"Jimin!" Taehyung called, waving his hands high up in the air, his wide grin displaying, that grin that always brightens up Jimin's day. Jimin just arrived and seeing Taehyung's smile early in the morning made his day even better. Already jumping up and down, Taehyung continued to flail his arms in the hallway, even moving his body from side to side, and Jimin couldn't help but turn a deep shade of red, suddenly embarrassed because now everyone was looking at him and his oh-so-hyper bestfriend, Taehyung.
"Shh, idiot, everyone's staring!" Jimin shouted back, motioning for Taehyung to put his arms down and stop embarrassing him for once, but even though the word 'idiot' escaped his lips, he still ran his way going to the taller one, and when he reached Taehyung, he couldn't help but hug him tight, not planning on letting go anytime soon.
"I missed you."
"I missed you, too, Jiminnie," Taehyung let out a deep laugh, stroking Jimin's dark fluffy hair, and eveloping the shorter one in his arms to bring him in even closer. Jimin was warm, and Taehyung loved the warmth that spread through him. It's been days since they've last had a proper conversation, face to face, their last conversation only thirty minutes long, on the phone, about how Taehyung came over to their house in Daegu, and to Jimin, half an hour wasn't enough. Half an hour of listening to Taehyung talk about him playing with his cousins nonstop back home wasn't enough. Half an hour of hearing Taehyung constantly repeating 'I miss Daegu' like a prayer wasn't enough. "I missed you, and hey, I got something for you."
Jimin pouted at the loss of contact, immediately missing Taehyung's warmth in that cold, foggy day. He watched as Taehyung opened the zipper to his black backpack, to find out Taehyung had pulled out a box, covered with some colorful, sparkly gift wrapper, and Jimin couldn't stop himself from smiling wide, receiving the gift from Taehyung's hands, and by the next second, he crushed Taehyung in his arms, hugging him tight once again.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jimin repeated again and again, jumping up and down Taehyung's arms. "You're the best, Taehyungie, what's inside it?"
Now looking at Taehyung's dark brown eyes, that playful grin on his face, Jimin tilted his head to the side, and asked him.
"Hmm? What's inside?"
"Something that reminded me of you, and a little something that might help you because these past few days, weeks, I don't know, well, you've been bothered about something, maybe trying to find out the answer to your question, and you've been confused, especially," Taehyung chuckled and Jimin smiled, seeing Taehyung's straight, pearly whites showing. He took in the sight of his bestfriend: Taehyung's perfect nose, his tanned skin, his long lashes. His bestfriend was beautiful.
"Open it later once you get home," the taller one said, and Jimin nodded and pursed his lips like a little child obeying his parents.
"Hey! You two! Stop being all sweet and lovey dovey! Give us some love, too!" Hoseok hollered with a smile as bright as the sun, waving his hands like Taehyung a few minutes back. When Jimin and Taehyung faced him, they were greeted by Hoseok's tight embrace and in ten seconds, another person came in and they became a bundle of happiness and hugs and long limbs over one another and with each passing second, it became harder and harder for them to breathe.
"Too...tight!" Jimin choked out, his face red as he was squished between all of them, now noticing that it was Yoongi who followed Hoseok and now four people all forming a small circle hugging each other was too much for Jimin.
But he couldn't hide that smile on his face.
"Ngaw, we're so full of love," Yoongi said with a smile for once, and immediately continued, "But we should stop hugging now or else people would forever think we're crazy and I don't want that."
Jimin and the others knew he was kidding, but they all pulled away because somehow, Yoongi was right. They ruffled Jimin's hair and Yoongi squished his right cheek and grit his teeth in annoyance because Jimin was too adorable. "Jimin, get away! Why are you so cute!" Yoongi squished his cheek somemore and Jimin whined.
"Hey! It hurts!" Jimin frowned, and reached out to rub his cheek the moment Yoongi put his hand down and laughed.
