Work Text:
11.13.15
Jimin feels it, the slight uneasiness creeping through him. The trepidation taking over suddenly makes him lose his appetite and he ends up stirring the cup of ramen in his hands sluggishly. Jimin looks out the car window from where he sits on the passenger side, eyes focusing on the supermarket up front and the surrounding cars in the parking lot.
Taehyung and Jimin are supposed to be having a nice ramen car date right now but because of Jimin’s restless thoughts, he ends up feeling suffocated.
“You okay, babe?” Taehyung asks from the driver’s seat with a soft smile on his face, chewing on his noodles thoroughly. “You kept complaining about how hungry you were on the way here.” His sentence ends in a cute little drawl that gives Jimin butterflies, but those butterflies are also accompanied by a multitude of flips, and it makes his stomach sick. Sick because it’s so easy to love Kim Taehyung who is so sweet and caring and loving but Jimin is barely twenty-one and right now, he realizes he’s not completely ready for commitment.
Jimin exhales shakily and leans back on his seat. “Something’s not right.”
“Damn. Did I get you the wrong ramen flavor again?”
Jimin silently snorts and shakes his head gloomily, turning to face the other. “No, not that.” He pauses. “…I’m talking about us.”
“Oh.” Taehyung blinks, clearly taken by surprise at the unexpected turn of Jimin’s words. Taehyung senses the foreboding atmosphere and stops eating; he fiddles with his chopsticks before gazing at Jimin, the intensity of his stare boring holes into his face.
A minute of awkward and tense silence passes by.
“Are you…breaking up with me?” Taehyung’s brows are furrowed, a confused and pained expression embedded on his handsome face that disturbs his usual happy self.
“I’m sorry.” Jimin hates that his voice cracks and rubs the onslaught of hot, fresh tears away. He wants to wipe off the sad face Taehyung is making, wants to kiss him senselessly, and tell him he still loves him.
But what’s done is done.
The cups of unfinished ramen are left forgotten on their lap, and Jimin mourns the loss of his year-long relationship.
11.21.15
Jimin still loves Taehyung.
He knows that, feels that, thinks about that as he’s wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets on a lazy Saturday morning. But he doesn’t want Taehyung right now. It would be unhealthy for Jimin and unfair towards Taehyung to put themselves in a relationship Jimin’s not comfortable with at the moment.
“Maybe this is what’s best for you right now,” Taehyung had eventually said in his cramped car last week. “Maybe in a year or two, when you’re ready again…” Taehyung never finished that sentence but Jimin holds onto his words more than he would like.
A tired groan escapes his lips as Jimin decides to get up from bed. Today is another new day and he’s got a load of shit to do. He trudges into his small bathroom, grabs his toothbrush, and slathers some toothpaste, quickly putting it in his mouth. As foam gathers messily around his teeth, Jimin decides to browse through his Facebook app and keep himself occupied. His news feed is full of crazy shenanigans (memes, cat videos, pranks gone wrong, etc.) but he stops short when he sees one particular updated status.
Kim Taehyung
♡ - Kim Taehyung is single.
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Choi Minho and five others like this
Kim Seokjin :(((((
Jung Hoseok omg what
The foam overflows and slides down Jimin’s chin but he doesn’t even care; he just stares longingly at his phone and at Taehyung’s updated relationship status. Jimin hasn’t even gotten around to change his yet.
He still loves Taehyung.
03.25.16
Jimin swore off social media for a while after that and while it proved an extremely difficult challenge, he managed to succeed. But it’s been four months now since their breakup and Jimin is curious to see what Taehyung is up to lately. He tells himself it will just be a quick little check and to not dwell too much.
Jimin munches on an apple as he opens Facebook on his phone and clicks on the search bar. He types in ‘Kim T’ and presses the first listed suggestion. Jimin notices from the tiny thumbnail that Taehyung’s profile picture has changed since he last saw it but can’t distinguish the image yet. He waits for the profile to load and slowly scrolls down.
Jimin clearly sees the profile picture now, and he feels the green-eyed monster awaken inside of him.
In the image, Taehyung is grinning softly, one arm hung loosely around another guy’s waist. Said guy is winking cutely with his tongue stuck out—like that one emoji—and his head rests snug on Taehyung’s shoulder. Jimin doesn’t recognize the other male.
