Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Here we are!” Seokjin said, stopping the car, which made one of the cardboard boxes fall on the floor.
“Note to self: Never let Seokjin drive a car again.” Jimin said, picking up the box.
Yoongi sighed. “I told you right away you should have let me drive.”
“Silence back there!”
The three of them laughed, but once Jimin actually looked out of the window, his laughter faded.
Up on the small hill was a house. A pretty house, painted light blue, with white windows.
It was his old family home. He had lived here with his brother and mother, until he had moved out 3 years ago.
Now, his mother had died. And he was back here, because his mother wanted one of her sons to keep the house.
So he did.
He couldn’t ask Yon-rae to come back here, he was married now and lived several hours away.
But Jimin had only ever lived about fifteen minutes away, close enough to be able to visit his mother more often than his brother ever did.
And now she was gone.
Two weeks ago the funeral happened, he and his brother had hugged for the first time in years and cried into each other's shoulders.
Jimin snapped out of his thoughts when a warm hand touched his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
He nodded.
“Don’t worry so much, Yoongi. I’ll be fine. Now let’s go! I still need to cook you something.”
Seokjin was about to protest, since he was a professional cook in training, and could clearly cook better than Jimin, but Yoongi gave him A Look which made him stay quiet.
They got out of the car and carried the boxes up the hill.
Jimin really hadn’t brought that much stuff. Seokjin had once asked him if he was a minimalist (which he wasn’t), to which Namjoon - Seokjin’s boyfriend - had replied that Jin was simply overly chaotic.
Before he unlocked the front door, Jimin took a deep breath.
His friends watched him, both wearing worried looks. But he was okay, really.
The door opened.
The sun was shining through the windows, making small specs of dust dance in the air.
“You can just leave the boxes here, I’ll unpack later.” Jimin said, gesturing vaguely.
“Make yourselves at home! I’ll go make some food.”
He hurried off into the kitchen, feeling four eyes staring at him.
Alright, maybe he was being a bit weird. But he wasn’t going to start crying again.
He cooked three very simple bowls of Ramen, setting them down on the old, wooden table one by one.
The three friends dug in, not sure what to say. They had cried and hugged and cried again a lot in the last two weeks and Jimin was eternally thankful to all of them.
They were his best friends.
Seokjin and Yoongi, who he had known the longest, and Namjoon and Jungkook. They were the best friends in the world.
“So, Jimin.” Yoongi said eventually. “Did you think of an ending for the book yet?”
Jimin shrugged slowly. “Not really…”
“I can’t believe best selling children’s book author Park Jimin is struggling with imagining a nice and wholesome ending to his story!” Seokjin commented with a full mouth, waving his chopsticks.
“Don’t you always think of the endings first?” he then asked, mouth less full.
Jimin nodded.
“I do! But this time… It’s hard.”
Yoongi nodded, patting his hand.
“Take your time.”
He gave Seokjin another Look.
They both had rather different ways of treating someone who was going through a hard time.
Seokjin was always joking around, trying to make everyone feel happy and laugh a lot. Make them forget about the sad things.
While Yoongi liked talking about things, for hours if needed, allowing him to cry and feel better afterwards.
Both of these options weren’t bad, both of these options had helped Jimin immensely already.
But these two couldn’t really agree on what was better, so they kept bickering.
In a way, their endless bickering also cheered Jimin up. He didn’t know it any other way.
After another hour or two his friends had to leave.
Seokjin had a cooking class tomorrow and Yoongi didn’t own a car, so he had to carpool with Seokjin.
They asked him several times if they should stay the night, Seokjin saying he would ditch his dreams of becoming a professional cook in a heartbeat for Jimin, which made Jimin cry again, so they ended up hugging again, with both Jimin and Seokjin sobbing and Yoongi trying to calm them down.
Jimin assured him that he would be fine. He needed some time to unpack and to think about his book.
He ended up ushering them out of the door because they were so worried and promised them to text them if he needed anything.
When he closed the door behind him, he sighed.
He hadn’t really thought about what it would be like to be alone in this house.
It wasn’t nice.
He shook his head, as if that would banish all the sad thoughts, and started unpacking.
Eventually it was 11pm and Jimin was incredibly tired.
He lied down on his mother’s old bed and fell asleep in an instant.

The next morning he woke up to his phone ringing.
He was still half asleep when he picked up.
“Hey Jungkook… What time is it?”
“It’s nearly 12! You need to get out of there.” The younger announced. It wasn’t a question. It was an order.
“Meet me and Yoongi in half an hour at the cofée shop!”
“Why..” Jimin started, but his friend had already hung up.
He was tempted to turn back around and just sleep for the rest of the day, but he knew that Jungkook would drag him out of this house if he had to.
So he did what he was told. He got up, took a shower and went out.
The coffée shop wasn’t far away, so he could walk.
It was a surprisingly warm spring day, the trees and flowers were blooming everywhere.
The sky was light blue and the sun warmed his face.
Despite the sun, his friends were sitting inside.
Of course they were.
Jimin was convinced that Jungkook was either a big nerd who never got to see the sun because he only played games, and therefore had developed an allergy to the sun - or he was a vampire.
Maybe both.
Entering the coffèe shop he immediately spotted Jungkook - he was the only person with a long-sleeved top.
He was wearing a black hoodie, as if it were the depths of winter.
“Aren’t you hot in that?” Jimin asked, sitting down across from him.
Jungkook grinned. “If I have to sweat for the aesthetic, I will.”
He got up and hugged Jimin fiercely.
“How are you?” he asked, eyes filled with concern.
Jimin smiled.
“I’m alright. I actually slept okay?”
They sat down and ordered.
Yoongi would come too, in a few minutes, so they got an Americano for him. He never drank anything else.
They spoke about this and that, nothing too deep, and Jimin appreciated it. It was nice to feel a little bit more normal again.
After a few minutes Yoongi entered, wearing a black, long-sleeved top that was kind of similar to Jungkook’s, which made them all laugh.
“I can’t believe you two aren’t dying in these things.” Jimin said, sipping his iced tea.
“I prefer not being properly perceived by the normal human eye.” Yoongi said.
“And you think a warm hoodie in summer will help you with that?”
“Jimin, it’s spring.” Jungkook said, looking a little offended.
Jimin shook his head but was smiling.
If Seokjin was Jimin’s loudest friend, then Yoongi was his quietest friend, shortly followed by Jungkook.
They were both really introverted, especially around strangers, but the five friends had always found common ground.
Now that it was just the three of them, they were chatting and laughing a lot, but Jimin didn’t miss the looks Jungkook and Yoongi exchanged, like they had to tread carefully. He appreciated his friends’ concern, he really, really did, but at this point he thought they were being a little too careful.
But he had told them that several times already and their behavior hadn’t changed, so he had given up.
He couldn’t stop them from being worried.
Yoongi’s phone started ringing and he excused himself, so only Jimin and Jungkook were left at the table.
“Yoongi is so worried.” Jungkook said when his hyung had left, looking at Jimin with big eyes.
“I mean, so am I. We all are.” he sighed. “But Yoongi is really worried.”
Jimin smiled and took another sip.
“I wish he wouldn’t stress himself out like that. But that’s how he is…”
They both sat there in silence for a few seconds until Jimin looked up.
In a conspiratorial tone and wiggling eyebrows he asked Jungkook, “When are you going to do something about your massive crush on Yoongi?”
That led Jungkook to choke on his coke.
“What are you saying?!” he looked annoyed, but Jimin didn’t miss his cheeks getting red.
He simply laughed, not saying anything else.
He had known about this for years. Jungkook had started crushing on their hyung when they were still in highschool. He hadn’t explicitly told anyone, but Jimin could tell that he was right, judging by the way Jungkook was wiping away the coke and muttering something under his breath.
Jimin wasn’t exactly a matchmaker, but he was going to have to keep an eye on this.
He wasn’t going to tell Seokjin though, because Seokjin was too much of a loudmouth.
And he also wouldn’t tell Namjoon, because Namjoon was bad at keeping secrets from Seokjin.
A few moments later Yoongi returned, shoving his phone in his pocket.
“What’s up?” Jimin asked.
“That was Mary.”
He sat down and gave Jungkook, who was still wiping away coke, a confused look. Then he turned back to Jimin.
“She’s mad that you told her that she can’t work with you, so now she’s pestering me.”
Jimin sighed.
He had nearly forgotten about Mary.
Mary Lawson, an artist, who would have been the illustrator for his new book - had she not stolen art from someone else and sold it as her own.
Namjoon had found evidence of that a while ago and called a “war council” (his words, not Jimin’s). Jimin had confronted Mary, who denied all allegations.
The artist who had his art stolen even told the police about it, but they didn’t care enough to do something. Typical.
“Why is she pestering you? You’re not even the author.” Jungkook looked confused.
“It’s because we were supposed to work together. She would make the illustrations, I would make the music for the audio book. We would have had to compare our work to make the general vibes fit… Also, I’m the only one who didn’t block her number.”
Jimin’s eyebrows shot up.
“Why not?”
Yoongi frowned.
“I don’t know how…”
Jimin and Jungkook laughed and started calling him grandpa, which got them some very dark looks.
Jungkook helped Yoongi block the number and told him he could always ask for help if he needed it, which made Jimin smile. It was cute.
“You still haven’t found a new illustrator, have you?” Yoongi asked.
Jimin shook his head.
“Nope, no one seems to be available. Either that, or they charge way too much money.”
“I might have an idea.” Jungkook said, grabbing his phone.
He didn’t say more than that.
“... What’s the idea?”
He didn’t reply.
Jimin and Yoongi exchanged a look.
After a long moment, Jungkook returned to the world of the living and held up his phone. He was grinning and his eyes looked like they were sparkling.
“I might have a fitting candidate for the job!”

Chapter Text

About 20 minutes away from the small town that inhabited Park Jimin, a young man was pacing up and down the corridor of a hospital.
He wasn’t there because he was sick, and he also wasn’t there because he knew someone else who was sick.
He was there for Kim Sung-ho.
Kim Sung-ho, renowned surgeon, amazing doctor, probably one of the most intelligent people to walk this earth, and terrible father and husband.
Taehyung hadn’t spoken to his father in years, he hadn’t wanted to.
But his mother had urged him. She had been begging him to start talking to his father again. And despite the knowledge that this wouldn’t end well, Taehyung did what she wanted.
All he had to do today was tell his father that he would not become a doctor, like he had wanted him to. That he dropped out of med school to become an artist instead.
He would have to tell him that he was basically broke, living in an apartment complex in Seoul that he was sharing with two people.
None of this sounded particularly bad to him, he enjoyed his life. Except for the being broke part maybe.
He knew his father had enough money, but he wasn’t going to ask him for it.
Taehyung noticed that an elderly woman was watching him.
He smiled at her and she smiled back.
“Are you waiting for your wife?” she asked.
Taehyung blinked in confusion.
“When I gave birth to my child my husband was like that too. He was pacing for hours, poor guy.” she chuckled.
“Oh, no. I don’t have a wife. I’m waiting for my father… he’s a surgeon here.”
The woman’s eyes lit up in recognition.
“Ah, you must be Doctor Kim Sung-ho’s son! The resemblance is uncanny…”
Taehyung shrugged, slightly embarrassed.
“But you are so much nicer than him.” the lady continued, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
She gestured to the seat next to her. Taehyung sat down.
“You know him?”
She nodded.
“He performed surgery on my leg last month. He did a great job, of course. But I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so grim… Sorry, boy. I’m not trying to insult you.” she smiled awkwardly.
“Don’t worry, you aren’t! In fact, I absolutely agree with you. He’s an idiot.”
The two of them laughed, until Taehyung heard a booming voice behind him.
“Why are you talking to my son Mrs. Hwang?”

~

“Wow, his stuff is incredible.” Jimin said, squeezed in-between his two friends.
“Right? You should work with him!”
Yoongi nodded approvingly.
Jimin couldn’t stop looking at the art on the little phone screen. From colorful landscapes to surreal creatures - this artist had a range.
“And he’s your friend?” Jimin asked.
Jungkook nodded proudly.
“He is! He’s a ‘bit weird, but he’s awesome!”
“Weird? How so? Seokjin level weird?”
Jungkook rolled his eyes. “No one is Seokjin level weird.”
“Yoongi level weird?”
“Hey!” Yoongi boxed him in the arm.
“You’re so weak.” Jimin laughed.
Jungkook thought about it for a moment, but then shook his head.
“No, it’s a different kind of weird. But it certainly is a good kind of weird! I guess as an artist you just have to be weird to an extent. No offense, Yoongi.”
Yoongi smiled. “None taken.”
“Then why did you take offense when I said you were weird?!” Jimin asked.
He continued looking at this guy’s art, being fascinated by every picture.
This guy drew digitally, on paper and also did oil paintings. There also were a few sketches of actors and musicians Jimin vaguely recognized.
“That’s Jung Hoseok!” Jungkook said excitedly, pointing at the screen.
“Who?” Yoongi and Jimin said in unison.
Jungkook rolled his eyes.
“He’s a dancer. You uncultured people wouldn’t know him, I guess.”
Jimin took out his own phone and looked the artist up.
Vante.
He found him immediately. He had under 1.000 followers, which seemed like a crime to Jimin.
“His art is ideal for this story!” he said, pressing the follow button.
“Do you want to reach out to him yourself?” Jungkook asked.
Jimin shrugged.
He wasn’t as introverted as Yoongi, but he also wasn’t exactly amazing at this entire people thing…
“I’ll text him.” Jungkook said, smiling.

~

Kim Sung-ho did not look pleased.
He had a frown on his face, but then again, when didn’t he?
He didn’t say much, which somehow felt even worse than getting yelled at.
“I’ll become a successful artist, don’t worry.” Taehyung tried.
His father laughed. It was a short laugh, something condescending.
“You’ve always been a disappointment,” he said eventually.
Taehyung was quiet. He already knew that much.
“Your mother and I raised you, we gave you a home and food and this is how you thank us.”
He was calm. Too calm.
“I’m sorry.”
He wasn’t sorry.
What would he be sorry for?
But the way his father looked at him made him feel like he must have committed a crime.
“It’s like I always told you, Taehyung. Your sister is and always has been so much more grateful and achieving than you.” He sighed.
“I’m not saying this because I want to hurt you. Really. I know your mother would scold me if she was here…”
Taehyung kept his mouth shut.
“But we all know that Hea has a successful future ahead of her. And you… do not. You’ve always chased after the stars, and every time you did, you failed. I don’t know when you will finally stop doing it... “
Taehyung swallowed.
He wasn’t going to cry. Not in front of him.
“You know, you’ll never find a woman this way. Who would love some wannabe artist without money? You’re a nobody. You disappoint me immensely.”
Shit, there was a tear on his cheek.
His father rolled his eyes.
“And now you’re crying like a little girl. Did you learn nothing?!”
Kim Sung-ho’s voice got louder, more frustrated.
“You’re a man, Kim Taehyung. Start acting like one!”
Taehyung turned around and left.
Why had he come here? Why had he tried talking to him? Why did he have any expectations? Why did he listen to his hopeless mother?!
Tears were running down his face as he ran down the stairs. He needed to get out, go home, bury himself in blankets and not leave his room for the next few weeks.
To his surprise, when he got outside, he was greeted by the old lady.
She was small and a little round and kind and she somehow must have known that there was something wrong because she hugged him, and he let her.

They walked together for a bit, since they were heading in the same direction anyways.
Taehyung told her that he was an artist and that his father hated that and probably also hated him. She didn’t say much to that, but she listened.
Her name was Hwang Nari, she was 78 years old and she lived in a small town nearby. Her daughter, who unfortunately died earlier this month due to an illness, used to be a ballet dancer and her grandson was an author.
“I’m so sorry about your daughter Mrs. Hwang, that is terrible.” Taehyung could feel tears pricking in his eyes.
“You can call me Nari” the old lady said, smiling kindly. “And why are you crying for me, child? You didn’t even know my daughter.” she stroked his arm.
“Sorry.” Taehyung sniffled.
“Don’t be sorry, dear. You’re just a person who feels deeply, I can tell.
That’s a good thing.”
They walked next to each other for a while, both of them thinking.
Eventually they had to part ways.
“You live nearby, don’t you? Can I commission a portrait?”
Taehyung stared at her.
“You want to commission a portrait? You don’t even know if my art is good…”
“Don’t worry, I know it is.”
She produced a piece of paper out of her little handbag and wrote down her address.
“Come here whenever you have time, I’m usually at home. I’ve always wanted to get my portrait done!” she looked more excited about this than anyone had ever been and Taehyung’s heart nearly burst.
“I’ll be there.”

He took the bus home, and when he finally unlocked the door and quickly went into his room before his roommates could notice, he threw himself on his bed and cried.

~

Once upon a time there was a young girl.
Her name was Ki Duri.
Ki Duri lived on a planet called earth, a very extraordinary and beautiful planet.
But Duri wanted something else
Duri wanted to go on a long, long journey...

Jimin sighed, closing the laptop.
He had rewritten the beginning so many times and he still wasn’t satisfied with it.
Maybe he just wasn’t satisfied because he couldn’t decide on the ending.
What kind of message did he want to give the children who read his books?
He yawned and looked at the clock.
It was past 1am.
He should probably sleep. His friends were going to kill him if he didn’t show up for their lunch date tomorrow.
He closed his eyes and listened to the faint ticking of the clock and the quiet sounds his computer made.
It was really strange, sitting here. All alone.
He didn’t want his friends to stay with him all the time because they had their own lives. They had jobs to attend to and they also had other friends than him.
But sometimes he’d really love to be selfish and have all of them stay in the house for the next time.
But of course he wouldn’t ask them to do that.
So instead, he got up and forced himself into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
He, more or less unconsciously, had used the same cup his mother had used, which probably wasn’t very hygienic, but he honestly didn’t care.
When he was done in the bathroom, he went into his mother’s old bed.
He smelled the pillow and tears started welling up in his eyes.
At that moment, he got a text from Namjoon.
It was like the stars aligned.

Joon
Hey Jiminie! How are you doing? I saw you’re still online!

Jimin
You’re also online, Kim Namjoon.

Joon
I’m always online, that’s not comparable. What are you doing?

Jimin sighed.

Joon
You can’t sleep, can you?

Jimin
Calm down, I can’t type that quickly.

He chuckled, but at the same time he felt tears streaming down his face.
And it seemed like Namjoon could sense it.

Joon
I’m sending Jin to pick you up. And you don’t get to protest. At all.

Jimin
What? No! Don’t be ridiculous, it’s the middle of the night! Let the poor man sleep! I’ll be fine!

Of course, Namjoon didn’t care. He just went offline.
Jimin groaned.
He didn’t want his friends to inconvenience themselves, just because he was sad.
He really, really didn’t want that. He felt terrible.
Poor Seokjin should get enough sleep and not drive his unnecessarily ugly car in the middle of the night.
But of course it didn’t matter what he said, because his friends never listened.
And just like that, after 15 minutes, Seokjin rang the doorbell.
When Jimin opened the door, he got hugged tight.
“Come on.”
Seokjin said, dragging him to his car.
He was wearing his pyjamas. He hadn’t even cared to put pants on.
“Hey Jiminie!” that was Namjoon, waving out of the car.
Jimin couldn’t believe that these two weirdos just drove all the way over here and he really wanted to tell them that they were being ridiculous, but he was too tired.
So he didn’t protest and sat down on the drivers’ seat.
“Trust me, you’ll sleep so much better at our place.” Namjoon said with a lot of conviction.
Jimin didn’t argue with that.
After living in this house on his own for three days and nights, he had come to the conclusion that he wasn’t good at being alone.
“Yeah!” Seokjin said, starting the car.
“Just you wait!”
He didn’t hear much more, because he fell asleep after a short while.
The car was warm and his friends’ voices were comforting. A perfect place to sleep, if you asked Jimin.

The next morning he woke up on a soft couch, two people next to him.
He was a little embarrassed by the fact that they had carried him upstairs to their apartment and Jimin hadn’t even noticed.
He looked over at his friends, who were both still asleep.
They for some reason had squeezed themselves on the couch right next to him, and Jimin would lie if a quietly snoring Namjoon next to him didn’t give him a lot of comfort.
It was still pretty early, so he closed his eyes again and drifted back to sleep.

~

“He’s a complete asshole and I’m going to kill him.”
“Hoseok, stop threatening to kill people…”
“No!”
Hoseok was angrily stomping around the room, glancing at Taehyung every now and then.
He and Freya were sitting on the couch, glancing back at their angry friend.
“He doesn’t deserve you.” Hoseok said eventually and sighed.
“True that.” Freya agreed.
“Thank you guys.” Taehyung said, wiping his eyes with his sleeves.
Shortly after coming home from the hospital, Freya had found him crying. She had hugged him for a long while until Hoseok was back, who then did the same thing.
Now it was the next day, but Hoseok was still furious.
He wasn’t angry often, but when he was, he was very angry.
Taehyung dragged him down onto the couch next to him.
“Thank you Hobi, but I don’t need you to assassinate my father. That will only ruin your dance career.”
“Worth it.” Hoseok replied, hugging his friend again.
At this point it felt more like he was comforting Hobi instead of Hobi comforting him, but the act of comforting someone else already was kind of comforting. If that made sense.
Freya got up and started making tea for Taehyung and coffée for herself and Hoseok.
Taehyung really didn’t like coffée.
Ironically, the first time he had met Freya and Hoseok, he was drinking coffée.
With his father.
He had been 17 at the time, trying not to look disgusted and sad, trying to impress his father.
But of course, it hadn’t worked.
Freya was a waiter at the restaurant they had visited and told Kim Sung-ho to “kindly fuck off” which resulted in her getting fired.
Taehyung thought she was incredibly cool for standing up to his father, for standing up for someone she didn’t even know, and for having two braids in her blonde locks that made her look like a viking, so he talked to her and they became friends quickly.
Freya introduced him to her friend Hoseok, who acted like he had trapped the sun inside of him.
The three of them got very close very quickly and eventually, when Taehyung had finally decided to move out, they moved in together.
It had been fate, Hoseok had said once, after drinking too much and they all had laughed at it, but sometimes Taehyung thought it was true. It must have been fate.
“You really shouldn’t talk to him anymore.” Hobi said now, patting Taehyung’s arm. “You really, really shouldn’t. Or if you have to, take us along. I’ll distract him and Freya will stab him.”
“I won’t hesitate, bitch!” Freya yelled over the loud noises the coffée machine made.
“Good to know that I live with a couple of potential murderers.” Taehyung said and laughed.
The rest of the day was surprisingly good. They played Mario Kart (Hoseok lost every single time) and Taehyung resumed one of his paintings.
He also looked at the little piece of paper Nari had given him. Her handwriting was pretty. She was going to have to visit her next week.
In the afternoon, he got a message from his good friend, Jungkook.
He hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks because both of them had been pretty busy. Taehyung, with a couple of commissions, and Jungkook with whatever it is he’s doing.

JK
Hey Tae!
Do you know Park Jimin?

Taehyung knew exactly who Park Jimin was.
His little cousin Eun-bi, who was the only person in his entire family that he loved and adored, read his books. She was practically the guy’s super-fan.

Taehyung
I do, yeah! Why are you asking?

Jungkook sent a weird emoji back and Taehyung didn’t know what it meant.
Then he got a phone call.
“Why are you calling me when you could just text me?” Taehyung asked and giggled when Jungkook made an offended noise.
“Guess what!” Jungkook said and Taehyung did.
“Why on earth would I rob a bank?”
“You told me to guess!”
He couldn’t see it, but he felt Jungkook rolling his eyes.
“I have news for you that could potentially be pretty good!” he said, waiting for a response.
“I’m listening.”
“I told you about my amazing group of childhood friends, right?”
Jungkook sounded very excited, which made Taehyung laugh.
“Yeah! That friend group with the guy you have been crushing on since I know you?”
Jungkook swore and told him to shut up and then asked why people kept saying this to him and then eventually trailed off so far that Taehyung had to help him get back on track.
“Oh, right. Well, one of my best friends is Park Jimin! The author!”
Taehyung nearly dropped his phone.
“What?! Why did you never tell me?!”
Jungkook laughed at the other end of the line.
“I had no idea you were a Park Jimin fanboy!”
Taehyung rolled his eyes.
“My little cousin loves his books!”
“Fantastic! Then, listen to my proposal, my dear friend!”

~
“If you ask me one more time I might go insane.” Jimin said.
“We’re just worried!” Namjoon said very defensively.
Jimin sighed.
“Please don’t worry that much, Joon. I’m okay. I really am.”
“Just stay with us at night for now.” Seokjin yelled out of the kitchen.
“You can go do whatever you want, but when night falls you should come back and sleep here. And if you don’t do that, we’ll break into your house.”
He was carrying a bag of rice in his hands and had a kitchen towel draped over his shoulder.
“Fine.” Jimin said.
Truthfully, he was insanely thankful to his friends for doing this.
He felt terrible because he didn’t want to get on their nerves, but since they asked him to, he figured he wouldn’t be bothering them too much.
“We can do a sleepover! Like we always did when we were younger! It’ll be so much fun!”
Seokjin quickly walked back into the kitchen, probably about to text everyone about his plan.
Namjoon smiled, endlessly endeared.
“I can stop him if you want to.”
Jimin shook his head.
“I’ll comply. I guess a sleepover might actually be fun!”

At 1pm, Jungkook, Yoongi and Jungkook’s brother Hyun came over.
Hyun had basically invited himself, but none of them minded. He was a great guy.
He was a little smaller than Jungkook and wore glasses, but the resemblance was uncanny.
“Hey” Jimin greeted them, hugging one after the other.
“You’re even smaller than I remember!” Hyun said, patting Jimin on the back.
“If this was my house, I’d make you leave.”
Hyun laughed loudly.
They gathered around the wooden table that Namjoon had bought for an unreasonable price last year after seeing it in a commercial. The food was great and so was the company. Jimin felt good.
He was able to push the majority of his sadness aside for now and simply enjoyed the stories his friends told him.
After they had finished eating they started watching a really stupid game show that both Seokjin and Namjoon were obsessed with for some reason (“They’re so married.” Yoongi told Jimin quietly, eyeing his friends with judgment and love in his eyes.)
They were discussing the answer to one of the ridiculous questions, when Jimin’s phone vibrated.
Someone had sent him a message on Instagram.

Hey Park Jimin,
My name is Kim Taehyung aka Vante and our mutual friend Jungkook told me you’re looking for an illustrator!
I’m not sure if my art is good enough and I won’t be offended if you don’t want to work with me after all.
But it certainly would be my honor.
Can we meet?
- Taehyung

Jimin smiled.
“Look at this!” he said, shoving his phone in Jungkook’s face.
Jungkook read the message and smiled.
“Ah, he’s always so insecure about his art… But he’s very excited about this opportunity, trust me.”
Jimin didn’t pay much attention to the game show or his friends' constant bickering and typed out a reply.

Hi Taehyung!
I really love your art so I would be very honored to work with you too!
Do you know the Seaside Café? It’s close to Seoul.
I can come to Seoul too though, if that’s easier?
Best wishes!

He shoved his phone into Jungkook’s face once again.
“Did I use too many exclamation points?”
“No way, that’s the right amount of exclamation points! And don’t feel awkward, he’s far more awkward than you are.”
Jungkook smiled at him reassuringly.
“Can’t you two pay attention to this amazing show?!”
Jimin laughed at Seokjin’s dramatic expression.

Chapter Text

“Is it weird to put a painting of your own face in your house?”
Nari was wandering through her small living room, carrying tea.
“Not at all!” Taehyung smiled.
“My best friend is a dancer and he has a bunch of posters of himself in our apartment. Mainly in the kitchen and the bathroom.”
Nari chuckled.
“I don’t want to put it in the bathroom, don’t worry. I’ll put it above the fireplace or something, so that if I die people who come here to hunt ghosts will be freaked out.”
She laughed.
“Sounds perfect!”
Taehyung set up his easel, got the paint ready and looked at Nari.
“Ready?”
She sat down on her couch, looking slightly awkward, but adorable.
“Like the kids say, let’s get this show on the way!”
Taehyung didn’t have the heart to correct her.
While he was painting, they talked a little.
It was nice and comforting. Like she was his real grandmother, even though they had only met twice.
She was so warm and welcoming.
After an hour he stopped, setting the painting aside.
“I’ll be back next week. I should be able to finish it by then!”
Nari hugged him.
“Thank you.”

When Taehyung got home and looked at his phone, he saw that Park Jimin had written him a message.
He had to call his cousin about this.
They decided to meet the next day at the little café by the seaside. Taehyung loved the hot chocolate they made there.
To his surprise, Hobi had bought several of Jimin’s books.
He was reading one when Taehyung entered his room.
“Hey Tae!” he said, smiling brightly.
Despite everything, he still had the sun trapped inside of him.
Taehyung sat down next to him on his bed.
“Which one is that?”
“The one about the mermaid! It’s cute.”
“Oh, Eun-bi loves that one.”
Taehyung smiled, looking over Hobi’s shoulder.
The book had some illustrations and he wondered if he could actually be good enough to have his art in a book like this.
“You’ll do a great job, Tae. Look at this illustration… It’s ugly.” Hoseok said with conviction, not leaving any room for discussion.
“I’m honestly kind of terrified…” Taehyung started, earning a glance from his friend.
“Don’t be! You mustn’t listen to any of the bullshit that old guy is telling you. You’re amazing and you’re talented and you’ll do great.”
Taehyung appreciated these words, he really did.
But sometimes he thought that, even if he and Freya told him every day, these thoughts about himself would never change.
All his life his father had told him that he was worthless.
He hadn’t always said it directly, but the way he looked at his son was very telling.
He had always praised Hea for everything, and she deserved it.
But the love and warmth he had for his daughter was nowhere seen when it came to him. Taehyung didn’t even know why. He didn’t remember doing anything wrong.
But he had stopped thinking about the why a long time ago. He had just accepted it.
He had once heard Hoseok talk to Freya about his father, saying that he had tore down every bit of confidence Taehyung ever had.
Maybe he was right.
Taehyung certainly didn’t feel very confident.
He assumed that there were some deep rooted issues, but he wasn’t going to unpack any of that. Not right now.
He didn’t like talking about it.
It wasn’t like his father had ever been violent. He really hadn’t been.
But his words still hurt.
Kim Sung-ho had always told him that he had to be a strong man. That he had to one day care for a wife and a child, and Taehyung had told him that his interest in women wasn’t very big, but he hadn’t cared. He hadn’t cared about anything.
He felt like meeting Hobi had been a big step in the right direction. Hobi was very emotionally vulnerable, crying and laughing and talking about his feelings a lot. Only when they had moved together he had started doing it too.
Hobi had taught him that being vulnerable is okay. That it’s good, even.
Freya didn’t cry nearly as much as Hoseok, she was more on the less emotional side, but even though she seemed like a strong viking queen, she still was very emotionally intelligent. That was probably why she was studying psychology.
Either way, Taehyung felt better, but there still were a lot of issues that his father had caused.
Hoseok put the book down and wiped his eye.
“He has such a way with words!” he said, crying, and hugged Taehyung.

~
“Why am I here again?”
“Emotional support. Stop being annoying.”
Jimin had dragged Yoongi with him, who had protested, but obviously still came. He just was like that.
“He’s not some creepy catfish, you know? Jungkook knows him personally.”
Jimin shrugged.
“You never know!”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
They stood outside the Seaside Café, a cold breeze making Jimin shiver.
“You should have put on more clothes!” Yoongi scolded him, taking off his scarf and wrapping it around Jimin’s neck instead.
Even when they were children, Yoongi had always been very caring and kind.
He was quiet and shy, so people sometimes mistook that quietness for arrogance, which made Jimin angry. As a child he once had gotten into a fight with a stupid kid who had stated that Yoongi was mean. He had to sit in detention for it and Yoongi had been mad at him for getting himself into trouble like that, but Jimin thought it had been worth it.
He knew his friend. He knew him so well.
The way he always complained and acted like he hated it when his friends hugged him and held his hands but actually loved it. The way he smiled at everyone fondly when they weren’t looking. Jimin had him all figured out. And Yoongi knew it. So he acted like he was annoyed.
“Won’t you get cold now?”
Yoongi shook his head.
“I’m not as weak as you are.”
Jungkook had texted Jimin a picture of Taehyung, so that he would be able to recognize him.
The guy he was waiting for was tall, had brown locks and wore glasses.
“He looks like a kind nerd.” Seokjin had said.
“So, like Namjoon.” Yoongi replied.
“Exactly.”
When Kim Taehyung approached, Jimin got nervous.
The last time he had talked with a potential illustrator, things hadn’t gone smoothly.
Mary hadn’t been able to call or text any of them, but Jimin knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t give up that easily.
But he was going to give Taehyung a chance. After all, he was friends with Jungkook.
Yoongi gently shoved him into the right direction.
“If you need me to save you, just shout.”
Taehyung was looking a little lost.
He was wearing a big coat that somehow made him look like a vintage author.
“Taehyung?”
The artist turned around and a smile spread on his face.
“Hey!”

They went inside and sat down at a table by the window. They could see the ocean from here.
It was pretty windy and it was about to rain, so no one was at the beach.
Jimin turned his attention to Taehyung, who looked even more nervous than he felt.
“How are you doing?” Jimin tried.
Taehyung stared at him with big eyes.
He didn’t say anything.
A waitress approached.
They ordered some hot drinks, Jimin got a coffée and Taehyung got a hot chocolate.
Jungkook had once said you could tell a lot about a person by what kind of drink they ordered.
Jimin had no idea what this meant, except him liking hot chocolate.
Taehyung took a deep breath.
“I’m honored that you asked me to be your illustrator.” he said.
Jimin smiled, trying to signalize that the other didn’t have to be nervous.
“I’m honored that you are considering doing this! Your art is really amazing.”
They talked for a little while, about what kind of book Jimin was writing, what kind of art he’d like to have.
“Wow, that story sounds good.” Taehyung said, smiling for the first time since they had sat down. “My cousin is going to love it once it comes out. She’s a huge fan.”
“Really?”
Taehyung laughed. “Why are you so surprised? Your books are so good! I love them and I’m not a child… Which you knew already.”
He was awkward, but endearing, Jimin decided.
Taehyung produced a couple of samples of his work.
Jimin had already seen all of it on Instagram, but he wasn’t going to tell him that he stalked his entire profile. He didn’t want to seem weird.
Suddenly, he saw Yoongi right outside the window. He was waving and pointing at his phone.
“What the… One sec.” Jimin said, pulling out his phone.

Yoongi
I gotta leave, sorry!
You can call Seokjin if you need a ride.
Sorry :(

Jimin looked up and saw that Yoongi had disappeared. He frowned.

Jimin
Are you okay??
Don’t worry!!!

