Chapter Text
JIMIN POV
“Yes, Tae! I took the red pack that you like and some kimchi! You told me like three hundred times what you wanted and-”
“Did you take fresh kimchi? Or conditioned kimchi?” his best friend interrupts him over the phone.
Jimin sighs, exasperated. “The conditioned one, Tae. Again, you told me...”
“Just want to make sure! You know the other kinds of ramyeon make me sick…”
“I know! I live with you, remember?” Jimin doesn’t let Taehyung any opportunity to ask him anything else. “I’m heading back home now, see you in a bit!” and with that he hangs up.
He knows it’s rude to hang up like that, but really it’s not his fault. Taehyung, his roommate and best friend, is so picky with his food that it’s not even funny anymore. But even with that aside, Jimin is in a sour mood and has been for a few days already.
Normally, he should be back in Busan, with his family to celebrate Christmas and New Year, but he’s not. He had so much assignments to hand just before winter break, that it’s all he had been able to think about for weeks, and when he was finally over with his work, train tickets were completely sold out and he was stuck on campus for the whole break.
So here he is, on Christmas Eve, buying ramyeon and kimchi for Tae and him, ready to spend the rest of the night watching some shitty Christmas movies with his best friend. To be fair, it’s not that bad. Tae is always the best company and no one can cheer him up like he does, but it’s just not the same. He misses his parents and brother, hasn’t seen them since early August and he misses Busan too. Seoul is great, always something to do, something to see, people gathering; a big city full of life. But after that hectic end of semester, he could really use some peace and quiet. And living with Kim Taehyung is surely neither peaceful nor quiet.
With a deep sigh, Jimin makes his way in the streets to go back to campus. The walk is not long, for the convenience store he bought the food at, is barely a block away from his dorm. As he approaches the building, he can’t help a sudden doubt to pop up in his mind that maybe he got the wrong brand of ramyeon for Tae. He keeps walking at a fast pace, impatient to get back in the warmth for it’s freezing outside with the snow, and decides to check his bag of food one last time, just to be sure.
By the way the light gets brighter around him, he knows he’s close to the doors now, but brusquely he bumps into something and stops, hearing that something hit the ground. He takes his eyes off his bag to look at what he had ran into, and his heart stops entirely when he notices that the something is in fact a someone.
“Oh my god, I’m so so sorry!” he says quickly, realising he just put a guy on the snow. “I wasn’t looking where I was going and I didn’t see you in the way and… Oh fuck! Here, let me help you up!”
He extends his hand, half covered by his sleeve because he didn’t think of bringing his gloves with him, and waits for the stranger to take it, to help him up. When the guy on the ground raises his head, their eyes meet and Jimin recognizes him instantly.
Min Yoongi.
Well, fuck.
Of course it had to be him, because Jimin is that unlucky. Did he really think that his day couldn’t get any worse? Because it surely is, now that he had bumped into his crush and made him fall in the cold snow. His nerves rise up, his heart starts to beat faster than ever, his lips run dry and he can’t help his eyes from opening big in shock of what just happened.
In the snow, Yoongi doesn’t seem to be mad, but he surely doesn’t look happy either. In fact, Jimin can’t decipher what the other is thinking, he has this blank face that gives no clue whatsoever, and that makes Jimin all the more nervous as the seconds seem to stretch between them.
After what feels like the most uncomfortable second of his entire life, Yoongi finally takes his hand and Jimin helps him get up on his feet, keeping his hand in his for a few more seconds, just to make sure the older doesn’t fall back. That has absolutely nothing to do with Jimin not wanting to let Yoongi go just yet. Nothing to do with how Jimin wants to savorate the feeling of their skin touching, because no, Jimin had never wandered how it would feel to have such beautiful skin under his fingers. Nope.
And yes , all that is a big fat lie and Jimin is suddenly very grateful for the cold outside, because he can blame it for his red cheeks.
“Are you okay?” he barely manages to let out, all of sudden remembering his manners. “I’m really sorry… I-I know it’s no excuse but I have a very picky roommate and I was checking the food in my bag, to make sure I had picked the right kind of ramyeon for him… Checked that like ten times on my way over already, and… Ah, sorry, I’m rambling, and surely you don’t care. I’m really sorry…”
Jimin shuts himself up before he can ramble even more nonsense out of nervousness. He’s really making a fool out of himself right now, in front of Yoongi of all people and he’s mortified.
