didn’t have any friends at the moment (Taehyung was positive some other people would want to snatch up the boy, so he was adamant on getting to him first), so Taehyung made a mental note to go and bother him a little during math, since the math teacher left the room often and even when he was in the room stayed in the back of the class scrolling through his laptop and not paying attention to his class.

He also wasn’t ready for the entire semester of hard work that would have been thrown at his face trying to get the boy's attention.

•••

Jimin knew he was screwed the moment he saw him.
He had this perfect, light brown tousled boy hair that looked effortlessly perfect, golden sun kissed skin, bright brownish amber eyes with small flecks of gold that you could lose yourself in, a jawline that could slice meat into ribbons, and the cutest box grin that would look creepy on anyone else but looked really hot on him. He was talking energetically to another group of students, or basically the entire class except for Jimin because he was way to shy for that. Jimin felt an odd pull towards the taller. He seemed exactly the type that would end up breaking Jimin’s heart.

Now this was totally okay. Jimin would forget about him in a heartbeat. Jimin grew accustomed simply ignoring them and getting back into focus. It had never failed him once in his entire life.

But for some unknown, god forsaken reason he simply couldn’t today.

•••

Taehyung knew that Jimin would probably be hard to get. He just really didn’t think it would be this hard.

When math class finally came, the teacher started assigning seats (cue the outburst from the kids in the class!) and Jimin got put in the desk right in front of the teachers desk in the very back of the classroom, with Taehyung somewhere around the front, which essentially broke off any chance of Taehyung going to bother him unless the teacher left the room, but for some reason the world seemed to hate him today and the entire class was spent as an introduction to the first unit of the semester, so he was forced to stay in his seat.

Then when lunch finally came Taehyung had planned on inviting him to sit with him, Jungkook, and Namjoon, and maybe flirting with him a little, but when Taehyung approached him when Jimin was getting his lunch out of his locker Jimin simply greeted him quietly with the prettiest blush on his face and quickly left before Taehyung even had a chance to say anything. Taehyung then decided to spend the rest of the lunch time looking for him so he would at least get a chance to talk to him, and found him behind the school, but before he had a chance to talk to him another small group of people came up to him a started happily chattering to him.

So that plan got thrown out the window.

•••

Taehyung was having a bad day.

He had slept through his first alarm, and when he woke up, he didn’t have time to eat breakfast or get ready, so he looked like shit. Then he missed the bus, so he had to wait for the next one, which meant he would be late, which meant he would get an earful from the literature teacher, and then it started raining and he didn’t have an umbrella, and then when he finally got to school, finished up literature, and went to hand in his math assignment, he remembered he left it back home in the kitchen, which meant that his teacher would not only give him detention for missing too many assignments, but also that his teacher would have to make a phone call back home to his parents and he would probably get an earful when he got home from his parents, and would also have to write a note for both his parents and the teacher during lunch.

“Thank god it’s finally lunch.”

Taehyung took his wallet out of his pocket, paid for whatever mystery meat grey casserole,damp looking salad, and curry was on his plate and made his way over to Jungkook and Namjoon, his two best friends, who were sitting outside their normal spot right beside one of the schools side entrances. Halfway to their sitting spot, some random ass freshmen ran past him, bumping into him and making him drop his lunch, spilling curry and casserole all over his expensive bomber jacket.

Ah shit.

Taehyung was about to go off on whatever kid had ran past him while patting himself down with the single napkin the cafeteria had given him, since that honestly was the last straw, but before he could even open his mouth, a soft voice quietly greeted him that made him melt like putty.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? That kid should have watched where he was going.”

Taehyung looked up to find Jimin standing in front of him holding some tissues with a concerned expression. He had on a pale grey sweater that was still a little bit too big for him that was zipped open, with a loose white t shirt that exposed a bit of his collarbone, black jeans that hugged his curves nicely showing off his thighs, and the same pair of thick framed cute glasses that made his whole outfit seem way too innocent.

“Oh, uhh yeah yeah, I’m fine. Um, thanks for asking I guess.” Taehyung stuttered.

Jimin giggled shyly, and Taehyung noticed him hesitate for a second before-

Holy shit.

Taehyung must have been dreaming.

And if so, he never wanted to wake up.

Jimin was helping him clean himself up.

Hala slay, praise the lord, and thank baby Jesus, this was heaven.

Taehyung watched wide eyed, like a deer caught in headlights, as Jimin quickly and quietly cleaned up his shirt and the very top part of his jeans before bending down to pick up his tray, and handed it back to him. Taehyung opened his mouth to say something, but before he could he heard someone shout something to Jimin from behind him and turned around to see the same group of people that Taehyung saw when he found Jimin behind the school yesterday, waving at him to come over.
“Oh! Sorry I gotta go, they invited me to eat lunch with them.” Taehyung noticed an odd worried look pass over Jimin’s pretty face for a second, but it was gone as soon as it came, and Taehyung barely noticed it. “U-um, hope your jacket and jeans are still okay.” Jimin finished off quietly, before running away quickly to join the small group that had called him over. Taehyung watched dazed. Jungkook and Namjoon watched from the sidelines, doing their absolute best to not burst out laughing at the smitten look on Taehyung’s face.

Taehyung was having a pretty good day.

Now jimin on the other hand was mentally screaming and cursing himself. WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE THINKING. HE WAS SUPPOSED TO IGNORE THE DAMN GUY, NOT GO OVER AND HELP PAT DOWN HIS BODY AND TALK TO HIM. WHAT THE FUCK HAD GOTTEN INTO HIM?! Jimin did his very best to ignore the warm feeling his chest.

But at the same time, he really didn’t want to let go of it either.

Chapter Text

Present day~

Jimin weirdly enough, was actually enjoying his last year of high school.

He thought that since he had transferred during the second last year, he would be completely alone and outcasted since everyone at the school already knew each other, but surprisingly, it had been the exact opposite. On the very first day, 3 students who he was assuming were a group came up to him and greeted him, and they started engaging in a completely normal conversation as if it was a common thing to do. On the second day, the same group invited him to eat with them at lunch in the morning before first period, to which Jimin reluctantly agreed to (there was also the whole Taehyung incident, but we don’t talk about that). When Jimin actually got there, the group immediately started socializing with each other, including Jimin, and he for some reason didn’t feel foreign to the group. It was as if he had been with them since the first year. He later found out that the group had just transferred to the school as well.

The group comprised of three individuals known as Jin, Hoseok, and Yoongi.

Seokjin, or Jin, was the motherly figure, constantly fussing over the other two, and made sure they were eating well. He was tall, broad shouldered, had pastel pink hair, and had a squeaky window cleaning laugh. He also really liked dad jokes, which was something that the other two didn’t seem to like as much. He took an immediate liking to Jimin, greatly appreciating when Jimin giggled at his dad jokes (“see guys? Why can’t you be like Jimin? He’s my favourite.”), and immediately started fussing over Jimin, stating how Jimin’s brought from home lunch was far too minuscule and emptied out the extra pocket of universe known as his backpack, producing a mountain of snacks and other unhealthy foods and pushed them towards Jimin telling him to eat them all (Jimin didn’t eat any of them).

Hoseok (nicknamed Hobi by his friends) was full of energy and positivity. He spoke energetically, often sometimes the only one in the entire group speaking and was really, really, really loud but somehow didn’t make everyone around him uncomfortable. He was kind and generally a pretty happy guy, and it was pretty hard to be negative around him. He had light red hair, a heart shaped smile, and a longer face. Jimin found himself at ease around him. Hoseok made any situation comfortable and helped as an equilibrium for Jimin’s shyness. Whenever they talked, Jimin only had to nod or provide a little input here and there to keep the conversation going, which he greatly appreciated.

Yoongi was the more calm and collected part of the group, never really participating much in conversation, and normally just listened to the back and forth between Jin and Hoseok, and occasionally Jimin. He was a little grumpy at times, often complaining about not getting enough sleep the day before. He was a balance for Hoseok’s endless bounds of energy, helping him calm down whenever he got way too hyped about whatever he was ranting about when it got too out of hand. He had pastel mint green hair, was slightly taller than Jimin himself, had lighter skin, and had a gummy smile. He seemed to understand Jimin’s shyness and Jimin found solace in Yoongi’s silence. He was also fiercely protective of the other three, which Jimin found out about when another group of seniors were sitting in their normal spots. They were already prepared to find a new spot, but as they left, they heard the other group make a few snide remarks toward Hoseok and Jimin.

They spent the rest of the lunch patching up Yoongi’s fists and cleaning up the blood on them.

The blood wasn’t Yoongi’s.

The rest of Jimin’s class had been relatively friendly too. No one made snide remarks, and they were happy to help him out with directions whenever Jimin got lost in the huge school since he was not used to the environment yet. They didn’t make a weird face whenever he got chosen to be in a group with them (a few boys and girls even made pleased faces that he couldn’t really understand). Once, a guy from his class invited him to sit with him and his friends, to which he politely declined, and another one of his classmates who was named Namjoon helped him use one of the video editing programs on one of the school computers. Jimin later found out that Namjoon was one of Jin’s friends. For some reason when Jimin brought him up to them, Jin blushed and answered the question very bluntly before changing the topic.

And then there was Taehyung.

He was….interesting. He definitely wasn’t exactly like Jimin thought he would be. He wasn’t cocky, self-centered, or egocentric. He was simply confident with himself. But he still scared Jimin. He reminded him of Chungi. Flirted with anyone that came into his path apparently. However, for some reason, Jimin had yet to see him flirt with anyone other than himself, which confused Jimin, since whenever others talked about Taehyung, it seemed the only thing that came out of their mouths was whose heart he had broken last.

Jimin knew damn well to stay away from him. But...

Whenever Jimin was around him, which he actively avoided, he felt a weird warm feeling in his chest, which was never a good sign. He also seemed very attached to Jimin for some unknown reason. Jimin often caught him staring at him when the teacher wasn’t looking, with a small smile on his face. When Jimin started back, he wouldn’t look away, but would smile his signature flirtatious box grin that would cause Jimin to duck his head back under his books and blush profusely. He would use any opportunity to come bother Jimin, whether it being when the teacher left the room or they had a work period. Jimin tried to keep his responses short and simple, but damn, this Taehyung was persistent. When the conversations came to halt, Taehyung would simply stand there quietly and watch Jimin work, while watching him blush and suffer, because Jimin for the love of god could not work while others were watching, especially if it was a certain hot, brown haired jock that had a cologne that made Jimin want to smother his face into his lean yet built body (but Jimin wouldn’t admit that).

“Taehyung please, you’re very distracting, so would you please go away and work on your own stuff instead of staring at whatever I’m doing?” Taehyung proceeded to grin when he heard that he was very distracting, his eyes lighting up like he had won a prize from a claw machine.

“I’m not watching your work, I’m watching you’re pretty face. And no, I’m not leaving because you’re fun to bother.” He replied, giggling while Jimin sputtered and watching the pretty pink that would dust his cheeks when he got embarrassed.

He’d purposely seek out Jimin to bother him. He’d happily bring Jimin into class group activities if Jimin was to shy to ask anyone, and was almost always the one to ask if he needed any help with the school, like directions and such, and would blatantly flirt with Jimin whenever an opportunity presented itself, which was really annoying and embarrassing.

Although Jimin for some reason didn’t really want him to stop.

But other than that, he was pretty comfortable in the new environment

Jimin stared at the half eaten sandwich that he had haphazardly made in the morning while listening to Jin and Hoseok shout happily at each other and watching Yoongi snore away while leaning on him.

“Oh by the way Jiminie, that guy with the bunny smile, Jungkook I think was his name, is having a party at his house on Saturday, which is tomorrow., and Joonie- I mean Namjoon invited us, yes including you Chim. Wanna come with us?” Jin said out of the blue.

Jimin popped out of his trance after a second before blinking.

“Ah, I dunno Hyung, I’ve never been to a party before.” Jimin replied nervously.

“Awww our little Mochi is introverted” Jin said as he pulled Jimin into a hug, causing Yoongi to slip off his shoulder and hit the soft grass underneath them lightly, and squished his soft and chubby cheeks. “It’s okay buddy, there won’t be as many people their as the parties thrown by like, Taehyung (Jimin flinched at the sound of his name slightly, but Jin barely noticed) since you’re only allowed to go if you’re invited, and we’ll be there to protect you.” he said as he donned an over exaggerated expression of anger, which caused his mouth to form a pout.

“Yeah don’t worry Jiminie! We’ll be there by your side the entire time, and if anyone dares do anything to you, we’ll let Yoongi go mess ‘em up. I mean, unless you want them to...?” Hoseok asked curiously.

“Hmph, I’d probably mess them up anyways.” Yoongi grumbled. Aside from Hoseok and Jin, Yoongi had also become fiercely protective of the group’s deemed “Mochi.”

“Nono, I’m definitely not going to be doing...that….with anybody hopefully.” Jimin replies while shaking his head.

“Unless it’s Taehyung eh?” A small part of his brain went. Jimin quickly shut it up fearfully, too scared to properly dissect it.

“Sooo does that mean your going?” Jin asked

“Well...I dunno guys. I’m kinda scared. Plus isn’t Yoongi not going?” Jimin asked. Yoongi never attended parties, and basically only left the house to go to school unless Yoongi dragged him along to the mall with the others.

“Nope, I convinced him to come with us this time. So if you come, then we’ll all be there! Please Jiminie, Mochi, the one and only manggaetteok, can you come with us? We really want you to be there. It’ll be fun I promise! And like I said, we won’t let anyone mess with you.” Hoseok asked with a pouty face while hopping up and down the best he could while he was sitting down.

“Okay Hobi calm down. Are sure Jiminie? It’s totally okay if you don’t want to go buddy. We’d never force you to go. We’d just really like you to go since we think you’d like it.” Jin said with a calm and soothing voice.

Jimin thought about it for a second. In all honesty, Jimin actually really did want to go. Here right in front of him, we’re three people were actually seemed to genuinely care about him, and accepted him. They were people who he would actually consider friends, a small drop of happiness in his dark, dark life. Sure, he had only known them for about four months, but those four months were the happiest he had been in the past 5 years. This would be a good opportunity to actually spend more time with them outside of school, other than their weekly kdrama nights they spent together. He would feel a little bad if he didn’t go, and as much as he didn’t want to admit, he was hoping that maybe he would be able to see Taehyung too.

“Actually, sure why not. As long as you guys promise to take care of me.” Jimin finally said.

Hoseok began happily cheering and Jin squished Jimin back into his side and spent the rest of the lunch talking about how he actually super relieved that his precious Jiminie was coming and started talking about how he couldn’t choose an outfit to wear, and also telling them to all come over tomorrow in the afternoon to help him pick an outfit to wear, while Yoongi simply grunted out noise of acknowledgement and proceeded to fall back asleep on Jimin’s shoulder.

Jimin was content.

Chapter Text

“Jimin do you seriously have nothing to wear?!?”

Jimin watched quietly on his bed beside Yoongi who was taking a nap, as Jin and Hoseok tore through his closet, littering his room with all sorts of garments. Occasionally hitting Yoongi in the face with a sweatshirt or a pair of jeans, while Yoongi slept through it.

It was 9:00 in the morning, and Jimin’s father had left very early in the day before sunrise to attend some sort of meeting, and his friends, more specifically Jin and Hoseok, realized that Jimin was a party virgin and wouldn’t know what to show up in. So they changed around their schedule to spend the morning at Jimin’s, hang out at Jin’s for the afternoon, and have Namjoon pick them up in the evening for the party.

Which was why now there was a tornado flying through his room flinging clothes here and there that would be a pain in the ass to clean up.

“Aish, you guys are just to picky! Can’t I just show up in a comfy pullover and some sweatpants?” Jimin asked.

“Nuh uh, absolutely not. As adorable as you are in those oversized sweatshirts, this is a party we are talking about, and you’ll make a good impression if you wear something a bit less cute and more sexy. Now here, try this on.” Hoseok said while handing him an outfit.

They rinsed and repeated a for a small eternity with different clothes or different combinations.

“This one is a little too mellow.”

“I think the colours don’t match up enough.”

“I think this one’s a little bit too scandalous.”

“You can’t wear a denim jacket with jeans that are the same colour. It’s a big fashion Nono.” (“What the hell do you know about fashion Jin?” Hoseok asked, which earned him a slap in the back of the head).

“That sweater is a little bit too big for him.”

“For goodness sake Hobi you can’t wear fucking overalls to a party.”

Of course, it didn’t take too long since Jimin’s closet was pretty minuscule for someone who was 16, about to turn 17, and most of the “outfits” they were putting together were just rotating articles of clothing, but that's besides the point.

“OMIGOSH wait I GOT IT!” Hobi screamed after the sixth outfit, and ran to a pile of clothes in the corner of the room before digging through it, and pulled out a simple long sleeved white shirt, along with a pair of black ripped jeans. He handed them to Jimin along with a pair black trainers with white bottoms, as well as a simple necklace that was made of a silver chain and a small bronze charm that was shaped like a butterfly that had been gifted to him by his mother when he was little.

Jimin tried on the clothes and turned around to find Hoseok loudly squealing, causing Yoongi to wake up glaring at him, and Jin happily clapping his hands.

“WOW now THAT is an outfit that you can wear! Give us a turn!” Jin said. Jimin spun around a couple of times. “Oh yes yes yes this is really good. Oh, and no more glasses. Do you have contacts?” Jin asked.

Jimin nodded and went over to his desk in the corner of the room and pulled out a small container for his contacts, before switching his glasses out for them.

“AHH it looks amazing!! Jimin you should wear stuff like this more often! You’d turn so many more heads in the hallways! Man I did such a good job. What do you think Yoong’s?” Hoseok shouted out happily. Yoongi simply nodded aggressively and giving a thumbs up before flopping back down on Jimin’s large pillows and opened up his phone, knowing damn well he probably wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep with all the noise Jin and Hobi were making.

“I could never turn more heads! I don’t even turn heads right now, so shush” Jimin giggled. Jin, Hoseok and Yoongi all exchanged a knowing look while Jimin smoothed down his shirt, knowing damn well that Jimin did in fact turn heads in the hallways, his head was just always down so he never saw the odd looks he got.
“Go take a look at yourself first Jiminie, and then we’ll head over to my place.” Jin said while gently nudging Jimin towards the mirror beside his closet.

Jimin walked over to the mirror and gave his body an up and down. He actually did look good. The shirt flowed nicely on his body, slightly exposing his collarbone, and the jeans hugged his legs nicely, and highlighted the muscles on his thighs and his plump ass. The shoes matched the rest of the outfit nicely, and without his glasses, Jimin thought that he looked a little bit more mature. The outfit was simple, yet attractive.
For the first time in so long, Jimin felt a little bit happier with himself.

“The only reason you look barely presentable is because another person dressed you, you worthless piece of scum.” Jimin thought to himself.

He tried to push that thought away and failed to do so, and sighed irritably

“Hey chiminie, you ready to go?” Hoseok asked.

Jimin jumped a little before quickly wiping the downcast expression off his face and quickly changed it before replying. “Yep, c'mon guys, let's head over to Jinnie hyung’s place.”

Hoseok cheered and they exited Jimin’s house and began walking over to Jin’s place, and picked up some bubble tea and snacks on the way. Jin’s house was in the neighbourhood next to Jimin’s, so it only took them about 20 minutes to get there. They spent the next few hours fooling around in Jin’s house. His mother was only there for a few minutes, as she was preparing to leave to run a few errands, but introduced herself and even took care of them for a bit before scurrying off. Jimin could tell that Jin got his beauty and caring personality from her. She was very kind, and even offered to drive them all back home if they didn’t have anyone, to which Jin told her that they already had someone, and she left them alone. They didn’t get to see his father as he was out at a meeting and wouldn’t be back home until the evening.

They spent the afternoon playing around watching some k-drama and happily chatting with each other, except for Yoongi who was the only one that was actually genuinely watching the drama, and eating the snacks they had bought, and Jin even styled Jimin’s hair a little, and also added a little bit of eyeliner. Jimin was worried that he would look weird with makeup since he thought he couldn’t pull it off as well as anyone else, but Jin and Hoseok assured him that he looked fine.

At around 7:30, the sun began to set, and at 8:00, they heard the doorbell ring, signifying the presence of Namjoon.

“I’ll get it!” Jin practically screamed, ran downstairs, and opened the door while screaming “Joonie!” Which was very uncharacteristic of him, to be acting so young. It was also a little odd that Jin acknowledged the other with a nickname, since that particular honor was normally reserved for close friends.

Namjoon, also just now they found out was nicknamed Joonie by Jin, was the one who was picking them up for the party. He was realllly tall, even taller than Jin, had blonde hair that was slightly darker than Jimin’s, eyes that were soft around the edges, and his cheeks formed dimples when he smiled. He seemed particularly fond of Jin and the two talked as though they had known each other for years, which was strange as the others had never heard Jin talk about Namjoon very much in the past. He seemed to be holding back a few words slightly when talking to Jin, and once in a while stuttered sometimes when he said Jin’s name, occasionally slipping and saying “Jinnie”.

They all piled into a simple yet sleek silver car with a fancy logo on the front. Namjoon and Jin sat in the front while Jimin, Hobi, and Yoongi sat in the back. Namjoon, Hobi, and Jin talked animatedly about the party and some Kdrama, with Jin occasionally slipping and saying “Joonie”, earning a few odd looks from Hoseok, while Jimin and Yoongi listened to the other three talking, listening to the music coming from the speakers in Namjoon's car and humming quietly to the tunes coming from the small device.

When they finally got to Jungkook‘s house, Jimin bit back a gasp. The house was HUGE. It wasn’t as big as, like, a mansion, but it was still pretty damn big. It was about 4 times the size of Jimin’s house. Granted, that wasn’t saying much since Jimin’s house wasn’t too big, but it was still pretty overwhelming to him. Jin and Hoseok didn’t seem fazed though, like they were used to it, and Yoongi had barely even opened his eyes yet, as he had fallen asleep AGAIN on the car and stumbled out of the vehicle.
They were in one of the richer neighbourhoods that were slightly farther away from the school and downtown Seoul, so it made sense as to why A: They decided to use this specific house to host the party, and B: why there also seemed to be many other houses having parties as well. And then, they stepped into the house.

Chapter Text

The house was pretty good looking. It had a more modern and sleek appearance, and it again, was huge. There wasn’t even much “partying” happening in the main lobby area, just a few small groups of people here and there with some cheap beers or alcohol in the hands and happily chatting with one another. The real noise seemed to be happening down a hallway from the lobby area that led to what appeared to be a large living room.

When they got there, there was a large open space with some furniture and an open area that served as a dance floor, which was where most of the people were, swaying around to the music with drinks in hand, and there was even a DJ against the back of the room that was busy mixing some music.

In another separate room on one side there were some couches and armchairs with a large TV that appeared to have karaoke on it, with a small group rowdily singing along to whatever song was playing.

In another room on the opposite side of the living room was the kitchen and dining area, where you could self serve your drinks and chat over the music, with refreshments on the dining table, loaded with greasy foods like pizza and chicken wings. Over by the countertops, a few people were busy pouring or mixing together a drink for themselves, gently bobbing to the music.

It wasn’t as chaotic as Jimin had thought. Sure it was loud and kind of rowdy, but it wasn’t completely out of control. There weren’t people making out everywhere you went (although there were one or two couples here and there in the darker parts of the house, but at least there were a bit more private), there weren’t people fighting around every corner, with people betting on who would win, there wasn’t anyone throwing up all over the place, there wasn’t ambient and flashing lights all over the place that made you almost have a seizure, or any other of those weird things that they showed in those cheesy kdramas. It was just a lot of people happily chatting or singing to music louder than usual with background music. There wasn’t any flashing lights, and instead the lights were just dimmer and a number of coloured fairy lights were hung up to invoke a dreamy and colorful pastel atmosphere.

Jin, Hoseok, and Yoongi went of to the kitchen, pulling Jimin along with them, while Namjoon said that he would go find Jungkook and Taehyung.

Jin and Hoseok immediately began mixing and pouring drinks for themselves and the other two, while Yoongi got himself a slice of pizza. Jimin felt a little awkward just standing there, so he occupied himself with getting a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Oh Chiminie, grab us a few water bottles too, they might be gone after a while, and I really don’t wanna drink tap water. And don’t drink it yet though, just drink it if you think the alcohol gets to be a bit too much for you. I’ll mix you a drink yeah? This is your first time drinking right?” Jin asked. Jimin nodded, slightly embarrassed. “Aww it’s okay my sweet little rice cake, don’t be embarrassed. I’ll make you something light then okay?” Jin said while pinching his cheeks.

Jin quickly whipped up a drink and asked Yoongi to get them all a slice of pizza. Once he finished up the drink, he handed the pizza and the drink to Jimin.

"Here you go, it’s just beer with some pop. I didn’t know if you’d like just plain beer, I didn’t really like it much either, so I made it sweeter with the pop. Oh and don’t drink that immediately, eat your pizza first. It’ll make ya last a bit longer. Ima go hand these off to Namjoonie to get him to give them to Jungkook so he can keep them safe, and I’ll be right back.” Jin said as he bustled off with the water bottles.

“Cmon! Let’s wait for him at the karaoke. The last group just left to go to the dance floor.” Hoseok said while running into the next room with Jimin struggling to catch up and Yoongi slowly trailing behind them.
The three of them made there way over to the karaoke room, which was empty, a few beer cans littering the ground, and Hoseok immediately began scrolling through the vast collections of songs the device had, and chose a duo song before dragging Yoongi along to do it with him.

Sure, maybe Hobi’s wailing off key screaming and Yoongi’s tired and half assed effort singing was a little ear bleeding, but when it came to the rap part, both of them lit on fire. Turns out, they were both really freaking good rappers, and it caught Jimin off guard. Hobi took one look at Jimin’s shook expression and doubled over laughing, failing to catch up with the song.

It stayed like that for about an hour, with Jimin also occasionally singing (“wahhhh Jimin you’re so good at singing! NOT FAIR!” Hoseok screamed.) Until they finally realized that Jin still hadn’t came to find them, so they decided to look for him, thinking maybe Jin was lost or something.

That’s when they found him making out in one of the many washrooms with Namjoon.

Hoseok has screamed, Yoongi looked slightly shocked but didn’t seem surprised, while Jimin let out a squeak of surprise jumped behind Yoongi.

“JIN?!” They all screamed.

Namjoon looked terrified, which was a surprising contrast to his normaly composed and relaxed faced, while Jin just looked pleasantly surprised, clearly intoxicated from the looks of his lightly tinged face and glazed eyes.

“Oh hey guys! Where were you? We couldn’t find you for like, the longest time! Oh and this is Namjoonie!” Jin chirped happily.

“We looked for about two minutes, and they already know babe.” Namjoon said while staring at Jin with a smitten gaze.

“BABE?! Waitwaitwait, you guys were dating?” Hobi screeched.

“Oh no definitely not Hobi, there exchanging spit because their complete strangers.” Yoongi said sarcastically.

“Oh shut up, I didn’t know okay, maybe it was just a one night or something i don’t know. Wait is it? Oh my god get away from him you creep.” Hoseok replied back as he began power walking towards Namjoon.

“Nono we’ve been dating for a while now. We started dating during the summer, so about 6 months now.” Namjoon replied.

“6 MONTHS?!” They all screamed once more.

Now that Jimin thought about it, he wondered why he didn’t notice it sooner. Whenever they passed Namjoon in the hallways, the two would exchange a fond glance before blushing and looking away, and it also explained why Jin was very abrupt whenever the topic of Namjoon happened to worm its way into their conversations.

“Awww I’m so happy for you guys! Congratulations!” Jimin cooed, to which Jin grabbed him and gave him a big squishy hug.

“Thanks Chim Chim! Now cmon, I feel like dancing.” Jin said before grabbing Namjoon along with him and leading the way to the dance floor, with the other three trailing behind them, Hoseok whooping along with Jin and Namjoon.
This gave Jimin a chance to actually assess the crowd for the first time in the evening. The place was crowded, but it wasn’t suffocating. It was enough to feel like the room was being taken up and used, but there wasn’t as many people as he thought there would be. Jimin spotted two people from his own class, as well as a few people he knew he had passed in the hallways, while stuffing all the new faces into his memory banks.

And then he spotted Taehyung.

Jimin blushed the moment his eyes landed on him. He was wearing a short sleeved casual grey button up, with navy blue ripped jeans and timberlands, with his hair styled and eyes twinkling in the dark while laughing along with Jungkook and some other male. A few girls were standing a little too close to him and he shooed them away, as well as the male that was wandering closer and closer to them and trying to insert himself into their conversation.

Jimin turned around and flushed. He knew he shouldn’t be jealous, but he couldn’t help it. He knew that Taehyung was insanely attractive and attracted a lot of visitors, but he still wanted them to all go away for some odd reason that he couldn’t put into words. Jimin shook his head and took a long chug of his drink, wincing a little from the bitter taste, before joining his friends on the dance floor among the crowd.

At first it was a little weird, but one or two drinks in, he found himself lost in the music, his body swaying naturally to the beat, dancing to the music along with his friends.

Chapter Text

Taehyung was currently scanning the crowd for a certain someone.

The moment he heard that Namjoon had invited Jin’s friend group, which included Jimin, Taehyung got super hyped up and had already began setting up Jungkook’s house, to which Jungkook sighed and shook his head, but let him be as he knew how whipped he was for Jimin.

The day when Jimin has helped him clean up his spilt lunch in the cafeteria, Jungkook and Namjoon had seen the smitten look on his face, and spent the rest of lunch teasing Taehyung and barely even paying attention to their lunches. But in all honesty, Taehyung didn’t really care. In fact, he’d rather them keep teasing him and saying how they were meant for each other. It boosted his confidence higher than it already was, knowing that the two were convinced that they were meant to be, even though he knew they were just joking.

Maybe.

Taehyung didn’t know why, but freaking Park Jimin was starting to become a hazard in his life. He found his thoughts constantly wandering over to the smaller, often forgetting to pay attention in class (even though that already happened enough), naturally meandering over to the blonde head when there wasn’t anything to think about. He began turning down one night stands at the countless parties he attended, and the one time he did accept one to release his pent up angsty teenage hormones, he couldn’t focus the entire time and wondered what if would be like to do it with Jimin.

Those feelings were the most peculiar to Taehyung, and he didn’t really understand them. He had never felt this strongly for a person. He was used to meaningless one night stands, half assed relationships that never lasted more than a week, and flirting with whoever he wanted. But for some reason he turned the one nighters down, and he shooed away the countless admirers that would have gladly been his next targets, because just a one night stand or a week long relationship with Jimin didn’t seem satisfying enough.

What the hell was happening to him?

When the big day actually came, he had Jungkook come over in the morning since his house was only a few houses down to help him choose out on an outfit. Taehyung had a naturally good sense of fashion. He didn’t really put much thought into his outfit and simply let his instinct decide for him, and it usually worked out okay. But for the first time in forever, he felt nervous about what to wear.

Which brought him to the situation he was currently in.

Namjoon had told him that yes, he had invited Jin and his friends (Taehyung’s request as an excuse to see Jimin), and yes, they had agreed to attend, and when Namjoon finally came to find him, that yes, they were already here. Which was why he was currently scanning the crowd for a certain blonde while shooing away the many admirers bothering him. He thought that he had seen Jimin about 2 hours ago slipping into the karaoke room, but the lighting in the room was dim so he couldn’t tell, and he didn’t really want to check the karaoke room since the room was always dirty with beer cans littered all over the place. After a while, he eventually gave up and stayed with Jungkook and some other guy who would have gladly been Taehyung’s target for the night, but Taehyung simply wasn’t interested. His eyes raked through the crowd one more time, hoping to find Jimin, but to no avail until-

Aha.

Taehyung found Jimin somewhere in the middle of the room full of people with his friends, drink in hand as he and his friends danced to the beat. Taehyung was captivated by the way his body gently swayed to the beat, hypnotizing him just with the ebb and flow of his body. The shirt that he was wearing flowed nicely on him, exposing a bit of his collarbone, making Taehyung’s face heat up at the sight of it. And those jeans man. They should have been illegal. They hugged Jimin’s thick and toned thighs so effortlessly perfectly, while showing off that beautiful ass. Taehyung stopped conversing with the other two males in front of him in favor of just staring at Jimin, captivated. The shorter male in front of him huffed when Taehyung stopped paying attention to him and stomped away, while Jungkook followed Taehyung’s stare, and excused himself to get another drink.

Taehyung simply stared at Jimin for a long time, content with just looking at the beauty, and also not wanting to scare him away, but what really caught his attention was the tall dark haired male that was looking in Jimin’s direction.
The look in his eyes was anything but pure, dark orbs filled with lust and malicious intent, as he slowly danced his way over to the blonde. Taehyung watched as he finally got behind behind Jimin, his friends not looking at him, as he slowly but surely reached out to cup Jimin’s soft and plump ass. Taehyung normally wouldn’t have intervened, as it wasn’t any of his business, but today something in him snapped for whatever reason as he clenched his fist but standing his ground, not wanting to make a scene. The more logical part of his brain applauded him, but his body was practically screaming at him, telling him to move. And the few beers waltzing around in his body wasn’t helping either. When the tall male finally succeeded in grabbing Jimin, the smaller yelped at the sudden contact, and expression of fear and discomfort washing over his slightly pink face.