He sighed and set his phone down on the table.
“Who was that? He looked familiar.” Taehyung said, wrinkles forming on his forehead.
“Oh, that was my friend Yoongi. He was here too because…”
Because I was kind of anxious and needed moral support.
Taehyung didn’t really care why Yoongi had been there. His face lit up.
“Right! I saw him in the pictures Jungkook has in his apartment.”
They started talking about their friendships with Jungkook and how they got to know him.
Apparently, Taehyung had met him at a concert a few years ago. To be exact, he met him on the toilet after that concert had ended. They both cried after the last song and hid in the toilet stalls. When they both got out at about the same time, they broke into laughter.
They talked and clicked, exchanged numbers - and thus, a beautiful friendship had been born.
Jimin chuckled.
“That sounds like Jungkook.”
“You’ve known him since highschool right? He said something like that.”
Taehyung had calmed down now. He still seemed somewhat awkward, but was far less nervous.
Jimin told him about how he had met Jungkook as a teenager and how weird and awkward he had been. Taehyung laughed. He had a nice laugh.
Jimin laughed with him and they exchanged embarrassing stories about their mutual friend.
“I’ll be able to blackmail him now.” Jimin said.
After a while, Jimin had no idea how much time had passed, Taehyung’s phone rang.
The smile he had been wearing disappeared immediately when he saw the caller ID.
But whoever was calling was getting ignored.
“So, are you sure that I should draw the illustrations for your book? There are many far more talented artists out there.” Taehyung looked serious now.
Jimin nodded.
“Your art is perfect for this, don’t you worry! I’d be happy to work with you.”
Taehyung nodded slowly.
“Alright.”

When they parted ways, it was raining.
Jimin could have called Seokjin, but he didn’t want to bother him even more. He took the bus instead.
He put some music on and looked out of the window.
He had been happy when Taehyung had gotten less shy. He had smiled and laughed a lot and was a really good conversation partner.
But when he got that call… Something in his expression had shifted.
He had looked kind of sad.
Jimin sighed. He didn’t even know the guy particularly well, and yet he was worried.
He checked his phone for the 10th time, but Yoongi hadn’t texted him back.
He decided to text Jungkook who replied immediately.

Jungkook
idk what’s up with him! i called him but he didn’t pick up. i’m going over to his apartment now.

Jimin
Let me know what you find! I’m worried.

~

Taehyung had a headache.
He was staring at his phone screen, unsure of what to do.
His father had called him several times now.
He decided to ignore him.
But when he unlocked the door to his apartment, he found his father standing inside.
Hoseok was there, anger simmering inside of him.
He looked at Taehyung with big eyes.
“Can I help you?”
He closed the door behind him, dropping the keys in a little bowl.
Kim Sung-ho shot Hobi a look.
Taehyung nodded at him. He was going to have to talk to his father alone.
Hoseok shot Kim Sung-ho another disgusted look, which the older man ignored. He was good at that. At ignoring people’s feelings.
Once Hoseok had disappeared into his room (and was probably eavesdropping), Taehyung’s father sat down on the couch.
He looked around, judging every piece of furniture, every painting and picture on the wall. Every spec of dust in the air.
“Your mother said I should apologize.” He said eventually.
Great. Taehyung thought. He’s not even apologizing because he feels bad.
“You know that I don’t like to sugarcoat things. But this woman does… Either way, I suppose my words really… hurt you.” He looked up at his son.
Taehyung tried to keep his poker face.
“You’re apologizing because my mother told you to? That’s all you want? Then you can leave.”
Kim Sung-ho got up.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to stay here for a long time anyways. But know this - we’re not done yet.”
Taehyung had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but he felt fear rising up inside of him.
“Leave.”
He closed the door behind his father and sat down in front of it.
Hoseok stormed out of his room.
He had all the curses and bad things one could say about another person on his lips but Taehyung stopped him.
“Please Hobi, I need to be alone right now.”
He got up and went into his room.
He could feel Hobi staring after him.

He spent the entire night lying awake.
He was going to meet Park Jimin again tomorrow, at his house. They were going to talk more about their collaboration.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to, though.
Taehyung didn’t feel like doing anything at all.
He stared at his ceiling until his eyes burned and tears ran down his cheeks.
Jungkook had texted him earlier, asking how the meeting went, but he had turned his phone off. He knew that his friend was going to be worried.
He knew that Hoseok was worried too.
Freya was going to be worried too, once Hoseok filled her in.
All his loved ones were worried and concerned and he knew they would give him the world if they could, but he only wanted one person to give him the world - and he wasn’t ever going to do that.

Chapter Text

Yoongi hadn’t ridden a bike in a long while.
He just didn’t really like doing it.
But here he was now, riding along the coast, cold sweat on his forehead.
He had no idea how his mother could have ended up in the hospital. He had no idea what could have led her to collapse.
His mind was racing.
Jimin’s mother had died only a short while ago, what if his mother…
He yelped and fell off his bike when a car drove by. The driver didn’t stop to check on him but honked instead.
Yoongi swore. The car had driven right over his bike.
“Yoongi!”
He turned and saw Jungkook sprinting towards him.
The younger man scooped him up easily, as if he didn’t weigh anything at all.
“Are you hurt?! Oh my God, Yoongi. You need to be more careful!”
Jungkook hugged him tight to his chest.
“I’m fine…” Yoongi grumbled.
Jungkook moved him back, putting his hands on his shoulders. He looked annoyed and concerned at the same time.
“But it was a close call! You need to…” he sighed, dropping his hands.
“You may not value yourself that much, but I do.”
Yoongi stared at him for a moment.
He was frowning, looking at the floor.
It was raining a little, small raindrops melting on his skin.
“Why are you only wearing a shirt?” Yoongi asked, feigning annoyance.
He was about to take off his own jacket to hand it to his friend, but he just chuckled.
“You know that doesn’t fit me. You’re tiny.”
Yoongi boxed him in the arm.
“My mother is in the hospital. I need to go there.”
“What? Why is she there? What happened?”
They started walking, Jungkook tagging along without Yoongi actually wanting him to.
Or maybe he did want him to.
Maybe.
“I don’t know, they just called me. She apparently collapsed at work…”
Yoongi looked up at the sky. It all looked grey and sad, raindrops falling onto his face.
Jungkook grabbed his hand.
It was warm and comforting.
“Your hands are always so cold.” Jungkook said softly, squeezing Yoongi’s hand with emphasis.
“It’s a cold spring day…”
“Your hands are cold in summer too.” Jungkook laughed.
The first time he met Yoongi back in high school, he had dropped a bunch of sheet music onto the floor.
Most people looked at the pieces of paper flying everywhere with apologetic looks on their faces, but Jungkook had helped him gather all of them.
Their hands had touched - which is probably a weird thing to remember. It had been summer, so it had been very warm out, but even then Jungkook had been surprised by how cold his soon-to-be friend’s hands were.
Thinking about it, he probably started having a crush on Yoongi right at that moment. When his cold but pretty hands with stacks of sheet music had touched his own.
“Jungkook?”
“Huh?”
Jungkook looked down at his friend who was lightly tugging on his hand.
“This way.”
“... Right.”

~
“All of my friends are ignoring me.” Jimin announced and his grandmother chuckled.
“They’ll call you when they’re ready.”
For some reason, she was amused by Jimin’s stress.
Normally that would have upset the young author, but right now he was just tired.
His grandmother pat his back.
“I’m glad you came to visit, honey. I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“It’s been a week since I was here last.”
“Exactly!”
She shook her head and poured Jimin some tea.
“How are you holding up?” She asked him, not expecting an honest answer.
“I’m fine.” he said.
“Right.”
She looked out of the window. The rain was still pouring down.
“Do you want to stay here tonight?”
Jimin shook his head.
“Seokjin is cooking something later, if I don’t get to his and Namjoon’s flat by 8pm they’ll have me beheaded.”
Nari Hwang laughed at that.
The old lady loved his friends, nearly as much as he loved them.
She had met Seokjin and Yoongi when they were children, saw them grow up together with Jimin.
When they had met Jungkook and Namjoon, she started loving them too.
This woman had so much love to give, Jimin realized. He often was in awe about how a single person could hold this much love and affection inside of her.
“Tell them I said hi, will you? Seokjin is still supposed to teach me that one recipe.”
Jimin nodded and drank his tea.
They sat there for a while, in comfortable silence.
“I met my new illustrator today.” Jimin said eventually.
“I think he’ll do an amazing job.”
Nari’s eyes lit up.
“Tell me about him!”
And he did.
Her facial expression went from delight to slight confusion and back to delight again. She jumped up abruptly.
“No way!” she exclaimed, walking over to her fireplace.
“Look at this!”
Behind a piece of cloth, there was a painting. It hadn’t been finished yet, but it was a portrait.
“I met him at the hospital the other day! His dad is Kim Sung-ho, can you believe that? That old asshole. He’s so good!”
She started stumbling over her words in excitement.
“Wait, what?”

~

“I can’t believe you know my grandma!” Jimin said loudly right when he opened the door.
“Huh?” Taehyung looked confused. Confused, and very tired.
Jimin opened the door a little further and invited his illustrator inside.
“Her name is Nari Hwang. You know her, right?”
Taehyung nodded.
“She’s so kind.”
Jimin smiled brightly.
“She is!”
He and Taehyung sat down at the kitchen table and Jimin gave the other the first draft of his new book. Without the ending, of course.
Taehyung held it in his hands like it was something sacred.
He smiled.
They worked for several hours, both of them passionate about their respective work.
It fit well, Jimin thought. He wasn’t worried about Taehyung stealing art, which was a nice change.
Taehyung had amazing ideas for illustrations and sketched a lot. The way he drew the characters and the scenery was beautiful. It all was so similar to what Jimin had envisioned, it was almost a little creepy.
They were eating snacks now, when Taehyung asked Jimin about the ending of the book.
“I… haven’t really decided on that yet.” Jimin said.
“You haven’t?”
Taehyung looked at the draft in front of him.
“She either stays on the moon with her new friends, or she doesn’t… But she would have to give up a lot, for either option.”
Taehyung nodded.
“Why can’t she have both?”
“How?”
Taehyung shrugged. “I don’t know… The moon friends could move to the earth! Or the other way around.”
Jimin nodded, popping a snack into his mouth.
“I was thinking about teaching the readers an important lesson about how you have to give up certain things in order to achieve happiness.”
Taehyung frowned.
“You sound like an adult.”
Jimin laughed.
“That bad, huh?”
“Not necessarily bad, but…” Taehyung seemed to carefully consider his words.
He wore a slight frown, his forehead was a little wrinkled.
Jimin smiled.
“I just think that miracles can happen.” was what he eventually settled with, looking right at Jimin.
His eyes were really pretty, Jimin realized.
They were dark and intelligent and dreamy. And he had long eyelashes.
“But then what’s the lesson for the kids?”
“The lesson is that miracles can and will happen and that you just have to stay strong and believe in yourself. And believe in love.”
He said it with such conviction, Jimin was a little surprised.
“That’s… actually really nice.”
He grabbed a pen and wrote something down.
Taehyung shrugged.
“It’s your book in the end. You absolutely don’t have to listen to anything I say, I’m just the illustrator. But if you ask me, in life, we already have to sacrifice so many things all the time. It’d be nice to see everyone be happy in the end.”

The next day Jimin and Taehyung met up with Yoongi at their usual spot, the little coffée shop nearby.
Yoongi had replied to Jimin’s texts eventually, saying that he was okay but that his mother got her appendix removed and he therefore was in the hospital, together with Jungkook who had “forcibly accompanied him”.
Jimin arrived at the same time Yoongi did. They met in front of the coffée shop.
“Hey, how are you holding up? How’s your mother?”
He wrapped his friend into a hug.
He looked tired, but at least he smiled.
“It’s alright. She’s still in the hospital now, but they’re letting her go later today already.”
“Jungkook said you were really anxious.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
“Of course I was, she’s my mother. But it wasn’t that bad…”

Or maybe it had been that bad.
Yoongi didn’t really know what to classify yesterday’s situation as.
After Jungkook had held onto his hand for nearly an hour and after they had waited by his mother’s bed for another hour until she had woken up, they left the hospital.
Yoongi had been incredibly relieved.
He started tearing up because of it and was so embarrassed by it that he automatically cried even more and Jungkook had hugged him tight and Yoongi had told him to back off but Jungkook never backed off.
He was so annoying.
Yoongi had no idea why he was like this.
He was like this to all his friends of course, he had no remorse.
But he felt like it was even worse when it came to him.
He kept hugging him until Yoongi realized that he had started crying too and now they were both crying outside of the hospital.
A few people walked past them and gave them concerned looks.
“Why on earth are you crying?” Yoongi asked eventually.
“Because you’re crying. I hate when you cry!” Jungkook sobbed into his ear.
It had been a very strange experience, but he guessed that everyone had difficult phases sometimes.
After crying for ten minutes straight, both of them had calmed down and got back into the car.
Jungkook dropped Yoongi off at his apartment and then just didn’t leave.
Yoongi wasn’t going to make him leave, though. He didn’t have the energy for that.
So Jungkook just stayed and they watched a variety show until they both fell asleep.
Yoongi felt himself smiling and got catapulted back to reality when Jimin tugged on his sleeve.
“It’s raining, let’s go inside!”

When they got inside, Taehyung was already there.
He was sitting at a table with a diet coke. He smiled when he saw them approach.
“Hey!”
He looked better than yesterday.
Not that he had looked bad yesterday, but he looked less tired.
“Hey Taehyung!”
Yoongi formally introduced himself to the illustrator now as the “sound guy”.
“He makes music!” Jimin said proudly.
“Every audio book so far has his music on it!”
Taehyung’s eyes were sparkling.
“Wow, that’s so cool! How do you make music? Digitally?”
It turned out that Taehyung also knew a little bit about music production, though not quite as much as Yoongi.
The two of them talked for a bit and Jimin looked at them, endlessly endeared.
He had to bring Taehyung to one of their friend group outings. He seemed like he would fit right in.
They spoke about the concept of the book and Taehyung showed Yoongi some of his sketches.
Time went by quickly while they were working and Jimin was very pleased with the fact that his oldest friend and his newest friend got along so well.
They kept working like this for several weeks, meeting up almost every day. Sometimes with Yoongi, sometimes without him. They talked about the book for a lot of the time of course, but it also had become part of their little routine to just relax, drink some tea and talk. It quickly had become Jimin’s favorite part of the day.
One time when they wrapped up Jimin asked Taehyung to join them at the karaoke bar next week.
Taehyung certainly hadn’t expected that. He looked shocked.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Jimin said quickly, waving his hands.
“No, I do want to!” Taehyung said, a smile spreading on his face.
“It’s just that I didn’t think… I don’t know... “ he gestured vaguely.
“It doesn’t matter if you can’t sing.” Yoongi said, trying to be helpful. “Last month we went there with Jungkook’s brother who is the worst singer in the world.”
Jimin nodded in agreement.

~

“I can’t believe we’re going to a karaoke bar with Park Jimin!” Hoseok said, clapping his hands.
“I can’t believe it either, because I was invited and you weren’t.”
“I don’t believe in invitations.”
Hobi had decided to tag along, which Taehyung usually wouldn’t mind, but now it was different… He didn’t want to impose…
But when they arrived and Hoseok greeted everyone with his warmth and bright laugh, Jimin and his friends seemed to like him.
Just to be sure, Taehyung apologized.
Jimin giggled.
“Don’t worry, the more the merrier! Plus, he seems great!”
Freya had been more reasonable than Hoseok and had stayed at home.
Now, they were seven people.
Taehyung only knew Jimin, Yoongi and Jungkook so far.
“Hey, I’m Namjoon!” a tall guy with glasses said. He smiled kindly. He had dimples.
“You have dimples!” Taehyung said out loud, immediately regretting everything he had ever done in his life.
Namjoon didn’t seem to mind at all though.
“And you have cute moles on your nose!”
Taehyung also got introduced to Seokjin, who was the first one to grab a mic. His voice was angelic.
He tried to get Yoongi to sing with him, but he didn’t stand a chance.
“Taehyung, it’s nice to meet you!” he said through the mic.
“Please sing with me!”
“Seokjin, don’t be weird, you just met him.” Jimin said and gave Taehyung an apologetic look.
They all got a few drinks and they all sang, even Yoongi, and Hoseok danced, which everyone loved.
Jimin laughed a lot and every time he did, Taehyung laughed with him.
It was pretty late now, they had spent several hours in the karaoke bar, singing their hearts out.
“I’m glad you came here with us today!” Jimin said at one point and smiled up at his new friend, his kind eyes nearly disappearing.
“Me too!”
When Jungkook nearly fell asleep sitting on a chair, they decided to go home. Taehyung hadn’t checked his phone all night, it was nearly 2am.
He also had a missed call, but he didn’t pay any attention to it.
“Thank you for tolerating me.” Hoseok said through the mic, as if they couldn’t have heard him without.
“I know I wasn’t invited but I wanted to meet the cool author my bestie is working with and I also wanted to see Jungkook again. His hair got so long.”
Jungkook grinned.
“It took a lot of work for it to get this long.”
“By work he means simply waiting.”
“No, Seokjin, by work I mean having a positive mindset and love towards my hair.”
“That’s not how it works!”
It wasn’t a friend outing when these two didn’t bicker.
They bickered the entire way back to the bus station and started hitting each other for no apparent reason.
Taehyung seemed confused about it at first, but when no one else did something about it, he accepted it.
“Does anyone need a ride?” Namjoon asked, jingling Seokjin’s keys.
“Why do you have my keys? You can’t even drive!”
Jimin made sure that all of them texted him once they had arrived at home safely.
“Please text me when you get home safe!” he told Taehyung and Hoseok before they left.
Then he drove home with Seokjin and Namjoon.

~

Taehyung and Hobi got back home at 2:30am.
Hoseok immediately fell asleep when he flung himself on the couch in his street clothes and Taehyung took off his shoes and covered him with a blanket.
“Hey.”
“Oh, jeez! Hey Freya. Why are you still awake?”
He looked up at his friend who was standing in the door frame in her Batman pyjamas.
“Can’t sleep. Did you have fun?”
Taehyung nodded.
“It was so much fun!”
Freya smiled.
“Good. You deserve it.”
Taehyung patted Hobi on the cheek and got up from the couch.
“I won’t be able to sleep either, I’m way too excited. Do you want to watch some cartoons?”
He made sure to text Jimin before he and Freya settled on her bed, watching some old timey American cartoons Taehyung hadn’t been allowed to watch as a child.
It didn’t take long for his friend to fall asleep on his shoulder.
He smiled as he tucked her in and then left her room quietly.
By now, it was 4am. He was still wide awake.
He went into his room and grabbed his sketchbook.

~
“Are you sure Jiminie?”
“I am. I’ll come back if I need to, promise. But I’ve been staying here now for 4 nights and I want to try going back home now. I can’t just not face this house at night forever.”
Namjoon and Seokjin drove him back home, making him promise to call several times.
“I won’t hesitate to kidnap you again.” Seokjin said.
“I know Jinnie.”
They hugged and parted ways.
Back inside the old house, Jimin felt… Weird.
It’s not like he hadn’t been there at all over the last few days. But being here now, knowing that this is where he was going to sleep tonight… It was almost a little scary.
He thought that maybe living on his own wasn’t as amazing as he always had thought.
He checked his phone. It was only 2pm, prime time to grab something to eat.
Jimin texted back and forth with Jungkook for a bit and then opened the chat he had with Taehyung.
He had texted him the last time last night at 2:40, saying that he got back home safely and that he was very grateful.
Jimin had replied that he was grateful too.
And he was.
It wasn’t a surprise that one of Jungkook’s friends could also be his friend, but he thought that Taehyung was really cool and they just clicked.
He kept smiling to himself while he stuffed food in his face.
Then the doorbell rang.
He half expected Namjoon and Seokjin to be back, but his face fell when he saw who was there.

“I don’t think you can do this.” Mary said, walking through the kitchen with her high heels.
Her blond hair was tied up neatly. She looked like some kind of strict and scary teacher.
Jimin sighed internally.
“Sorry Mary, but I really don’t want to work with someone who steals art.”
The woman stopped in her tracks and turned around. Her blue eyes were piercing and cold.
“It’s not stealing when you use someone else’s art as inspiration. And my art is better than this dude’s anyways. I improved it.”
Jimin had no idea what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything.
His silence frustrated Mary.
“You’ll regret this, Park Jimin.”
“Sure, Mary.”
She glanced at him one more time and then stormed out of his house.
Jimin immediately called Yoongi about it.
They couldn’t really do anything against her, they already had established that much. The fact that the police wouldn’t arrest her or make her pay money or something was very strange, Jimin thought. Normally, people didn’t just get away with stuff like this… Right?
“She probably bribed them.” Yoongi said over the phone.
“That, or her father works for the police.”
Jimin sighed.
“I just want her to stay away now. She’s annoying.”
Yoongi chuckled.
“It’s rare that you think someone is annoying.”

Chapter Text

Taehyung seriously hadn’t felt this happy in a while.
Even though he had only fallen asleep at around 5am, he felt energetic. He felt like he was wanted, like there were other people on the planet except for Hobi and Freya who liked him.
Hobi and Freya were both packing right now. He had a dancing competition in another city soon, and Freya accompanied him. Taehyung would have gone too, but he felt like it was important that he’d continue his work here. He promised Hoseok to come to the next competition for sure.
“I’m proud of you Taetae, you’re doing an amazing job. Jimin can count himself lucky to have such an awesome illustrator!” Hobi hugged him and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
They’d only be gone for 3 days, so Taehyung thought he should be fine.
He felt confident. Confident in himself and in the world around him and his new friends.
He probably should have known that this confidence wouldn’t last long.
Only a few hours after Hobi and Freya had left, his sister called.
She called because it was her wedding in a few days and she wanted Taehyung to come.
He was a little surprised by that. They weren’t on great terms.
They didn’t hate each other or anything, but all of these years of Hea being superior to him and receiving all their fathers’ love, Taehyung had grown to resent her a little bit.
“Of course I’ll come.” he said, forcing himself to sound genuine.
“I wouldn’t want to miss my big sisters’ wedding!”
He actually wanted to go, he wanted to see her get married.
But he didn’t want to be in the same place as his father.
And as if the fact that he was going to meet him at the wedding wasn’t bad enough - he met him right outside the apartment complex in the evening when he took out the trash.
Despite Hea’s invitation, he felt… content.
He wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to handle the wedding situation because she was getting married in two days, so one day before Hobi came back, which meant that he couldn’t accompany him. But he thought that he’d figure something out. He would have asked Jungkook, but Jungkook really despised Hea. He had met his sister once, but he disliked her a lot. She always acted somewhat superior, and he couldn’t stand that.
“The way she always acts like she’s so much better than you…” He had said, frowning in anger.
“She is better than me, Jungkook… Don’t look at me like that, we both know it’s true.”
“It’s not! How can you say that?! I hate her for making you believe that. And I hate your father too.”
“That makes two of us.”
Maybe he would just act like he was sick he thought on his way back into the building.
But before he could even grab the door handle, he saw his father.
Not again.
“What?” he asked, trying to not let any emotion show.
“I don’t think you should go to your sisters’ wedding.”
He stepped a little closer, but not too close.
“Why not? She’s my sister. She’s part of my family.”
He smiled. Cruelly.
“Family.” he spat.
“When have you ever been part of this family?”
Taehyung felt anger rising up inside of him.
“What the hell do you want, Kim Sung-ho? You’re drunk. Go home.” he said loudly, nearly yelling.
“And the only reason why we never were a family is you!”
His father got closer quickly, trying to grab him maybe, or to hit him, but Taehyung was faster.
“You don’t get to tell me how to live my life.”
Kim Sung-ho’s eyes were burning with anger.
“You little shit… I should have known that Im Yon’s child would be just like her.”
They both were silent for a moment.
“What are you talking about?”
Kim Sung-ho looked up at the sky.
“Forgive me for speaking about the dead this way.” he said and then turned to his son.
“I guess it’s time you learn the truth. You’re Im Yon’s son. Not Kim Ho’s son. She was a useless wench.” He spat on the ground.
Taehyung’s ears rang.
“What are you saying?”
“Are you deaf or stupid?!” Kim Sung-ho yelled.
“You’re a dead bitches’ son! You’re a nobody, just like her. I wish you would just disappear. Like she did.”
And then, he turned around and left.
He just walked away.
Taehyung’s ears were still ringing.
Tears were streaming down his face.
All of his confidence was gone.

~

“I’m on a walk right now.” Jimin said to Seokjin on the phone.
“I hear that walks help with mental health.”
“Jimin, you keep avoiding going there at night. Just… don’t feel bad if you want to come back here. Please?”
Jimin swallowed hard.
“No. I need to get through this eventually.”
“Why are you so stubborn?” Seokjin sighed.
“I have to go, Namjoon wants to show me some TED talk. But don’t you dare hesitate to call me for a single second!”
Jimin sighed.
“I know, I know. You won’t hesitate to kidnap me. I’ll get back to you when I’m back home. Now let me go on my depression walk in peace.”
He hung up and dropped his phone into his pocket.
There were a few fields near his house, walking here was nice.
It was 8pm and the sun was setting.
He hugged his arms around himself.
He had walked here many times with his mother and brother. These had been happy times.
Back then they also had owned a dog, who would run through the fields and chase butterflies.
They always had walked for a while, through the fields and then into the forest, until they got to a clearing where they would eat cookies his mother had baked for them.
He now found himself walking through the fields, to that same clearing.
He ignored the tears in his eyes, forcing himself to be strong. Quite frankly, he was tired of crying. He had been crying so much the last few weeks.
When he reached the clearing though, he couldn’t really help himself.
It was still as beautiful as it had been when he was a child. Wild flowers grew here. Big, swaying trees framed the clearing. And there even was a little stream nearby. He closed his eyes and listened to the water flow.
After a while he opened his eyes again. He had gotten a text from Jungkook, asking how he was doing.
He was certain that his friends had a secret chatroom without him where they shared their worries about him.
He sighed and walked back out of the forest.
It was only 9:30pm now, so the grocery store was still open.
He decided to get the ingredients for the cookies his mother used to bake.
He had never been a particularly skilled baker, but he was going to try nonetheless.
Jimin found all of the ingredients pretty quickly and left once the sun was gone.
The grocery store was about to close, so his timing had been pretty perfect.
He was about to leave, when he noticed a beggar sitting in front of the grocery store.
He grabbed his wallet and was about to give him some money and also buy him something to eat from the store before it closed, when he noticed that this wasn’t a beggar at all.
“Taehyung?!”
He couldn’t believe his eyes.
The young man was sitting on the cold floor, not even wearing a jacket, head resting on his knees.
When he looked up, Jimin could see that his eyes were red.
He crouched down in front of him.
“Taehyung… What happened? What are you doing here?” Jimin asked softly. Taehyung didn’t reply, he just started crying again.
Jimin felt very helpless, so he started to stroke his friend's head.
“Hey, it’s okay.” he said.
“Come on, let’s go. You’ll get a cold like this.”
He dragged Taehyung to his feet.
The illustrator stared at the floor, clearly uncomfortable.
Jimin grabbed his hand.
“Come with me.”

He dragged Taehyung all the way back to his house.
Once they were inside, he got the young man to sit on the couch and started making tea.
Taehyung didn’t say anything. He just stared at nothing. He seemed to be far away.
Jimin set down a hot cup of tea on the table in front of him and then settled on the couch next to his friend.
He didn’t ask any questions, because he knew that Taehyung couldn’t answer them right now.
Seeing Taehyung like this was painful. Instinctively he reached out his hand and started stroking his hair again.
They sat there like this for a while.
“I’m sorry.” Taehyung said eventually.
“There’s nothing you should feel sorry for.” Jimin said.
“And if you want to talk about it, I’m here for you. You’re not alone, Tae.”
To his surprise, Taehyung hugged him.
He buried his face in Jimin’s shoulder and muttered more excuses.
Jimin stroked his back and told him again and again that he had nothing to be sorry for.

The next morning, it was still very early, Jimin woke up on the couch. He was leaning against Taehyung, who was just as asleep as he had been a few moments ago.
The tea on the table in front of them had gotten cold.
Jimin didn’t dare to move, afraid to wake his friend up.
So he just stayed like this.
He was surprised by how well he had slept. He hadn’t even noticed when he had fallen asleep the night before.
Taehyung stirred awake too now.
“Hey.” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“Hey. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
Taehyung shook his head.
He looked guilty.
“I’m sorry, Jimin.”
Jimin shook his head. “Please don’t be. I’m just glad you’re okay. Do you want to take a shower?”
He showed Taehyung the bathroom downstairs, and then went into the bathroom upstairs.
Having a house with several bathrooms was pretty nice, Jimin thought as he brushed his teeth.
He had no idea what happened last night, why Taehyung had been sitting in front of the grocery store crying, and even though he was terribly curious, he wouldn’t force the other to say anything. He’d tell him when he was ready.
When he got back downstairs, Taehyung had made toast.
“Sorry.” he said again.
“I just… touched your stuff. Sorry. That’s not cool… But here’s toast?”
Jimin chuckled.
Taehyung looked very awkward, very apologetic, but also endearing.
“I love toast.”

They sat down together, munching on their toast in silence until Taehyung finally started speaking.
Jimin listened to every word he said carefully, only nodding in acknowledgment every now and then. He told him about his father and the way he treated him. He told him about his sister’s upcoming wedding and how he was afraid of going there. He told him everything, and he didn’t even really know why.
“So I walked around and eventually ended up in front of the supermarket…”
“I’m sorry, Tae.”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“Of course.”
Taehyung stared at his toast.
“Will you look for this woman? What was her name again?”
“Im Yon… I don’t know to be honest. He said she’s dead, so… I guess there’s no point.”
Jimin nodded slowly.
“And what will you do about your sister’s wedding? You don’t want to go there alone, do you?”
Taehyung shook his head.
Jimin stirred his coffée and then made a decision.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
Taehyung nearly dropped his toast, staring at his friend.
“What? Why would you do that?”
Jimin shrugged.
“I’m your friend. And you said you wanted to go. It might help if you have moral support… But of course you don’t have to go at all, it was just a silly idea.”
“No, no, it’s not silly! I mean, that would actually be really cool! But… Do you really want to do that?”
Jimin smiled.
“Absolutely!”

~

If there was anything Min Yoongi hated nearly as much as injustice and capitalism, it was a traffic jam.
He had been here for nearly 30 minutes now.
Seokjin had lent him his car so that he could drive to his uncle’s place.
Yoongi’s uncle worked at an animal shelter and one of the dogs there had given birth a few weeks ago, so now he was looking for people to keep the puppies.
Yoongi should have met him 10 minutes ago, but he was still standing in the middle of the road.
He texted his uncle and decided to take another road.
He was going to look at the puppies later.
It was still early, not even 10am, so he had time.
He went into a café to get himself his daily dose of caffeine he needed to survive.
Standing in line, he noticed the two people standing in front of him. A young woman with blonde locks and blue eyes that were framed by glasses, and…
“Hoseok?”
The pair turned around and Hobi started smiling brightly when he recognized Yoongi.
“Hey! What are you doing here?! Don’t tell me you’re also here for the competition?”
“Competition?”
“A dance competition!” the woman said, now also smiling. He had no idea who she was but she seemed friendly enough.
“I don’t really dance…”
Hoseok positioned himself next to him.
“How is Taehyung? Have you heard from him? He must be missing me, his best friend.”
Yoongi shrugged.
“I think he’s doing alright, he’s working a lot with Jimin.”
Hoseok nodded, eyes full of admiration.
“They’re so hardworking. And so are you! You make music, right? Freya sometimes makes music too!”
He gestured at his friend whose eyes widened.
“Oh, I’m no professional! I play the violin, that’s it.”
“Don’t sell yourself short!” Hoseok said.
“She’s really good!”
“Oh yeah? That’s cool! If you’re Taehyung’s friend, maybe you can make some music for the audio book?”
Freya looked embarrassed
“I’m definitely not good enough for that, Yoongi! I’m an amateur.”
“That’s not a bad thing.”
Yoongi finally got his coffé and the three of them sat down together.
He liked them. He already had liked Hoseok when he had accompanied them to the karaoke bar, even though he had been taken aback by his overflowing energy at first, but he was a good guy.
And Freya, despite being a little awkward, seemed nice too.
“You’re a producer, right? Do you play any instruments?”
“I’m learning to play the guitar.”
Hoseok looked back and forth from Freya to Yoongi and seemed absolutely delighted.
Yoongi wasn’t sure why, but then again, Hobi always seemed pretty delighted.
They talked for a little while and Yoongi relaxed. He hadn’t been keen on talking to anyone at first, but these two were really nice and he actually enjoyed talking to them.
Eventually he had to leave to see the puppies. Seeing both of them looking excited he told them they could tag along if they wanted to, which they did.
Freya told him that she used to have dogs as a child but due to her education she couldn’t have on right now and she seemed genuinely upset about that.
Hobi’s mother had a dog who he visited sometimes, but of course it wasn’t the same as actually having a dog at home.
“I love dogs too.” Yoongi said as he started the car.
Freya was sitting on the passenger seat and Hobi was in the back, which meant he was able to throw himself back when he laughed in peace. He had a habit of doing that, Yoongi noticed.
When they arrived at the animal shelter, Yoongi’s uncle was already waiting.
“Most of them have found a home already, but the oldest one hasn’t. He had an issue with his leg, so it had to be removed. Now no one wants him… And the mother of course, most people don’t want an older dog.” He looked angry and Yoongi knew that he would have adopted the dogs himself if he was able to, but he already had 3 dogs and also two children, so he couldn’t really afford getting two more.
“That’s cruel.” Hoseok commented, his eyes looking a little wet.
“If dogs were allowed in our apartment I would get one immediately.” Freya announced. “I would stop going to uni if I had to. But they won’t let us keep pets in there…” She sighed.
“You guys should move.”
Back when Yoongi had moved into his apartment, he had made sure that it was one where he could keep pets.
The main reason for that had been because Seokjin had sugar gliders a few years back and whenever he and Namjoon had to travel outside of Korea, to America, because that’s where Joon’s parents lived, he had taken the little beasts in.
Yoongi wasn’t a huge fan of rodents because Jimin had a hamster as a child and that asshole had bitten him several times. But of course he couldn’t say no to his friends.
That was going to be his demise one day.
“Here they are.” his uncle said, unlocking a door.
Inside was a beautiful grey poodle who immediately got up when she saw them enter.
“This is Ella.” Yoongi’s uncle said.
“And her son is somewhere around here too…”
“Got him!” Freya was sitting on the floor, a small poodle with three legs sitting on her lap.
Yoongi smiled.
They spent nearly an hour petting the dogs and giving them treats.
“You have no idea how much this would help me.” His uncle said to Yoongi.
“If you could just take him off my hands… No one else wants the poor little guy.”
Yoongi nodded.
“Of course! What about Ella?”
His uncle shrugged.
“I know you want to adopt them both, kid. Just do it.” He chuckled.
“Your apartment is pretty big and you have a forest and a beach nearby, should be good.”
That was all Yoongi needed hear.
He hadn’t exactly planned on adopting two dogs, or even one. But when his uncle had called him a week ago he had told his friends about it and they all told him to do it.
“I’ll visit you more often then!” Jungkook had announced.
“Even more than you already do? I’ll have to rethink this.”
Jungkook had pushed him half-heartedly and Yoongi had laughed.
Hoseok and Freya had to leave now, Hobi had to prepare for the competition that was happening on the next day. Yoongi ended up exchanging numbers with both of them, promising them an invitation to his place once the dogs had settled in.
After doing all of the formalities, he drove back home.
His uncle would bring the dogs to him once they got chipped.
He had to buy a second dog bed now.

