Chapter Text
Jimin hadn’t known just how perfectly Taehyung would fit into his life when he decided to let the student move into his apartment. Of course, he had known that they would get on well since that was why he chose him as the best match out of everyone that applied to be his roommate. But he never would have imagined that their daily routine would fit together as well.
It was only a few weeks after Taehyung had moved in and the semester had started as well when Jimin noticed that the younger man wasn’t at their apartment when he came home late at night. Sometimes he wasn’t even back when Jimin had to get up again.
“Oh, I’m just at the art studio on campus,” Taehyung had replied once Jimin confronted him about it. “Sometimes I just forget to look at the time or fall asleep there.”
As much as Jimin could understand getting lost in your passion, he didn’t think that it was quite healthy for Taehyung to not sleep or to nap somewhere that wasn’t his bed. But as much as he complained to his roommate about it, nothing changed.
So Jimin decided to take matters into his own hands. The campus wasn’t quite on his way home from work but someone needed to pick that boy up and take him home, right? And who better to do that than his roommate himself.
You see, usually Jimin got up at 7 am to go to yoga and have breakfast afterwards since he didn’t have to be at Songpa Ballet Academy till 9 am. Since he graduated from SBA four years ago he taught classes of the lower grades. Before lunch he was in charge of the boys and in the afternoon it was the girls. While during the basic lessons – like science and languages – the students were divided by year and gender, ballet lessons were mainly divided into gender and lower, middle or upper grades. Jimin had always taught the youngest dancers, which meant ages 11 to 13. Thankfully students applying for the SBA had to undergo an evaluation so the academy could make sure that the children knew the basic ballet techniques, which meant Jimin didn’t have to start over every year.
He loved teaching, he really did. There was just something special about being able to bring out the best in his students. Additionally, he had the job of teaching the ‘fun lessons’ as the students always told him. While the other ballet teacher of his assigned grades taught the new and complex techniques – which he himself could remember was really tiring sometimes – Jimin was in charge of the quarterly showcase performances. Instead of harassing his students until they got their jumps and turns right, he had to teach them choreographies. It wasn’t easy, but it was truly more fun.
After classes were done he stayed at the SBA, meeting up with Jeongguk in one of the practice rooms. At this point in his life, Jeongguk could possibly be considered as his best friend. They had both gone to school at the SBA, and afterwards decided to stay there and teach classes (Jeongguk taught techniques to the middle grades). They hadn’t been extremely close during schooldays but being the youngest teachers brought them undeniably closer.
That was why they had their own private rehearsals – rehearsing for nothing in particular, really. They simply didn’t want to lose touch with their passion. So they practised. Sometimes they rehearsed solos, sometimes it was a pas de deux and if they were particularly inspired they choreographed something themselves. Currently, they were working on the male variation from La Halte de cavalerie which consisted of a lot of jumps that needed to be the exact same to look perfect.
The two dancers typically practised till they simply couldn’t anymore which most of the time ended up being around 11 pm. Which brings us right back to the present.
With a paper cup of semi-warm tea in his hand – which he had brought from the breakroom of the SBA – Jimin pushed open the doors of what he hoped to be the art building of the university. Since Jeongguk had visited his friend in the art department before he thankfully was able to explain Jimin where he probably would find his roommate. Finding the art studio in the building wasn’t very difficult since there were actually signs to guide you and once Jimin stepped into the huge room, it wasn’t hard to spot Taehyung with his mob of red hair.
“Hey,” Jimin greeted him quietly once he was close enough, as to not to disturb the other students working on their canvases and sculptures. Taehyung startled, dropping his paintbrush on his jeans.
“Uh, hi?” Confused, Taehyung grabbed the paper cup Jimin was handing him. “What are you doing here?”
“Since when are you here?”
“Umm, my last lecture ended at 4 pm, so since then I guess?”
Jimin laughed quietly. “Yeah, okay, I’m definitely taking you home.”
