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“Jimin-ssi.”
“Jungkook-ssi.”
As Jungkook's arms and legs tread through the deep waters, he watches Jimin’s smiling face glow so beautifully under the afternoon sun. Warmth blooms in his chest at the sight of it.
"Hi."
"Hi."
Breathless chuckles fill the air where only the sound of gentle sea waves can be heard. A strong sense of contentment fills Jungkook at that moment.
There's always something about being out in the sea that amplifies how romantic everything feels for Jungkook, but he knows he's only really felt that way when amongst the endless horizon of blue waters is Jimin. Because... well... he's Jimin.
"Do you come here often, Jungkook-ssi?” Jimin starts, his tone and voice all formal and proper.
“I do," Jungkook casually retorts, playing along, "I own that boat over there. You?”
“I live here, sir.”
They always do this, playing pretend that they're strangers, and Jungkook probably should think it's getting old by now, but it still makes him laugh every time.
“You know all these little fish, then, Jimin-ssi?”
“They’re my henchmen, sir.”
“You’re a hundred times bigger than your henchmen? How can they protect you?”
They're smaller than me, Jungkook thinks to comment but he holds off on saying it out loud, I'll be the one to protect you instead. It's too cheesy to say unprovoked.
“They can bite off your skin at my will, Jungkook-ssi. Don’t underestimate them.”
“Well, I’ll eat them before they eat me.”
Slowly, with a giggling face, Jimin swims away from him, playing pretend that he's afraid of him, and all Jungkook wants to do is chase him again.
There's just something about the sea sparkles under the sun, the way the sound of the waves and the breeze drowns out everything else, the way the expanse of water around them makes it feel like it's just the two of them. It makes Jungkook a little bolder, a bit braver than he'd ever been.
So he comes close. Jimin holds out his hands, palms open to signify that Jungkook shouldn't come close, but Jungkook does anyway, holding his hands instead, folding Jimin's smaller ones and enclosing it in his own. Here comes the butterflies.
He comes even closer, hands moving up to Jimin's shoulders, getting bolder by the second, thinking of maybe jokingly fake kissing Jimin just as Jimin had done to him in front of everyone else earlier.
"Jungkook, wait, hold on–"
He loves this look on Jimin’s face. The way his eyes crinkle gives Jungkook butterflies. Jimin's so much prettier when he's happy.
His heart won't stop beating like crazy at the sight of it.
Instead of letting his intrusive thoughts win, Jungkook folds, swimming away to let Jimin have his space for the moment.
"Thought you said you could handle me, hyung?" He teases minutes later.
"But I've conceded so long ago, Jungkook. I know you're stronger. I'm defenseless against you."
Jimin still chuckles as he speaks lightly of it, but the words are heavy on Jungkook’s chest–in a good way, of course. I'm defenseless against you. Could that mean something more? Maybe, maybe not. But his heart melts at the sound of those words anyway.
Just like they did at the little swimming pool yesterday, they play around the sea waters like children, but the way the sun rays filter through the water, and the way they're beautifully refracted by the ripples of the waves, makes everything even more enchanted to Jungkook.
And Jimin looks unbelievably enchanted to him too. It makes him more brazen again.
"But don't you know my weakness, Jimin-ssi?" Jungkook asks later on, letting their conversation pick up where it left off as if not even a short moment has passed in between.
"Is it me?" Jimin teases, but it's the truth, and he knows they both know it. Jimin is his weakness.
Instead of answering, Jungkook just dives in again, swimming and circling around Jimin.
They play alone and then together, pulling apart and then finding themselves next to each other over and over again, as if they're magnets inevitably pulled back together no matter how far they go.
And Jungkook thinks about how this has always been true, whether physically or emotionally or in any other way. No matter how distant they get, they always find their way back to each other, getting closer and closer every time they return.
"This is really fun," Jungkook can't help but remark as they stop playing around, only remaining afloat on the same spot right in front of each other, already quite a far distance from the boat they jumped off of.
“Yeah. I’m glad we could do this," Jimin murmurs as he swims closer to Jungkook, "I mean look at the sky. It's so blue today. And the sun and the sea… they’re all so pretty.”
“You’re prettier, Jimin.”
He knows he already said it today jokingly, but he'll say it again and again anyway.
He watches Jimin freeze before he rolls his eyes.
“That again? It’s getting old.”
“That’s just the second time I said it today.”
“The more you say it, the more insincere it sounds.”
They burst out into familiar chuckles again, and when the laughter subsides, Jungkook’s growing brazenness and sincerity replaces it.
“I’m serious though, Jimin hyung.”