~

Jimin was standing inside a more or less fancy looking boutique.
He had told Taehyung that he would come with him to his sister’s wedding because he was a good friend. A good friend who didn’t own any fancy clothes.
He had called Jungkook to help him pick out a suit.
“You’re acting like it’s your wedding.” Jungkook said, rummaging through a pile of clothes.
“Be careful with that!” Jimin scolded him. “You don’t want to clean up everything, do you?”
“I don’t get why you’re not just asking someone who works here.”
“I simply don’t want to!”
The reason why Jimin didn’t want to ask any of the workers here was because his mother had shopped in this store frequently and they knew who he was.
He didn’t want any of them to pay their condolences. He was done with it.
In retrospect, he probably should have gone to another store.
“Here, this one looks good! And it’s not that expensive either.”
“It’s so plain, I don’t usually wear such plain clothes…”
“It’s a smoking, what did you expect?”
They ended up buying the suit and headed outside without meeting any of Jimin’s acquaintances.
“You’re quite something, you know that?” Jungkook said after having bought ice cream for both of them.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
They had sat down at a table, it was pretty warm.
“I don’t know if I’m more baffled by the fact that you just spent 60 Won on a suit so that you can accompany your friend you’ve known for a month to a wedding, or that you never even owned a suit in the first place.”
Jimin rolled his eyes.
“I’m just a good friend, okay? Stop judging me. And now I do own a suit!”
They kept bickering like this for a while, even when they approached Jimin’s house.
“You must like him a lot.” Jungkook said eventually, as he walked through the door.
“It’s not like I’m not spending money on you…” Jimin said.
Jungkook chuckled. “I know, I know. I’m just teasing. You’re a good friend. A good and little friend.”
Jimin attempted to hit him, but Jungkook jumped out of the way.
“You’re too slow, old man!”
Jimin had finally decided to invite all of his friends to his house.
Even though he had officially lived here for about a month now, they hadn’t all been there together yet.
They’d all come over next week and Jimin was genuinely excited about it.
He and Jungkook were sitting in the garden. It was a really nice and sunny day and Jimin thought that if his mother was here, she would love it.
He heard Jungkook chuckle across from him.
“What’s up?”
“Yoongi adopted two dogs. A mother and her three-legged puppy.”
“That’s adorable.”
“He needs a name for the puppy.”
They thought about it for a while and eventually came up with their own ideas.
“Why would he call his dog John? That’s such a stupid name.” Jimin said.
“Oh, but Lucky is better? That’s so lame!”
“Oh yeah? Just wait and see, he’ll definitely pick the name I picked out for him!”

“I’m not picking the name either of you picked out for me.” Yoongi said in the evening.
“I made a friend when I went over there and she had a fun suggestion. Maeum. It means mind or heart.”
Jimin sighed.
“At least you didn’t pick his name either.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes.
“Who’s your friend?”
“Funnily enough, it’s Taehyung’s other roommate, Freya. She and Hobi are there because of some dancing competition?”
Jungkook nodded.
“Ah right, I read about that! Wow, it’s pretty impressive that he’s attending that!”
“Are they dating?” Jimin asked.
Yoongi shrugged.
“I don’t think so. Pretty sure Hobi is gay.”
“Fair shout.”
They spent the evening sitting together.
When it was time for Jimin to sleep, he felt weird.
He had slept so well last night when Taehyung had been there, but now… He was lying awake once again.
He realized that he hadn’t told his friends about his strange encounter with Taehyung. He guessed it wasn’t really his place to talk about it.
After trying to sleep for nearly two hours he gave up and texted Namjoon, who was awake too. The guy had an issue.
They texted for a good hour until Namjoon didn’t respond anymore, which meant he had finally fallen asleep.
Jimin hadn’t though, so he listened to music.

~
“Quite frankly, I’m terrified.” Taehyung told Hobi over the phone.
“This isn’t going to be a fun experience.”
“But you have Jimin coming with you!” his friend replied.
“It’ll be okay.”
Hobi told him that they had met Yoongi yesterday and that he got along really well with Freya. Taehyung told him to stop matchmaking and Hobi ignored him.
He sighed.
“I know you desperately want Freya to find the love of her life but you need to chill out. It’s her life, you know?”
Hoseok groaned.
“But she likes him! She told me!”
“What? Really?”
“Don’t sound so surprised, he’s cool!”
“He is! I like him too! But I didn’t expect that. Freya usually goes for more extroverted guys, doesn’t she?”
He was struggling with his tie and stopped fumbling when the doorbell rang.
“Gonna get back to you later!” he said and hung up.
He opened the door and faced Jimin.
“Hey!” he said.
“Come in! Sorry, it’s pretty messy in here…”
“I don’t mind!”
Jimin looked at his surroundings and smiled.
“I love all of the art everywhere! Why don’t you have any of your own stuff on the wall?”
Taehyung shrugged.
“I don’t think it’s that good.”
“Nonsense. It’s amazing! … Do you need help with that?”
Taehyung nodded sheepishly.
Jimin grinned and walked up to him.
He was able to quickly fix his tie.
He was smaller than Taehyung, so he could almost look down on his head. He stood so close to him that he could smell him. He smelled good.
Taehyung shook his head in disbelief. He probably should have gotten more sleep.
“I’m not suffocating you, am I?”
“No, that’s great! Thank you!”
They headed off.

Chapter Text

They stood right outside the wedding venue and Taehyung’s heart was beating so fast and so loud that he was concerned that Jimin could hear it.
“Are you alright?” his friend asked.
Taehyung smiled at the concert in his voice and nodded.
Hea was marrying on a big field. The venue was beautiful, there were fairylights and flowers and everyone looked amazing.
Of course, the most radiant person there (next to Jimin) was Hea herself.
When she saw her younger brother, she started beaming.
“Tae! I’m so glad you came!” She yelled and came running towards him.
“Of course!” he replied. “You look wonderful!”
She started tearing up and cupped his cheek.
“I wasn’t sure if you would come, you know?”
She dropped her hand again and looked at the floor, clearly uncomfortable.
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s not your fault that this is the way things are.”
Taehyung had thought about this for a long time.
He had consulted Jimin, because he was the only neutral party.
Taehyung hadn’t had a lot of contact with his sister due to his father’s actions. He had been angry with her for a long time because she seemed like someone who knew that she was better than a lot of people.
She was talented and beautiful and a career woman. She even usually looked like one, short hair kempt and wearing a blazer. Now she looked more like a princess.
But whatever she wore, she looked great, which used to get on Taehyung’s nerves.
But now… He was sick of being mad at her. He was sick of them not being close just because his father apparently didn’t love him.
“I’m sorry.” Hea said now. “I should have been a better sister for you. I should have been there for you. And I never was.”
She was starting to tear up again.
“Don’t cry! Your makeup will get ruined! And stop worrying so much. This day marks a new chapter of our lives. From now on, you can be there, if you want to.”
She hugged him again, tightly.
The ceremony would begin soon, so they parted ways for now.
Jimin had waited nearby and Taehyung was incredibly grateful for his presence. He had no idea how to repay him. He would have to think of something.
When he approached, Jimin smiled at him, eyes disappearing.
“I’m glad to see that you two made up.” he said.
“Samesies. I’m really happy about it. And it’s all thanks to you!”
Jimin laughed.
“I didn’t do anything!”
“But you did! You told me your opinion, which was that I should try talking to her!”
He flung an arm around Jimin’s shoulder.
“You’re really cool, you know that?”
“Likewise, Tae.”
They smiled at each other until they got interrupted by Kim Sung-ho.
He looked like he always did - angry, grumpy and annoyed. Only this time he was wearing a suit.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away?” he asked quietly, so that no one else could hear him.
“And now you also brought your damn boyfriend. Do you have no respect?!”
Taehyung removed his arm from around Jimin’s shoulders.
“Why aren’t you smiling? It’s your daughter’s wedding.”
“I would be smiling if you weren’t here.”
“Hey, sir, I’m Jimin. I work with your son. It’s nice to meet you!” Jimin tried.
He had no idea how bad his father actually was.
Kim Sung-ho stared at his outstretched hand with disgust.
“It must be great to see one of your children get married!” he continued and Taehyung gave him a look.
“Let’s go.” he said, tugging on Jimin’s arm.
“Actually, yes, it is great to see her get married.” Sung-ho said.
“I am glad to see her thrive. She is very talented.”
“So is your son.”
Taehyung couldn’t believe his ears and tugged on Jimin’s arm again.
Sung-ho laughed.
“Is he now? All I see is an amateur painter without any money. Hardly someone who is talented. And hardly someone who deserves to call himself my son.”
Jimin stared at Taehyung’s father.
“Jimin. Let’s go.” the artist said again.
But Jimin didn’t budge.
He kept staring at the man standing in front of him.
“You got something to say to me?”
“No!” Taehyung said quickly.
“Actually, yes.”
He stepped closer to Sung-ho.
“Taehyung is insanely talented and he’s kind and caring and you are a terrible father and person. You should be ashamed of yourself!”
Kim Sung-ho slapped him.
“How dare you talk to me like that?!” he yelled.
“How dare you call yourself a father when you behave like this?!”
Taehyung felt like his entire world was falling apart.
He was about to break into tears, when his sister appeared.
“Get out.” she said to Sung-ho.
“What?” he asked. He was absolutely baffled.
“You heard me.”
Taehyung saw her soon-to-be husband appear too.
He looked worried.
“Hea, did you hear what he-”
“I did.”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“And he’s right. You’ve been a good father to me and I love you. But… the way you have treated my brother isn’t right. And now you did this…”
She shook her head.
“I don’t want to see you for a while.”
Sung-ho stared at her.
“You can’t throw me out. I’m your father!”
A crowd had gathered around them now.
“And you’re also his father. And yet, you act like he’s trash. But he isn’t. Please leave. Please.”
She was crying now.
Her fiancé came up behind her and put an arm around her shoulders.
“Leave, Sung-ho.”
And he did.
He stared at them for a moment… and then stormed off.
Hea cried. So did Taehyung.
And Jimin was nowhere to be seen.

~

Jimin was looking for the bathroom so that he could gather his thoughts in peace.
There was a small building nearby which looked like it could be the bathroom, but when he got there, it wasn’t. It was some kind of storage room.
But it was unlocked, so he went inside and sat down on the floor.
He felt his cheek. It was burning. And there were tears on it.
He didn’t regret what he did. Not at all.
Taehyung’s father was an asshole and it was about time someone told him.
He could already hear Yoongi’s nagging in his head, but he didn’t care.
He didn’t.
Taehyung didn’t deserve this kind of treatment and if no one else stood up for him, then he had to do it.
The door behind him opened.
“Jimin.”
He didn’t react.
“Why on earth did you do this? Why?!”
Taehyung sounded angry. He also sounded like he was crying.
“I’m not sorry.” Jimin said.
“Why…” Taehyung started but got interrupted by his sister.
“Here you are!”
She was carrying a bag filled with ice and carefully pressed it on Jimin’s face.
“What you did back there was foolish. But brave. And it is what I should have done a long time ago. I’m sorry.”
Jimin took the ice from her and got up.
“No, I’m sorry for disrupting your wedding, Hea. That was a dick move.”
She shook her head.
“No, it was good. It was needed. Thank you.”
She hugged him.
“My brother is so lucky to have you.”
“I-”
“Hea, do you… still want to get married?”
Her fiancé stood awkwardly in the door frame.
She laughed.
“Of course I do!”
The chaos settled.
The small crowd that had watched seemed to be content with Sung-ho leaving, so no one asked questions.
Taehyung didn’t say a single word to Jimin during the entire thing.

~

“Ella and Maeum, huh. Good names!”
Yoongi’s uncle looked satisfied as the dogs walked through his nephew’s apartment and sniffed every corner.
“Thank you for bringing them here.” Yoongi said, smiling.
He watched as Jungkook introduced himself to the dogs, all giggly and happy.
“Hey! I heard there are dogs here?”
Seokjin and Namjoon came in and immediately walked over to the dogs without saying hello to Mr. Min.
“Sorry about them.”
He laughed.
“I understand. Take good care of them! And of the dogs too, of course.” He winked and hugged Yoongi.
“I’ll come visit soon.”
Yoongi thanked him again and walked him to the door.
When he opened the door, he saw Freya.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” he asked, beckoning her inside.
“Sorry for coming here so suddenly, I just wanted to see the dogs again.” she looked a little embarrassed.
Yoongi laughed.
“Sure thing! My friends are here too! Everyone’s here to see the dogs and not me.”
“Don’t worry, I’m also here to see you.” Freya said, the tips of her ears getting red.
Yoongi didn’t know how to respond to that.
“Hey, Freya! I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Hi Jungkook!”
They all sat down on the floor together, letting the dogs come to them.
“It’s so cool that you adopted both of them.” Freya said. “It would have been a shame if they had to be torn apart.”
Yoongi nodded.
“Yeah, it’s always sad when puppies leave their mothers.”
“You like dogs a lot.” Jungkook said to Freya.
He seemed tense.
“Yeah, I do!” she said, smiling brightly.
“I’ll be here a lot.”
“Me too.”
They looked at each other for a moment.
Something was weird.
Yoongi didn’t know what was up with them, but before he could ask, Seokjin tried to resolve the tension by joking around.
It helped a little, because both Jungkook and Freya laughed, but there still was something… off.

-

“Thank you for letting me stay here, even though I hadn’t even announced myself beforehand.”
“No problem! You can always come over.”
Freya hugged Yoongi. He was smaller than her.
The audacity, Jungkook thought.
She had only known him for two days…
He stared after her as she left.
“What’s up with you?” Yoongi asked when he closed the door behind her.
Seokjin and Namjoon had left a little earlier, so for a while it had only been the three of them.
Freya had tried to talk to Jungkook several times, smiling kindly, trying to joke around, but he hadn’t really let her.
He knew he was being unfair.
“Nothing.” he said.
“I’m just tired.”
Yoongi frowned.
“I know you’re lying.”
“Am not.”
“Of course you are. What’s wrong with you? Come on, tell me.”
Jungkook sighed.
“I told you that there’s nothing wrong and if you don’t believe me, that’s your problem.”
He grabbed his bag.
“I won’t stay here tonight. See you soon.”
With that, he left.
He could feel Yoongi’s eyes on his back.
He knew he was being an asshole.
He was being a complete asshole for no reason.
Freya was great, she was nice and clever and funny.
She and Yoongi wouldn’t be a bad match.
He felt tears pricking in his eyes as the elevator door closed.
He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.
Once he was outside, he took a deep breath. The cool evening air was burning in his lungs.
When he got home, his brother was surprised to see him.
“What are you doing here? Not staying with Yoongi today?”
“Nope. I thought you’d need the company.” Jungkook dropped his bag on the floor.
Hyun raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask.
“I’m tired, I’ll get some sleep.”
“It’s only 9pm…”
Jungkook got into his room and closed the door.
His phone vibrated.
He had a message from Yoongi.

Yoongi
Did I do something wrong?

Jungkook let out a bitter laugh.
Of course he would think that it’s his fault.

Jungkook
No. I’m just tired. Talk soon.

He felt horrible.
He thought about calling Jimin, but Jimin was busy with sulking.
Jungkook didn’t know why, Jimin wouldn’t tell him.
He also thought about calling Seokjin, because Seokjin was always there for him. But Seokjin told Yoongi everything.
Namjoon wasn’t an option either. Taehyung hadn’t replied to any of his texts since yesterday.
And he couldn’t text Hobi either, even though he was nice and Jungkook considered him his friend. He was too close with Freya.
Jungkook groaned and threw himself on his bed.

~

“Wow. That’s… brave.”
“That’s one word for it.”
Taehyung was sulking.
Hobi and Freya had returned earlier today. Hoseok had won the competition of course and Taehyung wanted to be happy and celebrate with him, but he couldn’t.
“Why are you mad at him, though? He must really like you a lot!”
Taehyung groaned.
“That’s the issue!”
“Why is that an issue?”
“Well… why would he…”
“Don’t you dare.” Hoseok looked at him with a serious expression.
“None of that self hatred tonight, Taehyung.”
He closed his eyes. He was lying on his bed and Hoseok was sitting on the edge of it.
“It’s not only that. He’s my friend, so it makes sense that he likes me. But… doing something like this… Why would he do that? He even got hurt! That asshole slapped him!”
Hobi hummed.
“So you blame yourself for what happened.”
“Of course I do! It is my fault! I never should have brought him along!”
“But he wanted to come along.”
Taehyung buried his face in his hands.
“But I let him! He got hurt because of me.”
“God, Taehuyng.”
Hobi got up. He sounded pissed.
Taehyung removed his hands from his eyes. It was very rare that Hobi got upset with him.
“You need to stop this. You need to start accepting that you don’t suck. That you’re a good person. And that people like you.”
He left the room.
Taehyung felt like an asshole.
He hadn’t spoken to Jimin since it happened.
Hadn’t responded to any of his texts.
Of course he was grateful for this friend. But he could never repay him.
He genuinely couldn’t understand why anyone would risk their own safety just because of him. He wasn’t anyone special. He felt like he didn’t deserve Jimin, not in the slightest.
The night came and then left.
Taehyung didn’t sleep.
He was supposed to work with Jimin and Yoongi today, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t.
After trying to sleep for many hours, he finally did at around 5am.
When his phone rang on the next day, it was 1pm already.
He was disoriented and couldn’t recognize that name on the display for a moment.
“Hello?”
“Taehyung? It’s Nari! Jimin’s grandmother.”
He jumped up.
“Nari! Is everything alright?”
He had finished her portrait weeks ago. He had visited her every now and then, sometimes with Jimin sometimes without him.
He hadn’t seen her in about two weeks now.
“Can you come over? I’ve been told that Jimin is sick and I can’t bring him the soup I made on my own…”
“He’s sick?”
“So I’ve heard…”
Taehyung sighed.
“I’m on my way.”
Fifteen minutes later he arrived at Hwang Nari’s house.
She was busy pouring hot soup in containers.
“I’m glad you’re here.” she said, patting him on the arm.
“Seokjin called me and told me he’s sick, but Jimin apparently won’t really talk to anyone. I can’t go myself because my knee isn’t doing that amazing…”
“Your knee again? Come on, sit down. I’ll do this for you.”
He took the containers and the pot from her, carefully filling them up with hot soup.
The old lady sat down on a chair and chuckled.
“Did you fight?”
Taehyung frowned.
“Is Seokjin gossiping about me now?”
“No, no, he didn’t say anything. I can tell.”
Taehyung sighed once again.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that.”
He turned around to see the old lady smile at him. Her eyes sparkled. She always looked like she knew more than you… and she probably did. She knew all kinds of things.
“Get this to him, will you? And eat some soup with him. You need it. You look like you haven’t slept a lot, dear.”
Once Taehyung had packed the containers into a big bag she led him to the front door.
“Take this, dear.” She handed him money.
Taehyung shook his head.
“You should keep that for yourself.”
“You already refused to let me pay for the portrait! Now let me pay for your gas at least.”
She shoved the money into the bag he was carrying.

When Taehyung arrived at Jimin’s house, Yoongi was there.
He stood in front of the house and seemingly tried to call someone.
Taehyung got out of the car and walked towards him.
“Hey Taehyung” he said, dropping the hand with his phone in it.
“Why are you standing out here?”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
“He doesn’t let me in! He lets no one in. He’s been like this since… Well.”
“This is my fault.”
“No, it’s not.” Yoongi sighed.
“Freya told me you tend to blame yourself for everything. Don’t do that.”
Taehyung smiled.
“You guys are close, huh?”
Yoongi shrugged.
“She’s nice.”
Taehyung nodded and looked up at the house, trying to catch a glimpse through the window.
“Maybe he’ll let you in…”
Yoongi rang the doorbell.
“Open up, Park! Taehyung is here. And he has a bag with food!”
Nothing happened.
“Your grandmother made the food!” Taehyung yelled, knocking against the door.
“Don’t let the food go to waste!”
They waited for about a minute, until they heard a noise.
The door slowly opened.
“You look terrible.” Yoongi commented. And he wasn’t wrong.
Jimin was pale, his eyes and nose red. He sneezed.
“Thanks.”
Taehyung pushed the door open.
“Food delivery!”
Jimin stared at him.
“Go back to bed.” Yoongi told him and closed the door behind himself.
Jimin frowned. He didn’t want to do anything anyone told him. But he felt weak on his knees, so he stumbled back upstairs.
Yoongi walked into the kitchen and helped Taehyung to heat up the soup.
“You haven’t spoken to him since the wedding, have you?”
Taehyung shook his head.
Yoongi hummed.
“You’re both stubborn idiots.”
They poured some of the soup into a plate, made a cup of tea and got a wet towel. Then they walked up the stairs.
“He’s been sleeping in his mother’s old bed.” Yoongi said quietly before they entered the room.
Jimin was sitting on the old bed, looking grumpy.
“Here.” Yoongi handed him the towel, and when he didn’t do anything with it he took it from him again and pressed it against his forehead.
“Nari made soup, so you should eat it.”
Taehyung sat down next to Yoongi, carefully handing Jimin the plate.
Jimin ate the soup without saying anything and let his friends manhandle him under the covers.
Taehyung got up and grabbed Jimin’s now empty plate.
“I’ll get more soup. Are you hungry too?”
He didn’t wait for Yoongi to reply and just left the room.
“He’s being weird.” Jimin croaked.
“So are you. Why didn’t you let me in before?! Stop sulking and talk to him, idiot!”
Jimin crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“He needs to approach me first.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
They sat in silence for a moment, hearing occasional clattering downstairs, but nothing too major. If it had been Namjoon downstairs, Yoongi wouldn’t have been so calm.
“Hey, do you know what’s up with Jungkook? He hasn’t been talking to me properly since yesterday. I even tried calling him but he won’t pick up. He just keeps saying he’s tired…”
Jimin shook his head.
“Sorry, I don’t know… But I’m sure he’ll talk to you when he’s ready.”
“Right…” Yoongi grumbled, kneading the towel in his hands.
“Yoongi?”
“Hm?”
“I love you.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
“I love you too, punk.”
Jimin giggled.
“Yoongi, can you help me carry the plates?” Taehyung yelled from downstairs.
“How many plates does he have?” Yoongi muttered and got up.
Jimin wasn’t hungry at all, but still ate the second plate of soup his friends gave to him. He had to call his grandmother and thank her.
After half an hour Yoongi got up. He said he had work to do, but Jimin wasn’t sure if that was true. He probably just wanted them to talk it out.
Usually he would have protested, but he felt too sick.
He didn’t know why he had gotten sick, but after he got home from the wedding he started feeling bad and had quickly developed a fever.
Now it was only him and Taehyung. He sat on the edge of his bed and stared at his phone.
“Thank you for coming here.” Jimin said quietly.
“Of course.”
“Are you still mad at me?”
Taehyung looked up. His brows were furrowed.
“I was never actually mad at you, Jimin. I just…” he trailed off and looked at the floor.
“I don’t want you to get into trouble. And especially not because of me.”
“It was worth it.” Jimin said and started coughing.
“Someone had to tell him.”
“I don’t think that’s right…” Taehyung sighed. He was exhausted.
“I don’t think what you did was clever, but... “ he shrugged, not sure how to say what was on his mind.
Jimin smiled. Not the kind of smile where his eyes disappeared, but a little smile nonetheless.
“It’s okay, Tae. You’re a good person. And a good friend. I wish you knew that.”
Taehyung looked at Jimin. His expression was unreadable.
“I have something to do, but I’ll be back in a few hours.” Taehyung announced.
“I’ll bring dinner.”
“You don’t have to…”
“I want to.”
Taehyung smiled.
“Do you have a spare key? I don’t want you to get out of bed anymore today.”

Taehyung got into his car and took a deep breath.
He wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. There was a possibility that this was a terrible idea. But he had made up his mind.
He started the car and drove out of the small town, to the outskirts of Seoul.
He hadn’t been here for several months, but everything looked like it always did.
It was Thursday afternoon, so his father wasn’t at home right now. Perfect.
He rang the doorbell and a few moments later a woman opened up.
“Hello mother.”

~

Jungkook stayed in his room until 3pm. He did that sometimes when he played games with friends online or was engrossed in a book, but this time it wasn’t because of these things.
His brother noticed, of course.
Without knocking he entered the room and opened the blinds.
Jungkook groaned.
“Why are you doing this? You’re a monster.”
Hyun smirked.
“Get up, loser. Take a shower. I ordered food, so hurry! Or else you’ll have to pay.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes but did as he was told.
Maybe lying in his bed all day and being sad wasn’t a big help.
After 20 minutes he sat down at the kitchen table with Hyun, slowly stirring his Ramen.
Hyun kept glancing at him. Jungkook tried to ignore it.
He tried.
But Hyun’s glances weren’t exactly subtle.
“What?” he asked, dropping his chopsticks in annoyance.
“Oh, nothing.” Hyun said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Why are you stabbing the noodles like that? What did they ever do to you?”
Hyun looked way too amused by the entire situation which didn’t sit right with Jungkook at all.
“God hyung, just spit it out. I can’t keep ignoring your stupid face.”
Hyun chuckled.
“I must say, I’m impressed by how long you tolerated it. It’s been nearly 10 minutes.”
Jungkook looked at him as if he was a camera on The Office.
“Yoongi texted me earlier.”
Jungkook frowned.
“What’d he want?”
Hyun raised an eyebrow.
“You tell me, little bro.”
Hyun was a few years older than Yoongi, had been an adult before he had been one, but they’d always gotten along really well.
Back in high school Hyun had picked him and his friends up. They visited an amusement park in Seoul. It still was one of Jungkook’s favorite memories.
He remembered Yoongi and Jimin both refusing to go on any rides, Jimin giving in pretty quickly because of Jungkook’s whining, but it wasn’t as easy to convince Yoongi from something.
He eventually went with Hyun holding onto his hand because he was scared too.
Hyun had become something like an older brother for all of them.
Hyun also was a musician, so he and Yoongi had a lot of things to talk about.
It wasn’t a surprise that Yoongi would text him, he probably should have seen it coming.
And unfortunately his brother knew Jungkook so well, that he had a vague idea why he was behaving the way he did.
“The way you’re looking at me makes me think you already know anyway.” Jungkook sighed.
“How would I know anything?”
“You’re annoying.”
Hyun laughed and started patting his brothers’ head.
“You should talk to him. The guy’s so worried. He thinks he did something wrong.”
“I know…”
Jungkook knew that his brother was right. He definitely was going to have to talk to Yoongi.
He wasn’t sure what he was going to say yet though… I’m mad at you because you seem to like this Scandinavian girl more than me?
He felt pathetic.

Chapter Text

“Here you go. Eat all of it, or else I shall behead you.”
“Thanks Jinnie. I just ate soup though…”
Seokjin made a throat slashing gesture.
Jimin rolled his eyes and coughed.
“Fine, I’ll put it in the fridge. But don’t forget about it! Joonie peeled the potatoes.”
Jimin’s eyes widened.
“Wow, that was a lot of work for him.”
Seokjin nodded. “It was.”
“Remember on our camping trip a few years ago when he was upset and Yoongi handed him potatoes to peel? He looked like a tiny gremlin.”
Seokjin laughed at the memory.
“I’m pretty sure that was the night where I fell head over heels for him.”
Jimin smiled fondly.
“I remember that. You were so weird. But Namjoon was oblivious as hell, so he didn’t even notice.”
“Thank God.”
Jimin laughed and coughed again.
“Lie back down!”
“Yes sir.”
Seokjin carried the food back downstairs.
Jimin felt like shit. He felt like his fever had risen.
But at least he felt better mentally.
Taehyung wasn’t mad at him anymore, which was very relieving.
Jimin had asked himself what had come over him at the wedding, but he didn’t really have an answer.
It was like that time back in school when this child had said that Yoongi was rude. He had pushed that child to the ground which made both of them cry.
Yoongi also had been annoyed with him for getting into trouble for his sake.
But Yoongi also had a soft spot for him, which meant that he wasn’t annoyed for a long time.
Jimin didn’t really know what to make of Taehyung in those regards though.
He was a good friend, he was kind and clever and funny. He was cute. And pretty. And his smile was adorable…
“Jiminie.”
Seokjin leaned against the doorframe. He looked nervous.
“What’s wrong?”
His friend never looked nervous. Never.
He was absolutely shameless.
The fact that he looked nervous now sent Jimin into a small panic.
“Did something happen? Did someone die?”
“What? No! Stop moving so much, you’re sick!”
Jimin sat back down.
He chuckled.
“Are you going to ask me to marry you?” he joked. And coughed.
“Not you.”
Jimin’s eyes widened.
“No way!!!” he yelled and jumped up.
“I told you to lie down!!!” Seokjin yelled but Jimin clumsily ran towards him and flung his arms around his friend.
“Get off me! I don’t want your germs!”
“Oh my God Jin, that’s wonderful. I can’t believe this.”
Seokjin rolled his eyes.
“Calm down, weirdo. I haven’t even made any concrete plans yet, I just…”
He shrugged.
Jimin cupped his cheeks and cooed at him.
“You’re so cute! Your ears are all red! I’m so ready for husbands namjin.”
“... Namjin?”
“Forget I said that.”
Namjin was the ship name he, Jungkook and Yoongi had made up back when their friends started being in love with each other, neither of them noticing for over a year.
They were so annoying, there were several occasions in which Jimin nearly had told one of them, but Yoongi scolded him every time.
“Let them take their time! You’re not cupid!”
“I wish I was!”
It had been a mess but when they finally, finally, got together Jimin felt like he had won a million Won or something.
For someone who was so shameless, Seokjin sure was oblivious to other people’s affection.
It reminded him of his newest friend Hoseok, who also didn’t really notice whenever they showed him affection. He was very affectionate himself, always hugging and kissing everyone (with their consent of course), but Jimin thought that he didn’t realize that people loved him back.
In a sense, Seokjin was like that too.
Despite always being shameless and acting like he had all the confidence in the world, he was very considerate and overthought a lot.
And he was overthinking right now.
“Stop overthinking!” Jimin said, letting go of his friend’s face.
“He loves you so much, he’ll say yes in a heartbeat.”
“How do you know that?”
“Are you kidding me? You’ve been together for 4 years and you still look at each other… like that.”
Seokjin frowned.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know… just.. so full of love and affection.” he sighed.
“I wish someone looked like that at me.”
Seokjin crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Don’t my eyes radiate enough love for you? Or Yoongi’s? Especially Yoongi’s.”
Jimin rolled his eyes.
“You know exactly what I mean, dumbass. There’s a difference.”
Seokjin laughed.
He was even teasing him when he was sick. This man knew no mercy.
Jimin got back to bed, discussing Seokjin’s plans for another 20 minutes and eventually drifted off to sleep.
He could feel his friend gently stroking his forehead and quietly saying “I love you” before he left.

~
Taehyung had never felt this awkward in his own mother’s present.
He was sitting on the couch, his hands placed under his legs. He felt like he was in a stranger’s house.
His mother was sitting next to him. She hadn’t said anything in several minutes. She stared at the floor.
He was patient though. He had just dropped such a huge bomb on her, she was shocked.
“When I was pregnant with Hea, your father had an affair.” she said eventually, still looking at the floor.
Taehyung felt anger rising up inside of him.
“Why didn’t you leave him?” he asked.
“I couldn’t raise a child on my own. And I loved him.”
Taehyung frowned. He looked at his feet.
The sneakers he was wearing had been a gift from Hobi last Christmas. He had drawn on them. They were a little worn out by now because Taehyung had worn them so much.
A cold hand touched his knee.
“I’m sorry Taehyung.” his mother said.
“I really, truly am sorry. I should have told you.”
Taehyung shook his head.
“It’s not your fault.”
He took her hand in his.
He looked at her face and saw that she was crying.
“Your real mother died shortly after giving birth to you. And he wanted to give you up, you know? He really regretted his decision to have an affair. Although, I think he only regretted it because he got that woman pregnant...”
“I’m sorry.”
Kim Eunji looked at him, wearing an unreadable expression.
Tears were streaming down her face.
“Your real mother, she…”
“You’re my real mother.”
Taehyung wiped her tears, which made her cry even more.
“Tae. I… I should have done a better job.”
He shook his head.
“I don’t blame you. I really don’t. I always thought you were weak because you didn’t leave him…” now he was crying too, “but now I can see that I was wrong. That you’ve been so strong all this time.”
They hugged for a long time.
When they let go, his mother smiled at him.
“I will do better, Tae. For all these years I let him treat you this way and I… I can never make up for that. And I don’t ask for forgiveness either.”
“You don’t have to ask. There’s nothing to forgive. I know you’ve always tried your best. You always do.”
Taehyung hugged her again, letting her cry into his shoulder.
When Taehyung left again, it was 6pm.
His mother offered him to stay, to eat dinner, but he couldn’t. His father would return soon and he didn’t want to see him.
He left the house he had grown up in and climbed in his car.
He looked at the piece of paper his mother had given to him.
“This is Im Aera’s address. She’s your aunt.”
“Aunt Bom is my aunt, Mom. And you are my mother. But thank you. I’ve been curious.”
She had nodded at him.
“I understand. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
He sighed.
He wasn’t sure what he was going to do now.
Taehyung couldn’t deny it - he was terribly curious about who the person who had given birth to him had been.
He wanted to know.
He drove back into the town he had come from, picking up food on the way.
Taehyung parked his car outside of Jimin’s house.
It was nearly 8pm now. It was a little cold, so he shivered.
Dark clouds covered the stars and Taehyung thought that it would probably rain soon.
He grabbed the key Jimin had given him out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He didn’t hear any noise, so he figured Jimin was asleep.
He placed the food on the kitchen counter and silently walked up the stairs.
He peeked into Jimin’s room.
Jimin wasn’t in his bed.
“Jimin?” he asked into the room, getting no reply.
He looked into the other bedroom on the same floor, into the bathroom, but Jimin wasn’t there.
He went downstairs, but he wasn’t there either.
Then he spotted him, right outside the door that led to the garden.
He was crouching on the floor.
“Jimin!” he said, running up to him.
He was sweating a lot, his forehead was burning.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“It was so hot… But now it’s cold…”
Taehyung carefully helped him up and somehow managed to get him upstairs, back into his bed.
He ran downstairs and got a wet towel and some water.
He looked for something like Aspirin and eventually got one out of his own bag when he couldn’t find any.
When he returned, Jimin was buried in blankets, shivering.
He sat down on the bed next to Jimin, carefully pressing the towel on his forehead.
“Can you sit up?” he asked quietly.
“Take this, it’ll help.”
Jimin took the pill without any questions.
He helped Jimin lie back down. He was still sweating, still shivering, quietly making noises of discomfort.
Taehyung felt terrible for his friend.
Seeing him like this hurt.
He set the glass aside and laid down next to Jimin. He watched him until his pained expression softened and he fell asleep.

