Chapter Text
Death, success, love. Often in our lives it seems the defining moments come suddenly, out of the blue. However this is never truly the case. Life is a domino effect. One tiny thing, a butterfly flapping its wings, a tree falling in the forest, can result in something huge. It’s not even in our control. From the minute we are born, everything that happens to us and every decision we make leads us on a new path in life, a new branch of our own personal tree. So it happened to Kim Seokjin, when the loss of his eyebrows led him on the path to love.
Monday Morning
"You were the best but you were the worst As sick as it sounds, I loved you first
I was a dick, it is what it is. A habit to kick, the age-old curse…"
Jin groaned, lifted from his slumber by the tinny melody of his alarm: Gracie Abram’s summer hit I loved you I’m sorry. He detested Mondays. Now that his tour was over, Jin was expected in the studio for a gruelling twelve hour day with his members. Which he wasn’t annoyed about per say, but he was trying to become more involved in the writing and recording process and the rapline wasn't exactly forthcoming. Yoongi wasn’t nurturing by nature, Namjoon would help him of course, -but Namjoon’s help would involve Jin having to listen to hours of sanctimonious preaching on the lyrical power of metaphor and the importance of living fiercely- so Jin wasn’t a fan of that option. Hoseok too would be no help, he’d been sporadically absent from the studio for about a week due to “parental responsibilities.” and had returned two nights ago at four in the morning with an armful of balloons and his hair slightly smoking at the edges. Jin didn’t know what any of that meant but he’d been making a concentrated effort to stay out of Hoseok’s way since then. Clearly he had something going on. All that in mind though, Jin probably wasn’t going to be that involved in making the album. Most likely all his time in the studio will be spent occasionally belting high notes and watching Namjoon bounce in the booth. Fun times.
Jin spends a self indulgent ten minutes in bed watching tiktoks before he resigns himself to his day, jumping out of bed. He’s nothing if not a team player. Besides, there’s worse ways to stack some cheese than watching Namjoon bounce all day. He trundles along to the bathroom, humming that’s that me espresso and leans into the sink, splashing water on his face. He turns his face up, expecting to see his usual handsome expression in the mirror..
“WHAT THE FUCK?”
Jin reels back in shock, tripping on the foot of the bath and making an almighty crash as he takes the patterned shower curtain down with him. He’s laying on the floor dazed, when Jungkook runs in, obviously alerted by the noise. He leans down, squinting at Jin as he helps him up. “Jin are you- Oh my god where the fuck are your eyebrows?” Jin shakes his head, tearing at his hair in horror as he gazes in the mirror in horror.His beautiful dark eyebrows, the hairy frames that allowed the canvas of his face to shine so gloriously, they were gone! “They’ve disappeared!”
Jungkook put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. “Don’t worry Jin, we'll get to the bottom of this. He pulled his phone out, face resolute and pressed the number one on his speed dial. “Hey Namjoon, it’s me. You need to call a group meeting. It's code lavender.” In the mirror, Jin sees Jungkook’s face screw up in confusion, then disappointment." “No, I'm not Anderson Paak. It’s me! Do you seriously not- No it’s not Tablo! Stop guessing!” Jungkook sighs, clenching his fist. “No I’m not Jackson Wang either! It’s Jungkook! Yes, JEON Jungkook. What other Jungkooks do you even- Oh my God! Whatever! Emergency band meeting in five minutes. No, not over zoom… In the kitchen! Goodbye!” Jungkook turns back to him, grinning dreamily. “God he is so nonchalant!" Jin groaned, running a hand over his face as Jungkook dragged him towards the kitchen. “Don’t worry Jin! Namjoon will know what to do!”
“I’m sure….”
*********
Namjoon sat at the head of the table, hands braced together and brows fixed together in an attempt at a thoughtful expression that reads mostly as constipated. Not that it matters, because no one except Jin is paying him any attention. The other four pairs of eyes in the room are all fixed on Jin’s smooth un-eyebrowless forehead in varying degrees of horror. “I’m sure you are all wondering why I called this emergency meeting.” Yoongi scoffed. “No, I think we’re pretty clear on that thank you Namjoon.” “Jin, your eyebrows are gone.” Tae supplied helpfully.Jin put his head in his hands. “I’m aware.”