“But-“ Taehyung pouted at his roommate. “I just got here and I’m so in the zone and-“
“And it’s almost midnight. You’re coming home with me. You’re gonna end up here tomorrow for hours again anyway.” Jimin raised his eyebrows at Taehyung as if to challenge him to contradict him.
Taehyung sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.” Quietly he packed his art supplies into his backpack, before standing up to clean his brushes. A few minutes later the two young men left the art building. “Oh, thanks for the tea by the way. I brought some as well, but then I accidentally put my paintbrushes into it, thinking it was my mug of paint water so … yeah didn’t taste that good anymore.”
Jimin scoffed taking off his scarf and wrapping it around Taehyung’s neck. He couldn’t understand how his roommate could walk around in light clothing in autumn. “I’m like genuinely worried about your health, Tae.”
“Says you, the madman who gets up at 7 am every fucking morning,” Taehyung said, rolling his eyes.
“At least I have a job,” Jimin retorted.
Taehyung gasped theatrically. “How dare you? I will-”
❖
The first thing Jimin had noticed about the young man was that he was beautiful, like insanely beautiful.
“So … uh, what do you do for a living then? Beside university, I mean.” Jimin shot the young man on the other side of his dinner table a quizzical look. The redhead – who had introduced himself as “Kim Taehyung, art student” – was the last applicant for his empty room that Jimin would more or less interview that day. (He was also the last applicant of all time but Jimin didn’t know that quite yet.)
“Well, whenever I have the time I draw fanart of animes and sell that on the internet.” Taehyung shrugged.
Jimin raised an eyebrow. “And that pays the bills?”
“Uh.” Taehyung grimaced. “Not really, my parents pay most of my bills while I’m still studying.”
“So … you’re 24 but still studying, right?”
“Oh yeah, I was almost done with my criminology degree when I decided that I actually wanted to rather pursue a more artistic career.” Shaking his head, Taehyung giggled quietly. Jimin had to admit that the young man really was kind of (a lot) adorable. “So I got my criminology degree, so my parents wouldn’t worry, and now I’m majoring in arts.”
“Oh wow, I don’t think I’d have the courage to actually change career paths.” Jimin furrowed his brows. As far as he could remember he had always wanted to dance. There had been no moment, where he had thought to do anything else. And his parents had always encouraged him to do what he dreamed off. Even when he had injured himself. It was frightening to imagine waking up one day and suddenly not wanting to dance anymore. Taehyung really had to have a lot of courage.
“Jimin-ssi, I know this conversation is all about if you want me to move into your home, but can I ask you a few questions as well? It’d be a shame if we don’t get along, right?” Taehyung looked at the other man with wide hopeful eyes.
Jimin nodded immediately. “Yeah, of course, go ahead.”
“Okay, alright, what do you do then? For a living? And what do you like to do for fun?”
“I’m a teacher at the Sapang Ballet Academy and I’m very passionate about dancing in general. I spend a lot of time dancing so I don’t have much free time to do anything else. So when I do, I usually just do something lowkey, like watching movies or reading books,” Jimin explained, shrugging. It wasn’t much but he enjoyed his life the way it was right now.
Taehyung grinned, his mouth forming a box-shape. “That sounds like my kind of guy. I’m a really lowkey person myself. I mean, I can be a ball of energy but … anyway, you gotta let me watch you dance at some point because I love dancing. I’m not good at it, but I love watching people dance. And ballet? That’s really amazing you must be so ambitious then.”
“I guess, I am, yeah,” Jimin laughed. He had a feeling he and Taehyung would get along just fine.
❖
“And 5, 6, 7, 8! Yeri, stretch out your legs more!” Jimin said loudly, observing the group of girls practising the steps he had just taught them. He smiled when they finished the step sequence. “Try to stay a little longer in the arabesque at the end. And I know a lot of you are still wobbly during your turns after the grand jeté but don’t worry, you’ll feel into it the more we practise that.” Jimin took a quick glance at the clock hanging on the wall. “Though, I fear our time is almost over. Shall we run through the steps one more time?”
