Chapter Text
“Yah, Namjoon-hyung! Watch out!”
Jin hears the cry immediately before someone bumps into him, causing him to drop the container of creamer he'd had in his hand. It lands with a dull thump, it's contents thankfully staying in their container.
He winces, praying that it's not a girl that's just bumped into him. He turns, panic building in his chest as the man starts to apologize. The 'I'm sorry', barely gets past his lips before Jin clamps a hand over his mouth, shushing him desperately.
The man's eyes widen, no doubt recognizing who he is. He knows, that he really shouldn't be in the store without any supervision. He's an idol. One of the most famous singers in Korea at the moment. If anyone were to recognize him, he can't even imagine the chaos that would ensue. He can't help himself though. It's so stifling in the studio, and he just wants to be normal for a few hours. Of course, the universe is working against him now, since he's got his palm pressed, rather rudely, up against the mouth of a man that he doesn't know.
“Please be quiet,” He pleads quietly, looking around to see if anyone if looking at them. Thankfully no one seems to have noticed their little scuffle. “I'll pay you anything to not scream when I let go of your mouth.”
The man, who has bleached hair, and is slightly taller than him, nods slightly. Jin lets go of his mouth, blushing as he does so. For some reason, the look on the man's face makes him feel weird, like he's supposed to know who he's looking at.
“Sorry,” He says quickly as the man continues to stare at him like he's crazy. “I just really don't want anyone to know that I'm here. I don't uh-” He stops, not wanting this random man to know that he doesn't have his security with him.
Before he can think of anything to say, a loud voice is calling out for the man in front of him.
“Namjoon-hyung!” The voice calls, and Jin can vaguely see someone behind the man, Namjoon, staring at them. “Is that Kim Seokjin?!”
Jin freezes, wincing and closing his eyes for a second. He can practically feel every eye in the isle begin to turn towards them, trying to find out if it's really the Seokjin.
He really hates being an idol sometimes.
“Ah, shit,” He says, under his breath. Everyone is beginning to get closer to him, crowding around the two of them a little bit.
“I'm so sorry,” Namjoon says, moving so that Jin can get past him. “He doesn't know any better.”
Jin walks past him, hurrying down the isle with Namjoon, and the crowd of people who are now calling his name and trying to talk to him, following closely behind. He feels a sharp stinging pain in his wrist and he grabs it on instinct, hissing a little at the feeling. Unfortunately, the crowd manages to get in front of him before he can check to see what's happened, and suddenly he's being surrounded by people.
Everyone is trying to talk to him at once and it's like something out of his worst nightmares. Someone grabs his hat, tearing it from his head and pulling some of his hair with it. He cries out in pain just as someone asks for an autograph. Someone shoves a phone into his face as well, trying to take a picture with him. He can barely keep his balance with so many people shoving into him.
He can't even tell what's happening, looking around. It's all just bodies around them, most of them girls. They're all yelling, asking him for pictures, autographs, calling him oppa. He's just beginning to not be able to breathe, as he tries to ask everyone to get away from him, when someone grabs his arm tightly, pulling him forcefully towards them. He looks up, ready to tear his arm away and give whoever it is an earful when he sees that it's Namjoon.
“Yah! Where's your security?!” He yells, pulling Jin a little closer to him and using his other arm to push someone away who looks like they're going to try and grab him.
“I didn't bring any!” Jin yells over the crowd, clinging desperately to Namjoon's arm as they're rocked around by the crowd. “I'm not supposed to be here.”
Namjoon doesn't reply, but suddenly he's being pulled forward into his chest, his nose pressed up against his collar bone. He's about to ask what he's doing when Namjoon speaks.
“I'm gonna get you through this crowd and out of here.” Namjoon says into his hair, tightening his arm a little bit around his waist.
Jin nods, unable to do anything else. He really doesn't trust this stranger all that much, but it doesn't seem like he has much of a choice other than letting the man push through the crowd for him as people still grab at him, pulling on his shirt and his jeans and getting their feet tangled with his.
