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yeah. jeongguk's in love.
and his hyungs won't stop teasing him about it.
call it love at first sight if you will; jimin seemed to know most of the team (he has his own bench for the cheerleaders, jeongguk sits at the footballers’ table) some way or another, and ever since that day, when he had worn an oversized yellow jacket with black ribbons and bounced over to their table, large glasses and frazzled hair beneath a beanie; jeongguk knew he would save up his heart for that one person. (basically, jimin.)
it's terrible. he keeps seeing jimin everywhere since then- and he can't seem to do anything that isn't embarrassing or stupid. jimin has his whole being wrapped around his cute pinky, the way the world is equally enamoured as well.
“so, guk… regarding that big fat crush of yours-” yoongi starts, using his head to gesture towards the cheerleaders’ table at lunch, and jeongguk (not so) subtly whips around to find himself gaping (not so) indirectly, at jimin sauntering back to his table- the way the latex pants snugly hug onto his hips and thighs, the way his pink bomber with yellow trim brings out his natural rosy flush. he's (not) drooling.
namjoon, the team’s captain, whistles in response to their manager’s signal, nudging jeongguk to snap out of it- he's being so obvious, jeongguk please close your mouth- and in the middle of the whole cafeteria his team turns in on him, smiling at him like scavengers looking at their prey.
"does our little jeonggukie have a crush on someone now~?" hoseok sings, and taehyung sniggers when jeongguk tries to defend himself to no avail, mouth opening and closing but the words fail him. if anything comes out, it's a whole garble of intense 100% heart eyes- for it is nothing but true that park jimin drives him absolutely crazy.
in a futile bid to try avoiding the relentless teasing he smells in the air (keyword: try) he pokes at his protein packed meal, fighting the heat rising on his cheeks, refusing to acknowledge any of his hyungs. “you guys are embarrassing me…”
"oho, who is it? does he have blonde hair, guk?" seokjin joins, rubbing his hands in glee as they all chime in one by one. it's always a nice feeling when jeongguk caves so easily when it comes to jimin, but is adamant and gets his way about pretty much everything else.
"your favourite smile?"
"oh you mean that cheerleader?"
“does his name maybe start with a j and end with imin- ”
"okay yes it is park jimin!" jeongguk yells, bending at the pressure, causing all his hyungs to burst into fits of laughter and bright smiles as they point at him, ploy a success.
good lord, this is so embarrassing, jeongguk whines internally, and he scurries off to the washroom to hide (with all eyes on him- like it were the field, where he commands attention just walking out). the only thing he sees as he whizzes out is the blurry image of the cheerleaders table- so he was pretty sure jimin heard him. somewhere.
on court, jimin is the star of the show, a flyer and a tumbler, doing all the jumps and splits and kicks and always position to be a scene stealer, a heartthrob. off court, jimin has been class president for nine years and running. he's been the top student for mathematics and chemistry, the precious (ass)et of the cheer squad, also dances and sings and excels in everything he does. good social relations, the teachers love him, he's attentive, and there's literally no bad rumours or tragic backstories about him; everybody only has praises to sing of him and that's how jeongguk passes all his classes, daydreaming about the one and only, park jimin.
on court, jeongguk is his varsity’s golden maknae, the one scoring the most touchdowns, the guy that makes football suddenly look extremely appealing, makes sweating (for some reason- you can ask his fanclub, the noonas and hard stans would be more than happy to provide visual evidence and verbal explanation) look mesmerizingly attractive. off court, jeongguk’s just rolling through the whole semester and bombing his work, cruising through with a park jimin candid as his lockscreen, even though he's probably flailing and freezing up or doing something stupid when jimin is in close proximity. (which also could mean his gaydar is aggressively sounding to warn him of a cardiac threat.)
(also, side note but jeongguk would like to mention that jimin looks really beautiful with or without makeup: the elder has soft and squishy features barefaced, enhancing his cute baby cheeks, but he looks like the (hot) spawn of satan, the devil’s incarnate with those sharp features and flexible body, smooth like a snake and yet dainty like a fairy.)
