Work Text:
“What do you mean you won’t be back for another two days?” Jimin whined into the phone.
“Jiminie, my mom wants us to spend as much time as we can. We don’t get breaks in our schedules like this often,” Taehyung reasoned with his best friend.
“I’m so lonely,” Jimin complained, plopping himself down on the living room couch. “Plus, the dorms are eerie when the rest of you are gone. It’s too big a space for just me.”
“Sorry, my little honey bunny boo.”
“Ew, I hate that.”
“Hmm, I’ll keep trying then. I want to find the perfect term of endearment for each of you. Jungkook was over the moon about ‘sweetie pie’ and I even got Yoongi-hyung to accept ‘kitty cat.’ Isn’t that awesome?”
Jimin just laughed fondly at his friend’s odd exploits. Unfortunately, it made him miss his soulmate even more.
“I’m still working on Hoseok-hyung and Jin-hyung. Oh, and I guess you too since you’re being so difficult.”
“Use honey bunny boo for one of them then!”
“Not a bad idea,” Taehyung mused, serious as he always was about whatever task he chose to invest himself in.
“Wait, what are you using for Namjoon-hyung?” Jimin asked curiously.
“Dimple bear.”
“Oh my god.”
“You love it, don’t lie. If you decide to stop pining and get off your ass to tell hyung the truth I’ll even let you steal it.”
Jimin groaned, sinking into the couch cushion at the reminder of his unrequited love. It seemed like Jimin had been yearning for his leader from the start of time.
“Tae, I’ve told you that I can’t.”
“But, the worst thing he can say is that he only sees you as a friend or a dongsaeng.”
“That is crushing!”
“It would hurt like a bitch, but you would gain closure and move on. You’ve had a total of two relationships in eight years and they turned out terribly with you--and me--loathing the guys.”
“Can you not lay out all my romantic failures right now? I’m already sad,” Jimin pouted.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Jiminie. If I were there I would order chicken and beer from your favorite place and we could do face masks and Disney movies. I promise we’ll do that as soon as I get home.”
“You better, Kim Taehyung,” Jimin sighed.
“Why don’t you indulge in some Disney magic to pass the time? You should even order in. I’m sure you haven’t had dinner yet.”
“Ugh, you know me too well.”
“Soulmate, remember?”
“I could never forget,” Jimin grinned. “I’ll see you soon, Tae Tae.”
“Ciao, my little tiramisu.”
“No,” Jimin said dryly.
“I’ll keep trying,” Taehyung snickered, hanging up.
Jimin heaved a heavy long-suffering sigh before dragging himself off the couch. He was pretty sure Jin had saved a bottle of wine from one of their last birthday celebrations. If there was wine Jimin would order from the tiny French bistro he had discovered on one of he and Namjoon’s shared nights of wanderlust. Locating the bottle with a triumphant shout, Jimin ordered his usual on the food delivery application and returned to his spot on the couch.
Jimin had already made a list of the Disney movies he would watch. He frowned when he realized they were all inherently love stories.
The Little Mermaid. Aladdin. Tarzan.
“Just what I need right now,” Jimin muttered bitterly. “Examples of what I don’t have and will never have.”
Jimin, unlike Taehyung, didn’t think Namjoon could ever see him as a romantic partner. The blonde vocalist stubbornly believed Namjoon was too mature, too much of a genius, and too handsome for Jimin. What could Jimin offer in a relationship? Clinginess and neurosis with a dash of neediness? Yeah, super attractive.
Lost in his pessimistic train of thought, Jimin almost didn’t hear the doorbell. Thankfully, the ringing of his cell phone alerted him to the fact that his food had arrived. After receiving his food and bowing gratefully to the speedy delivery man Jimin made himself comfortable in front of the T.V. and let the first movie play. As the night went on and the wine in the bottle disappeared, Jimin felt his eyelids growing heavy. He didn’t even realize he was dozing off.
When's it my turn?
Wouldn't I love
Love to explore that shore above?
Out of the sea
Wish I could be
Part of that world
Jimin was having the time of his life walking along the beach. He had tried to run as he had seen young kids do the day before, but he wasn’t quite used to the new legs yet. After 19 years of navigating the world with a tail, Jimin had finally been given the chance to leave the ocean and explore the shore.
