Archive of Our Own

Jimin's snoozed alarm clock buzzes until he manages to smash it silent. Then he stares at the ceiling wondering why the heck he had an alarm set during his Christmas holidays. 

Just as his body is relaxing back into a sleepy haze, the ringtone he’d set as Taehyung’s, blasts through the room causing him to nearly fall out of bed. 

“What the fuck, Tae!” He growls while Taehyung giggles on the other end of the line. 

“Morning, sunshiiiiiine! We’re still getting breakfast today, right?”

Jimin flops onto his side and groans. Ah, right. That’s why he’d set his alarm. “Yeah, yeah. I gotta shower first.”

“Okay. See you in a half hour, then!”

Taehyung hangs up and Jimin groans yet again. Under no sun, moon, and stars will he be showered and out the door that quickly, but he appreciates his friend’s enthusiasm. 

2:02AM. The bane of his existence. He'd woken up with a start and couldn’t fall back to sleep until closer to five. Now, at 6:06AM, he’s barely hanging on under the hottest shower he can handle and he’s still fucking embarrassed.

Later, once they’re seated and waiting for coffee, Jimin’s stomach is swirling with miserable self-consciousness. “Do you remember your wedding where—”

“Of course I remember my wedding, I was there!”

“Tae!”

“Sorry.”

Jimin raises both of his eyebrows in anticipation because he can tell by the way Taehyung’s shoulders are bunched up to his ears, that he hasn’t said everything he wants to say yet. 

“Just let it out, buddy.” Jimin smirks at Taehyung’s eye twitching. 

“Yoongi was just so hot, you know?” Taehyung shakes his fists aggressively. He lets out an unabashed growl and then whisper-wails to the ceiling. Jimin can’t help but giggle over his friend’s theatrics while the server drops off their coffees before heading in the direction of another table. 

“Ok, sorry, what about the wedding?” Taehyung exhales dreamily.

Jimin sighs. “So you know how I always remember shit at some stupid ass hour of the night?”

“Yes. 2:02. I could set my watch to it back in college.”

Jimin blinks patiently for Taehyung to finally settle in for the conversation. He’s always like this; he has to get the jitters out before he can focus properly.

“Well. This time I actually…ugh. Okay, so at your wedding, your coworker and I had a blast, right?”

Taehyung nods and takes a big sip of his coffee. “You mean my coworker who’s name you didn’t ask for at all throughout the night and therefore I refused to help you with because you’re a chicken?”

“Why are you like this?” 

They both chuckle. It’s not exactly true that Taehyung refused , it’s more that Jimin begged him not to tell him because then he’d just embarrass himself by scouring social media to find said coworker and lightly stalk him (aka stare longingly from the other side of his phone screen without ever plucking up the courage to connect).

“Well, much to your incoming amusement, I only just realized that he was likely flirting with me that whole time.” Jimin wrinkles his nose and slides down in the booth to try and hide. 

“You just…” Taehyung’s eyes go wide. “Babes.” He sets his mug down onto the table and outright cackles. “Oh, boy. I know you say you’re bad at reading people, but it took you TWO WHOLE YEARS to realize that my coworker was flirting with you for the better part of SIX HOURS.”

“It was not six!”

“Yes, babes! SIX! There was the reception and the hangout in the dressing room afterwards.”

Jimin whines and lays himself out on the booth seat.  “He was so cute.” Jimin bemoans when he sits back up. His hair is a mess, he can feel it sticking up every which way. “And hot. He was so hot. And nice. Taehyungggg-uuuugh.”

His best friend snorts and opens a sugar packet to dump into his coffee. Jimin puts his elbows up on the table and drops his face into his hands. 

“Why am I so hopelessly clueless? I was queer panicking the whole time because I thought my crush was one-sided.”

“Oooh no, Jiminie, it was very much not one-sided.” Taehyung tsks with a smirk on his face as he clinks his spoon inside the cup while stirring in the sugar. “No, that boy talked about you until his last day working at the library.”

“Taaaaeeee.” 

“You’re awfully whiny this morning.” 

“Shut up. I missed out on the love of my life because I was being ridiculous.”

Taehyung sighs dramatically. “Yoongi would probably have something dry to say to this whole mess, but I’ll just come out and say that I’m glad you missed out.”

Jimin looks up from his hands. “Oh, god, don’t tell me the guy was a jerk or something. You know I have the worst taste in partners.”

“No, nothing like that.” Taehyung shakes his head and puts the spoon back on its napkin. “I just mean that you weren’t ready and probably neither was he. He was going through a lot in his personal life at the time.”

“I’m never gonna be ready. My next partner’s gonna have to fall through the ceiling in order for me to ever be close to being ready.”

“Even then, you’re still gonna ask god for a sign.”

Jimin nods. 

“Because apparently summoning your brain at 2:02AM isn’t enough.”

Jimin grunts and crosses his arms over his chest. 

🌷📖🌷

“An anonymous book club?” Jimin asks from across the counter. 

“Date with a Book Club!” Taehyung corrects and scans another book from the Returns pile. 

“And there’s a whole discord server where we can chat about everything?”

“Yes!” Taehyung rotates the rolling shelf to put the next few books on the other side. “You don’t have to do that part, of course, but it might be kinda fun to talk to the other people in the club. We’re going to hold a monthly meeting at the main library downtown in case folks want to hang out in person.”

Jimin looks down at the Interest Box and the stack of brightly colored submission slips. He could certainly use more socializing, particularly socializing in places outside of the bar scene where he usually feels terribly out of place. He’d stopped drinking shortly after college because it had always put him in a strange headspace. Even still, ten years later, he has trouble settling into spaces like that.

“What if I don’t like the summary? Can I request a different one?” He clicks the pen repeatedly, enjoying the sound and sensation through his thumb. 

“Only if you give your assigned book a genuine try. We’re building a more detailed form that we’ll send to participants so you can filter out the types of things you definitely don’t want to read.”

Jimin pushes his lips out while he ponders. His friend group has dwindled over the years due to everyone getting married and/or having kids. With the exception of Taehyung, he’s basically been delegated to the role of proximity friend for most of his relationships. It’s lonely, for sure, but it hasn’t been all bad. He still goes out and does things and he has fun doing them. Maybe this book club will help him make a new friend or two. 

“It’s system-wide. So all the library branches in the city are participating.” Taehyung adds. 

Okay, that could potentially be a lot of people. Jimin taps the pen nervously on the ledge. What if the discord server is always busy? What if it starts off that way but then dies down? He doesn’t really want to be in yet another server where he’s the only one speaking into the void. Or, for that matter, what if he’s never the one to speak in the chat and then he shows up to the get-togethers all awkward while everyone else already seems to know each other…

Ah, what the hell. The worst that can happen is he nopes out of it after a few tries and calls it a day. 

“Yay!” Taehyung cheers as Jimin drops his name into the box. “We already have a spreadsheet of some book recommendations and I’m putting a bunch on my own tbr.”

“You’re such a nerd.” Jimin teases and waves goodbye while he heads out the door. 

