Taehyung was the first meaningful person to enter Jimin’s life—other than the meaningful people he was born to: his family. They met in the second grade. It happened because Jimin had just moved to Seoul from Busan, and he happened to be put in the same class as Taehyung who had moved there the year before from Daegu.

They didn’t become friends instantly. In fact, Jimin couldn’t stand Taehyung. He thought that he was weird and obnoxious. He thought that he tried too hard to entertain his classmates and that he took his label of the ‘class clown’ too seriously. Taehyung was loud, and Jimin hated that. He was everybody’s friend, and Jimin hated that, too. It wasn’t fair that some kids could be friends with everyone, while others, like Jimin, had zero friends.

Jimin also experienced the feeling of jealousy for the first time because of Taehyung, but it wasn’t really Taehyung who caused it. It was all of his friends.

It happened the day that Taehyung approached a crying Jimin on the swing set. There was dirt caked to his tear-stained cheeks and scrapes on both of his knees as well as the heel of his palm. Jimin knew that it was Taehyung who approached him because he recognized the boy’s obnoxious voice when he greeted him with: “What happened to you?” He didn’t have to move his eyes from the tiny little pebbles that filled the playground to know that it was Taehyung.

Jimin wanted to speak; however, he couldn’t find his words, so he just stared at that ground.

“Jimin.” Taehyung referred to him by name, and it somehow surprised Jimin that he even knew it. He didn’t think anyone knew his name.

That was what brought Jimin’s head up to look at his classmate who was leaning on the bar of the swing set. He still didn’t say anything. He just looked at Taehyung in bewilderment.

“Why are you crying?” Taehyung asked.

“I don’t have any friends.” Is how Jimin responded, but he knew that it wouldn’t clear anything up. It sure didn’t explain why he had scrapes all over him.

Taehyung stood from where he had been leaning on the bar, and he walked around Jimin to the swing next to him. “I don’t either.” Taehyung said, and Jimin just gave him a look like he was the stupidest person in the world. Everyone was Taehyung’s friend. He had a ton of friends.

“Everyone in the class is your friend.” Jimin snapped. Maybe it annoyed him because he didn’t like Taehyung trying to relate to him in a way that they clearly didn’t have anything in common.

Taehyung sighed, and he leaned back to start moving the swing in a gentle back-and-forth motion. “It doesn’t feel like it.” Taehyung said.

That was the first real conversation Jimin and Taehyung had ever shared, and it still took Jimin a long time to realize what Taehyung meant when he said that he didn’t have any friends. It took Jimin years to realize it, and it brought on a lot of jealousy before he ever did figure it out.

That very same day, all of Taehyung’s friends were talking to him by the time he and Jimin made it back into the classroom, and Jimin was completely forgotten about. Once again. He felt stupid for having thought that the tiny little conversation on the swing set meant that he and Taehyung could be anything more than classmates.

Jimin just sat in his desk at the corner of the room, and he decided that he hated everyone in his class. Especially Taehyung.

“Jimin!”

Jimin heard that familiar voice calling to him once the class was over.

Jimin was already turning onto his road to head home, but Taehyung had managed to catch up with him somehow. He took the same turn as Jimin, which was odd since Jimin knows for a fact that Taehyung lived in the opposite direction. Jimin had seen him take the other road on numerous occasions.

“Why are you following me?” Jimin questioned, gripping the shoulder strap of his bag and pulling it to fit properly on his shoulder.

“I thought we could walk home together.” Taehyung chimed. His smile was big and wide, and Jimin could never forget how it almost formed the shape of a heart. A rather odd looking heart, but it was fitting. Taehyung was a rather odd sort of person, after all.

“Don’t you usually take the other way home?” Jimin raised an eyebrow at his classmate.

Jimin hadn’t been going to this school very long, but it had been long enough for him to know that Taehyung never took this way home.

“Yes.” Taehyung confirmed. He took a quick glance behind himself before picking up the pace so that he could walk with Jimin. “But I’m walking you home.”

“Then how will you get home?”

Jimin didn’t really want to talk to him. He was still offended by how Taehyung had been all friendly on the playground before ignoring Jimin once they got back into the classroom. If Taehyung was only going to pay attention to him when there weren’t other people around, he wasn’t the type of friend Jimin wanted to have.

Taehyung shrugged, his hand slipping easily into Jimin’s—so naturally that Jimin didn’t even realize that they were now holding hands. “I’ll walk back on my own.” He said.

