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There was a text on Jimin’s phone as he headed out of his Stats exam, bemoaning the fact that he didn’t get to finish, with the rest of his angered classmates, and Jimin mused that Seokjin always had the best timing with these things, because in their kakaotalk chat, usually only populated by whining emoji faces and little reminders for Jimin to take his pills before he went to bed, there was a request to head out, the perfect way to take his mind off things.
Seokjinnie, 3:30pm
i need some groceries, want to head down to mangwon?
ill even buy you some cookies?
(ˊ̥̥̥̥̥ ³ ˋ̥̥̥̥̥)
Jimin chuckled, softly, and hung back, behind the rest of his ranting friends, heading straight to the library in order to start studying for the next exam, to ensure there would be no bombing involved.
Me, 3:52pm
still on a diet hyungie~
but sure
i’m always down to watch you turn into an ahjumma :D
The response was rapid, as it always was with Seokjin. Sometimes, Jimin wondered if Seokjin ever studied, but he had to do something, because all of his grades were As or respectable Bs.
Seokjinnie, 3:53pm
how dare
(⑉･̆⌓･̆⑉)
i am a perfect ulzzang.
Me, 3:35pm
who haggles better than my auntie
Seokjinnie, 3:54pm
not my fault that your family is clearly not skilled in the esteemed art of haggling and testing the best food
there’s a reason my food tastes amazing
Me, 3:54pm
ok ok fighting with you si always pointless
meet at the weird installation art outside the subway?
Seokjinnie, 3:55pm
thats right i am the ultimate hyung
(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
and yeah sure
-
Seokjin was there first, as he always was, and Jimin raised a hand in greeting, letting go of the beanie pulled down over his messy hair for a moment, to smile earnestly. Seokjin always looked ridiculously stylish, no matter what the occasion was, and sometimes Jimin felt jealous, but there just wasn’t room for that, on most days. Seokjin was Seokjin; awkward and sweet and ultimately self-confident, one of Jimin’s closest and most favourite friends.
“Bad day?” asked Seokjin, reaching up to run a hand along the fluffy hair at the nap of Jimin’s neck, carelessly bestowing the affection that Jimin always loved and craved. Jimin leant further into his gentle touch, with a contented sigh and peered up at Seokjin’s fond smile through lidded lashes.
“The worst.” he said, easily, “The Stats exam was dreadful and I couldn’t get a seat on the subway today, so I had to stand with my legs still cramping after Hoseok-hyung’s spartan training yesterday.” Not like he wouldn’t have been in the studio until 1am anyway, but when Hoseok was there, pushing group practise and refinement, it always felt just a little more exhausting than just him in the mirror, his breath as the only accompaniment to the music.
Seokjin made a soft voice of concern from the back of his throat, as he slung his arm over Jimin’s shoulder, fingertips resting against the curve of Jimin’s collarbone as they started to walk through the slightly busy streets, towards the market. “It’s alright, you’ll do better next time. Ask Joonie to help you study, yeah? You know he’ll do anything if you give him a decent massage.”
Jimin laughed, feeling the laugh bubble up from his chest, “And you would know that how?” he asked, with a teasing voice, ignoring the slight swoop in his stomach at how casually those words had slipped off his tongue.
“Systematic trial and error.” Seokjin said, with a mock-serious face, “It was perhaps the highlight of my sophomore year trying to watch Yoongi come up with something that Namjoon would want in return for notes. Something he could use those long fingers of his for.” Somehow, Seokjin’s winks managed to look precious and simultaneously extremely dirty, and Jimin couldn’t help but laugh helplessly, leaning into Seokjin’s side.
“Isn’t his tongue he’s always boasting about in his rapping?” asked Jimin, dryly.
“Oh, I have no desire of knowing what he and Joonie and his tongue do in their private time. I’m just glad that they’re both thankfully not into public-sex and never bring it back to the apartment.” Seokjin said, shuddering a little, in mild horror.
