Stranger | Jikook/Kookmin

20 | Precious To Me

"Hey!" Minji suddenly yells, getting everyone alert. She is waving her hand frantically, half-stood up.

All three men simultaneously turn their heads to the source of her elation.

A beautiful man in a loose lace black shirt and skinny jeans.

Easily standing out amongst the dancing crowd.

He is no other than Park Jimin.

Jungkook stops breathing.

He doesn't even understand what's going on before it suddenly gets hard to think, hard to sit, hard to try be. A bloodful of emotions are flowing through his veins, throat clogging as he tries swallow — it's hot, his skin is burning against his clothes, invisible sparks setting over the silhouette of his body.

Jimin skips to their side with a late-found excitement, attaching himself behind the chair of his friends.

"Hi, guys!" he chirps. "How nice to see you all!"

"Same here, Jimin!" Minji laughs. "What's up?"

"Not much, work and work," Jimin says, looking down to the guys who tilt their heads to meet eyes with him. "How's it going, team?" he says sweetly, tapping the two on the shoulders. Both of them look endeared by his happy arrival.

"Great!" Jin smiles. "Join us if you don't have company, let's catch up, brother!" Yoongi nods eagerly.

Jungkook experiences a second set of constipation when Jimin's eyes meet his shy ones for the first time. He presses his palms to his jeans to control the fidgeting, sure that he'll make a mess of himself if he lets them loose. His heart stutters when Jimin sends him a playful wink, walking to his chair.

"You sure?" Jimin asks the rest and chuckles in satisfaction at their wordy insistence. Meanwhile, he is busy setting his butt on the arm rest of Jungkook's chair, hand landing on Jungkook's shoulder slowly traveling to his neck, a coy glint in his eyes when he twists his head to face Jungkook, voice so low when he talks to the younger. "Hi."

Jungkook is mentally fuzzy and emotionally overwhelmed, unable to find the proper way to interact with him. It's Jimin, the same person who lights up a room upon entering, the same person who steals his heart just by looking at him, like he is doing to him right now — but Jungkook is not sure if he is the same anymore.

Jimin is wearing make-up tonight. Soft pink eyeshadow, ash grey contour, lightly tinted lips... he is the definition of gorgeous. It's the first time Jungkook is seeing him effortfully beautiful. It makes him wonder how much more perfect he could get if he tried more.

"Hey, hyung," Jungkook says with a reserved voice.

Jimin chuckles and shuffles his hair from the back, giving his attention back to the others on the table. His hand never leaves its spot however, fingernails tracing Jungkook's roots all too softly while he chit-chats with them, occasionally fixing his posture until he is all leaned on Jungkook's shoulder. Jungkook can feel the shape of his body against him. His eyes flutter when Jimin makes a particularly intentional move with his fingers, too aware of the littlest things to survive the tension. 

He wants to float in a dream-version of everything he is feeling but they are too real to ignore.

He can't ignore them anymore.

He's learned to recognize, and now he can't unlearn it.

Ever since he started asking himself questions, listening to the parts of himself that wanted to live honestly, he has been having a hard time. Because it is hard to recognize love as it is, attributing it to anything else but itself the easiest. It is the easiest is to play along, keep loving and keep denying.