The sweet and juicy apple suddenly tastes bitter in Jimin’s mouth, and he has a hard time swallowing it down.
Jimin studies the picture closely.
They look like they’re at some fair or amusement park as suggested by the colorful, blurry chaos around them. The dimmed lighting of the sky hints it’s close to the evening, nearing nighttime. Jimin then moves his eyes to inspect the unknown guy. Jimin can tell this guy is good-looking, even if his face closely resembles a bunny. He seems tall, maybe around Taehyung’s height but since his head is on Taehyung’s shoulder, he’s got a bit of a slouched position. He’s wearing a white shirt that says ‘Stand Aloné’ (what the fuck why is the e accented that makes no sense) and his black skinny jeans practically cling onto his long legs. He’s got some nice kicks on too, a pair of white/black Jordans.
The guy is not tagged in Taehyung’s photo and there are well over 200 likes for Jimin to even try and narrow this person down. The comments are mainly filled with heart-eyes emojis or “aww! cute pic” so that leaves Jimin with nothing as well. Even Taehyung’s caption for the photo only says “fun times :)”.
Jimin switches gears and goes to Taehyung’s ‘About’ section, but his relationship status still states Single. He can’t help but wonder though.
Who is this guy? When did they meet? Are they just friends? Are they dating? If so, for how long?
Jimin breathes deeply, wanting to find out more about this mystery man but his efforts are cut short when his roommate, Jongin, walks into the living room. Jimin immediately locks his phone.
“Err, you okay?” Jongin eyes Jimin suspiciously.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
Jongin scratches his head, giving him a subtle look of ‘okay, sure’ before dropping the subject. “I’m going to head to the grocery store real quick. We’re out of toilet paper and other necessary stuff for survival. Need anything?”
Jimin lies down on the couch, a small frown on his face. “Maybe some vodka. And ice cream.”
The research for this mystery guy can wait.
04.05.16
It’s not until well over a week later that Jimin finds out who the mystery guy is.
Jimin’s on his laptop this time.
Taehyung has uploaded a mini photo album entitled ‘Music Festival’ on Facebook. It’s mainly pictures of a bunch of bands and performances, food, and a grass field full of young adults. The last picture, however, catches Jimin’s attention.
It’s a selca of the ‘Stand Aloné’ guy (that’s what Jimin’s been mentally calling him all week) and Taehyung; the image basically screams cuteness. Jimin feels sick to the bone but he can’t look away just yet. He can tell ‘Stand Aloné’ guy is taking the photo – he is in the front, smiling happily with a v sign while Taehyung makes a derpy face in the back. They’re sitting close to each other on the grass, relaxed.
With such a high quality selca, Jimin is able to look at ‘Stand Aloné’ guy’s face up close. He has pretty Roundish-Almond eyes, a long, slender nose, and luscious looking lips; his tousled brown hair suits him well along with his fair complexion. Undoubtedly, this guy’s a looker.
Jimin glances down at the caption and comments, heart squeezing stupidly at what he reads.
Kim Taehyung
guess who i came with :D
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Jung Hoseok and 58 others like this
Jeon Jungkook ayy dat me
Jeon Jungkook my favorite part was when you spilled beer all over your pants
Kim Taehyung STOP you said you would never bring that up
Jeon Jungkook I lied ;)
At least Jimin finally has a name to put with the face now.
Jeon Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook.
So, this was the guy possibly creeping his way into Taehyung’s heart while he might still be in love with Jimin. (Well, that’s what Jimin tells himself anyway).
He doesn’t hesitate to click on Jungkook’s name, directing Jimin to his profile. It looks fairly normal for a regular Facebook profile but Jimin notices this Jeon guy is not very active on it. His last post is from October of last year, and it’s about an anime clip. Jimin chooses to surf through his five viewable profile pictures to the public which consist mainly of selfies. He’s only got one cover photo – a picture of him and his friends mocking the college frat boy pose in front of a Starbucks. All in all, the profile reveals very little about Jeon Jungkook.