Oh hell no

That was the last straw.

Taehyung power stomped his way over to Jimin and his friends, the crowd of people making way for him and splitting quickly at the sight of the murderous look on his face. Taehyung grabbed the guy’s wrist away from Jimin’s ass and twisted it painfully, earning a surprised and pained sound from the stranger.

“Fuck off, and don’t ever touch him again.” Taehyung hissed, eyes dark and icy, with enough venom loaded into his voice to kill ten grown men. The other guy squeaked, pulled his handout of Taehyung’s grasp and rubbed his now bruised wrist while casting him a dark look, before slowly backing out into the crowd, out of view.

Jimin normally would have been against that. He didn’t need anyone protecting him or worrying over him, but then again, he did have about five or six drinks floating around in his system, so it clouded his better judgement, and he found Taehyung possessiveness oddly endearing.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt? I swear to god-“ Taehyung started, with a completely different look on his face, full of concern and fondness, finally being satisfied by being near him, and speaking with a soft tone.

“No! I didn’t even realize he was there until he touched me!” Jimin said, slightly outraged, but mostly happy that Taehyung was here (although sober Jimin would have lied and said he wasn’t).

“I mean, I can’t exactly blame the poor guy. You look amazing.” Taehyung said flirtatiously, smirking, but had many defences set up mentally in case Jimin ignored it like he always did. But that’s not what happened, and it caught him off guard.

“You look great too Taehyungie!” Jimin chirped happily, leaning closer to him, with a smile that made his legs feel like jelly, before dragging Taehyung with him closer to the others. Taehyung saw Jin and Namjoon happily dancing with each other, with Jin occasionally stumbling from the alcohol, leaning against Namjoon, while Namjoon held Jin up happily, with a fond look in his eyes, Hoseok waving wildly at Jimin and himself, signaling them to come join them, Yoongi coming back after leaving the crowd to get another drink, and Jungkook jumping up and down with the rest of the crowd, belting out the lyrics to the song that the DJ was mediocrely mixing. Namjoon greeted the two and invited them to dance with them.

The night kept on getting better and better. Another song came on, the beat slow and seductive, the bass bouncing around in his chest, and maybe it was the beer in him acting, but he finally gathered up the courage to hesitantly wrap his arms around Jimin’s waist. When Jimin didn’t flinch away or react badly, Taehyung began slowly swaying their hips together, synchronized and connected to the beat, a small giggle leaving Jimin’s mouth, making Taehyung feel all light headed.

After about another hour of dancing, the large group of seven made there way over to karaoke room, and spent the rest of the night joking around and laughing, despite the two groups not really knowing each other, besides Jin and Namjoon. The group messily sang along to the songs flickering around on the TV screen, occasionally rapping. Jimin was clearly intoxicated, cheeks tinted a pretty shade of pink, and eyes slightly glossy. Taehyung found out that Jimin was more flirty and confident when drunk.

He confidently returned flirty remarks, even sometimes teasingly touching Taehyung, and would lean into Taehyung when he was laughing at his jokes. Namjoon and Jin did a song that had rapping and singing, all of them laughing when Jin attempted to rap, with Namjoon coming to the rescue, while Jimin and Jungkook did their rendition of We Don’t Talk Anymore by two American artists Taehyung didn’t know. When it was Taehyung’s turn to sing, he chose a really romantic song and pointed at Jimin playfully while singing a part of the lyrics that went “I can’t live without you” or some cheesy shit like that, with Jimin giggling happily in return.

When the party was over, Namjoon and Jungkook shooed everyone out of the house while Taehyung and the others began cleaning up. Once they were finished, Namjoon, Jin and his group left the house to drive them home. Taehyung was staying since he had drank a little bit too much. His parents wouldn’t mind. They would rather have him out of the house overnight than have him attempt to drive home and get in a crash. They weren’t home anyways, both attending business trips. He quickly shot them both a quick text and saw Jimin and his friends off.

Chapter Text

Jimin got dropped off by Namjoon and waved everyone goodbye before heading into his home. He quietly closed the door behind him, and looked around the house to check if his father was home. He found him sleeping soundly on the couch in the living room, with a bottle of alcohol in hand. Jimin turned off the lights and closed the door, before heading down to the kitchen to clean up the dinner he had left behind for his father when he left. After he was finished, he grabbed a few snacks, and slowly made his way up to the attic, otherwise his room, stumbling a little from the alcohol that was still swimming around in his bloodstream.

After tripping around here and there for a small eternity, he finally made it up the stairs leading up to his room.

Jimin always made sure that the attic was nothing like the rest of the house. The rest of the house was cold, white lights, and dull colours, with no life in it. The attic was the exact opposite. It was as cute as the boy living in it. While the roof was just wooden beams and the roof, it was a nice auburn brown colour that contrasted the cold white and grey walls in the rest of the house, and the room was filled with soft and pastel colors. Since the attic didn’t have any lights built into it, Jimin hung fairy lights all around the attic, and put up polaroids here and there, hanging from the wires that connected the fairy lights, that framed his favourite and happiest moments from childhood. From a warmer and less dark time. His father had an irrational fear of attics, so the room was thrust upon Jimin, and his father never came up there anyways.

Jimin left the snacks by the trapdoor that opened up into his room, and flopped onto his bed, tuckered out from his first party.

•••

Jimin woke up with a mild headache and a bitter taste in his mouth. He slowly opened his eyes and was blinded by the small ray of sunshine coming from the tiny window right about his bed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Right, he had slept in his own clothes. He smelled a little musty too. Why was he wearing the same clothes as yesterday? Oh right, the party. It was surprisingly enough, really fun. It was probably some of the most fun he had in forever. Why it was fun, he couldn’t really remember, but the fog in his head was slowly clearing. He also didn’t understand the warm and soft feeling in his chest. Then it hit him like a truck.

Oh my god.

Jimin knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to drink so much. He knew that for his first time drinking he should take it easy, and probably wouldn’t even hold alcohol that well in the first place. But his friends had promised him that they would take care of him, and he trusted them, so he said “fuck it” and downed his second drink. Two turned into three, three into four, four into five, and before he knew it, he was drunk. He also remembered some creep trying to get in his pants, before his knight in shining armour came to rescue him. He remembered laughing with Taehyung, casually flirting back, and being really touchy.

Jimin blushed at the memory. What the fuck was he thinking?! He was always a worrier, so what made him decide that to was a good idea to go to the party in the first place? What if Namjoon has accidentally drank something and they all died? What if the police came to shut it down? What if KIM FREAKING TAEHYUNG WAS THERE, AND HE ENDED UP DRINKING AND DOING SOME REALLY NOT INNOCENT THINGS.

He was salty.

He knew that something was bound to go wrong, and present Jimin was currently shaking the life out of drunk Jimin telling him to lay off the alcohol to save the liver and dignity that he desperately needed to keep.

Jimin sighed. Nothing he could do to change that now. He just hoped that Taehyung would leave him alone. Jimin rolled over to the side of the bed and checked his phone. He had two texts.

The first was from his father.

From: Donghoon

Emergency meeting. Left early. Will be home very late, past midnight. Have dinner ready.

To: Donghoon

Yes father.

The second was from the group chat that Jin had made with the others.

From: Eomma Jinnie

Ahh last night was so fun! We should go again sometime. Anyways, wanna meet up at Eunsag Mall later for some lunch? I wanna grab some of the new deals from Scape as well. Buy one pair of jeans get the other 60% off!

From: Sunshine Hobi

Yaaaas it was! And I’m down. The jeans from last night got spilt on, so I’m tagging along. Hbu guys?

From: Suga Gummy

K.

Jimin thought to himself for a second. He knew that his father wouldn’t really care if he left the house. His father honestly isn’t care about him at all to be honest, and he did say he was going to be home late, so he figured it should be fine

To: The Group With Jams

I can go. Meet in the food court?

From: Sunshine Hobi

Yaaaas I’ll be there.

Jimin quickly shot his dad a text, got out of bed and threw his phone somewhere into the sheets. He slowly trudged out of the room, heading downstairs to go take a shower, grumbling to himself about the light nausea and headache, and popping in a few aspirin, which he found in his vast collection of painkillers and rubbing alcohol. It was only about 8:00 in the morning, so after the shower he finished up the extra credit homework his math teacher had given him, decidedly skipping breakfast, and bummed around the old leather couch that smelled of alcohol and smoke for the morning, watching some cliche kdrama he wasn’t really listening to.

Unbeknownst to him, his friends were in a separate group chat planning and conversing.

From: Jin

Did you tell Joonie and others?

From: Hoseok

Yeah, I told “Joonie” and others this morning.

From: Yoongi

I still can’t believe we’re doing this….

•••

At 11:20, Jimin turned off the K-drama that he was watching, and went upstairs to change. Since it thankfully wasn’t another party, Jimin wouldn’t really have to worry about his fashion sense for today. He picked out a large white pullover sweater, and stretchable navy blue jeans that were easy to move in but still hugging his thighs.

There’s tightness when you where even sweatpants, you pig.

Jimin went downstairs and quickly threw his wallet, phone, keys, and some other stuff into a small drawstring bag, stepped into an old pair of runners, and started walking towards the mall.

He found the group by their favourite bubble tea place, with Jin waving madly at him to come over. Hoseok bounced over and have him a big squishy hug, lifting him up and spinning him in circles. He saw Yoongi behind Jin ordering for the rest of the group. Once they all got there drinks, they went their separate ways, to get food, while Jimin stayed behind to keep their table.

“Aish, Jimin-ah, you’re not gonna eat anything?” Jin asked. His tray was piled up to the brim with various kinds of sushi and tempura. Yoongi was behind him with a large plastic bowl of ramen, and he saw Hobi at one of the American places getting a poutine.

“Nah, it’s okay Hyung, I had a big breakfast.”Jimin lied. He swirled around the straw in his watermelon smoothie bubble tea. Jin squinted at him before shaking his head curtly and sitting down beside him, with Yoongi on the other side in front of Jin.

“Jiminie, we’re gonna be here a while. At least get a snack or something! If you don’t, I’m gonna have Joonie cook you something.” Jin drawled, while squishing Jimin’s soft and chubby cheeks. Yoongi and Jimin shivered at the thought of that. Jin last night had drunkenly told them countless stories of the times he and Namjoon has began cooking together. Almost all of the encounters resulted in a fire or at least a burnt dish, but Jin always had a happy and proud look in his face.

“Aish fineeee, i'll go get some something, quit bothering me.”

“That’s my boy.”

Jimin strolled around the food court for a little, finding something to eat. He eventually settled on a grilled veggie wrap from one of the chain restaurants that Yoongi ate at a lot. On his way back to the table, he saw Namjoon enter the food court on the opposite side of him. He wasn’t too worried at first, even planning on telling Jin when he went back, but when he saw Jungkook come in as well, he got a weird feeling in his stomach. He turned around and quickly walked back to his table, not noticing the other figure standing behind Jungkook.

Jimin plopped down into his seat and took a long sip of his bubble tea, while getting a small brain freeze. He hissed quietly and held his head, before looking around and realizing something.

“Jinnie-Hyung, why did you want me to save one of the big tables?” Jimin asked. The table they were sitting at could seat exactly….

Seven people. Three on each side and one at the very end.

Shit.

“Oh, here they come!” Jin chirped happily, waving at the three guys that were currently making their way over to their table.

“Hey Jinnie~” Namjoon replied as we sat down in the seat beside Jin, placing a kiss on the side of his head and wrapping his arm around him, Jin giggling happily in reply. Taehyung and Jungkook both made fake gagging noises and said that they would go get food and come back, Taehyung giving Jimin a mischievous glance.

This was gonna suck.

The two came back later, each holding a tray with some sort of stir fry, as well as Hobi. Jungkook took the seat beside Yoongi, while Hobi took the one at the very end. As for Taehyung, he sat right across from Jimin.

Oh nonononono.

Jimin began blushing profusely while staring into his lap, a wave of memories from last night hitting him in the face like a rock, letting his hair fall in front of his eyes as an excuse not to look at anyone. Taehyung simply stared at him, a small but prominent blush forming on his face, with a small box grin. Hobi looked back and forth between the two with a mischievous glint in his eyes, as though he was waiting for something to happen.

The group immediately started off from where they left off yesterday without a pause in the conversation, laughing at the memory of Namjoon’s off key version of Ailee’s “I will show you.”
With Taehyung popping in and out in favour of simply staring at the light pink dusting Jimin’s cheeks.

After they finished eating, they threw away all the junk and Jimin’s half eaten wrap, and headed off to the first store. It was a small merchandise store, selling a variety of items based on your interests. This was where the three musketeers decided to put their plan into action.

They didn’t necessarily plan on trying to get Jimin and Taehyung together, but they did plan on testing the waters a bit, teasing the two here and there. The wanted to establish a few things:

1: if there suspicions were true, and that Jimin did in fact like Taehyung (Jimin was a little obvious at times, blushing madly whenever he came up in conversation and desperately trying to find a way to change the topic).

2: If Taehyung liked Jimin back (Namjoon had told Jin all about the day when Taehyung had spilt his lunch on himself).

3: See how Taehyung would react to whatever they were planning on doing, and assessing if he was good enough for their precious little Mochi (they did NOT want to hand him off to some asshole who would end up breaking his heart).

And lastly: Jin wanted his dose of entertainment for the day. But if anything went wrong, they could let Yoongi go after him (What’s one corpse here or there gonna change? ).

Jimin was looking at some t-shirts and was holding a small keychain that had the SHINEE logo on it, when Hobi pointed at something behind him excitedly and ran towards it, bumping into Jimin on the way, causing him to drop the keychain. Hobi has set it up it very carefully to make sure that Taehyung would be positioned right behind Jimin, his back in full view.

“Aish Hyung be careful~! You’re gonna knock something over!” Jimin whined, bending down to pick up the keychain.

“Sorry Jimin-ah~” Hobi drawled mischievously, casting an amused glance in Taehyung’s direction. His face was bright red, blushing bashfully in a very un-Taehyung way. Jimin’s beautiful, plump, and soft ass was right in front of him. But he didn’t reach out and touch it or anything, nonono, that would make him seem like a pervert. He didn’t want to scare everyone away. When he finally stood up, Taehyung looked away, and quickly walked away, Jimin giving him an odd look, tilting his head to the side cutely, while Jin and Hobi watched from the sidelines, amused.

Their next stop was the clothing store that Jin wanted to go to. Jin grabbed dozens upon dozens of jeans that to be honest all looked the same, and modelled for the others.

“They all look the same…” Yoongi murmured, which earned him multiple overexaggerated gasps. Hobi slapped him in the back of the head and went off on a tangent talking about all the different things you needed to take into consideration while looking at jeans, such as hip ratios, how tight you wanted them to be, and a bunch of other things Jimin and Yoongi didn’t understand. Jimin strayed from the group for a little while to look at some hoodies. He had saved up a little bit more money this month and wanted to get something a little thicker to be ready for the colder weather when it finally came. He picked out a large dark blue one and went to the cashier to pay for it.

“Oi, Chim Chim, what do you think of these ones?” Jin called at him. Jimin looked back and found Jin standing by the hallway leading to the change rooms, Yoongi and Namjoon standing beside him. He saw Hoseok running around the jeans aisle excitedly picking out a few jeans here and there. Jimin walked over to Jin, pretending to examine the jeans even though there was nothing different compared to the last pair.

“Eh, I feel like the last pair was a bit better.” Jimin lied, preparing to walk back to the cashier before Hoseok ran up to him.

“Oi Jiminiee try these on.” Hobi said as he shoved a few pairs of jeans into Jimin’s arms.

“What, why?! I don’t have enough mon- I mean, I don’t need any new ones!”

“We all got a pair today, it’s only customary that you get at least one as well.”

“They’re jeans Hobi, not friendship bracelets, we don’t need to match.”

“Oh cmon, just at least try them on, please?”

“I don’t know Hobi….the waist ratio is a little small for me.”

“That’s the entire point stupid, it’s to show some more ass. Now can you try on pretty pretty pleaaseeee?” Hobi wheedled, giving Jimin his very best puppy eyes.

“Ugh fine, just give me a minute. I don’t even know why you’re so hellbent on me wearing a pair of jeans.” Jimin said while rolling his eyes. He was planning on getting another pair in case he ended up gaining weight.

You know damn well it’s going to happen you hog.

Jimin hopped into one of the change rooms and changed into the first pair of jeans. The first thing that he noticed was that they were really tight. At first he had thought he had gained weight, but when he looked at the tag, the waist ratio was one size smaller than his normal jeans, which was odd. The group went shopping with each other often enough, so they knew each other’s sizes.

(“Jesus Jin you do not need to worry about getting a size up in case you gain weight. You could eat all of our lunches combined and LOSE weight.” (Jimin was slightly jealous for that))

Jimin put on the jeans and looked at himself in the mirror. He might as well have been wearing tights. The jeans very obviously highlighted the curves and plumpness of Jimin’s legs and ass, making Jimin feel even more self conscious about his weight.

When the other group saw Jimin stepping out of the change room, Jin grabbed Taehyung and pulled him beside him.

“Hey, help us decide which jeans to get Jimin.” Jin said with a mischievous undertone in his voice.

Jimin stepped out of the change room nervously, legs turned slightly in and wringing his wrists.

“Ooh, these look nice. Here turn around let’s see the back.” Hobi said, barely able to keep the excitement in his voice hidden, while casting glances at Taehyung.

“Aish Hyung, do I have to?”

“Shush, just do it.”

Jimin reluctantly turned around, showing off his backside, Jin making sure Taehyung had full view. The very prominent ruby red blush forming on his face was enough evidence for them. Jin, Yoongi, and Hoseok did their best not to laugh.

The cycle repeated itself a few times, rinse and repeat, the others thoroughly enjoying torturing Taehyung, before they finally left the store, walking home all together as a group

Chapter Text

After the day at the mall, the two groups randomly just began merging. It wasn’t sudden, it was gradual. At first it was just Namjoon popping in and out to see Jin, then he started sitting with them permanently, then he invited Jungkook once or twice when Taehyung sat with some other people occasionally, and then HE was permanent, and finally they invited Taehyung.

The two groups merged remarkably well, all of them have similar interests that aligned with one another, or they’re personalities worked together really well, like a final piece of a puzzle that clicked into place.

Namjoon was very nice and kind. He exuded a cool and composed aura, and used weird metaphors and quotes from some Greek philosophers that nobody other than Jimin really understood, and had mastery of the English language. He was the cool, hot nerd type, except he did a lot better in social situations (unlike Jimin). He was also really into rapping, and was a very talented composer. Jimin spent a lot of his class time with Namjoon, the two both sharing their burning passion for learning. Namjoon’s parents were very kind to Jimin too, despite them not being home very much. His father was the CEO of a large company on the rise and his mother ran an extremely popular cafe in downtown Seoul that was open very early in the morning and very late at night. Jimin had seen it once or twice when he was running some shopping errands for his father, but had ran away when he saw how fancy all the food was, too scared to even look at the surprisingly low prices that brought in many customers.

Jungkook was the quieter and more mellow person, the Yoongi of Taehyung’s group, but with less blood. He had dark shiny hair, large doe eyes, was tall, and had the cutest bunny smile. He seemed quiet and almost timid at first, but after a while, he revealed a loud and childish personality, goofing around with Jin and Hobi all time. He very fond of Jimin, the two having similar music tastes and senses of humour. He complimented Jimin’s singing voice and Jimin often spent time at his house, watching and listening to him record songs or mixing them, even recording a cover with him when Jungkook had begged him with his best puppy eyes, despite Jimin being insecure about his singing voice. Similarly to Namjoon, he was also good at composing and mixing, however mostly liked to record covers, adding his own acoustic spin to the songs. Both Jungkook and Namjoon clicked very well with Yoongi, who was also a composer. Jimin had never seen Jungkook’s parents, as they were both on long business trips at the time, but Jungkook had shown him pictures. They didn’t look much like him. Jungkook had revealed that he was adopted, and he wouldn’t have anyone else in the world as his parents.

Taehyung was….well...Taehyung. He warmed up to the group very easily, and was very talkative, often spending so long talking with Hoseok and Jin that they forgot what they were talking about in the first place. Taehyung was also a good singer from what he had heard from Jungkook, but didn’t record very much, and he could have sworn he heard him mention somewhere that he danced, but Jimin was too nervous to ask him about it. The two never really talked much, Jimin being too shy and bashful around him, and Taehyung didn’t want to make Jimin uncomfortable, as much as he wanted to talk to him, which Jimin greatly appreciated

So overall, Jimin was pretty happy.

•••

Taehyung was just getting more and more whipped, slowly but surely.

He wasn’t able to talk to Jimin as much as he wanted to, but he was getting there. Normally, if a person wouldn’t just throw themselves at him to begin with, he’d just forget about it and move onto the next person easily. But something about Jimin made him want to try harder, a small little tug at his chest gently pulling in towards the smaller. He wanted to hug him close, shower with affection, and make him feel like he was the only person that mattered to him, which never really happened with anyone else. He never felt this strongly before, and it was foreign to Taehyung, a confusing equation he was still trying to piece it together, even after 5 months. And math was never a strongsuit for him.

They weren’t on speaking terms exactly, but they were getting there. Jimin would actually respond to Taehyung when he was talking, and even giggled sometimes when Taehyung cracked a joke here or there, which made him feel weirdly proud of himself, like it was his mission to make Jimin happy.

What he wasn’t expecting was the unexpected personality that Jimin would show when he was around people he considered friends. All Taehyung knew was that he was quiet and had a nice voice. But underneath the shy layer, there was a warm and bubbly boy, that always seemed to have hope for everyone, with a small, healthy hint of sass. And when he genuinely smiled, which Taehyung had never seen before, his eyes turned into the most beautiful crescents, as if two little moons were playing hide and seek in his large brown eyes, and it made him fall harder and harder every time the lunch bell rang.

So at least some progress was being made.

•••

Their history/homeroom teacher finished up the lecture and everyone began packing up there things. Jimin stuffed the papers on his desk into his binder and zipped it up, Taehyung finally snapping out of his daze and stopped staring at Jimin, before packing up his own things.

“Oh that’s right! I need to assign groups right now! Don’t worry everyone, this should be very quick, and then you can all go home for the winter break.” The teacher exclaimed, pulling out a piece of paper from her folders. Jimin got an odd feeling in his tummy.

The teacher began calling out the assigned groups, one by one, the groups slowly came together, the students pulling out their phones to exchange contact info. When she finally got to the bottom of the list and Jimin already knew what was going to happen

“Kim Namjoon, Park Jimin, and Kim Taehyung.”

Ah shit.

Namjoon and Taehyung were already standing together. Taehyung looked around for a second before spotting Jimin and gesturing for him to come over. Jimin slowly shuffled over to the two.

“Nice, we all got put into a group together!” Namjoon chirped happily.
“Yeah finally, this is the first good group I’ve gotten all year!” Taehyung said, trying and failing to keep the excitement out of his voice.

The group didn’t need to exchange contact information because Jin had already added them to the group chat, so they all had each other numbers, and they moved there separate ways. Jimin grabbed his backpack and his extra duffel bag and exited the school. After about 15 minutes he made it to his favourite place in the whole world: the dance studio.

Jimin walked in, bowing to the elder behind the desk and made his way over to the locker rooms. He changed into a black flowy shirt and dark stretchable jeans, and walked outside and into the studio, five minutes early for his dance class.

Jimin had always loved dance, ever since he had seen the contemporary modern dance showcase on TV when he was only 6, with his little brother Jihyun. Every Friday evening for 2 years, Jimin, Jihyun, and their mother would sit in front of the TV after they came home from school and work to watch the weekly showcase. Jimin and Jihyun were awestruck by the elegant and smooth movements, flickering across the screen, hypnotizing them with the simple stretch of an arm. Jimin’s father thought that contemporary dance was girly on not for boys, but they didn’t care. On Jimin’s 8th birthday, both Jimin and Jihyun began attending dance classes (for both girls and boys), a birthday day gift for the two. They were both so overjoyed, and couldn’t wait for their first class. Their father had scoffed and didn’t look at any of them in the eye for an entire month.

The class was everything the two had hoped for. They both had such passion, which made the class so much better. They were surrounded with like minded kids as well, all of them sharing the same kindling of passion. They had the sweetest and most talented teacher, whom still taught Jimin to this day, who encouraged them when they hit a dead end, and helped them truly blossom as dancers, like flowers after a rainstorm. While he was in the studio, he was able to be something he wasn’t allowed to be outside of the studio. Nobody questioned how he always wore big oversized sweaters, or made fun of him for his quiet exterior. Everything in the studio was gauged based on your passion and skill, and nothing from the outside world ever sneaked its way into the thin walls.

Jimin decided to work on his latest choreography that he choreographed himself since he was early. He saw two people by the door, chatting about the next upcoming dance recital, a few people in the middle of the classroom in front of the large mirror that covered the entire wall coming up with choreography, and one more person in the corner practicing the latest dance given to them by the teacher.

Jimin went to the corner opposite of the other dancer and began stretching, doing a split and slowly reaching forward, his chest gently touching the ground. He stretched his arms a little and grabbed one of the tiny speakers for solo practicing, and plugged in the music that he was dancing to, the volume just enough so that he could hear it. He slowly eased into the music, the beat soft, yet quick, letting himself fall into the music, his body moving in its own accord, closing his eyes and emptying his mind.

Unbeknownst to him, there was a person watching him from the viewing glass to the studio getting ready for his hip hop class, mesmerized by the way the boy moved.

•••

As usual, the class was fun, and Jimin was sad that it was over, as everyone else. Jimin quickly changed into his normal clothes and bolted out the door, not noticing the certain tall boy that was reaching out to him, trying to get his attention.

Jimin ran into the restaurant and sighed, the pent up stress releasing. Normally on Fridays the restaurant was packed, but today, the restaurant wasn’t very busy, just a few people on dates here or there, and the occasional seniors that popped in then and now with their friends.
Jimin quickly stepped into the washroom and changed into his uniform, and went into the kitchen, and was greeted by the manager and one of his only childhood friends, Sehun.

“Hey Chimmie!” Sehun chirped, wrapping an arm around Jimin’s narrow shoulders and ruffling his hair.

“Hi Hyung, how are you? There’s not much going on today?” Jimin asked.

Sehun was one of the other waiters at the restaurant and the two were pretty close friends. Sehun’s parents were family friends with Jimin’s mother, and they had known each other since Elementary school. They didn’t hang out much outside of the restaurant since Sehun had began studying at a university but they were still good friends.

“Yep, we got suuuper lucky today. The construction guys just started setting up today so that’s probably why. Personally I’m not complaining, gives me more time to finish the shitton of work that my Chem professor is giving me, which you HAVE to help me with. I need your mastermind brain to help me through the apocalypse of end term exams. Speaking of which, can you tend the side bar for a bit? I’ll come get you when I’m done.” Sehun asked nervously.

“Yeah sure, no problem Hyung.” Jimin said with a sweet smile on his face.

“Aiiiishh your the best buddy. Alright see yah later.” Sehun said while waving and giving him one last big squishy hug, before walking into the back.

Before Jimin could even go to the bar, his manager came up to him nervously, wringing his hands.

“Hey Jimin, I’m very very very sorry, but since we have the construction workers coming in for the renovations, I’m gonna have to cut everyone’s paycheck back a little. I’m so so so sorry, and this is super irresponsible of me and I promise that I take full responsibility for this and I promise I’ll give you all a big raise when you get back from winter break.” His manager said embarrassedly in one quick breath. Jimin paled for a second but quickly wiped the fear off of his face and gave his manager a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder.

“Oh don’t worry about it sir, it’s completely fine, I understand, and it’s not irresponsible of you.” Jimin said.

His manager thanked him profusely before scurrying off back into the kitchen, and Jimin began his shift for the evening.

•••

Taehyung knew that it would be creepy to follow him, but he really couldn’t help it. He was curious, so sue him.

Taehyung had been so mesmerized by the way Jimin danced. He had never mentioned it before so it had taken him by complete surprise. He was hypnotized, the way his body flowed so effortlessly and perfectly to the music, eyes closed and he danced like a flower caught in a breeze. Taehyung had planned on talking to Jimin after class, but he had bolted out before he even had a chance to say anything, and now he was following him to a...restaurant?

At first Taehyung didn’t understand why. Did he have a date maybe? Taehyung did his best to ignore the sad droop his stomach gave when he thought about that, but when he went in, he saw Jimin come out of the washroom wearing a waiters uniform. Now it all made sense. Jimin was a waiter. He internally letting out a breath of air. Taehyung scurried out of the restaurant quickly, not wanting to creep around anymore.

Wait.

Why was Jimin working?

It was a valid question. Sure, they were on their second last year of high school, but people normally only started working when they got into university. Unless…

There were one or two students in each grade, who sometimes came to school late or snuck out of class early, to leave for their before or after school jobs.

All those kids worked because their families were in need of income.

Taehyung began walking home confused, turning the small theory bubbling in his head over.

•••

Jimin quickly began walking home. He had forgotten to make a microwaveable dinner in the morning, so there was no way he was going to make it to the party Jin had invited him to.

Jimin opened his front door and walked inside, and was greeted by a loud smack to his cheek from his father, falling to his side.

“Hello son. I got a call from your manager today.” His father greeted him, a malicious undertone in his voice, while swirling around a bottle of whisky. Jimin already knew he was going to happen.

His father grabbed him by the hair and tossed him into a room in the back of the house, the walls painted with blood and dents. Jimins back hit the wall and he crumpled into a small ball, like a piece of drafted paper in a recycling bin.
“I heard that your paycheck got cut, you little bitch!” His father screamed as he began kicking his stomach in a drunken rage.

The blows came again and again, over and over until there were more bruises on his body then patches of soft skin, as his father screamed at him, calling him names. Bitch, Dyke, Useless. He drilled at his insecurities, saying how he was just a hassle, how he was just holding everyone back, refreshing the small glass shards of doubt embedded into his skin that he was so desperately trying to pick out.

And the worst part was that he was used to it.

Chapter Text

Jimin was an orphan.

He and his brother Jihyun had been dropped off at an adoption center when Jihyun was only 1 years old, and Jimin was 3. The caretakers found them sitting on the deck for the backdoor on Christmas Day. They were both sitting in a small cradle that was scarcely bigger than themselves. Jimin holding holding a small Jihyun in his tiny arms. They had no papers, no identification, and their birth parents had left them there.

The adoption agency was forced to take them in, and they always were treated like pigs. They got the smallest portions during feeding times, were treated worse than everyone else, and they slept in an unused storage closet on a small twin sized creaky bed since there wasn’t enough space in the sleeping quarters for them. Their lives there were dark, being bullied by the other bigger and older kids since they thought Jimin and Jihyun were weird, and being abused by the caretakers, who hated them.

His only happiness in the adoption center was his little brother, Jihyun. He loved him so much. He was the only thing to love. He was bubbly and energetic, so full of joy and youthfulness despite the malnourishment that both he and Jimin endured.

But the other kids didn’t treat Jihyun like a normal boy. He liked what the other boys liked. Toy cars, the dragons from the few storybooks from the tiny library, and the colour blue. But they didn’t let him play with them, and instead called him weird, and disgusting, and picked on him, telling him to play with the girls. They would hit Jimin and Jihyun until they bled, but the caretakers didn’t care. They would have been happier if the other boys and girls hit harder.

Jihyun wasn’t like the other boys. He was born a girl.

But he didn’t understand why. He would constantly look up at Jimin when he held him close in their tiny coffin of a bed, and ask him why he felt like a boy even though he looked like a girl, and why the others couldn’t just treat him like one. Jimin completely agreed, and always referred to Jihyun as he and called him one.

The caretakers didn’t like it. They thought that Jihyun was an abomination, and disgusting, and that in turn reflected to Jimin as well. Jimin always did his best to defend Jihyun. He’d slap away the grabbing hands of the other kids when they wanted to pick on him and took the beatings from the others in order to keep them away from Jihyun, safe and unharmed, to the point where he couldn’t walk. Those days, he’d pretend to be a cat and crawl around the floor with Jihyun. He’d hold Jihyun close to his frail chest and curl into a ball around him, when the caretakers had a bad day and would begin to kick Jimin, as they screamed insults and vile words at them. Jimin didn’t let the pain spill into his voice. He kept a gentle smile on his face, forcing himself not to flinch when the caretakers landed a particularly bad kick on his spine, and would gently sing to Jihyun so that he couldn’t hear the crude remarks thrown at them.

He just wanted him to be happy.

But it was always worth it. His little bundle of joy would always be there to comfort him. While they were crumpled up like balls of draft paper in the tiny janitors closet, Jihyun would hug him, and smile, like there was nothing wrong with Jimin, and they would sing quietly together, the moon highlighting the bruises and white marks on Jimin’s face, and made him feel loved.

It was all he needed to survive the next morning. He learned to keep all the hurt buried deep inside of him, so that Jihyun wouldn’t see the scars that tormented his poor soul. He’d smile when the others laughed at them, while complementing Jihyun’s reading as they sat in a corner huddled together, reading their favourite stories. He used his shortcomings to his advantage. His small and diminutive size came with benefits. He was unnoticeable and fast, able to sneak around the kitchen easily and steal small morsels of food for Jihyun. It wasn’t enough for the two to feel full, they were never full, but it was enough to wake up the next morning to endure the taunts and punches. He grew smarter and quicker minded. He knew exactly where and when the other kids would be so that he and Jihyun could avoid them, and learned to create the perfect mask. The one that smiled when he was punched, the one that would say that he wasn’t hungry after suffering from malnourishment for a week.

