Work Text:
we were each other's karma.
none of them knew how or when it startedㅡthe fights, the endless bickering, the silent treatment, the fallout. all they know is that the one situation they're facing right now is something they never thought they'd be in.
yoongi and jimin met at work four years ago. anybody could say that them meeting each other was a blessing in disguise. it seems that it happened at the right time with the right person. jimin just got out of a slightly abusive relationship which lasted for a year, and yoongi was just starting a new and brighter phase in life.
yoongi, after 6 months of living passively, got accepted to a job he never thought he'd be working at--as a customer support employee. he knew very well that it was out of his character to be working in this field but he had no choice and he needed it. no other company would accept him with his experience, and this is the only one who took the risk. so when yoongi got the job, he wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary. he just wanted to start anew, and that means picking himself up from where he had been trashed. he only had one goal and that was to save up money and have enough to pay off bills.
little did he know that he would meet park jimin, a person who had an entirely different character than him, and who was one of the top agents in their workplace. while on probation, jimin was assigned to train their team and though there was something about him that ticks off yoongi, he couldn't deny how stunning and weirdly attracted he is to jimin.
the teasing came later on when the thought of finding the trainer cute since the first day they met slipped up to his group of friends. so when jimin passes by on their bay, yoongi's friends don't miss taking the opportunity to call out and greet him. and when jimin comes to check up on them, yoongi's friends don't waste the time by chit chatting and would always make sure that yoongi is mentioned in every possible way. or when jimin passes by looking preoccupied, his friends would cough loud enough to get his attention until they get to say, "hi, yoongi" with implied looks on their faces. and yoongi always found it endearing when jimin's face lights up by that, and he smiles turning his eyes a crescent moon and greets him, "hello, yoongi." so then one day, it was no surprise for yoongi when his dumb friends made sure he and jimin would interact more by asking their team leader for jimin to assist yoongi personally as it was no secret that he was having a hard time coping up at work.
unbeknownst to him, jimin was also being teased by his team because it has come to their attention (with the help of yoongi's friends) that he has an admirer. so when jimin passes by yoongi's bay with that new knowledge in mind, he turns beet red after greeting them and would unconsciously and with undying denial look for the guy named min yoongi. he knows him, though. he remembers. especially the way the guy looked away that one time during training when he got closer to explain things. and the way he would always catch yoongi looking at him when he roams his eyes around the office. and the way yoongi starts to greet him shyly at first until the smiles come and it feels like they've been a little closer. although he can't deny the fact that he was intimidated the first time they met, especially whenever he looks at jimin with such cold eyes. but he later on sees the way yoongi lights up with his gummy smile and he loves it.
after weeks of such interactions, yoongi would later find himself looking at jimin's tweets and he would reply to them. a few days later, they would be exchanging numbers. then comes the late night talks, the sharing of stories they never told anyone else before, the sweet 'good morning' and 'good night' texts, the calls until they realize they only have a few hours left and they go back to work again, and the plans of meeting up and going on dates.
the first time they went on a date, yoongi was late. he planned to be there an hour earlier but the traffic was bad and honestly speaking, he couldn't sleep well that night because he was excited and nervous to finally meet the park jimin and spend a whole day with him. but when he arrived at the park where jimin was waiting, he just smiled at him and assured him that it was okay. yoongi never forgets that moment. he clearly remembers the way the sun was shining brightly and the sweat on his skin was itchy. the way the wind blew lightly and the leaves of the tree fell perfectly to feature the wide smile offered by the other. and he never forgets how he continuously says sorry for being late and jimin would just brush him off by laughing. "you're cute," jimin would always tell him. and he never forgets how he took jimin's hand that day and how he relaxes when the other intertwines their fingers. they never let go of each other's hand, and guess it all started there. the first time of being with jimin, and everything feels like they've already known each other for years. it was perfect, and it was the happiest day of his life so far.