Jimin isn’t a shy guy, he’s always been able to make friends out of pretty much anybody, he jokes around easily and has no problem talking to people he doesn’t or barely know. But there’s something about Yoongi, since the first time Jimin had seen him, that throws him completely off. He has never been able to talk to him, or even look at him more than a few seconds, out of fear Yoongi would see him. But he never did, he’d never glanced his way. Everytime Jimin sees him somewhere, Yoongi seems to be completely focused on his laptop or notebook, unaware of the things around him, too immersed in his own world.
At first sight, Jimin had fallen for his eyes, always half opened and cat-like, then it had been the rest of his face, his entire frame and charisma. But what had truly put Jimin deep in, was watching the older guy interacting with his friends, whenever he had been blessed enough to witness such a thing. The way Yoongi smiled, the way he seemed to shrug off every joke thrown at him, the way he talked about music in that one class they had shared so many months ago. Since that class, last year, Jimin had started crushing on the guy.
And now he’s right in front of him, not saying anything after Jimin had made him fall on the ground, staring at him, thinking God knows what, and Jimin freaks out.
“I have to go, but again I’m so sorry…” he says as he starts to walk away backwards, putting as much distance between them as he can before he becomes as red as a tomato. “Merry Christmas!” he waves his hand in the air for a second, and turns quickly to the building to escape his misery.
‘Oh my god, I’m so dumb…’ he scolds himself.
Once inside the building, he rushes to the bathroom, not ready to face anyone just yet after what happened. He puts the bag of food beside the sink and looks at his reflection in the large mirror. As he had expected it, his cheeks are impossibly red, but he notices that his ears are too, and he can’t help but whine in misery at the thought that Yoongi had seen him like that. Flustered like a teenager in high school, faced with their first crush. Well, technically he’s still young, and although it’s not his first crush, it’s definitely the biggest he had in his life so far.
Slowly, he starts to think back on what he said to the other outside, and he cringes at himself, not believing he had rant over his roommate, and not looking where he was going, and fucking ramyeon… What kind of person rants to their crush of over a year about ramyeon? Literally nobody! He’s positive of that! If he ever sees Yoongi again he’ll be so mortified… He just completely blew all his chances of ever approaching the guy.
He takes a deep breath, gathers his bag and heads out of the bathroom, ready to face the world again…
...and spots Yoongi in the hallway, going for the stairs.
Ok, so Jimin isn’t very proud of his instant reflex, which is to go back in the bathroom to hide, but to his defense, he just got embarrassed in front of the guy, he’s not looking for more of that right now. He pushes his back against the door and tries to find his breath again. He waits a few minutes like that, too afraid to move and heart beating too fast to think properly.
When he deems that he can probably go out again without being seen, he opens the door slowly, careful to not make any noise with it, and tries a look in the hall. No Yoongi in sight. He opens the door more freely and lets out a long shaky breath as he steps out and makes his way to the cafeteria. He needs a hot chocolate to soothe his nerves, even if he knows the one from the vending machine has a shitty after taste.
He quietly makes it to the machine in a far corner of the cafeteria hall and chooses his drink with extra sugar in it. The machine beeps loudly in the empty hall when it’s done and he cringes internally at the noise, hoping that Yoongi is now too far to hear that. He takes the hot cup in his freezing hands and basks in the warmth spreading in him. The first sip isn’t that bad and he briefly wonders if they had changed the recipe, before he remembers on the second sip that it’s always like that. The first sip is a trick, fooling you into believing that this thing is actually not as bad as you remembered. But it is, as he remembers it now. Taehyung had once said that the chocolate tasted like cardboard, and until this day, Jimin still wonders how the boy could know how cardboard tastes like.
He turns away, scoffing at the memory of his friend, when his eyes fall on one particular table out of reflex. It’s like muscle memory at this point, really, how everytime he’s in this place he always looks at that table, the one Yoongi always sits at when he’s here. It’s the first place Jimin had noticed him, sitting by himself on one of the tables at the back, the closest to the large window. The moment he had seen Yoongi, the older was lost in contemplation of the scenery outside and Jimin had only been able to see his eyes from the reflection on the glass, but he had been mesmerized by them. Jimin feels the fond smile forming on his face, but it only lasts a few seconds before flashes of their encounter tonight rush back in his mind and he winces at the memory.