“eh, guk, since you're going through such a rough spot, hyung's gonna let you in on a secret antidote,” taehyung whispers loudly, using a redundant hand to ‘quieten’ his secret sharing session. he rumages around to take out a dubious bottle from his backpack, as they prepare for warmups, tossing it over to the younger, who agilely catches it with ease. jeongguk frowns when he finds no labels attached, no descriptions, nothing.
“these are truth pills,” taehyung deadpans, “you eat one, swallow it, and then it'll give you the courage to say whatever your heart wants to- only for half an hour or so.”
the face taehyung wears is absolutely serious, strictly business, that hoseok has half a mind to empty the bottle to check what on earth are those things taehyng is giving to their maknae so resolutely. knowing taehyung, his ideas are either extremely well received, lauded and critically acclaimed, or it just falls so flat it forms a permanent indent. yeah, it's like that with a secret genius like kim taehyung.
there's a small expiry date written in marker at the base of the bottle, and jeongguk decides to give it a try- taehyung only means well anyway. he chews on two of the tablets curiously, and once taehyubg gives him an encouraging “fighting!” he storms off to where the cheerleaders are, immediately feeling confident and full of assurance.
once jeongguk has tottered off on his mission, hoseok grabs taehyung's shoulders at once, shaking him with worry in his eyes. “... kim taehyung, please look me in the eye and tell hyung that those weren't drugs.” hoseok looks so genuinely shook and concerned that his lips curl into a wicked boxy grin.
“nah, those were chewable vitamin c gummies!”
hoseok smacks him in amazement and relief, laughing his fond shrill laughter, both of them tumbling over and excited to see how things unfold.
with hoseok and taehyung's gleeful encouragement, jeongguk grows a pair and mans up- to enhance that tough bad boy image (beast mode, namjoon and yoongi call it) he's known on the court. when, in actual fact, he's a whole dweeb pining for the one and only beautiful boy in the school park jimin. everyone else just can't surpass such eleganza and poise.
with his persona in check (or so he thinks) he approaches jimin who is practicing with the rest of the cheer squad. he gulps as heinches closer- it’s too late to be a wuss and back down now- and anyway, seeing jimin all shy and flustered is more than worth it.
"park jimin!" he yells in a wave of bravado, provided from two tablets, his voice echoing and attracting everybody’s attention. luckily, official practice hasn’t started yet, so jimin’s just warming up with the earlybirds as jeongguk saunters over, falsified and hardened smugness as he goes in for the kill and straightens jimin’s thigh, mid-split.
"my favourite cheerleader's gotta do his best right?"
jimin’s wearing booty shorts, barely visible under his oversized grey sweater, complete with airy sleeves and a little translucent to show the silhouette of his curvaceous figure. jeongguk’s sweating buckets- jimin is a whole dreamboat. it sears and burns where he touches jimin’s skin, on his honey thighs as he hoists it up little by little, handling with care. jimin goes a pretty pink, nodding when jeongguk tells him to arch his back a little, straighten his legs. when things start to get a little heated (shut up, it’s summer), maybe a little spicy (he ate super spicy ramen for lunch, stop it)- his nosey teammates just have to call him to run for practice or they’ll all be late and yoongi will make physical training a living hell by doubling their sets.
on hindsight, his team are all bros that stretched his air time with jimin to the maximum, and he’d run 20 more laps on their behalf if they really got into trouble because of him. also, he’s too annoyed with the bad timing to notice the smirk on jimin’s face.
"run along, we can’t have my favourite underperform today as well, can we?"
sometimes, the cheerleaders have practice simultaneously with jeongguk’s team, doing their routines under the sheltered courts while the footballers occupy the field, just a stone’s throw away. jimin’s a flyer, obviously, given his lightness and flexibility. jeongguk, armed with his newfound talent for distractedly gaping, may or may not have stared too hard as jimin does an arabesque, a split sit; he may or may not have blanked out when his team yells alarmingly for you idiot! jeon jeongguk hurry! dodge-!
it all makes sense when the football hits his face head on, like a touchdown. his vision goes woozy, black and white and every colour of the rainbow dancing like stars in his eyes- lying in a heap on the floor, he can hear faint ringing, the frightened and distressed murmurings of hit hyungs as they gather round his sprawled out form, namjoon ordering them to give him space while seokjin and yoongi try to search or visible broken noses or injuries.