numerous dates followed until yoongi finally had the guts to ask jimin to be his boyfriend. on their dates, they would go to parks and take photos of the sky. or they would simply decide to watch a recently released movie with popcorn and soda, and annoyingly have a discourse about the film so they would later on find themselves asking what it was about. or they would just eat at a restaurant or order McDonalds for take out. or they would go to the seaside and spend whole hours just talking about random stuff or more stories about themselves. or they would try to learn new things together, travel to places they've never been before. yoongi loved every part of it.
after a year in the relationship, they decided to live together. they rented a small apartment a few blocks away from work, and though they have different schedules, jimin never misses a day of waking up early in order to make yoongi a cup of coffee. and even though yoongi goes home earlier than jimin, he would always make sure to wait for him so they can eat dinner together and sleep. while living together, yoongi learned a lot about jimin more than before. he learned that jimin loved to read so he makes a mental note of arranging a bookshelf for him. jimin with his bubbly character hated summer and yoongi would always laugh because jimin would be in a very bad mood whenever the weather's hot. there were a lot of new things to learn from each other everyday. living with jimin makes him look forward to the future, and so they started to make plans for it. they grew into each other so much that whatever jimin does yoongi also does and vice versa.
now, in their third year of being together, there may be one truth that they may have collectively forgotten, or chose to forget, or chose to deny.
change is the only constant thing in this world, as people would always quote.
maybe they weren't ready for it. maybe they always thought that it was fine as long as they loved each other. so when jimin becomes an official trainer, they find themselves losing time with each other, but it was okay. "i will make time," jimin would reassure him. and when yoongi starts working on his art for a part-time job, they grew further apart, but it was okay. they were still okay. "we will make time," it's his turn to say this time.
but in the course of time, the amount of things they fight about pile up. they would bicker at each other for complaining about little things. jimin comes home one day with a new book and yoongi tells him not to use his card next time, so jimin gets mad about something yoongi did a few days ago which they thought was already resolved. and then, yoongi would stay up late at some nights to finish commissions or pending projects and jimin would get irritated because he can't sleep with the lights on and they'd later on be bickering at each other for being insensitive. it continued for a few more months, until yoongi lost the energy to fight back whenever jimin would get mad at him for something. and when jimin observed how yoongi is trying to avoid confronting him about matters anymore, he also shuts up and gives him the silent treatment. waiting for yoongi to finally be the one to approach him not knowing that the other was also waiting for him.
they don't remember the last time they said 'i love you' to each other. or the last time they had greeted each other in the morning and wait for each other in the evening. or the last time they ate a meal together. most days, jimin goes home late and wakes up early for work. on his day off, jimin would read a book or pick up a new hobby and that would be it. yoongi accepted more projects and the only chore he was able to do everyday was cook meals for the both of them. when he takes a 15-minute break, he would check if jimin had already eaten and that was it.
it went on for a few more months, until it hit them that everything was falling apart.
"do you still love me?" jimin found himself sobbing one night and yoongi looked at him with a pained expression on his face. when was the last time he saw jimin smile and his eyes turn into a crescent moon? when was the last time jimin actually cried in front of him? or the last time he had a talk with him?
yoongi dropped everything he was doing at that moment, panic coursing through his body. he immediately went to jimin's side and carefully hugged him. "shhh, what makes you ask that, peaches?" yoongi knows it was a dumb question. he knows jimin had a right to ask him that after all that's been happening.
"do you still love me, yoongi?" jimin does not stop crying and he's now shaking under yoongi's tight hug. he feels helpless. looks fragile. and yoongi felt a tight knot on his chest because he couldn't bear the thought of jimin feeling that way.
"i do, jimin. i still love you the way i do." the sobs grew louder.
"then, what is going on?"
yoongi collected his thoughts. there was a surge of emotions within him now that he's hugging jimin after what felt like forever. it seemed foreign. what was their everyday routine for the past three years suddenly felt foreign. when did it start? how did it start? he doesn't know.