“Jimin-ssi, can we please practise lifts again?” Mina crossed her arms behind her back, pouting at her teacher. “Pretty please?”
“You guys just want me to lift you again, don’t you?” Jimin laughed when the girls either nodded eagerly or shook their head in denial. Since most of the boys in their grades weren’t strong enough to lift them up yet – their performances didn’t include lifts for that exact same reason – the girls always got excited at the thought of Jimin lifting them. He found it endearing. He was sure that some of the girls would start to dislike lifts, once they were integrated into a choreography. So he had no problem indulging the kids now, while it was still all fun and games.
“Will the shoulder sit do?” He joked lightly, motioning the girls to stand in a row. “Mina, you can be first. You know the drill, right?” The girl nodded as she went to stand in front of Jimin, her back facing him. “Make sure to tighten your core and not lean forward, okay? Don’t be scared, I won’t let you fall, you know that.” Jimin put his hands on her small waist. “Plié and up!” Huffing quietly, he lifted the girl up on his shoulder, took a few steps and then slowly put her down again. One after another he lifted the other students as well until the lesson was officially over.
When everyone had left, Jimin went to the breakroom to get the food he had already prepared at home. At lunch, he ate at the cafeteria with the other staff, but since he didn’t leave after classes were done, he needed another energy boost in the form of a meal. He reheated his kimchi stew in the microwave before sitting down and gobbling it up. When he was done eating, he got his bag and went to the practice room in which he usually met up with Jeongguk.
Today, Jimin’s best friend was already in the room, inhaling a cup of ramen while leaning against the wall of mirrors.
“You need to eat something else than ramen for once, Jeongguk,” Jimin laughed as he set down his bag and ruffled through the younger’s hair. Jeongguk could grow as old as he’d like but for Jimin he’d still be the little boy he used to know.
“Yes, hyungie,” Jeongguk teased his best friend and grinned at him with a mouth full of noodles.
Jimin plopped down next to him. “Ugh, you’re disgusting.”
The younger man giggled. “You know, if you want me to eat proper food, you’ll have to buy me dinner.”
“I know that and I will,” Jimin replied determinedly. “I just don’t understand how you can live off ramen and still be this muscle pig.” He pinched Jeongguk’s biceps teasingly. Looking at the young man, you’d normally never guess him to be a ballet dancer. He was muscular like a ballet dancer was supposed to be, but the tattoos scattered across Jeongguk’s skin weren’t necessarily screaming Swan Lake.
Nevertheless, he was handsome and Jimin liked to look at him. Yeah, that sounded properly a bit weird and creepy. No, scratch that. It definitely sounded weird and creepy. But Jimin couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to deny himself the right to look at beautiful people.
And Jeongguk, of course, wasn’t just a handsome face in his eyes. He was an amazing dancer as well. Jimin could watch Jeongguk dance for hours without getting bored. The younger man was just so damn talented and when he danced, he radiated all this strength and elegance and sheer passion. Jimin hoped that he looked just as graceful.
“Do you want to do the Sugar Plum pas de deux again today?” Jeongguk asked after he was done eating and had wiped his hands on his tight shorts – Jimin had wanted to hit him for that.
Over the last few years, the two best friends had practised that exact pas de deux a hundred times. And not only because it was one of the most famous ones, but because it was very close to their hearts. When they had still been in school, their class had decided to perform extracts of The Nutcracker and both Jimin and Jeongguk had been chosen to dance the part of the sugar plum prince. They had practised for hours and hours, till they couldn’t feel their limbs anymore – and they both had performed their best performance. Even after all those years, they still loved dancing it. The only difference now was that Jimin had to play the part of the sugar plum fairy – simply because Jeongguk was taller than him (yes, that was Jeongguk’s opinion and yes, they had bickered about it, but in the end, Jimin didn’t mind that much).
“Sure, let’s practise the lifts first though,” Jimin replied. The choreography included mainly turns, but there were a few lifts that they should practise before going through the whole choreography. “I’d start with the shoulder sit? It always seems like everything is a bit easier once we get that done perfectly.”