“shit, guk? can you hear us? you okay, buddy?”
he nods weakly, head throbbing as he fights hard to open his eyes, especially with the sun’s rays shining down on him mercilessly.
“c’mon, we gotta get him an ice pack or something-”
“water! and find shelter!”
"guk, is there anyone you would like to give you first aid?" taehyung murmurs soothingly, wiping his sweaty bangs with a towel, exchanging knowing looks with hoseok. the crowd circling jeongguk has stirred quite a commotion with the other group, everything else which he only can make out as incomprehensible incessant chatter. he groans, still groggy and dizzy, as the other hyungs had left to inform their teacher amidst others.
"who were you staring at again, gukkie~" hoseok coos, massaging his neck to help blood circulation. his hyungs are really, really getting better at the art of gentle persuasion.
"ugh, park jimin..." he whisper-yells, ears still blocked so he thinks he’s being discreet and hushed.
"sorry guk, we can’t hear you- gotta speak up, big boy, who should tend to your wounds again?"
"ya! park jimin!"
holding his punch-drunk, dizzying head in his hands, he scrunches his nose in another wave of discomfort and nausea hits, screwing his eyes shut as some of his teammates hoist him into sheltered, ventilated grounds.
the yell makes the wide eyed cheerleader snap out of reverie, rummaging in one of their squad’s backpacks to retrieve some first aid, dashing over to hold an ice pack against jeongguk’s forehead after resting the athlete’s head onto his lap. jimin’s first instinct is always to care for and protect. to heal and to hold.
"you... called for me?"
before jeongguk can answer amidst the throbbing pain, taehyung and hoseok nod eagerly, quipping in in his stead. "yeah! he was like not so lowkey staring at you so he got hit and we think you should take responsibility." they say solemnly, nodding in tandem like bobbsey twins. "we shall leave our golden maknae in your hands now." taehyung says lowly, passing one of jeongguk’s hands to jimin, while hoseok continues their role play of parents sending off their son to his betrothed. needless to say, jeongguk gets excused from further practice, and jimin too, allowing them to stay like this a little longer, jimin stroking his baby hairs until jeongguk’s vision is clear and he can balance without falling like a baby foal walking for the first time.
"jeongguk-ah, i think you should go to the nurse's office? like-"
the latter hastily wraps a hand around the ones holding the ice pack to his head, "n-no! jimin hyung is enough,"
“if you say so.”
"i'll call you later to check on you!" jimin worriedly says as they part later, right before namjoon and yoongi personally run over after practice to escort him home.
"wait, you have my number-?"
"well, um taehyungie gave it to me, we share a few classes by the way, so yeah."
boy was he royally screwed- taehyung better pray that he ain’t missing any limbs tomorrow.
"... you have really um, interesting profile pictures for your kakao," he softly remarks, laughter threatening to burst from the seams of pouty ruby lips.
(well shit- he’s been exposed: his profiles are usually his derp faces or once in a blue moon, international playboy worthy selcas- there is no in between.)
"hello? gukkie? it's jimin speaking."
oh no he sounds even more attractive over the phone what the hell am i gonna do-
"oh uh. hi." jeongguk responds dumbly, for a better lack of words. an awkward silence ensues, both having so much to say to each other, but wading on thin ice and uncharted waters may be risky if they don't know the other party’s true intentions. will it even be reciprocated? or snubbed? mocked?
"are you bet-"
"jimin hyung-"
they begin at the same time after the long pause, followed up with a chorus of flustered apologies and ushering each other to speak first.
when jimin softly giggles, it sounds so adorable, too irresistible, that jeongguk feels like a little boy again, when he was a kid (still is) fangirling over his avengers figurines (still is) that his parents first bought him for christmas.
"you feeling better?" jimin sounds so warm and concerned even over the phone, and he feels his brain go to mush, melt into a gooey sticky mess as he curls into his pillow, cupping his face shyly.
"y-yeah! of course, you were there… so i kinda, uh, immediately felt okay."
for the lack of a better expression, that was bad. so bad. plain terrible- how embarrassing! did he just actually say that- jeongguk is 101% sure the fierce blush he's channeling is equally felt by jimin over the phone.
"oh." is all jimin breathes back on the other end, making jeongguk bite down on his lower lip, not knowing what else to say without making a fool of himself. why is he always like this in front of jimin? he has no problems at all looking cool in school and stuff.