Jimin was giving a speed walk a try when a loud, excited bark sounded from behind him and a flash of tiny white fluff was rushing at him. Startled, Jimin was nearly sent crashing to the ground when he tried to turn in one move.
“Rap Mon, come back here!” a deep voice shouted.
Jimin, who was currently trying to hide behind a large boulder, peeked out and gave a soundless gasp. It was him. The handsome sailor he saved.
Jimin had been defying his father’s orders--as per usual--and swimming close to the surface to observe the passing ships. A sudden storm had descended on an unlucky ship that afternoon with violent lightning and crashing thunder unsettling the waters. A stroke of lightning had struck the ship, nearly tearing the vessel in two. All of the men aboard had been able to locate the small rowboats attached to one side of the ship in case of emergencies like this one. All of the men but one.
Jimin had watched with horror as an enormous wave sent the struggling sailor to the ocean’s depths. Jimin had seen the handsome man on various sea voyages, enraptured by his beautiful mouth, graceful hands, and the warm sound of his laughter as he joked around with the other sailors. When the little mermaid saw the sailor drowning with no way of saving himself, he didn’t hesitate to dive under the water and pull him back to safety. He swam all the way to shore, an exhausting journey that drained him of all strength, and he hid himself nearby until the man coughed the water out of his lungs and sat up with a heavy groan.
Jimin thought he was completely out of sight but the sailor, whose name was Namjoon, was a very perceptive man and as he looked out at the dark waters he caught a sight of fiery red hair and a face of ethereal beauty.
Namjoon did not forget a face and when his dog yipped and jumped playfully at a man trying to conceal himself behind a boulder, Namjoon froze at the sight. Because he recognized the rose locks and, more importantly, he remembered looking at the sea and seeing the face of an angel.
“It’s you,” Namjoon breathed, walking slowly towards the boulder.
Jimin had been giggling at the playful animal’s excited behavior but at the sight of the handsome sailor mere steps away from him his mouth dropped. And nothing came out of course. Though he was friends with Jin, the sea witch, magic came with a price. And Jimin’s price for legs and a new life had been his voice. Jin had told him the only way to regain his voice was true love’s kiss.
“How can this be? I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating or something,” Namjoon rambled, stepping close enough that he could see over the boulder. “Oh!”
Jimin jumped at the raised tone, falling on his butt in the sand. Rap Mon wagged his fluffy white tail and nipped playfully at Jimin’s hands, thinking the mermaid had done that as a form of play.
“Y-you, uh, you aren’t wearing any clothes,” Namjoon chivalrously averted his gaze as Jimin tilted his head in confusion.
Clothes? What was that? Jimin didn’t recognize that word. He had spent a lot of time watching humans on shore and on ships interact, but he didn’t understand every part of their language.
“I have a towel in my car. Let me just...I’ll be right back,” Namjoon held up a hand and jogged down the beach.
Jimin watched him go with slow blinks as Rap Mon the dog lay down and showed his belly, barking at Jimin to ask for belly rubs. Jimin obliged the dog, scratching at his soft belly, looking up at the sound of Namjoon returning, a large white and blue cloth in one hand.
“Here you go,” Namjoon offered the towel to Jimin, who stared at the item and then at the handsome sailor, unsure what he was meant to do.
Namjoon, who was a diehard gentleman but not a saint, decided the beautiful man must have experienced a violent shipwreck and was suffering from trauma so it was hard for him to move on his own. He gently reached out and wrapped an arm around the man’s abdomen, pulling him to his feet (without a single glance at his nether regions). Then, Namjoon wrapped the towel around the man’s shoulders, his petite frame swallowed up by the cotton material.
“There you go! All warm and covered up. Thank gosh,” Namjoon murmured to himself. “Are you okay? You must have been shipwrecked here. What’s your name? Is there anything I can do to help you?”
Jimin held on to the “towel” the handsome man had placed over him and listened mutely. He couldn’t very well explain that he had come from under the sea, not over it in some accident. And he had no way of telling the sailor that he was a mermaid anyway. He had no voice.
“My name is Namjoon,” Namjoon offered, growing more worried by the man’s silence.
Namjoon. Jimin internally recited the name. Namjoon. The man of his dreams was named Namjoon.
“Can you...can you not speak?” Namjoon asked, quick as always to arrive at a conclusion.