Jeongguk chuckled. “You’re just saying that because you like to be lifted.”
It was quite ironic that Jeongguk accused him of the same thing Jimin accused his students off. Maybe it was even more ironic because it was kind of true. Jimin didn’t like to be treated as if he was small and helpless but there was just something about Jeongguk hoisting him up with the pure strength of his arms. There was something about sitting on top of his shoulder but he didn’t know what – because it sure as hell wasn’t comfortable.
The shoulder sit in the Sugar Plum pas de deux was a bit more complicated than the one Jimin practised with his students though. Instead of being lifted by Jeongguk directly, the elder jumped onto his shoulder himself, having to make sure that he jumped correctly. After practising that precise lift a few times, Jeongguk quickly transitioned into the next step - the fish dive (which looked exactly as it sounded). Jeongguk wrapped one arm around his ribcage and the other one around one of his thighs and dipped them forwards. Instead of putting him down on his feet though, Jeongguk stayed in this position, forcing Jimin to keep arching his back, feeling like his face was getting closer and closer to the floor.
“I’d appreciate it, if you let me down,” Jimin huffed, slightly out of breath.
“Nah.” Jeongguk laughed and spun them around a few times. “This is how I used to hold my baby cousin. I think my mum called it ‘the airplane’.”
“Yeah, and just like that baby cousin, I will vomit if you don’t let me down.”
Jeongguk laughed but put Jimin down on his feet nevertheless. “Sometimes you really are a baby, hyungie.”
“Jeon Jeongguk, you can’t go to bed without a bottle of banana milk every night, so if I were you, I’d try showing some respect for my hyung.” Jimin hit the younger man square on the chest. “Seriously. How do I even put up with you?”
“Cause you love me, hyungie.” Jeongguk made a kissy noise.
The elder scoffed. “Yeah, whatever.”
❖
“Taehyung-ah,” Jimin whispered gently, as he approached the younger man sitting in front of his canvas on the floor. Surprised Taehyung looked up with widened eyes.
“Hyung? Is it close to midnight already?” he asked alarmed and sat up a bit straighter.
Jimin chuckled quietly and kneeled down next to his roommate. “No, it’s not even 10 pm yet. I finished early and thought I’d hang out with you for some time.” He placed a paper cup next to Taehyung’s canvas. “I would’ve brought you a coffee but you don’t like it, right? So it’s tea again.”
“You’re a saviour, hyung.” Taehyung smiled at Jimin brightly. “But I really need to finish this painting and I can’t concentrate when someone is watching over my shoulder.”
“Oh, no worries.” Jimin patted the younger’s shoulder gently. “I brought a book, I’ll just sit down over there.” The dancer bunched up his coat and put it on the floor a few metres away from Taehyung so he could sit down. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but he was able to rest his back against a table. Humming quietly he pulled his book out of his back and began reading it, while Taehyung went back to his painting.
After reading one chapter, Jimin glanced up from his book to look at his roommate. Taehyung was furrowing his brows in concentration, his tongue peeking out between his lips as he dipped his paintbrush into the paint water. When he leaned forward a strand of hair fell into his eyes. Huffing, Taehyung tried to blow it out of his field of vision before pushing it behind his ears with his fingers, leaving paint all over his face.
Jimin bit his lip to withhold a chuckle. It was fascinating to watch Taehyung work and be so in his own little world that he didn’t even know what time it was sometimes.
Even after only living together for a few weeks, both roommates agreed that they must have been some kind of soulmates in their last lives. Not only did their daily routines fit perfectly together but their personalities as well. Sometimes when Jimin picked up Taehyung from his art studio, the younger would immediately fall asleep on the couch, so he had to carry him to bed and tuck him in. On the other hand, Taehyung always got up early so they could have breakfast together, even though his classes didn’t start until 10 am. Whenever Jimin mentioned he needed something from the grocery store, it would magically appear on their kitchen counter and whenever Taehyung couldn’t sleep he simply sneaked into the elder’s bed.