He doesn’t know for how long he stays like that, staring at that innocent table, torned between his two memories, but he finally snaps back to reality when he hears footsteps coming from the stairway, a few floors above. He gathers himself, throws his now empty cup in the trash when he passes by it and leaves the cafeteria in a hurry to get to the elevator.
Thankfully, when he pushes the button, the doors open right away, and he’s glad he doesn’t have to wait for it, because he can hear the footsteps coming down more closely than before and he knows that whoever is in the stairs will definitely see him if he doesn’t rush inside the elevator right now.
He has just enough time to see the familiar frame of Yoongi drawing itself in the corner of the hall, before he turns around to hide his face in a fit of panic. He only starts breathing again when he feels the elevator getting into motion. That was close. What is it about tonight that makes him stumble upon Yoongi everywhere? He could barely get a distant glimpse of him everyday normally, so what’s going on tonight?
The doors open again when he reaches the third floor and he gets out quickly, not willing to risk meeting anyone. Jimin actually lives on the fourth floor, in his shared dorm room with Taehyung, but he likes walking up the last floor so he always stops the elevator on the third. He rapidly climbs up the steps and almost runs in the hallway to get to his room.
When he opens the door, Taehyung yells at him in excitement as Jimin gives him the bag of food to settle on their small table, and he shuts the door rather abruptly when he almost fall face first on the floor.
When he takes off his shoes, he sees Taehyung’s face deflate a little at the sight of what’s inside the bag and he can’t help but doubt himself again about the ramyeon. Those damn ramyeon…
“You didn’t get any drinks?” his best friend pouts.
Jimin’s jaw falls. “Wha- No… because we already have some in the mini fridge, you gold-fish!”
Taehyung’s smile reappears instantly. “Oh yeah! That’s right!”
Jimin sighs deeply, half endeared, half exasperated by his friend’s antics. “Come on Tae, settle the food, I’ll get the drinks out.”
While Taehyung does as told, Jimin gets the soda bottle out of the mini fridge and puts it on the table before he removes his coat and throws it on his bed carelessly.
“What took you so long?” Taehyung asks suddenly as they’re opening their cups and pouring hot water on it. “The store is close, I didn’t think it’d take you so long to get back here…”
“Huh, I… I stopped by the cafeteria for a chocolate. It’s damn freezing outside. Gotta warm up, y’know?”
Taehyung makes a disgusted face at that. “Ew… why would you drink that trash on purpose? It tastes like cardboard!”
“How do you even know how cardboard tastes like, Tae?” Jimin asks chuckling.
“Well, my friend… that’s a secret I’ll take with me in the grave!”
Jimin laughs lightly, more than happy to have dodged the initial question, and they start digging in their food, while deciding which movie to put up first. In the middle of their meal (and in Taehyung’s case, in the middle of a mouthful of noodles), the younger starts to look weirdly at him, almost in wonder, and Jimin fears that he might go back to why Jimin took so long to come back. He really doesn’t want to explain his shameful and disastrous encounter with Yoongi, especially since Taehyung knows the latter quite well.
Taehyung knows about Jimin’s crush, and even if he offered many times to hook them up, Jimin doesn’t want to rely on his best friend to potentially score a date with anyone. He’d be too embarrassed, he’s not 12 anymore, he can do things by himself, thank you very much. Taehyung had accepted his choice and had let him have it his way, while being the supportive best friend he’s always been to Jimin. He had listened to Jimin whine and whine, day after day, over his crush on the older and never complained once.
No, the problem is, if Taehyung finds out that Jimin made such a fool out of himself tonight, he will never let it go. His roommate is super understanding, nice, kind and funny, but when it comes to The Tea™, Taehyung is just too much of a gossip to trust.
“What?” Jimin finally asks, unable to contain himself anymore with how his friend is staring at him now. “Why are looking at me like that?”
Taehyung seems to get out of his reveries. “Oh, sorry… I was thinking… Did you do something about your face?”
“My face?” Jimin starts to panic a little again, thinking that, surely, it’s impossible for his cheeks to still be red by now, right? “What do you mean?”