“Says you who has eighty-one open tabs for AO3!”

“SHUSH!”

When the doors slide closed behind him, Jimin can still hear Taehyung laughing and it makes him giggle all the way to his car. 

🌷📖🌷

As it turns out, Jimin is the one who enters the discord chat two weeks late and hardly says a word. The general channel seems to roll at a steady pace very early in the mornings, a bit during the lunch hour, and swiftly for an hour or so most late evenings. He’s scrolling through the day’s chatter when the first meeting date is posted in the events calendar. Almost immediately, the RSVPs pile up, hesitation tugs at the edge of his throat but he accepts the invitation despite his nerves. 

It occurs to him then, that he has only one week to read the book he was assigned. Unless he digs through some of the other channels in the server, he won’t know if anyone else is reading the same book as he is. 

Jimin: are there a bunch of us assigned the same book?

Taehyung: depends on the book. we had a number of folks who made sense for some but not others. 

Jimin frowns and looks back down at the email with his assigned book information and reads it aloud:

“Tulipomania: the story of the world’s most coveted flower and the passions it aroused by Mike Dash. Recommended by user ggukbook.” 

Moderately irritated by how boring that title sounds, he clicks the link for the selection. The cover is gorgeous with its wine red frame and a, presumably, Dutch village-scape across the lower half of it.

“I don’t even like tulips.” Jimin gripes to himself. “They’re, like, the least interesting flower in the whole garden section.”

He’s half tempted to text Taehyung and ask for a different recommendation, but then he remembers how he’d agreed to give the book a try. Technically, he could simply not read the book. He could back out of the discord server and pretend like he was never there in the first place. But then he’d have to lie to Taehyung about his reading progress which would eventually lead him to coming clean about his lie and that he dipped at the first opportunity. 

He quickly toggles to the library’s reservation page and requests that the book be set aside for him. He’ll stop by after work to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe the person who recommended the book is just really interested in gardening. Maybe it’s a sign that Jimin needs to pick up some better hobbies like…gardening…or maybe he should at least try and learn to identify more than one flower aside from a tulip, a rose, and a gerber daisy…gurbar?...gerbera (he always gets it eventually). 

Once he picks up the book from the library, he skims the back cover and is utterly uninspired by the ramblings about a ‘futures market’ and its resulting crash and the centuries that led up to it. He’s never cared about economics and he’s fairly certain he’s never read a singular history book outside of the required readings when he was in school. 

To put it nicely, the book in his hands is threatening to collect dust on his nightstand until it’s time to return it. The even larger threat, is that if he doesn’t crack it open, he has no real reason to go to the meet-up because what will he even talk about? What if he runs into the person who recommended it and he has to confess that he thinks their book is boring?

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Jimin reluctantly whispers to himself as he tosses the paperback into the passenger seat. He’d checked out the author’s website during his lunch break and the other books in his bibliography sounded frightfully more interesting than this one about tulips. There were stories about famous gangs and shipwrecks and crime rings – all of which fell into Jimin’s normal reading interests (should he consider therapy? probably. but who’s keeping track at this point, right?). 

Back at home, while he waits for his pasta water to boil for dinner, Jimin scrolls through the discord server participants and sees the green circle of user ggukbook. He debates messaging the person directly, but eventually decides against it. The last thing he wants to do is creep the person out on the first exchange, especially considering he hasn’t been on the server for very long, nor has he even started reading the book yet.

Instead, he opens up the connections channel and drops a quick message into the chat. 

jimjam: hey friends, sorry i’m so late to the server…i finally picked up my assigned read, tulipomania. has anyone else here read it yet? I don’t want spoilers at all, just if you enjoyed it.

Another user in the chat likes the note and then comments excitedly.

poprocksplus: omg i freaking loved that book. I don’t even like gardening or history or anything like that. I read it for an assigned reading in a class during college and i kept my copy even after the class was done. 10/10 if the recommender doesn’t wanna chat about it, feel free to DM me

jimjam: aaaah ok thanks! ngl i’m not much of a history or flower person but i’ll give it a shot so…

poprocksplus: i totally get it but if you like drama and weird trivia facts that you can throw around during drinks, this is one of those books and people are always surprised when you drop the nerdy factoids. 

Jimin snorts. His friend group is a bit on the nerdy side. Yoongi is a civil engineer, Taehyung is a librarian, Namjoon does something obscure in finance, and Jimin himself is a technical writer for an industrial compressor company. More than half of their conversations revolve around them talking about really niche circumstances that make most other people stare off blankly into the middle distance. 

It’s a problem he’s encountered when trying to make new friends outside of his job or when he’s been on dates. They ask him what he does for work and he spirals like a penny down one of those coin tunnels they used to have at malls and the person’s eyes glaze over within minutes. He’s resolved himself to likely having to mute that part of himself if he ever wants to start dating again – at least at the beginning of a relationship.

When he’s done eating, he putters around the living room for a while watching an episode of a show he’s not even remotely interested in. It does occur to him that instead of wasting his time absorbing a boring show, maybe he could spend his time attempting to read his new book. With a great sigh, he pushes himself off of the couch and heads toward his room to get ready for bed. This way, if he falls asleep, at least he’ll be in bed and not on the couch in some precarious position that will inevitably make his back ache when he wakes up.

Once he’s settled under the covers and everything but his bedside lamp is turned off, he flips to the first page and begins his journey. 

🌷📖🌷

“How’s your book?” Namjoon asks, sinking into the well-worn armchair at the back of the cafe. 

“Dude.” Jimin enthusiastically yanks the book open and reads a passage from one of the first pages. “‘They were possessed with such a rage or, to give its proper name, such an itching for their flowers, as to give often three thousand Crowns for a tulip that pleased their fancies; a disease that ruined several rich families.’” He slaps the book shut and looks up at Namjoon’s mildly amused expression. “Mister Finance Guy, do you happen to know how much a singular crown from 1637 compares to today’s rate?” 

Namjoon shakes his head, a small smile curls his lips. Jimin is nearly vibrating out of his socks to talk about some of the weird shit he’s learned in this book. Starting with monetary conversion rates is just the beginning and Namjoon, bless him, is the perfect victim for such a conversation.

“I haven’t the faintest idea.”

“Guess.”

Namjoon snorts.

“Guess guess!” Jimin insists. 

“A crown? I’m assuming we’re talking somewhere in the Holy Roman Empire, right?”

Jimin nods. 

“Well, it’s difficult to say given how volatile the economy was at the time and where you were in geographic relation to the Ottoman Empire and other evolving European countries. I suspect the shift in–”

“Just throw out a number, Joon!” Jimin says with a delightedly impatient giggle. 

“Okay, probably somewhere around fifty bucks.”

“Close!” Jimin nearly shouts and points his finger into the air. “During that year, in what we now know as Denmark, a single crown would equal $64.08 in today’s money. Do you know how much fucking money 3,000 crowns is?!”

He sits excitedly, knee bouncing, while Namjoon does the mental math. 