He feels Namjoon stumble a number of times, but they never topple completely over, which seems like a miracle, seeing as how Jin can't even see his own feet as he walks backwards. Jin doesn't know if he's upset, or grateful that he can't really see what's going on around him.
“I'm gonna let you go and you're going to run straight ahead,” Namjoon says, moving forward much more rapidly than he was before and unwrapping his arms from around Jin's waist.
He runs, just like Namjoon said to, towards the door that's directly in front of him. He pushes it open, causing an alarm to begin sounding. He doesn't care though, as he runs into the back parking lot of the store they'd been in. He can already see the headlines on every cheap gossip magazine in Korea. “Kim Seokjin rings alarm in local store!” and “Jin's new best friend? Who's the new guy on the block?”. He knows that there's no way they're going to be able to cover this thing up.
“My car is this way,” Namjoon half shouts to him over the alarm that's blaring outside of the store, coming up next to him on his right side. There are people outside of the store as well that are staring at them, watching as they sprint across the parking lot. “I can take you anywhere. Even it's just a few blocks away.”
Jin looks back at the crowd that's trying to flood through the door they'd escaped from, and nods his head. There really aren't any other options at this point, unless he wants to be swallowed by a crowd of ravenous fans.
When he looks back forward, Namjoon has stopped at his car, pulling open the driver side door. Jin follows his lead, getting the passenger side open as quickly as he can. There are people almost directly behind him, having stopped to avoid getting hit with the car door.
He slams the door behind him, looking towards Namjoon, who's already got the keys in the ignition and the car started. He's going to have to pay him so much for this.
“Where should I go?” Namjoon asks, eyeing the people gathering around the car wearily. He begins to move forward, causing people to begin to scatter. There's a bang on Jin's window that causes him to jump. There's a girl trying to look into the window, amid the many camera flashes that he's seeing. He hardly has time to register anything else before Namjoon is speeding out of the parking lot, obviously not wanting to wait around anymore so that more people can start pounding on the windows. Jin doesn't blame him.
“I would say my apartment, but I'm sure there are people already waiting there. Not my studio either, because of the same thing.”
He can see that people are still trying to follow them in the rear view mirror. He sighs deeply, an apology already forming on his lips as Namjoon replies.
“We can go to my apartment? It's not very far and there's usually not many people around. A bunch of old people live there.”
“Perfect.” It's really not all that ideal, but right now, Jin just wants to be as far away from those people as he can get.
Thankfully, once they get to the main road, no one is chasing after them anymore. He wishes that no one would've chased him in the first place. He knows that people can get hurt trying to mob him, and the last thing he wants is for someone to hurt themselves for a chance to see him.
There's always a chance that someone has followed behind them in a car as well, which is just downright scary.
“I have to call my manager,” Jin says, pulling his phone out and sighing as he finds Yoongi's number in his phone. He laughs humorlessly as he sees that he's already missed multiple calls from him and a few texts. “He's going to kill me.”
Namjoon gives him a sympathetic look, grip tightening a little on the steering wheel. “I left my friends back at the store. I'm their ride.”
Jin winces, mouthing 'sorry', as the phone rings in his ear. It only rings twice before Yoongi answers.
“Yoongi, before you freak out-” He starts to say, but predictably, he's cut off.
“Kim Seokjin, you're so lucky that murder is illegal,” Yoongi half yells at him, words garbled together like they always are when Yoongi gets angry. Jin regrets ever leaving his apartment.
“Ah,” He pulls the phone away from his ear, turning the volume down and wincing before returning it to his ear. “Yoongi please, I'm safe.”
“You better be. Jimin is almost in tears with worry and not to mention the-” He hears Jimin saying something and Yoongi inhale deeply. “Where are you?”
“Funny story, actually,” He winces at his own tone of voice. “I uh, well.”
He gets distracted as Namjoon pulls into a parking lot for a small building with only two floors. He frowns, looking around suspiciously. In all of the years he's lived in the city, he's never seen this building before. It seems suspiciously close to where they were previously and Jin's heart moves to his throat as Namjoon parks his car.
