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Jimin was very done with everything at the moment. He very much felt like curling up in a ball in a dark corner somewhere, just cry to himself and pretend he didn't exist.
Oh wait
That's what he's doing right now.
Jimin hated his life.
Let's rewind a bit.
Jimin was on his way home from a meet-up with his dance crew. They didn't technically have to meet, since the crew was formed through their university and summer was lasting a few more weeks. But they were all good friends even outside school, and with the new term just around the corner they had agreed that it was as good a time as any to have a meet-up. To make sure they were prepared for the new term, and to welcome any of the new members they would gain with it.
The meet-up had gone just fine. They had been forced to meet in a place they hadn't before, as their usual spot was in the school and thus off-limits for now.
Jimin had found the place just fine, he had even met up with Hoseok before so they could go together. Getting home was where the problems had started.
Taking a wrong turn and ending up at the wrong station as a result wouldn't have been such an issue if Jimin hadn't realized in that moment that his phone was entirely dead. So with no way to contact anyone or look at a map to find his whereabouts, Jimin had walked into the station hoping for the best.
He had found the right line, but being unfamilliar with it hadn't realized that it was going in the wrong direction. By the time he realized he was travelling away from home and got off it was too late. He was in even more unfamilliar territory than before, and to make things worse he had ended up outside of the human-district he rarely left when he wasn't in school.
Having countless amounts of giants walking around so close to Jimin was disorienting to say the least. Had he been thinking straight in that moment he would have turned around and walked back into the station, and gotten on the same line but the right direction this time. Unfortunately, Jimin's fear of giants is no joke, and he wasn't quite able to focus anything but getting away from the closest giant.
The massive people were of course not walking anywhere they weren't supposed to, they all kept away from the human part of the street, but we've established that Jimin was not thinking straight.
He'd backed away from the closest pair of giant feet, but then there was another pair, and another, and before he knew it Jimin had made the biggest mistake of his life and stumbled into the giant part of the city. Where there was nothing human-sized for him to cling onto.
The street was absolutely massive, filled with people that all loomed over him like skyscrapers. Gone was the distant comfort of the human-sized station for him to run back to, and realizing the very real danger he had put himself in Jimin made his way to the closest building in a panic, desperately trying not to get crushed.
He managed it, though there had been too many close calls. Jimin clung to the wall like his life depended on it, because in that very moment it did. He told himself that he had to get out of there, and started slowly making his way in a direction he thinks he might have come from.
He soon accepted that he was not seeing anything that looked even remotely close to his size, and that he may have just made his situation worse. He helplessly turned around and tried making his way back where he came from but had to abrubtly stop to not run into the giant shoe that had placed itself there.
Jimin took a moment to catch his breath, aware that allowing himself to succumb to the panic clutching at his heart right now would be the worst possible thing that could happen right now besides actually getting crushed.
He hesitantly glanced up at the giant connected to the shoe that was in the way, and felt his neck straining as his eyes finally reached the giant's face. And of course, they were completely unaware of Jimin's presence, leaning against the wall as they were preoccupied with their phone.
Jimin cursed the universe for doing this to him, before clearing his throat and trying to adress the giant in front of him,
"E.. Excuse m-."
He felt his voice leave him, and he realized with dread that the giant had not even flinched, his tiny voice obviously not audible over the noise of all the other giants around them.
At that moment, Jimin spotted another giant aproaching, their attention focused on the one Jimin was pathetically trying to communicate with. Still wanting their help, but not desperate to stay there when another giant was about to join this one Jimin quickly rushed in the other direction, despite it most likely being the wrong way.
Eventually he came across a small (compared to the rest of the wall) corner, unsure how to proceed. Feeling hopeless, Jimin squatted down and pulled his knees up to his face, hoping that maybe if he closes his eyes he'll open them again and this will all be one vivid nightmare.
No such luck, as Jimin looked around and still saw nothing but the unimaginably huge buildings and the people too big to notice a tiny thing like him.
Jimin didn't even realize he was crying until he felt his tears dripping onto his hands that were resting on his knees. He sniffed and wiped at his tears with his hand, but they just kept coming.
It took everything Jimin had to not succumb to the panic in that moment.
He was so focused on his emotions in fact, that he didn't notice the giant pair of shoes that were slowly making their way over to him. But then again, there were hundreds of giants around and this one was walking much more softly than the others around them, having somehow spotted the tiny human in the corner and growing concerned.
Jimin was unaware of this until he saw a shadow cover his whole body and looked up in a panic, preparing to book it away from there. But when he raised his eyes he was not met with the underside of a shoe coming down to end his suffering but instead the face of a giant.
The giant was a boy around Jimin's age, with massive kind eyes, brow currently scrunched up in concern. He had crouched down on the ground and was leaning closer to Jimin, effectively taking up the human's whole field of vision. The giant opened his mouth and spoke then, his voice surprisingly soft,
"Hey, are you okay? Do you need help?"