~
When Jimin woke up, the sun was shining through the white curtains into the room.
He immediately noticed two things:
One, he didn’t feel like he was dying anymore.
And two, there was an arm draped over him.
Looking to the side he saw Taehyung, still fast asleep.
He stared at him.
The sunshine was shining right on his face.
Jimin noticed how long his eyelashes were. The little moles on his nose.
He was beautiful.
Jimin caught himself smiling.
Without thinking first, he reached out to brush Taehyung’s hair out of his face, but the movement woke him up.
Jimin quickly retreated his hand.
Taehyung’s eyes slowly opened. Then they widened in panic.
He clumsily jumped up, nearly falling off the bed.
“Are you okay?” Jimin asked, surprised by how quickly he had moved away.
Taehyung’s face was red.
“Oh no, I’m sorry!” he said, waving his hands.
Jimin simply stared at him.
“God, this is so embarrassing…” He waved his hands in front of his face, as if he tried to cool it down.
“I usually hold a big pillow at night… I always need to hold something when I sleep… I’m so sorry Jimin, seriously. Oh God. Oh dear.”
He kept rambling. Jimin sat up and chuckled.
“It’s okay! I really don’t mind!”
Taehyung’s face was still red and he still looked very apologetic, but at least he seemed to have calmed down a little bit.
“You… don’t?”
Jimin laughed again.
“Not at all. I slept really well actually! Last time we fell asleep on the couch I slept really well too… You must be some kind of sleep fairy.”
Taehyung didn’t look amused at all.
Jimin stopped laughing.
“Don’t worry, Tae. It’s okay.”
Taehuyng looked at the floor.
“Sorry for freaking out.”
“You really don’t have to apologize so much.”
“Sorry…- I mean, no. Sorry. I don’t know…”
Taehyung sighed and sat down on the bed.
“As a child I used to have a good friend who got really mad at me when I did this to him. We were at a sleepover and I hugged him and he started swearing at me and told his mother and then she said I couldn’t meet him anymore and I said that I just unconsciously hugged things and people when I sleep, or maybe my mother said that because I was a child who didn’t have the words and…” he stopped.
“I should shut up.”
Jimin giggled.
“You’re so cute.” he said and then slapped a hand in front of his mouth. Great. He once again had said something without thinking first.
Taehyung grinned at him. It was a crooked, teasing grin.
“Am I now?”
Jimin rolled his eyes and lied back down.
“I just said that to get you to shut up.”
Taehyung laughed and then stopped, a horrified expression replacing the laughter.
“Really? I’m sorry.”
“No! I was just kidding!”
Jimin got up again and patted Taehyung’s shoulder.
“Nothing to worry about, seriously.”
They got up, walked downstairs and had breakfast.
Taehyung made toast again.
Jimin was aware of the food Seokjin had left and the food that Taehyung had left and the rest of the soup but he still ate toast.
“I’m glad you feel better.” Taehyung said, putting an abnormal amount of jam onto his toast.
“It’s all thanks to you.” Jimin said, stuffing his cheeks.
Taehyung smiled.
“Actually, it’s all thanks to the Aspirin.”
They laughed.
It was nice, sitting with Taehyung, eating breakfast, neither of them having showered beforehand.
Not that it was nice not to shower, but it was nice to feel comfortable. Even when you looked and smelled kind of greasy and gross.
After breakfast they did get ready though.
Jimin had a spare toothbrush he gave to Taehyung and now they stood next to each other, brushing their respective teeth.
Jimin laughed at Taehyung who managed to get toothpaste on his shirt.
After that, they went outside into the garden. It was warm, much warmer than last evening.
The sun was shining and those dark clouds were nowhere to be seen.
“Come on.” Jimin said, grabbing Taehyung’s arm. “I want to show you something.”
They left Jimin’s house and walked for a bit, by the fields, through the forest, until they reached Jimin’s clearing.
No one except Jimin and his family knew about it, which he told Taehyung several times, just to annoy him.
“Oh, I feel so honored! Prince Jimin showing me, a mere mortal, his very own clearing in the forest!”
Taehyung dramatically raised his arms.
“Thank the goddess of fortune!”
Jimin slapped him playfully.
“Don’t make me regret showing this place to you, asshat.”
They sat down on the grass, ignoring the fact that it was still slightly wet from the rain last night, and looked up at the blue sky.
There were a couple of clouds.
“This one looks just like Yoongi!” Taehyung yelled, pointing up at the sky.
Jimin laughed.
“What are you talking about? That looks nothing like him! It looks a little like a cat.”
“Same thing, really.”
They both broke out into laughter, lying on the floor next to each other.
“As a kid I always wanted to eat the clouds.” Taehyung said.
“I thought they were made of cotton candy.”
Jimin smiled.
“You must have been sad when you learned the truth.”
“I actually was! I learned about it in kindergarten, I still remember that. They tore all of my dreams apart. I cried so much that they sent me home… My mom bought me actual cotton candy so that I would calm down.”
They were both quiet for a while, just looking at the clouds passing by.
“Did you talk to your mother again since you found out?” Jimin asked.
“Oh, yeah! I did! That’s actually what I did yesterday before I found you on your porch.”
Jimin turned his head to face Taehyung.
“How did that go?”
“Really well, actually.” Taehyung smiled at him.
“I’m glad.”
“She gave the address of my biological mother’s sister…” Taehyung turned his head back to the clouds.
“Will you visit her?”
“I don’t know… I’m scared.”
The sun was high up in the sky now, nearly blinding them, so they decided to go back.
On the way back, Taehyung sneezed and Jimin gave him a look.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have used me as a human pillow…”
“Worth it.” Taehyung grinned.
His eyes were sparkling.
It was at that moment, Jimin realized that he was in love with Kim Taehyung.

~
Jungkook was sitting at the coffée shop on his own.
He wasn’t sitting at their usual table but outside.
The sun was shining, so he figured he should get some of those good sun rays before Jimin scolded him again.
He had been on the phone with Seokjin for about an hour because he had texted him about his plan to propose to Namjoon.
He was very excited for them, he really was. But he felt tired. Sad. Pathetic.
He still hadn’t managed to speak with Yoongi.
He had texted him, once again reassuring him that he wasn’t mad at him and that he had done nothing wrong. Yoongi didn’t believe him of course. He knew him too well.
Jungkook groaned and stared into his vanilla milkshake. Taehyung had bought him one a couple of weeks ago and that had ignited some sort of addiction.
Hobi was obsessed with strawberry shakes though, which made him feel a little better.
He had hung out with Hobi quite a bit the last few days. He was a great guy and Jungkook enjoyed his company.
It was also nice that he somehow was extremely oblivious to Jungkook’s weird mood. Or that he just chose to ignore it.
Despite Namjoon’s usual terribly oblivious behavior, he had caught on. He hadn’t caught on on the reason for Jungkook’s behavior, but he certainly had realized that something was wrong. He, just like his brother, kept glancing at Jungkook. Namjoon didn’t force him to talk about it though. He had just told him that he was always there for him.
Namjoon recently had started a job at the local library which was very fitting for him. He kept bringing home a bunch of books and had given some to Jungkook. He had given all of his friends books.
Jungkook was reading one of these books right now.
He usually didn’t really like library books, who knows what kind of people had touched them before?
But after Namjoon had wiped the books down with a damp tissue (and a dramatic sigh) Jungkook had taken them.
Since Namjoon was working at the library, they didn’t have to give the books back any time soon.
Namjoon also had found one of Jimin’s books in the library and had sent them several selfies into the groupchat in which he was holding the book.
Jungkook had called Jimin this morning, asking how he was feeling. He knew that Jimin had been sick. But since he had been busy with being sad he hadn’t visited him yet.
Jimin hadn’t really worked on his book ever since the wedding, but hearing how cheerful he was on the phone, Jungkook thought that would change soon.
He was slurping his milkshake and skimmed through the book, when someone sat down opposite him.
It was Freya.
“Hey, Jungkook.” she said, smiling.
Jungkook simply stared at her, not sure what to say.
“I hope you’re okay.” she said. She was genuine. Jungkook felt bad.
“I’m sorry.” he said.
Freya’s smile didn’t drop.
“Don’t be. I know why you’re being like this and I’m here to tell you that it’s okay. And… I’m sorry.”
She looked at her hands.
“I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to feel bad, but… I’m also here to tell you that I will take action.”
Jungkook raised his eyebrows.
“Taehyung and I are throwing a party for Hobi, since he won that competition, you know? I invited Yoongi.”
Jungkook’s eyebrows went back down.
“I know that I’ve only known him for a short time…” she sighed and looked off into the distance.
“But… it feels right. And… I’m going to tell him how I feel.”
She looked back at Jungkook.
He looked down at the table, unsure of what to respond.
“Please, don’t try to stop me.”
“I won’t. You can do what you want.”
Freya smiled again. Apologetically.
“Okay.”
“I just want him to be happy.” Jungkook said eventually.
“And if that’s with you, then… so be it.”
“You care about him a lot.”
Jungkook didn’t reply.
She got up.
“You’re invited too, by the way.” She handed him an envelope.
“Please come. I don’t want there to be bad blood between us. I like you. I want to be your friend.”
Jungkook looked up at her.
He forced himself to smile.
“Yeah, that would be nice.”
Freya put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.
“See you then.”
Once she had left, Jungkook pulled a card out of the envelope.
It had Taehyung’s handwriting. Despite himself, he chuckled. Taehyung was quite something, even making invitations himself.
The surprise party would be at the dance studio Hobi always trained at. That meant it was a bigger party. His dance friends would come too.
Jungkook wasn’t a fan of big parties, but he would still go. For Hoseok.
The party would happen on Monday, only a few days from now.
He guessed it made sense. Hobi would go practice on Monday evening and not suspect a thing. (Unless they told Namjoon about this and Namjoon met Hoseok before the party.)
Jungkook put the card back into the envelope and finished his milkshake.
He still felt bad, but it was like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. He was glad that Freya had approached him because he hadn’t been able to approach her himself.
His phone pinged.

Yoongi
Are you going to that surprise party? Please come.

Jungkook smiled and felt his eyes getting wet again.

Jungkookie
I’ll be there.

~
Jimin hadn’t thought about his book in days, which probably wasn’t great.
It was Sunday evening now and he finally sat down at his laptop, staring at the document on the screen.
Taehyung had said that he believed that miracles happen. And that Jimin should write a story with a happy ending.
Ever since Jimin’s realization, he thought that maybe he was right. Maybe miracles did happen.
Of course, he hadn’t told Taehyung anything.
They had walked back to his house and had started watching a drama and both ended up crying like idiots.
Yoongi had stopped by, staring at them as they sobbed.
He had joined them and eventually started tearing up too, so they teased him the entire time until he threatened them not to pay for any of their meals anymore. They didn’t stop. He still paid for their meals.
Namjoon had come by too, he had given Jimin several books and wiped them down with a tissue.
“Why are you wiping the books?”
“Oh, it’s a habit now I guess.”
Hoseok had come by too, filling the big house with his laughter. He had brought ice cream and strawberries.
When Seokjin came by again, together with Jungkook this time, Jimin had immediately asked him about his plan.
Seokjin’s ears had gotten red.
He still didn’t really have a concrete plan.
“Just do it casually.” Jungkook advised.
“Like, hey Joonie, everyone would want to spend the rest of their lives with someone as gorgeous as me, so… let’s get married!”
“I don’t sound like that. But that definitely is something I would say.”
“Do you even have a ring yet?” Jimin had asked Seokjin, whose face went pale in response.
“I guess that means no.” Jungkook provided helpfully.
“Shit.” Seokjin had said. “How could I forget about that?!”
Jimin suggested that they’d go to town together and pick out a ring, but Jungkook said that Namjoon would probably notice if they all went together, without him, so Seokjin had to go on his own.
Or maybe he would still drag Yoongi along.
He would probably drag Yoongi along.
The last few days had been wonderful, Jimin thought.
He had texted Taehyung a lot and had learned that Taehyung used a lot of emojis and sometimes used emojis that didn’t fit the conversation at all, but he didn’t mention it. He thought it was cute.
So now he was sitting at his desk, staring at the document.
He managed to write a few lines, but not much more. He was too distracted.
It was quite late now, so he headed to bed.
He had troubles sleeping, of course. But it wasn’t as suffocating as it had been before. He figured that he would have no trouble sleeping if Taehyung was here, but he didn’t really want to ask him if he would stay at his house and sleep in his bed. That was probably a little too weird.
He eventually fell asleep, thinking about Taehyung’s smile.

~

Min Yoongi hated parties.
That was a well known fact.
But he would go this time. Only this once.
(He always said that, and then he still went every time)
He had been sitting on his couch, both of his dogs lying next to him, Ella resting her head on his leg.
He had his laptop in front of him and was working on a track. It wasn’t one for Jimin’s audiobook.
It was one of his own.
He and Namjoon had recorded some stuff the other day, Hyun allowing them to use his semi-professional studio.
It sounded pretty good.
Their voices went well together.
The alarm on Yoongi’s phone rang. That meant there were only 30 minutes left until he had to leave.
He sighed and wrapped up, spending another 10 minutes petting and hugging his dogs.
The doorbell rang and he let Jimin, Seokjin and Namjoon inside who were set on picking him up.
“You’re not even ready yet!” Seokjin said.
“Of course I’m ready. Don’t I look ready?”
“You’re the best! The best. I might steal you.”
“It’s a relief that you’re talking to Maeum and not to me, Joon.”
Namjoon laughed.
“Come on Yoongi, put on some clothes!” Seokjin nagged again, shoving him into his bedroom.
He opened his closet.
“You do realize that this is my apartment, right? My room. And my closet…”
Jimin giggled next to him.
“Everything he touches is his… is what he told me in the car when he took my phone to call Jungkook.”
“Why couldn’t he use his own phone?”
“Namjoon had it.”
“Why couldn’t Namjoon use his own phone?”
“I dropped it earlier.” Namjoon yelled from the living room.
“Of course you did.”
“Here!” Seokjin threw some clothes at Yoongi.
“These colors definitely do not go together.” Yoongi pushed past his friend and shoved the clothes back into the closet.
Seokjin pouted.
“Let me see.” Jimin said and started rummaging.
“You people have no respect for other people’s property. I could sue you.”
Yoongi sat down on his bed with folded arms and waited.
He thought his clothes were fine. He was wearing a black pullover and some jeans. Pretty good outfit, if you asked him.
But Jimin had other plans.
He ended up getting forced to wear slightly more fancy jeans and a baby blue button up.
Once that was over it, they left.
Yoongi had installed a camera and made sure his phone was connected to it.
“Don’t you think they’ll be fine on their own for a couple of hours? You’ll be back at, like, midnight anyways.” Namjoon asked, but Yoongi waved his hand dismissively.
“People who don’t live with dogs have no rights.”

They arrived at the dance studio ten minutes before the party started.
A bunch of people were here. Yoongi didn’t know most of them.
They all looked like very well trained dancers though.
“Hey guys!” Jungkook waved them over.
“Taehyung is trying to put up this banner but he’s failing.”
“You could help me, you know?”
Jungkook laughed.
“You’re so mean.” Yoongi grumbled and helped Taehyung instead.
Jungkook was wearing a strange expression. His smile looked almost a little forced, Yoongi thought.
When his friends were bickering loudly, he was able to catch Jungkook for a short moment.
“Are you okay?” he asked him quietly, touching his arm.
Jungkook smiled at him. This smile was far more genuine. There still was something like sadness in his eyes though.
“I’m good, don’t worry about me.”
Eventually they all hid.
Since this was a dance studio, there wasn’t really a place to hide, so some people ended up not hiding at all.
They all went very quiet. The lights were off. Yoongi didn’t dare to breathe.
When the door opened and Hoseok entered, they turned on the lights and yelled “SURPRISE!!!”
Hoseok yelled and stumbled back, nearly falling over, before he broke into a huge smile.
They all went to him and congratulated him and he looked genuinely happy and touched to see all of his friends.
They turned on music and it was way too loud and there were way too many people and Yoongi hated it but he endured it. For friendship.
He ended up sitting on a chair for the most part, watching his friends fondly.
They tried to get him to dance several times, but he didn’t budge.
He checked his dog cam several times, but his dogs were both chilling on the couch, only moving occasionally to scratch themselves or something like that.
Eventually Jungkook joined him.
“Social battery run out?” Yoongi said, chuckling.
Jungkook nodded.
“I’m so tired.”
“It’s only 10.”
Jungkook looked down at him and smiled brightly. It was an open and happy smile and Yoongi felt like his heart would burst any minute now.
Then he saw Freya approach, and Jungkook’s smile faded.
“Hey!” she said and waved.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?”
Yoongi had no idea what this was about. His first thought was that something terrible must have happened, but Freya assured him that everything was alright and that she simply had something to say to him.

Jungkook had walked away.
He wasn’t sure what to do.
By the end of the night, the guy he was in love with would have a girlfriend. And he wanted to be happy for him, he really wanted to be.
And yet he found himself standing in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at himself.
“You’re such an idiot. Such a stupid idiot!” he told his reflection and slammed his fist on the sink in frustration.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Occupied!” he yelled, a little more rude sounding than anticipated.
“It’s me! Let me in!” Jimin replied.
Jungkook rolled his eyes but unlocked the door.
Jimin’s cheeks were flushed since he had been dancing and drinking a little bit. He had looked happy the entire time, but now he looked concerned.
“What’s up?” Jungkook asked, trying to sound chill. He didn’t sound chill.
Jimin came inside and closed the door.
“I know why you’re being like this.” he said.
Jungkook frowned.
“It’s okay.” Jimin hugged him tight.
“I know this isn’t easy.”
This reminded Jungkook of that one time in high school when Jimin had a huge crush on a guy who rejected him because he was straight.
Jimin had cried and Jungkook had hugged and comforted him for hours.
They had gone to the theatres and watched a stupid action movie, just to distract Jimin.
Yoongi had complained a lot about how the plot of the movie made no sense the entire time which had made Jimin laugh.
Yoongi.
Jungkook started tearing up and eventually cried into Jimin’s shoulder who kept whispering into his ear and stroking his back.
“This stupid Swedish girl.” Jungkook said into Jimin’s shoulder.
“She’s Norwegian.”
“I don’t care!”
They sat down on the bathroom floor, on the disgusting, dirty bathroom floor, right in front of the door.
They could hear the music in here and Jungkook felt like he was listening to one of those “you’re in the bathroom crying at a party and this song is playing” things. He guessed he technically was.
“I don’t want to tell you that you’ll get over him because you probably won’t, it’s been like 7 years…”
“Very helpful.”
“Sorry! That’s not what I meant! I just mean…” Jimin struggled finding the right words and eventually gave up. He sighed.
“But you’ll be happy, Kook. You will be. Even if it hurts like hell right now.”
Jungkook sighed in response and rested his head on his knees.
Jimin kept stroking his hair and kept on blabbering, which was at least kind of comforting.
After a while, Jungkook had no idea how many minutes had passed, someone tried to open the door.
“Ow…” Jimin complained and looked up to see Yoongi’s shocked face.
“Are you okay?!” he asked.
“Why didn’t you lock the door?”
Jimin shrugged.
Yoongi looked down at Jungkook who didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was crying.
“Can we talk?” he asked him.
Jungkook looked at Jimin.
Jimin smiled at him and nodded in encouragement.
“I’ll give you some space.”
Jimin closed the door behind him, so now it was only Jungkook and Yoongi.
Jungkook was staring at the floor.
“I know why you’re been acting like this the past few days.” Yoongi said after having been quiet for a long moment.
Jungkook swallowed.
Damn it, he thought. He should have told Freya that she was wrong with her assumption…
“I…” Jungkook started, but Yoongi interrupted him.
“It’s okay. I get it now.” Yoongi smiled a little, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“You should have just told me.”
Jungkook frowned.
“I didn’t want to ruin our friendship… I don’t want to lose you.”
Yoongi raised his eyebrows.
“Why would you lose me if you crush on a girl who happens to crush on me?”
Jungkook looked up.
“What?”
“Yeah.” Yoongi sighed. “She told me a few minutes ago. She’s so nice, I really like her. But I’m not in love with her. I felt a little bad for rejecting her… But she said it’s okay. And we’re still friends.”
Jungkook stared at Yoongi, stunned.
“Either way, I know you like her. So you should shoot your shot! Talk to her. You deserve to be happy with someone as kind as her, seriously.”
Yoongi squeezed his hand and then he left.
“But I don’t love her…” Jungkook whispered.
“I love you.”

~

Kim Seokjin wasn’t a nervous man.
He seriously was barely nervous.
He laughs in the face of casualties and sorrow, for the first time he’s thinking past tomorrow, he said.
“Copyright.” Namjoon said.
But there was one thing he actually was nervous about.
Now he was wandering through town aimlessly, with Yoongi in tow who was even more slow than he usually was.
“Hurry up, old man!” Seokjin yelled, getting a few irritated looks from other people. Including Yoongi.
“What’s up with you?” he asked his friend once he had caught up.
“You look even more dead than you usually do.”
“Thanks man.” Yoongi said and yawned.
“Honestly, Yoongs” Seokjin started. Yoongi looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m kind of surprised that you rejected Freya. I thought you liked her.”
“I do. But not like that.”
“Hm.”
“Why are you bringing this up now?”
Seokjin shrugged.
“It’s just that your weird mood reminds me of Jungkook who apparently has been acting like this because he himself is in love with Freya. I guess I’m glad that he’s better now. But I’m not a fan of your mood.”
“I don’t have a mood.” Yoongi said, rolling his eyes.
“Fine. Keep your secrets, old man.”
“You’re older than me…”
They reached a fancy looking jeweler. Seokjin was honestly kind of intimidated by it.
“Don’t worry about the money.” Yoongi said, as if he could read Seokjin’s thoughts.
“You sound like you’re a millionaire who can pay for me.”
Yoongi grinned.
“I’m not, but all of your friends love you so much that they’re willing to give you some money.”
Seokjin was about to protest but Yoongi stopped him.
“Just shut up and pick out a ring, you nerd.”
They entered the store and an elderly lady stared at them.
She looked scary, Seokjin thought.
He stared right back at her though, which made her gaze drop.
“Jeez.” Yoongi said quietly, judging his friend.
They looked at all the rings for a long time until the old lady cleared her throat.
“Can I help you gentlemen?”
No one had ever called him a gentleman before, Seokjin thought.
Maybe this old lady wasn’t so bad after all.
“I’m looking for an engagement ring..”
“I see.” the old lady said.
“Tell me about them.”
She put glasses on, studying Seokjin intently.
“Uh... “ Seokjin glanced at Yoongi.
“He’s your boyfriend, dude.”
“Well… he’s really smart. He loves books. And music. And weird documentaries.”
“I was more thinking about his zodiac sign or birthstone.”
“Oh, right… What’s his birthstone?”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
“Seriously? … It’s a sapphire.”
The lady nodded.
“Let’s see…”
She looked through some of the rings until she found a few with sapphire.
One of them stood out to Seokjin.
He looked at Yoongi.
“Baby it’s your engagement.”
“Don’t call me baby.”
“Okay honey.”
“Idiot.”
The old lady watched them, something like a smile forming on her lips.
“I like it.” Yoongi said eventually after Seokjin wouldn’t do anything.
“It’s pretty.”
“When you say it’s pretty then it must be a literal masterpiece. I’ll take this one.”
The old lady put the ring into a fancy box and handed it to Seokjin.
“I’ll give you a discount because you’re cute.”
“Are you hitting on me?”
“I’m a lesbian. Also, I’m 65.”
“Okay. I am cute, though.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
When they left the store (and Seokjin had asked the old lady for her number so that he could invite her to the potential wedding) he smiled brightly.
“I’m so nervous!” he said, looking at the little bag he was holding.
Yoongi grinned.
“You have nothing to be worried about, Jinnie. I’m proud of you.”
Seokjin threw his arms around Yoongi which resulted in him complaining, but he didn’t care.
“Thank you Yoongles.” he said, holding him tight.
“I take 100 Won for my services.”
Seokjin laughed.
He was happy. He was excited.
He was nervous.

~

“Now he thinks Jungkook is in love with you?” Taehyung chuckled.
He was sitting on their little balcony together with Freya and Hoseok.
She nodded and sighed.
“It’s hopeless. But I won’t get involved.”
“Good thinking. They need to figure this out for themselves.” Hobi agreed and smiled.
“I’m sorry he rejected you though, are you feeling okay?”
Freya nodded.
“It’s not as hurtful as I thought it would be… Isn’t that weird?”
Taehyung shrugged.
“I’m glad you’re not too sad. If that’s weird, then so be it.”
“Hear, hear.”
Taehyung was drinking hot chocolate and his two friends were drinking coffée. Just like they always did.
“What about you Tae?” Hoseok asked.
“What about me?”
“Anyone in your life?”
Taehyung blinked at him.
“I think you’d know if there was.”
Freya gave him a look.
“What?” Taehyung asked.
She shrugged.
“Nothing.”
Taehyung felt a little embarrassed, though he didn’t know why.
“Well, what about you Hobi? Don’t think I missed the way you looked at your dance guy friend.”
Hobi smiled sheepishly.
“I do like Jack, but I don’t even know if he’s into guys…”
Freya snorted.
“Have you seen him?”
Taehyung laughed.
“I don’t know… I guess we’ll see.” Hoseok said and sighed.
“I’m not one to force anything.”
“Oh yeah, you’re so patient…” Taehyung said, recounting the endless times Hoseok has been the least patient person in the universe.
“Oh shut up.”
Once Taehyung had finished his hot chocolate and got up.
“I have to go now. I have work to do.”
He smiled and waved at them.
It’s actually been a few days since he and Jimin had worked together. They had only hung out as friends. Which had been great.
Taehyung smiled to himself on his way downstairs and outside.
He felt so comfortable and happy when Jimin was around. And he loved Jimin’s smile. The way his eyes nearly disappeared, the way he would nearly fall over or off chairs when he laughed too hard.
It was a sunny day today. Summer was getting closer and closer, Taehyung could even walk around in just a T-shirt.
He put his hands in his pockets. His hand touched a piece of paper.
Right. His aunt.
She lived somewhere in Seoul, so not too far away.
He could probably visit her… But it was too scary.
He put the paper back into his pocket.
He and Jimin sat outside in his garden, hunched over Jimin’s laptop.
Some of Taehyung’s illustrations were done already, they had put them into his Word document. It didn’t really look like an actual book yet, but it was getting there.
“They look amazing.” Jimin said, eyes filled with admiration.
Taehyung smiled, not sure how to respond to the compliment.
It was easy working with Jimin.
Taehyung thought that his work had never really felt like work anyways because he loved to paint, but these days even more so.
He didn’t question why exactly that was.
When his phone rang, he excused himself for a short moment.
To his surprise, it was his aunt Bom who was calling. She told him that his mother had told her that he was working with the author Park Jimin - and Bom’s daughter, Eun-bi, was probably the biggest Jimin fan in the universe.
She invited both of them to lunch.
Jimin of course agreed to come, he was excited.
And so, on the next day, they drove to Jang Bom’s house.

~

Jimin had met a few kids who liked his books before.
He had been to signing and reading events and the kids had always liked him. The parents often praised him for his genuine kindness and calm way of talking to their children.
He thought he was pretty good with children.
But when they arrived and sat down outside in the big garden of Jang Bom’s house, Jimin wasn’t so sure anymore.
Jang Eun-bi was a great kid. She was so excited and nervous to meet Jimin, which was adorable. He signed one of her books and they took a selfie.
But Eun-bi had a brother.
And he wasn’t happy at all.
The kid was 14 years old and he was something else.
He reminded him a little bit of Jungkook back in high school. The clothes he was wearing and the way he was hunched over. But the similarities ended there.
“Your books aren’t that good.” he said, staring at Jimin with piercing eyes.
“Eun-sang!” his mother said, giving him a look.
Then she smiled kindly at Jimin.
“I’m sorry about him… Do you want more jjajangmyeon?”
“No, thank you Ms. Jang. It was very delicious though!”
Jimin didn’t want to admit it, but this child made him nervous. He kept staring at him.
Didn’t he have to blink every now and then?!
“Hey Eun-sang”, Taehyung said.
The boy moved his staring eyes from Jimin to Taehyung.
“How’s school these days?”
“Bad topic.” Bom said.
Eun-sang crossed his lanky arms in front of his chest and continued staring at Jimin.
“I really love your books, Jimin.” Eun-bi said.
She was so small, only 6 years old, her thin hair in pigtails. She was absolutely adorable. Her eyelashes were nearly as long as Taehyung’s.
“Thank you.” Jimin said, as if she hadn’t said this exact thing 500 times already.
“I’m so happy that you like them! I have so much fun writing them when I know that you’ll read them!”
Taehyung was sitting on his left, a big smile on his face.
“You only like his books because you’re stupid.” Eun-sang said.
Eun-bi broke into tears.
“Eun-sang! What on earth is going on with you?!” Bom glared at her son.
Eun-bi ran into Taehyung’s arms. He scooped her up like she had no weight at all.
“It’s okay.” he said, hugging her tight.
“He’s just jealous that you can meet your favorite author and he can’t.”
“I hate books!” Eun-sang yelled and slammed his fist on the table before running off.
They all stared after him.
Bom groaned.
“I’m so sorry, Jimin…”
Jimin waved his hands.
“Don’t worry! I get it, being a teenager is hard.”
Bom shot him a grateful smile.
When they had finished eating, Eun-bi dragged Jimin and Taehyung to her room. She showed them her books and her toys.
She also proudly presented a framed drawing from Taehyung.
“Wow, is that the tree princess?” Jimin asked.
Eun-bi nodded.
“I don’t think I did her justice.” Taehyung said. “But I tried! She loved it, at least.”
Jimin beamed at him.
“You’re amazing, really. She looks so much like I envisioned her!”
Taehyung blushed a little and scratched his head.
“I really want to play tag!” Eun-bi announced suddenly and tapped Jimin with her tiny hand.
“You’re it!”
With that, she ran out of her room.
“What are you waiting for? You’re it!” Taehyung started running.
“What on earth…” Jimin said quietly and followed after them.
They played tag for 10 minutes until Eun-bi announced that she’d rather play hide and seek now.
Jimin was sweating at this point. It was warm, the sun shining relentlessly.
Of course, he was the one who had to look for Eun-bi.
He counted til ten and then started walking.
“I’ll help you!” Taehyung said and threw an arm around his shoulder.
“She’s terribly good at this, you’ll never find her.”
Jimin was painfully aware of the arm around his shoulder and probably would have spent more time being stressed if their search didn’t turn more desperate with each minute.
“Hm.” Taehyung said eventually.
“Those were her usual hiding spots…”
They kept looking in the garden and outside the garden, but they couldn’t find her.
Taehyung started panicking.
“We’ll find her!” Jimin said.
“Maybe she’s inside?”
Taehyung nodded and ran. Jimin kept searching outside.
As he walked further away from the house, he noticed a lake. It wasn’t particularly big, probably not even on any maps.
But when he saw the pool of water, his heart dropped.
“Please, no…” he said and ran down the hill towards the lake.
And there she was. She wasn’t screaming or waving.
“Shit!” Jimin jumped into the water and swam towards her.
Since the lake wasn’t big, it didn’t take long for him to reach her. She cradled her small body in his arms. She was breathing.
“Author!” someone yelled from the shore. It was Eun-sang.
He looked terrified.
Jimin managed to get Eun-bi back to the shore.
She started coughing.
“Eun-bi.” he said and carefully sat her down.
She was still coughing, but she was okay.
She was okay.
“What happened?”
She looked up at him with big eyes.
“I wanted to hide in the lake. Like the mermaid in your book…”
“You’re so stupid!” Eun-sang yelled.
“You’re a human, not a mermaid. God, why am I related to you?!”
Jimin gave him a look.
“What?! Are you going to lecture me? Go ahead. I’ve heard it all before.”
“I wasn’t going to lecture you.”
Eun-sang looked surprised by that statement.
“Hey!”
Taehyung ran down the hill, his aunt in tow.
Bom hugged her daughter tight.
“How many times have I told you to not go into the lake on your own?!”
Looking at Bom and Eun-bi made Jimin miss his own mother.
“Thank you, Jimin.” Bom got up and hugged him, even though he was drenched in water.
“Of course! I’m just glad she’s okay!”
They headed back to the house.
Taehyung had a couple of spare clothes here. He came here more often than to his parents’ house, so he even had his own room here.
Jimin stood in the bathroom, water dripping from his clothes.
“Here you go!” Taehyung handed him a set of fresh clothes and smiled at him.
“That was really brave.”
Jimin shook his head.
“Everyone would have done the same thing.”
“Still. Just because many people would act similarly in a situation like this doesn’t make it less meaningful. I would hug you, but you’re wet. I’ll wait downstairs, okay?”
Jimin changed into Taehyung’s clothes. They were too big for him.
The shirt had a Van Gogh painting printed on it.
When he opened the bathroom door, Eun-sang was standing right in front of it.
“Oh, sh- no!” Jimin squealed, jumping back in surprise.
The teenager raised an eyebrow.
“You can swear around me. We swear here sometimes. I don’t get why it’s so bad for children to swear, anyways.” He crossed his arms.
Jimin chuckled.
“You sound so much like one of my best friends.”
“He must be cool.”
“He is.”
Eun-sang looked at the floor.
“I guess I was wrong about you.” he said quietly.
“You don’t suck.”
“Thanks?”
“Don’t let it get to your head, author!” The boy walked back into his room and slammed the door.
Jimin stared at the door for a moment and then walked downstairs.
When Taehyung saw him, he started laughing.
Jimin looked offended.
“Don’t laugh at him!” a now dry Eun-bi said.
“He’s small. Like me.” She hugged him.
Jimin’s heart was definitely melting.
“So true. Small people are the coolest.”
Taehyung grinned at them.
Bom thanked Jimin again and again and again. She also handed him a bunch of food for the way back and told him he could visit any time, even without Taehyung.
It was late afternoon when they drove back home.
“They absolutely love you.” Taehyung said and grinned at Jimin. He hadn’t stopped grinning since the author had appeared in his clothes.
Jimin tapped on the steering wheel, waiting for a traffic light to turn green.
“They were so lovely. Thank you for introducing me to them.”
Taehyung hummed happily in response.
Jimin parked in front of the apartment complex Taehyung lived in.
“Do you want to come upstairs and look at my new painting?”
“Definitely!”
They talked the entire way upstairs, laughing and bumping their shoulders.
When they entered the hallway in front of Taehyung’s apartment, they saw a figure sitting in front of the door.
It couldn’t be Hobi or Freya who had forgotten their keys, Freya was at work and Hobi was currently forcing Namjoon to watch a weird movie with him.
Taehyung stopped.
Jimin looked at Taehyung.
He was staring at the figure.
“Taehyung.” the figure said.
“Father.”
Kim Sung-ho got up and came closer. He reeked of alcohol.
Taehyung instinctively took a step back.
“And you are here too.”
Sung-ho stared at Jimin for a moment, considering if he should do anything.
But then he turned back to his son.
“You. This is your fault.”
Taehyung took a deep breath.
“Please leave. You’re drunk.”
His father walked up to him and grabbed his collar.
“Eunji threw me out, wants a divorce. That bitch.” he spat on the floor.
“And you’re the one to blame.”
Jimin watched in horror. Should he call the cops?
Taehyung calmly removed his fathers hand.
“Leave.” he said again.
Jimin had never seen Taehyung like this. It was like all of his energy, all of his joy and all the sparkles in his eyes were drained out of him.
“What’d you say to her, huh? What lies did you tell her?”
“I just told her the truth.”
Kim Sung-ho punched him.
Taehyung fell back onto the floor.
Jimin yelled in surprise, thinking about his next action for a millisecond.
He saw Sung-ho walk over to Taehyung.
Jimin hammered on the door closest to Taehyung’s and screamed.
“Help!!!”
Sung-ho turned around, staring at him. His eyes were filled with hatred.
“You’re just like him.” he said.
“Not a real man.”
The door Jimin had hammered on opened and a tall, bulky guy appeared. He had tattoos everywhere and looked very intimidating.
Seeing the scene in front of him, the guy grabbed his phone.
“Fuck off, Sung-ho.” he spat and hammered the keys.
Sung-ho tumbled towards the guy. The guy simply pushed him away and started talking to the cops on the other side of the line.
Jimin kneeled down next to Taehyung.
His lip was bleeding.
“I’m fine.” he said in response to Jimin’s terrified expression.
“That wasn’t the first time.”
They watched Sung-ho stumble away.
“He won’t get far. Too drunk. The police station is close, so they won’t have a problem catching him. This is the 5th time he’s been sitting here in the last two months, plus he hurt you, so he won’t get away that easily.”
Taehyung nodded.
“Thanks Martin.”
“You okay, kid?”
Taehyung nodded again.
Jimin took the key from Taehyung and unlocked the door. He dragged his friend inside, Martin following.
“I’ll get you something to disinfect the wound.” Martin announced.
“You don’t have to…” Taehyung started, but Martin was out of the door.
Jimin didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. He just stared at Taehyung who was sitting on his couch, looking like a mere shadow of himself.
“Here.” Martin handed him a box.
“Can you manage, kid?” he asked Jimin.
He nodded.
“Thank you so much.”
“I’d say any time, but I don’t want this to happen again. Knock against the wall three times if you need me.”
Jimin sat down next to Taehyung.
“Don’t move, even if it stings.”
“Jimin, you really don’t have to… Ouch!”
“I said don’t move!”
Jimin carefully disinfected Taehyung’s lip.
“I wonder if this needs stitches…” he murmured, getting closer to his face.
Taehyung backed away, his face red.
“It doesn’t need stitches! Why would it need stitches?”
“Tae…”
Jimin beckoned him to come closer.
Taehyung rolled his eyes but let him inspect his lip again.
“Alright, I guess it really doesn’t need stitches.” Jimin put the stuff back into the box and set it down on a table.
He glanced at Taehyung.
His illustrator was staring at his hands.
“Are you okay?” Jimin asked quietly.
Taehyung shrugged.
He sat back down next to Taehyung and sighed, not sure how to comfort him.
He felt awkward.
“I never wanted you to see me like this.” Taehyung whispered.
“I never wanted to see you injured either, but it’s okay!”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Jimin had an idea what he meant.
Taehyung looked small. Not physically small, but like the world could swallow him any minute. He looked like a completely different person.
“I wish you weren’t like this.” Taehyung said, tears forming in his eyes.
“What do you mean? Should I do something differently?”
Taehyung shook his head.
“No. You’re perfect. So perfect that I like you too much.”
Tears were streaming down his face and Jimin wiped them away.
“You’re always so kind to me. Even when I’m being an idiot. Even when I’m unfair to you. Even when you don’t have to be.”
Jimin swallowed.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’m not someone who deserves it.”
Jimin could see that Taehyung was serious. He was staring at the floor, eyes empty.
He truly, seriously believed that he didn’t deserve anyone’s kindness.
“You deserve it so much more than you could ever imagine.”
Jimin pulled him into his arms and he stayed there until he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

“This movie was… interesting.” Namjoon said, eyeing Hoseok who looked positively delighted.
“It was amazing!”
“It made no sense.”
“You’re so boring.”
They were on their way back home now, having spent the afternoon together.
Hoseok had asked both Namjoon and Seokjin to join him for a movie, but Seokjin had been in some sort of mental breakdown ever since he bought the ring.
Hobi figured he needed some time for himself, so he dragged Namjoon with him. Namjoon, who didn’t like his movie, but was glad to hang out with him nonetheless.
“Hey Hobi.” Namjoon said.
“Hey Joonie.”
“I have a plan.”
Hoseok glanced at him.
“A… plan?”
Namjoon nodded and started looking around, making sure that no one else could hear them.
“I’m going to propose to Seokjin.”
“What?!”
Namjoon stared at his friend’s shocked face.
“Wh.. Do you think it’s a bad idea? Do you think he doesn’t want to?”
Hobi nodded. Then shook his head.
“No, I mean. No. But…” Hoseok took a deep breath. Keep it together.
“Joon.” he said then, placing a hand on his friends’ shoulder.
“I think this is a wonderful idea.”