“I told you I lived with old people,” Namjoon says sheepishly as Jin reads the sign on the side of the building. 'Senior Housing'. “They live here because there's only two floors and the rest of the apartments around have a lot floors.”
Jin stares at him, deciding whether or not he should trust the story. He knows that Namjoon could very easily be trying to kidnap him right now, but for some reason, he trusts him. He feels like he's known Namjoon for a really long time and even that is unnerving for him. Does he know Namjoon from somewhere? Should he really go inside with him?
Yoongi's voice in his ear pulls him from his decision making as Namjoon gets out of the car, motioning for him to follow after him. Jin decides that the possibility of someone having followed them in their car is still there and it'll be better to be inside. He's on the phone with Yoongi, if anything goes wrong anyways.
“Please, Jin, for the love of everything, tell me you're not in the car with a stranger.”
“Well,” Jin presses the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he gets out of the car, following Namjoon quickly into his apartment. “Not anymore?”
“Jin!”
He sighs, trying to look at Namjoon reassuringly as Yoongi's voice seeps from his phone. “There should be hyung in there somewhere,” He grumbles in reply, but it does nothing to make Yoongi not yell at him.
Namjoon nods at the woman at the front desk, who doesn't look up from her computer as they enter. Jin puts his head down just in case, since he no longer has his hat to try and cover his head. Fortunately, Namjoon lives on the first floor, so they arrive at his door rather quickly.
“I cannot believe that I left you alone for an hour, and you've managed to get into so much trouble. I'm never leaving you alone ever again. You can't be trusted, obviously. Where is your car?!”
Jin rolls his eyes, growing agitated as Yoongi continues to talk. He can practically hear him pacing around and wearing a hole in his floor.
“Yoongi, I'm not five! You can come and get me right now, if you're that worried. I'm fine, honestly. My car is in the parking lot of the grocery store, where I left it parked. We can just send someone over to get it.” He crosses his free arm across his chest, standing in the entrance way as Namjoon closes the door behind him, locking it. Jin can see the living room and part of the kitchen from where he's standing, but he doesn't pay much attention to them, more focused on getting Yoongi to calm down.
“And who is the guy that you're with? Honestly, Jin, I can't believe how fucking stupid you are sometimes!” There's a rustling sound on the other end and a car door slamming.
“Yah! Watch your mouth. I'm still your hyung, Yoongi,” He reminds, warningly. He keeps his voice low so that Namjoon can't hear him scolding Yoongi.
“And I'm your manager! My job is to keep you out of trouble and here you are, sneaking out of your fucking house and getting yourself into all sorts of it.”
“I wouldn't have to sneak around if you would just trust me!”
“Yeah, because you've given me such a reason to let you out on your own.”
“I'm not some sort of dog to be let out.”
There's a moment of silence where they both breathe deeply, Jin closing his eyes and trying to relax his tensed up muscles. He hates fighting with Yoongi over stuff like this.
“What's the fucking address you're at.”
He sighs, looking over at where Namjoon is standing, worrying his bottom lip between his lips. He puts the phone on his shoulder for a moment. “What's this address? My manager is going to come and pick me up.”
Namjoon tells him to address slowly, and he repeats it to Yoongi, who hangs up almost immediately afterward with a promise to be there soon. Jin sighs, staring at his phone for a long moment after Yoongi has hung up. He knows by the tone of his voice that he's still heavily annoyed, but hopefully Jimin will be able to calm him down before he leaves. He doesn't want Namjoon to experience a pissed off Yoongi.
“I'm sorry, if I got you in trouble,” Namjoon apologizes, rubbing his arm awkwardly. “I, uh, don't often do things right.”
Jin laughs, wanting to hug the stranger who's in front of him. This entirely random person that he just met in a grocery store who's going to be all over magazine covers in a matter of days. Who left his friends behind in a grocery store in order to get him out of there. Who fought through a crowd for him for no good reason other than his friend being an idiot.
“I think if you hadn't been there, I might've been in a lot more trouble.” Jin tries to avoid staring, but he's having a tough time. Namjoon is a rather attractive man, and Jin is only human.