Taehyung hums. “I don’t know… there’s something different about you… though I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly…”
“Oh my god, Tae…” Jimin rolls his eyes, for he definitely knows what it’s about now, and he’s fondly exasperated by his friend, once again. “My hair! I dyed my hair blonde like… literally yesterday!”
Taehyung snaps his fingers in front of him. “Oh yeah! That’s it! But… yesterday? Really? You sure ‘bout that?”
“Considering the efficiency of your memory, I think I can confidently say that I remember better than you when I dyed my hair.” Jimin deadpans. “Seriously though, you should see a doctor about that, it’s not normal to have such a bad memory at your age…”
“It’s not that I have a bad memory, it’s just that my brain is too occupied with more important stuff to remember little details.” he answers in a false offended tone. “Plus, I don’t need a good memory when I have a good best friend slash roommate!”
“Little details?” Jimin quirks a brow. “Oh yeah, you mean like that time when you forgot to put some pants on to go to class?”
“Exactly! Details!”
Jimin laughs but he’s used to Taehyung’s memory by now. He picks some noodles and is about to shove them in his mouth when he realises that his friend is unusually quiet and when he looks back up, he sees him with a slight frown, the same that always appears whenever Taehyung is trying to remember something.
“What is it, Tae?” he asks with a smile and waits for him to remember.
“Oh shit! That makes total sense now!” Taehyung blurts out and startles Jimin.
“What? What makes sense now? What happened?”
Taehyung suddenly looks sheepish and starts playing with the wooden sticks in his hands, usual sign of him being about to confess something.
“Tae?” Jimin says in a warning tone. “What happened?”
“Hum… Don’t be too mad, ok? I swear I didn’t remember about your hair, and he didn’t have more information, like… nothing precise to guess it was you he was talking about and-”
“Tae!” Jimin interrupts him. “What are you talking about?”
Taehyung sighs, obviously dreading Jimin’s reaction to what he’s about to say next. “Yoongi hyung stopped by earlier, he was looking for someone… and now that I think back on it, I think… I think maybe he was talking about…. you?”
Jimin’s blood runs suddenly cold and his heart jumps in his chest. “He… what? Wait, what did he say to make you think he was looking for me ?”
“Well, he asked if i had seen a blonde guy with a bag of food, and though I knew you were about to come back with food, I didn’t remember you were blonde now, so… I told him it couldn’t have been you… I’m so sorry, Chim!”
“Oh…” Jimin starts breathing again, because Yoongi didn’t say anything about how badly embarrassing it had been to meet him, so… Yay! But… “But why was he looking for me?”
“Ah… that might be the part where you get mad…”
“Tae…” Jimin is back with his warning tone and dread inside. “Spill it!”
“He… He said he had ran into a guy earlier, but couldn’t catch his name or anything and... and that he thinks that guy is… his soulmate…”
“His what?!”
Jimin had jumped to his feet without realising it and he’s now standing up, looking alarmed at a very scared Taehyung. He takes a second to process everything.
Yoongi had ran into a guy earlier. Ok, totally could be him.
He had asked Taehyung about a blond guy with food. Definitely him, for he didn’t see anybody else in the building, the whole evening.
But soulmate? Surely that wasn’t him. No way.
Right…?
Jimin feels the heat abandoned his body slowly as he raises his hands in front of him to look at them. The sleeves cover most of them so he can’t see if there’s any mark on them. With shaky movements, he pulls at the fabric and watches with wide eyes a black mark appear under the clothed skin. On the back of his right hand, where it had always been just his honey blank skin, there’s now a thick black line forming an infinity sign.
Soulmate.
That’s something Jimin had never really put much thought into. Sure, the concept is pleasant, having somewhere in the world someone that is your perfect match, someone that completes you in every way, that is the perfect extend of your heart, mind and soul. But he never really chased or look for it. He’s not opposed to having a soulmate, not at all. It’s just something that he thought would never happen to him, since the odds are very small for everybody. Very few people get to meet their soulmate, and Jimin never thought he’d be amongst that tiny percentage of the population for whom it happens.
“Chim…?” he hears Taehyung call his name in a distant whisper before he manages to snap back to the present moment. “Are… are you ok? Are you… mad?”