“Earth to Jimin hyung? You still with me?” Jimin blinked rapidly to pull himself out of his thoughts. Taehyung grinned at him cheekily, probably having noticed Jimin’s stare. “You kind of spaced out there, didn’t you?”
“Uh, yeah.” Jimin chuckled quietly and shuffled over to Taehyung and his canvas. “What are you painting?”
“Well, I’m painting purple without actually using the colour, you see?” Taehyung pointed to different parts of his painting. “This is the feeling of silk on your skin and this is lying awake at night and thinking about your life, for example.” To be completely honest, Jimin wasn’t good with art – or well, abstract art in particular. He saw shapes and colours, but he couldn’t really feel into them and understand them as Taehyung did. Jeongguk could talk for hours about art as well, but Jimin … maybe there was something like art-blindness.
“Wow, I don’t know much about art but this is really amazing.” Jimin let his eyes trace over the different paint strokes on the canvas. “You’re so talented.”
“You’ve barely seen any of my works, hyung,” Taehyung mumbled, flustered.
“I’ve seen enough to know how good you are, you dork.” Giggling Jimin pushed the younger man gently. “I’m gonna let you get back to work.”
“I’ll be done soon, so we can go home,” Taehyung reassured his roommate and smiled at him gently. Soon turned out to be three hours later but Jimin didn’t mind. He spent the time almost finishing his book and watching Taehyung paint every once in a while.
That night Taehyung again crawled into his hyung’s bed and as Jimin wrapped his arms around his roommate, burying his nose in the younger’s dyed red hair, he tried to ignore the tingling in his bones. Because, of course, he knew what it meant. He knew what he was falling into.
But he was in love with his best friend.
❖
When Jimin first saw Jeongguk, he was just a scrawny little boy on his first day at SBA. Truthfully, Jimin had never really paid much attention to him so he couldn’t say more. He couldn’t tell you how Jeongguk actually managed to fall twice during his first technique lesson or how his maths teacher had called him Jeongsoo for three whole weeks because the boy had been too shy to tell her that she had read his name wrong the first time. He couldn’t tell you because he didn’t talk to Jeongguk back then. (Well, technically he could tell you now because his best friend had told him, but that’s just a tiny little detail.)
The first time Jimin truly saw Jeongguk was ironically shortly before everything went to shit. Don’t get him wrong, he had known that the younger boy existed. After all, they went to the same school and had some classes together sometimes. He just wouldn’t have been able to tell you what his name was. When Jimin was 16 almost 17, though, he began to see Jeongguk for real. For his last quarterly performance in the middle grades, Jimin had specifically snatched himself a part with a lot of jumps and leaps since over the years he had perfected that skill. As Jeongguk had gotten a similar part, they both found themselves practising after school had ended and their classmates had gone home. During that practise time they bonded and honestly, if nothing would’ve changed they probably would’ve become best friends in a matter of weeks. But something did happen. One week later, during a lesson one of their classmates bumped into Jimin as he was practising a leap, sending him to the ground and shattering his knee.
At first, Jimin had thought the injury couldn’t have been too bad … well, maybe his knee had made a ‘pop’ sound, maybe it had hurt like a bitch and maybe his knee had swelled … but still, couldn’t be bad, right? When Jimin’s best friend Hoseok finally dragged him to the hospital a few days later though it had turned out that it wasn’t “nothing” but an “anterior cruciate ligament injury” and that Jimin needed surgery.
It was at that point that Jimin had wanted to plan his funeral. You see, of course, he still would’ve been able to go to school, to his basic lessons. But he needed the ballet lessons to pass a grade. The SBA had pitied him enough to let him get into the upper grades but what use would it be if he wasn’t able to graduate with the state of his knee? So he basically dropped out of school – not officially of course, since he planned to come back once his knee was fully healed. It really had been weird being able to focus all his time on getting better and not go to school. Technically, it should’ve only taken him one year to recover at most. But, you see, Jimin was a bit stubborn. So when his physical therapist had given him limits as to how far he should push himself … he ignored it and pushed himself further which , of course, didn’t speed up his recovery process.