Yoongi stared at his phone.
Then he stared at Jungkook, who was sitting across from him, stirring his milkshake.
Then he stared back at his phone.
“What’s wrong?”
Yoongi shoved his phone into Jungkook’s hands.
Jungkook started laughing.
“Seriously?!” Yoongi asked.
“That’s not funny! What am I supposed to answer?! He wants me to help him pick out a ring!”
Jungkook kept laughing. Yoongi had no idea what was so funny.
“The fact that they’re both asking you to help them with their ring…”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Do you think my taste in rings is bad?”
Jungkook chuckled.
Yoongi grabbed his phone out of his hands and stared at the text once again.

Joon
Hey Yoongi!
I know it’s probably weird to ask you this in a text because it’s such a sers thing!
*sers
*sers
*serious
I want to propose to Seokjin. Not sure when yet but definitely this year.
Will you help me pick out a ring? Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee?

“Jesus Christ.”
He dropped his phone and looked at Jungkook’s amused expression.
He was glad that he and Jungkook were hanging out again. It had been weird without him.
Things still were… weird.
It was obvious that there still was something wrong with Jungkook. But it wasn’t as bad as it had been beforehand, so it was a tolerable weirdness. A weirdness that neither of them were brave enough to get over.
Yoongi had to admit that he was a little hurt that Jungkook hadn’t told him about his crush on Freya beforehand.
They always told each other everything.
But Jungkook had thought that he had a crush on Freya, so he guessed it made sense that he hadn’t told him.
Either way, now they were cool. Kind of, at least.
Yoongi had the feeling that it was… fragile. Like Jungkook could potentially leave again and not talk to him for days. He had no idea why and it made him sad.
“Yoongi?”
Yoongi had been staring at Jungkook the entire time, he realized.
“Sorry, I was lost in thought… What am I supposed to do?”
Jungkook pouted.
He did that when he was thinking about something.
It was one of his many endearing habits.
“I’d say you go with him and pick out a ring! Just act normally, then the surprise won’t be ruined for either of them.”
Yoongi nodded slowly. It made sense.
“Come on now!” Jungkook said.
“It’s nearly 7. You know Hyun, if we’re too late he’ll be sad.”
Hyun had invited Yoongi for dinner. He did that sometimes, so it wasn’t a special occasion.
But today it still felt different than it usually did. Yoongi wasn’t sure why.
He quickly replied to Namjoon’s text and then followed Jungkook outside.
They walked to Jungkook’s place, it was still really warm out.
“Hey guys!” Hyun yelled once they entered the house.
He was carrying a dish to the table. It looked good, but not as good as Seokjin’s cooking.
“How’s my favorite small man? Next to Jimin of course.” Hyung smiled brightly and ruffled Yoongi’s hair.
Yoongi wasn’t sure what the reply to that question was.
He wasn’t feeling bad or anything, but the entire thing with Jungkook was nagging on him.
“I’m good.” he said.
“How are you? How’s the song coming along?”
Hyun’s eyes lit up. They always did when they spoke about music.
Jungkook listened to them intently, wearing a small smile.
“I’m glad you two are talking again.” Hyun said after they had finished eating, pouring them some beer.
Jungkook gave him a look.
Yoongi didn’t know what it meant.
“Did you talk about what the issue was- hey, stop kicking me!”
“Um…” Yoongi stared at his glass.
“It’s all good.” Jungkook said, glaring at his brother.
“All good.”
Hyun raised an eyebrow.
“What was the issue, anyways?”
Jungkook sighed.
“Ah, well, it took me a while to figure out…” Yoongi gave Jungkook a look, “but he has a crush on a girl who has a crush on me. He thought I liked her, but I don’t. Not in a romantic sense, at least.”
Hyun nodded slowly, eyes wandering from Yoongi to his brother.
“Do I know her?”
Jungkook shook his head.
“Can we talk about something else?”
“Are you embarrassed? Don’t be embarrassed! Look at you.” Yoongi said in a teasing tone.
Jungkook glared at him.
“Oh dear, okay, no jokes about your big fat crush on Freya then.”
Hyun looked up.
“Freya? Freya Hansen?”
“You know her?”
Hyun nodded.
“She’s in the tennis club, she’s really good at it.”
“I had no idea.”
Hyun shrugged.
“So my little brother has a crush on the tennis princess?”
Jungkook groaned.
“I don’t, okay? I don’t.”
Yoongi laughed.
“No need to deny it.”
“Yeah. No need to deny your true feelings, Jungkookie.”
If looks could kill, Hyun would be a dead man.
Yoongi could sense that something was off, so he started gathering his things.
“I need to get back to the dogs. They’ve been alone for a couple of hours now.”
“I’ll see you out.”
Jungkook glared at Hyun one more time and then followed Yoongi outside.
He looked up at the sky. The stars were out now.
Jungkook stood next to him, hands in his pockets.
“Why are you getting so defensive?” Yoongi asked him, eyes still fixed on the stars.
“I’m not defensive... “
“You keep glaring at Hyun as if you wanted to murder him. And why did you tell him you don’t like her?”
“‘Cause I don’t.”
Yoongi looked at his friend.
He looked grumpy, his brow furrowed.
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes.
“If that was true you wouldn’t have been so upset over her crushing on me.”
Jungkook looked back at him now. His eyes were sad. He wanted to hug him, but he didn’t.
“Right… What reason would I have to get upset otherwise?”
Yoongi shoved him playfully.
“Unless you’re in love with me. But that’s absurd.”
“Yeah.” Jungkook agreed.
“Absurd.”

~

Jungkook locked his door. He didn’t want his brother to burst into his room again.
He was angry. Angry and sad. And annoyed.
He grabbed his headphones and started listening to loud music. It was probably too loud, but he didn’t care.
He hoped the loud music could wash away all of his feelings. All of them. Especially the ones he had for Yoongi.
“He doesn’t like me back!” Jimin had cried when he was 15 and had confessed his feelings to his first crush.
“Even if he wasn’t straight, he would be too good for me anyways!”
Jungkook had disagreed. If anyone was too good for someone else, it was Jimin.
Teenage Jimin had sat on the floor, used tissues surrounding him.
Jungkook was sitting next to him, careful not to touch any of these tissues.
“I don’t know what to do with myself now.” Jimin had said. He had been incredibly dramatic. He had only been 15, it didn’t mean anything.
But even then, Jungkook had related. Not that he had admitted that to himself back then.
He hadn’t told anyone. Not Jimin, not Namjoon. Not Seokjin. Not Hyun. And especially not himself.
There was something so absurd about developing a crush on one of your best friends, he had thought.
He had to see him every day. Had to see him date some weird girl he didn’t actually like that much but felt too bad for to reject.
He had to watch him kiss someone for the first time on his birthday because they had forced him to play spin the bottle. Jungkook hadn’t been playing, but Yoongi was. He was desperately trying to be cool, to fit in.
The bottle had landed on a guy who definitely was into Yoongi. Jungkook had watched them in horror. He duly noted that Yoongi didn’t seem to mind kissing other men, but that didn’t really matter anyways if that man wasn’t him.
The years went by like this, Jimin noticed first. Of course he did. He barely teased him so it was okay.
But Seokjin caught on next and he was relentless. He had told Namjoon because Namjoon was too oblivious to the world around him to notice.
When Jungkook had turned 18, Namjoon had sat on the balcony with him and had talked about how he shouldn’t waste his opportunities. How he should be honest with Yoongi after all this time. Jungkook wasn’t, of course.
Maybe Namjoon wasn’t so bad at keeping secrets after all, he thought now. He had kept his secret for nearly 8 years now.
Jungkook had watched Yoongi fall in and out of love 2 times, both times he was sad it wasn’t him. Both times he was secretly relieved when it ended.
“I don’t think I’ll ever find the right person for me.” Yoongi had told him once in winter. It had been snowing that day.
Jungkook remembered it well. The way Yoongi stood there, hunched over, hopeless.
“No matter who likes me, I don’t like them back. And those I do like don’t like me back.” he had said.
This hadn’t changed.
Yoongi hasn't dated anyone in 3 years now.
Jungkook wasn’t mad about it. He was selfish.
He was so selfish.
Yoongi didn’t love him. Well, he did, but not like that.
Not the way Jungkook loved Yoongi.

~

Yoongi stormed into the store, finding the old lady behind the counter.
Another woman was there, looking at necklaces. She stared at him in confusion.
“Hey…” he read her name tag.
“Hey Miss Xie Lanying.”
“Hello, young man. What brings you here again? You want to propose to someone as well?”
“Not exactly…”
Yoongi filled the old lady in.
He knew that Namjoon would drag him to this exact store, and Lanying seemed to be the only person working here.
“That’s adorable.” The lady who was shopping for necklaces said.
“I... guess it is.”
“Sorry, carry on.”
She walked away.
“Don’t worry, Yoongi.” Lanying said, smiling kindly.
She was a little smaller than Yoongi, which was nice for a change.
“I’ll just act like I did when I first met you and your friend.”
Yoongi thanked her.
With that, he left. Lanying stared after him.

~

This was the third time that Taehyung woke up holding Jimin and he had to admit that there were worse things in the world.
His lip was hurting, but not as much as it had yesterday.
Jimin was still asleep. He looked exhausted.
And he looked cute. Taehyung’s clothes were too big for him.
He smiled at him, carefully untangling Jimin’s arms from himself and quietly slipped into the kitchen.
This time he didn’t make toast. He made waffles.
The waffles technically belonged to Hoseok, but… Where was Hoseok? Where was Freya?
He looked at his phone.
Freya had actually texted him. She had stayed at her friends’ place.
But Hoseok…
“Hey Tae!”
“Holy shit!” Taehyung dropped the waffles on the floor.
“My waffles!”
“What are you doing?”
Hobi was sitting at the kitchen table, cup of coffée in his hands.
“Not much. I didn’t want to wake you up, you looked so comfortable.”
He grinned.
“Didn’t you just tell me a few days ago that there’s no one special in your life?”
Taehyung threw the waffles he had just picked up at him.
“Shut up!”
“You look like a tomato!”
Hoseok was laughing so loudly, it would have been a miracle if Jimin still had been asleep.
“Is your lip okay by the way? Martin told me what happened.” His smile faded.
Taehyung nodded.
“I’m okay.”
“I don’t know if I believe that.”
Suddenly Jimin stood behind him.
“Hey.”
“Hey Jimin!” Hobi waved at him, looking chipper as ever.
Taehyung groaned.
“I’ll make the waffles you just threw at my face. You go and wash up or whatever.” Hoseok shoved Taehyung out of the kitchen and closed the door in his face.
“He’s always like this. Every morning. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time.” Taehyung told Jimin.
“I wish I was like this every morning.”
The day went on like this, Jimin stayed at their place for a while, they ate waffles and talked about this and that, nothing important. Nothing too deep.
Jimin laughed at Hobi’s jokes but there was something off.
Of course there was something off.
Taehyung felt bad for what had happened last night, even though Jimin hadn’t gotten hurt this time.
Jimin looked at him every now and then. He was trying to reassure him.
But it wasn’t helping.
Taehyung still felt bad. Still felt guilty.

~

Just like Yoongi had expected, Namjoon dragged him to the same jeweler.
“So. Tell me about the person you want to propose to.” she said, wearing a big smile.
“He’s very funny. And clever. And he can cook, he’s going to be a professional cook one day, but he already is one if you ask me.”
Lanying nodded slowly.
“I should phrase this question differently.”
Namjoon blinked at her in confusion but she just smiled.
“How about a ring with his birthstone?”
“What’s…”
“Turquoise.”
“Why do you know that?”
Yoongi shrugged.
He knew all of his friends' birthstones.
Namjoon eventually was able to pick a ring with Yoongi’s help.
He told Lanying he would invite her, should he get married.
Yoongi couldn’t believe him. Or Seokjin. They truly were something else.
Namjoon ended up inviting Yoongi to some ice cream.
“Don’t be nervous, Joon.” Yoongi said, smiling at his tall friend who looked like he would have a panic attack any second now.
“You have nothing to worry about. Nothing. Trust me.”

~

And so, the weeks went by.
Summer came and the sun was scorching hot.
Jimin made a lot of progress on his book, sitting on his porch in the shadows, drinking iced tea.
He met Taehyung all the time, basically every day. They worked and then they just hung out.
They didn’t talk about the incident with Taehyung’s father.
Yoongi finished his song and got Namjoon’s OK to upload it to SoundCloud. It was exciting for both of them.
Seokjin won some kind of cooking competition and invited all of his friends for lunch.
Jungkook was still behaving weird, but so was Yoongi.
Taehyung had spoken to his mother. She had been so proud of the fact that she was finally getting divorced. She thanked her son.
Despite everything, things were good.
One late evening Jimin went back home after hanging out with his friends.
The seven of them - Jimin, Taehyung, Yoongi, Jungkook, Seokjin, Namjoon and Hosek - had formed some kind of special friend group.
Freya was there too from time to time, but she acted a little awkward around Yoongi, so she usually stayed away.
It felt like it was the seven of them against the rest of the world. Which was a good thing.
They even had a groupchat now. It was a mess.
They sent each other random pics and memes and Jimin would be lying if these messages didn’t light up his days.
Now he was walking back home, the sun setting already.
When he approached the front door, he definitely didn’t expect to see a runaway teenager sitting in front of it.

Chapter Text

The boy was sitting on a stair in front of Jimin’s door, holding a backpack.
He looked up when he saw Jimin approach.
“Eun-sang… What are you doing here?”
Jimin stared at the kid who was staring right back.
“I ran away from home. Obviously.”
“But…”
“Let me inside, author. It’s getting a little cold, don’t you think?”
Jimin motioned for the kid to move, so he could unlock the door.
“I’ll make you some tea,” he said.
“But then you’re going to tell me what you’re doing here.”
“Yeah yeah.”
Eun-sang threw himself on Jimin’s couch and stared off into space.
He looked like someone who didn’t want to talk about his situation.
But he was 14.
So while Jimin waited for the water to boil, he texted Taehyung.

Jimin
Hey Tae,
Sorry for texting you this late but your cousin Eun-sang just appeared at my house??

Tae
Omg Bom just called me 5 minutes ago saying that he disappeared!! Why the hell is he at your place?
(Also u know u can text me any time)

Jimin
I don’t know, I’m gonna talk to him I guess?

Tae
I’ll come over

Jimin sat down a cup of hot herbal tea in front of Eun-sang and took a seat next to him.
The boy was staring at the ceiling now, looking incredibly bored.
“Alright, Eun-sang. Why are you here? How do you even know where I live?”
Eun-sang shrugged.
“Found your address on Google. It’s the same one you use for letters from readers. You should get PO box instead, you don’t want any random people to show up in the middle of the night, right?” he smiled.
Jimin shook his head.
“Eun-sang.”
The teenager lifted his head and looked at the author. He rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t want to be home, so now I’m here.”
Jimin couldn’t argue that.
He didn’t know the kid well, not at all, so he wasn’t sure how to act.
Should he ask if something happened at home? What kind of behavior would get him to open up?
“Mom went on a date with some guy, and the guy sucks.”
Apparently, just being quiet did the trick.
Eun-sang sighed.
“He isn’t nice or cool. He’s weird! I want my dad back.”
Jimin glanced at the boy.
“You miss your dad?”
Eun-sang nodded slowly.
He looked far more like a child now, much less like a grumpy teenager.
He was looking at his hands.
“Aren’t you going to ask where he is?”
Jimin shook his head.
“You can tell me if you want, but I’m not going to ask you to.”
Something like gratitude washed over Eun-sang’s face.
“Maybe you’ll grow to like this person. Maybe you won’t. But if he makes your mom happy, isn’t that a good thing?”
The teenager sighed.
“Dunno.”
The doorbell rang.
Jimin got up, still keeping an eye on Eun-sang. He didn’t say anything though. He probably knew that Jimin would text Taehyung, and he didn’t seem to mind too much.
Taehyung didn’t scold him. They just talked. They talked for a long time.
Jimin didn’t want to interrupt, so he stepped outside into the garden.
The sky was covered by clouds, so no stars were visible. It was comforting to know that they were still there though, even if he couldn’t see them.
He thought about his brother.
He hadn’t spoken to him since the funeral, that had been several months ago. He decided to call him on the next day. It couldn't possibly be more awkward than both of them sobbing into each other and then acting like it never happened.
Yon-rae was very different from Jimin, always had been. He had never been one to cry or to openly express his feelings.
Jimin thought of Taehyung.
Taehyung who wore his heart on his sleeve. Taehyung who cried about sad movies, who hugged his friends (even if they - them being Yoongi - acted like they hated it). Taehyung who loved dogs and cats and children and everyone on the planet.
Taehyung who was kind and thoughtful.
Taehyung.
Jimin groaned in annoyance.
Couldn’t his mind stop thinking about him for once?!
“Jimin?”
The author jumped when Taehyung’s head popped up through the open door.
“I’ll get him back to my apartment, Bom will pick him up tomorrow.”
He smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry he’s been bothering you.”
Jimin waved his hands.
“He wasn’t bothering me at all!”
They stepped back inside to an angry teenager, who did not want to leave Park Jimin’s house.
“Can’t I stay here?!” Eun-sang said loudly, almost yelling.
Taehyung rolled his eyes.
“Sure.” Jimin said.
The other two looked at him in confusion.
“Seriously?”
The teenager’s eyes lit up, which made Jimin smile.
“Yeah, sure! You can both stay, if you want. It’s late anyways.”
Quite frankly, the only reason why Jimin had offered the kid to stay was because he knew Taehyung would stay too. Maybe he was being a little selfish, but having Taehyung around put his mind at ease.
Luckily, Taehyung seemed to like the idea.
“We can watch a Disney movie together!”

~

Seokjin 00.42
I wanna go camping y’all

Jungkook 00.42
it’s the middle of the night wtf

Seokjin 00.42
We’re watching a movie stfu don’t judge bitch

Jungkook 00.43
i don’t want to camp with you

Hoseok 00.43
I wanna camp with you guys :D :D

Yoongi 00.43
._.

Jimin 00.43
HFsdfjk what does that face mean!

Taehyung 00.44
lol

Jungkook 00.44
stop texting i want to sleep

Jimin 00.44
You can put us on mute!

Seokjin 00.44
No don’t mute us ??? ?

Namjoon 00.44
Stop texting and pay attention to the movie omg!

Seokjin 00.44
You’re texting too

Namjoon 00.45
Just bc you did!

Seokjin 00.45
Cute <3
Yoongi 00.45
ugh

Jungkook 00.45
That’s it i’m muting u

Hoseok 00.45
<3 <3 namjin are so cute

Taehyung 00.45
Hey Yoongi pls send dog pics !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yoongi 00.46
They’re asleep, like normal people

Hoseok 00.46
dogs are better than people ~

Jungkook 00.46
I wish you would stop quoting Frozen man

Taehyung 00.46
That’s okay yoongs <3
I like sleeping dog pics too

Yoongi 00.46
I’m not taking pics of them when they’re asleep i’m not a creep tae

Namjoon 00.46
But you took a picture of me when i was asleeo
*asleep

Yoongi 00.46
I have no respect for you but i do have respect for my dogs

Namjoon 00.46
D:

Yoongi 00.47
[image]

Taehyung 00.47
JKAFH I LOVE THEM
THANK OYU
I LOVE YOU

Seokjin 00.47
that’s all it takes for him to love you…

Jungkook 00.48
That’s fair eough

Seokjn 00.48
eough

Namjoon 00.48
eough

Jimin 00.48
eough

Yoongi 00.49
eough

Hoseok 00.49
eough

Taehyung 00.50
eough

Jungkook 00.50
stfu

~

“It would be so fun to go camping!” Taehyung said quietly, trying not to wake his cousin who was occupying a big portion of the couch.
Jimin wore a tired smile.
“Yeah, we should do that.”
He yawned.
Taehyung grinned at him, fighting the urge to wrap a blanket around his shoulders.
“You should get some sleep Jiminie.”
He hugged the author tight, burying his face in his shoulder.
He smelled of lavender, sunshine and happiness.
Jimin chuckled, which made Taehyung’s heart skip a beat.
A few days ago, Taehyung had realized something.
He thought about Jimin a lot. Every day. They also hung out every day, but every second they didn’t, the other man was occupying his mind.
His smile and his laugh, his small and soft hand in his, his furrowed brows when he was concentrating.
Taehyung had always been afraid of being in love. He’d always been afraid that the other person wouldn’t like him, that they’d push him away. That he’d end up getting hurt.
He spent many years of his life trying to not get too emotionally involved with others, because he did that once, with his father, and that didn’t end well.
But it was different with Jimin.
He didn’t even have a chance to distance himself, to act like he didn’t love him.
It was easy loving Park Jimin.
As easy as it was to breathe the cool night air or to drink hot chocolate. Maybe it was even easier.
Jimin was breathing slowly, his head resting on Taehyung’s shoulder.
He had fallen asleep.
Taehyung wondered if he’d ever tell Jimin how he felt.
It was easy loving him, but would it be easy to live with the potential rejection?
Would he get rejected?
Sometimes Taehyung thought that maybe, maybe, he wouldn’t.
He carefully stroked Jimin’s hair.
“I love you, Park Jimin.” he said quietly.

~

A couple of days later - Eun-sang was back at home now, his mother had scolded him and then tried to pay Jimin for letting her son stay with him, but of course he didn’t take the money - Seokjin and Namjoon rented a big RV.
Turns out, they had been planning on inviting their friends on a trip for a while now.
The seven of them would all get in that big RV and drive all the way to a beautiful Jeju Island camping spot.
It was late August now, summer was fading, but it was still pretty warm. Perfect weather for camping, according to Seokjin.
Jimin hadn’t gone on a trip in a long time.
He looked at the draft on his computer one more time before turning it off. He shouldered his bag and walked down the stairs.
His friends had decided to pick him up from his house, since his house was away the furthest.
Locking the door behind him, he heard a vehicle approach.
It was only 5am, so the sun was only just about to rise, but it was warm nonetheless.
He walked down the small hill in front of his house and could already hear his friends’ bickering.
“How could you forget something so crucial?” Hoseok asked Seokjin, shock written in his face.
Seokjin glared at him, clearly trying to communicate, but Hoseok didn’t seem to get it.
“Hey guys…” Jimin said, eyeing the scene.
Seokjin and Hobi were still arguing. Namjoon tried to calm both of them down, which didn’t really work.
Jungkook seemed preoccupied with sulking - Jimin had no idea why.
Yoongi looked like he was still asleep, he just stood there, staring off into space.
The only person who actually greeted and ran towards him like an excited puppy was none other than Taehyung.
“Hey!” he said, a big smile spreading on his face.
“Seokjin forgot to refuel the tank and now they’re arguing about it . No one knows if we’ll be able to reach the next gas station!”
The way he said it, bright smile and sparkling eyes, didn’t make it seem like a bad situation.
“Where’s your head, Jin?” Hobi asked now, trying to poke his friend's forehead, but he karate chopped his hand away.
“Stop fighting now.” Namjoon said, yawning.
“We’ll try to get there.”
“And if we don’t, we’ll be stuck in the middle of the street.” Jungkook commented.
Namjoon shrugged.
“Do you by any chance have gas in your house?” Seokjin asked with pleading eyes.
“No… I don’t even have a car…”
Jimin looked over at Taehyung who still seemed to be unfazed.
They kept on discussing for a few more minutes, but eventually they tried their luck.
And luck was on their side.
They got to the nearest gas station, even though it was a close call.
“Lady luck favors you.” Namjoon told his boyfriend who only grinned in response to that.
Taehyung ran into the store at the gas station and picked up snacks. They had snacks with them, but Taehyung said that he wanted gas station snacks.
“I’m pretty sure we have these exact chips with us.” Yoongi said, after having returned to the world of the living.
“It’s different.” Taehyung said with a full mouth. “Stuff from the gas station always tastes different.”
Yoongi didn’t say anything to that, but Jimin noticed the corners of his mouth curl up in amusement and fondness.
They had a long drive ahead, so Jimin had brought all sorts of card games they could play.
For now, Seokjin was driving. Hobi sat next to him in the passenger seat, their discussion was far more relaxed now and Jimin was relieved that this wouldn’t turn into a stupid fight.
Seokjin, Yoongi, Hoseok and Jungkook were able to drive RVs, while Jimin, Taehyung and Namjoon could chill the entire time. Especially Namjoon, who didn’t even have a regular license.
For the first two hours they listened to music and sang along loudly. Then they started playing Uno for at least an hour, Jimin won twice.
They took a pitstop at some random roadhouse. Taehyung bought two stuffed animals, one of which he gave to Jimin. It was a yellow chick. Taehyung said it reminded of him. Jimin wasn’t sure if being reminiscent of a chick was very flattering, but he felt all warm and fuzzy inside when his illustrator handed him the little chick with a blinding smile.
Yoongi got coffé for everyone (and hot chocolate for Taehyung).
In the end it took a while, because Namjoon lost his glasses in the roadhouse and they had to look for them for about half an hour before Hobi found them on the bathroom floor.
Back in the RV - it was 10am now - Jimin sat down on one of the bunkbeds and flipped through a literature magazine he had bought.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see his friends play games and laugh.
Eventually Jungkook joined him, a Nintendo Switch in hand. He sat down next to him, taking up quite a bit of space which Jimin immediately had to complain about. Jungkook grinned and made sure to take up even more space than before.
At 11am Seokjin and Hobi switched with Yoongi and Namjoon. Namjoon was stressed but he wouldn’t tell anyone about what. Jimin had a vague idea.
At 12pm they took another pitstop, grabbing some warm food.
They sat outside on a bench around a table. The sun was shining and it was very warm.
“Once we’re in Jeju you two will regret your clothing choices.” Seokjin told Yoongi and Jungkook who both were wearing black. They shrugged in unison, which made both of them laugh a little. They still acted a little reserved around each other, Jimin noticed.
It wasn’t that special for both of them to be reserved, they were introverted and even shy at times, but usually it wasn’t that bad. Especially not when it was all of them together.
Taehyung, who was sitting next to him, nudged him.
“Do you think they’ll figure it out?”
They eyed their introverted friends, neither of them saying a word at this point.
“I hope so.”
They got back into the RV and Hobi took over for the last 2 hours, which meant Jimin would try winning games against Yoongi. It wasn’t easy, but he did manage. Once at least.
At around 2:30pm they finally arrived at the camping ground.
It was empty except for them, which was weird, considering the season, but they weren’t mad about it.
“I can’t wait to explore this place!” Namjoon said, smiling brightly, so that his dimples appeared.
The dirt on his glasses was reflecting in the sunlight.
“Your glasses are always so dirty, Joon.” Jin said, carefully removing the glasses from his face and wiping them off.
Namjoon watched him with a fond expression.
Jimin smiled at them.
“Watch out!”
Jimin didn’t watch out.
A ball flew right in his face.
“Oh shit! I’m so sorry!” Jungkook yelled from his spot on the grass.
Jimin stuck out his tongue.
His face was a little red for the next hour which concerned Taehyung more than it probably should. He wouldn’t stop nagging until Jimin put some ice on his face. When he finally gave in, Taehyung looked satisfied.
Jimin guessed having ice in your face even though it didn’t hurt was the least he could do for Taehyung.
They spent the entire day like this, playing all kinds of games, swimming, eating and simply relaxing in the sun.
It was perfect.
When the night came they gathered around a little fire, all of them sitting so close that their knees touched.
It was colder now and Jimin draped his jacket over Taehyung’s shoulders when he saw him shivering.
Taehyung smiled at him.
“We’ll probably need some more wood.” Seokjin announced now.
Jimin was pretty sure they didn’t.
But since he was eyeing Jungkook and then Yoongi, Jimin knew what he was trying to do.
And so did Jungkook, because he refused to get more wood.
Yoongi quietly laughed at Seokjin.
Even though these two clearly didn’t want to be weird around each other, they also weren’t able to do anything about their situation.

On the next day they started moving again, this time Jungkook was driving.
They were going to a new camping site in a forest, near a big art museum Namjoon and Taehyung wanted to visit.
That was something big they had in common, their love for art.
Namjoon didn’t draw or paint, but he appreciated this art form a lot. Taehyung had gifted him several of his drawings, all of which were on his apartment wall now.
It didn’t take as long as the day before, so they already arrived in the late morning.
They spent a long time in the art museum, taking pictures, listening to Joon and Tae talk about their favorite pieces.
Jimin wasn’t as obsessed with art like that, but the way his friend’s eyes lit up made it worth the while. He would spend the rest of his life here if it made them happy.
They got ice cream nearby, Namjoon spilled half of it on his shirt which made him embarrassed. But Taehyung also managed to spill a little, which made him feel better. Jimin wasn’t entirely sure if that hadn’t been on purpose, but it definitely helped Namjoon to feel less embarrassed.
Now they were two dorks with chocolate and vanilla stains on their shirts.
In the afternoon they had to go shopping for some food. They still had tonight and tomorrow night ahead of them, so they needed more Ramen and stuff like that.
Yoongi stayed with the RV in need of rest, and to everyone’s surprise Jungkook decided to stay behind with him.
He was wearing a strange expression.
“Maybe they’ll finally figure it out…” Hobi said quietly next to Jimin.

Chapter Text

Jungkook wasn’t sure what his plan was.
In fact, he didn’t have one.
He had stayed behind because he wanted to talk to Yoongi, but now he was just pacing around, several metres away from his friends, who was eyeing curiously every now and then.
Ever since they left for the trip, Jungkook had been thinking about finally telling Yoongi the truth. He knew that the musician didn’t feel the same way, but he still wanted to tell him. It couldn’t get worse than it already was… right? Right?
He wasn’t so sure now, as he continued pacing.
“Jungkook?”
Jungkook jumped when Yoongi suddenly stood behind him. The smaller man raised his brows in surprise. It was cute. Damn it. Why did he have to be cute?!
“Hi.”Jungkook said.
“Are you okay?”
Jungkook nodded, maybe a little too quickly.
“Okay…”
They stood in silence for a moment, neither of them sure what to say.
It had been so awkward for the last few weeks, they both were terribly aware of it.
Jungkook wondered if Yoongi already knew the truth.
After all, he also acted weird around Jungkook. Therefore it would probably make sense if he knew. That somehow didn’t make it better though, it only made Jungkook more nervous.
“So… Do you want to play Mario Kart?” Yoongi asked after a while.
“Sure…”
They sat down in front of the RV and started playing. Yoongi sucked at Mario Kart. Jungkook wasn’t sure why he had suggested playing, since he always lost.
“How are your dogs?” Jungkook asked him while the game was loading.
Yoongi smiled.
“They’re good. My uncle is watching them, just got a text from him 10 minutes ago. Here.” he held out his phone to Jungkook, showing a clumsy selfie his uncle had taken. It showed only part of his face and the two dogs playing in the background.
Jungkook chuckled.
“If I didn’t know better I’d think he was a Gen Zer!”
They laughed.
“I’ll take them to dog school soon, I think.” Yoongi said eventually, eyes fixed back on the gameboy in his hands.
“Exciting! These two are so clever, I bet they’ll have fun learning.”
Yoongi nodded, still smiling.
They kept playing for a little longer until evening came and Yoongi decided to prepare something to eat. They’d cook properly later, with the stuff the others would bring, but they’d probably be hungry right after returning.
Jungkook volunteered to help, despite his racing heart and sweating hands.
They talked about this and that while preparing food, nothing too deep or special, and Jungkook decided that maybe he couldn’t do this after all.
He couldn’t tell Yoongi the truth.
He felt good now, they were talking normally, it felt good. He couldn’t risk ruining it.
He snapped out of his thoughts when Yoongi touched his arm.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Jungkook smiled sheepishly.
“I am. Don’t worry. I’m just.. a little tired.”
Yoongi nodded. He clearly wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but he wasn’t going to press it.
“I’ll go to dog school next Monday afternoon.” he said now, focusing intently on the vegetables in front of him.
“They just confirmed that I could come.”
“That’s great!”
Yoongi shrugged.
“What is it?”
“I’m nervous…” Yoongi sighed, wiping his hands on his pants.
“People, new people especially… They’re scary.”
Jungkook nodded.
He knew how shy Yoongi was around strangers.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
The question was supposed to sound nonchalant, chill, cool. It sounded more like he was excited and hopeful, though. Which he was. But Yoongi didn’t have to know that.
Yoongi looked up at him and smiled.
“I’d like that.”