"that's good, i guess. see you soon?" jimin asks, tone hopeful as he twirls around in his apartment, feet digging holes and circles in the ground.
“okay. bye.”
it's abrupt, but it has to end here- too many words linger on jeongguk's lips, threatening to gush out like a water dam; any word more and he might really leak out his bigass crush the size of mercury, venus and mars combined. it's that big. on the other end, jimin feels his shoulders sag at the sudden end of call, letting out a deep breath (sigh) that he had forgotten to exhale. maybe jeongguk doesn't feel that way, he got uncomfortable and hung up with jimin's miserable nonexistent flirt game-
as if on cue, his buzzes violently, giving him a shock, and the answer is immediate.
"h-hey, hyung. it's me again," the voice at the end of the line starts, throat dry and voice cracking. wow jeon jeongguk, way to be suave and seduce jimin. he obviously saved your number already.
"ah r-right, do you need anything?"
(i need you, jeongguk wants to say.)
"um. would you like to eat lunch tomorrow? like just... us, maybe? ‘cause we have that same afternoon class- um i mean it's really okay if you're busy i just wanted to say thank you for taking care of me so i'm asking to-"
"jeonggukie, stop worrying! yes i will eat with you, see you at noon?" that charming lilt jimin has when he speaks satoori comes out, to stop jeongguk from blabbering further, and he swoons so hard.
"y-yeah, nice! see you, hyung."
(he spends the next hour picking what to wear)
the next day arrives after a fluttery sleepless night of tossing and turning, and they meet right after jeongguk downs 5 truth pills, both all too eager and 15 minutes early. what’s new? jeongguk’s busy gawking at jimin’s beauty and grace in his all black ensemble.
"hyung, is there anything you wanna eat? i can pay,"
"come on." he leads jeongguk to one of the air conditioned spare self-study rooms, and as they walk side by side, jeongguk has to keep fighting the urge to hold jimin’s hand; whenever there is the slightest brush between their fingers, it sends nice tingly jolts of electricity down his spine, so and he has to use his other hand to keep his hands in place, now linked together in front of him so as to prevent himself from doing anything stupid- like impulsively grabbing jimin’s hand within the next 2 minutes of walking or so.
(he may or may not have caught jimin smiling through the reflection of the windows.)
they're nearing when jimin just allows him that 14 seconds of pure bliss, taking charge and leading jeongguk inside by the wrist to enter, and jeongguk feels his heart hammering so loudly that he sincerely hopes jimin can't hear.
little does he know that jimin’s heart is beating just as quickly, skipping beats in triplets.
two homemade bento boxes are pulled out, and jeongguk’s stunned, floored, whole being courses with warmth, melting for the nth time when he sees that jimin has made them cute little octopus shaped sausages and quail eggs that look like penguins; the seasoned rice balls are in the shape of baby bears and lots of chicken (jimin knows his shitty diets??) and steamed vegetables at the side (oh ew, jimin didn’t get the memo) to which jeongguk frowns, but jimin tells him to finish it (aww… hyung cared, jeongguk suddenly loves vegetables! he’s jimin’s good boy) which he does so gladly when he sees jimin’s satisfied smile at the end of a mouthful of spinach and broccoli.
“wow, that was... so much effort, hyung- you shouldn't have... how early did you even wake up?” but jimin pats his head and beams, saying it’s worth it. sweeping away jeongguk’s bangs, he worriedly checks if his forehead still has a bump or anything.
“jeonggukie, you feel kinda warm, are you okay?” (he wants to say 'hyung it’s because you're here, damn it' but he bites it back.)
"nah, it’s just too hot-"
"oh sorry," jimin says coyly, fanning himself, his innate cheeky sass charismatically oozing out, and jeongguk goes 5 shades darker, wanting to cry. tis the truth!!! he wants to answer, shaking his fist, but he needs to present himself well; so he doesn't jump to deny it and instead he backfires yet again, true to his gut feel, murmuring “in my defence, you are pretty hot so- wait, you’re pretty and hot, oh my god i did not just say that out loud-”
it makes jimin stop laughing at how flustered jeongguk had gotten, because it’s now his turn to blush. anyway, his mother always said it was nice to share and take turns, so there’s that.
looking at jimin’s peachy blush, jeongguk’s reminded of the milk in his bag. lame, he knows, but he likes it- so he hopes jimin will, too. taking out banana milk from his bag and placing a carton of strawberry milk before jimin, he mumbles "you smell like strawberries so," without looking up and carefully picking his leftover three grains with the chopsticks, sad that the cute animals are now in his tummy.