In any other situation Jimin would have turned and ran the other way from any giant trying to talk to him, but considering his predicament Jimin felt a sense of hope as he tried to answer.
Key word: tried. He found that no sound would escape his mouth when he tried to answer. Ignoring the embarrassed red that filled his cheeks Jimin settled for nodding instead.
The giant seemed to understand, and smiled at him. Jimin was pleasantly surprised to see a smile full not with pity but with sympathy. The giant slowly stretched out his arm and laid his hand down flat on the ground, then cocked his eyebrow at Jimin. Though his intention was clear, he once again spoke up softly,
"Get on, I'll get you out of here safely."
Knowing that he had no other choice, Jimin swallowed his fear and shakily stood up, slowly stumbling over to the offered hand. He stumbled at the last moment, falling forward with a startled yelp. But before he could fall face first onto the stranger's palm a finger came up to catch him, the stranger failing to hide his laugh.
Without thinking, Jimin indignantly looked up at the giant, barely managing to stop himself from saying anything. It would be odd for the giant to change his mind about being nice just because Jimin made a rude comment, but he didn't feel like risking it. Once again, when he looked at the giant Jimin was pleasantly surprised by the expression there, seeing no hint of the condescension that was so common in giants, instead only seeing innocent amusement at Jimin's ungraceful fall.
Oddly enough, the humor of the situation helped Jimin calm down just a bit, and he got back on his feet and quickly took the last step onto the giant hand, sitting down in the middle of the palm.
The stranger let out one more amused huff that Jimin chose to ignore, before slowly raising his hand. The rush of gravity pushing down on him as he was raised up into the air was not one that was unfamiliar to Jimin, though it had never been a pleasant one before.
Jimin closed his eyes and quickly reminded himself that he was fine, that this was just a kind stranger that was going out of his way to help Jimin, he had no reason to want to hurt him.
As the giant started walking towards what Jimin assumed was the nearest human-sized part of the city, another giant hand came up and curled around the one Jimin was sitting in, acting as a wall between Jimin and the outside world, and the massive drop down to the ground.
Still not trusting his voice, and unsure if the giant would be able to hear him now that he was focused on walking, Jimin simply relaxed his body and leaned back, letting his hands rest on the palm. He hoped that the giant could somehow feel his gratitude, the protection his other hand provided being very appreciated.
As the giant kept walking, he started talking softly. Once he realized that Jimin wasn't responding he simply kept talking to himself, seemingly aware that his voice was helping keep Jimin's thoughts from wandering to bad places.
Without Jimin to provide conversation, the giant ended up simply introducing himself. His name was Jungkook, he was two years younger than Jimin. He was going to start his first year at Jimin's university at the end of the summer, as an art major.
At the mention of art Jimin couldn't stop his eyes from drifting to the giant's exposed arm, and the tattoo's that filled it. Jungkook noticed his gaze and happily explained how he had designed them himself, as well as the meaning behind several of them.
Before he knew it Jimin felt himself slowly being lowered towards the ground as the giant said:
"Here we are, you should be fine now."
The hand in front of him disappeared and Jimin was faced with a human-sized building, and a human-sized street full of other humans, none of which were sparing them more than a glance.
Jimin scooted over to the edge of the palm, and as he was about to stand on the ground again Jungkook's other hand once again came up next to him, a finger held out in a silent offer. Feeling himself finally able to smile again as relief flooded him at being back to safety, Jimin huffed out a laugh and grabbed onto the finger, using it to pull himself to his feet.
When he had regained his balance he turned to look at the giant, this time finding that his voice worked again,
"I don't know how to thank you Jungkook, seriously.."
Jimin trailed of, feeling bad about just leaving but not sure what he could possibly offer the giant to even slightly repay him for possibly saving Jimin's life. Jungkook however just kept smiling at him and spoke again:
"Don't worry about it, it was nothing. I'm just happy you weren't hurt."
And then, before Jimin could say anything else the giant stood up and was backing away, waving goodbye with a grin.
Jimin understood that this was Jungkook's way of refusing anything Jimin might do to return the favor, so he simply accepted his fate and waved back as the giant disappeared in the distance.
Before he knew it Jimin was alone again, but this time he was simply able to turn around and head into the station to get himself home. He realized with disappointment that he had no possible way of contacting the kind giant, and didn't know much about him other than they would be going to the same university in a few weeks.
The odds of them actually running into each other were low, since Jungkook couldn't come into any human areas and Jimin was staying clear of all giant areas in the future.
So imagine his surprise when a few weeks into the new term, Jimin headed to the campus dance studio, to host try-outs with the rest of the crew, and in walked Jungkook, at human size this time. Their eyes met, and Jimin saw surprise take over the other boy's face before being replaced by joy, as he held up a hand in a silent greeting before walking over to join the rest of the possible new members.
Jimin returned the wave, trying to make sense of the thoughts rushing through his head. He had accepted that Jungkook was a giant, and that getting close to him would simply not be and option for a human with a fear as strong as Jimin's but this changed everything. Jimin was sure he was making a new friend this year.