~

“Me, Joon and Hobi will go to the baker and you’ll grab tangerines, okay?”
“Sure thing, Jinnie.”
They had gathered pretty much everything by now, except for the cake that Hobi wanted and the tangerines that Yoongi had requested.
Jimin knew that there was a reason for them splitting up.
Seokjin never did stuff like this without a hidden agenda.
But he wasn’t going to protest. He liked spending time with Taehyung, so there was nothing to complain about.
Taehyung chuckled when their three friends made their way over to the baker.
Even from a distance they could see that Seokjin had just told a joke and both his boyfriend and his friend reacted with confusion.
Jimin smiled.
“They never change.”
“I like that about them!”
They walked towards the grocery store. Jimin turned his face in the direction of the sun, closing his eyes for a moment. It was still warm, but not too warm. A soft breeze was tousling his hair.
Taehyung looked at him with a fond smile.
Then his phone rang.
“It’s my mom…”
Jimin looked at Taehyung, trying to figure out if everything was okay based on his reaction.
His face was blank for the most part, so Jimin wasn’t sure.
“Okay.” Taehyung said after a while.
“Good. Thank you for letting me know, mom.”
The call ended and Taehyung put his phone back into his pocket.
“Is everything okay?”
Taehyung’s eyes started getting suspiciously wet.
“It’s over, Jimin.” he said.
“It’s finally over.”
Tears started streaming down his face, but he was smiling. He was crying and smiling and he hugged Jimin tight.
“They arrested him for beating someone up, and they found drugs in his car. He isn’t going to get out of prison for a while. And my mom is filing a divorce!” he cried, holding onto his small friend.
Jimin wrapped his arms around him, smiling.
“Tae, that’s wonderful! I’m so happy to hear that.”
Taehyung let go of him, wiping his tears away.
“I’ve also just made a decision,” he announced.
“I’ve been pushing this away for a while now, but I think I’ll finally visit my biological aunt.”
“I’m proud of you.” Jimin said. And he meant it.
“Will you come with me?”
“If you want me to, I will.”
Tae’s response to that was throwing his arms around Jimin again.
“Thank you!”

They finally entered the grocery store, both of them happy and excited for the future.
They bought the best tangerines they could find and they also bought sweets they didn’t actually need.
“Oh my God Jimin, look!”
Taehyung was pointing at an aisle with books - one of Jimin’s books was there.
People that passed them looked at the loud artist with irritated expressions, but he didn’t care. He grinned over both ears, pointing at the book.
Jimin laughed.
“Soon a book like this with your art will be here too.” he said, giggling at Taehyung’s reaction. His eyes were sparkling.
They went to pay for the stuff they had picked up and Jimin eyed the young artist out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t sure if he was being subtle, but he sure tried to be.
Although his smile could probably give him away, had Taehyung been more perceptive and not rambling on about books.
Jimin had fun doing stuff like this with Taehyung, he realized. Everything they had done together had been fun, of course, but Jimin realized that his feelings had become very serious when even such mundane things as shopping with Taehyung had become something he enjoyed immensely.
They left the store with two full paper bags and met their friends outside. They were bickering lightheartedly, Hobi nearly falling over while laughing.
“There you are!” Namjoon said, a big smile on his face. His glasses were as dirty as ever.
“What took you so long?” Seokjin asked, glancing over at Hoseok with concern. Their friend still hadn’t calmed down from whatever they had been talking about beforehand.
“We got sweets!” Taehyung said, holding up the bags with a triumphant expression.

When they got back to the camping ground, Jungkook and Yoongi were sitting on the grass, playing games on their Switches.
The two of them had prepared some appetizers, which got eaten very quickly.
They started cooking at 7pm, all of them having some sort of task. It was a lot of fun to cook together, Jimin thought. They laughed a lot and ended up handing Namjoon a cucumber to peel, which he accepted with a pout. He looked like he was about to protest, but after he nearly knocked over the pot with boiling water they had demoted him to cucumber peeler.
Jimin checked his phone and noticed a text from his grandma.

Granny
Hey Jiminie!
I hope you’re having fun with your friends and Taehyung!
You two should come visit me next Saturday, I’ll cook for you. It’s been a while!
Tell the boys I said hi!
Love you,
Granny.

Jimin
I’ll ask him, but I’m sure he’d be happy to come! Can’t wait! :)

Jimin
Why “your friends and Taehyung” though? Isn’t he my friend?

Granny
;-)

Jimin rolled his eyes and smiled, making his way over to Taehyung who was adding salt into their pot.
As suspected, Taehyung was happy about the invitation.
“I’ll bring her flowers.” Taehyung said.
“What are her favorite flowers?”
“That’s so sweet, Tae. She loves dahlias!”
Taehyung smiled.
“A woman of culture I see. What are your favorite flowers?”
“I don’t think I have any favorites.” Jimin said and shrugged. “They’re all beautiful. What are yours?”
Taehyung had to think for a moment.
“I like Forget Me Nots. They symbolize hope. I like hope.”
“Makes sense.” Jimin smiled.
Taehyung smiled back at him.
“Has anyone ever told you that you have a really pretty smile?”
Jimin’s eyes widened in surprise and he felt his cheeks getting hot. Taehyung just grinned at him.
“Hey, you two!” Yoongi yelled.
“Food is ready! Stop flirting right in front of our salad!”
Now both of them got red faced, which made Yoongi laugh.
The seven of them sat around the round table.
“We’re like the Arthurian knights.” Namjoon said.
“Although there were twelve knights at the table and not seven.”
“Maybe we need to adopt five more friends!” Hoseok suggested.
“No way, I don’t want any other people around me.”
“Aw Yoongi, you only want us around us? Because you love us?” Hoseok pinched his cheeks.
“I didn’t say that.” Yoongi rolled his eyes and removed Hobi’s hands from his face.
Jimin laughed at his friends, feeling completely free.
He hadn’t felt this way in a while.
Things hadn’t been easy since his mother had died, and of course he still missed her every single day. He still cried at night a lot. He still looked at photographs and held old shirts that smelled like her when he slept.
But right now, he felt free.
This was where he belonged.
Not Jeju Island necessarily, but with his friends.
It felt like his heart was going to burst with the love he held for all of them.
His thoughts were interrupted, when Seokjin clumsily knocked on his glass with a fork.
Everyone looked up, but only Namjoon looked genuinely surprised.
Seokjin’s ears were red. Everyone would have made fun of him in a normal situation, but this wasn’t a normal situation.
Jimin was unconsciously holding his breath.
“We are gathered here today to eat a meal we cooked ourselves, even though I’m the only professional cook in training here.”
He laughed awkwardly.
“Um. So.”
He looked at Yoongi, who gave him an encouraging nod.
Jimin gave him a thumbs up.
“Jinnie, is everything alright?” Namjoon asked, genuinely concerned.
“You’re not drunk, are you?”
“How could I be drunk when I haven’t drank anything at all, Namjoon? Don’t interrupt me, please.”
He took a deep breath.
Jimin bit his lip in suspense.
“Okay, so. As you all know, me and Namjoon have been together for a couple of years now.”
He looked at his boyfriend, who still didn’t seem to know where this was going.
“I actually remember the first time I realized that I love him. It was on a camping trip, similar to this one. Though of course that one wasn’t as awesome as this one, because Hobi and Taehyung weren’t there.”
He smiled at the two of them. They smiled back, their expressions filled with pure love.
“He was doing weird things to the food we were trying to cook, so someone handed him potatoes to peel. Just like we did today with the cucumber. When I saw him sitting there, a hood over his head because it was cold, his glasses dirty as always, it hit me. I realized that this was someone I really loved, in a different way than I love all of you. It was a few months after that, that I officially asked him on a date. It was very awkward and I was really scared at first. I worried that I would ruin everything with my feelings, that he didn’t feel the same way, that I would lose one of my closest friends. But I didn’t. He actually confessed to me before I could.”
Namjoon chuckled, thinking back at the memory.
“He was so scared, you should have seen him. I had never seen him that terrified. He was literally shaking. It was adorable, honestly.”
Seokjin smiled, his ears were still very red.
“Either way, now we’ve been together for a while and we live together too. Every day is a new adventure with this guy, from his deep philosophical rants at 3am to the time I had to pick him up from the ER because he walked into a door, it never gets boring. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. And… recently I’ve come to a realization. I thought about it for months, if I should or not. I was - am - terrified. But… Here I go. The realization I made was that I want to spend the rest of my life with Namjoon.”
Seokjin reached into his pocket and took out the box with the ring inside. As he was about to get down on one knee, Namjoon jumped up.
“Wait!” he yelled.
Seokjin’s face fell. Jimin would have loved to go over to him and hug him, but of course he didn’t. He couldn’t help but smile at what was about to come next.
Namjoon noticed Jin’s terrified expression and laughed.
“Jinnie…” he said, chuckling, reaching into his own pocket and pulling out a very similar box.
Now they were standing in front of each other, each of them holding a ring box.
Seokjin stared at Namjoon, absolutely baffled.
“I love you, Jinnie. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you too.”
Jin started crying.
Then Namjoon started crying.
Then they hugged and kissed and laughed and all of their friends jumped up and cheered loudly. They started throwing confetti and glitter at them and Taehyung took a bunch of photos.
Hobi initiated a group hug and now they stood in the middle of a camping ground, hugging each other tight.
“I love you all so much.” Seokjin sobbed.
“We love you too, nerd.” Yoongi replied, patting his head affectionately.
“It was a real bother to keep this a secret by the way, because both of you dragged me to buy rings.”
The newly engaged couple laughed at that, not able to believe each other.
The night went by quickly, all of them were extremely happy. They celebrated until the early morning hours. They ate cake and drank champagne, listened to loud music and danced all night.

Chapter Text

Driving back was sort of an adventure.
They were all terribly tired, but they had to leave, since they had only booked the camping spot until 7am.
They were hastily cleaning up the mess they’d made and Yoongi - who was always tired anyways - offered to drive.
The other six all fell asleep in the back and Yoongi looked at them through the rearview mirror.
He smiled and shook his head.
After an hour or so, Taehyung plopped down in the seat next to Yoongi.
“Hey, Yoongi! I would offer to drive, but I don’t have a license for this thing.” he said, kicking off his shoes.
“It’s fine, I can manage for a few more hours.”
“Let me know if you need someone else to drive though, don’t strain yourself too much. You always work so hard.”
Yoongi smiled.
“Driving isn’t really that hard, Taehyungie. I’ve got everything under control.”
“I know you do!”
Taehyung patted Yoongi’s shoulder and then started reading a book.
One after the other, all of their friends awoke.
Seokjin took over the wheel and Yoongi went to sleep in the back now.
“Thank you again, Yoongs.” Namjoon said, giving his friend a hug.
“It must have been hard to organize it so that neither of us would notice! Sorry for making it so difficult for you.”
“Don’t worry about it, it was my pleasure.” He yawned. “I’ll get some sleep now, I think.”
He claimed the double bed in the backroom for himself, spreading like a starfish. He drifted off to sleep quickly, the bumpy road not bothering him at all.
He only woke up once when Jimin, Jungkook and Taehyung all threw themselves onto the bed with him. He complained for a bit, but eventually just let them stay. They would do what they wanted to anyways.
He could hear Hobi’s and Seokjin’s loud laughter and Namjoon’s terrible singing, which didn’t sound very calming, but it was. It was comforting.
And even though Yoongi loved to say that he hated all kinds of affection, it was nice to have his three friends draped across him in the weirdest ways.
Hoseok checked on them once and ended up throwing himself on top of the pile, which resulted in loud complaints from everyone, but in the end they all fell asleep again.
The drive back went by pretty quickly, they switched drivers again after a couple of hours and did a quick pitstop.
And then, the RV finally entered their hometown again.
It was early evening now, the sun making everything glow golden.
The first thing Yoongi did when he got home was hug his dogs.
His uncle stayed with him for a few more hours and then left.
Yoongi had been happy to spend time with his friends, but now he was happy to be alone with his dogs. He turned on the TV and grabbed some cereal, both of his dogs lying on the couch next to him.
He texted a little with the other six who all posted pictures and spoke about anecdotes from their trip.
Namjoon sent a picture of Seokjin “saying goodbye” to their rented RV (he was pretending to cry while hugging the RV).
They were idiots.
But they were his idiots.

~

On Monday morning Junkook got up early.
Hyun raised his brow, knowing that Jungkook didn’t have to work today.
“What’cha doing?” he asked, looking at his brother over his coffée cup.
“Sitting.” Jungkook responded, which technically wasn’t wrong.
Hyun’s second eyebrow got raised.
“Stop that.”
“What?”
“You know what.”
“I’m not even saying anything!”
“But you’re thinking it!”
“What does that mean? I’m not thinking anything…”
Jungkook rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide the smile on his lips.
He was going to accompany Yoongi and his dogs to the dog school in two hours, and he was unreasonably excited about it.
Judging by the way Hyun kept glancing at him, he probably knew that this was Yoongi related. But he didn’t care. He had been so happy ever since they had spoken and played games and since namjin got engaged. He wasn’t going to let his brother bother him. Not today.
He got ready and looked at himself in the mirror. His reflection smiled at him.
When he left the house, the sun was shining. It was still warm, even though August was nearly over.
It was his birthday very soon.
He had invited his six friends and Jimin’s grandmother.
Hwang Nari was kind of like a grandmother to all of them, and if he invited his family, then he had to invite her too.
Hyun was going to be there too of course, but he didn’t need an invitation.
Smiling to himself he walked towards the bus station.
He was early, so he checked his phone until the bus came.
His friends had been spamming the groupchat with selfies and all kinds of memes and weird jokes and he loved it.
He laughed while looking at his phone, receiving confused glances from an elderly man who was standing nearby.
Once the bus arrived, he pocketed his phone and went inside.
He paid for the ticket and was about to find a place to sit, when he noticed blonde locks on the backseat.
Freya.
She was sitting on her own, earbuds in, looking out of the window.
He sighed. That was his usual spot.
She must have noticed him staring, because she took out her earbuds and waved him over.
He sighed silently but smiled.
He felt awkward around her, because she knew his secret.
“Hey Jungkook.” she said when he approached.
He waved and sat down next to her.
“What were you listening to?”
They chatted about music for a little while, discovering that they had similar tastes.
Surprisingly, it was kind of fun talking to her. She was really nice and she knew quite a bit about music.
“Did you have a nice camping trip, by the way? Taehyung sent me some pics. Looked like you guys had a good time!”
Jungkook smiled and nodded.
“Yeah! It was really great! We want to do this every year now.”
“That’s cool, man. And I saw you and Yoongi were sitting next to each other too, you didn’t look as awkward as you used to.” she grinned, Jungkook shrugged, flustered, not sure what to say.
“Were you finally able to figure it out?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
She looked at him, her expression unreadable.
“Oh, nothing. Just… after confessing to him at that party I’d figured…” she trailed off and shrugged.
“Whatever.”
Jungkook frowned.
“I haven’t confessed to him, if that’s what you mean… I don’t want to risk ruining our friendship.” he sighed.
Freya chuckled.
“Why is that funny?” he asked, feeling slightly offended.
She shook her head, barely concealing her smile.
“Don’t mind me, bud.”

Thinking about the conversation she and Yoongi had at the party was… weird.
It still made her feel awkward.
They were still friends of course, they texted sometimes, and she sometimes accompanied Hobi to visit Yoongi and his dogs, but it was still somewhat awkward. Of course it would be, after something like that…
Freya didn’t consider herself to be particularly brave, but after a couple of drinks and several pep talks in the bathroom, she felt ready.
She summoned Yoongi outside. When he came walking up to her, her heart was beating incredibly fast. She didn’t remember the last time she had felt like this about anyone.
“Hey.” she had said.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Of course he immediately had assumed that something was wrong. Taehyung had told her how much he worried about everything. He often got lost in his head until someone got him out of there.
“Everything is alright, don’t worry! I just… I wanted to talk to you.”
He raised his eyebrows in question.
“Well…” she looked at the floor, feeling like she did as a child when she had confessed to a girl she had a crush on for years. (She had run away before the girl could say anything, so she didn’t even know how she had felt. She wasn’t going to run away this time.)
“The thing is, you’re cool.” she looked up. Determined.
“Talking to you is fun, you’re such a thoughtful and kind person. You… you’re kind of comforting. And… I like you. I really like you. Would you maybe consider going out with me?”
Yoongi looked baffled. He tried to hide his surprise, probably trying not to hurt her with his reaction. He was so sweet…
“Freya, I really like you too, you’re a really cool friend! But…”
“Ah, stop right there.”
She lifted her hand.
“Freya... “ he frowned. He looked hurt, like he was the one who just got rejected.
“I’m really sorry.”
She shrugged, trying to look unbothered.
“It’s fine, man. It really is! I just wanted to shoot my shot, y’know? It’s okay though, seriously. I guess it makes sense.” she chuckled.
“It does?”
“Yeah, I mean, I do notice the way Jungkook acts around me… I had a hunch, I guess.”
He frowned again.
“I... “ he started.
“Hey, no need to justify yourself, Yoongi. I get it. He’s a really great guy! I understand that you like him. If he didn’t hate me, I’d love to be his friend.”
“He doesn’t hate you… Why would he hate you?”
She shrugged.
“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself. But you didn’t correct me, so I figure I’m right.”
She grinned at Yoongi’s pained expression.
“It’s not like that…”
“Uhuh.”
“It’s…” he was clearly looking for an excuse, but he couldn’t come up with anything.
Freya laughed quietly.
Yoongi groaned.
“It’s something I try to ignore.” he admitted.
“You try to ignore your feelings for him?”
He shrugged.
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“But what if…”
“What if it ends like the way it did with me and you? Well, then it hurts like hell, but you are so close, you wouldn’t just stop being friends. I don’t think so. Also… I hope we can still be friends too.”
Yoongi looked up at her and smiled.
“Of course we’re still friends! And, Freya, I’m seriously sorry. You deserve better.”
“It’s okay.” she patted his arm.
“I’ll be sad for a ‘bit and probably act kinda weird around you and your friends but- I’ll get over it. I will.”
She sighed.
“I’m gonna go now.”
“Okay.”
“Take care, Yoongi.”
“You too.”

“Freya?” The young woman had been lost in thought for a while now, long enough for Jungkook to get slightly worried.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something.” She laughed sheepishly.
“Are you alright?”
“I always am!” she said, smiling. “I have to get off here, it’s been nice talking to you, Jungkook.”
“Yeah! You’re not as terrible as I thought you were.”
They both laughed and then Freya waved goodbye, leaving Jungkook and his thoughts behind.

A couple of minutes later, Jungkook arrived at his stop.
He walked over to Yoongi’s place, still thinking about what Freya had said. He wasn’t sure what to make of it.

~

“I’m really scared of meeting her.” Taehyung said and sighed.
He and Jimin were sitting on Jimin’s porch, drinking lemonade and working on the book.
Jimin nodded.
“I get that, Tae. It’s scary. But I’ll be right there with you! Nothing can go wrong.”
Taehyung smiled.
“Will you be able to protect me if she turns into a dragon?”
“Obviously. The books I’ve written have lots of dragons in them, where do you think all of that knowledge comes from?”
They laughed.
It was nice, nice as it always was.
“I have no idea what to expect though… I emailed her and her response was very… calm. Not saying very much. She didn’t give anything away.”
Jimin hummed in response.
“Maybe she’s shy? This is how Yoongi texts people he doesn’t know well.”
Taehyung laughed.
“I remember that, when I first got to know him. He didn’t use any emojis, which scared me.”
“Not everyone can use such a ridiculous amount of emojis as you and Hobi do, Tae.”
The doorbell rang.
“Oh, who could that be?” Jimin asked in confusion.
“I hope it’s not Mary again…”
“Have you spoken to her lately?”
Jimin shook his head.
“Nope, she hasn’t been contacting anyone. It’s almost a little scary. But to be fair, she may be an art thief, but she isn’t very… menacing.” he chuckled and went inside to get the door.
It took Jimin a while, so Taehyung started playing games on his phone.
When the author still hadn’t returned after several minutes, Tae decided to check up on him.
He walked into the house barefoot, leaving his slippers outside.
Turning the corner, he could see Jimin’s back.
He was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed in front of his chest.
He was talking to a man. The man was taller than Jimin, but looked somewhat similar to him. His eyes had a similar shape and the way he frowned was similar to Jimin’s way of frowning. He wasn’t cute though, not like Jimin.
The man noticed him, his eyes flicking from Jimin over to Taehyung.
Dang it, he thought he was being sneaky.
Jimin turned around too.
“Oh, I’m sorry Tae. I’ve been taking a while.'' His expression wasn’t as happy as it had been before, which made Taehuyng’s heart sink.
“Don’t worry! I just wanted to see if you’re alright. Also, hey.”
He waved at the man.
“Tae, that’s my older brother Yon-rae. Yon-rae, that’s Taehyung.”
Yon-rae nodded in acknowledgment, but he didn’t do more than that.
“Can we get back to the topic at hand?”
“No. Come inside first and greet Tae properly.”
Yon-rae rolled his eyes, but he did.
He even shook Taehyung’s hand. His grip was firm. The grip of a real adult, Taehuyng thought. He even looked like one. He was wearing a polo shirt and his hair was slicked back. He looked like a rich golfer.
“Now that that’s over with… Money, Jimin. The funeral wasn’t cheap and that place for the grave isn’t either. I paid all of it beforehand, but I need you to pay back your half.”
Jimin nodded.
“Yeah, of course.”
He sighed and went to grab his wallet.
“I can pitch in if you need me to.” Taehyung said quietly, so that Yon-rae couldn’t hear him.
Jimin’s expression softened.
“Thank you Tae, you’re sweet. But you don’t have to.”
He handed his brother the money.
“Thanks. You could have given that to me a while back.”
Jimin rolled his eyes.
“I was busy.”
Yon-rae crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“With what? Hanging out with that weird guy and your loser friends?” he nodded at Taehyung.
“Yes, Yon-rae. That’s exactly what I was busy with. And I was also busy grieving, you know? I couldn’t drive all the way to your place to give you money. You said you didn’t need it right away.”
“Oh come on Jimin, grow up. I won’t let you keep lending money from me if you keep up that attitude.”
“Get lost, Yon-rae.”
“Gladly.”
Park Yong-rae walked out the front door and turned around to face Jimin once again.
“Don’t expect me to lend you money again, Jimin. Have fun with your boyfriend.”
Then he left.
“Well, I don’t need you to!” Jimin yelled after him and slammed the door.
He groaned in frustration and then turned to Taehyung.
“I’m sorry.” he said.
“No, don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Taehyung hugged Jimin, the other gladly leaning into it.
“He’s… an interesting person.” Taehyung said, head resting on Jimin’s shoulder.
He chuckled.
“That’s one way of putting it.”
With that, they got back to work.
They worked for another hour before both of them couldn’t focus anymore.
“I’ll go now.” Taehyung said. “I still need to pay my mother a visit.”
“Alright. I’ll see you out.”
They walked to the door.
“Thank you for today, Tae.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I’m always there for you. You know that, right?”
Jimin nodded.
Taehyung ruffled his hair and then went on his way, smiling and waving as he walked down the hill.

~
“I just can’t believe this!” Yoongi said for the nth time, rubbing his eyes.
“Me neither.” Jungkook agreed, licking his ice cream angrily.
“Why would they treat the dogs like that?! Asserting dominance, my ass.”
Jungkook nodded.
“Yelling and standing over animals until they get scared and give in and then spraying water at them isn’t how training should work, ever. This is so fucking disgusting.”
“Right…”
Yoongi looked at his dogs, who were lying on the ground peacefully, as the two men ate their ice cream.
“I wish I could sue these people. But unfortunately this kind of training is very normal.”
Jungkook sighed. He looked sad. Yoongi wanted to hold his hand, but he wasn’t going to.
“I’m sorry that it turned out like this.” he said now. “We’ll find a better school for them.”
“We?”
“Yeah, we. I’m invested now! And I want to witness a capable dog trainer at least once in my life, so I’ll tag along.” He paused. “Unless you don’t want me to, then that’s okay too!”
Yoongi laughed.
“I’d love to have you come along, Kook.”
Jungkook smiled at him, all teeth and scrunched up nose. It was adorable and Yoongi could feel his heart melting.
They finished their ice cream and went on their way.
Neither of them spoke and neither of them knew where they were going, but they just kept on walking.
Yoongi was holding both leashes in his right hand, his left hand was free, and his mind kept telling him to reach out and hold Jungkook’s hand, but he couldn’t possibly do that. It was too weird, right? He couldn’t just do that? What if Jungkook hated it? What if he found out the truth?!
“Yoongi?” Jungkook nudged him
“Sorry.” Yoongi said sheepishly.
“Are you still thinking about the dog trainers? They suck. Don’t waste your energy on them, they don’t deserve it. Waste your energy on me instead!”
In a burst of excitement, Jungkook grabbed Yoongi’s hand.
Yoongi’s heart skipped a beat, but he tried not to show any reaction.
Jungkook got suspiciously quiet all of a sudden, but he kept holding his hand.
They kept holding hands for a long time.
They walked through a small park and then by the sea. It was a beautiful day and Yoongi was pretty sure his hands were sweating, but so were Jungkook’s, and neither of them let go, so it was okay.
In fact, it was better than okay.
Yoongi’s mind kept spinning with possible things he could say without giving too much away, so he settled with this:
“Walking with you like this is nice.”
He smiled, not able to meet Jungkook’s eye.
Jungkook looked surprised but happy.
“This is so hard.” he said, sighing.
“What?” Yoongi asked, not sure what he was talking about.
Jungkook suddenly let go of Yoongi’s hand and stopped walking.
“I think I’ve made up my mind.” he said.
Yoongi still had no idea what he was talking about.
“I… I’m sorry.”
“What…”
“But I have to act before I change my mind again!”
With that, Jungkook took a deep breath. He put both of his hands on Yoongi’s cheeks.
Yoongi felt like was dying on the inside.
He wasn’t sure what was happening… but before he could continue overthinking, Jungkook’s soft lips met his.
Yoongi was so surprised, he dropped the leashes in his hand.
It was nice though. Really nice.
Jungkook slowly let him go and took a step backwards. His face was the color of the tomatoes in Yoongi’s fridge.
Yoongi opened his mouth to say something. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he had to say something.
But before he could, Jungkook ran.
He turned on his heels and ran away.
Yoongi stared at his back, getting further and further away.
“What the fuck…”

Chapter Text

Hyun may have been 37 years old, but he still loved to watch Pixar movies and nothing could change that.
Jungkook wasn’t around, so he had the house to himself. He was going to do a movie marathon.
He had made himself some popcorn, and he was about to have a great time.
Yes, it was only shortly after 12pm. But did that stop him? Hell no!
He only lived once, he thought. So he was going to make the best out of this life!
Maybe other people had different perceptions of what that meant, but animated movies made him happy, so he was going to watch him, damn it.
He sighed in contentment, settling down on the couch.
Jungkook probably wouldn’t be back until the evening, so he had all day to just unwind and relax. Maybe work on some music.
The movie was just getting started, he had turned on the subtitles in order to sing along to the songs, but then heard the keys in the lock.
The door opened and closed just as quickly.
He could see his brother sprint through the house, bursting into his room.
He looked like he had run a marathon. His face was red and he was sweating.
Jungkook shut the door but didn’t bother locking it. Or maybe he forgot?
Hyun didn’t care either way. He was going to bother his baby brother. It was his duty.
“Hey Jungkook, why are you back already?”
He opened the door.
He had expected Jungkook to sit on his bed or something, but he was crouching on the floor, head on his knees.
The smirk Hyun had been wearing was wiped from his face.
“Jungkook? What’s going on?”
He crouched down in front of his brother and put a hand on his knee.
Jungkook didn’t reply. He was shaking a little, breathing fast.
This happened before.
In fact, it used to happen more often when he was a teenager.
He remembered the last time it happened. It was the finals week and Jungkook hadn’t slept at all.
He had been cramming all night and on the morning of the exams Hyun’s brother was panicking like crazy. It had taken him a while to calm down.
Seeing his brother like that made Hyun sad. Jungkook was annoying, sure, but he was also kind and amazing, and he deserved the best. Panic attacks weren’t the best.
He didn’t remove his hand from his knee as he sat down properly.
“Jungkook. Let’s count.”
They did.
Hyun started, waiting for Jungkook to count with him. After a while he finally did.
“Okay. Good. You’re okay. Now tell me about something you can see right now.”
“I can see you.”
Hyun nodded.
“Alright. Something you can smell?”
Jungkook thought.
“Laundry detergent.”
Hyun smiled.
“You’re doing great. Keep going. What can you hear?”
They kept going like this for a while until Jungkook wasn’t shaking anymore.
Hyun moved over to sit next to his brother, putting an arm around him.
They sat in silence for a moment. Hyun wasn’t going to push him to talk about it. If he wanted to, he would.
“Do you want to watch Moana?”
Jungkook nodded.

~
After Taehyung had left, Jimin cleaned the house. He didn’t actually have to clean, but he wasn’t sure what else to do.
He had texted Hoseok, but he hadn’t replied yet.
While he was wiping down a window, his phone rang.
It was Hobi. He invited him over, since it had been a while since just the two of them had hung out.
Hoseok was happy to visit again and he even helped Jimin clean (even though Jimin asked him not to, but Hoseok did not care. He was cleaning.)
“How’s your book coming along?” Hobi asked, smiling brightly while putting away the broom he had just used. Jimin had never seen anyone look that happy while cleaning.
“It’s going really well! Taehyung has been helping me immensely, I’m so lucky that he’s there. I think this is going to be the best one yet!”
Hoseok grinned.
“Tae keeps telling me about how much he loves the book. I know it’ll be amazing.”
They kept hanging out, talked, and laughed a lot. It was lovely.
In the early evening, Hobi left - and Jimin had an idea.
He didn’t have a car, so he took the bike. He hadn’t actually ridden a bike in ages, despite Namjoon’s nagging. He usually took the bus. But the place he was going wasn’t far away enough for a bus ride, but it wasn’t close enough for him to be bothered to walk.
So, he took the bike.
He made sure to send Namjoon a selfie of him with his bike. He got a very excited response right away, which made Jimin laugh.
Jimin rode all the way over to the little farmer’s market that was still open for another 20 minutes.
Not many people were there now luckily, so it wouldn’t be too hard to find what he was looking for.
He walked through the aisles, picking up some vegetables while he was there.
Then he arrived at the flower stand.
His eyes wandered over the wide array of flowers. He didn’t know much about flowers, so he didn’t recognize most of them.
“What are you looking for, kid?” the elderly man behind the counter asked.
He smiled. He had kind eyes.
“I’m looking for Forget Me Nots.”
The man smiled.
“Beautiful flowers.”
Jimin nodded.
The man searched the stand with his eyes.
“Ah, there they are. How much would you like?”
“Um, I’d like a bouquet.”
The man’s eyes seemed to sparkle, similar to the way Jungkook’s eyes sparkled. It made Jimin smile.
“A bouquet… You kids always like to buy bouquets for special people in their lives.”
He carefully picked the flowers, tying a ribbon around them.
Jimin chuckled awkwardly, not sure what to respond.
“You want a tag too?”
“Yeah, that sounds nice.”
Jimin paid the man, who gave him a discount because he “loves love”, and went on his way.
He smiled to himself as he rode his bike to Taehyung’s apartment.
He knew Taehyung was still visiting his mother, since he had said he’d text him once he got home. Which he hadn’t yet. And Hobi was still out and about too. He didn’t know about Freya, but he was willing to take his chances.
He dropped off the flowers in front of the apartment door, his heart beating fast.
On his way back downstairs he ran into Roger, Taehyung’s neighbor.
“Hey, I remember you!” Roger said, smiling.
“I remember you too! Roger, right? How are you?”
“Good, good. Thanks for asking! Is Taehyung back already?”
Jimin shook his head.
“No, I just.. dropped something off.”
“I see.”
Roger looked like he wanted to say more, but wasn’t sure how to phrase it.
“Hey, how is Taehyung doing? I talk to him sometimes, but ever since that… incident I haven’t seen him often.”
Jimin filled Roger in best as he could, telling him that Kim Sung-ho got arrested, which made Roger smile.
“Finally.” he said, his smile growing bigger.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“Yeah, me too. I hope he’ll be gone for a long time.”

When Jimin got back home, it was dark outside.
He was really tired, but he wasn’t going to sleep just yet.
He wanted to wait for Taehyung to text him. He was nervous about his reaction to the flowers. What if he hated them?? … Maybe he shouldn’t have dropped them off, he thought. Maybe he was being too clingy…
Jimin sighed loudly and threw himself onto the bed.
He looked up at the ceiling for a moment before he got up again.
He sat down in front of the bed, pulling out a box from underneath.
This was his mother’s.
It was the only thing of his mother’s he hadn’t looked at yet. He didn’t know what was inside, but he remembered his mother keeping it under her bed for years.
As children he and Yon-rae wanted to look inside, but she never let them.
Yon-rae.
Thinking about his older brother made him cringe. They had been close as children, but Yon-rae changed a lot as he got older. Jimin wasn’t sure what had happened to him, what turned him into this clean business man without any joy in life. He had tried to reconnect with him many times, but Yon-rae didn’t let him.
It was sad. Jimin tried not to think about it too much.
Either way, now he had the small wooden box on his lap. And he was going to look inside.
He opened it carefully, as if whatever was inside could be disturbed.
Inside he found the following things:
A picture of his mother, Yon-rae and himself. A necklace. A drawing that Jimin did when he was a small child. An origami frog Yon-rae had made when he was younger. And two pieces of paper, one addressed to his brother, and one addressed to him.
He held the paper in his hands, not daring to unfold it.
He couldn’t do this… could he?
Tears started gathering in the corners of his eyes, seeing his name written in his mother’s handwriting.
He wasn’t brave enough to read it. Not yet.
He put everything except for the letters back into the box and sighed.
Jimin was going to have to mail his brother’s letter out to him.
He lay back down on his bed, still holding the paper in his hands.
He ended up falling asleep before receiving a text, the letter never leaving his hands.

~
“Thank you mom.”
Kim Eunji hugged her son tight.
“Let me know how it goes tomorrow, okay?”
Taehyung nodded.
“And invite Jimin here some time! I want to meet him.”
“Mom…” he said, frowning. “It’s not like that…”
His mother smiled knowingly.
“Okay then. Now go, before it’s too dark out.”
Taehyung put on his shoes and left his mother’s house.
She had given him some food he had to heat up at home. It had been a while since he last ate something cooked by her.
He never had wanted to visit home, because of his father. But now… things were different.
Hea had called him earlier, announcing that she wanted to visit soon. For the first time in years, he would meet his sister and his mother. Together. As something like a family.
It was weird, he honestly felt a little anxious about it, but it also made him happy.
He took the elevator upstairs, too tired to take the stairs.
He took out his phone and texted Jimin that he got home safe.
His friends had sent messages in the groupchat again, this time it was a discussion about deep sea creatures between Namjoon and Seokjin. They lived in the same house, so Taehyung wasn’t sure why they kept texting.
Hobi pitched in occasionally with emojis.
The last message Jimin sent had been half an hour ago.
Both Jungkook and Yoongi were very quiet, which was strange to him. Not that either of them were the loud type, not even in text conversations, but a topic such as deep sea creatures would usually have gotten them to at least participate in the discussion.
The elevator door opened and Taehyung stepped out. He pocketed his phone and hummed quietly to himself as he approached the front door.
Then his eyes fell on something lying right next to the door.
Forget Me Nots.
He picked them up carefully, looking at the tag attached to them.