Jimin’s parents wouldn’t let Taehyung walk back on his own. They were so excited when Jimin had brought a friend to the house that they decided to give Taehyung a ride home.

Over the next few days, Jimin had experienced the most conflicting feelings he ever had to face in his life. He was happy when he got to be alone with Taehyung. He felt like he was the only important person in the world. Sometimes he felt like they were the only two people in the world. There were times, however, that one of their classmates would come up and ask Taehyung to join in a game of dodgeball or double dutch, ruining Jimin’s fantasy. He was always reminded that Taehyung wasn’t his and his alone. He had to share.

The school year ended, and a new one began. Taehyung and Jimin entered the third together, remaining in the same class. Jimin’s hate for Taehyung had completely vanished by then, but his hate for the rest of the world increased as people kept trying to come between him and his one and only friend. He especially hated Seulgi, a girl who kept coming between him and Taehyung.

Jimin never could understand why the girls bothered him more than the boys did, but it suddenly hit him one day when he saw Taehyung kissing Seulgi while she was sitting on the same swing Jimin was sitting on when he and Taehyung had their first real conversation. Jimin couldn’t turn off the boiling feeling in his stomach, and he rushed over to Taehyung and shoved him to the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks.

He didn’t want this girl to take his best friend away. He didn’t want to be replaced by Seulgi.

“What did you do that for?” Taehyung demanded as he got himself up off the ground, wiping the few pebbles off that clung to his skin.

On the swing, Seulgi just sat there in shock, her mouthed opened in an almost perfect ‘o’ shape and her eyes blown wide. Jimin wasn’t sure if it was because Taehyung’s smack on her lips had surprised her, or if it was because Jimin had startled her by interrupting them so suddenly.

“Why did you kiss her?” Jimin asked, huffing and angry. Jealous, he was, but not of Taehyung. Jimin didn’t want to kiss Seulgi. Jimin didn’t even like Seulgi. Of course, he didn’t want to kiss Taehyung, either, so he was still confused on where the jealousy was coming from.

“Because she’s my friend.” Taehyung told him as if that cleared everything up.

It didn’t clear anything up at all. It cleared up even less than Jimin’s response about not having any friends did a year ago. It didn’t explain why Seulgi was worthy of a kiss, but Jimin wasn’t. Was Jimin not special enough to get a kiss from Taehyung—which he doesn’t really want, by the way—because he was a boy? Is Seulgi deserving of the kiss because she’s a girl?

“I’m your friend, Kim Taehyung!” Jimin shouted as more tears fell from his eyes.

It wasn’t fair. Why did so many people get to be important to Taehyung? Taehyung was the only important one to Jimin, so why couldn’t Jimin be the only important one to Taehyung, too? Why did other people have to matter? Why did other people have to exist?

That was the first fight Taehyung and Jimin ever had in their friendship. It lasted for a couple of weeks, them not talking to each other. They eventually made up, however, when Taehyung came to Jimin on the playground one day. Jimin was sitting in the sandpit—alone because he had no one play with when Taehyung didn’t play with him. Suddenly, a shadow came over him, and his lips were met with another pair of lips. It only took him a second to realize that the lips on his were Taehyung’s.

Eyes blown wide and heart pounding in his chest, Jimin shoved his best friend away. Taehyung stumbled a few steps backward before landing in the sandpit. “What was that for?” Taehyung demanded as he stood and brushed the sand off of him—a very familiar sight. Similar to the scene a few weeks before.

“Why did you kiss me?” Jimin asked, but he wasn’t huffing and angry this time. He was flustered and confused and, somehow, happy.

Taehyung sighed, and he walked so that he was standing next to Jimin. He plopped down next to him, kicking down the mound that Jimin had worked so hard to build up, but Jimin couldn’t find it in himself to be mad at his best friend. “Because you’re my friend, Park Jimin.” Taehyung confessed, and he rested his head on Jimin’s shoulder. “My only friend.”

“I’m not your only friend.” Jimin grumbled, trying to shove Taehyung off of him. He was unsuccessful in doing that—the younger one clinging to him like a koala bear.

“Then why can’t I live without you?” Taehyung questioned, causing Jimin’s heart to flutter. “I’m fine without anyone else, but I’m sad without you.”

They later found out, by Taehyung’s grandmother, that kissing wasn’t something to be done between friends, and it definitely wasn’t something to be done between boys. Being told that only made Jimin feel miserable because he didn’t see anything wrong with him and Taehyung kissing each other. In fact, he liked it, so he figured there must be something wrong with him.

