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English
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Published:
2026-02-14
Completed:
2026-02-14
Words:
19,962
Chapters:
7/7
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The Seven Colours of Love

Summary:

Jimin and Jungkook are exploring the spectrum of Ancient Greek types of love throughout their youth and young adulthood (and, hopefully, lifetime) together.

Notes:

The idea of this fic comes from the Ancient Greek classification of different types of love. I was probably 12 when I learnt about some of these terms, and they have appealed to me from the get-go. It’s very easy and tempting to apply this typology to Jimin and Jungkook because, in my opinion, their relationships are like a living illustration of this ancient theory.

Chapter titles are two-part: the type of love + a quote from the chapter that sums up either the “vibe” of this particular flavor of love or the gist of the story based on it.

The different types of love are:

LUDUS (lūdus – “game” in Latin, not Ancient Greek) – playful, flirtatious, fun kind of love.

STORGE (στοργή – “love”, “affection” in Ancient Greek) – affectionate, committed love like that of family members.

PHILIA (φιλία – “affectionate regard”, “friendship” in Ancient Greek) – equality-based, loyal love between friends; a brotherly love.

EROS – (ἔρως – “love”, “desire” in Ancient Greek) – sensual, passionate, intimate love; involves appreciation of beauty.

MANIA – (μανία – “madness” in Ancient Greek) – obsessive, possessive love.

AGAPE – (ἀγάπη – “affection” in Ancient Greek) – unconditional, altruistic, selfless, caring love.

PHILAUTIA – (φιλαυτία – “self-love” in Ancient Greek) – love and compassion for oneself.

PRAGMA – (πρᾶγμα – “deed”, “matter”, “thing”, “action” in Ancient Greek) – practical, cooperative, rational love, like that between long-term spouses.

The sequence of chapters reflects the growth of the characters and their feelings for each other – from the playful flirting towards more profound affection. The chronology is direct and encompasses the period between the mid-2010s until perhaps the early 2030s, with events in the first three chapters (“Ludus”, “Storge”, “Philia”) taking place in the 2010s, events in chapter 4 (“Eros”) occurring around the early 2020s and the events in concluding chapters (“Mania”, “Agape & Philautia”, “Pragma”) happening from mid-2020s onwards.

All the chapters are more or less canon-compliant (the characters are music artists and hopefully acting “in character”) but are written as snapshots of “what could be or could have been” in this colourful universe rather than as “missing scenes” between well-known canon events.

My go-to style seems to be a screenplay rather than a short story. So chapters and their segments often fall back on it and end up becoming sitcom scenes, for better or worse. That is, there are a lot of talking and physical actions in present tense – the “show, don’t tell” approach – but relatively little of me getting into the characters’ heads. I really admire the authors that can describe the scenery and write about human feelings of their characters with acute precision, a surgical and extremely beautiful analysis of their inner psychology – but for now it probably feels too intrusive and omniscient for me. Who am I to know what’s on their minds and in their hearts? Especially considering that I base them on real people. These characters are not my puppets to tell them what to think or feel, so I mostly just let THEM do the talking. Sometimes they loose themselves enough, and that’s when we do our best. :)

I tried to make the teenaged characters speak like boys do – so there is some rude language flying around that’s not meant to be taken as real rudeness. Apparently, there’s sociolinguistic research that claims the cruder the talks between men, especially in a group, the deeper their mutual bonds, trust and respect are. That is, rudeness is a way to express affection, disguised in a socially “appropriate”, “masculine” manner, y’all.

At the same time, if this fic was an episode of “Friends”, it would probably be named “The One Where Jimin and Jungkook Cry in Almost Every Chapter”. I couldn’t help it, for some reason. These guys are so in touch with their feelings in fiction and in real life.

There is plenty of hands-on homoeroticism (pun intended) in these chapters but no explicit, full-frontal sex scenes. I’ve yet to learn to write and meaningfully integrate them into the plot as competently as many other authors do.

All the secondary “original characters”, whether they have names or not, are fictional.

I’m sure I’m relying on fanfic and BTS tropes heavily.

And, as usual, I may be projecting Western concepts onto the characters.

There are phones and other digital technologies scattered across most of the chapters, functioning almost as characters in their own right. We’re not in Ancient Greece anymore. :)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: LUDUS: FIREWORK EMOJIS

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“I’ve got a new T-shirt”.

“Uh-huh”.

“I can lift 35 kilos with one arm now”.

“Mmmh”.

“There is a fly on your shoe”.

“Sure”.

“Are you even listening to me, Jimin-ssi?”

Jungkook and Jimin are slumped on a couch in the lounge area of a recording studio. In the control room nearby, Yoongi and Namjoon are putting finishing touches to a demo of a new song.

Jimin is waiting for his turn to sing his part and is whiling away the free time texting on his phone. His fingers are fluttering over the touchscreen, eyes glued to a friends’ group chat.

Jungkook moves closer to look at Jimin’s phone screen. A team of five girls he vaguely recognises, dressed in skin-tight pants, bright skirts and T-shirts, are dancing on a neon-lit stage. He shifts nearer to hear traces of a funky beat, flippantly picks up a wisp of Jimin’s black hair and plays with it – curling and uncurling, twirling and untwirling the silky strand around his finger.

Jimin shakes his head from side to side and finally glances up at Jungkook.

“Noonas are moving so beautifully. And Sunja’s got a great voice”, he comments.

“Is it a new song?” Jungkook asks.

“Yes, they uploaded it yesterday. It’s got four million views on YouTube already. I’ve just congratulated them”, Jimin nods.