Jimin quickly nodded his head, pressing a hand to his throat and making a sad pout, which made Namjoon’s heart jump in his chest.
“Oh no, you lost your voice? Maybe it was because of the stress of your accident.”
Jimin just nodded again.
“Well, what should I call you then? Red?” Namjoon joked.
Jimin ran a hand through his disheveled hair and laughed, shaking his head.
“What about...Angel?”
Jimin, who was familiar with the concept of the celestial being, stared up at Namjoon with wide eyes.
“I know you saved me from the shipwreck a few weeks ago. I thought I was dead, but I woke up here somehow. Safe and sound. And I saw you--in the water. Looking as magical as you do now. What else could you be but an angel?” he asked rhetorically.
Jimin’s fair skin turned a light shade of crimson at Namjoon’s words and he bit his lip before giving a small smile and shrug. Namjoon chuckled.
“I wish you could tell me everything. What happened that afternoon. What happened to you today. Your name,” Namjoon sighed. “But, it doesn’t matter. Voice or no voice, I want to know more about you. If you’ll let me.”
Jimin swallowed heavily, growing more and more bashful under Namjoon’s tender gaze. He had never felt so strongly about someone before. His brief flings with other mermen were practically erased from his memory, that was how meaningless the relationships had been. He had never even considered the idea of love. Until now.
Jimin reached out and grabbed one of Namjoon’s hands, letting his thumb caress the dark-haired man’s knuckles. Jimin grinned sweetly up at the sailor and Namjoon smiled back. They walked down the beach, hand-in-hand, with Rap Mon trotting happily beside them. Jimin didn’t feel his new legs trembling beneath him anymore. Instead, he felt firm and grounded, ready to follow Namjoon to the ends of the earth.
I don't know when
I don't know how
But I know something's starting right now
Watch and you'll see
Someday I'll be
Part of your world
I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under
On a magic carpet ride
Jimin may have been a sheltered prince, but he was not an idiot. He had instantly recognized the man from the market when he bowed before him and his father with an impressive (but overdone) entourage of riches. The man before him may be dressed in fineries with his dark hair coiffed to perfection, but he was undoubtedly the same man he had met in the market.
His father was going on about the kingdom and how important for the kingdom it was for Jimin to accept a suitor. It seemed Namjoon had already won his approval. He was practically offering him Jimin’s hand in marriage there and then.
“Excuse me,” Jimin cut in acidly. “I am not a prize to be won. Stop treating me like a mere object. I will not accept anyone disrespecting me, belittling me, or lying to me,” his glare towards the other prince was pointed.
Before the guilty looking Namjoon or his father could reply Jimin stormed out of the room and locked himself in his personal chambers. He was genuinely disappointed in Namjoon but also in himself. They’d spent one day together after Namjoon saved him from getting his hand chopped off by the angry fruit seller. They had talked for hours before Jimin had to return to the palace and the prince had sworn he and Namjoon had shared something special. But, now he discovered that it was another stupid phony trying to get into his pants or trying to use him to take the throne. It was nothing new.
Jimin was debating soaking himself in a bubble bath for the rest of the night when he heard a knock on his balcony door.
“What the hell?” Jimin’s brow furrowed, baffled at the fact that someone was on his private balcony.
How could anyone scale forty stories and make it past the guards on nearly every floor? They would have to have wings to reach the prince’s room.
Jimin had cautiously approached the balcony, peeking out and releasing an angry huff at the sight of Namjoon. The tall man had changed into more casual clothes, though they still looked expensive, most likely made of silk. Jimin threw open the balcony doors.
“How dare you show up here and invade my privacy in this way? You are a creep and a liar and I am going to scream and have the guards toss you into the dungeon!” Jimin threatened.
“Wait, wait!” Namjoon held up his hands. “I can explain everything, I promise.”
“Your promises are meaningless to me,” Jimin huffed, crossing his arms.
“I can’t blame you for being angry. I did lie to you...but only because I was scared of you knowing who I really was. I was going to come here tonight and continue acting like this wealthy prince who owns half of the other half of the world, but,” Namjoon sighed. “I can’t do that to you. You deserve better.”
“Are you saying you aren’t really a prince?”
Namjoon shook his head.