“my lips taste like strawberry too, jeon. ” jimin purrs, warm breath fanning past the shell of jeongguk’s ear, making the blushing saga continue, jeongguk bright red as he whips out a bag of super sour lemon candies as distraction. “uh, you seem to really like lemon flavoured things, so…”
jimin’s demeanour switches immediately, taken aback that he knows.
"ehm. and you cook really well."
"t-thank you."
“.....”
“.....”
("what's your favourite colour, jeongguk-ah?"
"r-red," he should never be stuttering but really?? jeongguk-ah?? good lord?? )
((yes, that’s why the cheer uniforms suddenly got altered to red.))
when jeongguk picks up his bottle of banana milk to avoid the silence, a drop of condensation rolls off from his palm to wrist, trickles to his bicep and jimin just stares, transfixed, grabbing jeongguk's muscled arm with one hand.
“w-whoa.” he's… hella thick. jimin stares like a kitten inspecting a bowl of goldfish, wanderous eyes as he puts both his hands, barely enough to cup around jeongguk's bicep. “you're so tiny i could probably lift you with my arm.” jeongguk jokes weakly, failed attempt at making the situation less awkward. his eyes widen when jimin makes no sound of protest, or allows his hands to find purchase elsewhere.
“you could?” jimin's looking at him with both eyes, like glittering onyx jewels, eyes that reflected the aurora borealis and milky way respectively. when jeongguk flexes and effortlessly lifts jimin up with one godforsaken arm, jimin shrieks as his feet cease contact with the ground, clapping and using his hands to cover his face when jeongguk puts him down again. he's all woozy from such a magical experience- being with jeongguk is always such a delight.
“you're so strong,” jimin murmurs, sotto voce, heart beating so fast just because, “s-so much muscle…” he trails off, repeatedly poking at jeongguk's very confused bicep, eliciting little noises of happiness when the meat his pokes at is rock hard. goddamn, jeongguk is so freaking embarrassed, and so is jimin, from the ruby red colour that fans across his cheeks.
“you're so strong, jeonggukie,” jimin repeats, cooing, “that's so cool.” and jeongguk has the urge to just kiss him silly and pull him into a headlock, to embrace him and tell him ‘my arms will protect you and only you.’
“m-muscle pig,” he blurts, and jeongguk downs his banana milk in one shot for thirst control. the jimin effect needs to wear off asap. too infectious.
if i run and leap at jeonggukie, he will most certainly catch me in his big muscular arms.
on the day of their big game, the team and associated acts get released from classes early other to prepare for their game- morning classes are still mandatory since the varsity centralizes itself on holistic development.
jimin tugs at his yet another oversized sweater (jeongguk thinks he looks super cute in it okay. sweaterpaws are to die for. ) "um, i have something to say to you," the hallways are empty because it’s still the middle of a class and the bell hasn’t gone, but seeing jeongguk is far more important today.
"...i was watching you in class and i just wanted to say you shouldn't feel nervous, go ace it like you always do!" jimin says cutely, looking at his sneakers, playfully whacking jeongguk’s stomach to ease both their tension. jeongguk still needs time to let everything sink in, all too sudden and quick when jimin had bounced over to catch him by the water fountain. now he looks like the embodiment of O J O.
"you were.. watching me-?" he asks, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, both getting all blushy and bashful despite the 180 degrees transformation when they get on the field, head in the game. in all nervousness, he kept chewing his pen caps and spinning it and tapping his foot and thrumming his fingers, doing everything else but focus on the lecture. jimin must’ve caught that (very large) part (of being distracted).
"yeah. i sit two rows behind you in class, if you didn't noti-"
"no- no, of course i noticed, i mean- who wouldn't notice you?" jeongguk blurts, hand fying to cover his mouth, and jimin laughs. he’s so glad he’d chosen to sneak out.