You're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty.
He watches Jimin’s expression morph into one that seems shy and embarrassed, and his naturally rosy cheeks redden even further. Anyone else could dismiss this as being sun-kissed, but Jungkook knows Jimin better than that.
He doesn't need Jimin to feel as intensely as he does for him, but at that moment, he wishes Jimin at least feels something close to it.
“You always call me that,” Jimin mutters, more quiet now, as if the wind could carry the words away.
“Pretty? Yeah. You’re kind of crazy.”
“What– I’m crazy?!”
“No, I meant… You’re so pretty that it’s crazy.”
Jungkook’s bravery falters a little bit, chest beating harder in a way where he knows he’s nervous, stomach slowly tying into knots.
“When did you even learn to speak this way?” Jimin asks, voice so soft and pretty that Jungkook wants to kiss it.
Jungkook wants to kiss his voice. Wants to touch that small part of his neck where his throat lies and press his lips against it. He won't though.
“You always spoke to me this way, hyung.”
As Jimin raises his eyebrows, Jungkook gives him a genuine smile, maybe as a way to tell him that whatever good there is in Jungkook now, he knows he can attribute it to how good Jimin has been to him.
Because Jimin’s been so good. So unrelentingly good and gentle, and everyone around them can attest to that.
He grew under Jimin’s endless praise. Maybe not towards his attitude or personality when he was younger, but Jimin always tells him what he’s doing good, how he looks really good, how it’s crazy that he can do everything unbelievably good.
Calling Jimin pretty so many times wouldn’t even match how loving Jimin had been to him the whole time they’ve known each other.
“What are you doing?” Jungkook asks just as he realizes that Jimin’s hand had ended up on his chest. His heart flutters.
It’s not at all like those times where Jimin would examine the size of his pectoral muscles, or would slap them for fun. Jimin's hand simply lays flat on Jungkook's chest, fingers pressing onto it a little.
“I’m checking your heartbeat.”
They’re so close together, only surrounded by water, and Jimin’s hand on his heart makes its beating steadily grow erratic.
“It’s fast, isn't it?” Jungkook says, “I'm a little nervous.”
Jimin quietly laughs. “Why are you nervous?”
Why is Jungkook nervous? Maybe it’s because it's the first time he’s truly acknowledged how he’s felt all these years. It’s the first time he’s not keeping it buried in a bulletproof safe in his head.
It’s the first time Jungkook lets himself truly and openly adore Jimin the way his heart tells him to.
“I'm nervous b ecause you're... checking my heartbeat,” Jungkook murmurs instead.
“But what's there to be nervous about?”
Instead of answering again, Jungkook just mirrors Jimin and places his hand where Jimin’s heart would be. Butterflies flutter in him again.
“Oh,” Jungkook remarks as he feels Jimin’s heartbeat right against his fingers, “Your heart’s pretty calm.”
Jimin doesn’t say anything, and subconsciously, Jungkook takes this time to try to calm down too.
One-two. One, two. One… two…
Soon enough, he realizes his pulse is slow but it pounds hard. Eventually, his heart beats the same as Jimin’s.
Oh. Wow. Wow.
"Jimin…" Jungkook absentmindedly mutters, unable to fully comprehend the weight of this moment.
"There you go," Jimin quietly says, his breath lightly reaching Jungkook’s lips, "Your heart’s beating like mine."
Jungkook shivers.
Going with what feels right, he presses his hand on top Jimin's hand–the one still pressed on his chest–just to make sure. Jimin mirrors him, his smaller fingers overlapping the hand Jungkook has pressed against Jimin’s chest. Butterflies.
His boldness overtakes him again.
He slowly intertwines their fingers, and he feels the steady growing of their heart beats. He's nervous, but it's the good kind.
“Does this make you nervous too?” Jungkook asks so quietly, not wanting to shatter the fragile air around them–the air that leaves him in a daze that he never wants to leave.
It takes a while for Jimin to answer, as if he’s in a daze too.
“Not nervous…" Jimin whispers, shaking his head slowly, "It’s more…”
He just trails off, not saying anything else and not continuing even moments after. Jimin’s gaze simply flits from their intertwined hands to Jungkook’s eyes.
There’s something there. Jungkook tries to understand it.
He’s scared of misreading though, but he’s almost sure .
“Jimin hyung," he slowly breaks the silence that lasted forever, "Why did you check for my heart beat?”
Jimin doesn't answer, but he smiles so gently.
The butterflies won't stop. The butterflies are relentlessly fluttering inside and out and all around Jungkook, and he feels his heart beat all throughout his body, from his head to his arms to his toes.