“Or they do it when you’re not home and clean well. That’s pretty much what Taehyung and Minjae do all the time…” Jimin said, with a weary sigh, as they finally rounded on the market, and he rolled back his shoulders, preparing himself for the bags he’d have to carry, “I’m sure that every surface in the house is contaminated at this point, but you learn to just not care.”
Seokjin however, was barely listening as he started to examine some cabbage, talking sweetly with the old ladies. “Ahjumma, how many would you recommend for a month?” asked Seokjin, as Jimin wound his arms around Seokjin’s, acting like the cute clinging dongsaeng. Looking like a cute koala always managed to help them get discounts, and Jimin was totally okay with that, because cheap food was cheap food and it was pretty fun to watch Seokjin in his element, anyway.
Whenever he haggled with the old ladies, his face became animated, his back straightened a little, to make himself taller, and his tone took that respectful but always slightly sarcastic tone that only Jimin and sometimes Taehyung picked up on. They’d yet to decipher what Seokjin’s problem with authority was, but then, there was plenty of time to do that. Plenty of time to work with what Seokjin was, and unravel his everything. Jimin liked understanding people, liked knowing exactly when they were uncomfortable and how to make them feel at ease. people were simply beautiful when they were relaxed, but Seokjin was especially radiant when he was happy, a sort of sunlight lit up his features when he truly enjoyed something, and Jimin wanted that, all the time, every day, for Seokjin to be nothing but happy. He wasn’t that amazing at art, only a dabbler in sketching, but sometimes Seokjin’s smile was pretty enough to inspire Jimin about exactly what colours would bring to light the radiance of his crooked smile and the quirk of his eyebrows.
And god, it was fascinating to watch people in their element, but Seokjin especially. Seokjin really was his favourite hyung for many reasons. “Thank you, noona~” flirted Seokjin, lightly, making them laugh and Jimin grinned back at them, also thanking them in his sweetest voice.
“Done flirting your way to a better discount next time?” teased Jimin, as he hooked the bag of cabbages to his shoulder, barely shifting, despite the slight weight added.
Seokjin looked very serious as he scanned over the various stalls, pressing up to his tiptoes to see where the meat was. “Everybody has to use what they have. When my parents have blessed me with this face, I’m going to take full advantage of it.” he said, with the ‘stop mocking me, i’m your hyung’ voice that sounded a mixture between sarcastic, extremely-ticked off and amused, and always made Jimin feel warm and fuzzy inside, “Just like how you take full advantage of the fact that you are a puppy.”
Jimin let his bottom lip stick out and blinked, innocently at Seokjin. “Hyung, how could you insinuate something that?” he demanded, grip on Seokjin’s arm loosening.
Seokjin looked like he was about to give Jimin a little smack on his butt for that comment, so Jimin easily skipped away towards a twigim stall. “Ahjusshi! How much are 2 crab meats?” asked Jimin, cheerily, glad that they had come early, because it looked like he’d just started frying, and they smelled delicious already. Soon there would be a large queue building up, as everyone started to leave work and wanted instant food, but another good thing about going shopping with Seokjin was that he knew the perfect times to avoid the crowds. As long as you weren’t late, going anywhere with Seokjin when it came to food, was going to be a culinary nirvana.
“Ahh, only about 10,000 won, kid.” said the man, gruffly and Jimin rummaged around in his pockets for his wallet, but before he could pull the notes out to pay, Seokjin had already leant over with double the amount in hand.
“Another two as well, ahjusshi?” he asked, cheerily, leaning one elbow on Jimin’s shoulder. At Jimin’s slightly confused expression, Seokjin’s smile smoothed out, as he whispered into Jimin’s ear. “Aren’t you saving up for that new copic marker set? It’s alright you know, hyung can pay for a few little snacks.”
Jimin felt a slow smile spread across his face, and laughed, to try and shake off how extremely touched he felt by the fact that Seokjin had remembered. “Ahhh, looks like I found the secret to getting free food. Just constantly pretend I’m saving up for something~ You can’t let yourself be taken advantage like this by Jungkook, you know, you’ll never be able to escape your debt if you let Taehyung and Jungkook eat you out of a house and home.” he said, bopping his head against Seokjin’ elbow, cheerily.