Jungkook plays with Jimin’s finger, moving his thin silver ring up and down his thumb.

“JK-ssi, let go of my hand. They’ve just sent me a new message”, Jimin says impatiently, tugging his palm free from Jungkook’s grip.

“Jimin, come over here!” Namjoon calls out from the control room.

Jimin gets up from the couch, stretches like a cat and pads across the floor towards the door. Jungkook slouches back against the soft cushions. Jimin’s phone lies by his side, the message from the friends left unanswered.

Through a glass partition wall, he can see Namjoon explaining something to Jimin and dabbing at the lyrics sheet with his index finger. Yoongi is drawing a squiggly wave in the air with his hand. Jimin nods, puts on a pair of hefty headphones and opens his mouth, ready to sing.

Jungkook fingers and strokes the smooth surface of Jimin’s phone. The screen is blinking seductively.

Fifteen minutes later, Jimin emerges out of the control room and joins Jungkook, who’s still lazing on the couch, eyes closed and expression unreadable. There’s an open bag of potato chips next to him.

Jimin pops a chip into his mouth and picks up his phone again. As soon as he taps his finger on the screen, his eyes grow wide and his lips form a perfect “O” to let out a baffled gasp. Jungkook smirks, observing him from under his eyelashes. Jimin opens up the texting app again and stares at it absent-mindedly. Jungkook watches him, glowing and gloating.

Jimin turns slowly to face him.

“What is this?” he hisses.

“What is this?” Jungkook echoes innocently.

“Why are they congratulating me back? JK? Oh, you… You’ve texted them? ‘Thanks for the invitation, but, sorry, I’m too busy to go out with you tonight because…’ – wait, what? – ‘…I’m spending the evening with the love of my life’?” Jimin reads aloud, fuming. “And now they’re sending me thumbs up and firework emojis?”

Jimin moves closer, holding his phone like a weapon, until his angry breathing makes the hair tips of Jungkook’s fringe curl.
Jungkook crosses his arms in front of himself, a goofy grin plastered across his face.

“Yes, yes, I, I did, I did, hyung”, he babbles and giggles.

“You little bastard. And you’ve replaced my lockscreen photo with a picture of you working out shirtless in the gym?” Jimin accuses.

“There was nothing better in your gallery, hyung”, Jungkook defends himself.

Jimin slits his eyes and lunges at Jungkook to grab his neck, his intentions far from peaceful. “What about cat photos?” he purrs into his ear with menace in his voice.

“Jungkook! Come over here”, Namjoon calls out.

Jungkook wriggles out of Jimin’s hold, bounces off the couch and runs into the control room as fast as he can, finding shelter under Namjoon and Yoongi’s wings.

“JK, let’s doubletrack this part”, Yoongi instructs, nodding at the lyrics sheet where the lines of Namjoon’s handwritten poem are underlined in red, before clicking on the REC button in a program open on the computer screen.

Jungkook clutches at the microphone tightly, calms his jittery breathing and sings, while Namjoon quietly shakes his leg to the irregular rhythmic pattern of the song under construction. As Jungkook launches into the chorus – “Ooh, I’m thinking ‘bout you every night” – he turns sideways, overcome by emotion, and catches a glimpse of Jimin. And bursts out laughing, barely finishing his line in time.

Behind the glass, Jimin is striking bodybuilder poses, shaking his fluffy hair and making funny faces at him. He points a finger at Jungkook, stands on his toes, lifts his leg backwards like a ballerina and leans on the transparent wall between the control room and the lounge area.

Suddenly, out of the blue, J-Hope enters the scene, with a camera operator in tow, and stands with his arms akimbo, admiring his fancy footwork partner. Thinking on his feet, Jimin gestures for him to join the performance. J-Hope gets the drift at once and, as if on cue, starts throwing B-Boy moves right and left, circling around Jimin, who’s now imitating an exotic belly dancer. Jimin’s eyes are on Jungkook all the time, his lips curled in a coy smirk.

Inside the control room, Yoongi frowns and Namjoon opens his mouth to voice his frustrations, while Jungkook doubles over in stitches.

“Jungkook! What’s so funny?” Namjoon demands loudly.

A laughing Jungkook points at the sight behind the glass. Namjoon turns sharply to see Jimin and J-Hope bodyrolling on their knees, shaking their chests and shoulders, mimicking Romani dancers. J-Hope is twirling a T-shirt over his head.

Namjoon and Yoongi silently glare at Jungkook. The maknae shrugs and smiles proudly.

“Hey, you two! Are you crazy? Knock it off!” Namjoon barks and leaps to his feet. “Hobi, not you too! Just you wait, I’ll show you how to…” the clumsy Bangtan boss warns, stomping out of the control room to rein in the boys gone wild.

Jungkook, tears in his eyes, begs Yoongi.

“Hyung, I need to go out. Get myself a bottle of water”.

“You do that”, Yoongi nods curtly. A smile is lingering in the corner of his mouth.

Jungkook rushes back into the lounge area just in time to see J-Hope and Jimin escape through the door, Namjoon heading after them with flailing arms.

“Go get ‘em!” he cheers loudly as Jungkook is squeezing past him and the camera operator, nearly knocking the hapless guy off his feet.

A minute later, a sweaty Namjoon barges back into the control room, panting heavily.

“These stupid kids”, Yoongi mutters sympathetically, automatically doodling tiny hearts all over the lyrics sheet.

“This young love”, Namjoon sighs and shakes his head, still catching his breath.

Notes:

The girl band whose video Jimin is watching and the song the group members are recording here are fictional.