“About 192–”

“THOUSAND DOLLARS!!” Jimin finishes for him – ever impressed by his friend’s skills. “For a fucking TULIP BULB! JUST ONE!” He slumps back into his chair, fully exasperated by the idea that a singular onion-looking plant could ever run for that high a price. 

“If my mom’s current garden existed back then…” Namjoon whistles. 

“She’d have to hire bodyguards!” Jimin recalls the rows and rows of tulips in that garden last spring. “People would literally rob each other blind back in the day.” 

He speaks at length for the next ten minutes about how the flower is said to have originated in the high altitudes of the Tien Shan mountains. Using his hands animatedly, he explains that they slowly made their way across the continent, first heralded as the holiest of flowers – the flower of God and a symbol of modesty before God – then bloomed into a symbol of protection, love, wealth, and rebirth. He mentions how the first gardeners to cultivate tulips were royal gardeners during the Ottoman empire and that…

“Wasn’t there a period of time where the royal gardeners were also executioners?” Yoongi interrupts when he flumps into the nearest loveseat. 

“Yes!” Jimin practically shouts. He has no idea when Yoongi showed up, but that’s exactly what he was just about to tell Namjoon.

“Method of execution: allergies.” Namjoon chuckles and then sneezes two seconds later. He’s so loud he wakes the elderly man who’d fallen asleep adjacent to him and Yoongi apologizes for his friend’s obnoxiousness. 

“Wait, how did you know this fact?” Jimin asks Yoongi. The only reason he knew the fact about the executioners was from an anecdote within the book. It’s never something he would have stumbled across on some random Tuesday while being bored on the internet. 

Yoongi takes a sip of his coffee and closes his eyes to savor the bitter drink. “My boss’ younger brother is a botanist. I guess he sends him unique plant arrangements for his birthday every year. Last year, it was a singular red tulip.”

Jimin scrunches his nose in concern. Red is typically for passion and romance…not…

Yoongi chuckles. “I gave him that same look. But he explained to me that his kids are huge into minecraft and he’s, of course, a total geek with them. At the time, they were growing red tulips in the game or something like that.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with you knowing the executioner stuff?” Namjoon seems just as amused and confused as Jimin.

“Jin handed me the greeting card that came with the flower. Inside, his brother had written about it.” Yoongi fiddles with the handle of his mug and looks up to the sky as if he’s trying to recall what he’d read. “If an official were charged with a crime worthy of execution, they were given the chance to redeem themselves. If they could run the mile from the palace to the water and make it there before the gardener-slash-executioner, then the official would get out of his punishment. He would, however, still be banned from the empire. If he didn’t make it there before the gardener…well, then off with his head.” 

“Suddenly, allergies don’t seem so bad.” Namjoon smirks. 

“You know what’s so crazy when you think about it?” Jimin says. “...they didn’t have proper running shoes back then. No memory foam. No padding like we do. That’s a whole ass mile over rocks and stone and mud and whatever else with what would basically be bare feet to us now.”

“My body hurts just thinking about it.” (Namjoon has never been one to withhold his disdain for running.)

“Joon, you work out more than any of us. Your body hurts because you’re mean to it.”

Jimin laughs at Yoongi’s grouchy call-out. “Wait. You said it was for his birthday. What a weird fucking thing to give your brother.”

Yoongi shrugs. “I mean, Jin was practically crying from how hard he was laughing. It must be some sort of inside joke to them. I think they play-fight a lot or something because Jin always blames himself and his brother for how rambunctious his kids are.”

“People always say when you have kids they bless you with how you blessed your parents as kids.” Jimin tauntingly pokes Namjoon in the side. 

“And that’s exactly why I’m never having them.” Namjoon squirms away in a fit of giggles. 

🌷📖🌷

Jimin finally finishes his book two hours before the first meet up. Much to his surprise and pleasure, it had taken him the whole week to finish because he went down the rabbit hole of researching various tangents. Thanks to the buying and selling of tulips in the 1600’s, Jimin has learned way too much about the solidification of what’s now known as the futures market (who even IS he anymore that he cares about this sort of thing?). He’s dug up some weird information on farm size and crop rotations. He’s started doing research on historical fiction films and period pieces to see if their on-set historians chose accurate floral arrangements for the time and place. And now, in the middle of January, he’s seeing tulip bulbs for sale everywhere as if they weren’t, at one time, exceptionally valuable and exceedingly rare. 

He walks up the enormous limestone steps to the entrance of the main library downtown and heaves open the gigantic wooden door. He hasn’t been here in years. It’s too much of a pain to drive downtown and even more so to find reasonably priced parking. Thankfully, this event is held after hours so the library promised to validate the attendees’ parking for the lot across the street.

The security guard points him through the second set of doors and lets him know the gathering is the first enclave to the right. He’s also informed that the cafe in the main lobby is open for drinks and snacks. 

Earlier in the day, Taehyung had texted Jimin bragging about how the drinks were all non-alcoholic and that they were named after famous fictional characters chosen by Taehyung himself. Aside from the fact that he’s thirsty, Jimin really wants to see what his best friend came up with so he heads to the cafe straight away. Thoroughly amused by the names, he orders a Templeton (after the rat in Charlotte’s Web) which is a sour but sweet blackberry lemonade. For a treat, he buys a heart-shaped rice krispie.

Does he need all of this sugar at 7pm? Absolutely not. 

Will he consume it with joy? Of course. 

He finds his name tag at the check-in table and sticks it to his sweater, then he sweeps quickly into the adjoining room and silently observes the crowd mingling amongst the shelves. 

“You’d think there’d be at least one extrovert here to brush away all the shyness.” Taehyung whispers in Jimin’s right ear, causing him to jump a mile high. Taehyung giggles to himself, thoroughly pleased that Jimin nearly toppled over. “Oh wait! That extrovert is me!”

Beaming at his own sense of humor, Taehyung wanders into the center of the room, clears his throat, and introduces himself. Folks gather around, smiling bashfully as Taehyung gently coaxes them to say hi to the people around them. He makes mention of where to find the facilities and that there are a few fun games set up in the smaller room connected to theirs should anyone be interested. Once he hurries back to Jimin’s side, he turns on the radio nestled on the shelf behind them and music plays low through the speakers.  

“Yacht rock?” Jimin snorts. “Really?”

Taehyung shrugs. “I asked the librarians to contribute to a playlist! It’s cute!”

Jimin nods. “Yeah, it kinda is.”

🌷📖🌷

Jimin gets home way later than he thought he would after hanging out at a library of all places. At first, he’d been disappointed that he didn’t get to meet ggukbook, but he’d ended up running into poprocksplus (Lucy) and they’d introduced Jimin to a whole bunch of folks from the discord server. He also meets Hoseok who doesn’t really hang out on the discord much, but he personally knows ggukbook and said he was babysitting his nephews for the night. Jimin certainly couldn’t remain too disappointed after hearing that. 

Their group played some games in the other room and gabbed about their books. He’d found the person who was given his recommendation (a lovely dystopian book about a robot and a human becoming friends in the wild), and he left with his next month’s book recommendation tucked safely under his arm. 