Fourth grade rolled around, and Seulgi had moved off to a different school. Taehyung and Jimin never heard from her again, but Jimin didn’t care. Taehyung didn’t seem to care much, either. He never mentioned her. Not once.

Primary school and junior high went by in the flash of an eye, and, before either Taehyung or Jimin knew it, they were seniors, getting ready to graduate from high school. This year was probably the year that their friendship had gone through the most change. Taehyung got himself a girlfriend, not that he didn’t have any of those in the past, but this time it seemed like it was going to be serious.

Jimin hated Taehyung’s girlfriend. Hyejin was her name. She was beautiful, quirky, and just as weird as Kim Taehyung himself. They became one of the most popular couples in the school, and they were given the name of Taehye. Jimin hated it. It was too much of a cute name for too much of a cute couple.

Still, Jimin never understood his hate for Hyejin. She was perfect and funny, and Taehyung was so happy with her. Happier than Jimin had ever seen him in any relationship before, so why couldn’t Jimin be happy for him?

It wasn’t like their relationship got in the way of Taehyung’s and Jimin’s friendship. It just kind of…altered it a little. It actually didn’t even do that, really. Taehyung and Jimin hung out just as much, and Jimin was never ignored when Hyejin was with them…it was just…different. Not the good kind of different. Not an acceptable kind of different, and Jimin hated it.

“Jimin,” Taehyung had said one night as he and Jimin lay on Jimin’s bed together, playing Grand Theft Auto. “Have you ever had a girlfriend?”

It was odd for Taehyung to ask a question like that because Jimin was sure that Taehyung knew all of his secrets. Jimin has never had a girlfriend, not even in secret from Taehyung. He has, however, kissed a girl. It happened during one of Taehyung’s birthday parties where he invited practically the whole school, and it was during a game of truth or dare. Minkyung was her name, and she was gorgeous. Two grades above Jimin, but taller than him. Jimin didn’t feel anything.

Other than Taehyung, Minkyung was the only person Jimin ever kissed.

“No. You know I haven’t.” Jimin responded, using a tone to let Taehyung know that he was kind of offended that he’d even be asking that question. Did he think that Jimin would keep something like that from him?

“Why not?” Taehyung asked. He paused the game and rolled onto his back, resting his head on the full body pillow that Jimin had lying across the foot of the bed. “I think you would make someone a really good boyfriend, and you’re definitely husband material.”

If the initial question didn’t cause that fluttering feeling he gets around Taehyung a lot, the ending statement definitely did.

Jimin would never admit it. Not to Taehyung, and definitely not to his parents, but he had imagined himself as a husband a few times before. The only thing is, in these fantasies, he never had a wife. He had Taehyung because he couldn’t imagine a life without Taehyung.

He didn’t have to imagine a life without Taehyung. He eventually got the chance to experience what one without his best friend would be like when they graduated and headed off to university—not going to the same school like they had originally planned. Jimin went to law school because his father was so intent on him being a lawyer. Taehyung and Hyejin both went to an art school, both of them going for a degree in acting.

University was a crazy slew of experiences for Jimin. He kissed a lot more girls than he had in high school, but even more boys. He easily decided that he liked kissing boys a lot more, even if boys aren’t meant to be kissing each other. It was that discovery that brought Jimin to understand all the times he’s ever felt jealous of anyone that came between him and Taehyung. It wasn’t because he wanted to be Taehyung’s friend forever. It was because he wanted to be Taehyung’s everything.

It was also that discovery that eventually led Jimin from Taehyung. He couldn’t keep talking to Taehyung, knowing that he was with someone else. Knowing that Hyejin made him happier than Jimin ever possibly could. Jimin blamed his lack of responses to his friend’s messages and phone calls on how busy his semesters were getting at law school. He wasn’t completely lying about that. He had to dedicate a lot of time to his good grades.

In Jimin’s third year of law school, Kim Namjoon entered his life. Namjoon was a logical man, and he had a few quirks of his own. He would make Jimin laugh with awkward jokes that no one understood because no one was smart enough to understand them. Jimin laughed out of the kindness of his own heart, not because he found the jokes funny or anything. Honestly, he didn’t understand them either.

Namjoon was someone that Jimin never told Taehyung about. He was afraid as to how Taehyung would react to him being in a relationship with a male. It may have been hard to talk to Taehyung knowing that he would probably be marrying Hyejin someday, but he didn’t want Taehyung to hate him.