These flowers symbolize hope, but so do you.
Thank you for everything :)

Taehyung smiled.
He held the flowers close to his chest, ignoring the way his heart seemed to nearly burst out of it.
I love him, he thought.
I don’t deserve him, he thought.
He sighed deeply, tried to calm himself down.
Then he unlocked the door and went inside.
Freya was already asleep, so he had to be quiet.
He put the flowers into a vase and placed it on the window sill of his room.
The streetlights from outside illuminated his room in a warm light, warm like the feeling inside his chest.
He sat on his bed for a while, just looking at the flowers and thinking.
He was good at that, thinking. Maybe he was overthinking. He was probably overthinking.
Even though his father was behind bars now, the thoughts the man had planted in his head ever since he was a child didn’t disappear. They were always present, like some kind of dark cloud that could immediately swallow all of his happiness.
Lately the cloud had been small. It kept getting drowned out by the feelings he had towards his friends and especially Jimin.
But now, as he realized that Jimin really liked him - whether that be romantically or not, it didn’t matter right now - the cloud grew. It grew and grew and it made him sad and angry at himself.
He should be happy. He should feel grateful and giddy and excited.
But he didn’t. He felt tired.
You don’t deserve him, his brain kept telling him.
He deserves someone better than you. Someone who’s worthy of his kind heart.
Taehyung believed every single word.

Chapter Text

Hyun was asleep.
Jungkook had draped a blanket over him and was watching him now. The way his chest slowly rose and fell was strangely calming.
He sighed.
Yet another movie started, this time it was Toy Story 3. He didn’t pay any attention to it though.
He looked at his phone, not sure what he expected.
There were a bunch of messages in the groupchat, none from Yoongi though.
There also were no messages from Yoongi specifically for him.
Damn it. He had made a huge mistake.
He opened his chat with Yoongi, typing in things. Deleting them. Typing again. Deleting.
“Hey, Jungkook.”
Hyun had woken up and was yawning loudly.
“How are you feeling?”
He was sad, worried, angry at himself. He felt heartbroken.
Jungkook shrugged.
“Do you want to talk about it, man?”
The young man looked down at his phone again. Taehyung had sent him a message, asking if he was alright.
He closed his eyes and sighed.
“I don’t know. I really don’t.”
Hyun nodded.
“That’s okay. Take your time. I’m here when you’re ready.”
He patted his brother’s head affectionately and then went to sleep.
Jungkook dragged himself to his own bed, but he couldn’t fall asleep. He lay awake for hours, until he gave up on sleep.
He pulled out his notebook and started writing down random words. He hadn’t written a song in a very long time, but maybe he was going to now.
At 3:30am he got a message.
He glanced at his phone, thinking that it was from the groupchat, but when he saw who sent the message, his heart skipped a beat. He dropped his pen and took the phone in his hands.

Yoongi
Are you still awake?

Jungkook
Yeah.

Yoongi
Cool.

He furrowed his brows. What was he going to say now?
Jungkook stared at the screen that already darkened because he hadn’t interacted with it in a moment.

Jungkook
Can’t sleep.

Yoongi
Me neither

He felt like he was going to cry again. But he had cried so much already.
He was sick of crying, of being sad and scared.
And yet here he was, both sad and scared.

Yoongi
Maybe we should talk

Shit.
Jungkook got up, phone in hand, and started pacing. He did that a lot, he noticed.
It had been the same way when he was a child, whenever he was upset he’d walk through the entire house. He was bad at hiding his feelings in general, but even when he had tried, the nervous pacing made everyone aware of the fact that he wasn’t feeling well.

Jungkook
I’m sorry, Yoongi.

Yoongi
Why?

…

Yoongi
Do you regret it?

He hadn’t expected that question and he wasn’t sure how to answer it.
Did he regret doing something impulsively and potentially ruining his friendship with someone he loved? Yes.
Did he regret finally having kissed Yoongi after so many years? Never.

Jungkook
No.
Or yes…….
I don’t know
Sorry

Yoongi
Stop apologizing…
There’s nothing you’d have to apologize for.
Okay?
Let’s meet tomorrow

Jungkook
Okay.

Yoongi
The usual spot?

Jungkook
Yeah

~
Jungkook didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.
He got up at 7am, which was when Hyun got up too.
“Oh shit, you startled me!” his brother said, raising his arms defensively.
He was wearing his Spiderman pyjamas.
Jungkook shrugged in response.
“You didn’t get any sleep last night, did you?”
He shook his head.
“You wanna talk?”
“... Yeah.”
They sat down at the kitchen table, each grabbing a bowl of cereal, and Jungkook started talking.
Hyun didn’t interrupt him once, didn’t make any teasing comments, nothing of the sort. Jungkook was grateful for his brother.
Hyun could be annoying at times, but he could always count on him. Always.
Even as children, people had envied their bond.
Jimin had spoken of soulmates, a concept he believed in. He said they don’t always have to be romantic, and Jungkook and Hyun were a prime example of that.
Maybe he was right, Jungkook thought.
He kept talking and talking, stumbling over his words, but in the end he expressed all his fear to his brother. It felt so relieving to have said it out loud. It was like a huge burden had been lifted off of his shoulders.
When Jungkook finished talking, Hyun took a deep breath.
“Alright.” he said.
“You know what you have to do, Kookie. I don’t need to tell you.”
He supposed that was right.
But he was terrified nonetheless.
“What if I lose him?”Jungkook said quietly, staring into his bowl.
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh, but I do. Even if he shouldn’t feel the same way, he’s one of your closest friends. He loves you so much. He’s never going to abandon you. There’s no way in hell, trust me on that one.”
That made Jungkook feel better, but not less terrified.
He was going to meet Yoongi at 11am at their coffee shop.
The first time they had gone to the coffee shop was shortly after he started going to the local high school.
He and Yoongi both were in a songwriting class and had gotten an assignment they were supposed to work on together. Yoongi invited him to the coffee shop, which had made him terribly nervous back then.
It was normal now, but he felt like he was about to die when they went there the first time.
Seokjin had teased him, saying that Yoongi was probably the least threatening person ever, as if that had been the reason why he was nervous.
They had met on a Sunday morning. Yoongi had brought his laptop and a bunch of sheet paper. Jungkook thought he was the coolest person in the world.
He still thought that to this day.
It had been quite awkward at first, since Yoongi also was shy, but they ended up finding a good rhythm with each other. They met like this every week for about a month, working on their songwriting assignment.
During that period they had gotten to know each other pretty well, they also hung out with their friends a lot. Jungkook was always happy that he had found his way into a group of wonderful friends that Yoongi also was a part of.
Over the years to come they all grew closer and the nervousness around Yoongi wasn’t so bad anymore. In fact, he mostly felt very comfortable around him. The only thing that made him feel nervous was the fact that he was in love with the other, but if he ignored that, he felt very comfortable.
Now that he was on his way to the coffee shop though, he wasn’t feeling very comfortable at all.
He was grateful that Yoongi had told him he shouldn’t feel sorry, that he had nothing to feel sorry for, but it didn’t really take away any of his anxiety.
Yoongi was standing outside the coffee shop, looking extra tiny.
He was wearing one of his many black bucket hats. He was wearing black clothes. So did Jungkook.
He couldn’t help but smile at that, but his smile faded once he got closer.
Yoongi looked at him and he looked… stressed.
Not angry or anything, nothing too bad, but he looked like he hadn’t slept at all. Knowing him, he probably hadn’t. Jungkook felt terrible. He must have been the reason for that.
“Did you sleep at all?” Yoongi asked him.
“Um… not really..” he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, keeping his distance from his friend.
“Me neither.” Yoongi admitted, blinking against the sun.
Awkward. Awkward. Awkward.
Jungkook felt like he was about to combust.
“Wanna walk?” Yoongi asked.
“Sure.”
So they did. They started walking next to each other, some space between them, neither of them saying a single word.
Jungkook desperately tried to think of what to say.
He glanced over at Yoongi who looked calm. Terribly calm. He was always calm, but this calmness was weird… It was too calm, even for Yoongi.
They walked down a narrow path that led through fields. It was beautiful. Usually Jungkook would have appreciated the beauty more, maybe he would have taken a few pics and would have sent them to Namjoon.
But not now. His hands were sweating and his heart was beating way, way too fast.
Jungkook couldn’t stand it anymore, so he stopped walking abruptly.
Yoongi stopped too, turning slowly.
“Look.” Jungkook said, taking a deep breath.
This was it, he thought.
All those years of pining and sulking whenever Yoongi dated someone that wasn’t him, all those years of his feelings getting stronger and he kept feeling more ridiculous…
All of this had led to this.
He gasped in surprise when Yoongi suddenly hugged him.
He stared at the smaller man who had wrapped his arms around his waist.
“You looked like you needed a hug.” he said.
Jungkook didn’t react, he didn’t move.
“I know what you’re going to say.” Yoongi said, not letting go of him.
“You’re going to apologize again, say that you shouldn’t have done something like this without thinking. That you regret it. But I don’t want you to. Because I was secretly hoping you’d feel the same way.”
Jungkook stopped breathing entirely now. He stared at Yoongi, who still wasn’t letting him, probably mainly because he didn’t want to look the taller man in the eye.
“What…” Jungkook said quietly. “What?” he said again, voice a little louder now.
Yoongi removed himself from Jungkook and looked at the floor. He shrugged.
“You… I… When…”
“For about two years.”
“What? Why?!”
Yoongi laughed, finally meeting his eye.
“What do you mean why? Do I need to give you a specific reason for loving you?”
Jungkook opened his mouth and closed it again, like a fish.
“You… you love me? Me?!”
Yoongi chuckled again. He looked very awkward, his cheeks were red. Somehow that made Jungkook feel better.
Yoongi reached out a hand touching his cheek.
“Why are you crying?” he asked in a whisper.
Jungkook hadn’t even noticed that he was crying, but it was true, his cheeks were all wet.
They stood like this for a moment, Yoongi carefully wiping his tears, not saying anything else as he cried.
“Yoongi.” Jungkook said eventually.
“Hm?”
“... Nevermind.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes but smiled.
Then he stood on his tiptoes and kissed Jungkook.
“How’d you know I was going to ask if I could kiss you?”
“I know you.”
“... You’re so small.”
Yoongi boxed him in the arm.
“Ow!” Jungkook laughed, rubbing his arm exaggeratedly.
“So… does that mean we’re dating now?”
Yoongi grinned.
“If you want us to.”
“I’d love nothing more.”
“Same.”
They were standing in the middle of a field, both wearing huge grins. They were idiots, but at least they were in love.

Chapter Text

The next morning Jimin woke up to the sun shining in his face. He had forgotten to close the blinds the night before.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked outside - it was a beautiful late summer day.
He stretched, sat up and checked his phone.
There were a lot of messages from last night.
He frowned in confusion and opened the group chat.

Jungkook
Hey guys…….
I wanna say something

Hobi
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Jungkook
…?

Namjoon
Hey, is everything okay?
Jungkook
EHJSsfd

Namjoon
Huh.
I don’t know what that means.

Hobi
It’s a keyboardsmash Joonie

Namjoon
I know that…….

Hobi
(づ￣ ³￣)づ

Namjoon
How do you make these ???

Hobi
Magic ~(˘▾˘~)

Jungkook
Guys.

Hobi
Sorry what’s up??
Nothing bad I hope??

Jungkook
Heh..
Not quite

Namjoon
What is it then? :D

Yoongi
Hi

Hobi
^̮^

Yoongi
Wh

Seokjin
Omg everyone shut the fuck up
Let Jungkook speak
Jungkook
Why are you helping me? That’s sus

Seokjin
Um how is that suspicious
I’m nice
Bitch

Yoongi
Uhuh

Seokjin
D:

Jungkook
Anyways great talk, maybe I’ll tell you another time

Hobi
NO TELL US !

Yoongi
Lol

Namjoon
……………… lol?
what
is
happening

Seokjin
Yoongi are you OKAY

Hobi
⚆ _ ⚆

Yoongi
I’m good thanks
:)

Jungkook
(◕‿◕✿)

Namjoon
What the fuck

Seokjin
Don’t fucking swear

Hobi
Hey now

Seokjin
You’re an all-star

Namjoon
God

Seokjin
Thanks but you can call me Seokjin, Jin, Jinnie or your future husband ;)

Namjoon
You’re weird but I love you

Hobi
༼ つ ಥ_ಥ ༽つ

Yoongi
Damn this truly is a waste of time huh

Jungkook
Yeah, they don’t seem to care at all…

Yoongi
Hm…
I guess they don’t want to know that we’re dating now

Jungkook
Their loss tbh

Seokjin
WHAJKFTSDF GSUIGKFJEDFJ ukjigfHSREUG

Namjoon
UUUUUUUUU H WHAT

Hobi
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

Jimin
What is going on with you guys
…
WAIT WHAT

Jimin Facetimed all of his friends at once.
Everyone picked up.
Except for Taehyung.
It was a little off for Taehyung to not pick up, to not even be active in the group chat. He usually got up pretty early. But Jimin figured that he just might want to sleep longer today.
Everyone started talking at once, all of their voices overlapping.
Jimin was still tired, so he just watched them with amusement.
Hoseok was probably the loudest of the bunch, which wasn’t surprising. He saw Freya peek over his shoulder and leave again, when she saw that everything was alright.
“Why did you not tell us???” Seokjin demanded, grabbing the phone out of Namjoon’s hand.
Yoongi and Jungkook were together with the dogs, sitting at Yoongi’s kitchen table. They both laughed at their friends’ reactions.
They enjoyed this way too much.
“It only just happened yesterday…” Jungkook said, trying to calm everyone down.
Jimin grinned.
“I’m so happy for you, you have no idea! Yoongi, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you…”
Jungkook’s eyes widened in terror.
“Shut up!”
Yoongi raised his brow.
“He’s been crushing on you ever since he met you for the first time.” Namjoon provided helpfully, trying to get his phone back from his fiancé.
“And it got only worse over the years!” Jimin said, laughing.
“He kept on whining for so many years. I told him he should just tell you, finally, but he never did!”
Yoongi shook his head.
“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping this a secret for so long, oh my god.”
Jungkook shrugged sheepishly.
“Had you told me earlier, starting like, 3 years ago… I would have dated you back then already.
Whatever Jungkook replied to that got drowned out by his friends’ loud, unisional ooooohhhh.
“Well guys, I’m really really happy to hear this. Seriously. It’s definitely a win for all of us to never hear Jungkook whine about his feelings again, but even despite that, I’m so happy to see you happy. That’s the most important thing to me. Seeing the people I love happy.”
Hoseok started sniffling.
“Namjoon what is wrong with you…” he asked, blinking. An attempt to hide the tears that gathered in his eyes.
“You guys are the best.” Jungkook said, grinning brightly. His nose scrunching and his eyes sparkling. True happiness.
Yoongi looked just as happy, showing his iconic gummy smile that they all loved.
Jimin felt happy.
He was genuinely proud of his friends.
“I love you guys.” he said and yawned.
“I’m very happy for you!”
They continued talking for a few more minutes before hanging up.
They all left one by one, once again professing their love towards one another, until only Jimin and Hoseok were left.
“Hey Hobi” Jimin said as he got up, taking his phone with him.
“What’s up?” he asked cheerfully.
“Is Taehyung still asleep?”
Hoseok’s face fell slightly, though he tried not to show it.
Something was wrong.
“What is it?”
“I just… I’m surprised. He didn’t tell you?”
Jimin frowned.
“Tell me what?”

Chapter Text

Taehyung hadn’t been in Daegu in a while.
It’s been a couple of years already, actually.
Honestly, it was weird being back. He had lived here a couple of years as a child, most of the memories blurry by now. He did remember fighting with his sister and running away though. His father had been very, very angry at him.
He sighed, breathing in the cool breeze.
It was still quite warm, but at least there was some wind now.
He hadn’t seen Seojoon in several years either.
The last time they had been in contact must have been a year ago now, but even then their text conversations had been relatively short and not very deep.
But Taehyung knew that Seojoon’s birthday was coming up, in fact, it was tomorrow.
So he asked Seojoon if he could come and stay with him for a ‘bit.
He didn’t specify for how long, but he didn’t have to.
Park Seojoon was extremely popular and usually had people staying with him. Even as a child, Seojoon had a ridiculous amount of friends. It had always confused Taehyung. How could someone have that many friends?
He never had many friends.
As a child he had a handful, which had been fine. He had gotten invited to birthday parties and all that stuff you do as a kid.
But he never had such a big group of people hanging around him as Seojoon does.
The first time he actually felt like he had friends who truly, for whatever reason, cared about him was when he met Hoseok and Freya. Especially Hoseok had been a wonderful friend for many years now.
And Park Jimin.
He shook his head, as if that could help getting the thoughts out of his head.
He didn’t want to think about Park Jimin.
It made his heart ache.
Taehyung felt bad for not telling Jimin about leaving. He knew that Hobi would tell him and that Jimin would feel hurt.
It sucked. And Taehyung felt like a terrible person for hurting someone as wonderful as Jimin.
But it was necessary.
Jimin deserved someone who was truly worthy of his affections, not someone like Taehyung.
He sighed and checked the map on his phone.
He was nearly there.
Earlier today he had sent an email to his biological aunt, telling her that he couldn’t make it after all. He didn’t know if he’d ever visit her.
It was too scary to do on his own.
But he couldn’t drag Jimin into this. Not again.
Jimin kept getting hurt because of him. He should have let him go back at his sister’s wedding. Back when Kim Sung-ho had hit him.
That seemed like centuries ago now.
Sighing, he walked into the building and took the elevator upstairs.
It was unnecessarily fancy.
He knew that Seojoon was wealthy, always had been, but it seemed like he had gotten even wealthier these days.
He didn’t belong here.
The elevator door opened and he stepped out.
He checked his reflection on the phone, trying to fix his hair. He should have put on better clothes…
The door opened only a few seconds after he had rung the doorbell.
Seojoon stood in front of him, smiling.
“Hey Taehyung!” he said, hugging him.
“Come in!”
Seojoon acted like they hadn’t stopped talking a year ago. He talked and talked and seemed very relaxed.
Taehyung felt the exact opposite, but he was playing extra nice, in order to be able to stay here for now.
“Dude, I’m really glad to see you again!” Seojoon said, patting the younger man on the back.
“Heh, yeah. It’s been a while.”
“Hellooooo?” A high voice called.
A young woman appeared. She was wearing a luxurious looking dress and had her bleached hair tied back.
She was wearing glasses. They weren’t dirty at all, unlike Namjoon’s.
“Iris! Meet my old buddy Taehyung.”
The woman - Iris - walked towards them.
“Hi, Taehyung! Nice to meet you.” She stretched out her hand.
He shook it.
“Are you his girlfriend?” Taehyung asked, trying to start a casual conversation.
Seojoon and Iris looked at each other and then both started laughing.
“Pff, he wishes.”
“So, what brings you here?” Seojoon asked, smiling slyly.
“Girl trouble?” he winked.
“Uh… not exactly…”
“Boy trouble?” Iris asked, just as slyly.
“Um…”
At this point Taehyung wasn’t sure if coming here had been the best idea.
“Hey dude, we don’t discriminate.” Seojoon patted him on the back once again.
“Want a drink?”
“It’s only 1pm…”
“The earlier, the better!”
Taehyung got himself some water while the other two started drinking wine.
They sat around the big and fancy looking table in the middle of the big and fancy looking living room.
Taehyung couldn’t wrap his head around how big and luxurious this entire abode was. It wasn’t something he particularly liked or felt comfortable with.
“So, what do you do?” Iris asked Taehyung, dark eyes glistening behind the glasses.
“I’m an artist.”
Her face lightened up.
“Oh, really? What kind of artist? Tell me more!”
Seojoon chuckled.
“Oh dear, you’ve hit the nail on the head with that one.”
Taehyung told them a little bit about his work, but he left out the part where he worked with children’s book author Park Jimin. He didn’t want to talk about it.
“Wow, that’s amazing.” Iris said, sipping on her wine.
Then she got up.
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
She dragged Taehyung's arm who awkwardly got up and followed her. Seojoon chuckled again and followed suit.
Iris dragged him through the big living room to a smaller, but still pretty big, living room.
There was a big painting on the wall.
It looked like an original.
Taehyung raised his brows.
“Wow, that’s incredible!”
In front of him was a painting by Jang Hyo, an artist that lived in the 40’s.
It was one of Taehyung’s favorites, The Stranger.
The painting showed a young man in a suit leaning on a desk.
His expression was sad and thoughtful.
Taehyung really admired Jang Hyo. Ever since he had gotten into painting as a child, Jang Hyo had been one of his biggest inspirations.
His portraits and landscapes were magical and each one had a special meaning.
Just like this one.
The man in the painting was someone Jang Hyo had met on the road. Taehyung remembered reading about this.
The young man had been so mesmerizing, Jang Hyo had asked to paint him. The man agreed, under one condition. Jang Hyo, and no one else, could ever learn his name.
Only a few days after Jang Hyo had painted him, the young man had taken his own life.
No one ever found out who he was, no one looked for him. No parents, siblings, friends or lovers. Absolutely no one.
Taehyung thought this was terribly sad.
No one deserved to be forgotten.
In his autobiography, Jang Hyo had written that he was glad that he could capture this man’s aura, despite not knowing who he was. He wrote that he had been glad to be a friend to someone as lonely and sad as him, even if it had only been for a day.
There was something so mesmerizing about the stranger’s eyes. They were dark, but still seemed to be sparkling.
Taehyung turned to Seojoon.
“Where did you get that? That must have been terribly expensive! I didn’t even know this was for sale…”
Seojoon smirked.
“You’re a real sweetheart,” Iris said, pinching Taehyung’s cheeks.
He smiled awkwardly.
“There are more where this came from.” Seojoon said, the smirk never leaving his lips.
And he was right.
There were more of these tall, dark walls filled with paintings.
Taehyung didn’t know most of them, many were by European artists he only heard of in passing, but there also were a few he recognized.
“This is… wow.” he said, not sure what else to say.
“Glad you like it.” Seojoon winked at him.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to get ready. Taehyung, we’ll celebrate my birthday early. The guests will arrive at 5, so make yourself comfortable until then!”
With that he left Taehyung and Iris behind.
Iris looked at Taehyung curiously, but didn’t say much more.
Eventually she left too, claiming to have work to do.
So now it was only Taehyung.
He felt absolutely lost.
Pulling out his phone he saw that there were a lot of missed messages and calls.
A lot of them were from the group chat, someone must have posted something funny.
And another big portion were from Jimin. Including the phone calls.
Taehyung sighed.
He hated doing this.

Chapter Text

Jimin showed up at Taehyung’s apartment as soon as possible.
Hoseok had to practice until 3pm, but now he was back. And Jimin was already there.
“Hey, Jiminie!” he said, spotting the small man standing in front of his front door.
He unlocked the door and both of them walked inside.
“I’ll make coffee.”
Jimin smiled gratefully and sat down at the kitchen table.
His thoughts had been spiraling ever since he found out that Taehyung had left.
He had left town, without telling Jimin why. Or where he went.
Hobi sat down the cups on the table and then sat himself down on a chair, opposite Jimin. He sighed.
“Why did he leave?”
Hoseok shrugged, looking apologetic.
“I’m not sure… And I really don’t get why he didn’t say anything to you…”
He stirred his coffee for a moment.
“Did something happen between you two?”
Jimin could feel his heartbeat getting faster.
“Not really, no. Nothing special.”
Hoseok hummed in acknowledgment.
“Alright… Well, what was the last thing that happened?”
Jimin took a moment to think.
“Yesterday we were working on the book. He left, visited his mother and then went home… Maybe something happened with his mother?”
Hoseok shook his head.
“No way. You would know that.”
Fair enough, Jimin thought.
Taehyung probably would have told him… right?
“Is there anything else?” Hoseok asked.
He looked like he already knew the answer anyway.
Jimin shrugged and looked down at the table in embarrassment.
“I uh… I got him some flowers yesterday. Dropped them off here.”
Hoseok nodded.
“I see. It makes sense.”
Jimin looked up.
“What do you mean?”
Hobi got up and sighed deeply. He walked around the kitchen, seemingly lost in thought.
“Hobi…”
“Well…” his friend started, scratching his head.
“You probably already knew this but he has a pretty bad inferiority complex. He’s been like this ever since I first met him. Always comparing himself to everyone else, never seeing any of the great things he does, never seeing any of the people who love him… It’s hard sometimes. For him, mainly, but also for me - for any of his friends, really.”
He sat back down again, touching his mug with a long finger.
“When we first started being friends he acted similarly. He wouldn’t talk to me for days. He didn’t leave town back then, it wasn’t quite as severe… But you’re a special case, Jimin.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Hobi smiled kindly.
“Don’t you know?”
Jimin shook his head. Then shrugged.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he left without telling you anything and I’ll help you get him back.”

~
Twenty minutes later, they sat in Hobi’s car.
Hobi had called Freya so that she wouldn’t worry when both of her roommates were suddenly gone.
Jimin sent a text to Yoongi, asking him to tell the others that he was going to be out of town for today. And maybe tomorrow, too. Jimin didn’t know how long they would be gone. But it didn’t matter. He only cared about getting Taehyung back.
“With normal people I would probably advise you to give them some space, for a few days, and then try to talk again. But when it comes to Taehyung, it’s different.”
Hobi’s hands were unconsciously moving to the rhythm of the music that played in his car. Music and dancing truly was a part of him.
Jimin nodded.
“I’m glad you’re saying that. I was worried about being annoying and clingy…” he admitted, looking out of the window.
They were leaving town now.
Daegu was a good two hour drive away.
“Don’t worry about that, Jiminie. This isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it though?” Jimin frowned.
“Had I not given him flowers…”
“Stop that.” Hobi looked at him with a serious expression.
“It’s not your fault.”
Two hours, and several deep conversations about their mutual friends and their lives, the two of them arrived.
It was 5:30pm by now, the sun was still up.
Hoseok stopped in front of a big apartment complex. It looked terribly fancy.
“This is the place?” Jimin couldn’t believe his eyes.
He had never been in a building like that.
“That’s the address, yeah.”
It turned out that Taehyung had told Hoseok that he would stay with a friend for a while, but he had never mentioned where exactly.
Hobi had to admit that he had installed a tracking app on Taehyung’s phone a while back.
“I was worried!” he said defensively.
“I wanted to know where he was, in case his father…” he didn’t have to say more than that. Jimin understood.
They got out of the car and walked inside the building.
The inside was even fancier than the outside.
A big chandelier was lighting their way and their shoes sounded loud on the marble floor.
They got on the elevator and left it when they were up on the 9th floor.
There were a ton of rich looking people all around them. Lots of Korean and foreign folks, all of them looking like millionaires.
Jimin felt very out of place and he could tell that Hoseok felt the same way.
The two of them made their way to the apartment in question.
All the people walked inside and out of said apartment.
“Are you sure this is the right place?”
Hoseok showed Jimin his phone. This definitely was the right place.
Despite their regular clothes, it wasn’t very hard to get inside. They were able to blend in with the crowd. And hoo boy, was there a crowd.
The apartment was huge, so it wasn’t too stuffy. But it was still fuller than what was comfortable for Jimin.
Loud classical music was playing from speakers at the ceiling.
“We’re never going to find him like this…” Jimin said, eyes wandering over the sea of people.
“A drink?”
Jimin and Hoseok both jumped when a fancy looking man holding a tablet offered them something to drink. They both declined and quickly walked away.
“Damn it, we need to be more careful… We’re not on the guestlist.” Hoseok said, concern in his voice.
Suddenly Jimin stopped walking. Hobi walked against him and made both of them stumble a bit.
Unfortunately that made them get attention from someone.
Mary Lawson was standing there, wearing a flowy, blue dress.
When she saw Jimin, her eyes widened. But then a smile creeped onto her face.
“So we meet again.”

Chapter Text

This wasn’t a normal birthday party.
Taehyung was fine with someone liking classical music and playing that instead of your typical party music. He also was fine with someone inviting lots of guests - even though the amount of guests here was genuinely ridiculous.
But there was something else. Something was very off with the way all the guests came in and looked at the art on the walls.
Something was very wrong with the way Seojoon talked to his guests, more like a businessman than a host of a birthday party.
“These kinds of parties happen regularly.” Iris said, standing next to Taehyung.
“This one is special though, of course. Birthday parties should always be special.”
Taehyung looked over at her.
She was holding a martini in her right and a purse in her left. She looked like a character from a heist movie.
“What is happening here?”
Iris looked at him with a raised brow.
“Haven’t you guessed yet?”
Taehyung had… a vague idea of what could potentially be going on here, but he honestly didn’t want to think about it. He really, really didn’t.
“No.” he said firmly.
“I actually have no idea what’s going on.”
He looked at the young woman, waiting for a response.
She didn’t say anything though, just started smirking.
“You’re clever, Taehyung. I’m sure you know what this is.”
She emptied her glass in one go and handed it to a passing waiter.
“I looked at your art online, you know. You’ve got potential.”
Taehyung didn’t reply.
He had to get out of here.
“I think I’ll leave now… I actually need to visit my mom. Back home. I need to go.”
“Not so fast, Kim Taehyung.”
Iris placed a slender hand on his shoulder.
“You shouldn’t leave just yet! The party hasn’t even started properly. It would be a shame if you’d miss it.”
Taehyung took a step away from her.
“That’s okay. I don’t mind. I just need to go, I forgot something important.”
Iris didn’t look like she was going to let him go.
“Everything alright here?” Seojoon came walking up to them.
“Our friend here wants to leave already!” Iris said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Oh, really?” Seojoon mimicked Iris, crossing his arms in front of his own chest.
“No way, Tae!” he smiled brightly.
“I have a deal for you, my friend.”
He got closer, a little too close for Taehyung’s liking, placing his hand on his shoulder.
“Iris here showed me the art you posted online. It’s pretty good, especially the portraits… You could make so much money with that! Don’t let it go to waste, pretty boy.”
His smile grew wider.
Taehyung quickly shook his head, taking another step backwards.
“I… I really need to leave.”
He started walking quickly, but they followed him.
Now he started running, as much as possible in such a crowded space.
But then some guy cut off his escape route.
“Now, now.” Seojoon walked towards him.
Iris showed up behind him, she smiled sweetly. Cruelly.
“Taehyung, my friend. Where do you think you’re going?” he smiled and shook his head, as if Taehyung had said something silly.
“Even if you don’t want to work with us - you know too much now. You’re not leaving.”

~
Mary Lawson stared at the men in front of her.
It wasn’t very intimidating because she wasn’t very intimidating, but Hoseok still seemed scared. That was the appropriate reaction.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Jimin wasn’t here to play games.
“Why are you here?”
“I asked you first.”
“We’re here for business.” Hoseok interjected, his face surprisingly serious for someone who was terrified.
Mary raised her brows.
“Oh, really?”
Hobi nodded firmly.
“Do you even know what this place is? You seem a little… out of place.”
“I know exactly what this place is.” Hoseok took a step closer to the small woman. Jimin was pretty damn impressed.
“Aengus Mirth. This is where we are.”
Jimin had absolutely no idea what on earth that meant, but he nodded along.
Mary looked surprised by that.
“Why…” she started, but didn’t seem to know what she wanted to ask.
“I’m Choi Eun.” Hoseok said, stretching out his hand for her to shake.
“Jimin is my friend. I’m here to introduce him to the world of art forgery.”
…. Art forgery?!
Jimin started to panic. He could feel his heartbeat getting faster and faster. He wanted to leave. But he couldn’t. Taehyung was here.
Mary eventually shook Hosek’s outstretched hand, despite still being wary.
“What an interesting turn of events.” she said, looking at Jimin.
“Indeed.”
She raised her brow at that.
“Make sure that he doesn’t talk.”
“Don’t you worry.” Hoseok gave her his brightest, most blinding smile.
And with that, she left them alone.
“Holy shit.” Jimin said.
“Holy fucking shit.”
“Calm down! And be quiet!” Hobi quickly pulled Jimin to a less crowded spot.
“Aengus Mirth? What is that? How did you know about this?!”
Hobi smiled sheepishly.
“I saw a documentary about it a few weeks ago. The Aengus Mirth is a group of art forgers. These definitely aren’t all, they’re pretty… global. But it seems like I was right! Someone here must be part of that group! And these people… They’re buying and reselling.”
Jimin was at a loss for words.
There was absolutely nothing he could say right now that would express his feelings.
“Holy shit.” he said again, shaking his head.
“I wasn’t entirely sure about it at first… imagine if this hadn’t been the Aengus Mirth and I’d have made a fool out of myself.” he giggled and Jimin stared at him.
“Sorry, nervous habit.”
“Hobi, we need to find Taehyung.”
The dancer nodded, his expression darkening.
“How are we going to do that?”

~
Taehyung was inside a room.
The lightswitch didn’t work, so it was dark, except for the city lights.
They had locked him in here.
He wasn’t sure what was going to happen when this party ended, he was terrified.
He didn’t think that they would hurt him. But they wouldn’t let him go either.
Before locking him inside this room, they had taken his phone from him.
Clever bastards.
Now, he was looking everywhere he could for some kind of key or something to break the door open with. But there was nothing.
There was a desk in this room, but the drawers were empty.
There was nothing.
Taehyung could feel tears gathering in his eyes.
You deserve this, the voice inside his head said.
You left and hurt someone you love. You deserve this.
He crouched down in front of the door, tears streaming down his face.
There was no way he could get out of here. This apartment was on the 9th floor, after all.
He had tried opening the windows, to see if there was some kind of ledge he could climb over or if anyone down on the street could hear him, but the windows were also locked.
He felt pathetic and small.
He felt just like his father had always seen him.
Maybe his father had been right all along. Maybe he shouldn’t hate his father for being like this to him. Kim Sung-ho had only ever said the truth. Why would he hate someone who only ever told him the truth?
He was tired.
He had been hammering on the door and shouting, but to no avail.
The music outside the room changed. It wasn’t classical anymore, now it was actual party music. Seojoon must have sold some pieces by now.
Taehyung wondered how Jimin was doing.
Was he worried about him? He hoped not. He hoped Jimin would simply forget about him.
But he knew Jimin.
He knew that Jimin must be terribly worried, and Taehyung felt so guilty.
This felt like some kind of punishment from the universe.
Taehyung wasn’t religious or anything, but this entire thing was way too surreal. It was fucking insane.
“What am I going to do now?” he whispered to himself through all the tears.
“I’m sorry Jimin. I’m so sorry.”
He looked up at the window and the city lights behind it.
He couldn’t find any solace in them.