On Jihyun’s forth birthday, he asked Jimin to cut his hair. Jimin was reluctant at first, afraid of how the others would react, but he wanted to make Jihyun happy. He snuck a pair of scissors out from the playroom underneath his thin shirt, and at night, the two snuck into the bathroom and Jimin cut his hair. It probably wasn’t a good idea for a 6 year old to administer scissors, and also to be cutting another child’s hair, but Jimin was careful. He cut Jihyun’s hair short enough so the it fell lightly right before his eyes, and he could tuck tiny pieces of it behind his ears. It wasn’t the best haircut, but Jihyun was so happy with it that Jimin didn’t care. It was enough that Jihyun was satisfied. Even after the particularly bad beating that Jimin got, it was worth it.

It was that exact same year that they were adopted. There was a tall and beautiful lady with a kind face standing next to a large man with a potbelly, and they were talking to the lady who was responsible for the large bruise on Jimin’s belly.

The lady eventually walked over to the kids lined up in the playroom, all faking their act as they played nicely with each other. But her eyes landed on the two small children in dirty and torn up clothes in the corner, the larger one reading quietly to the smaller girl...or boy. She wondered why the two children were sitting in a dark corner by themselves and not playing with the other kids. She wondered why the barely larger of the two had bruises and white marks scattering his face and his arms, and why they looked so different from all the other little boys and girls. They looked thin and scrawny, yet they both had a look of purity and innocence on their face, a diminishing youth in their eyes. The other children were all fat and chubby. They all looked happy. A little TOO happy, almost as though they were faking it, unlike the genuine smiles on the two children in the dark corner. Their faces looked full and carved, as though there faces were made of plastic. It reminded the women of a bunch of little barbies and kens in a big pink dollhouse. She wondered why the two children in the corner always had an expression of fear whenever they looked at the other kids. She didn't care, they were her children now.

Jimin and Jihyun never really understood what she saw in them, but they both loved their mother so much. She was kind and full of hope and positivity. She was youthful despite her growing age. She wasn’t home a lot, as her job as a perfumer often required her to work very long hours, often leaving in the mornings and not coming home until late at night due to her work, but she always was able to make some time for her children everyday. Even though they weren’t her own children, she loved them as if they were.

She was forced into trying to have children by her husband. After a while however, nothing happened. Her husband got worried and forced her to go take a medical exam. After a month, she got her results back and it was revealed that was infertile.

When she first found out about her infertility, she didn’t care very much. She originally didn't want to have children/ But as time began to wear her down, she wanted to care for something and to love something, and it led her to adopting her two small bundles of joy, despite her husbands delusional pleas of trying to parenting their own children "naturally".

There was also there father. He was...interesting. Jimin and Jihyun were scared of him. They reminded them of the adoption agency. While her mother was very accepting of them and had a more modern set of views, their father adopted a more old school and conservative set of views. He always wanted Jihyun to wear girl clothes and to act normal, and when Jimin accidentally slipped and said that he liked a boy, his father had yelled at him for the whole night, and went to school sleepless. Their parents also fought a lot.

Jimin’s school life was never very good. He had been the quiet shy nerd his entire life, which made him an easy target to pick on or hit on the way to class, since he never said anything about it. Because he was different. Because the adults said that boys were supposed to be strong, that they were to play rough, that they loved cars or machines, and to not be soft. They were supposed to only play with other boys, and that they’re favorite colors were to be blue, and nothing else.

But he wasn’t like them. Jimin was weak, as he was small and insignificant, and he didn’t like playing rough, it always gave him bruises and scabs. He didn’t like cars or machines, he thought they were dirty and gross. He liked dancing and reading. He didn’t play with the other boys, and he didn’t play with the other girls either, and as much as he liked the color blue, he liked pink and purple as well. He wasn’t brave enough to tell the teachers, and the teachers didn’t care anyways. He was the runt of the pack, and the others made fun of him for his chubby cheeks and crooked teeth and the hair that fell in front of his hair. But he was used to it. This was considered an upgrade from the adoption center. Now, he had a safe place to call home, full meals, and he was on the top of his academics.

But there was one equation in his life that Jimin had calculated incorrectly.

Jimin has noticed it from his earliest memories. Jihyun was odd. Not because of his gender identity or whatever, but he always seemed to be out of breath. He always breathed heavier than he needed to and got tired easily. He would wake up some nights choking, and when he breathed, it sounded as though nails were gently pirouetting around his throat.

They later found out that when Jimin and Jihyun’s birth mother had been pregnant with Jihyun, she had began smoking. It caused a birth defect in his lungs and resulted in a lunge deformity. If he had the proper medical attention when he needed it maybe he would have gotten better, but since they were at the adoption center for the majority of their lives without advanced medical attention and malnourishment, his condition got worse and worse, but Jihyun was amazing at hiding it.

He learned that from Jimin.

That was the beginning of the worst year of Jimin’s life.

3 nights before Jimin and Jihyun’s birthday, the condition hit its worst point. It was the middle of the night, and Jihyun had stopped breathing, the fluid in his lungs beginning to drown him. Jimin had woken up their mother and she called an ambulance. They were luckily able to drain the fluid once they get to the hospital, but Jihyun was still in a bad condition. Jimin never left his side.

That night, the doctors announced that since the family didn’t have the sufficient funds to keep Jihyun alive, they would have to release him in two days. Their mother had cried for the very first time in front of her children, and Jimin finally let himself go. He held Jihyun to his chest, as if he could exchange the oxygen in his healthy lungs with his defected ones, sobbing into his hair and whispering apologies into his pale ears.

When the sun began to rise, Jihyun whispered into Jimin’s ear a wish that he wanted to fulfill.

He wanted to die a boy. Jimin asked him if it wasn’t enough just to believe that he wasn’t a girl even though that was the role society gave him, but Jihyun desperately wanted it. Jimin compiled, and asked their mother who agreed in a heartbeat, and even told Jimin that she was planning on asking Jihyun about on his birthday, which was in 2 days. Their father simply glared at the three and left the room, but at least he kept his chapped lips shut. The three of them decided on a very simple and small sex reassignment surgery, since they didn’t have the money to afford a full reassignment, and Jihyun would die before a full reassessment was complete.

They got ready for his surgeries. On the very last day before they took the oxygen mask off, Jihyun hadn’t done much. He just stared out the window at the blue sky, smiling the biggest smile he had ever smiled, and would laugh. But it was so, so, so worth it, to see him smile, to see him so happy and full of life.

Just before they pulled Jihyun away under the big white sheets, Jihyun whispered one last thing into Jimin’s ears, a small smile on his face.

“Thank you.”

••

Jihyun had died on the operating table. His body wasn’t able to handle the surgery.

On the way home, their father had said that it was better now that Jihyun was gone, and how he was glad that he had disappeared from their lives. That night his parents fought the biggest fight in their entire lives. Jimin had tried to stop them, but his father slapped him across the face. His mother had gasped, and called his father an abomination, and left with a grey suitcase. His father left shortly after with a bottle of whisky, and came back with an empty bottle, another women, and divorce papers.

There wasn’t even a funeral for Jihyun. It was as though he had been forgotten. Yet in the back of his mind to this very day, Jimin could hear the quiet breathing of a little boy who had died on his birthday.

••

His mother never came back, leaving behind only the few numbers in the drawer in his desk, but his father had caught him trying to call her and ripped them apart and burned them. His father began drinking and became an alcoholic, bringing home countless women and was fired from countless jobs as was on the verge of being fired from his current one due to his violent behaviour. He was too lazy to do housework, so he thrust all of his adult duties to Jimin, as if he was a measly housemaid. Jimin was forced to make meals for them everyday and pack lunches for his father, run adult errands, clean the house and do all the housework, and was even forced to begin working as well. Their income had gone so low from his father having to pay off lawyers and blowing it off on booze that his father forced Jimin at one point to work two jobs, however he was able to quit the second one once his father stopped hiring lawyers and bribing defense attorney's. He became more and more unreasonable, always finding an excuse to beat him and drill at his insecurities until they became a part of his daily routine, sometimes throwing him out of the house.

His school life plummeted as well. The teasing and picking on became full throttle bullying, cornering him at his locker and beating him black and blue, throwing vile insults at him. It was no longer how he had odd chubby cheeks or how he was always quiet, now it was how he was fat even though his ribs were showing, and how he was a slut or an abomination just because he liked boys, or he was simply unappealing and annoying and a nuisance and just…

A hassle.

And Jimin believed them.

He stopped making dinner for himself and didn’t pack a lunch for school, and worked even harder than before in dance class, overexerting his body and worrying dance classmates and teachers. If his stomach wasn’t painfully empty and his muscles weren’t ripping apart from exercising, than something wasn’t right. He became quieter than ever, often going weeks without saying anything other than whimpers of pain whenever someone beat him, and he stopped having crushes.

He wore big oversized clothes to hide up the body he thought was overweight. He hated the tightness when he wore jeans and how his cheeks never seemed to loose their chubbiness despite the starvation. When the others would spit insults at him in the hallways, he would nod and silently agree to himself. When they pushed him to the ground, he would gather up his fallen papers and pencils and apologize for getting in their way. When they cornered him at his locker to beat him black and blue, he would stay quiet and would gently curl into a ball, letting the blows come in waves. When his classmates and his father would ask him why he existed as they pummeled him silly, he would say that he was deeply sorry. He would stare at his reflection in the cracked mirror of his washroom, and would point out things that he wish he could fix to himself, to the point where he would need more than 10 pairs of hands in order to count the things he didn’t like about himself. He thought that he was fat, that he was unlikable, and that he was simply a nuisance to deal with.

And yet, when the his classmates threw their homework at him, telling them to finish it our else, he would stay up until sunrise working on their assignments and not finishing his own, letting the teacher yell at him. When his father would come home drunk and throw him into the blood room, where all his beatings would take place and then go back to the couch and fall asleep, Jimin would stand up and limp to the kitchen, and get him a bottle of water and a warm wet towel. He would set them all on the nightstand beside him, and thank him for giving him a place to sleep at night, and taking care of him, even though his father did more harm than good. He didn’t do anything good for Jimin. He fell into the neat little lines that everyone else in his life made for him. He listened to the 1’s and 0’s that they programmed into his head. The mask he made was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing since he was able to keep other people from worrying about him, but a curse because nobody would want to worry about him in the first place.

And he was used to it.

That was always the part that made him feel numb.

Being beaten and sealed into a locker was normal to him after a while. Wiping away graffiti on his desk was simply just another task to finish before the school bell rung. Buying painkillers and rubbing alcohol on the way home from school just slipped into his routine, and using them all when his father beat him silly until the walls became more red than grey was just another after dinner ritual, even though he didn’t eat a single morsel of food. Working on other people’s assignments more than his own became more and more common, to the point where Jimin began to wonder he had accidentally began working on his own in the process. Watching his father take his paycheck and blowing it all on booze was simply his version of paying the taxes and mortgage for the month.

When he took his shirt off and stared into the mirror at the bruises that bloomed on his body, he didn’t cry.

He laughed.

He laughed and laughed and laughed. He laughed and giggled, curling up into a ball in the bathtub, his legs kicking up and down, giggling until his stomach hurt even more. He thought the bruises looked like paint. He had seen the bruises more than his own skin. Maybe it was a tattoo? Little kisses and stretch marks from ghosts.

He would stand in the shower, twirling around in the gentle drips of water, feeling them drop onto the bruises and skin. He would let out the big glob of blood and spit that he had been holding in his mouth for the entire day dribble down his chin, and watch it slowly twirl down the drain like a ballerina. He thought that he looked like a vampire. That would be a cool Halloween costume. What if he had his father beat him up so that his clothes would have rips in it? And he could use his backpack that was scribbled with insults and vile words to collect candy wrappers. What if he saw his classmates in the neighbourhood too? Maybe he could have then fix up his makeup by punching and kicking him even harder.

When he got thrown out of the house into the snow, he didn’t bang on the door and beg to go in or run around and scream, he would just wander around aimlessly in the snow, twirling around and dancing, despite the bruises and littered glass shards.

Maybe he was just crazy.

The thought of ending his life had passed over his head a few times. He had nothing left here anymore. The short period of happiness in his life had extinguished quicker than a candle in a windstorm, and he had simply given up hope of it getting better, the days going by faster and faster and getting darker and darker, putting up a with a small portion of hell both at school and at home, not to mention he had began working at the age of 13. Even once and if he was able to graduate, he would never be able to afford a decent university with his minuscule paycheck that his father was taking and blowing off anyways for more alcohol. He had seriously considered taking his life.

But he didn’t.

He didn’t get angry, he never cried, and there wasn’t any particular reason to it. He had hope for everyone. Maybe they were simply tortured souls, who were actually kind people underneath. Maybe his father actually did care about him, and just didn’t know how to show it. But it never happened. Nothing had changed. He was simply a vessel for others to inflict their pain on, to release their pent up anger and emotions. But he still kept going. It was just that tiny spark of “maybe” in his chest that had him think that things would get better. That when that tiny spark of happiness finally came, it would all be worth it.

Maybe it was because his mother used to always come home tired. Tired from working of perfume scents and marketing the entire day. Her muscles were sore from sitting all day, and her eyes would feel burned out. But she would smile. Smile like it was the beginning of spring. She would make dinner, and laugh at the funny antiques of her two sons.

Everyone just told him to smile and nod, and to never speak unless spoken too. They mentally muzzled him as though he was just a zoo animal.

But they weren't muzzling a tiger, they were ripping the lungs out of a kitten.

•••

Jimin’s father concluded the beating by smashing the bottle of whisky against his head. He pulled at his collar and tossed him out the door, his small and frail body hitting the cold pavement and closed the door behind him. Jimin got up and checked the damage. There was a large blue bruise forming on his ribs and many more on his arms and legs. A small patch of blood was forming on the back of his head, but luckily all the pieces of glasses from the bottle didn’t get caught in his scalp like dandruff.

Jimin gently stood up and slowly limped to the park a few minutes away from his house, hugging his skinny chest.

After 3 minutes, he made it to the small playground deep into the old neighbourhood. It was where Jimin and Jihyun would escape to when there parents were fighting, and they would play on the swings. Now it was where Jimin would run to whenever his father tossed him out of the house. The playground was surrounded by trees, streaks of red, orange, and yellow leaves painting the ground warm colors. The sun had just set, splashing the horizon with drips of pink and purple, the stars slowing beginning to show. Behind him, he could see the moon, shining brightly.

Jimin kneeled down and scooted under one of the platforms underneath the playground, hugging his legs to his chest, wearing only a thin white shirt and jeans, and felt a small snowflake gently land on his small button nose. The first snowfall of the year.

“Maybe I’ll be able to afford a jacket this year.” Jimin thought. “Hah, yeah right.”

Jimin stayed like that for about an hour. The streaks of pink and purple had left the sky in favour of chasing the sun, and in its place stood galaxies of stars, basking in the cold light of the moon. Jimin began shivering, and hugged his body as close to itself as possible, and then felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Maybe his father was granting him permission to come back home. A Christmas miracle.

From: Taehyung

Hey!

Jimin stared at his phone confused for a second and eternally began to panic slightly. Taehyung would know he read it, so he had to respond back.

To: Taehyung

Hi

From: Taehyung

Watcha doin?

To: Taehyung

I’m just at home right now

From: Taehyung

Caught in a lie~

To: Taehyung

What do you mean?

From: Taehyung

Turn around

Jimin turned around in the gravel and found Taehyung standing on the pavement a few meters away from him, the moonlight shining on his boxy grin. He was wearing a large white jacket, black jeans, and a shiny new pair of black runners with white bottoms. Jimin thought he looked like trash next to him, thin and dirt smudged shirt, jeans that were too small, and a pair of old trainers, luckily with no holes.

Taehyung began walking towards him and sat down beside him. Jimin felt his face heat up and Taehyung sensed that, staying quiet and simply staring at the moon.

“What are you doing out here?” Taehyung asked after a while.

“Just felt like taking a walk.”

“While it’s snowing?”

“Yes?”

“And the bruises?” Taehyung asked whole pointing at his arms.

“I tripped.”

“On your arms?”

“I had to catch myself.”

“Aren’t you cold?”

“No, n-not really.” Jimin replied as he hugged his body closer.

Taehyung frowned for a second before removing his jacket and placing it around Jimin’s shoulders and coaxing him into laying against him, before gently wrapping his arms around him. Even with the bruises on his arms and plump cheeks that seemed slightly more hollowed out than usual, Taehyung still thought that Jimin looked ethereal, the moonlight highlighting the dips and curves of the face that Taehyung had loved since the first time he saw the eyes that turned into moonlike crescents when highlighted by the sun.

“W-what are you doing?” Jimin asked as his face turned bright red. Taehyung shrugged in reply.

“But I’m really freaking cold, aren’t you?” Taehyung asked.

“You should have kept the jacket.”

“You need it more than me.”

“Bu-“

“Please.” Taehyung said, as he placed a hand gently on his cheek. “I insist.”

Jimin turned an even brighter red at the intimate contact. He sighed. “Alright.”

Jimin was rewarded with a shining box grin. He WAS cold. And Taehyung was warm. He used that as an excuse to lean into his chest, letting his eyelids droop and falling into the first night of comfortable sleep in years, despite the snowflakes that were playing tag on his nose.

Chapter Text

Jimin woke up from the first night of comfortable sleep in forever, not feeling the tips of his toes but his chest still blooming with warmth. He looked up from Taehyung’s chest to see him gently smiling at him with tired eyes, rubbing soothing patterns down Jimin’s back.

“Hey. How’d you sleep?” Taehyung asked. Jimin yawned cutely in reply, his button nose twitching slightly.

“I’m sorry.” Jimin whispered.

Taehyung frowned slightly. “For what?” He asked.

“For making you stay here. For taking your jacket. For being a nuisance.” Jimin said quietly, slowly falling into the familiar rabbit hole of self blame and doubt.

“Dont be. Staying and lending you my jacket were both my own choices, and I promise that you will never be a nuisance to me. Plus no ones home right now, so you’re coming home with me since you’ve finished your “walk” that you so desperately needed to take.” Taehyung said as he stood up as he made air quotes.

Before Jimin could even protest, Taehyung pulled him along with him and they began walking, Jimin blushing at the fact that they were holding hands.

When they finally got to Taehyung’s house, Jimin bit back a gasp. It was huge, even bigger than Jungkook’s. The inside was clean and modern, and everything was tap or speak.

As expected, Taehyung’s room was messy, but in an endearing way. The sheets of his bed were out of place and on the verge of falling off his bed, and a few clothes littering the ground. At the end of the room was a TV and what Jimin thought was a gaming console, although he couldn’t tell. The room wasn’t necessarily out of place, it was simply lived in. It looked very Taehyung-esque, as though he had emoted all over the place.

That day, Taehyung and Jimin has the most fun they ever had together. They talked with each other for the first time without any one sided conversations or half assed answers, unspoken feelings spoken through warm smiles or glances that lasted a small eternity longer than they should have. Taehyung taught Jimin how to play video games since he had never touched a console before, and Jimin taught Taehyung how to bake cookies.

"How domestic of you~" A small part of Jimin's brain thought wrily. He quickly shoved that thought away.

“Hey, where are your parents?” Jimin asked, as he watched Taehyung munch on a cookie.

“Oh, my moms aren’t home very often. Heichan Eomma is gonna be super busy this month, since the game they’re working on is being released in a few weeks. She’s the executive visual and conceptual designer, so she works on the visual and artistic elements of the games, so like what the worlds look like and the characters and game concepts. She’s super creative, so i get that from her. Nari Eomma is gonna be super busy as well, since they just signed a contract and they’re making a bunch of progress. She’s the CEO of a perfume company.” Taehyung said, a few crumbs spilling from his mouth.

As soon as he finished the sentence, the door opened and a small beep resonated through the house, signaling the arrival of someone.

“Ah, and that should be Nari Eomma!” Taehyung said, jumping out of his seat and speed walking towards the door. Jimin following nervously behind him. This almost felt like the whole meeting the parents thing even though it obviously wasn’t.

Right?

After almost an entire minute because seriously, the house was huge, Jimin found Taehyung in a woman’s embrace gently but quickly placing little kisses all around his face, as Taehyung playfully shoved her away, both of them laughing. The women was ever so slighty shorter than Taehyung, so still taller than Jimin. She had long almond brown hair that was naturally wavy, large almond eyes, a slight curve to her lips, lighter skin, and had a happy expression. The first thing Jimin noticed about Nari was the distinctive smell coming from her. It wasn’t bad, in fact, it was a very pleasant and airy smell, however also prominent. It smelled of cherry blossoms and strawberries, and a small hint of something that smelled like lavender. Jimin mentally slapped himself. Of course she smelled good, she was the CEO of a freaking perfume company for fucks sake.

“Taetae!!! How’s my boy doing today? Sorry I haven’t been home the past few days to keep you company.” Nari said with a light airy voice as she unpacked her purse and took off her jacket.

“Aish Eomma it’s fine, don’t worry ‘bout it. Oh, and this is my...friend, Jimin!” Taehyung said, slightly hesitating while rubbing the back of his head and pointing towards Jimin, who had been holding back slightly, quickly bowing towards Nari.

When Nari saw Jimin, her entire face lit up. She rushed off to Jimin and gave him a big hug, squeezing the air out of him. Over her shoulder, Taehyung gave him an apologetic look.

“Oh it's so wonderful to finally meet you! Taehyung talks about you allll the time (“Eomma! Don’t-“) but wouldn’t let us meet you! You look a lot like one of my co-workers you know? Why are you so light? I could practically lift you up! Oh and I love your hair too! Such nice skin! Bright eyes! Come come, I’m gonna go make you something, a growing boy like you needs to eat!” Nari said all in one breath and dragged him over into the kitchen.

“Nope sorry mom, no more groceries. The housekeeper used all of em cuz I was hungry. Don’t worry bout Jiminie, I’ll take care of him.” Taehyung said as he grabbed a very overwhelmed Jimin away from his mother’s loving grasp.

“I’m sure you will dear~ and once again, nice to finally be meeting you Jimin!” Nari called after them happily as she began raiding the pantry, huffing when all the good snacks seemed to disappear.

“Sorry about her. She’s...interesting.” Taehyung sighed, while ruffling his hair and yawning, his eyes beginning to droop. A very attractive gesture to Jimin for some odd reason. Taehyung had this flawless, perfect boy hair that Jimin really wished he had. Granted, everything about Taehyung was perfect, from his looks to his personality. It made Jimin feel like a lesser being, standing next to him.

“It’s okay. I like her already~” Jimin said while walking upstairs with Taehyung. When they got back to Taehyung’s room, he flopped onto the bed and began snoring away, startling Jimin slightly. Jimin walked over to Taehyung and hesitated slightly before speaking and gently petting his head.

“Sorry about that. You didn’t sleep very well last night didn’t you? That was my fault.” Jimin said shyly. Taehyung made a grunt of acknowledgement before shaking his head slightly.

“I should go shouldn’t I? I’ll see you later than I guess.” Jimin said and turned, prepared to walk away, but before he could move, he felt Taehyung’s arms wrap around his waist and pull him down to the bed, the taller gently nosing through his hair and instinctively pulling him closer, chest to chest.

“Stay.” Taehyung mumbled tiredly, pulling him back closer to his chest.

“Taehyung really, I need to go. What if your mom walks in?” Jimin asked, slightly panicking.

“Please.”

Jimin froze at that. The voice that spoke to him didn’t sound like Taehyung at all. It sounded quiet and insecure, not loud and soaked with confidence like it normally was. Jimin sighed and complied, snuggling up close to Taehyung’s chest, earning a happy whine from the taller as he hugged him even closer if that was even possible, and gently began snoring. After a while, Jimin decided to take a nap too.

•••

Taehyung woke up drowsy after being blinded by the small sliver of sunlight that was shining through his blinds. The sun was gently dipping at the edge of the horizon, highlighting the snowflakes that were gently falling, going straight down without the wind. He tried to roll over, but his arms seemed to be wrapped around something warm, fluffy locks of blonde hair tickling his chin. He immediately snapped to full attention and yelped, jumping back from the small bundle that he was holding in his arms.

“F-fuck! Sorry, oh my god, Jimin what was I thinking, holy shit you probably thought I did that on purpose.” Taehyung rambled, desperately trying to get away from Jimin while simultaneously trying to balance on the edge of the bed.

But turns out, Jimin wakes up really slowly, so he hadn’t actually realized what had happened, still half asleep, as he cutely whined and pouted, making grabby hands at Taehyung, and crawled towards him and pulled him back onto the bed and nuzzled into his chest once more and falling back asleep. Taehyung watched bewildered as he gently began snoring again.

•••

Sure, maybe when they woke up it was a little awkward. Jimin was blushing furiously and Taehyung had tripped a few times as he escorted Jimin to the door, but Taehyung had a good time.

Not even 5 minutes after Jimin had left, he heard a knock at the door. When Taehyung went to open it, he found Namjoon and Jungkook standing on his front deck, both of them looking extremely tired and worn out, probably hungover. The two of them barged there way into the house like they always did, Nari greeting them cheerfully without a glance as she was used to them, went upstairs into his room and plopped down in front of his TV.

“And hello to you guys too.” Taehyung said as he went back downstairs and grabbed whatever snacks were still leftover. When he came back up, Jungkook and Namjoon had already opened up his gaming console and began playing Overwatch. Taehyung sat down on the very messy bed and watched them play, munching on some corn chips.

“Why are there a bunch of empty snack bags around here? And why are the blankets on your bed all thrown off the bed? I’ve known you since we were five, and you sleep like a rock.” Namjoon asked while chewing on some gummies.

“Oh Jimin was over a few minutes ago. We played some games and ate food and slept. He didn’t actually eat anything though.” Taehyung frowned when he came to the realization that Jimin hadn’t put a morsel of food into his mouth, not even the cookies he had made with his own hands.

The moment Taehyung finished his sentence, Namjoon and Jungkook both snapped up their heads and turned towards him.

“Jimin was here?!” They both yelled, scrambling towards Taehyung on the bed. Taehyung backed up until his back hit the frame, the two crowding around him.

“What did you guys do?”

“Did you guys talk?”

“Are you guys actually friends now instead of just avoiding each other?”

“Is that why the sheets are all over the place?”

“Did you bang?”

"JESUS CALM DOWN. Yeah of course we talked you idiot, it would have been awkward if we just stayed silent the entire time. Duh of course we’re friends...I think. Yes that’s why the sheets are all over the place, I wasn’t thinking and just dragged him onto the bed with me, and NO FOR FUCKS SAKE WE DID NOT BANG.” Taehyung finished, giving a harsh look to Jungkook, who just smiled mischievously.

“Ohhh so that’s why Jimin didn’t go to the party last night, he went straight over here.” Namjoon said thoughtfully.

“Wait, Jimin was supposed to go to the party last night?” Taehyung asked. That was...odd.

“Yeah, I invited Jin and everyone else and Jin said that he would tell the others. When they finally got to the party, Jin said Jimin didn’t text him back and he got super worried, but then he got drunk and he kinda forgot about him. He was super worried in the morning. He’s on his way over with Yoongi and Hobi to interrogate and or yell at you.” Namjoon said thoughtfully.

Taehyung was originally supposed to go to the party himself, but he forgot about it when he saw a frail boy sitting in the gravel passed by the playground outside of his neighbourhood. “But he didn’t come over directly….I found him by the playground outside. He wasn’t even wearing a jacket.” Taehyung mused. Namjoon’s face went from curious to concerned. Jungkook looked between the two, as if he didn’t quite understand what they were saying.

•••

Taehyung was definitely proud of the progress he had made.

The two had finally actually began talking to each other. Jimin would actually give a valid response when Taehyung talked to him, no longer just responding with a few half assed words, and Jimin even started seeking out Taehyung a few times at lunch when they went to the mall with everyone else so they could sit together. Jimin even came over to Taehyung's house once in a while with Jungkook, the latter glancing between Jimin and Taehyung mischievously, like he was waiting for some bomb to explode. Taehyung even picked up the courage to sit beside him during class times, his stomach doing happy little victory flips and jumps when Jimin didn’t say anything, simply smiling at him before looking back to his papers, his brows furrowing and pouting cutely (Taehyung tried not to squeal), and planned on maybe asking Jimin out the next time they were alone, although planned on disguising it as just two friends going to the movies or something.

Taehyung was definitely, definitely getting ahead of himself.

Chapter Text

Jimin was a little terrified.

He knew that he was supposed to stay away from Taehyung, but the guy was pretty persistent. After a while, he forgot about all the rules he had carved in stone for the past 5 years.

He was glad that they were actually friends and that Taehyung respected the fact that Jimin always was uncomfortable around him, but after a while, Jimin ended up falling loose a screw for a second and Taehyung jumped on that, the nail permanently falling out. He knew that Taehyung was attracted to him. While he treated all of their friends basically the same, he treated Jimin slightly differently. Jimin wasn’t blind or deaf. He noticed the small flirtatious remarks that were reserved specifically for him, or how Taehyung would lean closer to him when Jimin talked, and how he began to buy snacks for Jimin when he thought that the lunch that Jimin would buy when they went out as a group was too small. Taehyung would eventually give up when Jimin would barely eat anything and would use his best aegyo to coax him into finally eating the smallest morsels of food. If Jimin would be honest with himself, he would say that he liked him too. But there was always that little voice in his head that made him reel back. It told him to stop, to stay away from him, how Taehyung would hurt him, and how he simply just wasn’t good enough for him.

But that voice was fading, slowly but surely, and it made him scared.

Jimin honestly didn’t know what got into him. Normally he was shy and quiet. But with Taehyung, he was slowly collecting some confidence. He began to stop just ignoring the flirting, and giggle in reply, unknowingly setting fireworks off into Taehyung’s chest, sometimes even flirting back a little (but Jimin wouldn’t admit that), which surprised everyone in their little group. Jin even pulled Jimin aside and asked if he was feeling okay once.

Honestly Jimin didn’t really even know himself if he was feeling okay.

•••

“So! It is the LAST WEEK of winter break.” Jin exclaimed, while clapping his hands together.

The small group of seven was eating their takeout lunches on the playground Jimin would go to whenever he was kicked out of the house. Yoongi, Hobi and Jungkook were sitting on the swings, Namjoon was sitting at the top of the slide with Jin on his lap, and Taehyung and Jimin were sitting underneath them, the very same place where Taehyung had found Jimin on the very last day before winter break. The three on the swing set stopped moving and Taehyung stopped stealth staring at Jimin from the corner of his eyes. Namjoon did nothing since he already had his full and utmost attention of Jin. Taehyung made a mental note to ask Jimin later why he was sitting there last week wearing nothing but a thin shirt and jeans.

“Congratulations genius, you learned how to check the date.” Yoongi drawled as he began to swing again, sipping on his soft drink.

“Oh shut up Snorlax, when was the last time you saw the sun? You probably don’t even know the date.” Jin shot back as he laid backwards on Namjoon’s chest, the latter chuckling at the antiques of his boyfriend.

“Yeah, it’s the last week. So?” Jungkook asked as he jumped off the swing and joined Taehyung and Jimin underneath the slide, Taehyung grumbling a little after his “alone” time with Jimin came to an end. Granted, it wasn’t really alone since there were 5 other people floating around, but that’s besides the point.

“SO, me and Jin came up with this wicked plan for the last week.” Hobi answered as he as well jumped off the swing and sat in front of everyone on the gravel. Yoongi grumbled behind him and said something about not wanting to move, but eventually got off the swing and sat beside him as well.

“Tomorrow, which is Christmas Eve I might add, Jagnan park is having a huge deal for tickets, 50% off for groups of 4 and over. Me and Hobi already ordered tickets, as well as for the firework show. All the rides have been changed to Christmas themed, and best of all they have an ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET at noon.” Jin screamed the last part, an excited look dancing around in his eyes. “And then after the firework show, we all go over to my place and we have a huge slumber party! Then when we wake up, we can exchange gifts! We can do it early since Jungkook is leaving for Busan before Christmas, but I know that we went Christmas shopping together, so this is perfect!” Jin yelped happily. That was actually true. Jimin had spent all of the leftover money that his father didn’t take from his paycheck that he had been saving up since he was 14 to buy everyone gifts.

“A slumber party? We’re in high school, you realize that right? How old are we?” Taehyung asked.

“Yeah so? It’s gonna be a HIGH SCHOOL slumber party. And you all have to come because me and Hobi already bought tickets and nuh-uh Jimin, no you guys don’t need to pay us back.” Jin said while pointing a finger at Jimin.

Jin, Hobi, and Jungkook immediately began hyping about the slumber party, being the children they were, Namjoon was just happy to do things with Jin, and even Yoongi was excited (“It’s like shoving my two favourite things in the world in a blender together! Sleep and my accomplices!”). After a while, Taehyung was persuaded as well.