He knows it's quite odd to feel this much for a close friend, for someone he had grown up with, for someone who's an integral part of his life, and he hasn't completely made sense of if yet in his head, but he welcomes it with open arms, unafraid of how good it feels to adore someone like Jimin.
The butterflies are so strong that the words are on the tip of his tongue.
Can I kiss you?
He wouldn't dare say it–maybe not as anything but a joke–but his brain screams at him to ask.
Not now. Maybe when it feels right. Maybe when he finds out if Jimin mirrors the magnitude and depth of his affection.
"I just wanted to know," Jimin belatedly answers, and so, so quietly.
"Know what?" Jungkook asks even more quietly.
Jimin slowly shrugs, hand squeezing at Jungkook’s before he lets go.
Even when their fingers slip away from each other, Jungkook feels okay. He knows that somehow, they'll find their way back to each other soon.
"I just wanted to know more about you."
Before Jungkook could ask him to expound, Jimin just gives him a wide smile, eyes crinkling into thin lines before he cutely swims away.
The butterflies are just never-ending today.
"Wanna swim and try catching some fish again?" Jungkook says a little louder, deciding to ease away that unreadable tense air and pull back the playful air between them.
"Sure," Jimin simply says, before he swims underwater.
Jungkook follows, watching as Jimin swims deeper like a mermaid, catching the sun and glowing so brightly underwater. He’s unreal. There's no way Jimin’s not enchanted.
Jimin stops swimming right before they reach the seafloor, and in that moment, Jungkook's brazenness hits him again full force.
He momentarily takes his breathing gear off his mouth, bubbles springing upward from his lips, and Jimin's eyebrows raise.
It's all he sees before he comes closer, holding Jimin by the shoulder, moving into his space, and giving him a kiss on his forehead.
Time stops.
Jungkook has been dying to do this forever.
It's unfortunate that he only had the guts this deep underwater, but he doesn't regret it. Maybe he just feels safe doing this where neither of them have to say anything about it, where nobody else has to watch and judge, where they're only surrounded by calm blue waters which let everything flow unprejudiced.
He hopes his brazenness reaches the air they breathe one day.
His lips don't leave Jimin’s forehead. The butterflies multiply by a million, and they swim underwater with all the fish catching sunlight and sparkling all around them like stars.
Jungkook is so out of breath.
And he's literally out of breath too, only realizing the fact as Jimin moves away, pulls him by the hand and swims up to the surface.
When their heads are finally above water, Jungkook gasps for air.
"Why'd you do that?" Jimin's loud voice barely registers in his head, "Are you crazy?"
He's still a little dizzy, but he understands the sounds. Was Jimin berating him for kissing him? Did Jimin hate it?
"I know you don't have the lung capacity of an Olympic swimmer," Jimin continues when Jungkook stays silent, still breathing, "So don't go testing your body like that, hm? Are you alright?"
After a moment, Jungkook realizes Jimin had been scolding him for taking his breathing gear off.
So… maybe he didn't hate that little kiss. Maybe. Jungkook doesn't want to ask. Jungkook doesn't wanna know. Not now, anyway. He'll let the beauty of that moment speak for itself in his head.
"Sorry," Jungkook says with a chuckle, mildly finding it funny that Jimin worries about something as small as that, "Yes, I'm okay. Wanna go back to the boat? We can share a cup of ramyeon. I'm kinda hungry."
"Oh, now you're fine with eating ramyeon again?" Jimin speaks in a little fake angry tone that makes Jungkook laugh. Because he's never laughed more with anyone else than when he's with Jimin. Because Jimin always makes him happy.
"Yeah. I'm craving it badly right now. I can eat lots today. I'll just–"
"Don't say you won't eat tomorrow or whenever. We're on vacation. Even if we're not, you don't even have to starve yourself. You already look perfect to me."
Butterflies. Shivers. Heart beating out of his chest.
You already look perfect to me.
Jungkook’s weakness really is Jimin. It was true ten years ago, and it's even more true now.
"Okay. I'll eat. For you. "
"Yup. For me."
Jimin chuckles, and Jungkook chuckles, for absolutely no reason. And underneath the waves, he feels Jimin’s fingers latch onto his fingers. He takes them into his fist and encloses Jimin’s whole hands into his own. It fits perfectly.
He still doesn’t know if Jimin feels the same way, but he doesn’t care. He can feel this way on his own, and he won’t try to stop it anymore. He loves Jimin so much, and he’s happy right here and now.
And there’s nowhere else he’d rather be, no one else he’d rather be with.