“Then, who exactly are you? How did you show up here with that ostentatious circus act? And just how did you get onto my balcony?” Jimin demanded.
“Do you believe in magic?”
“What?” Jimin frowned. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because it’s relevant. Do you?”
“No,” Jimin spat. “Magic seems like another pretty lie and you’ve given me enough of those, Namjoon. If that’s even your real name.”
“It is,” Namjoon spoke vehemently. “And magic is real. I can prove it.”
“Oh, really? Do enlighten me,” the prince’s words dripped with sarcasm but Namjoon was undeterred.
“Let me show you.”
Jimin was prepared to roll his eyes at some card trick or the sudden appearance of a dove, but was instead tripping over himself to lean against the stone railing of his balcony to see if Namjoon had really just jumped over the edge.
“Ta-da,” Namjoon waved his hand with a flourish at the magic carpet he was standing on.
Jimin’s mouth dropped and Namjoon expected to hear statements of awe and maybe get one of those beautiful smiles the prince had shown him throughout the day they had spent together. Instead, he received a long string of colorful curses and outraged hand-waving.
“You made me think you were dead, you asshole! What kind of person does that?!” Jimin’s voice was ten decibels above high-pitched and Namjoon winced.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be, I hate you for that!”
“I just wanted you to see I was telling the truth. Magic is real. I used the wish granted to me by a genie to dress up as a prince and come to your palace. I wanted to impress you. I-I wanted you to like me.”
Jimin wanted to stay angry, wanted to tell Namjoon to choke on his magic carpet and disappear, but he couldn’t. Not when Namjoon was the first person to really listen to him and care about his thoughts and his feelings. Not when looking at his handsome face made Jimin’s heart want to jump out of his chest. Not when Jimin found himself thinking something as sappy as ‘I only believe magic is real because it somehow brought you to me.’
“You didn’t need to change anything about you to get me to like you. The Namjoon I met in the marketplace? I liked him from the start.”
Namjoon’s head shot up and he stared at Jimin like he was a ghost come back to haunt him. Jimin had to giggle at the utter shock on his face.
“B-but, you, um, you’re a pr-prince,” Namjoon stuttered.
“And you may not be royalty, but you’re worthy of a prince. I think you would make a good king, actually.”
“A king?” Namjoon looked like he was about to faint.
“I’m getting ahead of myself,” Jimin grinned. “First, I think you owe me a magic carpet ride. And a full autobiography. I want to know everything.”
“Okay,” Namjoon instantly nodded, not wanting to say anything that would anger Jimin again.
“You’re cute,” Jimin chuckled.
“You’re stunning,” Namjoon said without thinking.
Jimin ducked his head, blushing cutely at the way Namjoon said the compliment. Like it was an undeniable fact.
“Thank you,” Jimin murmured.
“But, you’re more than your beauty, Jimin. Please don’t think I want you to be my prize or something for me to own,” Namjoon shook his head with disgust. “You are a marvel, a work of art, a light I hope can guide me through the darkness. I-I would be honored to be by your side. If, uh, only if you wanted that.”
Jimin was struggling to breathe normally, his entire body feeling the effects of Namjoon’s words.
“Do you mean that?” Jimin asked in a careful whisper.
“Of course. You are all that and more,” Namjoon’s voice was hushed, as if they both understood the importance of that moment.
As if one wrong syllable would ruin it all. And both Namjoon and Jimin were far too invested now.
“Do you trust me?” Namjoon extended his hand and Jimin only thought about it for a second before he was taking it.
“Where will we go?” the prince asked.
“Wherever we want,” Namjoon smiled, flashing his dimples.
A whole new world
With new horizons to pursue
I'll chase them anywhere
There's time to spare
Let me share this whole new world with you
I want to know, can you show me
I want to know about the strangers like me
Tell me more, please show me
Something's familiar
About the strangers like me
Jimin hadn’t had the chance to grow up with his kind. He was raised by gorillas and he was conscious enough of the differences between him and his family. He wasn’t one of them. They had gone beyond the laws of nature to take care of him, but his adopted mother had taken him to the tree house where his parents had been killed by a vicious jaguar. He found pictures, books, and remnants of another life--of another world.