By the time Jimin’s last year rolled around, he and Taehyung had stopped talking completely. There were no more phone calls, and they didn’t even text each other good night, which they had always at least done that in the first three years of university.

The complete loss of contact with Taehyung had hit Jimin pretty hard, and it threw him into a long period of depression. He didn’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone because it wasn’t like anything mattered anymore now that his one and only true friend in the world wouldn’t talk to him anymore.

In the time that Jimin needed the support of his boyfriend the most, he and Namjoon broke up. It was Jimin who broke up with Namjoon, and he only did it because he caught the other sneaking around with an even younger student by the name of Jungkook. When Jimin had confronted him about it, Namjoon explained that he couldn’t deal with Jimin being depressed all the time. Jungkook didn’t mean anything to him, he was just a good lay. A really ing good lay, Namjoon made sure to emphasize.

Jimin had stormed out of Namjoon’s room that night, returning to his own room and crying himself to sleep.

The next morning, Jimin wouldn’t get out of bed. He had that strong feeling of just wanting to die because he felt like there was no one in this world who cared about him.

He missed his classes for a week, not leaving his room. Had Taehyung been there…had Taehyungknown that Jimin was upset, he’d have marched right into Jimin’s bedroom to drag him out of bed. He’d have assured Jimin that Namjoon was just an and that he was not worthy of even a single thought from Jimin, and he certainly wasn’t worth Jimin’s tears.

Taehyung wasn’t there, however. Jimin had pushed him away. He ignored his best friend, and he lost him because of that.

Eventually Jimin’s tears did stop, and he got back on his feet long enough to finish up his law degree. He finally got his certification to become a full-fledged lawyer, but finding a job wasn’t anywhere near as easy as graduating from law school—and graduating from law school was anything but a walk in the park.

For the first year after graduating, Jimin only landed a few cases by commission, but he never got hired on full-time by a law firm. He eventually found out that the easiest way to get his foot in the door was to give the employers what they were looking for, even if that consisted of accepting a little more than just a job offer. Jimin found it quite ironic how the only way he could get hired in the legal business was by doing illegal business, but he eventually became willing to lay in as many beds as it took to make his way by.

Jimin would never forget the day that he landed his first case in one of the largest firms in Seoul. His supervisor had tossed a folder down on his desk, leaning over Jimin’s cubical as he chewed on the toothpick he always seemed to have in his mouth. “This guy’s already gone through a few lawyers, and now I’m pawning him off on you.” His supervisor said, unamused. Clearly this wasn’t a very important case. Just an excuse to assign something to Jimin and get him out of the office for once. “Something about a drug cartel that he claims to have had no part in. A bunch of BS, if you ask me, but his file was sent to our office for further reviewing. Take care of it, would ya?”

It was a bit like doing the dirty work or just one of the jobs that wasn’t very important, but it was Jimin’s first real case, and he was never going to forget the feeling of the folder in his hands. He nodded to his supervisor and open the folder to begin reviewing the files right away. “Daegu to Gwangju and Seoul. Drug runs.” Jimin read quietly enough to justify reading to himself. “Kim…Taehyung.”

Surely not Jimin’s Kim Taehyung.

He lifted up the file, revealing a mugshot of said Kim Taehyung, and, sure enough, it was Jimin’s Kim Taehyung. All in his twenty-four year old glory, wearing his jailbird outfit. He looked good. A little roughed up, but good. His lip was busted, and his hair was a mess, but…damn. If Jimin thought he was attractive before…

“What happened to you?” Jimin asked the very next day, meeting his friend in the jail that he’d been locked up in.

Before coming here, Jimin had imagined guards bringing Taehyung to him in chains, locking him to the table so that he couldn’t get up and runaway or attack, but apparently that only happened in prison and with violent inmates. It was good to know that Taehyung wasn’t a violent inmate.

Taehyung sat across from Jimin at the table. He didn’t say anything at first. He just sat there and stared across at his best friend…or, ex-best friend. Jimin wasn’t sure how Taehyung thought of him now.

“Jimin?” Taehyung asked as if he couldn’t believe it.

“It’s me.” Jimin said, smiling back at the other.