But Jimin refuses to give up. He wants to know more, even though the voice in the back of his mind screams this is nearing borderline obsession. Whatever. He continues to snoop around, mentally giving himself a high-five when he finds the guy’s Instagram username. Almost immediately, Jimin grabs his phone and opens the app, entering jeonjk97 into the search bar.
jeonjk97
52 posts | 538 followers | 469 following
+ follow
jeon jungkook
Busan boy who lives in Seoul
The fact Jeon Jungkook comes from Busan like Jimin really bothers him. He knows he shouldn’t care. A bunch of people are from Busan. Still, the fact makes him bite the inside of his cheeks in displeasure. He takes a big gulp of water as he scrolls through the pictures. Jeon Jungkook is a bit more active on Instagram albeit not by a whole lot; the dates between his posts range from a week to two months. Jimin does find out a lot about him through Instagram though.
Jeon Jungkook likes anime, fanboys over Iron Man, and has a talent for drawing. He studies at a different university located about an hour away from Jimin’s institution. He’s a bit of a gym rat. He also enjoys dancing and singing but according to one caption, ‘rehearsals are currently kicking my ass’.
Truly, Jeon Jungkook’s Instagram embodies the aesthetic feel. All his filters are on point; Jimin will give him credit. He seems like a nice guy who knows how to have fun in life. If he is dating Taehyung, Jimin can’t even deny they match well.
Jimin wants to hate him, but he doesn’t. After all, he has no real reason to.
04.06.16 – 05.08.16
It becomes a habit.
Whenever he’s not slaving himself over a textbook chapter or working his part-time job, Jimin will check up on Taehyung’s social media accounts just to see if there’s anything new about him and Jeon Jungkook. Jimin even lowkey stalks Jungkook’s Instagram updates, being extra careful to not accidentally like any of his posts or follow him. Jimin even found his Twitter through Taehyung’s own account; they flirt on there a lot.
For example:
Kim TaeTae @kimtaesty
do you guys realize we never stop tasting our own tongues
Jeon JK @jeonboi97
@kimtaesty how about i taste yours for a change?
Kim TaeTae @kimtaesty
@jeonboi97 W O W
How sickeningly smooth, really.
They hang out frequently, expressed by Taehyung’s eager Snapchat updates. Along with Jungkook’s increased Instagram activity, they also start to tag each other in pictures. Their relationship status on Facebook hasn’t changed but what does that say in 2016?
Jimin keeps his saltiness at bay, for he knows he has no right to be bitter. Jimin was the one who initiated the breakup in the first place, not Taehyung. When Taehyung said they could start again in a year or two, he didn’t completely seal a promise. Maybe Taehyung just said so to make himself feel better about getting dumped.
In the end, Jimin doesn’t expect—doesn’t want to believe really—that Taehyung could move on so easily, especially when Jimin still loves him so strongly even now.
Subsequently, Jimin notices how Taehyung hasn’t deleted any of their old couple photos on his accounts. The captions have changed, however. What used to be little messages of cute phrases and hearts turned into ‘:)’ (Taehyung’s not fond of deleting memories). Jimin’s a little grateful about that but he can’t say the same for his own Instagram. His post count went from 205 to 143, and it made Jimin want to crawl under a rock.
Nevertheless, Jimin continues to probe on the developing relationship of Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook. He watches as Seokjin, Taehyung’s older brother, friends and follows Jeon Jungkook across various social media platforms, followed by the rest of Taehyung’s posse. He broods when the couple edits their Instagram bios to accommodate each other.
jeonjk97
78 posts | 563 followers | 490 following
+ follow
jeon jungkook
Busan boy who lives in Seoul // Kim TaeTae is MY sunshine idiot
kimtaetae
253 posts | 525 followers | 503 following
[following]
Kim Taehyung
i like jeon & haikyuu!!
Who else is Jeon if not Jeon Jungkook? Jimin thinks it’s subtle though. At least they didn’t put the dates of the day they first started dating; Jimin always hated it when couples did such a cheesy thing.
Eventually, the anticipated slash dreadful event Jimin’s been waiting for happens on Facebook.
Kim Taehyung
♡ - In a relationship with Jeon Jungkook.
