Breathe Me | Jikook

23

Jungkook surprised himself.

All of five seconds after he felt like he was about to just stop, curl into a ball, and start crying, he managed to calm himself down to the point he could take small bites of the Christmas leftovers. He wanted to pin it largely on the presence next to him, but he also wanted to take some of the credit for himself because surely he could do it.

They were all—Jung-hyun, Mom, Dad, Jimin, and Jungkook—sitting at the table, leftovers in bowls scattered across the table. Jungkook's mom gave a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry." She said, "If I knew Jungkook was going to have company that wasn't Taehyung I would've prepared something better."

From Jungkook's left, Jimin shook his head with his spoon in his hand, a smile on his face and said, "No, it's alright. It still tastes delicious. Did you cook it?"

Jungkook could see on Jimin's plate that he had only taken a couple of bites and that he had pushed the rest of the food around to make it seem like he had actually eaten more than he had. Jungkook only recognized this because it was something he himself did often, more often than he cared to admit.

Jungkook's mom shook her head. "No, his mom did."

Jimin nodded. "Well she's a wonderful cook."

The nervousness Jungkook had seen from Jimin in his room was nearly gone. All that was left was an empty echo, much like the way Jungkook's anxiety had dissipated.

However, what concerned Jungkook most of all was his brother. He was picking at his food, barely eating, and he didn't seem interested in the conversation at hand. Not that there really was any conversation, but he was still normally more engaging.

No one seemed to notice it.

"Did you meet Jungkook at school?" His mom asked, fork between her teeth as she leaned forward. She looked really excited. Meanwhile, Dad looked a little less enthusiastic. Jimin shook his head.

"I go to the local university."

"Isn't that a performing arts school?" Mom gasped as her eyes went wide. "Are you a performer?"

Jungkook wanted to bang his head on the table. "Mom, isn't that kind of in the name?"

Jimin let out a light laugh. "Yeah, I perform. I'm majoring in contemporary dance."

Jungkook hadn't known that, but it made sense. The way Jimin's body moved when he danced was absolutely captivating. Jungkook's dad didn't see it that way. Jungkook knew when he saw his father's shoulders tense that he would have to bite his tongue and shrink into his seat because Dad didn't like liberal art degrees, even if they were impressive.

"It's not a real major." The words passed Dad's lips and Jungkook wanted to put his hands over Jimin's ears and tell him not to listen to Jungkook's dad because he would never understand. Of course, Jimin was an adult and had likely encountered this problem before.

"Sure it is." Jimin said. "I'd say it's more challenging than a science or math major."

Jungkook's dad narrowed his eyes. The other ones sitting at the table—except for Jimin—stiffened. The others knew how much of a conservative Dad could be and they also knew how temperamental he was sometimes. This made conversing with him about controversial topics a bit scary to navigate.

Jimin had known him all of three seconds and he was already triggering one of these conversations.

"In what way is prancing around in tights more challenging than trying to solve the problems that have plagued humanity for years? Or even more challenging than trying to advance technology to improve human lifestyle?" Jungkook's dad said. He had put his fork down on the table.