But Jimin was downright terrified. He was extremely scared of showing off his body. Despite them being his best friends and them also already seeing him without an oversized hoodie, he was still scared. It was an insecurity that he had never managed to shake off. And what if they saw the bruises or the white marks? While his father was smart enough to leave as few scars as possible, the bruises on his body were still very visible, including the knew one he was sporting just on top of his ribs that had turned an ugly blueish yellow last night.

“Hey, are you okay?” Taehyung asked quietly in his ear, making him jump slightly. Jimin snapped out of his initial shock and turned to the side to face him.

“Y-yeah why?” Jimin asked.

“You just seemed really nervous for a second.” Taehyung answered, while adjusting the old scarf around Jimin’s neck. Thankfully, the scarf covered Jimin’s cheeks, hiding the pink blush that was lightly dusting his cheeks.

“So are you going?" Taehyung asked.

“I guess I have to don’t I?” Jimin sighed.

“I mean you don’t have to, it’d just be great if you could.”

“So that’s means I don’t have to?”

“Aw c'mon you know that’s not what I meant. Now pretty please?” Taehyung begged while giving him his best puppy eyes. Jimin rolled his eyes but giggled, playfully shoving Taehyung.

“Aishh fine~ but if I die on one of the rides it’s your fault.” Jimin shot back.

“Not with me around you won’t.”

I’ll never let anything hurt you.

•••

Jimin’s father had miraculously let Jimin out with his friends, using it as an excuse to not have to see Jimin for a day.

They had all met up at Jin’s house and took a train to the very outskirts of Seoul. Jagnan Park was located slightly outside of Seoul, so the train took them exactly where they needed to go. While it was winter break, it wasn’t exactly frigid. It was still warm enough to stay outside for the day without freezing to death. They ate lunch, and then they started exploring the park.

The amusement park was really fun. They got to see a ton of animals from the barn, and they also rode a ton of rides. Jin and Hobi had meticulously crafted the schedule down to the finest details so that they could ride as many of the rides as possible before the parade and the firework show.

After many, many, many different rides, they were waiting in line for the last ride of the day. It was the scariest and longest out of all of the rides.

“Tae, you coming onto this one?” Hobi asked, an excited flash dancing around in his eyes like stars.

“Hell yeah, this is the main attraction!” Taehyung happily replied, jumping up and down in spot. Beside him, Jungkook nodded so violently that Jimin got a little scared that his head would fall off.

“What about you Jiminie? Are you coming?” Hobi asked.

Jimin looked around at their small group for a second. Jin and Namjoon looked a little tuckered out, and even Yoongi seemed considerably paler than at the beginning of the day, the blood from his face drained.

“I-I don’t know Hyung, that’s a big drop. Maybe I’ll just stay with Joonie-Hyung and the others for this round.” Jimin said nervously, wringing his wrists while looking up at the monstrous rollercoaster in front of them.

“But MINIEEEE! We need you! Please! I promise it’s not as bad as it looks! And Tae can hold your hand~” Hobi drawled mischievously.

Both Taehyung and Jimin both blushed and looked away. Jin rolled his eyes at the two. “Could they be anymore obvious?” he whispered to Namjoon. The taller shook his head in reply, hugging Jin closer to his body.

“Fine fine, whatever, let’s just...whatever.” Jimin finally sighed.

Hobi and Jungkook whooped and immediately ran over to the long line up, dragging Jimin along with them. Taehyung stood dazed for a moment, and felt a small push from behind him. He jumped a little and turned around.

“Well go on then. Don’t wanna keep them waiting. Or Jimin waiting at least.” Yoongi said teasingly.

“Oh shut up Hyung.” Taehyung shot back, but ran after the others nonetheless.

“Respect your elders~” Yoongi called at him playfully. Taehyung rolled his eyes.

Throughout the entire time they were waiting in line, Jimin was nervously bouncing up and down, cursing about how high the entire ride was.

When they finally made it to the front, the 4 of them occupied the very first cart (“hyuuuuung why the front?! Can’t we be somewhere in the middle?!”). Jungkook and Hobi sat in the front while Jimin and Taehyung took the back.

While they were ascending, Hobi and Jungkook had already began whooping and cheering. Taehyung would have been too, if not for the cute boy beside him that looked absolutely terrified, eyes squeezed shut and murmuring to himself.

Just when they were about to go down, Taehyung offered Jimin his hand.

“Here.”

“What? What? Where? What?”

“We’re about to fall.” Taehyung said calmly.

Jimin squeaked and grabbed onto his hand.

“Please don’t let go.” He whispered as he shut his eyes closed once again. Taehyung chuckled.

I wouldn’t dream of it.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day went by way too fast. They got funnel cake and they watched the fireworks together, and Taehyung even fathered up the courage to wrap an arm around Jimin’s shoulder. He tensed up at first, but relaxed after a second, tentatively leaning into Taehyung’s side.

Which led him into the current predicament he was in.

The entire group was sitting in Jin’s room, joking around and chatting over the sound of a program that was playing on the TV in Jin’s room. There were pillows and big blankets scattered all over the room, and Hoseok had even made himself a blanket fort. A few beer cans were littered here and there around the floor. Jin’s parents weren’t home, so Jungkook had snuck in a 15-pack. Jin and Namjoon were sitting on Jin’s bed together, Yoongi and Hobi were in their blanket fort, and Taehyung, Jimin and Jungkook were all sharing the huge blanket biome on Jin’s big fluffy carpet.

After both Taehyung and Jimin had a beer or two in them, the two began to lose a bit of their self control. Jimin had let himself drink tonight since he knew he was at maximum only going to drink two beers, but he was still a little intoxicated. Taehyung started flirting slightly, Jimin would return it, and one time Jimin even ran his finger teasingly down Taehyung’s arm and down his thigh underneath the blanket that they were sharing, and it took all of Taehyung's self control to not attack Jimin right there and then.

After a while Jin, Namjoon, and Hobi went downstairs to make some cookies, and Yoongi and Jungkook decided to go down and restock on some snacks at the nearby convenience store for the night. It was about 11:30 at night, so they still had about 30 minutes before the shop closed. Which left Jimin and Taehyung alone in a room, with a few beers in their systems.

“So now that we’re alone, can we make out?” Taehyung half joked. Jimin giggled in reply.

“Aww Taetae are you trying to make it sound like you’re joking? That’s too bad for you then, I was almost about to let you have it too~” Jimin half joked back.

“Wait, were you being serious?”

“I don’t know, was I?” Jimin replied teasingly.

They “joked” around for a while like that, until both Taehyung and Jimin realized that they had somehow maneuvered it so that Jimin was sitting in Taehyung’s lap, a soft and fluffy blanket covering Jimin from the knee down. Taehyung did his very best to ignore how the jeans he hadn't bothered changing out of all of a sudden felt much, much tighter. Jimin slowly moved his hands up the sides of Taehyung’s arms and wrapped them around his shoulders. Jimin changed his position around a bit so that his thighs were sitting on the outside of Taehyung’s legs.

It took all of Taehyung’s self control and brain power to not tackle Jimin right there and then onto the carpet and press kisses onto his neck. Jimin’s wonderous, thick and toned thighs were right. There, right in front of him to touch and run his hands down on. Taehyung squirmed around a bit as well so that they were both in the most comfortable position, and hesitantly cupped Jimin’s soft, plump ass.

“Jimin-ah, why won’t you pay attention to me?” Taehyung asked, doing his best to keep up his cool guy facade.

“What are you talking about? What do you think I’m doing right now? Ignoring you while I’m sitting in your lap?” Jimin giggled, sending wonderful little shivers down Taehyung’s spine. Despite hearing him laugh a fair few times by now, that wondrous sound never got old to him, like music to his ears.

“Aishh cmon kitten you know what I’m talking about~” Taehyung replied, running his hands down Jimin’s thighs. Jimin shivered at the pet name.

“You know I can’t kiss you while there’s the threat of literally any of our friends walking in on us.” Jimin shot back, but moved his face just centimeters away from Taehyung’s face.

“So? I don’t care if they walk in on us, you know.” Taehyung smirked flirtatiously.

“Careful Taetae, I just might~” Jimin said softly, as he slowly began moving their faces towards each other.

“Then do it. I dare you. Kiss me now.” Taehyung said, trying to hide how nervous he was after saying that. Jimin smirked mischievously.

Taehyung closed his eyes, anticipation coursing through his body like blood, as he felt Jimin get closer and closer, painfully slowly. He could almost feel the electricity sparking between their lips. But just before their mouths met, just before Taehyung felt Jimin’s plush and soft lips, he felt a finger gently push on his mouth. Taehyung let out a small noise of annoyance. He opened his eyes and saw Jimin leaning back slightly, a serious expression on his face. But behind his eyes, Taehyung saw a small hint of mischievousness, and a look of longing.

“Sorry tiger, but I’m not going to let you have it easy. I’m not going to be an easy one night stand or a half assed relationship that you can throw away after a week, and I’m not going to let some other asshole just break my heart all over again. So if you really want me like you said, then you’re going to have to prove it. I’ve got my own reasons as to why I’m afraid of liking someone, and don’t give me another reason to add to the list, because I'm not giving in that easily.” Jimin said quietly, slowly beginning to crawl out of Taehyung’s lap and pulling a fluffy blanket around his shoulders.

Taehyung frowned and pulled Jimin back into his lap, wrapping the blanket around both of them. Jimin yelped slightly but didn’t go away, so Taehyung took it as an invitation to proceed.

“Jimin-ah, if you actually paid attention to me, then you’d know by now that I really do want you. I haven’t taken up a one night in forever just for you.” Taehyung said, while gently nosing through Jimin’s hair.

“Hmm~ then this should be fairly easy for you then shouldn’t it?” Jimin replied, curling up into a small ball.

They stayed like that for a bit, simply enjoying each other’s company, before something occurred to Taehyung.

“Minie, did you just confess?”

“Hm?” Jimin asked opening his eyes.

“You said that you’re afraid of liking someone, so does that you like me?” Taehyung asked mischievously.

Jimin sputtered and denied it, but Jimin was an awful actor. Taehyung just told Jimin he believed him so that he would stay quiet.

However, just behind the bedroom door, Hobi handed Jin a small wad of cash.

“Ha! Told you it was gonna happen tonight!”

•••

That night (or morning) when everyone was finally all was cuddled up and sleeping, Taehyung wrapped his arms around Jimin’s waist, and nuzzled his neck, Jimin snuggling back up against him and letting out a content sigh.

Who knew falling for someone could feel this good?

Chapter Text

“HEY!! You bitch!” Jimin’s father screamed at him from the living room. Jimin stopped washing the plate that was in his hands and ran over to the living room, and found his father lounging around on the smoke burned couch watching TV, swirling around a bottle of beer as usual.

“Y-yes sir?” Jimin stuttered.

“How many days?” His father asked/yelled at him.

“Th-three days sir.” Jimin replied.

“Good. Now get back to work.” His father waved him off.

“Yes s-s-sir.”

“AND STOP YOUR FUCKING STUTTERING!” His father yelled after him as Jimin scurried back to the kitchen.

Jimin stared at the dishes in front of him, pitifully sniffling a little, but didn’t let the tears fall. He knew he shouldn’t cry, he had prepared for this after all. But it still hurt. Being kicked out for more than just a night. And on his birthday of all days.

Jimin had heard his father energetically talking with one of his drinking buddies on the phone the day he came back from Jin’s slumber party. They were planning on having a huge party for everyday that was leading up towards the last day of winter break. The first day happened to be Christmas, which was also Jimin’s birthday/adoption day.

At first it was just one or two friends from work. Two become three, three became four, and eventually his father had invited over 15 people to celebrate the holidays in their tiny shithole of a house. His father had forced Jimin to hang up multiple dusty decorations that hadn’t been out for years and even buy some newer ornaments with Jimin’s own paycheck, so Jimin was also forced to work two shifts in order for his father to also buy his daily booze. He had to premake a bunch of snacks the day before, and his father still would kick him out of the house, saying that he wouldn’t want a piece of trash running around the house serving the guests food.

Jimin finished placing all the washed dishes on the cooling rack and also placing out all the food and refreshments, and ran upstairs to finish packing for the coming evening. He packed as many sweaters as he could into his largest backpack, which also happened to be the one with all the graffiti and hurtful words on it from junior high. Finally, he put on one of the sweaters and checked over what he had. He had two sweaters, a bottle of half drunken water, a thin ratty scarf, a small amount of money that he had scrapped together from the bottoms of his drawers that he had been saving, and a small pack of corn chips in case he ran out of money to buy food. Jimin had calculated ahead of time. He could probably afford a small bun everyday at one of the bakeries near his school since it was relatively cheap, and if he REALLY budgeted his money well, he might even have enough to buy some new lead for his mechanical pencil for school.

When the clock hit 11:00 he heard his father yelling at him from downstairs. He gave his room one final look over before closing the trapdoor behind him and running downstairs. His father gestured towards the door. Two other people were already standing in the hallway, his father chatting with one of them, the other looking genuinely nervous and not too excited about being there. The man who was talking with Jimin's father looked over at him when he saw Jimin come down the stairs and snorted while making a disgusted face.

“What’s that thing still doing here?” The man growled. His father looked between his friend and him and glared at Jimin.

“Well what the fuck are you still doing here you little shit. Get out! And remember, three days. I don’t wanna see your face anywhere near this house. And stay near the hotel.” His father growled through gritted rotten teeth, emphasizing the last sentence. That was a lie. His father didn't provide him with anything, not even a place to stay. Jimin was really all alone.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll l-l-leave.” Jimin whimpered and quickly ran past the three men. While he was running, he didn’t notice the concerned expression the man with the broad shoulders gave him before he exited the door.

•••

Luckily, Jimin still had to work a few shifts at the restaurant for the next few days. He planned all of his shifts back to back so that he could have an excuse to stay inside for a bit, and there was also a small abandoned storage building that the restaurant used to use only about a 2 minutes walk away from the restaurant, so that was where Jimin had decided to camp out at for the next few days. He couldn’t just stay in some random public center, as they would kick him out, and he didn’t want to ask any of his friends for a place to stay either, since he didn’t want to be a nuisance to them. Plus even though the thin wooden walls couldn’t keep the cold out, it would still help barricade him from some of the piercing winter winds.

Jimin finished changing into his working clothes and stepped into the kitchen, the familiar scent of spices and other flavors assaulting his nose . He found Sehun in the very back of the room happily humming to himself while finishing up some papers on the kitchen countertops.

“Hyung~” Jimin called out, setting his backpack beside Sehun’s book bag.

Sehun sat up and turned around while making a happy noise, running over and giving Jimin a big squishy hug, spinning him around a little.

“Heyo Chim Chim!!! How are you doing? Thank you SOOO much for helping me with the last Chem presentation. The professor even got up in front of the entire class and talked about how the presentation was a role model for all the others. If it weren’t for you I would’ve failed. You’re my saving grace!” Sehun chirped while happily bouncing around him, waving his arms around animatedly.

“No problem Hyung, just happy to help, that’s all.” Jimin giggled in reply, pulling out a few dishes from the cabinet beside him for the chefs.

Sehun prepared to walk back to the table but stopped when he saw Jimin’s backpack.

“Hey Minie, what's…that?” Sehun asked while pointing at Jimin’s backpack. His brows furrowed as he slowly stalked over to Jimin’s scribbled over bag, his eyes darkening.

Jimin turned around, confused for a second before realizing what Sehun had said. He quickly ran back over to their bags and plucked his backpack out of Sehun’s reach, which only made him more suspicious.

“Nothing! Nothing, it’s just a hand me down from my mom. I just need the bag since I have some more stuff packed today.” Jimin said in a hurry and putting his bag around the corner instead. Sehun still wasn’t buying it.

“Oh. Well uh, that sucks. Hope she got over the assholes. Is she okay now?” Sehun asked, slightly defusing.

“Yeah yeah she’s fine now. Living the great life.” Jimin said, pulling up a smile. “Without me.” He thought sadly.

Sehun was still concerned, definitely not buying Jimin’s lie, but decided to drop it, sensing that Jimin didn’t want to talk about it. The rest of their shift went on without any mishaps.

After Jimin finished working, he began walking towards the bakery. Jimin had always loved the bakery. When his mother was still with him, she would bring him and Jihyun over to the bakery after school every Friday to pick out a small treat and they would eat while sitting on a big rock an the edge of a lake, and they would play a game counting as many fish as they could in the crystal clear water. On their birthday/adoption day/Christmas, their mother would buy them a big strawberry and vanilla cake, and she would rent a small boat for them to float around on the glassy lake surface, giggling along with her children as they happily ate their rare little treats.

Nowadays, the water was brown and murky, as though someone had thrown smoke bombs into the water, wisps of grey and brown dancing around on the water surface as though little ghosts and phantoms had haunted the body of water, the water polluted with floating pieces of trash, and all the fish had died. Once, his father had thrown him into the lake at night as punishment for forgetting to pack him a lunch once. He even threw an old glass bottle he had found on the shore at Jimin’s head, leaving him unconscious. If Jimin had rolled into the lake, he would have drowned.

•••

Jimin stepped into the bakery and was greeted by the fresh smell of bread, something he hadn’t smelled in so long. He found a familiar old women happily humming to herself as she rolled out something doughy on the bakers workbench in front of her. When she heard the door open, she turned around and smiled the brightest smile she had ever done.

“JIMIN!!!” she happily screamed. She quickly wiped her hands on an old cloth and ran out from behind the counter, wrapping her arms around him and cradling his head on her shoulder.

“Hello Eunha, it’s good to see you again!” Jimin laughed, hugging the woman back.

“Oh, oh, oh Jimin it’s so wonderful to see you! I haven’t seen you in-“ Eunha stopped and counted her fingers. “Five years! Wow. I haven’t seen you in so long! You’ve grown so much!” Eunha cried happily while squishing Jimin’s cheeks.

Eunha was the chief baker and owner of the bakery. She was one of Jimin’s mothers closest friends, despite their age gap, and treated Jimin and Jihyun as if they were her own grandchildren. Jimin and Jihyun were very fond of her.

After all the greetings, Eunha walked back behind the counter and took Jimin’s order, just like she did so long ago. That warmer time felt a small eternity in the past.

“So what can I get for you today Jimin?” She asked.

“Just a Hwangnam bun please.” Jimin replied. Eunha tutted but took one out of the display case and put it in a bag.

“Just that? Are you sure? I’d be more than happy to get you another you know. No extra charge.” Eunha said, placing the bag in front of him.

“Don’t worry about it Eunha naneun-i, I already ate dinner. The bun is just for my...father.” Jimin finished awkwardly. Eunha tutted once more while wagging her finger.

“Oh that useless old man. Honestly I don’t think you should get him anything. Your mother came in this very same night 5 years ago on your adoption day and cried and ranted about your father for 3 hours, and she never came back. You didn’t either, and Jihyun….” Eunha trailed off, staring sadly at the cash register in front of her as she fiddled with a pen. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through Jimin. Your mother told me what had happened to him before she left. I hope you’re doing okay. I swear to god if your father isn’t treating you well…” Eunha trailed off.

“Nono, don’t worry about it Eunha. My father treats me fine. And I’m….I’m….coping just fine.” Jimin said, his voice cracking a little at the end of the sentence. He felt a few tears gentling stinging the back of his eyes, but he didn’t let them fall, and opted for a smile. Eunha smiled back.

“Oh! That reminds me!” Eunha exclaimed, bouncing back up. “Choonhee!” She screamed towards the door that led to the kitchen. A few seconds later, Jimin heard the soft pitter of quick footsteps, and a small girl holding some crayons and paper ran out of the double door leading from back. She had short black hair, a button nose, and the same hooded eyes as Jimin. The moment her eyes landed on Jimin, her whole face lit up like a Christmas tree (as ironic as that sounds).

“DIMINIEEEE!!!” The little girl screamed, running over to Jimin as fast as she could, barrelling into him so hard he had to sit on the ground.

“Choonhee!” Jimin yelled. The two rolled around on the floor, laughing with each other. The last time Jimin had seen her, she was three. Now she was all grown up. It made almost made Jimin feel old. She was Eunha’s granddaughter, and Jimin and Jihyun would keep her company and help her with her homework while they waited for their pastries to bake.

They fooled around on the ground for a little bit, Choonhee cheerfully yelling about all the “exciting” things he had missed during the last five years, including how they had baked a cake everyday on Christmas for Jimin but he never came. For an eight year old, she had an extremely sharp memory.

After a while of watching the two roll around on the ground, Eunha eventually had to pry Choonhee away from Jimin, which was hard considering how she hadn’t seen the poor boy in so long and was desperately trying to hold on to Jimin just a second longer.

“Alright my little kimchi bun that’s enough for now, quit bothering poor Jimin. How about you go get the package in the back?” Eunha asked.

Choonhee perked up and scurried towards the door and disappeared behind it. A few moments later, she came back holding a light brown package, holding it high above her head while screaming "Found it!".

The three sat down at one of the waiting tables and Eunha motioned at Jimin to open the package.

“What's this?” Jimin asked while eyeing the package cautiously, gently pulling it towards him.

“Silly, it’s your birthday and also Christmas today! This is to make up for the Christmas gifts you missed while your mother wasn’t here.” Eunha giggled.

Jimin slowly opened the package, and gasped when he saw the contents. Inside the package was a large notebook. It had beautiful rose gold accents along the sides, and the cover was made of the finest leather Jimin had ever seen. Jimin was sure he had never owned anything this fancy. Beside the notebook was a small long box that had a designer pen in it with the same accents as the notebook. When he opened the notebook, a photo fell out, and oh-

Jimin was going to fucking start crying.

Jimin picked up the photo and immediately felt the tears stinging the back of his eyes once again. It was a picture of him, Jihyun and his mother, all sitting on a boat on the very same lake that was now infested by smog and soot. Jimin hastily wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He hadn’t seen Jihyun or his mother’s face in forever. His father had burned any evidence of their existence. But there he was. Right there, so close to him, yet so completely gone. But he still smiled. Because it was the greatest and also the worst feeling in the world to see his face again.

“Th-thank you Eunha. This means….a lot.” Jimin said heartfully. He raised his head and saw Eunha beaming at him.

“Your mother left you that photo the same night 5 years ago. She wanted to give it to you, but she felt too ashamed to face you or your father, so she left it here and asked me to give it to you the next time I saw you. But I guess the next time I saw you, you were already all grown up.” Eunha finished sadly.

I wonder where all of your youth went.

•••

Jimin said goodbye to Eunha and Choonhee after a few minutes and began trekking back towards his little shed. He opened up the door and took a look inside. The shed was mostly empty. There were a few small empty wooden boxes in the corner and what looked to be a small nest with no eggs in it, only holding the corpse of what seemed to be a rat.

Jimin placed his bag by the old dusty wooden boxes and sat down in the doorway, counting the galaxies of stars dancing around in the sky, curling his knees up and hugging them to his frail chest while silently eating his cold bun. He shivered. It was getting colder and colder as time went on, the freezing wind biting at his soft and plump cheeks, and he felt a few snowflakes dancing around his nose. There was even already a thin layer of snow on the ground.

Jimin finished up his bun and curled up on the ground, shielding his bony insides from the biting gust, and sang himself to sleep.

"Happy Birthday to me"

"Happy Birthday to me"

"Happy birthday dear Jimin"

Happy birthday to me.

The song didn’t sound like a celebration. It sounded like a lullaby, like it always did, as though the wind had whistled it into his frozen ears, when Jimin would quietly hum it to himself on his birthday as he closed his eyes.

•••

While he was sleeping, a boy walked towards him and stared at him sadly.

Chapter Text

Jimin woke up under a thick blanket.

He woke up slowly as he always did, but still alert, rolling around a little. Why was it so warm? Was there a chinook? Did a volcano he didn’t know about erupt? And why was his head resting on something? He didn’t bring a pillow. And why was the ground….soft? The last time he remembered, the ground of the shed was cold concrete. That’s when he realized something.

He wasn’t on the ground. He wasn’t even in the shed.

He was on a bed.

Jimin sat up immediately, panicking and looking around the room wildly, but calmed down slightly after registering what he was seeing, and then immediately getting even MORE panicked than before.

It was Taehyung’s room.

Jimin’s shoulders slumped back down. Calming down while simultaneously becoming even more cautious. He rolled over and looked at the nightstand. He could see a few small rays of sunshine shining through the closed blinds, and there was a glass of water sitting on a nightstand with a note attached to it.

Drink.

Jimin hesitantly wrapped his hands around the glass and brought it to his lips, chugging the rest of the drink. Finally, Jimin put it back down on the nightstand and took a second to smother his face on the pillow he was laying on. It smelled of something that Jimin couldn’t place, but it smelled amazing, and it made Jimin feel all lightheaded, before blushing and realized that Taehyung probably hadn’t changed out the pillows, so Jimin had just indirectly smothered his face with Taehyung.

Jimin eventually pulled himself out of the bed and stretched a little. He wasn’t wearing his sweater anymore, and was just wearing the thin shirt from yesterday and also a pair of sweatpants that were a little bit too long for him. Sitting on Taehyung’s desk was his ratty bag and his pullover hoodie sitting neatly on top of it.

Jimin went downstairs and into the kitchen. Along the way, he peeked into the living room. On their couch there were a series of blankets and pillows all thrown about in disarray. Down the hallway he could hear the faint stream of the shower.

Jimin took this as an opportunity to leave. He grabbed his bag and put on his sweater. He ran back downstairs and back into the kitchen, and wrote down a small note, expressing his sincere gratitude and a lengthy apology for being a nuisance. He left it on the kitchen island, but just as he was prepared to leave, a voice interrupted him.

“You’ve got some explaining to do.”

Jimin yelped, dropping his note, and turned around. Standing at the doorway blocking his way out, was Taehyung. His hair was still a little frizzy, a little wet, and was wearing an oversized thin shirt with a pair of sweatpants, with his hands on his hips, a serious but also concerned expression of his face.

“AH!! H-hyung! U-um, I-I uh. I was about to-“ Jimin started.

“Leave? Again? Just to go sit back in that little shithole of a shed and freeze to death? Without telling anybody?! Don’t fucking lie to me anymore Jimin. Don’t lie to any of us. What the hell is going on?! First I find you sitting alone underneath the playground wearing nothing but a thin shirt, and next I find you sleeping in a shed. What’s happening? I’m not going to buy a single one of your lies anymore.” Taehyung yelled angrily. Jimin stared down at his feet. He felt like shit.

“I-I um, I just didn’t…want to go home yet…?” Jimin replied quietly, as he felt his knees begin to shake.

“Cut the crap. You packed up a bag and everything. And that’s another thing. That bag better just have been an emo phase of something, because if that was recent you're never going to hear the end of-“ Taehyung stopped when he heard a faint sniffle. Jimin’s eyes began watering up. Taehyung stopped immediately and began panicking, feeling extremely guilty.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, wait, ugh Taehyung you’re such a fucking dick.” Taehyung murmured to himself, as he rushed over to Jimin, enveloping in his arms.

“Fuck wait Jimin. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. Shit. That was wrong of me. I’m sorry for bursting out at you. It wasn’t your fault. Shit. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Fuck Jimin please don’t cry. That was my fault. Please don’t be mad.” Taehyung begged, eyes filled with regret and concern as he hugged Jimin closely, guiding Jimin along to the floor with him, gently placing Jimin in his lap. He heard Jimin sniffling a little bit through all of Taehyung’s apologies, but he didn’t see a single single tear fall from Jimin’s eyes. After a sitting in the quiet for a small eternity, Jimin finally spoke.

“I-I’ll...I’ll tell you someday. Just please, not right now.” Jimin finally spoke quietly, his voice wobbling slightly. For now, that was enough of an answer for Taehyung.

“Promise?”

“....okay.”

“Good.” Taehyung said with a grin on his face. Jimin smiled back, his eyes turning into crescents, sending happy and relieved little shivers throughout Taehyung’s body.

“My parents aren’t gonna be home today. Wanna just order some takeout and bum around?” Taehyung asked, still holding Jimin in his arms.

And, well, he wasn’t proud of it, he thought that he was being greedy, but Jimin...

He nodded.

•••

Taehyung had ordered enough food an entire kingdom to eat, as well as a surprise later for Jimin. They binge watched an entire drama, while eating (or at least just Taehyung) and laughing with each other. Taehyung knew how to sustain any conversation under the sun and moon, keeping both of them entertained the entire day, filling Jimin up with warm summer clouds despite the small crystals that were gently falling outside, pirouetting in the winter breeze.

At about 2:00 in the afternoon, they heard the doorbell ring. Taehyung volunteered to get it. When he came back, he was holding a white box that had a ribbon wrapped around it.

“What’s this?” Jimin asked curiously.

“I uh, know that it was your birthday yesterday. So I got you what every birthday party needs.” Taehyung said as he placed the box on the table and opened it. Inside was the strawberry and vanilla cake that Jimin and Jihyun used to get for every single birthday/adoption day, with a small note attached to it from Eunha wishing him a happy slightly late birthday, with a little heart adorning every cursive letter, probably by Choonhee.

“Wh- How did you know?” Jimin asked cautiously.

“I had to drop off something for the manager of that restaurant by the school. Nari Eomma is friends with the chief chef but she couldn’t drop it off on her own since she had work, so I did it for her. I stopped by the bakery on the way to buy something for myself, and I heard this little girl talking to the owner about you. I asked them about it and they said that you just stopped by and how it was also your birthday.” Taehyung replied proudly, moving the cake directly in front of them. “Do you like it?” Taehyung asked nervously.

“Hyung, I love it. But...you already gave me a place to stay and all and if I eat anymore...I’ll get-“ Jimin started, but was interrupted by Taehyung gently placing his finger on his plush lips.

“Jimin, It’s your birthday. I’m going to spoil you today whether you like it or not (“and everyday if you’ll let me.” Taehyung thought to himself). And you won’t get fat. You aren’t fat. If anything, you need to eat way more than you already do. And even if you were overweight there’s nothing wrong with that.” Taehyung spoke gently, rubbing soothing patterns down Jimin’s back, like soft waves made of feathers and stuffing gently wisping around Jimin’s backside.

Jimin glanced at the cake in front of him nervously, almost as though he was afraid of looking at it. Five years ago, he would’ve finished the cake in a heartbeat. Now he was worried about eating a morsel of it, afraid of the phobia he had created in his head of meaningless calories that clouded his brain and the body that he believed was overweight.

“Pretty please?” Taehyung begged, doing his best aegyo. Jimin rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless.

“....Fine.” Jimin sighed, slumping down slightly. Taehyung squealed and ran away, and ran back with some plates, a few drinks and a cake knife.

The cake tasted like shattered memories. It reminded Jimin of before, when his mother and Jihyun were still around, the creamy flavour so familiar, yet so foreign, having not eaten it in so long.

But now, instead of a little boy with a lunge deformity and a depressed mother, there was another tall boy with him, happily shoving cake into his mouth, crumbs flying everywhere, making Jimin laugh like he hadn’t done in years.

•••

“Ah! It’s so late! I should probably leave.” Jimin said, as he started standing up. Taehyung stopped looking at the game that they were playing on his T.V screen.

“Nuh-uh. I’m don’t trust you enough just to go back to your own home. Your staying here until school starts up, since you said you can’t go home until then.” Taehyung said as he pulled Jimin back down and sat him down in front of him while hugging him from behind.

“Wh...H-Hyung! I’ve already been a nuisance for so long! I can’t stay longer! And what about your parents? They definitely won’t like it that I’m staying.” Jimin said nervously, twiddling his thumbs as Taehyung continued playing the game while simultaneously nosing through Jimin’s blond locks.

“Pfft no. I’d love for you to stay, and your GOING to stay because I’m not letting you freeze to death, as you are NOT a nuisance, and Nari Eomma is already obsessed with you. She wouldn't stop talking about you and teasing me about you when you left ("Why would she tease you about me?" Jimin thought to himself.) So she’s fine with you staying. Heichan Eomma hasn’t met you yet, but when Nari Eomma told her about you, she flipped out, so she’s gonna love you too. Plus none of them are home again so that’s perfect.” Taehyung chirped as he hastily mashed down buttons on the controller he was holding, groaning as his character on screen died.

“But-“

“Hey you haven’t taken a shower since you got here right? How about you go do that now.” Taehyung exclaimed as he stood up and made his way over to his giant walk in closet that was almost as big as Jimin’s own room. He pulled out a large white pullover hoodie and a pair of dark grey sweatpants and handed them to Jimin.

“Here, you can borrow these. Sorry if they’re a too big. The bathroom is just outside my room. We have some spare toothbrushes and toothpaste in the drawer underneath the sinks.” Taehyung said as he gently nudged Jimin towards the open doorway.

“Wait are you sure-“

“I’m absolutely sure. It’s fine, don’t worry.”

Jimin nervously opened the door leading to the bathroom and almost fainted right there are then. It was HUGE. What the hell?! Was everything in this house on steroids or something? There were like seven shower heads in the shower that was the size of Jimin’s entire bathroom, and- was that a chandelier?! Why were there 5 sinks?! There was a fucking SAUNA. WHAT. Jimin had never been anywhere near anything his fancy. He almost felt intimidated. He probably WAS intimidated.

Jimin stripped and stepped into the steaming shower, sighing at the feeling of warm water hitting him from every which way. He hadn’t taken a warm shower in years, his father normally turning off the heat to save money.