“please make sure to catch me,” jimin says, as he walks back a bit of distance before coming at jeongguk full force, running to grab him by the arm and using his inner strength (from cheer squats and jumps) to tug the athlete down and kiss him square on the cheek (he need to jump to reach perfectly, and also it seemed cute) and lingers there for five seconds (slo-mo) before he literally runs (waddles) off like a shy little duckling covering his face. he leaves a shel-shocked jeongguk standing rooted for a good 10 seconds before yelling, “ya! park jimin!”
(see? without the truth pills, jeongguk’s doing dumb things all over again. how tragic.)
despite running past 2 corridors, jimin still hears the echo of jeongguk’s mating call (or at least, that’s what his endorphins and oxytocin calls it) and he smiles to himself, patting down his dishevelled blonde hair and tugging his hem down to make it seem like he did visit the washroom for a whole twenty five minutes.
“put jimin in red lipstick, you cowards!” yoongi yells to one of the girls, and she nods in earnest as she fumbles about in the kit for a tube of a bright matte crimson shade, that would be topped with some gloss later.
(jimin getting nervous and since he cannot bite his lips- the lipstick- he weaves through countless crowds just to finds his favourite boy (read: jeongguk) to poke his bicep to calm down.)
jimin’s clad in a tight fitting red cheer outfit, with the top emblazoned with their varsity name. just like a crop top, it shows a slit of his abs like a teaser, a lethal combination with the tiny pleated tennis skirt- it reveals too much of thigh and jeongguk feels like he might combust because every time jimin down any walkway, his miniskirt rides a little higher to reveal more toned skin and oh god , may the team have mercy, jeongguk’s missed so many points in the practices because of park freaking jimin. a bunch of his blonde hair is tied up into a high ponytail with red ribbon- and he looks so fluffy and adorable as well as undeniably hot;
apparently, one of the guys of the opposing team thinks so too.
during the match, jeongguk literally has zero chill when one of the quarterbacks wolf whistled and called his jimin hot. jeongguk brands the exact statement into his mind, quotes, "look, bro- that cheerleader's really smokin’ hot, baby- if we win i might tap that, smash on the street-"
jeongguk grimaces when they have to shake hands, especially with such a sleazy guy (an infamous casanova, christ) and he almost immediately enters the zone. if this guy lays his filthy hands on anybody jeongguk likes, he’s going down.
"guk, you know what uglyface said, yeah? the only thing hotter than jimin is probably your burning desire to date him. so go get 'em, son."
he sees nothing but red, the flitter of cheerleaders performing in his peripheral vision, and for your information @bro: smoking hot and baby is the gospel truth- but it can only be used synonymously if it’s jeongguk because jimin is his baby, bro. know your place.
(somewhere along the very obvious road to victory, jeongguk pretends to tackle the guy to the ground while trying to save the ball, and it gets him a yellow warning card but who cares? jimin was worth it.)
when they do win the game as defending champions for the third year in a row, the crowd goes wild and thanks to a kind initiative of taehyung and hoseok hyung the spectators are chanting kiss! kiss! kiss! it’s somehow always been a tradition in their school for the cheerleaders and footballers to almost end up together, but spent too long dancing in circles that they eventually parted ways, or maybe they weren’t fated; (there’d been that pretty cheerleader jeonghan and football captain seungcheol, and also mingyu and quarterback wonwoo). apparently, they’ve been widely shipped, but both of them dense enough not to realise.
the school has had enough, it seems.
mustering whatever courage he has left, without his truth pills, jeongguk yells at the top of his lungs. “park jimin! will you go out with me!”
“jiminnie, if you run at jeonggukie he will most certainly catch you!” taehyung hollers, and jimin perks up, cheeks lifted and shoulders shooting up in glee. he looks so goddamn adorable.
“oh for god’s sake, i'm holding the troph-” jeongguk wails, tossing the champion cup onto the tracks as jimin runs to him at full throttle, all smiles, ultimately landing safely in his arms, leaving red smears everywhere onto jeongguk's face- his lips, his cheeks, his forehead, his jaw; of course his beautiful darling would be this extra to throw his pompoms cutely, do a jump split into the air and double cartwheel his way into jeongguk’s arms. “thought you’d never ask,” jimin pouts, batting his eyelashes, shimmery red eyeshadow on display. putting jimin in red lipstick must've been the best thing manager saint yoongi's ever done. the crowd goes insane, watching jimin in jeongguk’s embrace, hoisted up with his arms cupping jimin’s perky butt and jimin latches on, wrapping his legs around jeongguk’s waist.