"Sorry, I had to," the older one chuckled before Hoseok laughed, his shoulders moving up and down. Hoseok's laugh was contagious that Taehyung couldn't help but laugh, too, and Yoongi rolled his eyes and even though he wouldn't believe it, he, too, was laughing.
"Jimin, you're too cute that even Jungkook can't take it," Hoseok teased, grinning so wide as he nudged Jimin's sides. Gaping, Jimin's eyes went wide and Hoseok had to explain himself. "Don't get me wrong, we just notice things."
"What? How did you-" Jimin opened his mouth and closed it and opened it again, but closed it just as he opened it, and now he was puzzled. "What are you even saying? What do you mean by 'notice things'?" He had to ask, now grabbing Hoseok's arm to let him stay in place and at least elaborate because Jimin was so, so confused. Obviously aware that he'd been more affectionate with the younger, that he'd been more protective over Jungkook like how he'd been more protective and caring over Jimin, the older one wanted to know how things seemed to them: to his friends. For him, for Jimin, it was nothing but showing they cared about one another, nothing more.
Because there's nothing more, right, Park Jimin? The voice in his head said, and Jimin shook his thoughts away as Hoseok spoke up.
"Notice things like how Jungkook's more affectionate with you than us, I mean, yes, he responds when we embrace him and all, but when it's with you..." Hoseok stops and thinks of a way to say it properly, and Yoongi and Taehyung remind him that they're going to be late for class, so they walk while they discuss. "I don't know..."
"You don't need to make it too detailed, it's okay," Jimin says to him with a smile, not forceful and Hoseok doesn't feel like he's pressured anymore. Jimin's smile calms him, and his thoughts straighten out and he smiles back.
"You think we don't notice it when he holds your hand under the table, but we do. When he rests his hands on your waist when we're ligning up to get food, yes, you might think this isn't a valid reason, but when you only grab a sandwich and say you don't need anything else, he always makes sure you eat enough so he puts more food on your plate so you don't get hungry," Hoseok frowns, but more to himself. "Sometimes I feel bad because I'm older, we're all older than him, but he's the one putting so much effort and deep inside, we know we're supposed to set an example, but he's already a good example of how people should be: caring, sweet, warm. So we let him. We let him continue doing these things because he wants to, because he likes seeing you happy. There's nothing wrong when you see two people happy," Hoseok finishes with a long sigh, and he has to remind himself that he's their group's sunshine, and now he was pouring down rain because of the truth, the reality he let Jimin wake up to. When he glances at Jimin then to Taehyung, he let Taehyung speak up.
"He listens to me and my problems, Jungkook, that kid," Taehyung chuckles and they all smile. "I listen to his problems, too, when we're on the phone and he doesn't want to annoy any of you, but believe it or not, he's been so worried about you, Jimin. Most of the time, he just talks about you. It went from 'Jimin hyung hasn't been feeling well, I should do something,' to 'Jimin hyung's been eating more, I'm happy,' and you don't know how my heart aches in the most painful way when sometimes I hear him sigh over the phone, muttering 'I wonder if Jimin hyung's sleeping right now. I want him to sleep safe and sound, I want him to forget the pain,'" Taehyung's smiling because he's happy. Jungkook's growing up. "A long time ago, we'd talk about games on the phone, but now, all he ever talks about has something to do with your health, how you're doing, and Jimin, you better take care of yourself and not let Jungkook down," the taller one adds, and when he stays silent, Yoongi thinks it's okay to speak up.