Namjoon cleared his throat, voice taut with concern.“Jin I would personally like to know why you would do this to yourself? Is it the tour? Are you under stress? You know I’ve read somewhere that in instances where a person feels they are lacking control they can-” Jin gawks at him, mouth hanging open. “You think I did this to MYSELF?” “Well it's not as if anyone else came into your room and shaved your eyebrows off Jin. Of course it was you.”Jin rose out of his chair, the tips of his ears turning red with frustration. “WHY on EARTH would I do THAT?”Namjoon raised his hands placatingly. “Jin, be reasonable.” “Reasonable. REASONABLE. I-”
“Wait!” All eyes turn to Jimin who is staring at Jin’s forehead with concentration. He moves closer as if to examine further and takes Jin’s head between his hands.“Guys, look at this!” Namjoon, Yoongi, Taehyung and Jungkook all rise to see what Jimin is pointing at, but by their expressions, Jin guesses they are as lost as he is. Yoongi crosses his arms. “Not sure what we are supposed to be looking at here Jimin.” Jimin runs his fingers over Jin’s brow bone. “Do you not see? It’s completely smooth! He can’t have shaved them, it's too clean.”Namjoon raises his eyebrows.“So? He probably waxed them!”
This time Taehyung shook his head, eyes starry eyed. “No Namjoon, that’s not possible. You see when you wax your eyebrows, irritation and redness will remain for at least twenty four hours, and we saw Jin with eyebrows like- ten hours ago! We would be able to tell if he waxed them.” Taehyung turned to the others, expression serious. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," Jungkook gasped. “Magic!” Taehyung nodded gravely. “Yes Jungkook, exactly right.”
Namjoon put a hand on his chin, deep in thought. “I see. Jin, just to get this out of the way. You definitely didn’t magic your eyebrows off yourself right?” Yoongi blinked. “Oh so we’re just going with the magic thing then.” “Well the Sherlock quote was pretty convincing..” “No!” Jin shrieked, quite frankly baffled by the scene in front of him. “No I didn’t magic off my own eyebrows! What does that even mean?” Namjoon shrugged, affronted. “Well there’s no need to take that tone I just wanted to make sure! You know I read somewhere that-”
“Hey,” Yoongi interrupted. “Has anyone else noticed that Hoseok is conspicuously absent.”
Everyone looked around, murmuring their assent. “Yes I had noticed that actually.” Suddenly Jimin cocked his head, as if listening for something. “Does anyone else hear that?” Sure enough, Jin heard the sound of music in the distance. “Is that?” Hoseok popped his head round the doorway, a manic grin on his face. “Hit Big Bang song Fantastic Baby? Why yes, it is.” Hoseok entered the room completely, a purple velvet pillow held aloft in one hand and wheeling an obnoxiously large (and loud) bluetooth speaker behind him in the other. “I’m sure you were all questioning my conspicuous absence.” Namjoon nodded. “Yes we were. Glad you could join us man! We were just discussing Jin’s missing eyebrows.”
Jin raised his hand, aghast. “I’m sorry? Are we not seeing this? He’s wearing a top hat.” Hoseok was indeed wearing a modest top hat. Jimin shrugged. “That’s his Autumn hat. It’s Autumn.” “And the speaker? The velvet pillow?” Jin shook his head incredulously, but Yoongi seemed unbothered. He nodded like this was a normal thing they all knew about. “Well that’s his Autumn portable bluetooth speaker. Although the pillow is new. Why do you have a pillow, Hoseok?” Hoseok laughed, a melodious twinkling thing. “I’m so glad you asked Yoongi PD-nim. Behold!” Hoseok bent at the knee, bowing in a sort of makeshift curtsy and displaying the things sitting on top of the elegant cushion. Lying on top of the velvet was what appeared to be.. “Are those my fucking eyebrows.” Jin half shrieked, half groaned.
Hoseok twirled on the spot, grinning. “Why yes! I magicked them off you last night!” “WHAT!” Jin jumped out of his seat. “Give me those!” He yelled, lunging towards Hoseok. Who danced out of the way, still shooting him that evil little grin. “Nuh uh uh!” He tutted. Jin yelled something incomprehensible and lunged for him again, only to be halted by Namjoon’s hand on his chest. “Jin, calm down. I’m sure Hoseok had his reasons, let's hear him out.” Jin glared over Namjoon’s shoulder where Hoseok was now sticking his tongue out at him. “What reasons could he POSSIBLY have.” Namjoon patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s all just sit back down and discuss this.”