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Kim Seokjin and 109 others like this
Byun Baekhyun omg yas otp
Choi Minho lmao you only updated this now?
Jeon Jungkook hmm ♡
Jimin doesn’t understand why he cares about the component of Facebook so much in particular. Maybe it’s because Facebook is the primary place where your parents, grandparents, and mom’s friends freely scrutinize your decisions sometimes, or maybe it’s because how this whole ‘social media snooping around’ ordeal for Jimin started in the first place.
Either way, Jimin’s tired. He deserves a little break from life’s soppy struggles.
07.01.16
Jimin’s beginning to check Taehyung’s and Jungkook’s social media accounts a little less. Time slowly heals Jimin’s heart, even if he doesn’t notice at first. Rather, there’s still a dull ache inside of him whenever he sees a picture of the couple. Jimin manages though, especially since he’s got his own life to live.
For the most part of the ongoing summer, Jimin keeps himself busy with work or Netflix. He already smashed himself hard last weekend at some dance club so today, Jimin decides to stay at home with Chinese takeout and video games.
After getting frustrated at a certain level in the story game, Jimin takes a break and grabs his phone as an automatic response. He opens Snapchat, sends Jongin a bunch of snaps with puppy and flower crown filters, and checks for any updated stories. The first listed one is of Choi Minho, one of Taehyung’s best friends. Jimin clicks on it, interested.
The first snap is a simple selca of Minho and a ‘Party Time!’ sticker, dating back a few hours ago. His next snap, however, makes Jimin choke on his own spit. It’s a video of Jungkook giving Taehyung a very enthusiastic lap dance at the party. The hyped screams of the surrounding partygoers nearly drown the loud music playing in the background. Jimin barely processes Minho’s text of “IT’S FUCKINHHHH WILDDDDD” before it moves on to the next snap.
It’s another continuation of Jungkook’s lap dance. The brown haired male grinds onto Taehyung’s crotch, the latter biting his lips fervently in response. His eyes give off a smug glint of ‘yeah, I own that’ and one can see Taehyung’s having a hard time keeping his hands to himself. Jungkook ends the dance with a flirtatious wink, throws the snapback he wears to the crowd, and leans in for a deep, wet kiss with Taehyung. Again, everyone screams crazily; Minho’s poor and blurry camerawork—because of his excitement—is so bad that it gives Jimin a slight headache.
The next snap that follows forms an uncomfortable knot in Jimin’s stomach. Jungkook and Taehyung are making out like it’s their last day on Earth on some couch, their hands grabby and all over each other. Both their hairs are completely disheveled, cheeks flushed, lidded eyes, and Minho’s strange, addictive laugh fills Jimin’s ears. Minho yells at them to get a room but the only response he gets is Jungkook blindly throwing a blue solo cup at his phone. Luckily, it’s empty. The snap’s text reads “OMGGG THEY REALLY GOING AT IT”.
Minho’s story ends with a blurry picture of his shoes and the sentence “OKAY FAM IM DONE FILMINH THAT PORNO HOPE YOU ENJOYED” plastered across.
Jimin replays the story one more time, barely able to form a coherent response. His brain has failed him. He chucks his phone to the other side of his bed and lets out a flustered sigh – he didn’t need to see that. He turns off his bedside lamp, unexpectedly turning in early for the night, mood slightly dampened.
Jimin tries to not think about how, at this very moment, Taehyung is probably buried hilt deep inside Jungkook on a sweaty, messy bed.
09.04.16
Apparently, Jeon Jungkook’s birthday was a few days ago. Jimin only finds out because the ‘following’ tab of his Instagram kept showing the same picture getting liked by the people he followed.
♡ 289 likes
jeonjk97 guess who stopped by the dance studio today & gave me food for my birthday?
kimtaetae wow the person who brought you food is so handsome ♡♡♡
jeonjk97 @kimtaetae don’t push it :)
kimtaetae :((
choiminholicious #goals
3 days ago
It’s a cute mirror selca of the couple. In the photo, Taehyung gives Jungkook a piggyback ride, the latter’s phone in his left hand. Jungkook’s right arm rests loosely around Taehyung’s neck and his legs hang casually about Taehyung’s waist. Taehyung’s head slightly turns back towards Jungkook where he looks at him with a loving gaze on his face. Jungkook sports a somewhat shy expression, lips puckered into a semi-smirk.