Jimin turns his eyes to look at him, a lot of emotions spiralling in him at that moment. “Am I ok? Tae… you just told me that the guy I have the biggest crush of history on, is most likely my soulmate… and that you forgot to tell me. Do you think I’m ok?” he answers without raising his voice. “I don’t know if I’m ok, and I don’t know yet if I’m mad at you or not, I’ll deal with you later. For now I gotta get out.”
He quickly grabs his coat and hastily puts his shoes back on before he rushes out of the room, leaving a scared and puzzled Taehyung behind.
He gets to the stairs, having no idea where to go, what to do or even what to think. The only thing he’s sure of now, is that he needs some air. So he runs down the stairs until he reaches the main hall and gets out of the building in a hurry. He needs to breathe some fresh air to cool down his running mind.
But fate seems to have decided otherwise, for when he stops, it’s because he hits someone full force. He still has enough time to catch an arm before the other can fall, and only at that moment does he realise who’s in front of him.
Yoongi.
Again.
Fuck, he’s not ready.
“You…” Yoongi lets out in a whisper.
“Hey…” Jimin answers dumbly, not able to repress a smile at the sight of this face finally so close to him.
For a moment, none of them say anything more, and Jimin starts to remember their previous encounter that night. He’s so screwed. Yoongi must think he’s some kind of weirdo, or worse, a clumsy rude boy unable to look where he’s going. For fuck’s sake, it’s the second time Jimin runs into him, in less than an hour.
Before he can say anything to try and salvage the rest of his dignity, Yoongi suddenly grabs his arm, linking the two of them together. “I went looking for you, but… I couldn’t find you…” he says and Jimin’s eyes go wide in apprehension.
“I’m so sorry!” he blurts out without thinking. “I didn’t realise what had happened… and I was in a hurry to bring the food back and get a drink, and I… Ugh, I’m gonna kill Tae, I swear! He took so long to remember you went knocking on our door, and... he’s so stupid, I’m gonna choke him in his sleep! And after that…”
“Wait, Tae?!” Yoongi interrupts him abruptly. “As in Kim Taehyung? You know him? What…”
“He’s my roommate, and also best friend, though now he’s just very dead, I swear to god! Ugh, you have no idea how it is to live with him, Yoongi-” he cuts himself and raises his free hand to cover his mouth brusquely, realising what he just said.
Yoongi’s eyes go wider and his grip on his arm tightens. “How… You know my name? What…” he says obviously very confused, and Jimin curses himself internally.
He’s not supposed to know his name, it sounds so creepy! He runs his hands through his hair out of nervousness, just to occupy them enough to gain some time. “Ah… yeah, hum… I actually… kinda know you?” he says hesitant as to how much he should share. “We… we were in the same Music Theory class, last year…” ‘and I have the biggest crush on you since then.’ he mumbles more to himself than anything.
“What?”
Shit. Of course, Yoongi has to have a good hearing, or life would be too easy, right?
“Ah! Nothing! I just…” he stops the moment he sees a smile appearing on Yoongi’s face, unable to say anything more for his throat contracts itself.
“Come on, you can tell me…” Yoongi says in a soft voice, and Jimin’s heart weakens on the spot, because how lucky can he be to finally have that smile turned to him, and that voice speaking to him alone?
Jimin gulps and takes a deep breath, deciding to take his chance. After all they’re soulmates, right? It can’t possibly be that bad to admit his crush, right...? “I just… I said that… I kinda had a crush on you since then…” but even in his new bravery, he can’t look at Yoongi when he says that and averts his eyes to anything that’s not him.
He starts to think he messed up big time, but Yoongi speaks to him again in that beautiful voice of his and even if he still can’t look at him, he listens intently. “Can I…” Yoongi clears his throat slightly. “Can I know the name of the guy who had a crush on me since last year, then?”
“Has.” Jimin corrects him, then curses himself again. Why does he have to be so picky about details like that?
“Huh… what?” he hears the confusion in Yoongi’s tone.
“You said ‘the guy who had a crush on you’... as in the past… but I-I still d-do…”
“Oh…” is all Yoongi say in response, and Jimin’s heart drops in his chest.
