To say that Jimin hated Min Yoongi was most definitely the understatement of the year.

 

In fact, he doesn’t even have to think about it too hard to know that there haven’t been many days of his life that he didn’t hate Yoongi. The kid (technically not a kid since he was actually two years Jimin’s senior) had continuously found each and every single way to get underneath Jimin’s skin and make his life just short of a living hell.

 

Well, Jimin might be exaggerating a bit there, but it’s not like he’s ever done anything to make Yoongi hate him, and it’s not like the two of them have hated each other from the get go, either. They’d actually gotten along when they first met, but for some reason that all changed when Yoongi turned eighteen. The two of them couldn’t even be around each other after that without Jimin being outright ignored or, in most cases, without Yoongi being a sadistic that only talked to Jimin if it was sarcastically.

 

Jimin hadn’t and won’t ask Yoongi what it is about him that he doesn’t like either, because if he’s being honest, there’s something about Yoongi that scares the out of him. He can’t figure out if it’s the whole ‘dead inside’ look that Yoongi has going on, or the fact that he genuinely seems as if he doesn’t give a about anyone or anything.

 

So, just to make things even, Jimin decided that if Yoongi was going to hate him, he was going to hate him right back.

 

Ironically though, the two of them see each other more than Jimin would care to actually admit. Again, it’s not like he went out of his way to see Yoongi, but he was over at his house nearly every day of the week. Albeit, not for Yoongi, but instead Taehyung, who just happens to be Yoongi’s younger brother and also Jimin’s best friend. Yoongi doesn’t ever actually spend time with the two of them and typically the only time Jimin ever sees him is when he leaves his room for no more than a few minutes, throwing a sarcastic remark at Taehyung and Jimin as he walks by before disappearing back into his room moments later.

 

It was as if Yoongi tended to avoid Jimin and Taehyung when they were together, but sometimes, if it was only Jimin, things were different.

 

Jimin was curled up on the couch in Taehyung’s living room, a movie he hadn’t bothered to check the name of was playing in the background as he waited for Taehyung to return from work. Taehyung had told Jimin before he left that he’d be home before eleven, but it was nearing eleven thirty and Jimin was starting to feel extremely weary. He was just about to flip the television off and go chill in Taehyung’s room instead when he heard the padding of feet descending the wooden stairs behind him.

 

It was unmistakably Yoongi, and Jimin didn’t even bother greeting him because, if he’s honest, he fully expected Yoongi to completely ignore him and continue walking right past him to the kitchen, as he always did. What he hadn’t expected, though, was for Yoongi to instead come stand at the foot of the couch, his knee nudging at Jimin’s feet until he finally got the hint and curled them in on himself, making just enough room for Yoongi to sit down.

 

“Do you mind?” Yoongi asks, picking up the remote and pointing at the TV with it.

 

“No,” Jimin replies. He snuggles further into the blanket he’s wrapped up in as he turns so that his back is facing the television.

 

He can hear the clicking of the remote as Yoongi begins to flip through the channels, and he closes his eyes. He can feel dread start to prick at his stomach as he comes to the realization that in less than thirty minutes, he’ll be eighteen, and, if he’s lucky, he’ll find out who he’s destined to spend the rest of his life with.

 

He's spent more time than he can imagine is healthy thinking about the concept of soulmates, how out of the seven billion people in the world, there's one person that's made solely for you and no one else. Jimin’s also spent too much time thinking about how weird it is that society as a whole let’s fate decide who they spend the rest of their lives with instead of just choosing for themselves. It more than frowned up to be with someone other than the person whose name is permanently seared into the skin on your wrist, so Jimin's never thought about being with someone other than the person he's destined to be with. Even if that person just so happens to die before he finds them.

 

That’s what scares Jimin the most, not his soulmate hating him or not wanting to be with him, because although the thought of spending the rest of his life alone is slightly unnerving, it’s not as unnerving as the thought of your soulmate dying before you even get the chance to meet them. The thought that you could spend years and years continuously looking for your soulmate, only to come up empty each time, not knowing if your soulmate doesn’t want to be found or if they died before you could find them.

