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To say jimin was ready for the idea of school would be wrong, hes terrified. Sure he loves his new big kid backpack, it has really pretty sparkles on it, and his mom got him a brand new pack of crayons with the promise of a really fun time. He even believed her, he was very excited at first.
Alas, that was before he found out he would be alone. He cried when his mom dropped him off into this class, and when she left he found a little corner with a beanbag chair and lots of books, some that he recognizes because his mom reads them to him for bed.
So here he has sat for what feels like forever as he calmed down; listening to the chatter of other kids, and the crying, he's glad he's not the only one who hates this.
"Hello!"
Jimin hears the young boy, but his eyes are trained on his scuffed little sneakers, his hands gripping tight to his too big backpack. He's scared, his mom isn't here and he's with a bunch of people he's never met before.
"Hey, I said hello!" Oh, he's the one being talked to. He looks up, has no choice but to meet eyes with the stranger. The stranger is smiling at him, all little teeth and boxy.
"Hello," Jimin's voice is small, shy in the face of all these new people in such a new place. The stranger smiles at him, big and wide.
"My name is Taehyung, im five years old, i like your shirt!"
Jimin can't help but look down at his shirt, it's brand new, his mom bought it specially just for today. He loves it because it has a kitty on it that looks like his kitty at home. He misses her right now.
"thank you, do you have a kitty?"
"Nope!" taehyung just grins and shakes his head, takes hold of his own bright red backpack straps, "I like you, wanna be friends?"
"um...okay," Jimin smiles a little, friends are good, his mom said he was going to make friends.
"Okay, we are gonna be best friends, what's your name best friend," Taehyung is determined, and Jimin finds it a little silly.
"Jimin, i'm five too-"
"What!? No way!" Taehyung is shocked by this, obviously not in tune with classmates usually being the same age, "together we make this many!"
He holds up both hands, little fingers spread out far.
"That's a lot," Jimin's eyes widen a bit, thats too many to count. His new friend must be really smart.
"Yeah! Do you want cookies? I got cookies!" He doesn't even get to answer before Taehyung is pulling off his backpack and dropping it in between them. He watches as his new best friend digs around in the mickey mouse backpack, he likes mickey mouse.
"You do have a kitty!" Jimin points, there's a stuffed cat in the bag, it's bright orange and it has cute stripes, he bets it's real soft.
"oh! Look it's Tigger!!" He pulls out the stuffed animal, presents it proudly to jimin, "He's friends with Winnie the Pooh, my mommy says im just like Tigger!"
Jimin doesn't know Winnie the Pooh, but he thinks he likes Tigger already.
"Can I hold him?"
"Yeah!" Taehyung practically shoves the tiger into jimin's hand, and he hugs it tight. It's just then that the nice lady that he met earlier, misses teacher, speaks up. She calls the kids to come sit on the circle rug in the front of the room, it's adorned with letters in bright colors.
Jimin smiles when he's pulled to the rug by the other, now excited by the idea of his new friend, his fear of being here alone already melting right away.
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Taehyungs practically bouncing off the walls when his mom informs him Jimin will be arriving soon. He's been waiting for this sleepover forever, his loves playing with his bestest friend!
Sometimes his mom will bring him to the park to play, or to the community pool, Jimin can do really cool tricks in the water, he makes a really pretty mermaid! They even went trick or treating together last year!
But today is his first sleepover, and he is overflowing with energy.
His mom just smiles as he chatters a mile a minute about all the fun they're gonna have, hes planned out about a million and one things for them to do. He is mid sentence about blanket forts when the doorbell to their little apartment rings, and Taehyung nearly falls out of his chair in his haste to answer it.
"Ah be careful!" His father clicks his tongue from where he's working on his computer, but it falls on deaf ears as Taehyungs already swinging open the front door just as his mom catches up to him
"Minnie!!!!"
"Taetae!!!!"
Taehyung waste no time dragging Jimin into a tight hug, practically vibrating from excitement.
"Come look at my room!!"
Just like that, the two mothers watch the youngest boy drag Jimin through the house, Jimin's things already forgotten as his mom hands them over. They have more important things to do, like how Taehyung is already showing Jimin his super duper really cool art desk and all his scented markers.
"And look, this ones my favorite," Taehyung picks up a red marker, "It's strawberry, do you kike strawberries?"