When they’d all gotten to their respective homes, they’d flown back into the discord channel and talked for another hour or so. Jimin has no idea when his phone fell out of his hand, but when he wakes up to roll over and plug it in, he smiles because his heart feels good and cozy. 

🌷📖🌷

February trudges along through the bitter cold until very suddenly it’s the first of March and Jimin is pulling into the parking structure across from the main library. 

“I feel like we should have these meetings once a week,” Lucy says when she hugs Jimin. 

“We all literally hung out two days ago,” Hoseok giggles. 

Their little group of five smiles at each other and Jimin has no idea how in the fuck he managed to make five friends so quickly. He’s fairly certain that they won’t all stay as close as they are right now, because, well, life. Regardless, he’s grateful for their companionship through the dreariness of the last month. 

He meets the older man who’d given him his February’s book recommendation and they sit by the fireplace wrapped in a passionate discussion about the main character’s choices. Jimin finds it absolutely hilarious that the gentleman had recommended the book purely because he’d loathed it and he’d wanted to find people who hated it just as much as he does – or to find someone who likes it enough to change his mind about it. Much to the man’s delight, Jimin confessed he was on the side of loathing. Their joint commiseration leads to Jimin accepting another one of the man’s recommendations and a promise to reconvene the following month for another round of grousing. 

“Maaaan,” Hoseok sighs as they walk side by side to their cars at the end of the night. “I really wish JK had been able to come tonight. He really wants to chat with you about that tulip book.”

Jimin grins. “Well, maybe next time or, you know, he could just chat with us in the discord.” 

“He’s too shy to strike up a conversation, even if I addressed him directly. I told him to stop wrastlin’ his nephews and maybe he won’t keep getting their germs so that he can join in person.”

Jimin cackles at Hoseok’s ridiculous imitation of wrestling and easily joins in the playfulness. They may have only met a month ago, but Hoseok is one of those people who simply feels like home. Hoseok seems to agree with the sentiment, especially after having immediately melted into Jimin’s life like he’d always been there. In particular, Hoseok had taken to Namjoon like a moth to a flame and Jimin fears that Namjoon really doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter when it comes to Hoseok’s affections. (Not that Namjoon seems to mind one bit considering he’s a bumbling mess around the newcomer.)

“You should just introduce him to our group.” Jimin suggests. He presses his finger on the button of his door handle and it beeps to unlock. 

“Like the book group or…” Hoseok raises his eyebrows suggestively.

Jimin sighs. This isn’t the first time that Hoseok nudges over the idea that JK would be a good fit for Jimin romantically. 

“I’m just saying…” Hoseok sing-songs as he unlocks his own car and opens the door. 

“You know what, Hobi? Fine. Introduce us.” Jimin replies. He has no idea what in tarnation makes him say it, but the words are out of his mouth like little cupids and he can practically see them sprout wings and procure their trumpets to signal to the gods that he’s mildly curious what it would be like to be set up. 

Hoseok hollers so loud that it echoes through the entire parking structure. Jimin doesn’t even respond to him. Instead, he quickly hides in his car and desperately resists rolling his window down to rescind his offer. 

🌷📖🌷

“My Jiminie has a daaaaate!” Taehyung dances through Jimin’s bedroom while holding a sparkling long sleeve button up like it’s his dancing partner. “Here, wear this.”

“We’re literally only going to end up talking about a couple of books, my dude.” Jimin rolls his eyes while donning a deep red sweater over a white t-shirt. After a few well-practiced silent arguments, Taehyung concedes to Jimin’s outfit of choice. 

“Your ability to sass me like this purely to avoid your own feelings of elation ought to be studied, my darling.” Taehyung sticks his nose in the air even while he hooks dangly silver earrings into Jimin’s ears. 

Jimin snorts and wraps his arm around Taehyung’s waist, wordlessly asking for a tight hug. It’s true that Jimin is avoiding thinking about how excited he is. Date though it may be, there is the very real possibility that they might come away from the dinner with only a mild interest in one another and that makes Jimin nervous. What would he tell Hoseok about his friend? What would he tell Taehyung that won’t make him sound like a pathetic puppy crawling back with his tail between his legs?

“Listen to that noggin of yours overworking. I can smell the steam from here.” Taehyung pulls away from their hug and smacks a juicy kiss on Jimin’s forehead before swatting his butt to get him walking towards the door. “If anything, you’ll make a new friend. I can’t imagine Hoseok being friends with assholes. He seems too sincere in that way.”

Jimin pushes his lips into a pout while he slips on his shoes and ties them securely. Taehyung hands him his wallet and keys, giddy as the morning sunlight on dewy grass. 

🌷📖🌷

Hoseok: JK said he’s running ten minutes late and that he apologizes for making a bad impression right out the gate

Hoseok: his excuse is that his neighbor stopped him on the way out and asked if he’d help replace his flat tire with the spare

Hoseok: if that boy comes in with grease on his shirt or pants, i give you full permission to buy the MOST expensive wine and the MOST expensive meal and the MOST expensive dessert and NOT share ANY of it with him

Jimin giggles to himself. He hasn’t even made it to the restaurant yet because of traffic. JK being ten minutes late is actually a godsend. 

Once inside, the hostess seats him at the table and brings out two glasses of water and a decanter for refill. Jimin plays on his phone for a few minutes and then fiddles with the hem of his sleeve. He should’ve asked Hoseok for a picture so he’d know what JK looks like, but that had, honest to goodness, slipped his mind entirely. All he knows about JK’s appearance is that he tends to wear all black and stompers, he works out, and he has tattoos. 

Jimin gnaws on his lower lip and tries really hard not to think about that combination. The ‘combination of doom’ as he’d so pitifully whined to Taehyung when he was getting ready earlier. He’s a sucker for tattoos and the whole emo/bad boy/whatever whatever. He’s probably not gonna make it. 

“Jimin?” A gentle voice carries over the muted din of the restaurant. 

Jimin raises his eyes from his phone. He knows that voice. It still whispers its way through his mind and twists in his stomach when he thinks about missed opportunities. Oh, he’s definitely not going to make it. This cannot be real. Tall, handsome…the man standing in front of him grins bashfully. He doesn’t appear to recognize Jimin, which, fair, it’s been two years. Since then, Jimin’s dyed his hair blond and added more piercings, including the tiny stud in his nose. Even he doesn’t recognize himself sometimes. 

“I can’t believe this. You’re JK?!” Jimin’s entire face lights up and he tries really hard not to burst into nervous laughter. 

“Ah, my full name is Jungkook but JK is fi–” the man’s eyes suddenly widen. “Oh my god! The wedding! You’re Taehyung’s friend! Oh, the blond really suits you.” He reaches out without hesitation and tucks a loose strand behind Jimin’s ear. Immediately, he pulls back, clearly embarrassed for having burst Jimin’s personal space bubble. 