Jin begrudgingly sat himself down at the end of the table, as far away from Hoseok as possible who was now whispering conspiratorally into Namjoon’s ear at the head of the table. Yoongi was the first to speak. “Right. Tell us why you took Jin’s eyebrows please Hoseok. Hoseok sat back in clear disinterest, examining his fingernails. “Jin has a journey to go on, when it is complete, he’ll get them back.” Taehyung's eyes widened, full of curiosity. “Really, what sort of journey? Can we come?” Hoseok wagged a finger at him. “You cannot. This is something he must do alone.” Namjoon nodded in understanding. “I see. How long will this take though, because we sort of need him for- “It will take as long as it takes.” Hoseok said, not unkindly, but a bit unkindly. Finally he turned to Jin and pulled something out of his sleeve. “This is a plane ticket to London for 8pm tonight. You’ll find the first piece there when you land. Good Luck!” He laughed and moved to stand. “Now if you excuse me, I have things or whatever!”
Jin moved to follow him. “Wait, no! Why can’t you just give them back to me right now? You are holding them in your hands!” Hoseok shook his head. “Nope! Then you won’t learn anything!” He grinned. “Your journey will give you what you want above all, but mind along the way that you don’t trip and fall!” Hoseok left the room, clicking his heels.
Namjoon laughed. “Wow, what a cool guy! So cryptic.” He moved to shake Jin’s hand, his grip strong and clumsy. “Well, good luck on your soul journey Jin. I’m going to get back to it now!” Namjoon turns to the others, “You guys coming?” The boys all get up to leave, filing past a speechless Jin and wishing him luck. He gets a bracing slap on the back from Jungkook, a murmured, “You’ll be fine, probably” from Yoongi and an eyebrow pencil from Jimin. Taehyung presses his forehead to Jin which is weird and a little clammy, but he appreciates the gesture. Then he is left alone, staring at the ticket in his hands.
“I guess I’m going to London.”
*******
The absurdity of the situation only really hits Jin, as he’s waiting at the gate. He’s going to London. To get his eyebrows back. What is he doing with his life? He pulls out his phone to text Hoseok and tries again to send a message. None of his messages are delivering. Over the intercom he hears the announcement that his flight is boarding. Briefly he entertains just going back home, his eyebrows will grow back over time. Right? He’s about to turn towards the exit when his phone dings in his pocket, its from Hoseok:
Iamurhope: They won’t grow back. Get on the plane Jin.
Jin grimaces and turns back around. Fine. He’s in a foul mood as he boards the plane. His entire week has been derailed, month maybe, if this crazy wild goose chase demands. Jin is so distracted as he flings his bag into the overhead that he slams straight into the back of the woman in front of him and almost crushes her with her own suitcase. Jin watches in horror as she trips trying to avoid him and falls flat on her back in the plane aisle. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry! Are you ok?” He holds out a hand to help the woman up. She grimaces a little but her smile is forgiving. “Yeah I’m ok! No bones broken, just a little embarrassed!” She nods at Jin again before moving in the direction of her seat.
After recovering from his embarrassment and finally putting his suitcase away, Jin flops into his seat with a sigh. He’s ready to sleep all the way to London when he hears a quiet laugh beside him. It’s the girl he almost killed. Under the cold airplane lights he realises she’s very beautiful, with long dark hair and a wide mischievous smile. “Well hello, suitcase man!” Jin winces. “My friends call me Jin.” Her smile grows wider. “Pleased to make your acquaintance Jin! I’m Sarah, Sarah Moon.” She holds out her hand to shake and Jin takes it gladly. It’s a nice hand. She tilts her head at him, a little quizzical. “I can’t help but notice you’re missing your eyebrows.” Jin smiles, a little bashfully. “Don’t hold it against me.” Sarah laughs, it’s a nice laugh. “I’ll try not to.”
Jin laughs with her, quietly delighted. Maybe this trip won’t be such a waste after all?