Yet, he could never have prepared himself for the day that world came crashing into the solitary human existence he had resigned himself to. How could he have known that everything he had ever wanted--a sense of belonging, acceptance, and a reminder of his true home--and something he didn’t even know he wanted--love--would arrive one fateful summer day?
Jimin had heard a great commotion in the usually equanimous forest and was so curious by the strange collection of sounds, he couldn’t help himself and rushed to investigate. From up above the trees, he could see that a pack of wild baboons was chasing after a dark-haired figure that was wearing things that looked just like what Jimin had seen in his family photo album. It was a man. A man like him.
Interest thoroughly piqued, Jimin swung through the vines following the man, who was currently running for his life and screaming at the top of his lungs. Jimin shook his head. That was not an intelligent course of action as his noise would attract dangerous predators, creatures far more lethal than the baboons.
Deciding to put the man out of his misery, Jimin used all his strength to free fall, catching a low-hanging vine just as he swept the man up into the trees with him. Despite being far above the ground and safe from the baboon attack, the man hadn’t stopped shrieking. Jimin had deposited him on a thick, stable branch some time ago, but the man was babbling things Jimin couldn’t understand and kept pinching his golden skin.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jimin said, though of course it came out as a series of grunts and huffs because he was using the language of the gorillas.
The man’s mouth dropped and silence reigned between them until Jimin decided to move forward, his attention drifting to a shiny band draped below the man’s hand. There were three little sticks and one was moving quickly and constantly. Jimin reached out a hand, short fingers touching the reflective screen and grabbing on to the man along the way.
“Hey!” the man shouted, which Jimin understood to be an exclamation of surprise.
“This is pretty,” Jimin grunted.
“Don’t touch me,” the man shook his head and pushed himself to the other edge of the branch they were sitting on, as far away as he could get from the weirdo making monkey sounds.
Jimin tilted his head, pouting in disappointment. He had only wanted to touch the shiny band. He had never seen something like that before.
“Who are you?” the man demanded. “Why are you in the middle of the jungle swinging through trees? And,” the man’s eyes fell to the sole item of clothing on Jimin’s strong frame. “Do you not own pants?”
Jimin, obviously not able to answer any questions, crawled forward until he was chest to chest with the man. Jimin was now drawn not by the shiny band but by the man himself. He had bright brown eyes, dark hair, smooth sun-bronzed skin, and thick lips. Jimin had never before felt what he was feeling. Tingles crawled through his body, settling in his chest and in his stomach. He wanted to know why this man made him feel like his nerves were on fire.
“You don't understand the concept of personal space, do you?” The man’s beautiful lips were moving as he tried to squirm away but there was nowhere else to go on the branch.
“Jimin,” Jimin said.
It was the first time the strange loincloth-wearing man had produced understandable syllables. Jimin watched the man’s eyes widen and he hoped that meant he had correctly identified himself. The only thing he could remember hearing as a child was his name. The hazy images he had of his parents and their voices gently calling out to him were all he had, but he didn’t allow himself to forget.
“Is that your name? Are you Jimin?” the man gestured towards him.
“Jimin,” Jimin repeated and the man heaved a sigh.
“Okay, progress is progress I guess,” he paused. “Namjoon.”
Jimin was still staring at him blankly so Namjoon repeated his name and exaggeratedly pointed to himself.
“Namjoon,” he tapped his own chest. “Jimin,” he recited the other’s name, patting his chest and doing his best not to linger on how incredibly toned that chest was.
It was not the time to be drooling over a hot guy. Namjoon was at the top of a tree and he had gotten there via vine. Ogling could have its time and its place back on solid ground, at his campsite.
“Namjoon!” Jimin shouted happily, placing his hand on Namjoon’s chest and letting it rest there without any sign of moving. “Namjoon!”
“Uh, yes. Jimin,” Namjoon flushed as the gorgeous, haf-naked man rubbed innocently over the material of his cashmere sweater, curious about the texture.
Jimin’s fingers were trailing down to the denim covering his crotch when Namjoon jumped in place.
“No, no, nope! This is more action than I’ve had in a year and you could be a serial killer or a crazy person or worse. What’s worse I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out!”
Namjoon had smacked Jimin’s hand away, which had made the shorter man pout again. Namjoon couldn’t help but think that was adorable.
“I need to get back to my campsite,” Namjoon said and Jimin only smiled at him.