Jimin finished up showering and dried himself up. He slipped into the white hoodie and sweatpants that Taehyung had given that were DEFINITELY too big for him, but he didn’t complain, because the garments were so soft. It felt like someone had bundled him up in a bunch of soft fluffy blankets and stuffing, making his chest feel all light and full.

•••

Taehyung finished making his bed just in time to see Jimin nervously walk back into the room. Taehyung had to stop himself from squealing. He looked so fucking cute. The sweater he had given him was definitely way too big, making seem like Jimin had draped a blanket around his shoulders, hiding his cute little hands underneath the white sleeves, and the sweatpants pooled at his ankles, making Taehyung blush, going off into his own “delusional” fantasy about waking up in the morning and finding Jimin in the kitchen making coffee wearing one of his shirts. He heard Jimin make an adorable little questioning sound while tilting his head to the side cutely, making Taehyung snap back to reality. Shit, he was staring. Jimin cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Um...I’m going to go head downstairs then. Would it be alright if I borrowed a blanket for the night?” Jimin asked, fiddling with the sleeves of Taehyung's sweater.

“What?” Taehyung asked, his brows furrowing. “You're the guest. You sleep on the bed. I’ll take the couch again.” Taehyung volunteered as he stepped past Jimin, before feeling a small hand grab hold of his arm.

“Wait! What do you mean? It’s your bed! Seriously it’s fine, I’ll take the couch. You take the bed.”

“Nuh-uh, like I said before, you're the guest. You keep the bed..”

“But-“

Then a little light bulb went off in Taehyung's head..

“Unless you want to share the bed…?” Taehyung asked mischievously. Taehyung almost burst out laughing at the blush that was forming on Jimin’s face.

“H-hold on wait...” Jimin stuttered, letting go of Taehyung's sleeve.

“I want you to keep the bed, you don’t want me on the couch. So then we share.” Taehyung smirked.

“Wait, w-wouldn’t that b-be…” Jimin trailed off, the blush on his face turning an even darker shade of red.

“What, awkward? Don’t pretend that Jin’s sleepover didn’t happen kitten.” Taehyung drawled flirtatiously, unknowingly making Jimin’s stomach do excited flips and spins.

“Please? Just let me take the couch. Honestly it’s fine.”

“Nope. That’s just a solid rule. You’re not allowed to sleep on the couch. So it’s either I take the couch or we share.” Taehyung said. “Do you...really hate the idea of sharing a bed with me that much…?” Taehyung asked uneasily, resembling a kicked puppy, which made Jimin’s heart melt.

“No! No it’s...it’s not that.” Jimin said in a rush. “Hmph...fine. We can share.” Jimin huffed. Taehyung perked up and made a happy noise and dragged Jimin over to the bed with him, sitting him down on his lap and pulling a big fluffy blanket over their shoulders.

“Yes! Finally! Come on. I still need to beat you this round.” Taehyung drawled excitedly, already mashing down buttons on his controller.

“Ooohhh your asking for it.” Jimin snarked, his brows already furrowing and pouting cutely in concentration.

The next few hours were spent screaming at each other and the TV screen, until Jimin’s eyes began to droop. A few minutes later, he was already drifting off, laying against Taehyung’s chest. He smiled, pulling the two of them down and wrapping up him and Jimin in another big blanket burrito.

He’d really liked to hold Jimin like this more often, and for some other reasons. But for now, it was okay, just to be pressed against each other just like this.

Chapter Text

•••

The dynamics in their relationship was changing even farther. After they got back to school, their friend group had noticed significant changes to how they acted towards one another, like how Jimin and Taehyung sat beside each other at lunch, occasionally leaning against each other even though it was just a friendly gesture, how Taehyung had began buying food for Jimin at the cafeteria when he thought that Jimin’s brought from home lunch was too minuscule despite Jimin’s protests, and how the two would walk together to their dance class together with Jungkook, and how during their weekly Kdrama nights the two would share a blanket and quietly talk to each other, completely blocking out the others.

Jimin had no idea that Taehyung did dance. Apparently the dance studio that Jimin took his lessons at also housed hip hop dance classes, which Taehyung and Jungkook attended at the same time as Jimin’s contemporary dance classes, which ALSO happened to take place at the same time as Hoseok’s street dancing class. Sometimes when Jimin knew his father wouldn’t be home he’d spend some time at Taehyung’s house without needing Jungkook to be there as an equilibrium, and whenever Jimin got kicked out of the house, Taehyung was always more than happy to give Jimin a place to crash for the night (sharing the same bed again of course). At first, Taehyung still had to find Jimin during the night, but after a while Jimin was the one who came to Taehyung, nervously and embarrassedly asking if he could stay the night, to which Taehyung would excitedly pull Jimin into the house and give him a big warm hug.

The others had thought maybe they had missed something, but they denied it, despite the prominent blushes that formed on their faces, even though they were technically telling the truth.

Or at least that’s what they told themselves.

•••

Taehyung poked at the small bowl of watermelon with his toothpick, not really paying attention to the the Kdrama they had picked out for their weekly showing, or the loud and boisterous back and forth between Jin, Hobi and Jungkook. Jimin and Yoongi couldn’t come today since Yoongi was doing extra credit work to finish up the yearly requirements for service hours, and Jimin had volunteered to teach one of the dance classes for people of younger age.

The group was animatedly talking about Valentine’s Day, which was coming up in about a week. Jin was planning on baking a shit ton of treats for the day to go along with the many many many events that Namjoon had most likely planned out for the day while being super domestic, Jungkook and Taehyung were planning out escape routes if they happened to get ambushed by any crowds of admirers, and Hobi had whined about how all the Valentine’s Day specials delayed the showing of all his favourite drama’s.

“What about you Taetae? Are you finally gonna ask our precious Jiminie out?” Jungkook asked teasingly. Everyone stopped talking and turned their heads toward Taehyung and Jungkook.

“What? No of course not. We’re just friends. He’s doesn’t like me in that way. We aren’t attracted to one another.” Taehyung said nervously, pulling at the hem of his sweatpants, trying to make the topic float by as fast as possible.

“Right~ definitely. Because he spends more time with you then all of us combined, he blushes ridiculously whenever you flirt with him, occasionally flirting back whenever he plucks up the courage, you buy him food and spoil him to your bestest ability since that’s the only way you know how to show your affection without getting flustered, Namjoon says that he’s caught you staring at Jimin at least 47 times in the past few months with this wistful look- YOU EVEN CALLED HIM KITTEN ONCE, and whenever he talks you turn towards him like a sunflower, and you always have this soft look whenever you guys are next to each other, and you guys get all cute and nervous when you’re around each other. You’ve officially won him over in the span of a winter break, and you are undeniably whipped for him. And your telling me that you guys are just friends, or that you guys aren’t at least attracted to each other? Cut the bullshit, I call for an objection.” Jin drawled, a satisfied look on his face.

“Exactly! That’s what I’ve been telling Tae for the past...forever, but he keeps on denying it!” Jungkook wails, flailing his arms around as he speaks.

“Okay look, even if he does like me in that way, it probably wouldn’t work out. He’s not looking for a relationship, and I don’t know how to be in a relationship.” Taehyung said, shoving another piece of watermelon into his mouth. He thought to himself for a moment. He knew that Jin was right. He definitely had fallen hard. Did Jimin like him that way? Sure, there was the moment at Jin’s sleepover where they almost kissed, and also how they could comfortably share a bed with each other, but Taehyung had always chalked that up to being the alcohol or the fatigue that was swimming around in their bloodstreams. But they didn’t have enough to get drunk, so maybe...

“How do you know that? We’ve been around you for the entire duration of this school year. You guys are made for each other. And not just in the that cheesy half assed “ooh look another opportunity for drama” type of way, but actually. Me and Jungkook have never seen you like this towards anybody else. You’re head over heels for him and Jimin feels the same way, he’s just afraid to admit it.” Namjoon said.

He lifted Jin out of his lap and kneeled down in front of Taehyung, eye to eye level. “Look Tae. I know you’re low key insecure about an actual relationship, but you never know unless you try. You’ve been stuck in this endless loop of one night stands and trying to keep track of who your flirting with so you don’t accidentally hit on your EX, but we’re all being completely honest when we think that you two could honestly make each other happy. You just have to prove to him that you’re not some player who’s an asshole that just looks for one night stands, because once you’ve established that Jimin might be willing to give you a chance. Even though we don’t really know why, he’s got his own reasons to be afraid of you, and we shouldn’t push that, so just prove to him that you’re actually being serious about him.” Namjoon finished, stepping away from him and pulling Jin back into a hug, earning a content and happy purr from the latter.

The conversation lulled and molded back into its original form, joking around over the sound of the television. He did want to be with Jimin. He wanted to be with him so desperately it hurt, like a quiet yet constant ache in the bottom of his chest. It was the warm feeling that Taehyung got whenever he laid his eyes on Jimin, the butterflies in his chest whenever he giggled so beautifully that it sounded like music, the accomplished feeling he got whenever he successfully made Jimin smile, the constant need to spoil him to his best ability, trying to show his affection the only way he could, but most importantly it was satisfied and fulfilled feeling he got whenever they were alone and together, Jimin’s small and delicate body pressed lovingly against his in a perfect puzzle, and how it felt so right and whole to be close to him, and also the fierce sadness and longing that he experienced whenever Jimin tore himself away from him.

Taehyung stared at Jin and Namjoon. He was happy for them of course, hell, he was the one who got Namjoon to finally go after Jin in the first place after years of pining, but he so desperately wanted to know what that warm feeling of being in love was like. He wondered what it would be like to have all the things that came with being in love. The banter, the late night talks through the phone that extended to the early hour of mornings, the sex that wasn’t just labelled as a one night stand, but actually as making love, the domesticity of the situation, but most importantly just the feeling of being in love, knowing that there was another person in the world that loved you and that you could go to when you needed to cry until you laughed, and laugh until you cried. Taehyung wanted it all so bad, to just let Jimin know how much he not only cared about him, but loved him.

And it was those very feelings that he was so confused and awkwardly afraid of. He’d never felt this strongly for anyone before. These types of things only happened in those cheesy Kdrama’s that screened every weekend, like a spell that was casted tailored to enchant two random individuals. But his life wasn’t a scripted show with lighting and directors, and there wasn’t anything magical about his love life. It was all just a hazy forgetful blur of alcohol, condoms, and a post on social media for a one week anniversary. And not only that, but to be expierencing such strong feelings so early on while still in high school. But after just a sample of being with Jimin, of getting a taste of how it felt, he wanted that warm feeling that Jimin provided so much more. The memories that he could actually remember and not forget, actually making love and not just letting out pent up hormones, and falling for someone that didn’t validate a relationship through a notification.

And maybe it was how Jimin could supply that warm feeling so well, or maybe it was simply how Jimin was willing to give him a chance, despite being slightly intoxicated, but in that moment he wanted to chase after that feeling, or more specifically, the adorable blonde head that had consumed Taehyung’s thoughts from the very first day they locked eyes.

And he was going to sprint like the goddamn roadrunner if that’s what it took.

•••

“Hey Jimin, so Valentine’s Day is coming up…” Jin drawled as non suspiciously as possible, poking around at his jumbo sized popcorn.

Jimin looked up from his phone as Jin crunched on another kernel. Jin and Yoongi had picked up Hobi and Jimin after their dance classes to catch a movie. Right now, they were just waiting for the movie to start. There wasn’t really anybody there, just the couple sitting in the very corner already making out, spilling popcorn and their drinks everywhere, so they were free to talk as loud as they wanted.

“Yes, and?” Jimin asked as he looked back down at his phone again.

“So what are you doing? We’re already all kind of doing something, so we’d feel bad if you weren’t doing anything.” Jin replied.

“What do you mean? I don’t have a valentine, so like there’s nothing to do.” Jimin snorted, choking a little as a kernel got caught in his throat. “Besides, I’ve already got so much to do that day. I promised to cover Sehun hyung’s shift since he’s gonna be out of Seoul for a project, and I need to help set up for the Valentine’s day dance that day as well since I need to fill out my service hours, and then I need to help teach one of the younger dance classes again, and I also-”

“Need to get Taehyung to ask you out?” Jin slipped in.

“What?” Jimin asked, shocked (althought to be honest, not really) “Why would you say that?” Jimin shot back. Jin rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink.

“Because you’re obviously obsessed with him and he’s generally whipped for you.” Jin sighed.

“What?! Who said that? I don’t l-like him like that! And he doesn’t like me that way either, he’s just…” Jimin trailed off, staring at the popcorn in front of him as an advertisement began to play.

“Right. Okay Jiminie look. We all already yelled at Tae, so we’re not gonna do the same with you. Why the hell can’t you just accept your damn feelings? They’re emotions not cancer, you don’t need to avoid them like the plague.” Jin said.

“That’s what you think.”

Jimin really didn’t want to confess to his friends. Last time it went horribly, resulting in being sealed into a locker and wiping away permanent marker on his desk, and while he had new group of friends who he trusted with his life, it also meant that all the variables had changed and he would have no idea of how they would react. However, they did already believe that Jimin liked Taehyung back, and since they hadn’t reacted negatively…

“Okay fine. Maybe I like him. But that doesn't mean anything. Maybe it’s just some residual effect from him flirting with me. He probably doesn’t even like me in that way. He’s just trying to get into my pants or something. Once he’s succeeded he’s just gonna move on. God I hope I’m not gonna lose my virginity to some random guy on a one night stand while drunk. That’d suck.” Jimin groaned as he buried his face into his palms. He’d rather save his virginity for someone who actual cared about him.

“Seriously? Jimin are you blind? He hasn’t gone on a single date or brought someone home since the beginning of this year, and the Kim Taehyung we all knew from before took one out every week, and your telling me that he just did all of that for nothing? NO! He still acts the same except he spends all the time he would be banging someone with you instead since you two are ALWAYS AROUND EACH OTHER. Did you seriously not notice anything?” Jin asked pointedly. Jimin sighed, rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah, he actually did.” He said quietly.

“WAIT ACTUALLY?! Then why do you think he doesn’t like you?!” Hobi screamed, joining in on the conversation.

“I don’t know?! It’s just that…” Jimin started, trailing off.

“Why would anyone ever like someone like me? I’m not attractive. I’m fat, I’m ugly, I’m annoying, and generally undesirable. Not exactly dating material.” Jimin thought, but shook his head.

“He’s probably just doing it as a facade. To like...lure me in or something.” Jimin said uneasily. Hobi tapped his chin dramatically, like he was deep in thought.

“Well if you reaallly want to be sure, why not just get him jealous?” Yoongi said slowly, shoving a few chocolate bits into his mouth.

“Yeah! If you’re so unsure about him, then you can prove it if he actually just moves on. Taehyung’s an airhead but he’s not stupid. He’ll know if and when he should back off, and if it’s actually worth it or not. If he keeps coming for more, than you’ll HAVE to admit that he actually likes you in a cheesy romantic way or whatever.” Jin said, pulling his attention back to his popcorn.

“But….but….isn’t that a little immature?” Jimin whispered unsurely.

“Well it’s either that or you never find out and you keep running around in circles.” Hobi drawled, looking back towards the screen as the movie began.

Jimin thought about for a second. As stupid as it sounded, it could possible work…

“It’s a little childish though…..isn’t it?”

“Right?”

•••

Jimin had given him a chance right?

So that meant that Taehyung could actually succeed in winning him over right?

So then why was it,

That all of a sudden getting his attention got ten times harder?

How come all of Jimin’s admirers had to pluck up the courage to talk to him right now? Why did they have to bother Jimin every single opportunity they got? How come when Taehyung wanted to as much as just talk to Jimin he had to get through a barricade of bodies just to even see him? Jimin didn’t even know what was going on, being the pure, innocent ball of fluff that he was. He probably thought that they were just being friendly after all.

And sure, there wasn’t anyone hovering around them during their lunch breaks, but since their friends technically knew about how Taehyung was attracted to Jimin, it would be awkward if he tried to make any moves with Jimin. Not to mention if anything went wrong Jin and Yoongi would flay him alive.

But Kim Freaking Taehyung was not a quitter damn it, and he most certainly wasn’t giving up.

Chapter Text

•••

“Is he looking?”

Jimin stretched into his split even farther, leaning his chest down to the floor, giving everyone behind him perfect view of him. However, this specific Saturday afternoon, he only wanted one pair of eyes on him. Hobi laughed, trying to cover up with mouth his arms even though they were behind his head as he stretched.

“Yeah, yeah he’s looking. Can’t look away either. He’s not even trying to hide it.” Hobi snorted.

Jimin and Hobi had a co-ed class today since one of the dance studios was under renovation. Taehyung and Jungkook were waiting for them outside of the viewing window to finish their class so that they could head back over to Taehyung’s house to get ready for the party they were going to attend that night at some random guys house, since Jimin’s father had left for a few days for a business trip. Jimin had originally been reluctant to go, but decided to attend anyways since it would be another opportunity to play around with Taehyung.

“Alright class! That’s enough for today! I’ll see you next week, hopefully with the other class finally renovated.” The teacher said cheerfully, glancing over the room one last and stepping out of the room. A few moments later, Jimin heard a voice from behind him.

“Hey you.”

Jimin turned around and saw one of his other friends, Baekhyun, standing behind him smiling at him.

“Oh! Hello Baekhyun hyung!” Jimin said happily. From the corner of his eye, he saw Taehyung behind the window furrowing his eyebrows, with an annoyed look, his shoulders tensing up, as he switched his balance to the other side and placed his hands on his hips, with an expression that screamed jealousy.

“Nice job today. Your choreography for “Begin” was amazing!” Baekhyun said cheerfully.

Jimin once again saw Taehyung’s shoulders tense up even more, as he pouted his lips out. Jimin smirked internally and leaned closer to Baekhyun, doing his best kitten smile. Beside him, Hoseok was shaking with giggles, desperately trying to hide the way his body was shaking with laughter.

“Oh stop it~ But thank you! My friend Jungkook actually sang it. It’s very good right? And good job to you as well! Your improving a lot.” Jimin said softly, his large hooded eyes twinkling.

They had some back and forth like that for a while, Jimin thoroughly enjoying the way Taehyung seemed to get more and more tense as the minutes ticked by. He hated how Jimin would giggle so cutely, his entire body shaking with laughter. He would have found it cute if not for the fact that it was for someone other than himself. It was pure torture, to see him act so close to someone that wasn’t Taehyung himself.

After a while though, Jimin and Hoseok finally stepped out of the class, telling Taehyung and Jungkook to wait for them to change, and they headed back over to Taehyung’s place. While Jimin was trying to pay attention to whatever Hobi and Jungkook were talking about, he was too busy enjoying Taehyung’s satisfied expression whenever Jimin stepped closer to him.

•••

The rest of the night...Jimin wish he could have called uneventful. But at the same time, he was glad that it went the way it did (although he wouldn’t admit it out loud of course).

Hobi finished up styling his hair and let Jimin into the washroom. He fluffed up Jimin’s hair slightly, and added a little bit of eyeliner. Jimin still thought it looked a bit weird, but he was slowly getting more used to it, although he still wasn’t used to the warm butterflies that he got whenever Taehyung blushed when he looked at him. He couldn’t help it. Jimin just looked too good in the flowey black and white shirt that hung neatly on his shoulders exposing his collarbone, and how the jeans that Jimin were wearing looked so sinfully good. Taehyung wasn’t the only one admiring though. Jimin snuck a few glances too, staring at how good the black short sleeved shirt exposed Taehyung’s arms, perfectly sculpted, paired with a pair of light blue ripped jeans and black timberlands.

Namjoon, Jin, and Yoongi came to pick them up a few hours after sunset. The only problem was that there were only 5 seats, two in the front and 3 in the back. Since it was Jungkook’s car, he sat in the drivers seat, with Yoongi beside him, and Jin volunteered to sit on Namjoon’s lap. But that still left the other three.

“Umm, so how are we gonna do this?” Jimin asked nervously.

“I call the middle seat.” Hobi said immediately, raising his hand.

“Hey! That’s not fair! We should do Rock Paper Scissors or something.” Taehyung protested.

Taehyung and Hobi argued like that for a while, before Jin proposed an idea.

“Jimin can sit on Taehyung’s lap?” Jin said nonchalantly.

Everyone went silent, a little dazed at how casually Jin had thrown that into the conversation. Everyone looked back and forth between the blushes forming on Jimin and Taehyung’s faces. Before they could even reply, Hobi began nodding vigorously and zipped into the seat beside Namjoon and Jin.

“Wait hold on-“ Jimin began, before being interrupted by Jungkook.

“Oh cmon Jiminie just do it. It’s not anything you and Tae aren’t used to probably.” Jungkook said teasingly. Taehyung shot him a glare and turned back to Jimin.

“Okay, even though what Kookie said is technically true, do you not want to do this? It’s totally fine if you don’t want to. I’ll just….find another way there or something.” Taehyung whispered quietly to Jimin, hiding his and Jimin’s voices from the others.

“What?! No! You have no idea where the party is so you can’t take the bus, and your car is being repaired too. It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Cmon let’s get going.” Jimin whispered back embarrassedly, pushing Taehyung forward.

“Cmon lets go.” Taehyung said to the others, gently pulling Jimin into his lap. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying it. After all, Jimin’s thighs looked amazing in those jeans. Although he was still a little bit too light. After Jimin began staying over at Taehyung's house more often, he took it upon himself as a personal mission to spoil and feed Jimin. While he was still far too light for a boy his age, Taehyung was glad that Jimin was making process. His cheeks began to look a little bit fuller, and his overall appearance began to look softer, making Taehyung internally scream happily.

After a few minutes of awkward silence between the two and the sound of the other five loudly singing along to the radio as though they were already drunk, they finally pulled into a house that Jimin could have sworn was vibrating from the loud bass.

Jimin quickly got out of Taehyung’s lap (admittedly missing the feeling of having Taehyung hold him close), and stepped aside for everyone else to get out as well. Once they all were ready they made there way over to the house, Yoongi and Jimin occasionally wincing at the loud bass.

The house was already swimming with people. There were already multiple people on the lawns, some talking or drunkenly yelling at each other or puking out the remains of their alcohol, and the house was so crowded that you couldn’t see the other side of the room. Things were being thrown, fights were being fought, and couples lingered around every corner making out. It took over an hour for the small group to find a quiet corner, which just so happened to be by the small pond in the backyard. Jimin already felt nauseous, immediately regretting coming here tonight, as he stared at the red cups floating around in the murky water. There were only a few people littered here and there. There was the couple by the bushes making out, the guy who drank a little bit to much that was busy wailing into a girls shoulder who looked very much as if she wanted to disappear into the ground, and the girl who had drank a little bit too much and was passed out on the porch. The group decided to stay there for a bit, the loud crowd being a little too hardcore for them, even for Jungkook and Taehyung. But Taehyung was thankful. Now he finally had Jimin to himself, or at least sort of.

“You should wear stuff like that more often. It looks great on you.” Taehyung said, moving closer to Jimin. Jimin giggled in reply, sending warm shivers down Taehyung’s spine.

“You too Taetae!” Jimin said, gently bumping him on the side with his hip.

“Oh so now you decide to use nicknames?” Taehyung said teasingly.

“Oh shush. Jinnie-Hyung, the crowd died down a bit, so I’m gonna go find Baekhyunie Hyung. He said he’s gonna be here tonight.” Jimin said innocently, pouring as much honey into his voice as possible

That was the last straw. Taehyung had had it up to his gut after endearing seeing Jimin get taken away from him over and over, and also seeing him interact so sweetly with everyone else. It was pure torture. He grabbed Jimin by the wrist and dragged him over to the side of the house, which was conveniently the only place around the house that was actually deserted. Behind them, Hobi and Jungkook exchanged a high five as Jin and Namjoon just looked at each other shooketh.

“Yah! Kim Taehyung! What the hell are you doing?” Jimin yelped.

“Be quiet.” He replied in a shushed voice.

The side of the house was understandably empty. It was just a long alleyway of a brick wall that was dimly lit by the stars and the moon. The wall helped keep the reverberating bass down to a minimum, rendering it as background noise, and the stars helped the two boys see in the darkness. Taehyung brought them to the middle of the wall and pressed Jimin’s back against the cold brick, placing his arms beside Jimin’s shoulders, blocking him from going back.

“Ugh, you can’t just drag me away and plop me down wherever you want! That’s just mean.” Jimin huffed angrily, but secretly was overjoyed in succeeding in his task of making Taehyung irritably jealous. He turned his head, prepared to walk back over to the others, btu Taehyung’s other arm blocked his way out.

“You did that on purpose didn’t you.” Taehyung growled. Jimin stopped halfway, slightly shocked at how quickly Taehyung had found out, but closed his eyes and sighed.

“Okay Tae. What is this about?” Jimin huffed, turning back towards the taller. He expected to see irritated eyes, maybe sad eyes, or just downright angry eyes, but instead he locked glances with a pair of eyes that looked nothing like he had thought. They looked desperate, almost frantic in a way, but most importantly loving. Jimin could have lost himself in the flecks of gold in those amber eyes. They stayed like that for a small eternity, as though time had slowed down or even just halted for a few seconds, before he felt a pair of large hands gently move to his hips and gently drag themselves to hold his waist, pulling the two of them chest to chest, a contrast to the cold brick behind him. Taehyung slowly move his head closer and closer, anticipation coursing through his body. He could have sworn there was electricity forming in an aura around them. Jimin moved his own hands up from his waist and rested them on his chest, as Taehyung leaned in to capture his soft and pillowy lips. In that moment, he felt everything around them truly stop. He blocked out the music coming from the house, or the loud chatter coming from the people around them, and Taehyung could have sworn he heard fireworks. The touch was slow, their lips burning. Jimin parted his lips granting Taehyung access to advance, earning a quiet mewl from the smaller that made Taehyung’s knees feel weak. Jimin gently pulled the two apart, already missing the warmth of the other.

“I told you I want you. Can you just please believe me? At least give me a chance?” Taehyung asked quietly, moving his hands from Jimin’s waist to tenderly hold his back.

“Mmm~What if I don’t let you?” Jimin purred, making Taehyung feel all lightheaded.

“Please just let me have you, it's torture seeing you like that with someone that isn't me.” Taehyung said quietly, gently leaning in and letting their noses touch. Jimin giggled and placed his forehead on his chest, sending warm shivers throughout Taehyung’s body. They stayed like that for a while, simply enjoying each others company, before Taehyung spoke again, albeit nervously. Jimin found it endearing.

“Do you...want to come back to my place? Now that we know where we are we can take the bus home. We can order some food and stuff and just chill or hang out. I suddenly don’t really feel like partying. B-but it’s totally fine if you don’t want t-to. Y-you can stay if you wan-” Taehyung stuttered, scratching the back of his head nervously, but was stopped by the melodious sound of Jimin giggling as he placed a finger on Taehyung’s lips.

“Tae, I’d love to.” Jimin purred sweetly.

Chapter Text

Taehyung was thoroughly enjoying his night.

They were seated at the very back of the bus, where they were hidden from view from the driver. Jimin’s head was laying on Taehyung’s shoulder, like it had been so many times before. Except this time it felt different. It wasn’t a just friendly gesture between friends anymore, it felt much more intimate. Maybe it was how their bodies were flushed up against each other, or maybe it was the light pink that dusted Jimin’s pretty face, but it felt different, although Taehyung wasn’t complaining. Hell, he loved it even.

The bus was practically deserted, except for the old lady at the very front of the bus, gently snoring amongst her groceries. Taehyung hesitantly placed his arm around Jimin’s shoulder, leaning into the smaller. There wasn’t much said throughout the entire exchange, as they were simply enjoying each other’s company.

“I don’t think I ever properly thanked you.” Jimin said quietly in a hushed voice. Taehyung turned towards him before replying.

“For what?” Taehyung asked.

“I don’t know. A lot of things I guess. For letting me stay at your place when my….when I needed it, for making me feel better about myself both physically and mentally, and I guess...just being there. You really helped me a lot these past few months Taetae. So...I guess what I’m trying to say is….thanks.” Jimin finished quietly, blushing slightly after pouring his feelings out. Taehyung smiled, feeling warmth tingle from his fingertips and his toes after hearing Jimin’s heartfelt words.

“Nah, you don't need to thank me. I love taking care of you. And...you provide me with a lot of things too. Just know that I’m always here, okay?” Taehyung said quietly, rubbing soothing patterns down Jimin’s back.

Jimin smiled back, hesitating slightly before lacing their hands together, Taehyung’s larger one enveloping Jimin’s smaller fingers. Taehyung found it way too cute. Granted, Taehyung found everything about Jimin disgustingly adorable, but that’s besides the point.

The moment lasted for a small eternity, before Taehyung made a deep noise in the back of his throat and pinged for the driver to stop at the next bus stop. The vehicle halted, and the two piled out of the bus, still holding hands. After about five minutes of walking, they finally made it to Taehyung’s house.

“How about we take a shower or something first, yeah? You can go first, I’ll order some food while your at it. You can borrow some of my clothes again.” Taehyung said, gently nudging Jimin towards his closet. Jimin nodded and pulled out some garments and made his way over to the bathroom as Taehyung made a few calls, ordering just a random assortment of foods based off of whatever came to his mind. Jimin finished bathing and signed for Taehyung that he could begin showering, so Taehyung made his way up to the other washroom downstairs. He finished showering, and just as he pulled up the last sleeve, he heard the doorbell ring. He ran back to the door, got the food and payed the delivery woman before walking back upstairs to his own room.

The next scene Taehyung wanted to keep forever. Jimin was sitting cross legged on his bed, wearing a big fluffy sweater that gave him sweater paws, and boxers that peeled out from the bottom of his sweater. He looked so cute and fluffy, hat Taehyung wanted to drop all the food and smother Jimin with love right there and then.

“Hey.” Jimin said softly, voice light as a feather as he made grabby hands at the food in Taehyung’s hands.

“What, is the food all your here for? I’m offended.” Taehyung chuckled, making an over exaggerated shocked face. Jimin pouted in reply.

“Of course not, but I’m hungry~” Jimin said.

“We can’t eat on the bed silly, c’mon get over here.” Taehyung said as he sat down and patted the space beside him. Jimin pouted once again but complied and plopped down next to him, pulling a white box closer to him, already drooling at the pastries inside. Jimin thanked Taehyung and they both dug in.

“Mmf, you have a point, the bed is definitely a lot more comfortable.” Taehyung grumbled.

“But you’re right, we can’t eat on the bed, it’ll get dirty.” Jimin replied with his mouth full, a small bit of whipped cream on the edge of his lips. Taehyung chuckled and brushed away the small dap with his finger, smiling at the blush that formed on Jimin’s face because the intimate contact.

“Let’s make another blanket fort! Like at Jin’s house.” Taehyung proposed. Jimin perked up and stood up immediately.

The two got up and went to work. After a few minutes of piling up chairs, blankets and pillows, the two were cozily bundled up in layers of blankets, leaning on a mountain of pillows underneath a big soft blanket, with boxes upon boxes of food and pastries and a laptop playing the latest episode of Riverdale. Although neither of the boys were really paying attention to the characters flickering around on the screen, or the food in front of them, but simply just enjoying each other’s company, and being pressed against each other underneath multiple layers of blankets, laughing with each other and talking about whatever they felt like. They could have spoke forever. Taehyung was an amazing storyteller, each chapter of a small portion of his past littered with exaggerated emotions and flailing arms, and he could sustain any conversation under the sun and moon, making Jimin laugh like he hadn’t done in years. The Taehyung that was in front of him wasn’t anything like the popular jock that he saw at the beginning of the year. In front of him wasn’t some eccentric asshole who only cared about himself, instead there was a goofy, loud, and funny boy that made Jimin feel safe and loved. Taehyung was able to give Jimin so much love and attention and care, it made Jimin feel guilty.

“Hyung, what do I provide you with?” Jimin asked quietly after a longer dip of silence in the conversation. Taehyung looked up from his bowl of ramen and tilted his head.

“What do you mean?” Taehyung asked. Jimin played around with his his cake before taking a deep breath and beginning to speak.

“You’ve helped and supported me so much these past few months. You’ve given me a place to stay, you’ve fed me when you thought it was necessary, you gave me attention and affection, and you’ve worried over me until you’ve tired yourself out. You said that I provide you with a lot of things too, but I can’t help but feel guilty. I haven’t given you anything. I come up to your doorstep in the middle of the night, and I’ve only been a nuisance or just a hassle to you. I haven’t given you anything in return.” Jimin finished sadly. Taehyung frowned and pulled Jimin closer to him until their knees were touching and wrapped his hands around Jimin’s cute tiny ones, gently running his them down the sides of his small and chubby fingers, and began telling his own reasons and his own little story, taking a deep breath before beginning.

“Well...When I was little, me and both of my eomma’s favourite thing to do was to watch dramas. Every single Friday night, we’d curl up together on the couch with blankets and snacks, like we are right now, and binge watch a ton of episodes and different types of dramas. Me and Nari eomma’s favourite drama was this show about soulmates and fate. There were two guys in the show. One of them worked as a financial manager or something and the other was the CEO of the company the other worked at. They had all the cliche romance events, meeting first when the latter had to deliver some files, the whole Cat and Mouse flirting, and the confession underneath the Cherry Blossom tree, with the red string connecting them from the pinky.” Taehyung started, pulling another blanket over them as Jimin shuffled closer if that was even possible.