He's much more handsome than Jin had originally noticed. His face is round, with large cheeks and a slim nose. He's wearing a beanie with his hair falling onto his forehead in the front. His black shirt has a large picture of something that may be an animal, and his jeans are ripped in multiple places.
His face looks soft, his plush lips pouting a little as he looks at Jin in worry. A few strands of his hair are flying away from his face, and Jin has the strongest urge to tuck them back into his beanie. He wishes he could see Namjoon's wrist. He probably has a soulmate, but it would be nice to know for certain whether or not his staring is extra creepy.
“Nobody would've seen you if Taehyung wasn't an idiot.”
He shrugs a little, unsure of how to reply. Instead, he busies himself with looking around the room that he's in. He's standing near the entrance way to a kitchen, but he's in the living room, which is much smaller than the one in his apartment. There's a couch that's only meant for two people sat a few feet away from a very small TV that looks like it hasn't been touched in a while. Next to the couch there's a small table with a lamp on it. Other than that, the room is empty.
“Sorry,” Namjoon apologizes, making him jump a little. “It's pretty small so I don't have much furniture. You can sit, if you want.” He trails off, smiling. The smile is obviously forced, and Jin feels bad.
“That's OK. My apartment is actually very close to here, so I'm sure Yoongi will be here any minute. I would like to thank you though. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't been there.” He shifts his weight around awkwardly as he bows.
“You don't have to thank me.” Namjoon shakes his head, his smile more real now. “Although, we still haven't introduced ourselves.”
Jin blushes, realizing that he's not supposed to know what Namjoon's name is. Namjoon could be his hyung for all he knows.
“I'm Seokjin. Kim Seokjin, but I guess you already knew that.” He bows a little, blushing. Just once he wants to meet someone who doesn't know who he is.
“I'm Kim Namjoon.” Namjoon bows back, looking sheepish and rubbing his neck awkwardly. “I uh, yeah. I recognized you from my friend's posters of you.”
“How old are you?” Jin asks, avoiding the topic of Namjoon's friends who were left behind in the store.
“I'm 21. Born in September.” Once again, Namjoon looks uncomfortable, and Jin shifts around again, feeling a bit self-conscience. He doesn't know if he's doing something weird, or if Namjoon is uncomfortable because he's famous. He almost hopes he's doing something weird.
“I'm 23.” He wonders if Namjoon knows that as well.
Before Namjoon can reply, there's a sharp knock on the door. Namjoon whirls around to look at the door, tripping over his feet a little bit and blushing. Jin startles a little, staring at the door. How did Yoongi manage to get here that fast?
Namjoon looks through the peephole on the door before opening it, which Jin finds odd, since Namjoon has no way of knowing what Yoongi looks like in the first place. Instead of questioning it though, he braces himself as the door opens.
“Kim Seokjin!” Yoongi says loudly, walking through the door with his finger pointed as Jin already. “Do you have any idea how much trouble we're in?”
“How the hell did you get here so fast?” Jin asks incredulously. He lives close, yeah, but not that close. “How many people did you run over on the way? Actually no,” He shakes his head, putting his hands out in front of him momentarily. “don't tell me. I don't want to be a witness to your crimes.”
“Now is really not the time to be making jokes,” Yoongi says, stopping directly in front of him and completely bypassing Namjoon, who is standing awkwardly by the door.. “And that's coming from me, of all people.”
“It's nice to see you too Yoongi,” Jin grumbles, making a face at him. “I thought you'd be happy I was safe!”
“Jin,” Yoongi emphasizes, “Do you have any idea how many rumors there are right now? There are pictures of you and him,” He turns dramatically, pointing at Namjoon, who looks a little scared. “everywhere! You getting into the car, him shielding you with his body, and now everyone knows you were there without security. How are we going to cover this up?”
“Yoongi, his,” He mocks Yoongi's earlier pointing towards Namjoon. “name is Namjoon, and you should show a little respect to him, considering things would've been much worse had he not been there!”
Maybe he's being a bit of a brat, but he is very grateful to Namjoon for everything, and he doesn't want him to feel like he's done something wrong. Yoongi is also being a brat, so he feels at least somewhat justified.