So yeah, Jimin was a dumbass and paid for it. Only after two years, he had managed to get himself to the level he was before his injury.
When he came back to school all of his friends had already graduated and honestly, Jimin felt like at the very first school day all over again. He knew the school in and out. But it wasn’t the same without his friends. He had felt terrible the night before his first day back but in the end, it didn’t turn out that bad after all. For a reason unknown to him, Jeongguk sat next to Jimin in each of their basic lessons. Of course, Jimin hadn’t forgotten who Jeongguk was, nevertheless, he was still surprised about the younger’s act of kindness.
After one week Jimin admitted to himself that he was grateful for Jeongguk following him around like a lost puppy and sitting with him at lunch. After three weeks Jimin considered that ‘puppy’ his best friend. There was just something about spending time with Jeon Jeongguk. They would spend hours practising together or go watch a movie or get bubble tea together. First Jimin had thought Jeongguk to be some kind of emo boy – don’t judge him, the younger’s clothes and hair seemed to scream ‘emo’ – but truthfully he was just a cheery, enthusiastic young boy who loved to tease his hyung about his height.
Jimin couldn’t remember falling in love with Jeongguk. Or well he couldn’t remember the process of falling more like. One day, after they had already graduated, Jimin had entered their practice room, had found the younger man with his cheeks full of ramen and he had just known. Jeongguk had grinned at him cheekily, half of the noodles falling out of his mouth and Jimin had known he was in love. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t confused by his own feelings, though. He wasn’t very confused about why he had developed feelings – Jeongguk was an amazing person, everyone could fall for him – but he was confused about what he should do about it. More than anything he valued the friendship he had with Jeongguk. He wouldn’t risk that for the life of him. So when it came to deciding whether he should act on his feelings or not, he chose to keep his mouth shut.
Truthfully, he had expected the feelings to fade after some time. Instead, his love just grew stronger. But so did his obligation of swallowing down his feelings. The more he realised he loved Jeongguk, the more he felt like he should never speak about it to his best friend.
Maybe he had to someday if his feelings didn’t disappear. But that was a problem for future Jimin.
❖
“Minnie, you look like a piece of shit,” Hoseok said, as he plopped down on the chair opposite of Jimin. It was a Saturday evening, so the restaurant was bustling and Jimin was really glad that he had remembered to get a reservation.
“Gee, thanks, appreciate your honesty.” Jimin sighed and poured himself another glass of soju.
“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Hoseok shot his friend a worried look. “Is school being stressful again?”
“No, that’s not it. I just … I don’t know what’s going on.” Jimin downed the soju shot he had poured himself, before continuing. “I already told you about my new roommate, right? Taehyung?”
“Yes, of course, I think you’ve spent hours telling me how amazing he is.” Hoseok shook his head, laughing. “You think, he's your soulmate.”
Jimin nodded. “He really is. But … I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with him.”
Hoseok paused, watching his friend and trying to figure out what to say. They had known each other since they both started going to the SBA and had been best friends ever since. Nevertheless they had never had quite the same relationship Jimin had with Jeongguk – and of course, Hoseok knew the reason why.
“Minnie, but that’s not bad, is it? Love is something beautiful. And doesn’t that mean you’re getting over Jeongguk?”
“Hyung, I’m not getting over anyone,” Jimin whined. When a waitress came to their table, they politely ordered, before the younger man started whining once again. “Every day at work I want to kiss Jeongguk and when I get back home, I just want Taehyung to kiss me. It just never stops. I keep falling for my friends. I’m in an endless circle of unrequited love.”
“Well, maybe it is time to get over Jeongguk? Some famous dude once said ‘when you love two persons, choose the second one because if you truly loved the first one, you wouldn’t fall for the second one’.”