"I love strawberries," Jimin smiles, his eyes in little crescents. He loves his best friend, he's so excited to spend the night, and Taehyung says they have a lot of stuff to do.
Jimin watches and smiles with each scent Taehyung has him smell, and soon enough they get distracted coloring together, Jimin draws his kitty and Taehyung draws Jimin.
Taehyung gives Jimin pink hair, says he thinks bubblegum hair would be fun and Jimin should have it when he's big. Jimin agrees and wonders if he could actually make his hair smell like bubblegum too.
"What marker is your favorite Minnie?"
Jimin looks up from his paper, then thinks for a moment, his eyes falling to the markers scattered on the little art desk and the floor.
"I like that one," He points to the blue one, Taehyung's quick to pick it up and grin.
"I like blueberry too!" He opens the marker and starts adding blue stripes to his drawing of Jimin's shirt, his tongue sticks out a little as he tries to make the lines straight. When he's done, he closes the marker and holds it out, and Jimin takes it, a little confused.
"You can have that one!"
"Huh?" He looks at the marker in his hand and back to Taehyung, and his friend is still smiling, "I can...keep it?"
"Yeah!" He gives a nod.
"But then...what if you need to color something blue?"
"Oh," Taehyung seems to think over this, but then he just grins more, "You will just have to sleepover more so i can use it sometimes!"
"That would be fun," Jimin smiles, gets up to put the marker in his bag that Taehyung's mom brought into the room, "Thank you taetae, i love it!"
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Later that night is quiet, the boys made a blanket fort (with a lot of help from Taehyung's dad) and they're laying in it while the little tv in the livingroom plays my neighbor totoro, they're wrapped up in a messy nest of blankets and pillows. Taehyung seems to have worn himself out, thoroughly tired after all the stuff they did, his favorite being when his mom taught them how to play charades.
Taehyung is awesome at charades.
When they had the oh so healthy dinner of mac and cheese, Taehyung kept sticking the noodles to his face, effectively getting cheese all over himself and making a giant mess, but Jimin was giggling like a mad man and it made him feel super happy. He didn't even mind his dad sending him from the table to go clean himself up because he himself was still giggling.
Now though, he's cuddled up to Jimin, his tired eyes on the screen. He loves totoro but he's too tired to quote it like he normally does, his words more like incoherent mumbles than actual quotes.
Jimins sleepy too, his hand keeps clutching the fabric of Taehyung's paw patrol pajamas out of habit everytime he tries to wake himself up, they're both too excited to sleep, don't want the fun to end.
At some point, Taehyung laughs a little, and Jimin looks over to ask what's funny. Taehyung turns to him and points to his treasured Tigger stuffie that's tucked between them.
"If i'm Tigger like my mom says, you know what that means?"
"No?"
Taehyung laughs again and whispers loudly, naturally of course.
"You're Minnie the Pooh," and like that he burst into a fit of tired giggles
Jimin has to think for a moment before he too starts giggling, has to drop his head onto the pillow while he laughs along with his silly best friend.
As if that was the tipping point, it's not long after the two settle down from their laughing, they're out like little lights, and Taehyung's mother sneaks in to fix a blanket over them and turn off the tv. The two sleep peacefully throughout the night in eachothers arms, not a care in the world after such an amazing day.
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Taehyung sees them, the group of eighth graders, the boys that always tease his Jimin. They're gathered at some lockers no doubt belonging to one of the jerks, blocking a majority of the hallway as others try to get to class.
He doesn't like them.
They take Jimin's things and push him around, call him names and make him miserable. Middle school is already hard, with classes getting tougher and hormones turning their pre-teen brains into aggressive mush, it's like a warzone. Taehyung decides enough is enough, decides he's tired of them targeting Jimin, whether it be because hes small, or more 'girly' than he should be. That's his precious Jimin and he likes him just the way he is.
So naturally, he takes matters into his own hands.
Of course this lands him in the principal's office, with a bruised cheek and a torn blazer. The icing on the cake being the letter of suspension, a good three days from school as punishment for fighting. Taehyung holds it like a trophy, satisfied because those boys weren't expecting the scrawny seventh grader to pack such a punch.
Jimin isn't quite as excited.
When he finally sees Taehyung at the end of the day, the questions of why he wasn't in class die on his tongue when he sees his battered face and big grin.