“And I… I’m Jimin. Park Jimin.” he tries to keep his voice even, but it’s getting harder and harder, and he still can’t look Yoongi in the eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Jimin… I think that… I mean, huh… Can I see your hand…?”
Jimin’s mouth falls open at the question, but no sounds comes out. He manages to look at Yoongi’s shoulder and he thinks he sees a smile on his face, but he doesn’t want to get his hopes up. He slowly raises his free hand to show it to him and Yoongi lifts his right hand to join his. The moment their hands touch again, Jimin feels a warm current of energy passing through them and it kind of feels like home, though Jimin doesn’t understand that feeling just yet.
“So you are my soulmate… and I am yours…” Yoongi says in a soft voice, and Jimin can’t suppress the huge smile to make its way on his entire face, for he’s so gone for that voice. “I mean… I kind of guessed you were when I saw my hand, but… but it was more hope... and now I know …”
Jimin finally looks at him again but his smile falters a little when he sees no more smile on the other’s face. Is he disappointed? Maybe he doesn’t want a soulmate, not that Jimin would blame him, he himself had never really thought of it after all, but it still hurts a little knowing that his soulmate might not want him.
“I know I’m probably not what you were hoping for but… but I… maybe we can-”
“What?” Yoongi interrupts him suddenly, and Jimin now fears that they won’t even be able to be friends. “No! What makes you think… I… I literally looked everywhere for you, for the last hour! I kept missing you everywhere I went… but Tae said it couldn’t be you, because you were not blonde, though obviously you are … and… and god, I even knocked on my own door! And now that you’re here…” and finally, the most beautiful smile Jimin had ever seen on Yoongi’s face appears. “I’m so glad I found you… or rather glad that you found me…”
“Really?” Jimin can’t help but asks, still doubting himself, still unable to believe he could be that lucky.. “Because I’m just… I mean, you’re not… disappointed…?”
Yoongi’s eyes go wide at that. “Disappointed? Why? Because you’re beautiful, adorable, endearing and nice?” Jimin can feel himself blushing hard under those words of praise. “Yeah, I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed for not finding you sooner. Disappointed in myself for not seeing you in class and for making you wait for me…”
Jimin smiles grow larger and by instincts he grabs Yoongi’s other hand, just to make sure he’s not dreaming what he just heard.
“The wait was worth it, though…” and instantly Jimin cinges at his own words. “Oh my god… that was so cheesy and I’m sorry, I’m so embarrassing!”
Jimin averts his eyes and tries to get his hands away, not wanting to even imagine what Yoongi must be thinking of him right now, but Yoongi doesn’t let him. He tightens his hold on Jimin’s hands and stays quiet until Jimin looks back at him.
“You’re not embarrassing, Jiminie. You're the best Christmas present I could've hoped for.”
Jimin chuckles, because he didn’t think Yoongi would be the sappy kind. “Oh wow… you’re even more cheesy!”
Yoongi just shrugs. “I know. I came to terms with it a while ago.” he raises a brow before he continues in a humoristic tone. “Don’t tell anybody I said that, though. I’ll deny it if you do…”
Jimin can’t help but laugh at Yoongi’s remark, finding his humour endearing. Maybe they are soulmates for good reasons after all. When he feels like his heart is calming down from the laugh, it’s only to jump again when Yoongi’s lips meet his own suddenly and he has no time to think of anything. He feels himself tensing in surprise, but it only takes a second for him to melt on the spot and relax in Yoongi’s hold.
Yeah, definitely worth the wait.
When they part from the kiss, Jimin sees Yoongi looking at him as if Jimin was his whole world, and he guesses that’s true now, in some way.
His day had been shitty, and he had thought the whole winter break would be as well, but he was very wrong.
Jimin had never looked for his soulmate, but he’s happy Yoongi had found him on this fateful Christmas night.
***
(“So… are you ok? Are you still mad?” Taehyung asks him over the phone.
“I’m definitely ok, Tae. And I’m not mad, just… try to remember people’s hair color in the future, yeah?” Jimin chuckles when he hears the sigh of relief from his best friend.
“Tell him to remember to wear pants as well…” Yoongi says beside him. “It’s very unsettling…”
“You people are just jealous of my legs, is all!” Taehyung shouts in the phone, obviously hearing Yoongi perfectly fine without Jimin passing on his words.)