“Namjoon!”
“Yes. I, Namjoon,” he pointed at himself. “Need to get back down there. Down!” Namjoon made exaggerated gestures toward the jungle floor and realization sparked in Jimin’s chocolate eyes.
“Down! Namjoon down!”
“Yes!” Namjoon clapped.
“Yes!” Jimin mimicked the clap before promptly placing his tiny hand back on Namjoon’s pectoral and squeezing.
“Okay, no, that is not the right course of action!”
When Jimin recalled their first meeting, he was filled with embarrassment and shame. He could not believe just how much he had fondled Namjoon’s chest. He couldn’t communicate linguistically so he used inappropriate actions. It was bizarre to think about their beginning because they had come so far.
Namjoon was an environmental researcher, a respected scientist hired by a government agency to conduct research into ecosystems in several regions of the world without disturbing the fragile balance of nature he found. It was the greatest stroke of serendipity that Namjoon’s campsite in the dense African jungle was so close to the area Jimin frequented. With hundreds of thousands of miles of jungle, it should have been impossible for them to find each other. And yet…
“What are you thinking about?” a deep voice interrupted his inner musings and Jimin smiled as he turned to see Namjoon approaching.
Jimin had been staring out the window, not even hearing Namjoon arrive home from work. He was glad. He had missed his husband greatly.
“The day we met,” Jimin replied, giggling as Namjoon pressed a series of butterfly kisses across his face.
“Ah, the day you used your lack of knowledge about human interaction to feel me up?”
“Don’t say it like that!” Jimin blushed as Namjoon chuckled.
“Fine, then what if I describe it as the day the course of my life was finally set? The day I learned what it meant to be truly happy?”
“Joonie,” Jimin breathed, still getting overwhelmed by the power of Namjoon’s love for him.
They had been together for four years, in addition to the year Namjoon spent in Africa carrying out his research and teaching Jimin about the human world. It had all passed like a pleasant breeze of air. Time worked differently in the presence of the love of his life.
“It’s true,” Namjoon murmured, kissing Jimin’s plush lips. “I love you so much, Jimin.”
“I love you too, Namjoon. You...you’re the home I was always looking for.”
“You’re mine too, darling,” Namjoon said, pulling his husband into his arms.
Jimin sighed, snuggling into the warm embrace and closing his eyes. It was almost like he was falling into slumber with how safe and euphoric he felt in that moment.
Come with me now
To see my world
Where there's beauty beyond your dreams
Can you feel the things I feel right now with you
Take my hand
There's a world I need to know
“Jimin-ah. Hey, Jimin-ah.”
“Hmm? What?” Jimin’s brow furrowed as he blinked awake, confused to find himself on the couch in Bangtan’s shared living room.
He wasn’t mermaid Jimin or Prince Jimin or raised by gorillas Jimin. He was his normal self again, living in the real world and not a Disney movie. As he looked up and realized that the man who had woken up was also not his fated Disney match anymore, he released a disappointed sigh.
“Oh hi, Namjoon-hyung.”
Namjoon raised an eyebrow at the lackluster greeting. “Expecting someone else?”
“Not exactly.”
Namjoon waited but Jimin didn’t elaborate so he shrugged it off. “I thought the flight would leave later, but I was able to get on an earlier one, which is why I’m here now. The others don’t come back until tonight, right?”
“And Tae won’t be back until tomorrow.”
“Ah, ok...Must have been some dream you were having,” the rapper commented.
“It was,” Jimin replied, pouting at the reminder of what he could never have.
“Did you know you talk in your sleep? I don’t think I’ve heard you do that often, at least not for a long time.”
“I was what?” Jimin’s head snapped up, a sense of dread overcoming him. “What did I say?”
“A lot. You were having a whole one-man Broadway production,” Namjoon chuckled. “Well, I’m going to go unpack and I need a hot shower. It’s freezing outside. See you later,” he waved, his adorable dimples, which usually made Jimin’s heart beat faster, did nothing to help Jimin now.
He was more anxious than he had ever been. What exactly did he say in his sleep? How much had Namjoon heard? More importantly, had Jimin’s lovestruck ass confessed all of his long-hidden feelings for his leader?