"What happened to you?" He takes hold of Taehyung's chin, tilts his face down to get a better look. Taehyung just keeps on grinning and Jimin huffs, notes the torn sleeve of his uniform and then his lightly bruised knuckles. He gasped, grabs the offending hand and brings it up to inspect it.
"You got into a fight!?"
"Maybe," Taehyung's laugh is sheepish, but not the slightest bit regretful.
"With who!? Tae what the heck??" Jimin's a little shocked, he's never even seen his best friend hurt a fly, he couldn't have imagined him picking fights.
"I was sick of them being mean to you Minnie, I had to do something," He then pulls a crumpled envelope from his pocket, "and besides, look at this, i get three whole days off because of it!"
"three whole days-" he lightly smacks Taehyung's arm, his voice raised a little, "You picked a fight with the eighth graders!? Are you insane!?"
"Not insane, just a little stupid," His giggle is cheeky, not even slightly concerned with what the future holds.
"More than a little," Jimin huffs and takes Taehyung's hand to begin the walk home, "I can't believe you...they're gonna kill you!"
"You shoulda' seen them, I bet they won't mess with you anymore!" He gladly lets his best friend drag him along, still feeling the adrenaline of the fight, his head a little light with happiness. He knows he would gladly fight a million bullies a million times of it was for Jimin.
"Whatever...lets just hurry up, we need to ice your bruises."
When they reach Jimin's home, Taehyung gladly lets the older hold a pack of peas to his cheek while loudly complaining that he would have to go three days without Taehyung with him in class. Taehyung was giddy when he told Jimin he even called one of them a giant asshole, to which Jimin rolled his eyes and pressed the peas a tiny little bit harder, making him whine. He didn't even feel ashamed as his father lectured him not to get into fights that night when he went home, nor when his mother fixed his uniform with a stern reminder to be more careful with his nice clothes.
It was a good day to Taehyung, and he knows he did the right thing even if it put him in trouble.
🎁🎄🐯🐣🎄🎁
Taehyung is nervous.
Today is a special day, he's been planning and stressing over tonight for what feels like ages, and he couldn't turn to his best friend about it because well…it's about his best friend.
His love for Jimin has grown further than he really knows how to handle, and he has to do something about it. Thankfully, christmas break from school and leftover stress from exams gives him the perfect excuse to bring Jimin along to a fun day on the town. To help him shop for his family of course.
Hes currently holding Jimin's gloved hand, glad he can blame the blush of his cheeks to the nipping cold. Jimin's swinging their arms a little as they walk through the busy christmas market, his eyes trailing along all the stalls and food stands.
Jimin probably thinks this is just one of their usual days out, but Taehyung wants to hope it can be a little more; and as cheesy as it is to admit, wants to pretend santa will reward him for being nice this year. So, he walks with Jimin, his mind spinning with plans.
"You okay?"
"Huh- oh, yeah why," He gives Jimin a smile and a squeeze to his hand. Jimin smiles too and squeezes his hand back.
"Nothing, you just seem quiet is all," He swings their arms a bit more before stopping with a gasp, "Oh my gosh? Is that booth selling christmas sweaters?" Taehyung looks to where Jimin's pointing and squints a little before nodding.
"Looks like it, wanna go see what the have?"
"Most definitely!"
Today it's Jimin doing most the dragging, Taehyung is glad to follow him, his chest feels warm seeing jimin so happy.
He feels even warmer as Jimin holds different ugly sweaters up to Taehyung, giggling along with him as Jimin sees if he can find the ugliest one here.
"Aha!" Jimin lifts up a sweater, looking smugly proud, "This one is hideous!" Taehyung takes in the sweater, the way it's a patchwork of various patterns and colors, none of which go together.
"Is there even christmas in there?" He tilts his head as Jimin holds the sweater up in front of him before he deeply frowns, "...what?"
"This is so unfair," Jimin sighs and starts folding the sweater back up.
"What's unfair?"
"How can it be an ugly sweater when they all look good on you, honestly!"
Oh.
Taehyung feels his cheeks heat up, and he turns to grab up the sweater after Jimin just set it down with a huff.
"I dunno...it's uh...still ugly...should i get it?" Taehyung looks to Jimin, and he catches jimin bite his lip for a second before nodding.
"Pick an ugly one out for me too, i'm gonna go get us some hot chocolate okay?"