“oh come on jeon cena-” yoongi grumbles, muttering under his breath as he dusts off the trophy lovingly, a small dent in the corner. but he does crack into a smile when he sees the dopey smile on jeongguk's face, jimin peppering kisses everywhere and making the lipstick stains look like blusher. the crowds are cheering and taking so many photos, but the couple couldn't care less. taehyung and hoseok are somewhere doing a victory dance, while namjoon and seokjin have run off, probably so namjoon doesn't arrive with a selfie and leave with a dating scandal, à la last april fool’s (jimin’s been waiting since forever to say his speculation has been right!). even yoongi takes out his ipad to video this. you’re doing amazing, sweetie.
jeongguk’s really so red now. “you know,” jeongguk muses, head reeling back to the mashup of songs the cheerleaders had used, “ i really wanna bang bang bang you as fast as your heart b-b-beats right? ” jimin gapes, red as a rose, smacking his arms in whiny protest, but all jeongguk does is laugh. he now has the world in his hands (arms).
(in the background, his teammates are all gagging, terrible imitations of "my bro jung hoseok!" and "my homie kim taehyung!" as they exaggeratedly stretch their arms out and make mock distraught faces, taehyung jumping on for a piggyback ride.)
“darling?” jeongguk sleepily cracks open an eye at ass o’clock, everybody getting wasted to celebrate their big win. he discovers that jimin turns into a ball of cuteness (diminnie!!¡!) and he gets so mcfricking adorable- even though he can gulp down red wine like it’s water. that’s hot.
“g’morning, chubs,” jimin greets back sweetly, giving his fair share of morning kisses, voice dropped an octave after waking up. both their notifications are blowing up, and when they look at each other all confused, toothbrushes in their mouths as they take a morning-after selfie, wondering why the text messages and follow requests are skyrocketing- oh.
their little kissing skit had made it to their varsity’s social media sites, with the caption of #weapprove #lovewins, and it’s so corny and cheesy that they only have each other to whine about how embarrassing it is, jimin looking like a confused kitten, jeongguk a lost bunny. it has 12,000 views and over three thousand likes and counting. (jimin’s secretly so thrilled that the promposals account- that he follows and binge watches religiously- has followed back and retweeted his dramatic performance of tumbling into his boyfriend’s arms. he’s such a legend.)
a week later, jeongguk personally escorts jimin through the campus to their table (jimin is their new addition, iconic) with a grim expression. the others aren’t here yet, so it’s cool.
“jiminnie hyung,” he exhales, “darling… i have something to confess…” he plucks out the truth pills, a miserable three left rattling in the empty bottle. “i’m sorry, i really do like you, b-but! at the start that wasn’t me- taetae hyung gave me these truth pills for courage and-” jeongguklooks so forlorn with his large doe eyes that jimin can’t bear to laugh.
“what did taehyung call these again?”
“uh, truth pills?”
classic taehyung style. jimin gives this plan a solid 9.5/10, because it’s a complete success, if you don’t count the previously head over heels component.
“oh my god- jeonggukie, baby- these were vitamin gummies i bought for tae- i can't believe- you're such a precious baby!”
it takes one second, two, three.
“oh my god.” jeongguk echoes, blood rushing to his face at all the shameless stunts he had pulled. this time, “park jimin!” isn't a loud yell (still a mating call, though) but more of a whine as puts his hands around jimin's waist, burying his face into jimin's shoulder blades. how embarrassing.
“i love you,” jimin mumbles, with a soft smile, craning his neck sideways to give jeongguk a small peck. “you're so cute.”
jeongguk whines harder, locking his arms around jimin even tighter, and jimin just indulges him, scrolls through his phone as he lets jeongguk do whatever he wants. they stay like that, backhugging, for ten minutes in the middle of the hallway. it looks awkward to others, maybe, but to them it feels a little like home, and a lot like love.
(taehyung and hoseok never let him live it down, even after he graduates.)