“And you’re ggukbook/Hobi’s friend.” Jimin steps closer to adjust the collar of Jungkook’s black dress shirt to better rest under his blazer. He’s not usually this forward, and he’s not sure why he is now, although he supposes it might be because there’s a lingering familiarity from the wedding reception. 

“Yeah.” Jungkook sucks his lips in between his teeth and that cute dimple Jimin remembers so vividly becomes prevalent. “Taehyung’s wedding is still the best one I’ve ever been to.”

“We danced for six whole hours, according to him.” 

“Did we really?” 

Jimin nods. Jungkook’s clearly pleased smile and distantly familiar body warmth is enough to make Jimin wish they were already more than acquaintances. At that thought, a whole new wave of embarrassment washes over Jimin for having been so clueless that night. He steps back and then plops into his seat, dropping his chin into his hands with a groan. 

“Damn, never had that reaction on a first date.” Jungkook’s grin grows into a giant smirk as he takes the seat across from Jimin. 

Ugh. His crooked smile. Jimin can’t handle it. Or the giggles that follow. They ring through his memories now and again and even more so after he’d realized that Jungkook had been flirting with him years ago. 

“No! No! It’s not like that.” Jimin whines and puts his hands into his lap.

“Then tell me what it’s like.” Jungkook goads him with a gentle nudge of his foot against the tip of Jimin’s boot.

Jungkook, thankfully, doesn’t seem the least bit irritated or worried. If anything, he seems extraordinarily amused. Jimin takes a moment to breathe and also to drink in the sight before him. Two years ago, he’d thought Jungkook was adorably hot and all that time apart only made him even more so.

“I just…” Jimin sighs and wrinkles his nose. “Taehyung said you were being obvious that you liked me but I was being oblivious to it and now I’m embarrassed.”

“Why embarrassed? That was two years ago.” 

“Stop smiling at me!” Jimin continues to grow more and more flustered the more Jungkook smirks at him. “I may or may not have only realized it very, very recently.” 

“When we say recently–”

“I have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and remember shit that I don’t need to be remembering.” Jimin bobbles his head back and forth and rolls his eyes. “I kinda woke up around Christmas and yeah…”

“This Christmas?”

“Yup.”

Jungkook’s giggles turn into all out laughter. “Jimin, please.” He runs a hand through his hair and wipes his eyes from the tears forming at the corners. “I’m so sorry. I promise I’m not laughing at you. It’s just that I honestly thought I was being so forward that night. I didn’t want to make assumptions or cross any lines with you, but maybe I should’ve kissed you or something.”

“Or something!” Jimin gestures widely. 

The pair ease out of their amusement as the server stops by to grab their drink order. Jimin takes a moment to finally settle into his seat and relaxes his shoulders. Jungkook doesn’t necessarily appear nervous, nor does he shy away from staring directly at Jimin. 

“You’re even prettier than I remember.” Jungkook says after a heartbeat. 

“Oh, god.” 

“I’m serious. My memory does you a disservice.”

“Says the most handsome human being I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” Jimin rolls his eyes. Just like he was the night of the wedding, Jungkook is annoyingly handsome with his broad shoulders, and his dark hair pushed back off of his forehead to reveal his strong brows. His thick arms and firm chest accentuate his slender waist and it drives Jimin absolutely crazy. He’d spent their entire time on the dance floor resisting putting his head on the other’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around him. He still wants nothing more than to be scooped up and carried to–

Nope. No, he will not think about that right now. They’re here to eat and to get to know each other and to talk about their silly little lives and their silly little hobbies. Jimin will not think about what it would be like to be laid out under–

“Most handsome, huh?” Jungkook winks. 

Jimin wishes they were sitting next to each other so he could elbow him playfully, especially because Jungkook doesn’t look at all cocky about it. Just…adorable. He’s still so impossibly endearing. 

“God, can we talk about literally anything else?” Jimin whines as their server drops off their drinks. She quickly takes their order and flurries away.

Over the course of the night, they do talk about ‘anything’ else. Jungkook explains that he quit working at the library with Taehyung to work for the Department of Natural Resources. Jimin yammers about the technical side of his writing and some of his coworker drama from the past week. Jungkook shares some workplace tea as well and then they somehow get sidetracked about bird migration patterns. 

Through their conversations, Jimin notices that something about Jungkook’s aura is more settled. He’s more comfortable within himself. Taehyung was right, perhaps missing out two years ago bodes well for the present. 

Around dessert, Jimin finally asks about Jungkook’s book recommendation. It is, after all, the whole reason they were even brought back together tonight. 

“My mom is into gardening and I never understood why she likes tulips so much. She said it’s because they’re resilient and bold. That they grow well even under difficult circumstances.” Jungkook shrugs. “Our family’s been through a lot so I figured maybe she grew them to remind herself that we carry on.”

Jimin presses the side of his foot into Jungkook’s to show empathy. The move softens Jungkook’s furrowed brows and the sparkle returns to them as he continues speaking. 

“I randomly found the book on a day where I was really bored at the bookstore. As it turns out, my mom knew nothing of the history of tulips. She ended up reading it with me and the next spring we planted extra tulips. Now all of her neighbors are jealous.”

Jimin giggles. “Nothing like making the neighbors jealous! What do they plant? Roses?”

“And begonias!”

“Begonias!” Jimin tsks loudly and then admits, “I honestly don’t even know what begonias look like.”

“Me neither. But Mr. Brown likes to brag about them every year?” The confused look on Jungkook’s face sends laughter shimmering through Jimin’s body. 

“How did we suddenly get old enough to care about flowers like this?” Jimin snorts. 

“I don’t know, babe, but here we are.”

Heat splashes across Jimin’s face and Jungkook promptly apologizes for the pet name. 

“No, ah.” Jimin doesn’t hide himself behind his hands like he normally would. “You can call me that, if you want.”

They smile at each other. It’s gentle, like a summer breeze. 

Jimin wants to geek out about some of the small facts he learned in his book and some of the wild history, but something tells him to keep the conversation moving, that they have all the time in the world to dig into those things later. 

“What was your book this month?” He asks instead. 

“Psalm for the Wild-Built.” Jungkook barely gets the words out before Jimin nearly leaps out of his chair. 

“No way! That’s the one I submitted!” Jimin settles back into his seat and takes a bite of his dessert. “Do you think Taehyung knew?”

“Knew what?” Jungkook hums around his own bite of chocolate mousse pie. 

“Knew that you and I, specifically, were participating in this? I mean obviously he knows that I was because he basically entered my name himself, but do you think he’d give us each other’s books? He said you wouldn’t stop talking about me after the wedding.”

It’s Jungkook’s turn to blush when Jimin winks at him and it gives him great joy to see the other man wrinkle his nose so bashfully. 

After a moment, Jungkook sets his fork down and visibly contemplates. “I’m not sure he knew I was participating, especially because we only put our discord names and emails as contact information. Also, I signed up at the east branch library and he and I haven’t really talked much over the past six months. Jin’s been going through his divorce so I’ve been trying to help him out where I can.”