"i'm sorry, peaches." peaches. the nickname he gave jimin when he found out that he liked peach and yoongi teased him for a while about it because yoongi hated it.
"i love you so much... i'm so sorry for whatever i did." jimin is still shaking on his touch, so he makes him sit up on the bed. yoongi cups his cheeks and wipes away the tears in jimin's eyes. "yoongi..." jimin. his precious jimin. he kisses his forehead. down to jimin's nose. and he looks him in the eyes.
"calm down. we're going to talk about this. but you have to calm down first, okay?" jimin nodded. "i'm just gonna get you a glass of water. wait for me, okay?"
when yoongi came back, jimin was now calmly sitting on the bed with his back on the headboard. he looks up at yoongi with swollen eyes from crying and smiles endearingly at him. so yoongi smiles his gummy smile, suppressing the tears fighting to make their way out of his eyeballs. jimin drank the water, and they've gone silent for a moment. yoongi was looking at him, waiting for him to speak up. meanwhile, jimin stares into the blanket aiming to collect his thoughts. wanting to feel yoongi again.
"we should've talked about this." jimin spoke up. "remember when we always used to talk about simple matters? i missed that, yoongi. it was one of the reasons i love you, you know. you knew how important it is to communicate with each other. i'm sorry if i lost that. i'm sorry for losing you just because i couldn't bring myself to speak up."
"hey, it's okay. i understood." he looked at his worktable. "you're not the only one at fault. things changed from the way we planned. i didn't think i would take a part-time job like this, and i was so focused on saving up for us. i wanted us to be able to buy a house, and i wanted to be able to propose before a certain age. because i was so focused on these things, i lost track of you. and i'm sorry too."
yoongi jolted when he felt jimin's hand on his. he looked back at him and they both smiled at each other. "i’m really sorry, jimin. we said we will always make time for each other--i did say that a lot--but we’ve come at this point because of me.”
jimin cupped his cheeks and squished it. “my yoongi, my love… you also said a while ago that i’m not the only one at fault here, right? so it’s not just on you too. we both became busy and it was petty of me and really childish to give you the silent treatment, because i was waiting for you to come to me when you’ve always been the one who does when we have fights. and i’m really sorry about that. i promise to learn from my mistakes.”
“as you always do, peaches. and i will too.” yoongi missed the way jimin's eyes sparkled before it turned into a crescent moon when he smiled. he misses the way jimin holds him, and the way he holds jimin close. he misses jimin. “i love you, jimin.” he holds him dearly and for a quick moment leaves a kiss on jimin’s lips.
“i love you, min yoongi.” and they stay like that, cupping each other’s cheek while giggling softly because of the tears in their eyes.
when yoongi woke up, jimin had already finished cooking breakfast and was now preparing his coffee. “baby, remember when tae was talking about karma a few days ago?” jimin said as he left a peck on yoongi’s cheek to greet him on a good morning.
he sipped on the coffee jimin prepared. oh, how he missed this. he thought for a moment and remembered how tae was educating them about karma when the group met up for a quarterly outing (which was also made a tradition by kim taehyung). “yeah, what about it?”
“nothing, i just thought that maybe we were each other’s karma.”
yoongi raised his eyebrow and made a disapproving look. “what do you mean?”
“we both suffered a lot in the past, right? we had people who made us suffer, and then we met. so we're good karma for each other.”
yoongi laughed at what jimin said. “i don’t think that’s how it works, jimin.” and when jimin pouted, yoongi kissed him tenderly on his lips. “but if that’s what you believe, then okay. maybe we are.”
jimin squished yoongi's cheeks before he smiled the sweetest smile. “i know that. i'm gonna tell tae you believe in me. i love you.”
yoongi kept laughing. he will never get tired of living and being with jimin--the love of his life. his jimin, his good karma.
- end -