 

He feels Yoongi’s elbow nudge his foot and he blinks his eyes open lazily, being met by Yoongi who’s already looking over at him with raised eyebrows.

 

Yoongi snorts, “Did you even hear what I said?”

 

Jimin shakes his head. He hadn’t been aware in the slightest that Yoongi had been speaking to him. “Sorry,” he mumbles, “I zoned out.”

 

Yoongi nods his head, turning his attention back to the TV, “I asked if you’re excited for your birthday. The big one-eight, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Jimin hums, his stomach lurching when he looks at the clock hanging on the wall. It's eleven forty-five, which means there's only fifteen minutes left until his life changes forever. “I’m nervous.”

 

“That’s expected,” Yoongi say almost nonchalantly, “but it’s something everyone goes through, so don’t be too nervous.”

 

Yoongi’s attempt at reassuring Jimin only makes his stomach lurch farther and he rips his gaze away from the clock, feeling his heart slow with each passing second.

 

“Hyung,” Jimin whispers, nervously toying with a loose thread of the blanket just so that he has something to do.

 

“Hm?” Yoongi grunts, turning his attention back to Jimin.

 

Jimin knows that his next question is going to be extremely nosy and any other day he wouldn’t dare ask another person this question, but the nerves are starting to make him feel as if he’s going to hurl any second.

 

“Did you… ever find your soulmate?”

 

Yoongi shrinks back into the couch, giving Jimin a look he can only describe as disgust. Jimin regrets asking the question immediately and can feel his ears start to heat up as he becomes uncomfortable under Yoongi’s gaze.

 

“You know… you can’t just go around asking people questions like that, right?” Yoongi asks, his face turning from disgust to a frown.

 

“Yeah,” Jimin mumbles, scratching at the side of his head awkwardly. “Sorry, hyung.”

 

Yoongi is quiet for a moment, before he picks up the remote and turns the television off. Jimin waits for him to get up and leave, but he doesn’t, instead turning on the couch to face Jimin.

 

“Look,” Yoongi sighs, his hand coming to rest on Jimin’s shin. It’s a bit awkward, but neither of them say anything about it. “I know firsthand just how scary the whole experience can be, so trust me when I say you’re going to be just fine, okay?”

 

Jimin doesn’t say anything, instead watching as Yoongi adverts his eyes from Jimin’s face to where his hand is still resting on Jimin’s shin.

 

“And, as for my soulmate,” Yoongi continues, pausing slightly as he moves his hand from Jimin’s shin to his own lap, “don’t think about it too much, okay? You’ll find out soon.”

 

“Wait,” Jimin frowns, sitting up and leaning forward just as Yoongi stands from the couch. “Hyung, what the hell does that mean?”

 

Yoongi doesn’t reply though, only letting out a huff of laughter (one that Jimin particularly doesn’t like because it sounds condescending) before making his way back to the staircase. He stops when he’s halfway up the first step, one foot still on the ground as his fingers tap on the wooden railing.

 

He turns back towards Jimin, who had watched him the entire way. “Happy birthday, Jimin. I hope you have a good day.”

 

With that, he makes his way back up the stairs, leaving Jimin alone once again. The room was dimly lit now that Yoongi had turned the TV off and Jimin was having a hard time making out the time on the clock. Either way, he knew that it was only mere minutes until twelve.

 

Jimin doesn't move, still sat in the same position he’d been in when Yoongi left, the words he’d been left with repeating themselves in his head.Don’t think about it too much, okay? You’ll find out soon. He had no clue what Yoongi meant when he said them, but now that he thinks about it, the implication behind them makes his blood run cold.

 

He’s isn’t left any more time to think about it, though, his wrist beginning to itch as the clock strikes twelve. He watches in the near dark as the name brands itself onto his skin, right over the prominent veins where his hand meets his wrist.

 

He watches calmly as the first few letters make their way onto his skin, the black of them a bold contrast against his skin. It’s only when the last few letters are forming that Jimin feels his stomach drop, because there is no ing way .

 

“This has got to be a ing joke,” Jimin whispers to himself, scratching the name on his wrist as if it will somehow erase it from his skin.

 

It doesn’t though, and Jimin is left staring at the name that’s now on his wrist forever.

Min Yoongi .