“Me and Nari Eomma were obsessed with it. We’d sit in front of the TV hours before the screening, waiting for it to begin, and when it finally came out on a downloadable website, we bought it immediately and watched it over and over again, until we could memorize the lines by heart.” Taehyung said, looking down at the screen for a second before sighing and continuing.

“I was obsessed with finding myself in that storyline. I wanted to find someone that I could call my soulmate, someone to love, the magic of being with your other half. But I guess maybe I wanted it a little too bad. I uh….I got kicked out of multiple daycares when I was little for being “too much.” I was really over affectionate towards other kids, and was also a handful. My parents thought it was bullshit, and they told me nothing was wrong with being over affectionate, but I still felt really bad about it, still do. And after a while….I don’t know, I just kind of forgot about the drama and the whole soulmate thing, which I guess was what spurred the whole popular Jock that only does one night stands persona, until the beginning of this year, after….” Taehyung trailed off, staring at Jimin’s tiny hands.

“After…?” Jimin asked.

“After I met you.” Taehyung confessed, smiling sheepishly at Jimin. Jimin inhaled sharply at that.

“So...I reminded you of the drama you watched…?” Jimin asked nervously. Taehyung nodded slowly, slightly confused as to why Jimin all of a sudden looked downcast.

“But...there’s nothing special about me. I’m just some weird quiet nerd in the back of the class that doesn’t deserve any attention. There’s no fate attached to me. If it weren’t for the fact you kept on talking to me in class we probably would have never exchanged a word. I don’t come with a romantic plot. I’m just….me.” Jimin said sadly, fiddling with his sweater paws. Taehyung frowned and reached out before gently lifting Jimin’s chin.

“Aishhh, Jimin-ah. I don’t really care about the romantic plot. And I don’t want anyone else but you. I don’t need a few seasons and a half to finally pluck up the courage to fall for you, and I certainly don’t need a storyline to determine how I end up with you.” Taehyung said confidently, gently pulling Jimin into his lap.

“But still….there’s nothing magical about me-” Jimin whispered quietly, pulling at the sleeves of his sweater before being shut up suddenly by Taehyung’s lips softly crashing with his own, making Jimin gasp at the sudden intimate contact, but leaned into the kiss because it felt so good being close to Taehyung. Taehyung delayed the end of the kiss, gently wrapping his arms around Jimin’s petite waist. He tasted of strawberries and cream, like the pastries he was eating before.

“Jimin-ah,” he whispered, a small smile dancing on his face. “Everything about you is magical.”

And he had never been more honest in his life. To him, Jimin was the definition of magical. He had put a spell on him the moment their eyes met on the very first day of school. He was entranced by the soft skin, the pillowy lips, the cute chubby cheeks that Taehyung wanted to bite, the cute small hands that were enveloped by Taehyung's larger ones, and the eyes that disappeared into beautiful crescents whenever he smiled. Everything and anything about Jimin could make Taehyung blush so easily. But it wasn’t just physical attraction. Sure, at first it was just a crush, but Jimin’s personality was perfect for him as well, and that was what turned his crush into an infatuation. He was so kind, and warm, so full of hope, that Taehyung felt unworthy of standing next to him. He was so innocent, so loving and selfless, and while on top of it all there was an adorably shy boy, beneath it all was a happy and goofy boy that was slightly sassy, that was also ambitious and determined. Taehyung was always intrigued at how Jimin’s mind worked, how it always seemed to be thinking, like a clock that went tick tick no matter the time of day. He was sweet and lovable as always, and almost always seemed like the farthest from a threat. But when anything got serious, whether it be a test or an upcoming project, something seemed to switch off in his brain, a code that turned off any sort of interaction to make room that was reserved specifically for thinking space and inquiring, which Taehyung admired him for. In only the short span of one month, he had fallen utterly and completely for Jimin, and he didn’t want to have it any other way.

“You provide me with that feeling. You make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and I get all stupid and goofy around you. I’ve never felt like this towards anyone else, and that was what scared me at first. I’d never fallen for anyone before, and all those feelings were so foreign to me, and I didn’t know how to put it into words, but I’m obsessed with that feeling, the feeling that you give me.” Taehyung said quietly, gently pulling Jimin’s hand and placed it above his heart. “As cheesy as this sounds, you are the one who makes my heart beat so fast. You are the one that does this to me, and I don’t want it any other way.” Taehyung finished, smiling gently as he wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall on the edges of Jimin’s eyes.

“Jimin…” Taehyung started, gently wrapping his smaller hands in his larger ones.

“Do you...want to try being together?” Taehyung asked nervously. Jimin sighed and smiled, his eyes turning into moonlike crescents, sending wonderful little shivers down Taehyung’s spine, and for the first time in forever, Jimin finally forgot all the rules he had set up in his head about love, and let himself go.

“You idiot...of course I do.” Jimin replied quietly, leaning his head against Taehyung's chest, not realizing how shocked the latter was, sending fireworks of into his chest unknowingly.

“Then...does that mean I can kiss you again?” Taehyung asked, gently lifting up Jimin’s head. Jimin giggled before replying.

“Of course you can, you dork.” Jimin giggled quietly, crashing their lips together one last time.

And just like that, beneath a makeshift tent, and layers upon layers of warm blankets and each other’s affection, two boys who had absolutely no idea what they were doing, finally let themselves fall in love.

Chapter Text

•••

Taehyung was still unsure whether the whole thing was a dream or not.

It still gave Taehyung butterflies, to see Jimin pressed flush against him with his hair tickling his nose, bathed in the morning sun. Jimin looked ethereal, the sun highlighting and lighting up
the features on his face and his sun kissed skin. It never got old to him, seeing him like this in the morning.

But this time it was different. It wasn’t awkward anymore, to be so close to each other, their bodies a perfect puzzle underneath the blankets. It was just something normal couples would do right?

They were a couple. Taehyung was still trying to process that.

Okay so maybe they hadn’t done anything so far as a couple, but they were technically official. That in itself was a feat. And they did technically do many things together, it was just in a different order. He just hoped that this relationship would last longer than any of his other relationships, and he was willing to do anything to make sure of it, because dear god he enjoyed being with Jimin way too much.

After a few minutes of simply gaping at Jimin, he realized that it was way too early to get up, and fell asleep once more, pulling the shorter male closer to him with a content sigh.

When he woke up again, Jimin was gone.

Taehyung sat up immediately, hissing slightly at the sudden blood flow. He tried to ignore the disappointment lurking around in his chest. Did he do something wrong? What if he was actually a really shitty sleeper and kicked Jimin while he was dozing off? Did he snore really loud? What if he moved around to much? And OH MY GOD WHAT IF HE FARTED?!

His brain kept on listing off the worst and most outlandish possibilities as his stomach did a series of uneasy flips, until he heard the faint tinkling of the kitchen downstairs, of what sounded like oil sizzling and quiet humming. He calmed down immediately and his stomach finished up its gymnastics routine, as he stretched his arms and yawned tiredly. He flopped out of his bed and zombie-walked his way down to the kitchen, to find Jimin standing in front of the stove humming quietly to himself as he fried some eggs, looking both cute and hot as fuck in the large oversized white sweater, his hair still messy, and his thick and toned dancer thighs showing. If his ass and thighs looked good in jeans, they looked even better in just boxers, which were peeking out slightly from underneath the sweater. Taehyung made his way over to him and wrapped his arms around Jimin’s waist and nuzzled into his neck, making him jump slightly but giggle afterwards.

“Mmf...morning, you.” Taehyung mumbled while nosing through Jimin’s hair.

“Morning Taetae-Hyung. I’m almost done making breakfast. How’d you sleep?” Jimin asked, poking around at omelette he was making.

“Mmm~ I don’t know. I think I still might be dreaming.” Taehyung drawled.

“What do you mean?” Jimin asked.

“I wake up, and I find you in the kitchen making breakfast that smells delicious by the way, wearing my clothes looking like a big fuzzy Mochi. I feel so domestic.” Taehyung replied, moving along with Jimin as he checked the kimchi stew he was brewing.

“We’ve literally been together together for one day Taehyung. Now sit down you brat, breakfast is almost done.” Jimin giggled. Taehyung whined but peeled himself away from him eventually and plopped down on the breakfast bar, before noticing a pot that was steaming beside his rice cooker.

“Jimin, what’s that?” Taehyung asked, pointing at the metal pot. Jimin turned around and tilted his head cutely to the side.

“The rice?” Jimin said cautiously.

“You do know that we have a rice cooker right?” Taehyung said, pointing at the large white contraption beside him. Jimin turned towards the pot and made an “oh” sound.

“Oh! I um...haven’t used one before.” Jimin said nervously before hastily turning back towards the stove. That certainly was slightly odd. A cheap rice cooker would barely cost anything, so why didn’t Jimin know how to use one? Did his family not have enough money? Taehyung turned the thought around in his head for a while, before flashing back to the many times he found Jimin sitting outside in the cold, and also the many times he left class early with his head down to go to his job at the restaurant. His brow furrowed in concern, but before he could say anything, Jimin announced that the food was ready.

Jimin flipped the two omelettes onto a plate and spooned two bowls of kimchi stew into two bowls he found in the dark caverns of Taehyung’s cabinets, as well as two bowls of rice and set them down on the table.

“Here. Don’t drink the soup yet, it’s still hot. I hope it’s not too bad~” Jimin said nervously, pulling at his sleeves.

“Ooh looks good. Thank you Minie!” Taehyung chirped, leaning over the table to plant a kiss on Jimin’s forehead, chuckling at the beautiful blush that formed on his cheeks, and dug into the food.

“Woah Jiminie…” Taehyung started. “This is really good!” Jimin giggled as Taehyung began shoveling in spoonfuls of the soup and omelette at a heightened speed, as Jimin handing him a few napkins which Taehyung took gratefully.

“I’m glad you like it!” Jimin said quietl

“This is good. Like, SEOKJIN GOOD. When did you learn to cook like this?!” Taehyung said with his mouth full.

“I guess just lots of practice, and Seokjin cooks with me a lot too.” Jimin said, leaning on his palm and smiling as he watched Taehyung shovel food into his mouth happily.

After they finished eating (it took multiple attempts to get Jimin to finish his omelette, but he succeeded in the end), they both took turns satisfying their hygiene needs and sat down on the big couch in living room. Taehyung pulled Jimin into his lap and rested his head on his shoulder before turning on the TV (“Taehyung that drama is 5 years old, why are you showing this to me?”). Just as the first episode ended, Jimin got a text from his phone. He took one look at the screen and gasped, sitting up immediately.

“Crap!”

“What? What? Where? What happened? Are you okay?” Taehyung yelped, alarmed at the sudden outburst.

“We forgot to text Jinnie-Hyung and the others last night!” Jimin whined, showing Taehyung his phone. His eyes widened at the stream of texts in both their friends group chat as well as Jin’s and the others individual messages to him.

“Oh shit! Fuck, fuck, fuck, hold on lemme check my phone.” Taehyung leaned towards the side of the couch, careful to not to let Jimin out of his lap and grabbed his phone, unlocking it to find an equal amount of messages from their group of friends.

“Hold on let me call them.” Taehyung said, calling Jin and putting it on speaker. Not even a second later, Jin picked up from the other line.

“Hey Jin hyu-“

“KIM TAEHYUNG YOU FUCKER, YOU BETTER TELL ME THAT JIMIN IS OKAY.” Jin screamed from the other line.

“Jin Hyung I-“

“OR ELSE I WILL RIP OUT YOUR HAIR STRAND BY STRAND”

“Wait but-“

“AND CARVE OUT YOUR EYEBALLS AT THE SAME TIME AND RIP OFF EACH OF YOUR LIMBS AND DEEP FRY THEM AND THEN FORCE FEED THEM TO YOU!” Jin roared from the other line. Taehyung heard the others on the other side as well, shushing Jin and telling him to calm down.

“Jinnie-Hyung! Everything is fine! Don’t worry, Taehyung and I are fine, he took care of me. I’m sorry for not texting you, it was my fault. I just...wasn’t feeling good and Taehyung offered to take me home.” Jimin answered, desperately trying to calm down Jin.

“Eh?! Why weren’t you feeling well? Why didn’t you tell any of us? Did Taehyung take good care of you? TAEHYUNG I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU-“ Jin started, before being cut off by Jimin.

“No Jinnie he was really sweet and nice and didn’t try anything, don’t worry about us, really!” Jimin said with a desperate tone in his voice. Jin gave a frustrated huff on the other side.

“Hnnnng, Alright. Well I’m glad you two are okay. Thank you Taetae for taking care of our Jiminie. And next time if you’re just going to disappear like that at least text us please.” Jin said from the other side. The two boys could hear Namjoon on the phone whispering to Jin.

“U-uh...um...n-no...problem…?” Taehyung said reluctantly, still dazed at all of Jin’s kicking and screaming. He could hear Jungkook yell something incoherent from the other line and heard someone shuffling around before Jungkook began speaking.

“Alrighty then! Since you guys are fine, we’re gonna go. Everyone except me drank too much and they’re all hungover as fuck right now, so we’re gonna order some food and bum around while having diarrhea and vomiting at the same time.” Jungkook chirped happily.

“Too much information Kook.” Taehyung drawled while wrinkling his nose as he pulled Jimin closer to his chest.

“Pfft, whatever. Later guys!” Jungkook said, followed by a chain of other goodbyes and farewells in the background.

“Bye Kookie!” Jimin said as Taehyung ended the call.

Taehyung sighed contentedly, pulling Jimin down with him as he laid down on the couch, Jimin shuffling around a bit before resting his head Taehyung’s chest.

“Well that was...interesting.” Jimin said slowly.

“It certainly was.” Taehyung drawled inconspicuously, rubbing his hands down Jimin’s back.

“So~ what do you want to do now?” Jimin asked teasingly.

“Can we ditch the drama and just cuddle?” Taehyung asked, pulling a large fluffy blanket over them, hugging Jimin closer to his body, if that was even possible.

“Hmm~ I like that plan…” Jimin purred, snuggling up to Taehyung’s neck. Taehyung chuckled in reply and leaned forward to kiss him, capturing those soft, pillowy lips.

Taehyung was definitely, definitely dreaming, because this was too good to be true.

•••

Jimin honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy being with someone this much.

He had expected it to go haywire, blow off the rails after a few days or something, but it didn’t.

But maybe it was because of who he was dating.

Taehyung was nothing like Jimin anticipated. When Jimin first met him, he expected him to be the type that only cared about sex and public displays of affection, or the person that stopped you in the middle of the hallway and dragged you away to underneath the stairwell to make out with you. But he wasn’t anything like that. Taehyung was so affectionate and caring, always only worried about the well being of Jimin. He was nothing like the rumours said. He showered Jimin with affection at any given moment, and genuinely seemed to care about Jimin. He didn’t try and make any moves that would make Jimin uncomfortable, only seeking physical affection that came in the form of the warmest and the best cuddles. He was always there for Jimin, whether it be he “forgot” his lunch at home, or when his father would beat him until his skin turned more blue than pale and Taehyung would call him and ask him how he was doing, despite not knowing about Jimin’s situation at home. He was willing to keep the relationship a secret, for now at least, understanding that Jimin was still very shy and didn’t want to be public yet. And well...Taehyung did drag Jimin away in the hallways one or two times, but not without his consent, and Jimin wouldn’t admit it, but he might’ve enjoyed it.

He was still worried of how Taehyung would benefit from the relationship. He was always worried that he was a bad partner, but Taehyung was always there to reassure him with warm hugs and kisses that he was the best partner that anyone could have, slowly but surely pushing all of Jimin’s insecurities about relationships to the back of his mind.

And Taehyung was being brutally honest when he said that Jimin was the best partner anyone could have, or more specifically he could have. Jimin was so warm and kind. He happily and gratefully accepted Taehyung’s cuddle requests, he never expected Taehyung to do anything special for him (even though Taehyung went out of his way to do some of the most extra things ever, which Jimin personally found really endearing) and was always there for him, making Taehyung feel like the luckiest guy in the world, being able to be together with someone so beautiful and warm. Taehyung was scared that since he had never been in a real relationship before, he would be an incompetent boyfriend, but Jimin was always there to make sure that he was doing just fine. He wanted to scream to the entire world that Jimin was his. Of course he couldn’t and wouldn’t do that, because he understood Jimin’s shyness about relationships in general, but goddamnit he was willing to do anything to make his Mochi feel safe and happy.

•••

“Oh come ON guys!” Jungkook yelped, slamming his chopsticks back into his bento.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at Jungkook.

“What is it Kookie?” Jin asked with his mouth full.

“Look at THAT.” Jungkook said as he pointed at Taehyung and Jimin.

A few seconds ago, Taehyung had thought that it was safe since “no one was looking”, so he put a Pocky stick in his mouth and had Jimin eat the other end. They ended up going a bit too far because Taehyung ended up pecking Jimin on the lips. But it was okay since no one was looking right?

Wrong.

“Yeah, c’mon guys! You two are so obvious. We just caught you red handed. Just admit it already!” Hobi yelled, flailing his arms all over the place. Taehyung looked between the others and Jimin with a panicked expression on his face, to which Jimin rolled his eyes in reply.

“Fine, whatever. Yeah you caught us. We’re together.” Jimin groaned, grabbing another pocky stick and holding out on end to Taehyung with his mouth, to which he happily accepted.

“You sure you’re okay with telling them?” Taehyung asked nervously while munching on the snack.

“Well for starters we can’t exactly go back now, and yeah, I think it’s okay to tell them. They’re our closest friends, so we might as well.” Jimin replied.

“Ohmygod yes! Finally thank god.” Hobi sighed, slumping down in his chair. “You finally tell us after 6 months.”

“Literally one month Hobi.” Jimin said, grabbing another pocky.

“Mmf, whatever.”

“Eeeeeh I’m so happy for you!” Jin chirped as he attacked Jimin in a bear hug, pinching the smallers chubby cheeks.

The rest of the afternoon was spent congratulating the two as Jin, Hobi, and Jungkook happily bounced around the two fawning over them, cooing at how cute they were. Taehyung mainly was just happy that Jimin finally was willing to tell someone.

•••

Jimin was waiting beside the bleachers for Taehyung and Yoongi to finish changing after their basketball practice. The group was planning on meeting up at Namjoon’s place for their weekly drama viewing night.

Jimin fiddled with his sweater paws as he observed the people that scurried around the gym. Occasionally a person would exit or enter the changeroom, and a few small groups of people lingered around the gym conversing with each other. At the walls and corners, a few people practiced some after game shots for the next upcoming game.

A few minutes later, he heard footsteps approaching him. He turned around, prepared to see Taehyung or Yoongi coming towards him, but instead in their place an unknown tall boy. Jimin greeted him politely like he did with everyone, and turned back towards the people shooting at the hoops, and was evidently confused when the boy didn’t leave, but instead stood next to Jimin, occasionally stuttering as though he wanted to say something.

“Can I help you?” Jimin asked with a sweet and innocent voice. The taller jumped at the response and nervously scratched the back of his head. Jimin tilted his head cutely to the side, confused at the blush that was forming on the taller's face.

“Um, so I don’t know if this is too forward, but are you free tomorrow?” The guy asked nervously.

Before Jimin could even respond, he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him and someone place their chin on his shoulder, making him jump slightly, but calming down once he saw who it was.

“Nope, he isn’t. He’s gonna be busy doing stuff with me.” Taehyung chuckled.

The poor guy’s eyes widened at the implications of Taehyung reply, and bowed his head before shuffling away and muttering something to himself. Jimin turned towards Taehyung and raised an eyebrow while crossing his arms.

“Did you have to do that?” Jimin asked questioningly. Taehyung shrugged and pulled Jimin back into a hug, happily nosing through his hair.

“Meh, I just want him to know that you’re off-limits except for me.” Taehyung said happily. “You’re okay with that right?” Jimin sighed and rolled his eyes but leaned into Taehyung contendly anyways.

“Mmm~ I am.” Jimin purred quietly, sending fireworks off into the taller’s chest. Taehyung grinned happily and grabbed Jimin’s hand, cooing at how his larger hand enveloped Jimin’s smaller one.

“C’mon then, the others are waiting for us!” Taehyung chirped happily as he dragged Jimin away with him.

Chapter Text

•••

Jimin rushed down the hallway hurriedly, clutching the files to his chest. His math teacher had asked him to deliver the files to the principal for the upcoming math contest. Seeing as how Jimin was chosen as one of the few people who had the privilege of participating in the contest, the teacher decided to have Jimin deliver the files to the principal to send to the administrators of the competition. Of course, Jimin internally questioned why he had to do the task and the teacher just couldn’t do it himself, but that’s besides the point.

Just as he rounded a corner, he collided with a very tall and very muscular boy, files flying all over the place. Jimin immediately began apologizing and gathering up the surrounding files.

“Shit...watch where the fuck you’re going you idiot- oh!” The other boy said, cutting himself off at the end of his sentence, and helped gather the rest of Jimin’s files.

“I’m so s-sorry. I hope you’re not hur-“ Jimin started, but felt his breath get caught in his throat after he glanced up.

Standing in front of him, towering over him like he always did, was...Chulgi.

It was the boy he had a crush on in middle school. The boy who threw him against a locker and beat him silly. The boy who ridiculed him. The boy that made EVERYONE ridicule him.

The boy who broke his heart.

Jimin gulped and hurriedly took the files from Chulgi, thanking him and trying to move around the tall boy, but was stopped by the taller grabbing onto his arm. Jimin yelped slightly and turned back towards the boy with his head down.

“Jimin? Is that you?” Chulgi said with a deep voice. Jimin whimpered and slowly lifted his head.

“Y-yes? C-can I help you?” Jimin stuttered quietly, fiddling around with a corner of one of the papers in his hand.

“You remember me don’t you?” Chulgi said questioningly.

“N-no...I’m sorry if that offends you. I'm sorry, but I really have to deliver these files to the principal.” Jimin said nervously, and was prepared to leave but gasped when Chulgi grabbed hold of his chin and tilted it to the side, as though he was inspecting a measly insect.

“Hmm...you got a glow up. You actually look half decent. You even lost some weight. Not such an ugly fuck up anymore. Not bad.” Chulgi drawled, glancing at Jimin’s body. “Not bad at all…” Chulgi eyed Jimin’s body, giving is a sultry scrape with a gaze that screamed arousal as he licked his lips flirtatiously. Internally, Jimin gagged. As attractive as Chulgi was, the guy was an absolute asshole and just a bad person in general, and in the looks department he was still far away from Taehyung, who was millions of times kinder, sweeter, and more caring than this empty husk in front of him, and he most definitely was not planning on waking up in a stranger's bed.

“That’s very...kind of you…? Now if you’ll excuse me, I really to deliver these to the principal.” Jimin said with finality in his voice, and prepared to leave once more, and made an irritated voice as Chulgi once again dragged him back towards him and slammed his back against a row of cold lockers, coming uncomfortably close to his face, his breath smelling of expired candy. While Chungi might’ve thought that he was being attractive and flirtatious, Jimin simply found it uncomfortable.

“Hey…how about you forget the files, and we head back to my place. My parents aren’t home, and we could have some fun. I remember seeing you at that party a few months back. You were almost lucky enough to let me touch you, but that Taehyung guy interrupted us. I’ll take good care of you, and I’ll let you satisfy my needs. I know you want to, remember Grade 7?” Chungi growled quietly into Jimin’s ear. Jimin shuddered uncomfortably and pushed Chungi away.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested, I’m already dating someone. Now please, I need to get these to the office.” Jimin said.

All of a sudden, Chungi’s eyes got a few shades darker. He stood much taller, no longer slouching, and he caged Jimin against the lockers, placing both of his muscular arms on the sides of his face.

"What did you say to me?" Chulgi growled. At this, Jimin finally began getting annoyed.

"I said, I. Am. Not. Interested. Leave me alone." Jimin said firmly, speaking with as much finality in his voice as possible.

“Oh...oh...I see how it is. In just a few years our precious little bitch loses a pound and gets a boyfriend, and now he’s so cool and popular? You think that your so good looking, and so fun to be around don’t you?” Chungi growled, grabbing Jimin’s files forcefully and throwing them across the hallway. It was after school hours, so there was no one around them. Everyone had left, and teachers were all in their respective rooms, doing work, so they couldn’t hear Chungi’s outburst, and no would be around to witness what would happen in the next few hours.

“Wait! I need those- AH!” Jimin yelped as he felt a hand slap him harshly across the face. He whimpered at the pain, but didn’t say anything.

“Well, let me tell you…” Chungi growled as he grabbed Jimin’s throat and pushed him against the lockers. “You will never be any of those things. You’re just a fag! A Dyke! A bitch! You’re an ugly piece of trash that takes up the entire hallway. You’re fucking obese and disgusting to look at. You’re just a nuisance, a hassle. A fucking fat and ugly block standing in the way of everyone else. You’re not fun to be around. I bet your imaginary friends only hang around you because they pity you.” Chungi yelled at his face, and threw him down to the floor, and continued to drill at all of his insecurities.

And then the blows began.

There was kicking, punching, screaming, and bruises. Jimin stayed quiet the entire time, simply letting Chungi pummel him while he shouted at him. His chest became blue, white marks began to litter his arms and legs, and red sting marks began to bloom on his face. His jeans ripped, and his sweater became so dirty that there was more grey than white, all of which happened as Chungi screamed at Jimin’s small and frail body.

You’re a dyke.

A bitch.

You’re so ugly.

How could anyone ever look at you?

You’re so fat.

Your belly bulges over your jeans like a muffin top.

You’re obese.

You need to lose weight.

Your cheeks are too chubby.

Your thighs are too thick.

You’re disgusting to look at.

You should apologize to whoever is unlucky enough to look at your face.

You’re not good at anything.

You’re generally a useless person.

None of your friends actually like you.

They just pity you.

They wish you were never born.

Even Taehyung just feels bad for you. He doesn’t love you.

It should have been you, not Jihyun.

You’re just a hassle.

You’re just a…

Nuisance.

And just like that, all of the progress he made in the past few months came crashing down faster than a candle in a thunderstorm. The permanent throb in his head flared to new heights, and the voices in his head began to scream louder than ever, as though the chains he shackled them to snapped. The blows kept coming for hours, screams and insults echoeing through the empty and dark hallways as the sun slowly began to set, relinquishing control of the sky in favor of chasing the stars.

“Hah...ha...ha….well. Wasn’t that so familiar? Just like old times?” Chungi snarled, spitting on Jimin’s bruised face.

“Yes it was…” Jimin thought to himself.

It was so, so familiar.

•••

After a few more minutes of beating Jimin's bruised body, he left after looking at the time. Jimin didn’t scream for help, and he didn’t even find a teacher. He just sat up gingerly, and assessed the damage, peeking underneath his shirt, and winced at the sight. The bruise given to him by his father a few days ago above his ribs regained its color, shading his chest vibrant shades of blue and purple. Several other bruises dotted his arms and legs, and his cheeks stung from all the punches and slaps. Those definitely wouldn’t heal for a long time.

Jimin quietly gathered up all of his fallen files and brought them to the principal’s office, ignoring the odd and questioning looks he got from the principal.

It didn’t get much better when he got home.

His father found another reason to beat him when he got home. He had accidentally forgot to do the laundry this morning, and it somehow escalated into how Jimin was an irresponsible idiot who wasn’t willing to take action and was never going to succeed in life, and how he was useless and insignificant, and that he was lucky that his father had even decided to keep him in the first place. It also resulted in a large new bruise on his back as well as spending the rest of the night picking out little pieces of glass from his chest. But it wasn’t anything he wasn’t used too of course, so Jimin didn’t really care anymore.

When he stepped out of the washroom, he found his father unconscious on their cigarette burned couch with a bottle of whiskey in his hand. Jimin sighed and limped to the kitchen to prepare him a wet towel, some water, and some pills if he got a headache when he woke up. He set them all on a metal tray and placed them beside his father, placing the wet towel on his balding forehead.

“Hope you get better soon father.” Jimin whispered quietly.

He left his father in the living room and went to prepare dinner. He decided on something simple, just some fried rice and seawood soup. He portioned out some for his father to eat later, as well as some for him to take to work the next morning. He didn’t pack himself a lunch. He didn’t eat anything either.

After he finished packing his father’s the food, he took a quick shower and plopped down onto his small twin sized creaky bed, desperately trying not to cry, sniffling pitifully while staring at the fairy lights adorning his wall as he lay underneath a few thin blankets. Normally, after beatings Jimin had a pretty easy time keeping a straight face and not letting the tears fall. After many years of it he just got desensitized. But after finally finding some sort of warmth in his life, whether it was finally finding a kind and accepting school and his new group of friends that actually seemed to like him or the entrance of Taehyung into his life, it was just such an alarming contrast that it was kind of hard not to start weeping.

All of a sudden, he felt a buzz in his pocket. Jimin jumped slightly, but calmed down after realizing that it was just Taehyung calling him for his “daily checkup” as the taller called it.

“Hey Taetae.”

“Hey babe. How you holding up? Was the orientation for the math contest survivable?” Taehyung asked sweetly.

“Yeah, it was okay. The teacher had me run some papers down to the principal which was kind of unnecessary, but other than that it was good.” Jimin said quietly, his voice shaking at the end. On the other end, he could practically hear the frown that Taehyung was most definitely sporting.

“Hyung, I can literally hear you frowning right now. What’s the matter?” Jimin asked nervously.

“Jimin...are you okay?” Taehyung asked quietly.

“Hmm? Yeah I’m fine. Why’d you ask?” Jimin asked. “Nothing I’m not used to at least. Bruises fade, don’t they?” Jimin thought to himself.

“Okay, well now I can hear you frowning. What’s the matter Minie?” Taehyung asked, his voice gentle and sweet.

“Really Tae, nothing is wrong.” Jimin huffed.

Because things would eventually get better right?

Right?

•••

Chapter Text

•••

Jimin couldn’t have been more wrong.

Nothing got better. Because happy things had a sardonically amusing habit of running away from him.

Was he mad? Not really. It was expected, so he was prepared.

Was he sad? That was debatable.

Chungi kept on bothering him almost everyday for the next few weeks. Sometimes it wasn’t even alone, as Chungi often brought a few other people to play hot potato with Jimin’s small and frail body. Eventually, all the bruises and scars on his body reappeared, in the exact same places as they were years ago, and any progress Jimin made with his twisted perception of himself fell apart, as he began to eat less and less.

Sure, his friends and Taehyung were always there to help support him, despite not really knowing about what was happening to him, but Chulgi and his other three stooges were always there to balance out his friends handiwork, as if they were fighting an unknown battle. Not to mention, his father had recently been fired from his last job, which meant he was home more frequently, going through multiple bottles of whiskey, which in turn meant that Jimin got beat more often and also had to work longer shifts at the restaurant. And even worse, he was one the verge of losing his job since Chulgi and his gang often made it hard to get to the restaurant on time. Of course, there was actually a very small possibility of him being fired since the people he worked with very kind and let Jimin’s excuses slide, and Sehun was always more than happy to help cover his shifts, but that’s besides the point.

Although he most certainly did not expect to lose his job this way.

Overall, the day was immediately much worse than normal days. His father stayed at home in the morning since he was fired. Jimin had made a very simple omelette and some soup for breakfast, but his father had complained that the soup was too salty, which lead to his father for some god forsaken reason blowing the entire thing out of proportion, saying that Jimin simply couldn’t do anything right and was useless, and began to beat him, which even Jimin thought was slightly over exaggerated.

Just slightly.

Because of that, he was late to class because he had to limp to school. The teacher had excused him of course, but he barely had enough time to work on his art project, which meant that he would have to sneak it home so that his father wouldn’t see it to, and he’d have to work on after his father went to sleep. At lunch, he had to sit alone since Namjoon was home sick, Hobi, Jin, and Jungkook were out on a school field trip for one of their complementary classes, and Taehyung and Yoongi had an emergency basketball practice. Jimin didn’t mind of course, but Taehyung still peppered his face with a bunch of apologetic kisses and promised to make it up to him.

However he did mind the fact that Chungi and his gang of thick heads thought that since he was alone it would be the perfect opportunity to ambush him, and that’s exactly what they did, refreshing the many bruises and red marks all over his body once again, marring his pale skin with rose colours and dirt smudges. It took Jimin extra long to just stand up since his knees felt non existent, wobbling like jello. When he finally got to the door to his class, he was late. He quickly wiped the dirt off his pants and walked into the classroom as normally as he could. Luckily the class wasn’t looking that day, but that didn’t mean Taehyung couldn’t see anything.

After school, it took twice as long to get everything out of his locker, which meant that by the time he finally clicked his lock into place, everyone in the school had left. Chungi took this as a second opportunity to pick on Jimin, and it was particularly bad that day since Chungi had brought even more extra people. Needless to say, that beating was particularly brutal.

Specifically for that fateful day, the entire group seemed to focus entirely on his chest. His chest was no longer simply littered with bruises, but instead was entirely purple, not a patch of pale skin showing. Halfway through the beating, one of his cronies thought it would be a good idea to flip his small and already very frail body over onto his back and place his foot on his throat.

After the beating, he found it hard to breath.

•••

“What?!”