“Yah, Park Jimin!” Seokjin said, but there wasn’t much heat behind his voice, as he dug his elbow down into Jimin’s shoulder. “Hyung doesn’t even want to think about offering this to Taehyung, do you hear? If he hears about it, I will end you. I know where you live, I know where your protein shakes are, and I will fill them all with salt, don’t think I won’t!”
Jimin gasped in mock-horror, an opening that was taken full advantage of by Seokjin, as he shoved one of the skewers into Jimin’s mouth, almost burning the younger’s tongue. Jimin squirmed away from Seokjin, attempting to grab hold of the skewer, while making protests about the heat, much to the ahjusshi’s amusement. “Hyuuuunnnggg.” Jimin whined, as his mouth finally got used to the temperature and he just gave up to eat the skewer, as Seokjin was feeding it to him. “I really don’t like you sometimes.”
Seokjin just grinned, as he accepted the other three skewers from the ahjusshi and they walked away from the stall, to keep looking for more food. “Don’t worry,” he said, biting off a huge chunk of one, and swallowing almost instantly. “Hyung’s going to always look after you, even if you say such hurtful things.”
If he went by the Min Yoongi modus operandi, as he sometimes defaulted to, having spent a vast majority of high school dogging his footsteps, the only appropriate response was more snark. But his statement was surprisingly touching and Jimin couldn’t help but beam up at Seokjin. “I’m really grateful.” Jimin said, quietly, as he finished his skewer and toyed with the wooden stick in his hand. “Truly.”
Seokjin smiled at him, slow and soft and for a moment, Jimin truly could believe that there were only the two of them, staring at each other, with affection and care and fondness, and all of the things that made Jimin love Seokjin and all of his hyungs so much. But the moment passed, quickly, as a few teenage boys stomped past them, disturbing the slightly tranquil atmosphere between them, for just a moment. Jimin considered glaring at their retreating backs, but if it hadn’t been them, it would have been someone else, so he just sighed and and Jimin extended his hand out for the other skewer.
Seokjin looked surprised for a moment, before his eyes twitched with evil amusement. “Oh, you misunderstood. I bought the other two for me alone. I’m a growing young man. I had the first part of my torque exam today and I wanted to die for a full two hours while I was there. I deserve this, Jiminie.” he said, his voice turning the particular shade of patronizing that was simultaneously annoying and funny.
“Then let me spoil you, hyung, I’ll feed you.” Jimin said, sweetly, grinning widely, and pressing himself up close to Seokjin. Seokjin looked rightfully worried, but Jimin giggled, in the cute way that always made Jungkook go and do what he wanted, and Seokjin grudgingly handed over one stick.
Jimin pressed up on his tiptoes let Seokjin take one huge bite of the skewer, before tugging it out of Seokjin’s mouth, and swallowing the rest of it. “There~ Our treat for passing our exams.” said Jimin, cheerily, turning on his heel to dump the skewer stick in a bin somewhere. “Oooh, hyung, I smell samgyeopsal. Let’s go and get some and take a selfie so Tae and Yoongi-hyung get jealous–-”
Jimin looked back, surprised to not feel Seokjin at his side, hitting him or doing something else appropriately outraged, like usual, and there was a peculiarly closed-off expression on Seokjin’s face, as he stood still, looking at Jimin intently. Catching Jimin’s worry, he smiled easily and caught up, shaking his head.
“You’re a menace, Park Jimin.” he whispered, in Jimin’s ear, slinging one arm over Jimin’s shoulders like usual but this tone was warm and heated with something that Jimin could viscerally recognize, but couldn’t quite believe. So he didn’t react, beyond turning around to peck Seokjin’s check, with his nose, whispering “I know,” as darkly as he could, and turning off, towards his quest for meat.