Chapter Text

“Jimin hasn’t texted any of us all day, neither has Hobi. It’s weird.”
Jungkook plopped down on the couch next to his boyfriend who was currently busy texting these two friends in question.
“I hope they’re okay… Taehyung too.”
Jungkook hummed.
“He hasn’t texted anyone either, has he? Gosh, why did he just leave like that?!”
Neither of them knew the answer.
They had planned on watching a movie, but now they just sat around, worrying.
After all, that was one of their specialties.
They kept worrying and talking until Yoongi fell asleep, head resting on Jungkook’s shoulder.
Despite his worries, Jungkook felt incredibly lucky.
Now he couldn’t even remember what it was like panicking over Yoongi not returning his feelings. It seemed like a foreign concept.
He looked down at the musician.
He looked relaxed and happy, his lips slightly parted.
Jungkook smiled.
Then his phone rang.
The ringing made both of them jump.
“Sorry, babe.”
Yoongi laughed.
“Babe?”
“I just wanted to try something!” Jungkook replied defensively, but his smile dropped when he saw the caller ID.
“It’s Jimin!”
He picked up immediately and put him on speaker.
“Jungkook!” Jimin said on the other line, sounding panicked.
“Shit, we’re in trouble.”
“What’s going on?!” Jungkook asked.
“Is Hoseok with you?”
“He’s here.”
There was some rustling and then Hoseok was on the phone.
“Hey guys. I’m afraid Jimin is right, we’ve got a problem.”
They filled them in quickly.
“Holy fuck.” Yoongi said and got up.
The dogs noticed his anxiety and got up to cheer him up.
He patted their heads absentmindedly while listening to his friends’ story.
“Should we call the cops?”
“We need to find Taehyung first.”
“But they can find him for you, Jimin. This isn’t safe.”
They could hear Jimin sigh.
“I don’t know, Yoongi. What if-”
“Jimin, quickly! Come!”
“What…”
More rustling.
No more voices.
“Jimin? Hobi?” Jungkook asked desperately, but neither of them replied.
They were gone.
~
“Are you sure you heard them say Taehyung?? What if it was a different name?”
“I’m not deaf, Jimin. Come on.”
Hoseok and Jimin followed two people right now.
One of them was a tall man with dark hair and handsome features, the other a beautiful woman with blackrimmed glasses and blonde hair.
Apparently, they had spoken about Taehyung.
Of course, they couldn’t know if it was their Taehyung or another one. But they were willing to take their chances.
There was good distance between them and the forgers, but as they kept walking they got closer. The man and woman talked, and then split up.
“Damn it.” Jimin said.
“What now? Who do we follow?”
“You go left, I’ll go right.”
“But we shouldn’t split up!”
“I know… But do you have a better idea?”
Hoseok looked sad. Jimin wanted to hug him and wrap him into a blanket, but maybe this wasn’t the most fitting situation for that.
So he nodded and followed the tall man.
As children, he, Yoongi, Seokjin and Namjoon sometimes played secret agents.
They had acted like they had to break into a secret location, save people or valuable objects. Back then Jimin had really wanted to be a secret agent.
He ended up writing about one instead.
Now he actually kind of felt like one, which would have been cool, hadn’t the situation been so dire.
The man turned a corner, so did Jimin.
Eventually the man stopped in front of a door.
He took out a key and unlocked it.
Jimin got closer, very slowly.
Luckily the man didn’t bother to close the door.
He carefully peeked into the room.
It was pretty dark inside, he could only make out two silhouettes.
“Why are you crying?” the man asked the other person in the room.
“You’ll ruin your pretty face with all that crying.”
The other person didn’t say anything.
“Come one, Taehyung. You could be rich!”
Jimin’s breath hitched.
Of course he had assumed that this was Taehyung, but now he had gotten the confirmation.
“Leave me alone.” Taehyung said, his voice barely audible.
“Let me go, Seojoon. I thought we were friends.”
The man - Seojoon - chuckled.
“But we are! I really like you, Taehyung. We could do amazing things together!”
“It’s not too late to stop this.”
“Oh, trust me, it’s way too late.”
Seojoon’s back was turned towards Jimin now. He was standing uncomfortably close in front of Taehyung, trying to talk him into working with him.
This was Jimin’s chance.
All these years of playing secret agents must be worth something, right?
He quickly slipped into the room.
No one had noticed him.
Jimin was crouching behind a couch, looking for something to whack over Seojoon’s head.
He had never done something like this before.
He was genuinely terrified.
But it didn’t matter.
“Listen, my friend.” Seojoon’s voice sounded different now. Colder.
“You aren’t leaving this place anyways! So you might as well get rich, no?”
A glass bottle.
There was a glass bottle on the table in front of the couch.
It still had some beer inside of it. Seojoon must have put it there.
Jimin didn’t think he was very strong or fast, but he had to try.
He crouched as long as he could - then he jumped up, grabbed the bottle - Taehyung saw him, he stared at him with a shocked expression - but before Seojoon could turn around, Jimin whacked the bottle over his head.
It wasn’t enough to knock him out.
“What the…” Seojoon rubbed the back of his head.
There was blood.
He laughed.
“I see how it is. Your knight in shining armor, huh?”
Jimin could just stand there, like a deer in headlights.
Seojoon raised his fist and started towards Jimin, but Taehyung tackled him.
They both fell onto the floor.
Jimin tried to help Taehyung somehow. He tried to get Seojoon away from him, but the guy was strong. Too strong.
And then they heard sirens.
Seojoon jumped up and looked outside the window.
“Shit!”
He started running.
“Taehyung!” Jimin yelled, getting down on his knees next to his friend.
He was angry. Sad. Relieved.
He hugged him.
Taehyung was probably kind of suffocating, but he didn’t care.
The rest of the night went by in a blur.
Jimin, Taehyung and Hoseok got out of the apartment safely.
Then they got into Hoseok’s car and drove home.
They didn’t talk to the police, but they saw them arrest several people.
Now they were on their way back home, all of their friends on speaker.
“Fuck, I can’t believe this.” Seokjin said.
“I’m just glad you got out of there in one piece! You have no idea how fucking worried we were.”
Yoongi sounded exhausted.
He and Jungkook had driven over to Namjoon’s and Seokjin’s place. They had picked up Freya too, who was able to track Taehyung’s phone.
“Seriously, we all were absolutely terrified. I’m still shaking now!” she said.
“How the hell did this even happen? Why did you leave town, Tae?”
“Come on Joon, you can ask him that another time…” Hobi tried, but oblivious Namjoon didn’t stop questioning.
“I really want to know what happened, what even led to these events in the first place!”
Taehyung didn’t reply.
He sat on the backseat, silent. Just staring out of the window.
“Get your asses here quickly, okay?” Jin said now.
“Just… come here. ASAP.”
With that, they ended the call.
Taehyung had fallen asleep, Hoseok was busy driving.
Jimin was lost in his thoughts.
What would happen next?

Chapter Text

The next day Taehyung made a decision.
He didn’t tell anyone about it.
He knew what their reactions would be, if he told them.
It was 9am, the sun was shining, but it was finally getting a little colder now. For the first time in months, Taehyung was wearing a thin jacket.
He quietly left Seokjin’s and Namjoon’s apartment, all of his friends still asleep after the long night before.
He was walking down the street, turning corner after corner, until he eventually ended up in front of the local prison.
“I’m here to see Kim Sung-Ho.”
A guard led him to his father’s cell.
It was pretty big and didn’t look too uncomfortable.
Kim Sung-Ho had been in here for a few days now, after seriously hurting someone after a fight.
They also found a few other offenses similar to this one, one of them even going so far that the victim had been hospitalized.
He wasn’t getting out of here any time soon.
Taehyung was glad. Relieved. Terrified.
What would happen once he got out?
He figured he didn’t have to worry about that now, he wouldn’t be out in the next 6 years at least.
Taehyung wondered what his life would be like then, in 6 years.
Would he still have his friends? Or would they have gotten sick of him by then?
Would he still have Jimin?
“What do you want here?”
Kim Sung-Ho slowly turned around, like a movie villain.
His expression was dark and so were the circles under his eyes.
“I’m here to say goodbye.”
His father scoffed.
“Where’re you going? Finally leaving this world?”
Taehyung tried not to let himself be affected by his father’s words. He really tried.
“I don’t want you in my life anymore. This is it.”
Taehyung crossed his arms in front of his chest, trying to look collected. He certainly didn’t feel collected.
“You haven’t changed a bit. You’re still the same, scared boy from all those years ago.”
Taehyung’s father sighed, almost looking reminiscent.
“You would always get so scared of everything and everyone… You still do. I always hoped for the best, I really did. I would even pray sometimes, even though I don’t believe in any of this bullcrap. Turns out no god or anything exists and I’m right. My prayers weren’t heard.”
“Why do you hate me so much?!” Taehyung snapped. He was tired.
Kim Sung-Ho laughed.
He fucking laughed.
“I don’t hate you, Taehyung. I just don’t… feel much towards you. I suppose a father shouldn’t be like this, huh? But this is who I am!” He gestured towards himself, the smile still on his face.
“That’s who you are?” Taehyung asked. “A cruel and violent human being and a fucking terrible father?”
“No, Taehyung. I’m a man. A real man who doesn’t take anyone’s shit.”
“I’ll go now. Goodbye.”
And with that, Taehyung turned around and walked away.
He truly hoped he would never, ever see him again.
He was on his way back home, when he got a call.
It was from Jimin.
He sighed. Of course Jimin would notice him disappearing.
For a moment he thought about not picking up, but he knew that they could track him. He should have deleted that tracking app when he found it on his phone… He supposed he could still delete it now, but it didn’t feel right.
Instead he picked up.
“Tae, where are you?” Jimin sounded alarmed.
“I’m fine, Jimin. Really.”
He heard rustling, hushed voices in the background.
“Tae. We need to talk.”
“About what? This is just the way I am. Don’t expect too much.”
There was a spider on the ground in front of him.
He crouched down to pick it up.
Jimin sighed.
“We both know that’s not true.”
The spider was small, he couldn’t make out any eyes, but he felt like it was watching him. Judging him.
“Hey can you guys shut up?!” Jimin said. There was more rustling and the sound of a door closing.
“Are you hiding in the bathroom?”
“That’s none of your concern, mister. We’re talking. Now.”
“Jesus.”
Taehyung grinned and sat the spider down in the grass.
“Listen, Tae. We can’t have this conversation over the phone. Just come back, okay?”
Taehyung eyed the spider. It was making its way back to him.
“I’m really sorry, but there’s nothing we can talk about. Seriously. I know you think I’m a good friend or even a good person, but-”
“Stop. Don’t you dare.”
Taehyung closed his eyes.
“It’s over, Jimin. I’ll just… Maybe I’ll go back to Daegu.”
He heard Jimin take a sharp breath in on the other end of the line, clearly upset.
“No, you’re not. I’m not letting you. You’re supposed to work with me on my book, remember?!” Jimin’s voice got progressively louder. Taehyung didn’t remember ever hearing him this pissed.
He guessed he deserved it.
“Stop knocking on the door, Jungkook! And Taehyung!”
The spider was sitting right in front of his foot.
He picked it up again.
“We’re not done yet. You’re meeting me at my place in an hour.”
With that, he hung up.
Taehyung stared at his phone.
He groaned in annoyance, putting the phone back into his pocket.
With the spider still sitting on his hand, he made his way to his apartment.
Freya was there, looking at him expectantly.
“I’m fine!” he said, rushing past her into his own room.
He opened the window and sat the spider down on the roof that connected his room to the apartment complex next door.
He unconsciously had carried it back home.
“I have a suggestion.”
Taehyung jumped, not having heard Freya enter his room.
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes. My suggestion, or rather advice, is this: Be honest. Stop running away. Shut the hell up and listen for once.”
Taehyung frowned.
“Doesn’t sound very nice.”
She rolled her eyes. “Piss off.”

~
Despite not wanting to go at all, Taehyung found himself at Jimin’s place an hour later.
He really didn’t want to be here.
But he owed it to Jimin, didn’t he? The guy kept getting into trouble because of him. He could never forgive himself for getting him into danger.
“Hey, Tae.” Jimin said, approaching him.
“Let’s walk.”
Without waiting for Taehyung to respond, he started walking.
Taehyung pouted, but followed him.
They walked through some fields and eventually into the forest for at least 10 minutes without either of them saying anything.
“Didn’t you want to talk?” Taehyung asked, when Jimin still wouldn’t say a word.
Jimin didn’t reply and just kept walking.
“Great…”
In the end they walked for about 20 minutes in silence, which was… weird.
Jimin led him through a part of the forest, up a hill.
It was sunny and still relatively warm, so, on any other day, it would have been very nice to be up here, Taehyung thought.
From the top of the hill they could see parts of the town below. The colorful houses and the narrow streets. Lots of trees, too.
It was beautiful.
“My mother’s grave is over there.”
Jimin stopped in front of a tree and bowed.
He glanced at Taehyung.
“Oh.” he said, proceeding to bow.
There was a small gravestone with a little inscription.
Beloved mother and friend.
Jimin sat down in front of it and rummaged in his bag. He pulled out some wildflowers and placed them in front of the gravestone.
Taehyung hesitantly sat down next to him.
“You know, I miss her every day. Every single day.” Jimin said, his eyes still on the flowers.
“I don’t cry as much as I used to, but even now there are nights where I don’t sleep and just cry my eyes out.”
Taehyung didn’t know what to say to that.
He looked at his hands.
There was blue paint under his fingernail.
“Before I knew you, every single night was filled with tears. Sometimes my friends would call in the middle of the night, as if they knew that I was still awake and crying. Sometimes they’d show up on my doorstep with pizza at 3am. Silly boys.” He smiled to himself and then leaned back, looking up at the tree casting shadow over them.
“They still do that sometimes, as you know. But, even though I love them more than anything in the world, their words and hugs usually wouldn’t calm me down. Make me feel better. But that was before I knew you.”
Taehyung was still staring at his fingers. Maybe he should start wearing gloves while painting.
“Just sitting around with you, doing absolutely nothing, has helped me immensely. Just knowing that you were there. You’re someone who cares so deeply about everyone, your heart is so big and filled with love and endless comfort. You paint beautifully. The way you see the world is so special, you know? You keep bringing the odd characters I create to live, much better than any art thieves ever could. When you see animals, any animal, doesn’t matter which ones, your eyes start shining. Your smile is so big and beautiful. Your hugs are warm and comforting. Your voice is gorgeous, too. When we’re sitting on the porch in the evening sun and you tell me about your day, or when Yoongi plays the piano and you sing, or when you talk about things you’re passionate about. And you’re passionate about a lot of things! You know, my mother would have loved you to pieces. She would have told me to marry you.”
Taehyung felt heat rising into his cheeks. He was blinking furiously in order to keep the tears at bay.
“My grandmother has told me to marry you… She’s ridiculously endeared. I don’t even blame her, honestly. If being your friend, if being anything to you, meant that I would get hit by stupid ex-doctors or art thieves or if it meant traveling the world to find you - I would still do it.”
Taehyung finally looked up only to see that Jimin was already looking at him.
He was smiling brightly, his eyes almost disappearing.
“You’re such a bright and wonderful person and I know that you can’t see that. But I want to keep being with you, if you let me. I want to keep showing you that you’re deserving of love and friendship and all the good things.”
Tears were running down Taehyung’s face now.
That seemed to be a common occurrence nowadays.
“I don’t deserve that.” Taehyung said, voice wobbly.
“Wrong. You do deserve it. And you deserve even more than that. You just don’t know it… yet.”
Taehyung felt like a fool. He was a fool.
“I love you so much.” he said, sobbing.
“I love you too. Always have, always will.”
Jimin hugged him tight, letting him cry.
When he stopped crying, they walked back home.
This time Jimin kept talking about the most random things he could come up with, about trees and weird nature facts Namjoon told him one night and how he used to be scared of the forest as a child but wasn’t anymore.
Taehyung could just stare at him in awe.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
It was overwhelming.
“I need a new desk.” Jimin said eventually.
“Are you accompanying me to IKEA?”

~

“Congratulations, Jiminie… I think! Finally!!!”
Namjoon was bouncing up and down, phone pressed to his ear.
Jimin had called him in a state of panic, telling him about what had happened.
“Can’t talk more now, he’s coming back from the bathroom!”
With that, Jimin hung up.
Namjoon felt genuinely happy and giddy and couldn’t wait to tell everyone about the newest occurrences.
Before he could do that though, he was going to have to walk to the library.
There were several books he should have given back about two weeks ago.
The librarian was a kind, older lady who already knew him.
She sighed when she saw him, shaking her head.
“I’m not making you pay money this time kid, but you better get the books back on time next time!”
He saluted jokingly and she laughed.
Grinning, he went on his way, looking for new books to borrow.
He was meeting Seokjin at his father’s restaurant in a bit, so he had to hurry.
Grabbing two novels and one marine biology book he hurried out of the library, over to the restaurant.
Seokjin’s father was a well-built man, shoulders almost as broad as his son’s. He usually wore glasses, but he had misplaced them, the way he usually did.
“Good to see you, gentle giant!” he called from behind the counter, getting a few amused looks by customers.
Namjoon waved and walked to the backroom, where Seokjin was currently decorating muffins.
It was his mother’s birthday tomorrow and he and his father were preparing a little surprise.
“Hey Joonie!” he said, not looking up from his work.
Namjoon hugged him from behind, resting his head on the other's shoulder.
“If I mess up this muffin because of you…”
Namjoon smiled and watched his fiancé’s skilled hands.
Once he was done, he gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
Seokjin complained but laughed.
They helped out his father for a little while, before they eventually walked back home, hand in hand.
It was a little cold now, but they didn’t even notice. They were busy talking about their wedding plans.
They were going to get married in winter, which wasn’t that far away now.

Chapter Text

Winter really did come quickly.
Everything resumed the way it always had, more or less.
The seven friends (feat Freya every now and then) met up often, ate lots of food and watched trashy tv.
Jungkook finally officially moved in with Yoongi, after staying at his place for months. He didn’t even have to bring a whole lot, since most of his stuff was at the other’s apartment anyway.
Hobi had gone on a date with one of his dance people, but according to him, the guy was weird. So that hadn’t blossomed into anything.
No one really knew what exactly the relationship status of Jimin and Taehyung was at this point. As far as they knew, the two of them hadn’t even kissed. But their seemed to be a mutual understanding of the fact that they saw each other as more than friends.
Despite Seokjin’s best efforts of matchmaking and Yoongi trying to stop him, the two of them just took their time.
Now, it was finally time for the stag party.
Since Seokjin and Namjoon literally had the same friend group, they decided to celebrate together.
They went to an unnecessarily fancy club and ordered unnecessarily fancy drinks that Namjoon managed to spill at least five times.
Yoongi and Jungkook weren’t big fans of clubs at all and they disliked being around so many people, but they were still doing it now.
Both of them looked vaguely uncomfortable but still happy.
“I’m glad we came here.” Jungkook said. “Even though this drink looks poisonous.”
“Me too. And I think it’s radioactive. They came here to murder us, I guess. Finally.”
Jungkook laughed, hitting Yoongi lightly.
The musician tried his own drink but his expression told Jungkook that it wasn’t very enjoyable, even though it did seem to glow and sparkle in the dark.
“You’re cute.” he said, grinning.
“Are you hitting on me?”
“Maybe.”
“Disgusting.” Yoongi smiled, setting down his drink.
Their friends were currently busy dancing or getting forced to dance.
Hobi tried very, very hard to get Taehyung to dance, but Taehyung was like a statue. He just stood there, pouting.
He acted like he was upset because Hoseok spilled some of the radioactive liquid on his shirt.
“You know what’s nice?” Yoongi said, smirking as his boyfriend tried the drink and proceeded to set it down with a disgusted expression.
“Hm?”
“The fact that later tonight we can go home. Together. And there will be dogs too.”
Jungkook laughed and threw his arms around the smaller man, which resulted in both of them nearly falling off their barstools.
“I’m really lucky. Like, really lucky. Only a couple of months ago I never would have thought that the man I’ve been in love with for years and years would love me back. If you’d have told me 5 years ago, I would have said you’re insane.”
Yoongi chuckled, still holding onto Jungkook.
“Love you, dork.”
“Love you too, grandpa. I love you a whole damn lot.”
Yoongi cupped his hands around the younger’s face and kissed him. It was much less awkward now that they’ve been together for several months.

The day they got together, after both of them lost their entire minds as they stood in the middle of a field kissing, Jungkook came back home grinning like an idiot.
Hyun had raised an eyebrow, immediately noticing that his brother was behaving strangely.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked, lowering the book he was reading.
Jungkook couldn’t really help himself and hugged his older brother.
“I’m doing amazing!”
Hyun laughed, patting his younger brother’s back.
“Did you and Yoongi finally kiss?”
Jungkook let go of his brother, staring at him with a shocked expression.
“Your expression is telling me I’m right! I’m so happy for you, nerd. I really am. God, you two were hopeless… I’m glad I won’t have to deal with that anymore. Invite him to dinner, will you?”
He did.
Yoongi was behaving extra awkward when he came over and Jungkook couldn’t say he felt any less awkward. They had only been together for a few hours at that point and Hyun was constantly eyeing them with an amused expression.
Over the months it got much better though. Jungkook invited Yoongi a lot and the other way around.
Sometimes Hyun was there too, deciding to cook or order food for the three of them.
At some point it just became normal. They were boyfriends. They were dating. They were in love. And it was great.
The perks of being loved by Min Yoongi included him holding your hand a lot. All the time, basically. They included him being more vulnerable and open about his feelings, which were all really sweet and loving. They included crying like an idiot because he wrote a song for you. It included him getting up on his cute tiptoes to kiss your nose. It included hugging and cuddling him and kissing the top of his head because he was pocket sized.
“I’m seriously so in love with you.” Jungkook said one night as they were lazing on the couch.
Yoongi laughed in surprise.
“How can you say that when I haven’t showered since yesterday evening and am eating cold pizza?”
“Because you’re beautiful. Inside and out.”
“Goddamnit.”
Jungkook laughed and sat up.
“Too cheesy?”
“Never.”

“Oh my God, stop staring at each other all lovingly, I’m a single man!” Hoseok sat down next to them and grinned brightly. His smiles were always heart shaped.
“You won’t always be single, Hobi. You’re wonderful. There’s definitely someone out there for you.”
“You make me cry Yoongles!” He dramatically threw his arms around his friend.
“You can’t complain, I’m drunk.”
“You didn’t even touch your drink!”
“I’m drunk on love for my beautiful and amazing friends who deserve the whole entire world! I love you all so much!”
He proceeded to hug the other five in the same dramatic way.
“Oh, Hobi.” Taehyung said, patting his head lovingly.
“You drama queen.”
In the end, no one drank anything, except for the few sips they tried.
The drinks were really, really bad.
“How can they be so bad and so expensive at the same time?!” Jimin asked, pouting.
“Obnoxious rich people love them, even if they’re disgusting.” Seokjin said.
“Aren’t all rich people obnoxious?”
“Nah, not all of them are. My dad is friends with this guy who’s, like, unreasonably rich. But he’s kind. Very aware of his privilege.”
Jimin nodded in acknowledgment.
Their discussion went on for a while until Taehyung announced that he felt sick and needed to take a breather.
“I don’t blame you, these drinks are just too disgusting.” Hoseok said, frowning in sympathy.
Taehyung went on his way up to the roof terrace.
After a few minutes Jimin went after him.

Chapter Text

It took Jimin several minutes to find the stairs.
The club was very crowded and the music was extremely loud.
Jimin smiled to himself, knowing that the only person who really enjoyed being here was Hobi. But only because of the fact that he could dance here.
After a while Jimin considered asking someone about where the stairs were located, but then he saw them.
He went upstairs and opened the door that led outside.
Cold wind blew into his face and he shivered.
It was snowing.
The snow was covering the entire roof terrace and the world below, making everything look peaceful.
There weren’t any people up here, which was probably due to the fact that it was very cold.
No one was here, except for a young artist who was sitting on a ledge, sketching something.
“Taehyung, it’s so cold! You’ll get sick!”
“Wait!” Taehyung shouted, looking up. “Don’t come closer. Stay right there!”
Jimin sighed but complied.
After a few moments, Taehyung looked up again and grinned.
The snow had settled on his dark hair and in his long lashes.
“You look like some kind of winter prince.” Jimin said, making his way to the ledge. He sat down next to the artist and peeked over his shoulder.
“I don’t look that nice in real life,” he said.
Taehyung made an offended noise.
“Don’t say that! You look even nicer in real life.”
Jimin rolled his eyes.
“Tae, your hands are red already, and so is your nose. Let’s go back inside.”
“Just give me a moment!”
Jimin sighed and looked up.
A couple of stars were visible tonight, but the moon was nowhere in sight.
“Can you believe that the book is going to be published soon? Only two more weeks, then they should be done. This is insane.”
Taehyung chuckled.
“You already released a couple of books before this one!”
“But this is special! It has your art in it. And I had so much fun making it.”
Taehyung stopped sketching and looked up, eyeing Jimin carefully.
“I had a lot of fun too. I’ll miss it.”
Jimin smirked.
“I kind of have an idea for my next project…”
Taehyung’s eyes widened and he sat up straight.
“I wanna hear about it! Tell me!”
His eyes were sparkling like the stars in the sky.
Jimin looked at his feet. The snow landed softly on them but melted quickly.
“It’ll be about a boy who has a dark cloud living inside of his chest. It envelopes everything, including his heart. He goes through life like this, each and every day. All of his friends are worried, because the cloud keeps getting bigger. I’m… not entirely sure what will happen then, but I’d like to make it hopeful. The cloud never goes away though, it’s a constant thing in the boy’s life. But… maybe there’s something that could make it smaller.”
Taehyung nodded slowly.
“I know!” he said then.
“The boy’s cloud keeps growing bigger and bigger, everyone is concerned, but their words don’t reach him. Until, one day, someone from the sun comes to him.”
“Someone… from the sun?”
“Shut up and listen.”
Jimin giggled.
“The sun person becomes his friend quickly, they play together and talk about their feelings and thoughts and everything. And eventually, the cloud gets smaller. And the sun starts shining in his heart. The cloud is still there, but the sun is so bright that the cloud doesn’t even have a whole lot of power left anymore.”
“The sun person also has some baggage though.” Jimin replied. “They lost one of their sunrays. It just disappeared one day and it isn’t going to come back. But… the boy is there now. And, while he can’t replace the sunray, because he himself is not a sunray, he’s so special and important in the sun person’s life… the pain becomes bearable.”
Looking up at Taehyung he could see a soft smile on his lips. His dark eyes exuded warmth that could melt the snow on the ground.
“How does the story end?” he asked quietly, his eyes sparkling.
“That depends on what the boy wants.”
“What does the sun person want?”
“The boy.”
Taehyung’s soft smile turned into a grin.
“God, Jiminie.” he said and started laughing.
“All my life I’ve been running away and I even ran away from you. I know it’s been a few months now but… I’m genuinely sorry. I hope you know that.”
He stopped laughing and looked serious now.
“I really need you to know that I never wanted to hurt you. Ever. I’m just… scared. So terribly scared.”
“That’s okay, Tae. It’s okay to be scared. And I’m not mad at you.”
“You know, I really hated myself when you got hurt. And you didn’t only get hurt once, you got hurt twice. Just because of me. Actually, I still hate myself because of it…” he trailed off, thinking about the time they had gone to his sister’s wedding.
That felt like centuries ago now.
“I made the decision that led up to those events, Tae. You didn’t hurt me.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“You do. You deserve even more.”
And then, finally, finally, finally, Taehyung leaned forward and kissed him softly.
It was warm and sweet and soft and Jimin’s heart was beating faster than it ever had. He was sure it would jump right out of his chest any moment now.
Taehyung put one of his cold hands on his cheek and they kissed again, the world around them quiet and peaceful.

Chapter Text

Kim Seokjin and Kim Namjoon were officially married now.
Their wedding didn’t really have a theme despite Namjoon’s mother urging them to do a Winter Wonderland theme.
It was just Seokjin and Namjoon themed.
And Jimin loved every second of it.
For the first time in quite a while they all were wearing fancy suits. They all looked cute as hell, according to Seokjin.
His oldest friend pinches his and Yoongi’s cheeks, saying that the “tiny boys” looked extra cute because their sleeves were too long. Jimin and Yoongi had ordered new suits together and they both were slightly too big for them. They couldn’t send them back though, because the stupid website didn’t do refunds.
“You’re not as cute as my husbands though.” Seokjin said, beaming.
“My husband! Can you believe it?!”
Without waiting for an answer he rushed to his brother who had called his name. All of his friends eyed him with amusement.
“Hey guys!” Namjoon walked up to them.
They all threw their arms around him (yes, even Yoongi. Especially Yoongi.) and congratulated him. He looked just as giddy and happy as his new husband.
“They’re so fucking cute!” Jungkook said, shaking his fist cutely.
“They are.” Taehyung agreed.
“But no one here is cuter than Park Jimin!”
He laughed at Jimin’s embarrassed reaction and picked him up in order to twirl him around.
“I’m giving you a pass today,” Hobi said, “since it’s namjin’s wedding. But any other day I would have smacked both of you.”
They all laughed, making their way to the buffet.
There, they met Lanying and her wife.
“Ah! There he is, the small ring man.” the older woman said, shaking Yoongi’s hand enthusiastically. His friends laughed.
“Wow, thanks for that. It’s nice to see you!”
They carried on and encountered Freya next.
She was there with her new boyfriend. She had met him at the tennis club. His name was Charlie and he was tall, dark-skinned and his smile was blinding. His father was a dentist.
Next they met Hyun, who was stuffing his face with all kinds of food.
“Have you no shame?” Jungkook asked his big brother.
“No!” he said, proceeding to grab even more food.
Once this beautiful day was over and the evening came, the seven friends went to the ocean.
It was pretty cold, but they still sat down on a blanket in the sand and chatted.
Yoongi and Jungkook had brought hot tea for all of them and Namjoon had snatched some of the baked goods from his own wedding for them to eat.
Taehyung was resting his head on Jimin’s, their fingers entwined. They listened to their friends' stories and laughed, not letting go of each other’s hands once.
Eventually it got really late, it was 2am at that point, Jimin and Taehyung went back to Jimin’s house.
When they got there, there was a package on the doorstep.
“The first copy of our book!” Jimin exclaimed and ripped the package open.
Taehyung laughed.
“Let’s go inside first!”
They sat down on the couch together and flipped through their book. It was beautiful. The art was colorful and made the story seem alive.
The little girl on the moon was real now.
They kept flipping through it in awe and laughed at the memories they made while creating this book.
Then both their phones vibrated. Messages in the groupchat.

Hobi
ᕙ(^▿^-ᕙ)
I’m so happy!
ᕙ(^▿^-ᕙ)
I LOVE YOU
(ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥

Seokjin
We love you too, now shut up bro. Some of us are trying to sleep!

Hobi
(✿◠‿◠)
You can turn off your phone!

Seokjin
No I can’t! What if Jimin needs to be kidnapped from his own house?

Jimin
I’m doing great, don’t worry Jinnie. Tae is here too. <3

Namjoon
:D
Young love……

Jimin
Aren’t you two young too?

Seokjin
No, we’re old now. You better show us some respect!

Yoongi
[image attached]

Taehyung
DOGSD SFKDJL

Yoongi
I’m so happy I get this reaction every single time

Taehyung
(ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥

Namjoon
Tae can do the faces too????? Wtf Hobi teach me???

Hobi
≧◉◡◉≦
No <3

Namjoon
:(

Jungkook
I can show you tomorrow now sleep old man

Namjoon
I always can count on Jungkookie!

Jungkook
≧◠‿◠≦✌

Taehyung
[image attached]

Hobi
(╥︣﹏᷅╥) (╥︣﹏᷅╥)
CUTE
HE’S ASLEEP :(
LIKE A BABY

Taehyung
Hehe <3

Yoongi
Hey now, it’s rude to take pics of sleeping people

Jungkook
I saw your camera roll babe

Yoongi
That’s different

Jungkook
How???

Seokjin
Can you all stfu I wanna sleep

Namjoon
Yeah, listen to my husband
:)
<3

Yoongi
Cute

Namjoon
:D
Love you Yoongiiiii

Yoongi
I’m going to sleep

Taehyung
KJSDFJL HE HAS NO MERYC

Yoongi
And you can’t spell..

Jungkook
You show them babe

Jimin
Omg I just woke up I can’t believe this

Taehyung
Go back to sleep <3

Jimin
I’m sitting right next to you, you could talk to me

Taehyung
So could you!

Jimin
Fair enough

Seokjin
I’m muting this besties

Yoongi
Wow that’s so rude…

Namjoon
I thought you were going to sleep!

Yoongi
And miss out on this? No way.

Hobi
He loves us….
ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

Yoongi
No I don’t

Jungkook
Yes you do

Yoongi
Okay I love you but them? No. Can’t stand them.

Jimin
Liar liar pants on fire

Yoongi
How old are you? Five?

Jimin
I’m three

Yoongi
(ㆆ_ㆆ)

Taehyung
Hahaha

Seokjin
Omg guys………..

Jimin
Sorry sorry let’s be quiet now!
I love you all very much
<3 <3 <3

Hobi
I love you too <3

Jungkook
I love you too!

Namjoon
I’m so tired……..
I love you too though

Taehyung
You know I love you

Seokjin
I love you too assholes

Yoongi
…………
I love you too.
:]

Chapter Text

It was a warm spring day when Taehyung moved in with Jimin.
All seven of them helped move all his stuff in, all the paintings and easels.
Once they were done, they sat down together and played some games.
Eventually Jimin mentioned a letter he had found in an old box that used to belong to his mother.
He had found it months ago, but he had been too scared to open it.
But now he was with his family.
They were all right there and always would be.
The last message his mother had left him.

Dear Jimin,
When you read this, I won’t be alive anymore. (That, or you somehow broke into my bedroom and stole the box. If you did that, you should be ashamed!)
I’ll assume that I’m dead now, though.
Death is a strange thing.
Right now, as I am writing this, I can’t imagine being dead at all.
You and your brother are so young, you’re both at school right now.
I’m not very good at this, if I’m being honest. Writing.
But I will try, for you.
You already know that I love you more than anything in the entire universe. No matter what happens, that will always be the case. Always.
And even though I’m gone now, it’s still true.
I love you so very much.
I’ll always be with you. Always.
If I can, I will send you some kind of message from the afterlife!
No matter what happens my love, don’t give up.
It’s okay to be afraid. And it’s okay to mess up.
You have so much light and so much love inside of you.
Your mind amazes me every day.
I want you to be happy, dear.
It’s okay to be sad and to grieve, but please, become happy.
My wish is for you to find true happiness.
Because that is what you deserve.
Be safe darling. Be good.
And live your life to the fullest.
I love you to the moon and back.
Love,
Your cool mother.

Jimin couldn’t even focus on the tears on his face, because six pairs of arms held onto him.
They all cried with him.
It was a mess.
They cried and cried and eventually sat down on the floor and cried some more until they calmed down.
Jimin gave all of his friends copies of his book - Duri’s Journey To The Moon.

As night fell and Jimin and Taehyung sat in bed, a bird sat down right in front of the window.
It was colorful, not like any bird Jimin had seen before.
“Wow.” Taehyung said.
“That’s one beautiful bird!”
It’s eyes seemed intelligent, looking right into Jimin’s.
“Do you believe in reincarnation?” Jimin asked.
Taehyung took his hand.
“Anything is possible. You prove that to me.”
The bird tapped against the window with his beak and then it took off, flying away into the night sky.
Jimin smiled and looked at Taehyung.
“Now everything is going to be alright,Tae.”
He took the artist’s hand to his mouth and kissed it.
“Yeah.” Taehyung replied, smiling.
“Now everything is going to be alright.”

THE END