Jimin stared in shock at his boss, who was busy crying his eyes out.

Jimin was evidently confused as he finally made it to the restaurant after limping the entire way. Instead of people actually working, the entire staff was out in the parking lot. Some familiar faces were bawling their eyes out, others were yelling out in anger, and some simply had blank and unreadable expressions. However, in the very middle of the parking lot by a small yet sleek silver car, was Sehun and his boss.

“Hyung, what’s going on?!” Jimin asked alarmingly.

“Jiminie! Oh my god! Are you alright?! Why are you limping?!” Sehun asked worriedly, running over to him and placing an arm around his waist gently.

“Yes I’m fine, I just tripped. What happened? Why are you guys all out here and not inside?” Jimin asked. Sehun grimaced and looked over at their boss. He was an odd man. He was old, short, with very grey but abnormally thick hair for his age, with a kind expression. Although today, his expression was anything but kind, happy or positive. Instead, in its place was a fucked up mix of grief, sadness, and panic.

“Jimin, I’m so so sorry. This is all my fault.” The old man wailed. Sehun rushed over and wrapped an arm around him.

“No no harabeoji it’s not your fault. If anything it’s all of our faults.” Sehun said comfortingly. Sehun looked back up at Jimin with a sad expression. “You know how the property is built on land that was originally supposed to be a mall but got taken down since they were having financial problems?” Sehun asked. Jimin nodded in reply. “Well, the restaurant is having some financial problems too. Because of that, we had to relinquish control over the property. So we were still able to run the restaurant, but the ownership belonged to someone else. Unfortunately, at the same time, the guy that made the original mall had won the lottery, and he wants to rebuild the mall in this location. Since we don’t have ownership of the place, the company that does own our property sold it to the guy. So technically, we’ve all been laid off.” Sehun finished sadly. The man he was holding immediately began crying ten times louder.

Shit.

Nonono, this couldn’t be good. If they were all really laid off now, that meant his father had already been notified that he wasn’t working anymore, which meant that not only did he lose his job, but his father would be waiting for him when he got home. He’d have to find a new job before the package that his ex-boss gave him ran out, which would be hard since his father would definitely blow it all off on booze.

This definitely couldn’t go well.

•••

“I-I...I’m home.” Jimin said quietly.

No answer.

Well that wasn’t a good sign.

Jimin carefully creeped around the corner to already find his father standing in the living room waiting for him, a bottle of beer at the ready.

“Hello son. I heard you lost your job today.” His father sneered. Jimin gulped and let his head hang low, ready for whatever was to come. His father was evidently intoxicated. His face was tinged a tomato red, and he was swaying in his spot, the heavy smell of alcohol suffocating the tense air around around them.

“Y-y-yes sir. I...I’m sorry.” Jimin mumbled quietly. His father laughed.

“Will sorry get your job back?” His father drawled.

The last thing he remembered was a glass bottle flying at his head.

•••

Jimin woke up to bloody walls.

He was in the blood room again. His father was beating him relentlessly, not holding anything back, the small ray of moonlight coming from the tiny window in the corner of the room illuminating the terrifying expression on his father’s face. However, this particular night was different from other nights.

Tonight’s beating was awful.

Sure, basically all of his beatings were awful, but tonight’s seemed to be more brutal than any other night, and it certainly didn’t help that Chungi and his gang had already battered him silly just an hour ago.

Just like Chungi and the others, his father primarily attacked his chest and other body parts, avoiding his face. It was a clever method, since if his face was clean, he would look completely normal, his oversized hoodies doing their job and hiding his broken body. There was punching, kicking, screaming, and more blood and bruises than ever before. He felt his knees give out and he crumpled to the ground once again, simply letting all the strikes come and go, a familiar ebb and flow of legs and arms.

His father screamed and threw blows at him with never seen before force, kicking his chest with so much force that…

He heard cracking.

He felt it after an hour. They were gently little ticks that resonated in his chest, like little time bombs ringing in his body, before he felt the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. He felt his ribs give in, falling apart and giving his father unknown direct access to his lungs. Did that stop his father from kicking? Of course not, he was drunk and didn’t care in the first place, high off of anger and vodka. He felt his breath leave him, and all of a sudden it became so much harder to breath

He desperately tried to circulate the oxygen in his lungs, but nothing was happening. He felt the organs in his chest heave, convulsing frighteningly beneath his broken ribs. He felt the air in his bruised lungs slowly begin to leave out of his mouth, leaking out from between his gritted teeth like an oil spill. Slowly but surely, he felt his lungs compress, a small stream of blood leaking from his mouth. At that moment, he stopped breathing.

He felt his body go numb. The punches and kicks that were once so brutally painful just few like cold wind, as if a ghost had breathed on him. The screams that pierced his ears a second ago was replaced with a quiet but high pitched ringing sound. His pupils dilated, and his vision blurred. Gradually, the room seemed to get colder and colder, and the tips of his fingers and his toes began to feel numb, the feeling of nothingness dreadfully marching up his body, slowly but surely.

His father continued the beating for another minute before realizing something was wrong. Jimin had stopped whimpering, his mouth slightly ajar as a small drip of blood quietly tip toed its way out from his bruised lips. His eyes were no longer scrunched in pain, as they stared wide open at the red and grey walls surrounding him, a greyness covering his pupils. His body was no longer tense with fear, simply falling limp. His father gradually stopped, kicking slower and more spaced apart until it finally all came to a halt.

“HEY! You bitch!” His father screamed at him.

No response.

“Hello?! Can’t you fucking do anything right?!” His father yelled once again.

No response.

“Hello?!” His father screamed once again, a small drop of worry spilling into his voice.

No response.

When Jimin didn’t say anything back, his father began to get a little bit worried, a thin stream of sweat leaking down onto his neck, not out of exhaustion, but out of fear. He...he hadn’t beaten him THAT hard could he have? He was just teaching him a lesson. Some good old discipline. He tried everything, kicking him even harder, yelling at him, throwing water on him, but of course…

No response.

Was this what Jihyun felt like?

His father began screaming out in panic, running in and out of the room pulling at his already balding hair, shaking Jimin’s already broken body, trying to get some sort of reaction. He heard his father screaming at...something. What he was saying Jimin couldn’t hear. All he could hear was the faint high pitched ringing gently squealing in his ear, as though it was taunting him. He remembered his father picking him up and carrying him out to...somewhere. He couldn’t tell where they were going, because everything was blurry. He heard the front door open as his father accidentally dropped him. It began to rain, as the sky began to cry and drip its tears down onto the frail boy below it, painting the ground and his bruised skin with glaze. He remembered hearing something that sounded like...a siren. He felt his body hit the cold concrete ground, as his father knelt beside as he began crying. But his crying didn’t sound authentic. It sounded forced and a little too sobby. He remembered hearing the screech of tires, as people began moving around him, yelling out recited instructions. He felt his body being lifted up on the ground and being placed on a mattress with metal railings as people wearing white surrounded him and began pushing his little coffin-like bed.

The last thing he remembered was blue and red lights, before the world went black

•••

Chapter Text

• • •

Taehyung had felt really bad that Jimin had to sit alone that day, even though he knew that Jimin honestly was okay with it. Jimin drifted sometimes. Not physically, but he could sometimes get lost in his own head, chasing around thoughts as a dog did with its tail, the signals in his brain constantly ticking. As much as he loved to be around his friends and Taehyung, he was still an introvert at heart and valued his time alone, using it as an excuse to get lost in his wonderland. Still, Taehyung felt kind of guilty about it for no particular reason, so he had planned on surprising Jimin with a little date to their favourite cafe.

After the basketball practice, Taehyung and Yoongi walked over to Jimin’s house together. Yoongi’s house was along the same way to Jimin’s place, so they were able to keep each other company. Deep down, Taehyung was secretly kind of excited. He had never seen Jimin’s place before, despite the fact that Jimin had let him walk him home once, so Taehyung was excited to see Jimin’s living space.

But when they finally were about to turn into their neighbourhood, he saw an ambulance and a police car flash by beside him, turning into the same community they were headed for. Immediately, he felt a small seed of worry and doubt float into his stomach. He turned to Yoongi, who had an equally concerned expression. What could have happened? The two quickened their pace, receding their slow walk into a jog, taking a left into a long street.

The next scene made his heart drop.

Jimin was on the ground, surrounded by people in white, his body looking so small and broken. Their were bruises all along his arms. His face was red with sting marks and a small trail of blood crawled out from his mouth, and the rips in his shirt revealed colorful bruises, a contrast to his pale and soft skin. He saw the people around him lift him up without much care and place him onto a stroller bed, pushing him up into the ambulance. On the side, policemen were trying to talk to a man that seemed to be crying a little too hard, almost as if it was fake.

He remembered feeling his body go numb, his brain reeling back and setting itself on autopilot. The world seemed to slow down, or even stop completely, the tears falling from the grey clouds falling down slowly as though they were snowflakes. He didn’t register anything that was happening. He just felt his feet begin to move, and before he knew it, he was running.

Taehyung ran faster than he ever did, desperately trying to catch up to the vehicle. He couldn’t pay attention to the rain, he couldn’t pay attention to the policemen chasing after him, he couldn’t return the glare coming from the balding man, he couldn’t see the passerbyers walking on the streets beside him, and he couldn’t hear Yoongi yelling at him to slow down. All he could focus on was the blue and red lights that slowly got farther and farther away, eventually slowing down and staring at the vehicle that disappeared into the rain.

Taehyung felt his heart break. His headache flared to new heights, and he felt tears stinging at the back of his eyes. But he couldn’t cry. No, he had to stay strong. Everything around him seemed to stop in place. His peripheral vision caved in, putting him into a zone like mode, hyper focusing on the water falling from the grey clouds above him. His head swiveled around, frantically searching for something. Yoongi was on the phone, yelling into the the small device, and the policemen were back with the old man. There were a few poles, a gutter, a fire hydrant, some abandoned toy cars, a few boxes of expired takeout…

Aha.

There, leaning against a telephone pole, was a motorcycle.

Well it wasn’t just a motorcycle. There was a man in a denim jacket standing next to it, talking to another guy. But Taehyung’s lack of better judgement decided for him.

Taehyung ran towards the bike, grabbing the helmet from underneath and plopping himself down onto the seat, ignoring the shouts from the other men. He wasn’t an inexperienced rider. After all, he had his own motorcycle, but he just preferred driving. Before he knew it, the bike reared back and seared off onto the rain painted road, the echoing ring of shouts disappearing behind him.

He didn’t care that he was cutting off other cars, he didn’t care that he ran over multiple red lights, and he didn’t care that he was almost twice the speed limit. All his mind could think and care about was Jimin, Jimin, Jimin. His brain couldn’t think about anyone or anything else, occupying all the space in his head to worry over the beautiful blonde haired boy that had consumed his thoughts.

• • •

After barely five minutes, Taehyung was turning into the hospitals parking lot, throwing the bike down to the side and running through the sliding glass doors, just in time to see a group of tall figures pushing Jimin away through a white hallway. Taehyung sprinted towards them, screaming at them to stop. Two of the people pushing away Jimin turned towards him and held him back, struggling against the surprising amount of force that Taehyung was putting up.

“No! Let me go! I have to see him!” Taehyung roared, pushing against the others, trying to pull away the arms that were holding him back. They tried to get him to calm down, but all Taehyung could hear was the faint squeal of a hospital bed disappearing behind closed doors, their desperate pleas reduced to muffled background noise. Just as Taehyung was able to get one of his hands away from one of the hospital people, a new voice pierced through the air.

“Taehyung, calm down!” Jungkook yelped, pulling Taehyung away from the others and holding him in place. Behind him, Yoongi and everyone else were already gathered there. Jin and Hobi were crying, and Namjoon and Yoongi were trying to calm them down. Taehyung whipped around in Jungkook’s hold and growled, trying to pry himself away from him. Although the two were matched up in strength with both of them being athletes, Jungkook had the ever so slight advantage since he was slightly broader in width than Taehyung. But his grip was slowly loosening, as the anger and worry fueling his body pushed Taehyung past his breaking point, sending him into his fight or flight response.

Just as he felt Jungkook’s fingers loosen on his arms, he felt 4 new pairs of arms crash down onto his body, securely holding him in place. The others had surrounded him, desperately trying to get him to settle.

“TAEHYUNG. You need to CALM DOWN.” Yoongi said firmly, holding Taehyung’s shoulders in a vice steel grip. “Jimin is going to be okay. There are more than enough people already helping him. We just have to stay strong and wait.” Yoongi said, shaking Taehyung slightly. He opened his mouth again, prepared to retort, but was interrupted.

“Please Taetae. For Jimin. He wouldn’t want to see you like this. None of us do.” Jin pleaded desperately. Deep down, Taehyung knew that they were right. His intentions had absolutely no logic behind them. There were already many people in the hospital waiting for a new patient. There was barely anyone in the lobby, just the few oddballs that were coming in for a checkup or the athletes that had sprained an ankle. And what would he have done if he had actually made it to Jimin? Stare at him? He couldn't done anything if he was even able to succeed in getting to him.

“How did you guys know?” Taehyung asked, settling down slightly.

“I called the others while you were running away. They know what’s going on, as well as your parents. I drove us all here. And don’t leave me alone next time, dammit.” Yoongi grumbled, hitting the back of Taehyung’s head lightly.

Eventually, he did calm down, frustratingly ruffling his hair and taking deep breaths. The few people who were in the lobby had already scurried away, all of a suddenly realizing they had errands to run.

The small group shuffled over into a small waiting area. There were a few toddlers and babies in a children play area in the middle of the room happily playing around with some germ infested toys and play sets, seemingly unaware of the suffocating atmosphere that the small group had brought in with them.

They were in the waiting room for hours. Taehyung laces back and forth, bouncing on the balls of his heels hastily. All his mind could seem to think about was Jimin, and for good reason. What had happened? Why was he so hurt? Was Jimin going to be okay? What if he got permanent damage? Who dared to hurt him? Who the fuck did he have to kill?!

And why wasn’t Taehyung there to help him?

He knew it was an unreasonable question. He couldn’t follow Jimin around everywhere, so it would be impossible to protect him at all times, but Taehyung still couldn’t help but blame himself for what happened, the pool of worry in his stomach drowing out his more logical thoughts. He couldn't help it. He cared about Jimin too much. All the fear and concern he was feeling was amplified to new heights.

When the sun had set and risen once again, a short nurse walked into the room holding a clipboard.

“Min Yoongi?” She asked. Yoongi had notified the front desk that they were here for Jimin when they came in. The entire group stood up hastily from their chairs.

“Where’s Jimin? Is he okay? What room is he in?” Taehyung asked hurriedly, his tone desperate and slightly irritated. The nurse looked slightly taken aback, but nodded.

“Follow me.” She replied, gesturing for them to trail behind her.

They took an elevator to the second floor of the building. The hospital was huge. It took them more than 20 minutes just to get to Jimin’s room. The building was like a maze, a series of hallways twisting through the structure like vines.

The nurse led them to a door that looked like every other door, one that was white and barren, except for the silver handle that led to the room inside. She opened it, revealing its contents, and Taehyung’s vision went blurry with tears and red.

But he was also so, so happy.

Jimin was there, resting on the white bed, slightly pressed against the cold steel railing. There was tubing underneath his nose, most likely for air, and the bruises and cuts on his arms had been covered by hospital bandages and scar treatments. His torn and dirty shirt was exchanged for a hospital gown, and white and red marks were tinted on his soft pale skin. The most surprising thing however was the extremely large cast that encased his chest. He looked so small, so frail, so...broken.

But he was breathing. He was alive. Alive and still glowing like he always did. And that was all the mattered. Taehyung had been fearful that whatever Jimin suffered could have been fatal, but the quiet beeping of a heart monitor helped reassure him that he was still surviving.

“He had gotten it pretty bad, but he’s gonna be alright. Almost all of his ribs and his diaphragm have been either fractured or broken, not completely thank god, and his lungs are bruised. He’s got multiple small fractures along his arms and larger ones on both the edges of his collarbone. The rest of his body is luckily still intact and the damage that isn't on his chest is pretty minimal, so he probably won’t have to worry about that. Most of the damage is on his chest after all, and even that will heal with proper care and time. He was in pretty critical condition though, but luckily were able to help get the air circulating again, and his vitals are luckily stabilizing, and he should be on the way to healing. He’s just unconscious, luckily not in a coma, so we’re hoping he’ll wake up in a few hours. I'll be coming in later to check on him in a few hours. Good luck with him.” The nurse finished in a professional voice, leaving before anyone had a chance to respond. Taehyung gaped at Jimin. He had suffered that much? Would he be able to wake up in time? And how much would it hurt when he woke up?

“Oh Jiminie…” Jin whimpered, beginning to walk towards him, but was beat by Taehyung rushing to his side.

Taehyung grabbed a chair and dragged it over beside the bed, bringing it over with an unsatisfying scraping sound against the floor. He plopped down on the chair and hesitated only for a second before gently wrapping Jimin’s cute smaller hands in his larger ones, rubbing them together as though he was trying to give them warmth. His hands were so cold. His skin was almost white, so pale that his skin almost matched that of snow, and his normally slightly tense and shy posture was now limp and almost lifeless. Still, even with the bruises and bandages and pale skin, Taehyung couldn’t help but think that Jimin was beautiful.

The others all gathered around him. Jin had grabbed Jimin’s other hand, also trying to rub warmth into them and fussing over Jimin’s state while doing his absolute goddamn best to try not to begin bawling. Yoongi was by his head, fluffing up the pillows and pulling the sheets up father so that Jimin wouldn’t be cold, and Hoseok was at the very end on his phone calling some people, most likely their parents, and like Jin was desperately trying not to start weeping. Namjoon was with Jin, patting him on the back on staring at Jimin’s pale face with a sad smile, relieved that Jimin was at least alive, and Jungkook had began pacing back and forth, muttering angrily to himself and occasionally glancing worriedly at Jimin as though he was afraid that he would disappear.

“I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry. Please wake up soon Minie.” Taehyung begged quietly. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on Jimin’s forehead, pulling his chair closer to the bed. Yoongi came up behind him and set his hand down on his shoulder.

“You know you don’t need to apologize. None of this is your fault. Just be there for him when he wakes up.” Yoongi said quietly.

“Well Tae isn’t gonna be the only one waiting for him to wake up!” Jin huffed irritably. “I’m gonna be here until Jimin wakes up, because no way am I leaving until my poor baby is okay and healthy!” Jin marched to the side of the room and plopped down on the small row of chairs and crossed his arms and pouted, staring intently at Jimin with a worried expression. Namjoon chuckled sadly and sat down beside Jin before wrapping an arm around him.

“C’mon Jinnie, all of us still have school in a few hours. Let’s stay for a while and come back later after classes. Then we can be here for as long as we want.” Namjoon said quietly, rubbing Jin’s back protectively. Jin huffed again and shook his head.

In about another hour however, Jin had began bobbing his head and fell asleep, gentling snoring. Namjoon has sighed and shook his head.

“You guys should all go. You’ve all still got classes.” Taehyung told them, not letting go of Jimin’s hands.

“Uh...hate to break it to you, but you’ve got classes too dumbass.” Yoongi drawled, with no particular bite behind his voice. “And if you’re staying, then we’re all staying.” Yoongi finished stubbornly.

“At least one person should stay with him, and I think it’s pretty customary that it’s me. My parents will understand, they can call the school.” Taehyung replied with finality in his voice. The others looked back and forth between one another. Jin had already fallen asleep, and Hoseok was on the verge of knocking out as well, his head beginning to droop. The others looked exhausted, all of them had heavy bags underneath their eyes and they looked like zombies, clearly deprived of energy due to the lack of sleep. Namjoon hesitated before speaking.

“You sure you’re gonna be okay alone?” Namjoon asked. Taehyung nodded.

“Go on then. Get as much sleep as you can, and come back when classes let out.” Taehyung said, nodding towards the door. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. And you better be here.”

The others all nodded and began leaving. Namjoon picked up Jin bridal style, and Hobi leaned against Yoongi as they stalked out of the room, all bidding farewells and reassurances before heading out.

“Take care of Minie okay? Call any of us if you guys need anything, and don’t you dare let anything happen to either of you.” Jungkook warned, pointing at Taehyung accusingly.

“Why would anything happen to me? Don’t worry, I’m not letting anything happen to him.” Taehyung snorted, holding onto Jimin’s hand tighter. Jungkook shook his head but smiled nonetheless.

“Alrighty then. See yah later Hyung. Take care!”Jungkook chirped, ruffling Taehyung’s hair and ran out the door and catched up to the others. Finally, after a few hours, he was alone with Jimin.

Taehyung fixed up the pillows once again and sat down, running his eyes up and down Jimin’s body. The nurse was right. Even though there was a lot of damage, Jimin’s body was healing. His air was circulating properly, and eventually Jimin would be back to normal, and Taehyung was going to be there every step of the way.

“It’s okay kitten.” Taehyung whispered quietly, pressing another kiss into the side of his head and setting his head down on the side of the bed.

“I’m here for you.”

•••

Jimin woke up slowly, blinking rapidly at the sun that was shamelessly scalding his eyeballs. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, and felt a large cast encircling his diaphragm. He tried lifting his hands to rub his eyes, but was stopped as he felt another larger hand holding his in place. He looked down and smiled gently.

Taehyung was sleeping soundly on the side of the bed, holding his hand in place securely, snoring gently while letting his hair fall before his eyes, the sun highlighting his handsome features. Jimin took his other hand and gently brushed the hair out of his eyes and played with his hair for a little while.

After about a minute, Taehyung stirred slightly and slowly opened his eyes, snapping to his full attention when he laid his eyes on Jimin.

“Jimin.” Taehyung breathed quietly, his mouth falling open as tears began to sting at the back of his eyes.

“Hey taetae.” Jimin said quietly, running his hand through Taehyung’s hair. Taehyung rushed forward and enveloped Jimin in a warm hug, crashing their lips together passionately. Jimin winced at the pain in his ribs, but kept any expression of discomfort out of his face. He was good at it hiding it. And besides, he was way too happy about seeing Taehyung.

“Oh shit shit shit.” Taehyung drew back with an alarmed expression. “Fuck, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you? Are you okay? Did I hug you too hard? Should I not hug you? I’m sorry I’m sorry. Crap Taehyung you’re so stupid.” Taehyung rambled, ruffling his hair in panic. Jimin jumped forward and cupped his face gently, giving him a soft smile that melted the taller’s heart.

“Taetae, it’s okay, don’t worry, you didn’t hurt me. I’m so happy you’re here~” Jimin said quietly. Taehyung smiled, and cupped his face as well, pressing their lips together again softly.

“I’m so happy you’re okay kitten. I love you so much. I almost thought I lost you. Are you alright? Taehyung said sheepishly, his eyes watering.

“You dork, of course I’m okay. It wasn’t anything serious.” Jimin said gently, running his hands down Taehyung’s arms. Taehyung frowned, and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the door slamming open.

“Heyo!” Hobi shouted happily, as the rest of the group came in, followed by the nurse, Nari, Eunha, and...one last person. “Oh Jiminie! You’re awake!” Hobi chirped happily.

But before any of them could run over to greet or hug him, he laid his eyes on the last person that shuffled into the room, looking angry, terrified, and annoyed.

It was his father.

Immediately, Jimin got flashbacks to last night, and he heard the sound of cracking, followed by a sharp pain ripping across his chest that he knew wasn’t real but still felt so prominent. Jimin yelped in pain and launched himself forward, curling into his body and hugging himself, the headache in his head flaring up in pain like a fire would when someone threw paper into it. His friends, Nari, and the nurse all began to panic, sending a flurry of events all around the room. Taehyung, Jin, Hobi, and Jungkook began crowding around Jimin, asking if he was alright, the nurse pushed everyone aside (except Taehyung because goddammit he was stubborn) and immediately began running unnecessarily complicated tests on him and checked his vitals, Nari was already on the phone yelling into it, and Namjoon, Yoongi, and Eunha were running around in panic. The entire situation was generally too stressful. It was loud, and too many things were happening at once. Not only that, but his father was slowly creeping out of the room. This was exactly what he hated. Being a nuisance. People worrying over him. Jimin clapped his hands on his ears before screaming.

“STOP!” Jimin screamed. The entire room did as told.

“I’m fine, it wasn’t anything serious, I just had some reflex pain.” Jimin said firmly, still holding his head.

The room eventually calmed down, the ambient sounds eventually coming to a lull, however one question still remained in everyone’s head, floating around them like a migraine.

“Jiminie. What happened last night?” Jin asked cautiously. Taehyung nodded.

“Yeah, I think it’s only fair to tell us. We want to help, we really do. But we can’t help you if you aren’t willing to be open with us. I’ve found you outside on the streets enough times, and besides, you promised me.” Taehyung said firmly. Jimin visibly winced. His father had stopped creeping out of the room and instead turned towards Jimin with an expression of fear and anger, and mouthed the words “Don’t talk.”

So Jimin opened his mouth to speak.

But before even a whisper could leave his mouth, he was interrupted by the click of a door handle, and in stepped a women that Jimin hadn’t seen in years. She was tall, her hair now brown instead of black, with heavy bags under her eyes but looking still the same definition of beautiful that Jimin had grown up with, her simple clothing ruffled and hair still messy, as though she had just gotten off of an airplane.

“Minie...?” She breathed, the tears in her eyes already beginning to fall, despite the smile cracking across her face.

He was going to start crying too.

“....Eomma?”

•••

It was her.

His mother.

His MOTHER.

The one who left everything behind five years ago.

The one who didn’t leave a trace, except for a few numbers in the bottom of a drawer that got ripped apart and burned.

Almost as though she never existed.

Yet here she was, standing there. Still slightly disheveled, but still standing tall.

She rushed forward, enveloping Jimin in the warmest hug he had ever felt, their bodies shifting and clicking together like a puzzle, the pieces seemingly falling into the perfect pieces, and Jimin began to cry.

The tears fell slowly yet prominently, drops gently running down his pale face refracting the light from the window, sending beams of sunshine across his face, and it broke everyone's hearts. It was the first time he let himself cry in years, and it was also the first time he had ever let himself cry in front of anyone, and yet it felt good in a weird and unsettling way to finally let all the emotion release itself. The two held onto each other, gently weeping into each other’s shoulders. His mother whispered apologies into his ears, just like Jimin had done to Jihyun on the die he had died.

“I’m sorry baby. I’m so, so sorry for leaving you behind. Its all my fault. But I'm back. I'm back...” She whispered, leveling her voice so only they could hear each other.

“Eomma…” Jimin whimpered, sobbing slightly harder, unable to properly respond.

They were holding onto each other for more than 10 minutes, just crying with each other, yet it only felt like a few seconds before she finally was able to peel herself away from Jimin. However, before Taehyung could ask Jimin about his injuries, Nari spoke.

“Aejeong? Is that you?” Nari asked cautiously. Jimin’s mother turned around, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

“Nari?” She replied.

“Oh my gosh it IS you!” Nari chirped cheerfully. The two collided in a hug, happily shouting out greetings, a surprising contrast to the originally very toned down atmosphere.

“Oh my gosh it’s so good to see you again Aejeong! I haven’t seen you in…” Nari let go for a second and counted her fingers. “8 years! Wow. Wait. Aren’t you the person that just got a new job at headquarters this week?” Nari asked curiously.

“Yeah, how did you know? Wait, headquarters?” Aejeong replied.

“Oh you stupid idiot, I’m your CEO!” Nari chuckled, hugging Aejeong once again. “Ahhh~ it’s so good to see you again!”

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, how do you two know each other?” Taehyung asked, walking up to the two women.

“We were really close friends in college, but we lost touch after a while sadly.” Nari replied. “And Aejeong here just recently landed a job as an executive at the perfume company I run.” Aejeong nodded in reply.

“I got offered a job at Nari’s company a few months ago. So I saved up enough money to buy a place here and everything, and the first thing I planned on doing besides seeing Jimin was visiting Nari, but when I got to our old house I saw a bunch of policemen surrounding it, which brings me here.” Aejeong finished, the tears beginning to well up in her eyes again.

“And hold on…” Taehyung murmured. He turned back towards Jimin and cupped his hands. “Jimin, how come your mother wasn’t here before? Why did she leave?” Taehyung asked. “...What’s happening to you?”

Jimin looked around the room. All eyes were trained on him, peering at him so intensely that he thought that if they looked any closer they could have burned holes into his eyes.

“Jimin…” Taehyung said softly yet firmly, staring into Jimin’s eyes, his voice over spilling with concern. “You need to tell us what’s happening. We want to help. We really, really do. I really do. But we need you to communicate.”

Communicate.

Hah.

Not exactly something Jimin was good at.

Taehyung huffed at the silence that filled the room. “Okay okay fine, you don’t need to tell us what’s happening to you right now, we can cross that bridge when we get there. But you need to tell as at least what happened last night and how you got here.” Taehyung huffed firmly.

Internally, Jimin was panicking slightly. If he actually said anything, his father would beat him for sure once they got home, and Jimin was too scared to tell anybody. But before he could answer, his father did it for him.

“Now listen here, don’t you say a word you little bi-” His father growled, stepping forward with his face turned a beet red. But immediately he realized his mistake, as everyone in the room slowly turned towards him, their faces contorting into expressions of suspicion. His face shifted from an ugly red to an uneasy looking blue, his adam’s apple bobbing nervously.

“Now that’s certainly no way to speak to your son, now is it?” Jin asked accusingly.

“And why don’t you want him to say anything? Aren’t you curious or worried as to how he got hurt?” Jungkook growled fiercely. Taehyung’s eyes widened.

“Jimin….was it him?” Taehyung asked cautiously. Jimin flinched as he visibly tensed up, before hesitantly nodding.

Oh hell no.

Nari had gasped, Jungkook and Yoongi both roared out in fury, the nurse stood by the side tinkering with her laptop, doing her best to stay out of the situation, and Jin, Hobi and Aejeong were screaming at his father, who was screaming equally as loud back at them, using crappy rebuttal and spouting nonsense, using points that had no logic behind them to defend himself.

But none of that was compared to how Taehyung was feeling.

The small seed of anger and fury in the pit of his stomach flared up, consuming his body in rage, covering his vision with red. All of a sudden, the room seemed to get much darker, the walls seemed to collapse on them, the atmosphere seemed to drop, and the surrounding area suddenly felt much, much colder. The entire room eventually quieted down, the loud voices of conflict seemingly cowering in fear at the expression on Taehyung’s face. He didn’t just look mad or angry or infuriated. He looked murderous.His eyes seemed to pale, his pupils dilating and unfocusing. His normally slack and relaxed posture was now standing stiff and high, the sun only helping illuminate the terrifying expression on his face.

Taehyung steadily and slowly stalked towards Jimin’s father, the man slowly backing up at the same pace as Taehyung, until he unleashed his fist, punching him square in the face. He was struck with so much force he fell over. The man’s face was painted with a large colorful bruise already blooming on his face. A small stream of blood leaked out from his lips, and one of his teeth had fallen out. His face was no longer painted with anger and annoyance. Now, it was contorted and crafted into fear, the expression so prominent it seemed carved into stone.

Taehyung prepared to step forward once again, but was stopped by a small and pained voice, the sound of it alone wrapping its arms around his heart and made him finally come out of his daze.

“Taetae...please don’t…” Jimin whimpered, curling into his own body.

And he did.

Because it was always Jimin. It was always him that could make him think straight. It was him that kept him sane, and it was him that he was willing to listen to.

So he did.

But he still felt like Jimin's father deserved it.

And as demented as it sounded, the people in the room agreed with him.

But for now, it was enough for him that Jimin was okay.

•••

Chapter Text

•••

It certainly and most definitely took a long time, but Taehyung was still beyond proud of how much progress he had made with Jimin.

Jimin was luckily only in the hospital for about 2 or 3 weeks. He didn’t need a cast around his chest anymore, and instead it just had to be bandaged up firmly and tightly. And while Jimin was basically back to normal, Taehyung still insisted on escorting Jimin to wherever he had to go. Jimin had obviously complained of course. He could walk normally on his own, and his chest would be back to normal in about another month or so. Additionally, he was still afraid of being a nuisance, but Taehyung was persistent, and eventually Jimin caved.

Their classmates were all bewildered at the changes in Taehyung and Jimin. When they were finally official (since Taehyung wanted everyone to know that Jimin was his and under his protection), the news spread around the school like wildfire. No one had ever seen Taehyung so committed to someone before. His normally slack, relaxed, and extroverted personality would change in the blink of an eye whenever Jimin was around. While he was still relaxed and extroverted, he all of a sudden seemed so much more caring and sweet and warm towards the smaller, which was a characteristic that his classmates had never seen before. Whenever Taehyung accompanied Jimin to their next class, he no longer looked bored and playful, and instead looked determined and tensed up, scanning the hallways as though he was looking for a threat while keeping one arm wrapped around Jimin protectively, earning some worried looks from his lover. They both got a few nasty looks from both Taehyung and Jimin’s admirers, but they were too happy together to care.

And that was another thing. Chulgi had stopped bothering for them as well, but the reason behind it still shook Taehyung to this day.

