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He was so late.
And it was so unlike Mr. Punctual Park Jimin, the king of color-coded planners and hyperorganized backpacks.
It really wasn’t his fault; everything that could possibly go wrong was actually going wrong. The ice storm last night froze his pipes because his neglectful landlord didn’t bother to keep any water running, so he had to run to the gym two doors down to shower. Then the city decided to cancel bus service to his side of town so he had to walk—well, run—across the city to reach his destination. Finally, and of freaking course he had to do this himself, he realized he had forgotten his laptop bag with his notebook when he was halfway there. Because practically every store was closed due to the weather, he had to run—definitely run—back to his apartment for the stupid bag.
If it were class, he wouldn’t have bothered to go through hell and back to make it there. If it were plans with Taehyung or Hobi, he would’ve canceled and snuggled under a few million blankets with hot cocoa in hand. Even if it were his actual job, he would have called in “sick.”
But, nooooo, the freaking dream job interview he scheduled two weeks ago had to land smack in the middle of the ice storm of the decade.
And now Mr. Twenty-Minutes-Late Park Jimin was standing at the bottom of the only thing between him and the brick building where the interview was: a gigantic how-does-this-even-exist-in-the-city really steep ice-covered hill.
Hopelessly staring back at the map app on his phone, Jimin looked for any other way up to the top of the hill—a bus running up the hill, a slightly less imposing hill, even a long way around.
Nothing.
He might have been late, but he was so determined to show up for this interview anyways. He had fought wars this morning to make it here now. After showering in the smelly gym, speed-walking halfway here, and legit-running back to his place to pick up a dumb notebook, he could beat this stupid annoying insignificant hill.
This stupid really tall hill.
He took a small first step forward on the ice-covered sidewalk, instantly starting to slide back down the slope like it was chewing him up and spitting him back out.
“Why me?” he whined under his breath.
Before he could mope any more, a larger person clad in a jet-black puffy winter coat with his hood pulled over his head shuffled past him, starting to walk up the steep hill slowly like it was nothing. The other guy was keeping his body lower to the ground, pushing his shoes into the ice as much as he could and keeping them level with the slanting ice.
If he could do it, Jimin definitely could.
Jimin was nowhere near as graceful about it, though. He practically waddled up the hill, taking miniscule steps so as not to lose his balance. It was effective but completely and utterly dorky; he was glad that the other guy wasn’t looking back at him because it was so embarrassing. He actually managed to keep pace with the taller guy by furiously waddling like a deranged squishy orange-haired penguin. If Taehyung were here, Instagram and Snapchat would be littered with unflattering videos of Jimin in what could be his most compromising position in his short life. He’d never live it down.
His daydream all came crashing down when the guy in front of him lost his footing, one of his legs flying straight up into the air form the lack of resistance from the ground and his arms flapping through the air like an actual deranged penguin trying to steady himself—he had no such luck, spinning around 180 degrees to face Jimin while his hood flew off of his head, revealing his jet-black hair and sharp-as-sculpted-ice jawline. He didn’t look any older than Jimin, his boyish hair falling flat on his forehead as he recovered; it didn’t take long for the boy to groan in pain from the hard landing. Finally noticing Jimin staring at him with wide doe eyes, the other boy blushed from the embarrassment of just how stupid he probably looked five seconds ago.
Jimin wasn’t about to make him feel any better: the orange-haired guy started laughing as soon as the taller boy noticed him, body jerking violently from just how hard he was laughing. Tears started welling up in the corner of his eyes from laughing so much, and he just couldn’t stop.
The uncontrollable shaking made him lose his balance, causing Jimin to fall straight backwards and land on his butt too. A short silence hung over the air as Jimin massaged his backside and looked up at the other guy sitting above him on the hill; it didn’t last long because the raven-haired boy brought his hand up to his face to cover his mouth as he started giggling. This only made Jimin start up again, losing himself in the moment as his body writhed back and forward on the ground from laughing. Jimin’s happiness was infectious, causing the other boy to laugh harder and harder until they both spent a good minute just laughing in the middle of a deserted street during an ice storm.
“A-are you okay?” the raven-haired boy finally choked out, still giggling a bit.
“Y-yeah,” Jimin replied, voice weak from so much giggling.
“I’m Jungkook,” the taller boy said, eyes twinkling from the light being reflected off of the ice.
“Jimin,” the orange-haired guy replied.
“Well, Jimin, should we try to make it the rest of the way up?”
Oh crap, that’s right—the interview!
“If we help each other, we should be able to make it to the top,” Jungkook continued.
Jimin nodded, carefully bringing himself to his feet. He didn’t want to fall again, he really had to get to the interview soon.
The shorter guy slowly waddled up to Jungkook, being extra careful not to fall in the spot that the taller boy slipped. The two were now climbing the hill side-by-side with not much room between them.
“So what are you doing out here in this weather, Jimin?”
“I have a job interview up there,” he replied, pointing up toward the top of the hill. “It’s been such a struggle to get here, though. First my pipes froze and then I forgot my notebook after I had left and then the buses stopped running on my side of town. I’m already so late.”
“Ah, I see,” Jungkook replied. He looked down at the orange-haired boy, and a small sincere smile crept across his face: “I’m sure you’ll get the job, though.”
“H-how can you be so sure?” Jimin said, somewhat taken aback. “You only met me five seconds ago!”
“Anyone who can laugh for two minutes straight after falling square on their butt is someone I would want to hire,” Jungkook replied nonchalantly. “You don’t let things faze you, clearly.”
If only Jungkook had seen him at the bottom of the hill.
“Almost there,” Jungkook breathed.
He was right—only about twenty more meters to go. The top of the hill couldn’t come fast enough for Jimin, he was so ready for this trip from hell to be over.
Life wasn’t done with him yet.
Just as soon as he had thought about how close they were to the top, Jimin misplaced his foot on the ice beneath them and started slipping, barreling straight toward the ground yet again—
Until a large hand caught his flailing arm mid-fall and hoisted the smaller boy back up, stabilizing him until he could stand straight on his own. Jimin looked up at the taller boy in amazement. It was only then that he realized just how beautiful the raven-haired boy was, his sharp features contrasting with his wide and dark eyes. He was breathtaking.
“T-thanks.” Jungkook just smiled and nodded in response. Before turning to move forward again, Jungkook wrapped his larger hand around Jimin’s smaller one, encompassing the orange-haired boy’s hand in a protective, guiding way. Jimin felt all his blood rush to his head, and he was absolutely sure he was blushing redder than the bricks on the building he was going to. Jungkook politely tugged his hand forward as they started moving up the hill again, trudging up toward the top. They reached it only a minute later and continued walking together toward the front of the office building Jimin had pointed to earlier.
Reaching the front door of the building, Jimin used his free hand to pull on the door handle, a wave of surprise falling over him when the door didn’t budge one bit. He tugged once more, but the door just wouldn’t give—it was locked.
“L-locked?” he whispered. “Are you kidding me?”
Jimin then realized that he was still holding Jungkook’s hand and looked directly at the boy, blushing tomato red again. He politely withdrew his hand and ran it through his hair, looking at the younger boy unsure what to do. Jungkook blushed slightly, too.
“I’m sorry you came all the way out here for nothing,” Jungkook mumbled, eyes slightly pouty.
“It’s okay,” Jimin replied. Jungkook’s eyes lit up when he realized what Jimin was going to say next.
“I think I found something better than a stupid job.”