"Okay," Taehyung watches Jimin hurry off towards a drink stall they passed. He looks down at the sweater in his hands. Yeah, this thing is absolutely disgusting and he loves it.
He doesn't take long to pick a sweater for Jimin, he saw it when they came it. It has a cat on it with wild hair and those kind of buggy eyes, all against the crazy typical christmas patterns. He knows Jimin will love it.
It's when he's getting ready to pay that he spots a small stall selling jewelry next door, and he finds himself looking for Jimin, sees he's still in a bit of a line for their hot chocolate. Jimin likes jewelry, it won't hurt to look.
He hurries to pay for the sweaters, and sneaks away to the jewelry stall, his eyes already scanning over the rings. Jimin always has on a lot of rings, has ever since he discovered the fun of costume jewelry in freshman year. He knows he can't go wrong there.
he looks to the earrings too, sees some cute simple ones he things jimin would look nice wearing.
The stall owner eventually sees him browsing and steps up with a smile, and Taehyung smiles back before looking some more.
"Shopping for a special girl?" The old lady seems nice enough, Taehyung bites his lip and looks up to her, not sure what to say.
"For my best friend...do you have birthstones?"
The lady smiles and nods, gestures over to a small section towards the end.
Taehyung looks over the assortment, smiles when he sees a necklace, it's on a silver chain with a pink tourmaline gem on the charm, it's shaped like a little raindrop. It's simple but he loves it, already knows he wants it for Jimin. He always thought pink is such a pretty color on him. (He was so excited when jimin dyed his hair pink last summer, he was sad when he had to go back to black for school.)
After the kind lady hands over the bag containing the necklace, he turns, nearly yelps when he almost bumps into Jimin and his two hot chocolates.
"Whatcha doin?" Jimin smiles, eyes the little bag curiously.
"Oh- um-," He pockets the bag, blush rising to his face, "I got some earrings for my mom- uh…thank you for waiting in that line…" He takes his hot chocolate, and before thinking takes a big sip, causing him to sputter as it burns his mouth.
"Ah!? It's still hot be careful?" Jimin takes the hot chocolate from his hands as he coughs, his eyes wide.
"Yeah...I noticed, it's fine," He smiles a little, eyes watery, "Wanna go through the christmas lights walk now?"
"Oh yes, i read that they added a really pretty light tunnel at the end of this year, apparently really kiss worthy," Jimin hooks his arm through Taehyung's and starts leading the way.
Yeah...Taehyung knows about the tunnel, it really is supposed to be romantic. He didn't read the 'good for kissing' part though...
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"wow," Jimin gasps softly as they enter the park by the market, it's absolutely filled to the brim with such beautiful lights and decorations, "they've outdone themselves this year taetae." Taehyung nods as he takes a good look around.
"I brought my camera for pictures, what should we do first?"
"Oh! Did they put up the big sleigh this year?" Jimin stands on his tippy toes, trying to spot it amongst all the lights, "I want to take a picture in it together again!"
"Yeah, it's probably in the same place as last time," He starts to pull his camera from his backpack, has half a mind to be a little grateful it's not full of school work but instead two very ugly sweaters and a few other gifts they have gotten today for their family...and a necklace for Jimin.
They spend a lot of time in the park, making sure to see everything. Jimins laugh is like christmas bells to Taehyung, and his cheeks were rosy from the cold and it makes Jimin all the more cute.
Taehyung fills his camera with pictures, mostly of jimin but a lot of the two of them together as well. At this rate he's going to run out of wall space and have to buy a photo album, not that he minds.
It's growing colder as the night goes on, and to their joy it begins to snow as they get closer to the end. They're hands are clasped together like always, so cozy and perfect. At some point jimin started humming along to the christmas music they can still hear from the market. This turns into full blown karaoke between them in no time, and they're falling over each other laughing as they go.
But then they reach the tunnel of lights.
Taehyung's heart starts pounding hard, and he takes a deep breath and hurries along as Jimin seems to be eager to enter.
It's not a tunnel really, more of just a bunch of lit up archways all connected by gently blinking lights. Jimin runs a head a bit, throws out his arms with that big smile of his, a wordless request of 'take a picture!'.
Taehyungs quick to comply and brings the camera up, but when his camera shutters he doesn't lower it. He instead watches jimin through the lense, his heart aching as he watches jimin look up at the lights, his arms slowly lowering.