"That kid," Yoongi scoffs, his eyes rolling, but he smiles a second after, a hand in his hair as he combs through it. "He's so stubborn sometimes, but if I think about it, it's for the better. He's been doing well in class, even better than before, and he's been more open and he talks a lot more, which is good because at least now we know what he's actually thinking about. He wasn't like this before," Yoongi smiles. "I'm so proud of him. Sometimes he acts so mature, even taking care of you, Jimin, and that's great. We all think it's great. He's more responsible, more serious when it comes to what he likes and what he likes to accomplish," Yoongi pauses to tie his shoelaces, and they all wait for him. When he stands up and they continue making their way to their class, he continues. "But damn, when I tell him to keep quiet when we're in the library and I'm there trying to sleep, yes, I try, I try so hard, but all I hear is him crumpling papers and him writing but then he mutters a lot, constantly saying, 'This isn't good enough' and I get moody," Yoongi complains and all of them laugh. Jimin finds it cute, Jungkook concentrating. "But when I get cranky and I volunteer to help him with what he's doing, he moves to another chair and continues writing. I don't know, but he's been doing it for a while now. Writing stuff."
Writing stuff, Jimin chuckles, and they all enter their class, letting out a sigh of relief when they see that their teacher hasn't arrived yet.
When Jimin walks and puts his bag on his desk, earning a loud slam, Jungkook, who's sitting beside him, gets startled, and a blue folder from his own desk falls to the floor as his hands accidentally hit it, the contents scattered all over the floor.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Here, let me get that for you," Jimin smiles at him as he bends down to help Jungkook with the papers, but Jungkook seems to be in a hurry as he chuckles, picking up his folder and its contents, saying, "No, hyung, it's fine. I can do it," and that's when Jimin notices a piece of paper with that familiar shade of blue he always sees, somewhere buried in Jungkook's papers, and it's the only one that stands out, contrasting to the pale color of the other papers, needing life, but that blue paper was screaming, its color so alive and it didn't go unnoticed. Jimin noticed.
Jungkook was fast to collect everything, and that blue paper is back in the folder again, but he's not fast enough for Jimin not to see it.
"Jungkook, what are you writing about?" Jimin asks, noticing Jungkook hid what he was writing on a piece of blue paper, and Jimin wonders why everything is blue.
"You scared me, hyung. I thought you wouldn't come," Jungkook gives him that cute smile of his, so innocent that Jimin couldn't help but mess with his hair.
It seems like Jungkook's hiding something from him, but Jimin, not wanting to force people, didn't want to open up the topic, the fact that those blue papers, those specific, neatly-folded papers have been the only ones he's been seeing every morning, the ones that make him smile when he's down.
But Jimin shrugs and sets the thoughts aside because there's no way Jungkook's been the one sending him those sweet letters.
There's no way.
So to divert things, Jimin pretends he didn't see it and leans close to Jungkook just to tell him Taehyung, Hoseok, Yoongi and the others are coming over to his place later on, to spend three days there just because they need to catch up, need to spend more time together because after all, they're bestfriends. They all came to a conclusion that they'd spend their short three day vacation at Jimin's place. They've been spending so much time in school, stressed, taking exams that Jimin wanted all of them to spend three days at his place just because he felt like they all needed it.
And a part of him felt like he needed it, too, as if loneliness was going to drown him and Jimin was scared. He hated the emptiness he'd feel when even his younger brother wouldn't be there, when he'd be with their grandparents in Busan, where Jimin's from, and yes, in short and simple terms, Jimin was lonely.
"You'll be fine by yourself, right, sweetie? You have school work, we don't want you to go back and forth from Busan to Seoul, so how about only Jihyun stays in Busan while you stay at home?" his mother would say and to Jimin, at first, it was fine, till it repeated twice, three times till he lost count, and he forced himself to say it was okay.
Everything's okay.
"You'll go, right?" Jimin asked Jungkook after he explained their three day plan, and he earned a nod, Jungkook grinning. Perhaps the younger one was more excited about this than he was, Jimin thought, as Jungkook's eyes went wide and formed two crescent moons as he smiled some more.
"Of course. I'll stay with you," the younger one replied, chuckling.
The older one somehow hoped Jungkook didn't see the pain in his eyes because his reply made his heart swell in a good way. At least he wouldn't be lonely anymore.
At least they understand me.