“What a freaking coincidence, then.” Jimin’s heart palpitates wildly when Jungkook slowly licks his fork after taking another bite. It would be terribly awkward to lean across the table and kiss him, especially at this moment in the conversation, but he really wants to. 

“So you only joined because your bestie made you?” Jungkook teases. 

“I meeean…” 

“Actually,” Jungkook wags his fork at Jimin. “From what little we know of each other, I bet your only hesitation to join was whether or not the book you were assigned was boring.”

“Boring?!” Jimin pretends to be shocked. “I would never think a book could be boring.”

“Uh huh.” Jungkook squints one eye at him in mock accusation. “I saw your inquiry in the chat. You were worried Tulipomania was going to be a slog.”

“Okay, fine!” Jimin puts his hands up in a dramatically silly surrender. “But can you blame me? I saw that title and half expected to read about how to cultivate them or something. Or garden show culture. Not the literal, actual, historical wizardry of a stupid little flower being internationally promoted from wildflower to most prized possession amongst royals, merchants, and entrepreneurs.”

“Such a stupid little flower.” The dimmed lights of the restaurant flicker in Jungkook’s pretty eyes and it’s even more enticing than the night of the wedding reception.

“Don’t tease me! It’s true!” Jimin defends. “You see them in the late winter in their stupid little glass vases and their silly little onion-looking bulbs and spindly roots. And you were in the same boat as me not knowing why your mom planted them.”

“Three of those could’ve bought you a whole farm at one point.” Jungkook argues, his pretty lips curl into a smile. (If Jimin doesn’t get to kiss him by the end of the night, he might actually riot.)

“I had an ex-boyfriend who gave me six tulips for valentine’s day and broke up with me two days later. Those bitches rotted in the trash.”

“Your ex is an idiot.” 

“My ex was an ass.”

“That, too. He has no idea what he lost.”

The pair stares at each other for a moment. Heat overwhelms Jimin as if he’d sat down in front of a space heater. Jungkook discretely plays with the tongue ring in his mouth, his dimple on full display. The silence sends shivers down Jimin’s spine and makes his tummy tight.

In the background, a four piece jazz band takes the small stage and strikes up a soft melody. Without even asking, Jungkook reaches across the table and pulls Jimin out of his seat until they’re in the open space before the musicians. With anyone else, Jimin would’ve been overwhelmed with shame. But with Jungkook, it feels natural. This time, he doesn’t hesitate to rest his head on Jungkook’s shoulder and practically purrs when Jungkook wraps one of his arms around his waist.

It’s Jungkook who speaks again, albeit quietly and the words vibrate between them. “I can’t tease you too much though. I didn’t even read January’s book, which is why I’ve been silent on the discord server. I felt bad for skipping.”

“Tae would’ve killed me if I’d skipped.” Jimin jokes. “He was such a bully.”

“Taehyung? A bully? Doubtful.” Jungkook leans back enough for Jimin to see that he’s raising an eyebrow. 

“Okay, shush. He hardly asked about it, but I know he would’ve if I’d have cheated out of the first month.”

Jungkook snorts and pulls Jimin close again. His fingers spread wide over Jimin’s lower back, but don’t venture inappropriately. His cologne smells fresh, almost floral, like clean linen in a meadow of wildflowers. 

The music picks up and Jungkook spins them out from each other before drawing Jimin back into his arms. They move to the playful beat and are quickly joined by a number of other people on the dance floor. 

Jimin doesn’t withhold his smile and the laughter that bubbles up through his chest. Dancing with Jungkook was joyous during the wedding reception. Dancing with him now is exuberant and embarrassing in all of the best ways. Neither of them have any rhythm when it comes to this genre. Instead, they just bop around or sway in each other’s arms like two idiots and it’s the most fun Jimin’s had in ages. 

After a while, Jimin gets thirsty and drags them back to their table for a glass of water. Instead of sitting across from him, Jungkook slides into the booth next to him and refills their waters from the decanter. While Jimin drinks his fill, Jungkook tilts his head back and rests it on the ledge behind himself. It would be so easy for Jimin to lean over and press a kiss to the other’s neck, but he’s never in his life been bold enough to do something like that.

“To be completely honest,” Jungkook says. “I worried that your recommendation was going to feel too juvenile and yet I cried through most of it. I immediately sought out the sequel and then I laid in bed for a solid day and a half and just stared at the ceiling.”

The heat in Jimin’s body cools to a gentle warmth. “Oh, yeah? How come?”

“Because it made me feel seen. I felt like so many passages spoke to my heart.” Jungkook takes a moment’s pause while the band transitions to a new song. “Dex’s journey from everything they think they know to all of the things they wouldn’t have known otherwise…I don’t know, it just felt very comforting to read such a compassionate narrative on what it means to serve others needs but also the importance of finding and serving our own needs. ” 

An ache winds through Jimin’s bones. That’s exactly how he’d felt when he’d read those books, too. It was as if the story was written specifically to heal his soul and give it a much needed bath with soothing epsom salts and relaxing oils. 

Jimin scoots in close and rests his head on Jungkook’s shoulder. A breath or two passes between them. Jimin is so used to butterflies by this point during a date. He’s used to the anxiety and nerves of potentially being asked to go home with someone or the possibility of asking to go on a second date. Not this time though. This time, it feels like something is basking comfortably right inside his ribcage. His shoulders don’t carry any tension and his stomach only hurts because he’s laughed more in the past few hours than he has in a few months. 

He’s content. At peace.  

“I think I like you, Jungkook.” He says, not wanting to come on too strong, but very much knowing he needs to say it before he bursts. 

“I know I like you, Jimin.” Jungkook’s smile is genuine. It warms up the coldest parts of Jimin’s resolve to never hope again. In this moment, Jimin finds himself breaking open like a tiny sprout reaching for the sun. 

They talk for a few moments longer about nothing important, just enjoying each other’s company and existing easily in each other’s gaze. Jungkook pays their bill and escorts Jimin out of the restaurant with a gentle hand resting in the middle of his back. 

“Would you like to come over for dessert?” Jimin asks as they approach their parked cars. 

“Ah, well, you see, I already had dessert.” Jungkook pushes his lips into a pout.

“Not that kind.” Jimin tugs on the other’s hand and braces himself for the small breath of courage he musters to speak his next words. “I meant this kind…” he whispers and presses his lips to the small scar on Jungkook’s cheek.  

“Oh, that kind.” Jungkook turns his head quickly enough to catch Jimin’s lips before he can pull away. “To spend any time whatsoever with the Nur-I-Adin would be the pleasure of a lifetime.”

“Ugh, you’re such a charmer.” The name rings a bell from the Tulipomania book, but Jimin can’t remember what it means. Instead of asking, he wraps his arms around Jungkook’s neck, exhaling sharply when Jungkook grips his waist and tugs him close. 

“Seems to be working though.”

Jimin kisses him again, this time more boldly than the last. “Definitely working.”

Jungkook’s eyes are glazed over and his lips are a crushed pink when they break for air. Jimin pecks him twice more before whipping his phone out to quickly exchange contact information and share his address. It’s only a twenty minute drive to his place, but it’s definitely the longest twenty minutes and they hit every single red light on the way there. 