When Jimin was finally discharged from the hospital, he finally plucked up the courage to tell Taehyung everything after the taller had pleaded and followed him around the house like a kicked puppy (in an endearing way). He told him about the adoption agency, the other kids, his father, Jihyun, and most importantly, Chulgi. He however still kept out the problems with his self image since that was something he found particularly embarrassing about himself, but he was pretty sure Taehyung would find a way to squeeze it out of him eventually. Taehyung was as expected, very supportive and caring towards Jimin afterwards. He became even more protective of Jimin which lead him to confront Chulgi the very next day.

However, surprisingly enough, it wasn’t Taehyung who finally got Chulgi to shut up, it was Jimin.

Taehyung was with Jimin when they ran into Chulgi and his pathetic little clique. He had just finished up his after school basketball practice with Yoongi, and Jimin had been waiting for them. They planned on going over to Jin’s place for their weekly drama night, but instead they ran into Chulgi on the way out of the school.

The sun had began to set, and they were walking through the parking lot together, joking around and laughing with each other, and found Chulgi with his friends by Taehyung’s car. His friends seemed to have treated his car like a piece of trash. Two people were sitting on the trunk, and Chulgi was lounging around on the top of the car, with one or two people scattered around the sides of the car by the wheels. Someone had poured a soft drink over to top, the sickly sweet liquid dripping down the sides of the vehicle, and multiple key scratches littered his trunk and the front of the car. But it wasn’t the car he was most mad about, he was most mad about Chulgi hurting Jimin, which included their middle school years.

Taehyung stepped forward in front of Jimin protectively and glared at them, sending daggers at them as though he could stab them with his goddamn eyes. He felt Jimin shrink himself behind him, trying to make himself as small as possible while clenching onto Taehyung’s arm in fear, and it broke his heart. Yoongi saw this and stepped forward as well, shielding Jimin from Chulgi. He smirked back.

“Hey Tae. Hope you don’t mind us. We just really needed a place to wait for our precious little Jiminie. I’m sure you don’t mind, since you’re supposed to be such a “sweet” and “caring guy.” Chulgi snarked sarcastically. Taehyung snorted in reply.

“Not at all. I definitely don’t mind, especially if I told the principal about this.” Taehyung drawled calmly, squeezing Jimin’s air reassuringly. Chulgi barked out in laughter.

“Hah! Don’t make me laugh. The principal is my freaking step-fag. I just have to pout a little and cry and I’m off the hook. He’s such a pushover. Can’t believe my dad turned out to be a dyke. So lame.” Chulgi snarled. Taehyung squinted his eyes.

“Aren’t you the one who tried to flirt with me really lamely?” Jimin muttered from behind Taehyung.

“I need a word with you. And a fist as well.” Taehyung growled threateningly.

Chulgi laughed. “Or what? You can’t make me. But clearly your stupid head can’t do math. There's five of us and three of you. Don’t say anything that’ll get you killed.” Chulgi said. “Well, more like two and a half.” Chulgi leaned to the side and smirked at Jimin, causing the small boy to flinch. “How’s the chest Jiminie? Was it kind of like Jihyun’s? Good thing the little trans-fag died years ago, I wouldn’t have the guts to look at him.” Chulgi smirked confidently.

Well that certainly was the wrong move.

Taehyung didn’t really remember clearly what happened next. All he remembered was that after Chulgi insulted Jihyun, all of a sudden Chulgi and his friends seemed slightly more afraid then they were a second ago. From the corner of his eyes, he remembered seeing Jimin stiffen before relaxing and standing to his full height, his body unfurling. He remembered his eyes seemed to darken and his pupils seemingly dilated, replacing the normally warm and adorable brown eyes into seemingly bottomless black pits. His expression relaxed, and his mouth slacked and curved up into a small yet...menacing smile. He remembered feeling the atmosphere dropping dangerously low, and he could have sworn to god the surrounding air seemed to feel much, much colder.

He remembered he and Yoongi has stepped aside slowly, as Jimin took one, two, three steps forward, and…

Taehyung didn’t really remember the drive to Jin’s place either, but it felt relatively normal. They still laughed with one another and joked around, singing along to the radio as though the entire situation a second ago never happened.

He spent part of the evening helping Jimin clean up blood from his fists.

The blood wasn’t Jimin’s.

News of Chulgi’s new extremely black eye and missing teeth spread around the school like wildfire. He had claimed that he had injured himself while doing sports.

He didn’t bother Jimin ever again.

But other than that, Taehyung felt that he and Jimin were doing much better. He was glad that he was making at least some progress with Jimin’s self image issues. The progress was minimal, but it was steady, and Taehyung would be with him every single step of the way and beyond.

An even better change in his lifestyle was that his father was now facing trial and possible jail time. Not only was he charged for child abuse, but also for gravelly injuring a co-worker while under the influence of alcohol, as well as stealing money from the company, which left his mother to take care of him, which she was more than happy to. Now that she actually had a better job and one less mouth to feed, she was able to support the two of them much better than before, and Jimin was finally able to stop working and focus on schoolwork completely. Not only that, but he didn’t have to worry about being beaten anymore on a daily basis, which he was eternally grateful for. His mother was just as sweet and caring as she was before, which refreshed Jimin’s love for her.

As seasons passed and the colors of the leaves changed and fell, so did Jimin’s physical and mental state. Thanks to the help of his friends and family, he was finally feeling much better both about his body and about how he viewed himself. Sure, there was still a long way to go, after all, 17 years of pain doesn’t go away in the span of a season, but the progress he had already made was already significant enough to reassure him that all would be okay in time.

Although he definitely couldn’t have done any of it without Taehyung.

He was there every single step of the way, like he had vowed he would be. He was ultimately the one who was able to begin Jimin’s journey on helping with his self image, showering him with love and affection, making the past years of abuse fly by twice as fast. Jimin felt the care and warmth he had missed out on in so long and he fell harder and harder for the tall brown haired boy.

•••

“I have a surprise for you today~” Taehyung sang quietly.

Jimin perked up and looked up at Taehyung, who was smiling at him with a smitten expression. They were currently waiting at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere outside of a park at the edge of Seoul after a date at a particularly cute cafe that served the best hot chocolate.

They spent way too much money.

It was autumn, marking the final fall before everyone left for university. Jimin was thankfully now fully recovered, his chest no longer broken or painted blue from bruises, despite the few remaining marks. The leaves had changed, painting the sky and the ground with streaks and splotches of sunset colors, warming up the atmosphere despite the dropping temperatures. Taehyung always thought this was when Jimin was most beautiful. While his boyfriend (Taehyung really liked saying that word) looked ethereal in any weather and at any time, Taehyung thought he looked especially good in autumn. He was always bundled up in cute oversized sweaters, which were Taehyung’s personal favorites (quite literally since Jimin borrowed Taehyung’s big oversized clothes a lot), and the falling leaves complimented Jimin so well, contrasting his pale and soft skin, the doleps of red and yellows gently falling around him. It always made Taehyung feel the urge to pull out a camera and take some photos since they were all so candid, and that was exactly what he did. Those times were his favourite types of dates. They’d just walk around the city and get lost, taking photos and cuddling once they got home while buried underneath layers of blankets and pillows while holding warm cups of tea and takeout food.

“Really? What is it?” Jimin asked innocently, looking up from their entwined hands.

“You’ll get to see when we get home.” Taehyung smirked cheerfully. Jimin rolled his eyes but smiled, just in time for the bus to roll up beside them. They stepped into the empty bus and took a seat at the back. The air between them was always the same, still warm and cozy with a hint of anticipation since Jimin was curious to what Taehyung’s surprise was. Jimin had half expected that their “honeymoon” phase would eventually pass and that Taehyung would just get bored of him, but that never happened, which Jimin was ecstatic about. It was definitely something Jimin was initially afraid of when they first got together, but Taehyung proved him wrong.

Very wrong indeed.

The bus pulled up to their stop and they hopped out, slowly meandering back to Taehyung’s place. The food came in about 5 minutes after they were finished settling down and cuddling under fifty blankets in their flawless blanket burrito, which was something Taehyung was exceptionally proud of in their relationship. They had the best cuddles and they wrapped the best blanket burritos. The best types of blanket burrito wrappers, something to pride himself on.

“I’ll go get it.” Taehyung said, sitting up gently to not dishevel Jimin, who was cuddled up to Taehyung’s chest. Taehyung brought the food back and set them down on the ground, a few white boxes of just some pastries and other random types of food. Taehyung plopped down onto the ground and began eating as normal, but was confused when Jimin seemed to hesitate and linger on the very edge of the bed, nervously clutching the blanket and playing with his sweater paws.

“Jimin?” Taehyung asked, gesturing for Jimin to come join him. Jimin bit his lip nervously.

“I...I…” Jimin mumbled. Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows.

“Minie? What’s wrong?” Taehyung asked gently.

“I already ate a lot at the cafe…” Jimin said quietly. Taehyung growled internally. This was something he wanted himself and Jimin to work on. Jimin was still too worried about his body and what he ate. He wasn’t as paranoid as before, but eating disorders didn’t leave so quickly. Jimin had revealed to Taehyung a while back that a lot of the times even after Taehyung had finally gotten Jimin to eat, he’d sometimes just….erase the evidence, staying in his bathroom for hours at a time with his head over the toilet.

This time, he wanted to end it once and for all. It drove him crazy how Jimin couldn’t see how beautiful and amazing and talented he was. Jimin always seemed to believe that he was the epitome of unattractive, and that there was nothing special about him. He thought that he wasn’t very good at anything and was generally useless and that he didn’t deserve Taehyung, which resulted in his negative view of himself and also his twisted perceptipn on how to improve. Taehyung couldn’t disagree more. Jimin was so beautiful. It still left him dazed to this very day, at how Jimin always seemed to look effortlessly perfect, whether it be they just woke up to each other in the morning or he just received an unknown beating. He was so special and extraordinary, and he was smart and musically gifted. If anything, Taehyung felt like he couldn’t amount up to him, but Jimin was always there to hold him back whenever he began chasing that thought.

Taehyung stood up and pinned Jimin against the mattress of the bed, situating himself in between the smaller legs and crashing their lips together gently. Jimin tensed up at first but relaxed, leaning into the kiss, his fingers playing with Taehyung’s brown locks, and the boxes of food long forgotten.

“Jimin. You aren’t overweight, or fat, or any of those things, and I certainly wouldn’t care if you were. I love you all the same, whether you be normal, fat, skinny, muscular, or bony, because that isn’t why i love you, even though you’re really hot, but that’s besides the point.” Taehyung whispered. Jimin giggled in reply, but all of a sudden looked sad.

“Would you really though?” Jimin said quietly.

“I would and I will, because that’s not why I love you. I love you for being you. As cheesy as it sounds, you are perfect any way you are.” Taehyung said firmly.

Taehyung slowly moved down Jimin’s body, pressing kisses against him along the way and smiling as he felt Jimin’s lean body giggle underneath him.

“You’re so funny and sweet and adorable, and you’re also feisty which I personally love.” Taehyung whispered, pressing a kiss to Jimin’s forehead.

“You’re so talented and you aren’t willing to see it, which I want to change.” Taehyung said as he pressed a kiss to his neck.

“And you are the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise, because they will be forever wrong, even if you put on some weight. If they aren’t willing to see how beautiful you are past the size of your clothes, then they don’t deserve to see how amazing you are.” Taehyung whispered quietly, lifting up Jimin’s shirt slightly and kissing just above his belly button, making the smaller shake with giggles. Jimin sat up and crawled into Taehyung’s lap, who happily took him and and wrapped his arms around him.

“I love you.” Jimin giggled quietly. “So much.”

“I bet I love you more.” Taehyung teased, bringing their lips together in a chaste kiss.

They stayed like that for a bit. After a while though, the kiss began to feel much more passionate. Jimin parted his lips and granted access to Taehyung, who gladly took the lead, leaning into the kiss while gently pushing them both down towards the mattress beneath them, caging Jimin underneath him. Jimin pressed into Taehyung as well, wrapping his arms and legs around the taller boy, passionately kissing him back. A few minutes later, there was a very prominent bulge forming in Taehyung’s boxers, and Jimin’s face began to turn a light pink from a very prominent blush. He left out a soft moan that send wonderful shivers down the taller boy’s spine as Taehyung moved down and gently nipped at his neck, making the the smaller boy’s legs feel like jelly. Good thing they were laying down.

Taehyung was surprisingly enough, slightly nervous. Jimin had never turned down his advances before, but none of those were considered sexual. They had all just been invitations to cuddle or other innocent things. But Jimin hadn’t reacted negatively to anything yet, and his advances certainly weren’t exactly of the most innocent intention. Taehyung just wanted Jimin to know how beautiful and amazing he was.

“Jimin...can I…?” Taehyung asked quietly. Jimin whimpered slightly and avoided his eyes.

“Shit...wait. Babe, have you ever…?” Taehyung pressed nervously. Jimin looked away shyly, but his expression revealed it all. Of course Jimin was a virgin. How stupid could Taehyung have been? Of course this ball of fluff and purity had never been sexually intimate with anyone before.

“Fuck...Jimin I’m sorry. Why didn’t you tell me? We can stop now if you want-“ Taehyung started, but was interrupted as Jimin grabbed his wrist and hid his face in the crook of the taller’s neck.

“N-no! Y-you don’t... I...I mean….if you don’t want to…” Jimin mumbled shyly, clearly embarrassed. Taehyung relaxed and pressed a kiss to his neck.

“Alright.”

Taehyung crashed their lips together again passionately, slowly moving down to his neck while placing kisses along his jawline and down his throat. He reached his hands towards the hem of Jimin’s hoodie, but was stopped as his cute tiny hands reached out to grab them, stopping them from moving forward again.

“Jimin?” Taehyung asked frantically, looking up at his face. Did he do something wrong? Was Jimin uncomfortable? Did he hurt him? What did he do?

“I-it’s...it’s not you! It’s just that I….I….” Jimin stuttered embarrassedly, looking away from Taehyung once again. Taehyung sighed.

“Babe, you are beautiful. You don’t need to be afraid. I’ll take care of you.” Taehyung whispered into his ear. Jimin huffed, but met his gaze.

“O-okay.” Jimin said quietly.

Taehyung slowly lifted Jimin’s hoodie over his head, growling once he was fully exposed. While many of the bruises and marks had healed or faded, an equal amount remained or didn’t completely disappear yet. It drove Taehyung insane, how someone in their stupid world had bothered to hurt someone as innocent and beautiful as Jimin. But he wasn’t just growling because of the wounds, but also it turned Taehyung on. Jimin was already ethereal on his own, and to see him underneath him in such a vulnerable position wearing only a pair of boxers made him almost lose control. Taehyung gently kissed the scars and fading bruises all over Jimin’s chest, teasingly slipping his tongue over one of his caramel dipped nipples, causing the smaller boy to shiver in pleasure. Taehyung trailed down towards his boxers, and pulled the hem of them down, releasing Jimin’s already hard length and brought his head down over it, making the smaller one shiver at the pleasure. He licked the tip and took his member in his warm and wet mouth, drinking in the sounds that Jimin was making. Taehyung slowly moved down from there, pressing kisses into Jimin’s thick and toned inner thighs and made his way to Jimin’s pink and clenching hole.

Jimin gasped as he felt something soft and wet penetrate his entrance. Taehyung slowly flicked his tongue in and out of his tight hole. Jimin mewled in pleasure, waves of arousal coursing through his body, which only turned the taller boy on more. Taehyung growled deeply and made his way back up the boy’s chest, scattering kisses on his soft and pale skin along the way. Taehyung reached to the side of the bed and opened the drawer on his bedside table, pulling out a small bottle of lube. Taehyung slicked up his fingers as well as Jimin’s now wet and glistening hole.

“This might hurt a bit at first, but I promise I’ll make you feel good, okay?” Taehyung whispered gently into his ear. Jimin nodded and buried his head in the crook of the tallers neck.

Taehyung slowly slipped one finger in to prepare him, the smaller boy whimpering slightly as he adjusted. Taehyung softly kissed him to distract him from any pain he might feel. It hurt slightly because of the stretch, but after a while the pain was replaced with the feeling of aching pleasure. Jimin mewled into the kiss, receiving a low and primal growl from Taehyung. Soon, Jimin was a moaning and mewling mess underneath him, which only spurred Taehyung further. He proceeded to slowly slip in another finger until he was using three to stretch Jimin’s tight entrance. Taehyung slowly pulled them out and pulled down the waistband of his boxers, slicking up his already rock hard length.

“Remember to breath.” Taehyung said softly, grasping Jimin’s hips. Jimin nodded, wrapping his arms around Taehyung's neck and lifting up his knees, inhaling as he took a shaky breath.

Taehyung pressed the tip of his length into Jimin’s hole, the smaller boy whimpering slightly at the pain, and let out a small moan as Taehyung moved as deep as he could. He let out a grunt as Jimin’s walls tightened around him, and every sound that Jimin let out made him shiver. This felt so different from every single other person he had done this with. It no longer was a meaningless one night stand. It didn’t feel so insignificant and hasty, it felt like making love.

“Fuck Jimin, you’re so tight…” Taehyung groaned as he slowly began to move, as Jimin started moaning.

“You’re beautiful, so beautiful kitten…” Taehyung whispered, reveling in the sounds that Jimin was making that should have been downright illegal. Taehyung began slowly picking up his pace, Jimin becoming more and more vocal as Taehyung went faster and faster because it just felt so unexpectedly good, the taller beginning to hit his sweet spot. Taehyung was so gentle and caring, treating Jimin with so much care, as though he was made of glass. Taehyung gently crashed his lips against Jimin’s soft and plush ones as they both began to reach their climax.

“A-ah~! T...Taetae, I’m- I…” Jimin moaned, as he grasped onto Taehyung even tighter than before, if that was even possible.

“Me too…” Taehyung grunted as he reached his fastest pace, hugging as close as possible.

Jimin came undone first, moaning as streaks of white began to paint both of their chests. Taehyung came close after, filling up Jimin with his seed while moaning and gently bit into Jimin’s shoulder.

They stayed like that for a bit, panting as they slowly came down from their high. Taehyung pressed a kiss gently to the small love mark on Jimin’s shoulder.

“Hey...you doing okay?” Taehyung asked.

“Y-yeah…” Jimin whimpered, hiding his face in Taehyung’s shoulder. Taehyung sighed and smiled.

“Let’s go clean up.” Taehyung lifted Jimin up bridal style and brought them to the washroom, starting a shower for them. They stayed in there for almost an hour, too preoccupied with enjoying each other’s company and possibly going for another round to worry about cleaning themselves (who knows really).

After they finally finished their shower, they were cuddling in big oversized sweaters on the bed while wrapped in many layers of fuzzy blankets before Taehyung remembered something.

“Oh! Right, I’ll be right back.” Taehyung got out of the bed and ran downstairs to his backpack, pulling out a small box with a copper emblem on the lid. Taehyung went back upstairs and plopped himself on the bed in front of Jimin, who was eyeing the box curiously.

“What’s this?” Jimin asked, blinking at the box and tilting his head cutely to the side.

“Here, open it. It’s for you. Well actually for us…” Taehyung said, scratching the back of his head. Jimin giggled and took the box out of Taehyung’s hands, gasping as he opened it and revealed its contents. Inside the small box was two rings. One was made of silver, many accents entwining towards one another to create the basic structure, and a small rose gold charm shaped like a butterfly embedded onto the top. The other ring was the same except it was made of bronze and had a silver charm that was shaped like a leaf.

“I um...realized that we didn’t have anything that we could really match with...and I know you don’t really have much jewelry, so I wanted to get us something.” Taehyung said, taking the silver ring out of the box and slipping onto Jimin’s ring finger, and took the bronze one for himself. “I-it’s less of a gift...and it’s more of a promise.” Taehyung said nervously, scratching the back of his head. “C-cuz um...I wanna be with you for as long as I can. Um….d-do you like i-“

Taehyung was shut up by Jimin happily tackling him with a kiss, landing on top of him in his lap and cheerfully wrapping his arms around the taller boy.

“Of course I like it stupid! I love it! You’re so sweet.” Jimin purred. “You know you didn’t have too. I’m just happy that you love me, you big cheesy idiot.” Jimin giggled. Taehyung sighed in relief and smiled back.

“I know, I know kitten. But admit it, you like it when I’m cheesy.” Taehyung drawled teasingly. Jimin rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless.

“You bet I do.” Jimin teased back.

“Promise?” Taehyung asked, kissing Jimin again. Jimin sighed contentedly and leaned into his embrace.

“I promise.”

•••

Chapter Text

• • •

6 years later~

Taehyung grumbled as the rays of sunshine peeked through the slightly ajar blinds and scorched his eyes. He got up at a sloth like speed and rubbed his face, ruffling his hair that somewhat resembled cactus. Slowly rolling out of bed, he stalked his way to the kitchen, the sound of tinkering pans and salt shakers already occupying the apartment. Taehyung zombie walked into the kitchen, smiling to himself as a short figure wearing a shirt that was definitely way to adorably big for him came into his vision.

“Morning Minie~” Taehyung drawled as he wrapped his arms around the smaller figure. Jimin giggled in reply, grasping one of Taehyung’s hands and rubbing it soothingly while simultaneously poking at whatever was on the stovetop.

“Good morning Taetae. Did you sleep okay?” Jimin asked, stirring around the kimchi stew in front of him.

“Mmf...I think I overworked myself last night.” Taehyung grumbled. His job as an upcoming CEO at his Heichan eomma’s video game company was surprisingly tiring. His mother had moved into the CEO position at the gaming company she worked at a few years ago, and when Taehyung expressed interest in possible taking over the company once she retired, she happily offered him a job as one of the executives at the headquarters in Seoul. When he and Jimin finished university, his mother wanted to prepare him for when he took over, which was probably the most tiresome thing he had ever done. Still, he loved his job. For someone so young, his paycheck was good and he was able to let his imagination and artistic ability thrive. Still, it was very tiresome, especially for someone his age, but he had Jimin to keep him sane.

They were both lucky enough to find universities that were in the same city. Jimin and Taehyung had already decided before they even left for university that finding schools in the same city and being able to live together would be the best situation. Thankfully, luck was on their side, as Taehyung was able to get into the Korean National University, one of the best universities in the world, and Jimin was able to get into the Chugye University Of arts, one of the most prestigious fine art schools on the planet. Both were located in Seoul so they were able to successfully keep a relationship and we also able to move out of their respective homes and live independently together. Taehyung had taken a major in Computer Programming and a design course to prepare for the video game company, and Jimin had taken a major in performance and dance. While Jimin was extremely intelligent and had multiple interests outside of dance, he ultimately still decided to follow that specific career path as in the end that was what he was most passionate about. Afterwards, he, Hoseok, and Jungkook opened a dance studio and had successful dance classes going. Jimin taught lyrical and Korean contemporary, Hoseok taught street dance, and Jungkook taught hip hop. Their business was on the rise and they already had many students and also a steady increase in them. Hoseok and Jungkook were even contemplating on moving to a bigger studio.

And most importantly, they got a place for themselves. It was a nice and cozy apartment a few minutes outside of downtown Seoul. It didn’t take long to drive to the studio or the headquarters, and there was a bus stop right outside of the building. The apartment wasn’t too big and it wasn’t too small, the perfect size for the two of them. It was warm and cozy and fitted the pair’s taste. They decorated it with warm colors and were able to make the best type of home out of it. They had a living room with a doorway on the side that led to a small kitchen with a small dining room and also a breakfast bar to divide the two rooms. On the other side there was a hallway that led down to their bedroom and also a bathroom.

“Well luckily for us it’s New Years, so we get the day off. Oh! And remember we’re meeting up with the others later for dinner and then the fireworks.” Jimin reminded him.

“Of course kitten.”

The rest of the morning was spent leisurely. Cuddling on the couch while watching some spinoff show, they used their rare day off just relaxing.

Taehyung was honestly super happy and relieved that the relationship was steady and was already as long as it was. He was desperately afraid of Jimin finding him inadequate since he was inexperienced in relationships that lasted longer than a week, so he tried his best, and it seemed to be going well.

He was originally kind of worried about their “honeymoon” phase coming to an end, but surprisingly it didn’t. Their friends commented on it playfully all the time saying that they acted as though they had just began dating because of how fresh and new they always seemed, like the exemplary couple in all the cheesy drama’s, and Taehyung couldn’t agree more. Taehyung didn’t get tired of Jimin. Sure, he got comfortable, but every time Jimin smiled, or hugged him, or laughed, or cried, or was just perfectly himself, Taehyung just ended up falling harder and harder for him. He was glad that he made the deal with Jimin a long time ago with the promise rings. The ones that guaranteed a long time together.

Only a long time.

But Taehyung wanted more. He wanted a forever.

He wanted them to be with Jimin for as long as he could until his last breath, and then to find a new life with him in the afterlife, if there really was one. He wanted to be there for him when Jimin fell apart when he cried until he laughed, and he wanted to be the one who made him laugh until he cried. He wanted to be there for all the highs and all the lows, whether it be when they were out together and Jimin was lit so prettily by the stars and the moon on their evening walks, or when they woke up to each other in the morning with the hair messy and their breaths reeking. He just wanted to be there with him. He didn’t care what it was, all that mattered was that they were together.

Taehyung had thought that finding a soulmate would be impossible. He thought that simply the idea of it would be almost impossible and would never come true, especially once he had entered high school. But Jimin had proved him oh so wrong. No one made Taehyung’s heart beat faster and made him blush like Jimin did. No one could make Taehyung smile and stare like Jimin did. No one could simply amount to the beauty, warmth, and love that Jimin possessed, and Taehyung’s odd dream of finding a soulmate finally came true.

Which was why there was currently a small black box resting in the left pocket of the coat he was planning on wearing tonight.

• • •

“Tae! Wake up, we gotta go.” Jimin said cheerfully, shaking Taehyung’s shoulders gently.

Taehyung opened his eyes blearily and blinked around. Jimin was looking at him with his signature eye smile already ready to go, dressed in a cute fluffy oversized sweater, glasses, and jeans.

“C’mon tiger. You gotta get ready. We need to leave in about 10 minutes.” Jimin said, pressing a kiss into his forehead and walking away towards the kitchen. Taehyung grumbled an acknowledgement and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and changed, throwing on his coat and grabbing his car keys. Jimin was already waiting at the door for him in his own coat as well.

“Let’s go.” Taehyung said, grasping Jimin’s hand and smiling down at him.

The couple left the building and drove to their favourite KBBQ places. They stepped out of the car and linked hands, and found Jin already with the others at a table, waving his arms madly at them to come over. Jungkook bounced over to them and gave them both a big squishy hug.

“Happy new yearrr!” Jungkook chirped happily, shaking Jimin slightly as he lifted the smaller while the two laughed and giggled like children.

“Happy new year guys! Glad you could come Joonie.” Jimin said cheerfully as he gave Namjoon a hug as well.

“Me too! I promised Jinnie-Hyung I would spend New Years with him as well, so I guess everything just worked out.” Namjoon replied. Jin giggled beside him. Namjoon had began studying overseas to pursue his dream for music composition and producing, and so far it had been going pretty good. He was able to establish good relationships over at his university because of his fluency in English and was still able to maintain his friendships with the others and still preserve his relationship with Jin. He wasn’t able to visit much apart from breaks, but it was still enough to keep him and Jin going.

The group ordered and began eating. The conversation between all of them flowed naturally, the words tumbling over one another through mouths full of food and slurred soju speech. The way they all talked with each other never really changed, happily shouting along with each other as though they were all children again. They laughed at Hobi’s animated storytelling and Yoongi’s grumbling, and how Jin smacked Namjoon’s hand away from the grill because dear god the poor guy had a tendency to set things on fire.

So essentially nothing had changed.

Dinner overall went pretty well. It was fun and normal, but still had that small sprinkle of anticipation. While Jimin remained oblivious, Jin and Jungkook noticed how Taehyung seemed to get more and more nervous throughout the night, and how he constantly pawed through his pocket as though he was checking for something. Jin gave him a questioning look but Taehyung just brushed it off and looked back towards the others. After they finished eating, they paid for the food and went to a karaoke place, one very similar to the karaoke where they all first met and became friends. They sang rowdily, belting out the notes and the lyrics to a random song as their words slurred slightly because of the soju.

Now came the big moment.

They stayed at the karaoke place until 30 minutes before midnight. The firework show would start at 12:00 am sharp and lasted for 15 minutes exactly above the Han river. The small group slowly meandered out of the karaoke place and out onto the broad walkway for pedestrians and people out for walks. There were already groups of people here and there. Some of them had brought barbecues with their entire families, while for others it was just one or two people or alone, sitting on their chairs and gazing up at the stars. The walkway had a road on one side bustling with parked cars and trees on the other, the thick foliage almost completely blocking view of the river. Their group slowly walked along the side, laughing and joking around with each other. After a while, they found the perfect spot to view the fireworks. Along the trees there was a small pathway hidden from the unsuspecting eye through the thick bushes and leaves, that led to a small meadow that overlooked the river and gave them a perfect view of the fireworks. Jin, Jimin, and Jungkook happily bounced up and down after finding the spot, and they all settled down. Hobi and Yoongi sat down on a fallen stump, Jin and Namjoon stood slightly to the side with the latter happily nuzzling into Jin, and Jungkook stood behind them. Which left Jimin and Taehyung standing in the very middle of the meadow. If the situation was stressful before, it was nerve wracking now. What if Taehyung did something wrong? What if he fell over when he kneeled down? What if he dropped the precious item into the water?

How could he properly ask Jimin...the question.

The one that decided the fate of the rest of their lives. The one that held so much significance, but was answered with just one word. The one that could make or break his heart.

So sue him for being stressed.

Seconds before the fireworks set off, the group starting counting down. Jungkook, Hobi, and Jin were all happily bouncing up and down for each second, and even Yoongi was having a hard time composing himself. They went from 5...4...3...2...1….

A loud streaking sound pierced through the air as the first firework exploded in the sky, colouring the already dark and empty sky with sunset colors and bright lights. Cheers and rallies could be heard not only from their small group, but also the people outside of the clearing. A row of fireworks followed shortly afterwards, marking the beginning of the show.

Taehyung stepped back slowly, just enough to make sure that Jimin wouldn’t notice him moving, but still giving him enough space to kneel.

“Jiminie?” Taehyung asked, reaching a hand into his pocket to prepare.

“Yeah?”

“Remember when we kind of first started dating, I gave you the promise rings and asked you to be with me for as long as we could?” Taehyung asked. Jimin giggled in reply.

“Yeah...I remember.” Jimin said quietly, lifting his hand slightly and smiling at the ring, his face illuminated by the multicoloured fireworks. “I remember really well.”

“It’s been five years since then.” Taehyung said tentatively. Jimin nodded, still facing the firework display.

“And...I might have been lying.” Taehyung murmured. Jimin turned around slowly, blinking slightly in confusion as his head tilted cutely to the side.

“Cause...I….” Taehyung started. He slowly fell, resting on one knee and bringing out the object he had hidden deep inside of his pocket. He lifted the small box out of his jacket and opened it, revealing a silver ring with sparkling diamonds adorning the sides and the top, the light refracting from them. Jimin’s eyes widened as he stepped back slightly, his breath quickening and slapping a hand over his mouth.

“I want to be with you...forever.” Taehyung said firmly. Jimin’s eyes began to tear up, the small beads that resembled crystals glistening and threatening to fall. “For as long as we’re alive and beyond that if it’s possible, and I want to be with you every single step of the way.”

“Jimin...” Taehyung asked, his voice wavering. This was it. “Will you marry me?”

This was where either his dreams came true and soared past the clouds or broke apart and fell. A single tear slowly traced down Jimin’s cheek. At this point, everyone in the clearing became dead silent. Hobi, Jin, and Jungkook were all excitedly freaking out while covering their mouths to be quiet, and the other two were having problems trying to keep their mouths from dropping. The whole world seemed to stop for a second, and Taehyung was almost afraid of Jimin rejecting him, but in the dead and still silence a small giggle pierced through the quiet, and Jimin lifted his hand off of his mouth and smiled the widest grin he had ever seen. He rushed over to Taehyung and tackled him in a hug, bringing them down to the ground with a small thump and crashing their lips together passionately.

“Yes! Yes! Yes I will! Of course I will you dork. You stupid, stupid idiot you made me cry!” Jimin cried out happily, placing little kisses all around Taehyung’s face as the two laughed with each other (and maybe crying, but that’s just a little detail that we can overlook).

“I love you. I love you so much.” Taehyung whispered quietly, gently kissing him one last time.

The rest of it all seemed to go by in a blur. Everyone jumped on them, burying them in hugs and deafening them with congratulations and best wishes. Taehyung put the ring on Jimin, they kissed once again, now with the small group applauding and cheering for them instead of just standing still in shock, and they continued watching the show with their hands interlaced. The tension in the air defused, cleansing the suffocating air and filling the empty spaces and holes with warm and fluffy clouds of feeling. Taehyung looked to the side and smiled, resting his gaze upon his now-turned husband. In his opinion, Jimin was more beautiful than any firework.

“Jimin?” Taehyung asked, gently grasping his partner’s smaller hand just a little tighter.

“Yeah?” Jimin replied, looking back at him, returning the smile.

“It’s forever now...right?” Taehyung asked, looking back at the fireworks. Jimin giggled and nodded, shifting his gaze back towards the display of light as well.

“Yeah…”

“Forever.”

•••