“The press is having a complete field day with this already and it's not even been an hour!” Yoongi pushes, throwing his hands around like he always does when he's stressed out. “You can't do things like this when you're famous.”
“I could've been seriously injured and you're worried about the press? There are more important things than the press!” He knows that Yoongi knows that, but he really doesn't want to think about the media right now, and he's a master of deflection.
“I wouldn't have to be worried about you being injured if you would just listen to Jimin and I for once in your life!”
“I'm sorry if I want to be a normal person every now and then!”
“You're not a normal person, Jin!”
Jin grimaces, eyes floating to Namjoon, who looks like he's trying his hardest not to pay attention to them. He's even moved into the kitchen slightly. Jin owes him so much money.
“We can talk about this later, yeah?”
It's both an attempt to save Namjoon from feeling too awkward, and to get them off of the topic. He obviously knows that he's a part of the general population, but hearing it said so harshly and with such conviction from his best friend, it hits a little too close to Jin's heart. He'd rather not cry in front of a stranger.
Yoongi nods, shrugging Jin's hands from his shoulders awkwardly and readjusting his shirt. He looks back over at Namjoon, like he's just remembered that they're not alone in the tiny apartment.
“Yeah,” He turns back to look at Jin. “we can. This really isn't the place, is it?”
Jin nods at him, already dreading the conversation they're going to have later, no doubt with Jimin present as well. He doesn't feel like explaining his overwhelming urge to be by himself when he's in public. He especially doesn't want to admit that he hates being an idol more and more with every day he continues to be one.
He shakes his head a little, clearing his thoughts.
“Namjoon-ah,” He says, stepping to the side so that Yoongi isn't blocking his view as much.
Namjoon steps out into the living room a little more, humming slightly in response.
“I just wanted to thank you, again,” He says, walking over to him and bowing a little. “I really appreciate you getting me out of there.”
“It was the least I could do,” Namjoon replies, squinting sheepishly as he smiles. “It was kind of my fault this whole thing even happened in the first place.”
“I think it was more your friends' fault,” He disagrees. All Namjoon did was run into him. If his friend hadn't been there, he might not have been seen at all.
Namjoon doesn't say anything for a moment, looking like he's completely lost in whatever thought he's having.
“We should get going though,” He says, after a few more moments of Namjoon staring at him. “before Yoongi has a heart attack.”
Namjoon snaps out of whatever trance he was in, looking over at Yoongi.
“Sorry for causing so much trouble,” He apologizes, rubbing his hands together for a moment and bowing. “I hope I didn't do too much damage.”
Yoongi smiles, shaking his head very slightly. He knows that Namjoon may be fooled by the smiles, but he'd recognize Yoongi's 'manager face' anywhere.
“Don't worry about it too, much,” Yoongi says, “There's no need to apologize.”
Namjoon nods awkwardly, looking between Jin and Yoongi. Jin feels a pull in his stomach that makes him feel a little queasy. Just the thought of leaving makes him feel a little sick for some reason and he really doesn't enjoy that.
“Right, well,” Jin breaks the silence, once again. “Thank you again, Namjoon.”
“Anytime,” Namjoon replies, smiling easily.
Jin ignores the way his heart flutters a little at the smile, shaking his head once they leave the apartment and silently following Yoongi to the car. It's not until they reach his apartment, that he realizes what the little fluttering in his heart actually meant.
“What's that on your wrist? Did you get a tattoo while you were out too?” Yoongi asks as soon as the door is closed behind them.
Jin frowns, staring at him for a moment before pulling up his sleeve to look at his arm. He definitely didn't get any tattoo that he remembers.
But there, on his wrist, as the words, I'm so sorry, in bold, black letters along with the name Kim Namjoon, and today's date.
Yoongi just stares at him for a moment, and Jin can see the gears working in his brain. Jin has already come to the only logical conclusion that's available. He'd be willing to bet his entire net worth that Kim Namjoon is going to notice that he too has a brand new tattoo on his wrist.
They're soulmates.