“This is dangerous, you live two blocks from my favorite ice cream shop.” Jungkook says as he ducks under the closing garage door.

“My favorite kind of danger, actually.”

They easily kick off their shoes in the mudroom and Jimin gestures for Jungkook to follow him further into the house. He doesn’t even care that he didn’t clean before he left. He’s not a particularly messy person, but he certainly doesn’t want to give off the impression that he has his shit together. He wants Jungkook to see him for who he is and not some idealized version of himself.  

His house is small, so it’s a quick walk through to show Jungkook where everything is. Jimin didn’t exactly think about what he intended to do once they were back here. ‘Dessert’ could mean any number of things and while Jimin isn’t opposed to sleeping with someone on a first date, he also doesn’t want Jungkook to assume that he’s expecting it. 

“We, uh, we don’t have to do anything.” He says when they find themselves back in the kitchen. “I just wanted to spend more time with you.”

“That’s honestly all I want, too.” Jungkook shrugs and takes a sip from the water bottle that Jimin hands him. “I like being with you.”

Jimin’s heard that plenty of times before, except this time he actually believes Jungkook. All night he has respected Jimin’s boundaries and kept himself at a respectful distance even when they were pressed against each other on the dance floor. He’s been kind and inquisitive, goofy and gentle. He’s been flirty, too, and coy, but not in a way that makes Jimin queasy. Wildly enough, it does the exact opposite and makes the low-level horniness buzzing at the back of Jimin’s mind grow stronger. 

“Do you like baths? I have a huge tub.” Jimin asks. Under any other circumstances, he might think it’s too intimate of a suggestion and yet the way Jungkook practically melts at the idea tells him they’re headed in the right direction.

While the tub fills with water, Jimin rummages through his closet to find some comfy clothes that Jungkook might like. It’s not so much that his clothes aren’t comfy, it’s more that he’s unsure if he owns anything broad enough to fit Jungkook’s taller, more muscular frame. Thankfully, he finds an oversized t-shirt and pajama pants that Taehyung had left behind after a random sleepover.   

In the bathroom, Jungkook is sitting on the closed toilet and sorting through the basket of bath bombs Jimin had handed him. He’s sniffing each one and making little noises of pleasure (or displeasure) and he eventually chooses the lavender and chamomile one. 

“FYI, I get really sleepy after baths, so…” Jungkook’s voice trails off shyly, almost as if he’s ready for Jimin to shoo him out of his house at the thought of him staying the night. 

“So do I.” Jimin soothes and tosses the ball into the water. He kisses Jungkook’s temple before stepping back to extricate himself from his clothes. 

Without so much as a glance at Jungkook’s potential reaction to his nakedness, Jimin climbs into the tub, sinks into the hot water, and flips on the timed heater to keep the temperature up. When he’d bought the house, the bathroom was the very first thing he’d remodeled. Selecting this enormously deep tub where the water comes up to his chest was easily the best adult decision he’d made in a long time.

Jungkook stares at him wide-eyed for a moment before quickly undressing and joining him. 

He groans softly as the hot water engulfs him. “Not to be all gym bro or whatever, but leg day is actually the worst day of the week and I pushed too hard this time.”

“So what you’re saying is this is amazing.” Jimin smirks and cozies up next to him. 

“It’s perfect.” Jungkook closes his eyes and drops his head onto the ledge and stinks further into the water.

At the restaurant, Jimin was too shy to make a move. Here though, in the comfort of his own home, he finds the courage to sit between Jungkook’s legs and rub his hands along his thighs. 

For a moment or two, they maintain eye contact, but then he focuses his attention on working out the knots in Jungkook’s calves. One after the other, he works up both of Jungkook’s legs, taking his time to sus out, knead, and soothe the tension he finds.

Silence like this is difficult for Jimin even when he’s alone. He hardly ever does anything without music or the TV on for background noise. Now, with just the small splashes of water as he moves and Jungkook’s soft breathing, Jimin notices the echo in the bathroom, but it doesn’t faze him in the slightest. If anything, it feels like a typical Friday night. As if they’ve done this exact routine for forever and a day. 

Jimin’s hands inch higher and he looks up for permission before going any further. He’s more than ready to be told to back off; instead, Jungkook looks like he wants to devour him. The subtle nod of consent encourages Jimin to move closer. As he does so, Jungkook’s hands find his waist and he pulls him fully onto his lap. 

His gasp of surprise is louder than the squeak of his knees against the acrylic surface as he spreads them wide to get as close to Jungkook as possible. They’re both hard and the light press of their bodies is a relief they exhale when their lips connect. Whatever Jimin had imagined their kisses would be like, this tops it…by a landslide. 

It takes little to no effort for them to get worked up. Their kisses become slick and sloppy. Careless in execution, effective in capturing their impatience. Jimin’s hands grip Jungkook’s hair tightly while Jungkook wraps his hand around their cocks, quickly bringing them through their shared orgasm and trembling aftermath. 

“Good god.” Jimin groans into Jungkook’s neck and pushes his whole body as close as possible while Jungkook wraps his arms tightly around him to keep him there. 

He kisses Jimin’s shoulder and neck, humming softly as he does so. The featherlight touch makes Jimin acutely aware of every single connection point between their bodies. He’s accustomed to previous partners being fairly chatty after sex, usually he is, too. Jungkook, however chatty he’d been throughout the evening, now seems to prefer nuzzling and cuddling – something which satisfies a deep need that Jimin didn’t quite know he had. 

Once their breathing has evened out, Jungkook rubs his hands in small to large circles over Jimin’s back and legs. Eventually, he drags one hand down Jimin’s arm, searching for his hand and pulling it out of the water to kiss his wrist. 

“What’s the 13 for?” He asks. His voice is husky and worn. 

Jimin finally sits back and smiles. “My birthday is October 13. Also, Taehyung and I met when we were thirteen.” 

“That’s cute.” Jungkook grins.

“Don’t make fun!” 

“I’m not! It’s genuinely really cute.” Jungkook kisses the number and lowers their hands back into the water. “I certainly have tattoos that don’t mean anything close to that significance.”

“Tell me your favorite one, then.” Jimin’s been wanting to ask all evening, especially after seeing him shirtless, but he kind of figured Jungkook gets asked those types of questions a lot and he didn’t want to be annoying right out the gate.

“Well, not to be totally weird, I got a new one on Sunday. A line from Crown-Shy.”  

Something about that catches Jimin’s attention. There’s something incredibly special about having words immortalized on the body. Every now and again he comes across phrases that would make great tattoos; he just hasn’t quite landed on one that properly sings to him. Given how few words he can see on Jungkook’s body, this phrase must really hold worth to him.

From the quick glance he’d had earlier, Jungkook’s forearms reminded him of that trend where people had tattooed forests or mountains around their wrists. His are similar in nature except it’s a garden of flowers and plants rooted in his wrist that spindle up his arm to bloom along his skin. They’re stunning with all of the vibrant colors and effortless shadowing. If tattoos could sway with the winds of time, Jimin believes he’d be able to hear birds chirping somewhere beyond the flora. 