The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon had passed in a haze of panic and hair-pulling as Jimin paced in his bedroom. One second he swore he was going to bite the bullet and ask Namjoon what he heard. If his hyung had heard the truth, fine, Jimin could be strong and admit his feelings to his face. Except that in the next second Jimin was filled with terror again and could only hide away in his room--as he’d been doing all day.
Finally, Jimin couldn’t take the uncertainty anymore. He took a deep calming breath and made a decision.
“Fuck it, I need to know,” he exhaled, nodding to himself in the mirror and striding towards Namjoon’s room.
He knocked three times on the door, calling out a “Namjoon-hyung? Can I talk to you?”
Namjoon’s door swung open. The rapper was in comfortable sweats and a skin-tight tank top that was doing nothing for Jimin’s resolve.
“Is everything okay? I was about to go to your room to check on you. You’ve been locked in there for so long I thought you were sick or something.”
“I’m not sick,” Jimin sighed. “But, there is something going on with me.”
“Come inside,” Namjoon gestured toward the bed and Jimin tentatively took a seat on the edge of the mattress, Namjoon soon joining him.
“I-I need to tell you something, hyung,” Jimin tugged at the rings on his fingers as he tried to gather his thoughts and calm himself.
Namjoon gently took Jimin’s palms into his own. “So tell me.”
Jimin gazed up at him, brown eyes wide with wonder. “I’m afraid.”
“Of?”
“What you’ll think of me after I tell you.”
“Nothing you say will make me think less of you or will make me want to be away from you. You know how much I care about you, Jimin-ah.”
Jimin gulped. “I care about you too. Actually, I, um, I think--no, I know, sorry--that my feelings are deeper than that. For you.”
Jimin internally cursed at himself for sounding like such a moron. He needed to get to his point so he could breathe normally again.
“Namjoon-hyung, I need you to know that I...I’m in love with you. I have been for what feels like eternity and--and even if you don’t feel the same, because I know that you don’t and you see me only as a little brother, I just wanted you to know. I felt like I was lying to you, to the other members, and to myself not speaking this truth,” Jimin felt tears come to his eyes, sniffling as they began to fall.
There was a short silence before Jimin heard Namjoon release a soft chuckle.
“God, Jiminie, what took you so long?”
Jimin was frantically trying to blink away his tears so he could look into Namjoon’s eyes and see what the hell was going on because what? What did Namjoon just say?
“Huh?” Jimin nearly wheezed.
Namjoon laughed again, pulling Jimin close and enveloping him in a hug. Just like in my dream, Jimin thought dazedly.
“Jimin-ah, you’re my Prince Charming,” Namjoon pressed a tender kiss to the younger’s forehead. “I’ve always loved you back.”
“B-but, h-how did you know?” Jimin stammered, trying to process the affection and the returned confession.
It was hard to compute and he was struggling.
“I suspected it, but I was too much of a coward to make the first move. I was scared that I would be wrong or that I was projecting my feelings onto you. I wish I had acted sooner.”
“Me too,” Jimin nodded. “I really wanted to, but I thought you could never feel the same.”
“Silly mochi,” Namjoon booped his nose. “I love you more than I can put into words.”
“Oh my god.”
“You’re so precious,” Namjoon grinned. “I should thank you too. It was your romantic sleep-talking that convinced me I wasn’t imagining things. If you hadn’t come to find me, I would have gone to you to tell you how I felt. I wasn’t waiting any longer.”
“Oh no. Tell me what I said.”
“It was more like what you sang,” Namjoon teased. “My favorite was your rendition of ‘A Whole New World.’”
“Oh no,” Jimin groaned.
“ Let’s share a whoooleee neeeewww world, Joonie ,” Namjoon imitated Jimin’s higher pitch, making the younger one turn a bright pink.
“Stop it.”
“ Take my hand so we can swing through the treetops, Joonie. I’ll keep you safe ,” Namjoon continued.
“It’s embarrassing,” Jimin whined and Namjoon chuckled, pressing a kiss to his soft cheek.
“I’m endeared by the fact that you wanted to be the one rescuing me in the jungle. My big strong man.”
“Namjoon-hyung, I will leave you and never look back,” Jimin threatened.
“I love you,” Namjoon grinned.
Jimin couldn’t help his own lips from turning up. Not even in the most beautiful of dreams had he felt this type of joy.
“And I love you,” he replied.