“That is just complete bullshit.” Jimin scoffed and poured himself a new glass of soju. When he saw there were only a few sips left in the bottle, he placed his lips on the bottle and emptied it. “You know how much I love Jeongguk. I don’t love him any less, now that Taehyung is in the picture too.”
“But maybe you have a chance with Taehyung? Does he like boys?” Hoseok raised an eyebrow.
“He’s bi.”
“See, just talk to him. Try to give him hints on your feelings. If he's really your soulmate, he won’t stop being your friend even if he doesn’t love you back,” Hoseok said and tried to give his friend a reassuring smile.
“Hyung, if I was able to talk about my feelings properly, I’d have confessed to Jeongguk years ago.”
“God, Minnie, what do you want me to tell you? You have to choose one of them and try to confess. Or confess to both, I don’t know.”
“Or I could-“
“If you say, you could ignore your feelings to both of them, I will end you.” Hoseok let out a deep sigh when Jimin only pouted at him. “Seriously. I can’t stand seeing you torturing yourself. You can’t keep your feelings hidden. If you get hurt, it’ll hurt but you’ll learn from it. We need to hurt if we wanna grow.”
“Easy for you to say.” Jimin huffed quietly. “You and Yoongi hyung were on the same page from the first moment on. You didn’t need to be scared of losing him as a friend.”
“Jimin, now you’re acting as if I didn’t get hurt before Yoongi. You know, I got hurt a few times. I know, you know, because you were there every second of the way, always offering me a shoulder to cry on.” Hoseok reached over the table to squeeze Jimin’s shoulder. “And if you want to compare your love life to mine … Don’t lose your hope, yeah? You saw how I ended up with the right person in the end. I had to go through some shit for that. Maybe Jeongguk isn't the right person for you, maybe Taehyung isn't either. But you’ll find your person.”
Jimin stayed silent as the waitress brought them their bowls of rice and the meat to put on the grill. Hoseok could feel his heart breaking, as he saw how shitty his friend really felt.
“How could I possibly choose between them?” Jimin whispered quietly.
“I don’t know, Minnie. If you close your eyes, who do you see? If you imagine the future if you imagine coming home from a hard day of work, who is waiting for you in your house?”
Jimin closed his eyes, imagining what his future would look like. He imagined dragging himself to his sofa where a pair of strong arms immediately wrapped themselves around him. “Jeongguk, I think.” The second the words left his mouth, he noticed that Taehyung was there as well, painting on the living room floor. Jimin sighed. “This is not working, I just see them both.”
“You could just flip a coin then.”
Jimin snorted. “You're so funny today, hyung.” He grabbed his pair of chopsticks and put a few pieces of pork onto the already hot grill. “Let’s talk about you. How are you?”
“I’m good.” Hoseok nodded to himself. “A bit stressed, but aren’t I always?” While Jimin had decided to stay and become a teacher at the SBA, since he couldn’t strain his knee too much without it starting to hurt, Hoseok had scored himself a job as a dancer at the Seoul Arts Center Opera House.
“I read you're gonna start performing Swan Lake in a few weeks? That’s so amazing, hyung! I’m definitely gonna drop by and watch you perform.” Jimin grinned at his best friend.
“It is amazing, but also stressful as fuck. You know, because we’re practising swan lake during the day and then perform another ballet in the evening. I live in the constant fear of forgetting my steps.” Hoseok sighed. “Yesterday I got pissed at Yoongi again. For no reason, really. Just because I was so stressed.”
“Hyung, he's been with you for years. He knows how you get when work stresses you, he won’t hold a grudge, I'm sure.” Jimin placed a piece of meat on Hoseok’s rice to cheer him up.
Smiling Hoseok took a bite of his food. “I know, I guess it’s just more intense now that we live together.”
Jimin pouted. “Yeah, I miss you in the apartment.”
The elder snorted. “I thought, you loved having Taehyung as a roommate?”
“I do!” Jimin exclaimed before pouting again. “But I still make two cups of coffee sometimes because I forget you're not there to drink it. Then I always have to drink them both because Tae doesn’t like coffee.”
“Oh, poor you.”