Jungkook rotates his left arm. Jimin’s fingertip traces under the fresh script across the top of the inside of his forearm and smiles while he reads:

Welcome comfort. Without it, you cannot stay strong .

“And this is a Semper Agustus.” Jimin whispers.

He presses his thumb into the tulip etched directly below the words. This particular tulip variation is so rare that it no longer exists aside from the few preserved sketches from the 1600’s. Jimin is in awe of how crisply the petals are drawn and shaded. How vibrant the red veins of color drip down the white, how courageous the green stem rises from the bulb drawn on the heart of Jungkook’s wrist. 

Jungkook nods. “Isn’t it crazy how bulbs that were considered ‘broken’ somehow held the designation of ‘superbly fine’? That the superbly fine were so craved and sought after that people were willing to throw their entire lives away for a chance at having one? Crazier still, that these broken bulbs were eventually discovered to be diseased and therefore deemed illegal to sell and trade for fear that they would ruin the other flowers around them?”

A small knot of emotion sticks in Jimin’s throat. These are the threads his mind tugged at while he was reading the book. Obviously, it was centuries of study and well-backed science that guided this ruling banning broken bulbs all those years ago. Still, he couldn’t help but feel like it was an allegory for how he feels some days. Days when he struggles with feeling broken, like there’s something terribly wrong with him that leaves him alone and lonely in the darkest nights. 

The idea that Jungkook placed words about welcoming comfort (because comfort is what bolsters strength) above a flower that blooms both beautiful and defiant particularly under difficult conditions…

“I think we’ve both been through a lot over the years.” Jungkook says. 

Jimin nods as he runs his hand up and down Jungkook’s forearm before entwining their hands together. It’s really only been the past few years where he’s become fully comfortable with himself and brave enough to work through past traumas. And there it is again: comfort paired with strength. 

Jimin takes his own deep breath and remembers Taehyung saying that Jungkook was going through some hardships when he used to work at the library. He still doesn’t know all of the details, of course, but during dinner Jungkook had mentioned therapy and a life reset – something which Jimin knows intimately given his own life changes over the years. 

“Sometimes I wonder what the fuck it all means to have gone through all of that shit.” Jungkook says thoughtfully. “And I wonder what it will mean to go through all of the incoming shit – whatever it ends up being. Tulips remind me that I can grow through any horrible conditions while the books you’d recommended remind me that no matter what, no matter all the bullshit, or the heartbreak, or the brightest skies, I’m wonderful. People are wonderful. We come into this life not knowing what the fuck we’re doing and we leave it the exact same way. I just hope to maybe find the right ones to go through it with, you know?”

Jimin isn’t exactly sure when the ball of emotion escaped his throat, but he quickly pats at his waterline to catch the tears before they fall. “Why’s it so hard to find good people at this age?” He says with a quiet huff. “Being an adult sucks.”

Jungkook’s loud snort turns into a chuckle. “Yeah, people get married and have kids and then poof they disappear to be adultier adults.” He wrinkles his nose. 

“I told Taehyung that if he ever started to ditch me like that, then I was going to move into his spare bedroom.”

“I get the feeling he’d actually love that.”

“He would.” Jimin confidently sticks his nose in the air. It earns him a playful pinch to his side. 

“You know, though,” Jungkook says. “I will say the benefit of my brother having kids, does mean that I get put on babysitter duty for two of my favorite terrors.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that gleefully wicked look on your face all about?”

“Because I lovingly dote on them so that they, in turn, drive my brother crazy.”

Jimin smirks. “So you load them up with sugar and send them home? 

Jungkook makes a playfully aggressive sound that sends Jimin reeling with amusement. 

“I don’t have siblings so I don’t fully understand your joy at being a pain in the ass. But I can’t wait until Tae and Yoongi have kids so that I can.”

“Yoongi is Taehyung’s husband, right?”

Jimin nods.  

“Huh.” Jungkook appears contemplative for a moment. “Being coworker-friends is so strange. I feel like, at one point, I knew everything about Taehyung’s life and yet I didn’t get the chance to meet his husband until their wedding. And even then, I ended up spending most of my evening dancing with the prettiest guy I’ve ever met…”

Jimin blushes profusely, especially because Jungkook’s lips brush the shell of his ear and his deep voice causes goosebumps to rise all down his neck. He’s too worn out for round two, but  that doesn’t prevent the groan that rumbles through his chest. 

“Last time Taehyung and I chatted, he said Yoongi had switched to a different department at his job.” Jungkook says.

“Yeah. His old boss was an incompetent gremlin. He says his new boss, Jin, has the worst dad jokes and also the best stories about his boys.” 

Jungkook's lips turn up into a slick grin. “God, this is a small fucking world.” 

“Hmm?”

“Boss named Jin who tells bad dad jokes and has boys? I may be making a leap here, but I’m pretty sure Yoongi works for my brother and I didn’t put two and two together until just now.”

“And you’re his botanist brother!” Jimin had thought it was wild that Jungkook was a botanist. It’s not every day that he meets people in that field, especially in such a midwest town. “Hold on!” Jimin pinches Jungkook’s nipple playfully. “You need to explain to me this red tulip and the executioner story!”

Jungkook snorts and uses his free hand to dramatically cover himself protectively. “Why am I not surprised that Jin tells people about that and then doesn’t give them any context whatsoever? We fought constantly when we were kids. I’m five years younger than him so… just old enough to both piss him off and be his best friend. When one of us got the other in trouble, we’d race to the creek out back behind our house. Whoever made it there last was the rotten egg and had to skinny dip no matter how cold it was outside.”

Through his giggles, he now understands why Jin was so humored by the gift. The comparison – aside from there being an executioner, of course – is uncanny. “And who won those races?”

“Me, usually.” Jungkook brags boyishly. “I had tiny legs but we never once said tripping was against the rules.” 

Jimin laughs so loudly that the echo throughout the bathroom hurts his ears. “Were there even rules to begin with?”

“Oh, absolutely not.” 

🌷📖🌷

It’s not until an hour or so later, with Jungkook fast asleep beside him, that Jimin quickly searches his downloaded copy of Tulipomania to remind himself of what Jungkook had called him earlier: Nur-I-Adin, the Light of Paradise. 

Locking his phone and setting it on the nightstand, Jimin then scoots himself back into Jungkook’s sleepily searching embrace. As his eyes readjust to the darkness, moon beams shine through the gap in the curtains, illuminating the pretty tulip on Jungkook’s arm. 

How wild, he thinks to himself, that a silly little flower growing in the most hopeless of climates, could bloom from one continent to the next and the next. Creating fury and passion wherever it goes. Building and crushing lives as one does when one is ignorant to its own power. 

Right before he falls asleep, Jimin glances up at his alarm clock on the nightstand.

He sighs deeply and smiles. Never has he ever been more grateful to see 2:02AM.