They look really good together, Jimin thinks. Taehyung is a sweet boyfriend, and Jeon Jungkook is one lucky man.
10.10.16
Jimin’s in the middle of preparing a nice, fulfilling breakfast—a rare occasion as he usually wakes up late in the mornings—and waits patiently for his bread to toast. He absentmindedly listens to the nice sizzle and pop of the two slices of bacon frying on the stove, stomach growling. To take his mind off his hunger, Jimin takes out his phone and goes on Instagram. He gulps down a bit of orange juice as the screen loads and then starts scrolling.
There’s a picture of Krystal, Jongin’s girlfriend, eating pizza with a cheesy caption that makes Jimin snort.
♡ 43 likes
kimjongin she’s stolen a pizza my heart haha
min_yoongi are you fucking kidding me right now
kimjongin @min_yoongi fight me
47 minutes ago
Who knew his roommate could be such a fluff-ball? Jimin likes the picture and shakes his head, silently agreeing with this Min Yoongi person while trying to contain his laughter. He scrolls down faster, wanting to find something interesting or aesthetically pleasing, when he comes across Taehyung’s post.
♡ 89 likes
kimtaetae I just woke up to the cutest sight!!!!
prettypinkjin my children are so cute together T_T
jeonjk97 @prettypinkjin omg hyung pls
2 hours ago
Jungkook’s sleeping like a log with his mouth hanging open on Taehyung’s bed; his hair is completely ruffled, tufts and pieces sticking out here and there, and Jimin swears he can see traces of drool on the pillow. He recognizes Kkanji, Taehyung’s cat, sitting atop Jungkook’s head while sporting an unamused expression and near Jungkook’s chest laid Taehyung’s dog, Soonsimi, all snuggled up together. It actually would be the cutest thing to wake up to.
Taehyung has edited the softness of the picture to make it seem as if Jungkook had rest on the fluffiest place in the planet. Jimin feels the tiniest hint of a smile threatening to break out of his face which is absolutely ridiculous considering the position he’s in.
Jimin ends up liking Taehyung’s post though. Goddammit.
11.18.16
“I’m taking over bae’s snapchat today” Jimin reads as he opens up Taehyung’s Snapchat story to a selca of Jungkook.
Ooh, goody.
Jimin munches on his chips, tapping his phone screen unheedingly. The next snap shows a quick little video. They’re in the car with Taehyung in the driver’s seat while Jungkook waves the phone around.
“We’re on our way to the Big Bang concert right now!!!” Jungkook shouts excitedly. In response, Taehyung whoops and hollers enthusiastically, cranking up the volume of ‘Bang Bang Bang’ in the car. Jungkook laughs and they both sing along—it’s a mess—but they’re enjoying themselves before the recording cuts off.
Then it’s another selca; Jungkook’s pretending to look annoyed while Taehyung drives. The caption reads: “jfc he needs to slow down I’d like to get to this concert ALIVE anD WITHOUT a speeding ticket pls”. He used the speed filter and lo and behold, it’s a whopping 145KM/H. Jimin chuckles.
The Snapchat story ends for now but Jimin suspects it’ll be updated again later. He decides to get off his bed and heads out to the living room, finding Krystal and Jongin cuddling on the couch.
“Oh, Jimin!” Krystal greets as he walks by. “We’re having a small get together with a couple friends in about an hour. You should come with us!”
“Ah, socialization,” Jimin shudders. “Now why would I do that?”
“Yoongi is going to be there.” Krystal gives him a little knowing smirk. Jongin cracks up at the sight and gives Jimin a waggle of his eyebrows too.
Jimin rolls his eyes at their teasing antics, but he ends up going anyway because he’s lowkey interested in Min Yoongi ever since he asked Jongin about him from that Instagram comment (and secretly went through his posts).
The get together isn’t all too bad and it’s quite amusing to see Krystal and Jongin give him secretive glances whenever he interacts with Yoongi. By the end of the night, Jimin can’t stop smiling and returns home after exchanging phone numbers with him.