"It's so pretty isn't it?"
"Yeah…" He takes another picture.
Jimin looks to him and laughs softly before coming back to him, leading him to finally lower his camera.
"Jimin...i wanted to...say something…"
"hm?" Jimin's eyebrows raised a little, and Taehyung knows he has his full attention.
"it's just...i kind of lied…about why we went out today…"
"oh…how so?" Jimin nods a little, on of his gloved hands plays with the end of his scarf.
"I wanted to...tell you something that's been on my mind a lot and.." Oh gosh he's forgetting his words.
"You can tell me anything."
If taehyung wasn't so nervous, he would notice the odd little hope laced in Jimin's voice.
"I think...im…" He takes a deep breath, "I think I love-," before he can finish his sentence, a soft glove is on his cheek, freezing him in place.
"Tae…" Jimin's voice is soft, and Taehyung finally meets his eyes, can see the christmas lights twinkling in them.
"Yes?" He feels a little breathless, but it's a nice kinda feeling.
"Can I kiss you?"
"Yes."
So they kiss, it's soft and chast, and Taehyung thinks he might actually pass out now, but then Jimins pulling away a bit with that lovely smile that makes it increasingly harder for him to focus.
"Well…" His thumb rubs over Taehyung's cheek, "i think, i love you too."
🎁💜🐯🐣💜🎁
"What about this one!"
Jimin looks back, sees Taehyung leaning close to the bars, lets the dog on the other side lap at his face. He sighs.
"Tae...we can't get a big dog, we don't have the room…"
"Then let's move!" Taehyung isn't really listening, he's busy making kissy faces and trying to pet the excited light brown pit bull through the gate.
"I doubt anywhere we could afford would be large enough for a big dog…" Jimin walks over, his eyes drifting over the information on the dog's card, it's a young girl, she's been here a good while.
"Oh but she's so cute, look at her how could you say no to this face!"
Taehyung looks up to Jimin from where he's crouching, and as if on cue, the dog looks up to him as well, both smiling so big and wide. He can't help but sigh softly.
"We may not be able to get her but i bet Namjoon hyung could…Jungkook wants a dog and they have a big enough place…"
"Awwww she would love it with them, what do you think they will name her?" Taehyung looks back at the dog, returns to making kissy faces and baby talking, and the pit bull soaks it up like an overexcited little sponge.
"Weren't we here for our own dog?" Jimin laughs softly, endeared nonetheless.
"Minnie i want to just take them all, i wish i was rich," He whines softly before he stands, bids the girl goodbye and glances around, "How can we pick just one?"
"I wish we were rich too...come on," He takes Taehyung's hand, his index finger running over the band on Taehyung's ring finger out of habit, "The smaller dogs are this way."
"I'll get you out of there honey, I promise!" Taehyung stage whispers to the pitbull, she just wags her tail. They step further down the aisle, the shelter is very organized and clean, Jimin is pleased the dogs seem well cared for and loved here.
He's quiet as he watches Taehyung fall in love with each dog they pass, and it's clear he's struggling to not give all of them his undivided attention. He's busy trying to think of how long they're going to end up here deciding when taehyung gasps, it's kind of like a squeak and an 'awe' mixed together. Then he's being dragged and Jimin sees the dog that Taehyung couldn't resist.
"Jimin look he has eyebrows," And he is just gone, he sticks his fingers through the little cage bars and the black and tan Pomeranian puppy excitedly licks and bites at them, it's fluffy little tail wagging a mile a minute, "he looks like a soot sprite, oh my god look at him!"
"I'm looking, I'm looking," Jimin can't help but laugh, it's a tiny little dog, perfect for their equally tiny apartment. He glances to the information card, reads over the puppy's info as Taehyung baby talks to it, "We could get him, do you like him?"
"He has eyebrows," Taehyung replies, like it's the most obvious thing ever, "I would die for him Minnie."
Jimins a little surprised though when only a few minutes later, Taehyung decides this is the puppy he wants, and he's asking the shelter staff if they can play with the puppy a bit and get to know him. Barely after that Jimin is filling out paperwork while his husband holds the wiggly puppy in his arms. Then, as Taehyung insist, he writes Yeontan into the namespace, a big smile on his face.
🎁🐯🐶🐣🎁