Socializing takes a toll on him though so he immediately changes into his pajamas, freshens up, and heads to bed with his phone in hand. There’s already a text from Yoongi making sure Jimin got home safely to which he replies coolly. (50,000 emojis is not the definition of “coolly”, my friend).
Jimin gets comfortable in his bed as it’s nearing midnight but checks on some social media accounts before fully hitting the sack. After catching up on Twitter and Instagram, Jimin opens Snapchat once again. He sees Taehyung has updated his story and clicks on it, wanting to know how the concert went for the couple.
A massive compilation of videos blares out of Jimin’s phone as he hears Big Bang singing along with Jungkook’s and Taehyung’s eager screams. The inner fanboy inside Jimin freaks out when GD comes close to Taehyung’s phone and strikes a few playful poses; GD even waves at Jungkook, and the latter has a meltdown right then and there all played out in the recording. There’s even a cute clip of Taehyung and Jungkook in selfie mode where they passionately sing along to a part of ‘If You’ with Big Bang and the rest of the fans.
When the concert ends, Jungkook is straight up depressed—shown by an obnoxious amount of crying emojis—and Taehyung only laughs at his boyfriend’s adorable pouty face.
In the last snap, Taehyung and Jungkook are at an ice cream parlor—most likely cooling down from the concert—and shares a vanilla ice cream cone. Taehyung is unnecessarily panning his phone in a zig-zag manner with his right hand, both of them giggling stupidly into the camera. Taehyung then notices Jungkook’s momentary distraction when he accidentally smudges his mouth with the ice cream. Immediately, Taehyung pecks Jungkook on the lips, effectively surprising the other that he ends up squatting down.
“Agh, you’re so embarrassing!!” Jungkook yells out, head between his knees. Taehyung’s loud guffaw reverberates, and finally, his Snapchat update ends.
Honestly, Jimin’s happy for them. Around this time last year, everything was different. A year ago, in the same car Taehyung had brought Jungkook to the concert, Jimin himself had broken up with Taehyung and cried about it. In the same car where Jimin and Taehyung ended up having sex after one too many drinks (okay to be fair, as Jimin thinks about this, he’s also a little tipsy from the get together), Jungkook now listens to Big Bang songs and sings along with Taehyung. Heck, maybe they have car sex too. Maybe Jungkook and Taehyung also have ramen car dates together and make out while parked in the parking lot of the supermarket. Who the hell knows? Jimin certainly doesn’t.
The point is, a lot has changed since November of last year. Jimin has changed. Taehyung has changed.
Jimin feels satisfied that Taehyung can move on and find someone great for him who makes him laugh and happy and expands all the great reasons why Jimin loves Taehyung in the first place. But Jimin realizes he loves Taehyung in a different kind of way now—a love where he still cares deeply about the other and wants nothing more but happiness for him.
There’s a small sadness in Jimin about their own failed relationship but seeing Taehyung with Jungkook gives Jimin hope—hope that Jimin will also be able to love someone else just as much someday. It’s a bittersweet sensation.
For Jimin, moving on happens unknowingly, day by day.
He has a feeling everything will work out in the end.
Epilogue
04.21.18
♡ 299 likes
jeonjk97 2 years with my dork ~ thanks for making me happy ♡ I love you.
kimtaetae I love you. ♡
5 hours ago
Jimin smiles as he sees Jungkook’s post in his Instagram news feed. The photo shows Taehyung wearing his signature boxy grin while Jungkook playfully kisses him on the cheek. Jimin double taps his phone screen and then continues scrolling.
“What are you smiling at?” Yoongi’s husky voice interrupts him. Jimin looks up from his phone to glance at his date sitting across from him in the dining booth.
“Just saw something cute,” Jimin answers nonchalantly.
“Hmm, that’s funny,” Yoongi speaks, a hint of mischief laced around his tone. “Because you sure as hell weren’t looking at me when you smiled.”
Jimin feels his eyes roll all the way back to his head at that lame attempt. “Jesus Christ, Yoongi. You’re such a bad flirt.”
When the mint-haired male only laughs in response, Jimin proceeds to kick Yoongi near the shins, a shy grin breaking out of his face.
Jimin ends up playing footsie with him.
Idiot.