Taehyung’s jaw dropped slightly, and he let out a small huff of air. “When they told me that my new lawyer was going to be Park Jimin, I never thought…” His voice trailed off, and he looked at the table for a moment before looking back up at Jimin. “So you did it. You really did it. You made it through law school and got on as a successful lawyer.” There was a hint of regret in his voice. Jimin wanted to think that it was because he regretted not being there with Jimin every step of the way, but it was probably because his luck was not so great. “I’m proud of you.” The statement was genuine.

Was it weird that it wasn’t weird to be sitting here? Like, Jimin didn’t feel the slightest bit awkward sitting there across from Taehyung. He didn’t feel distant or anything. It felt just like it always had.

“Thanks.” Jimin said, probably blushing a little. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“What happened to me, right?” Taehyung asked, and Jimin gave him a nod. Taehyung leaned back, grabbing Jimin’s pen and twirling it in his fingers. “Well, let’s see…” He thought for a moment, probably trying to think of a good place to begin. “I dropped out of acting school shortly after you stopped talking to me. I have a son that I’m not allowed to see because Hyejin doesn’t want a around her child, but she fails to remember that she’s the one who slept with one. What else…oh yeah. My ex-boyfriend was part of this ing deal that got me in here. I had no part of it, but he left me to take the hit, and no lawyer has been able to get me out of here because there’s too much evidence against me—so…good luck. You’re going to need it.” He sat up again, straightening his posture and placing the pen back down. He folded his hands nicely on the table’s surface and looked Jimin in the eye. “What about you?”

“Well…” Jimin didn’t even know where to begin. Hearing Taehyung kind of sort of come-out to him made Jimin kind of sort of hate his life. If they hadn’t been too afraid to come out to each other before, maybe they’d have been together. Maybe none of this would have happened, and Taehyung wouldn’t be in prison—jail. “I don’t have a son that I’m not allowed to see because I am a…” Jimin couldn’t say that word. “I’ve always known which way I leaned, so I never had to worry about anything like that. My life hasn’t been too interesting…I’ve had one boyfriend, but he cheated on me because I got depressed for a while…”

“I’ll cut his off.” Taehyung leaned forward and whispered those words as he said it, glancing around to make sure no one heard him. “Seriously, you give me his name and location, and I’ll ing—”

“Taehyung,” Jimin snapped. He really hadn’t changed much, Jimin could see. Maybe he was a little more violent now, but he was still the same, and that somehow comforted Jimin. “I’m here to get you out of trouble, not deeper into it.”

Taehyung shrugged, leaning back in his chair again. “Suit yourself,” He said. “All I can say is that ing pig never deserved you if he ran off when you clearly needed him.”

Jimin could have argued and said that Taehyung had no right to say those things when he didn’t even know Namjoon, but he was more comforted by the fact that Taehyung still cared about him. At least it seemed like he still cared. It was still impossible to get pissed at him.

Then Jimin suddenly felt like an anchor had been dropped down to his stomach from his chest, weighing down on him. “I ran off when you needed me, didn’t I?” Jimin assumed, guessing that all this probably happened around the time that he and Taehyung had stopped talking completely.

“It’s my fault.” Taehyung said. “I didn’t tell you that I needed you. I know that if I did, you would have stayed.”

Jimin would have stayed if he knew that Taehyung needed him. It didn’t matter if he was trying to hide his own feelings from his best friend, he would have stayed because he cared about Taehyung, and it’s not right to leave someone you care about when you know they need you.

“Well, you clearly need me right now.” Jimin said, deciding not to dwell on the past too much. He knew that Taehyung wouldn’t like that because he had always been the sort of ‘live in the moment’ kind of guy. “And I’m not going anywhere. At least not until I can get you out of here.”

“What if I don’t ever want you to go anywhere?” Taehyung asked. A mischievous smirk played across his lips.

Jimin did get Taehyung out of there, and he never did go anywhere. He got Taehyung out by a means of a lot of research and proving that none of the evidence proved Taehyung innocent, but none of it necessarily proved him guilty, either. By turning words and laws on their heads, Jimin got his best friend out of jail, and back into his life.

A ton of confessions happened after that. Jimin admitted to having a crush on Taehyung ever since even before they actually became friends. Taehyung admitted to having stolen more kisses from Jimin in his sleep, even after his grandmother told them that boys shouldn’t be kissing each other—he admitted to that while showering Jimin with kisses as the two sat on the riverbank one night, looking up at the stars and enjoying street food pastries together.

Taehyung was the one to pop the question between them, asking if they were boyfriends or not. It was kind of sweet how he did it, honestly. They were sitting on the couch together in Taehyung’s apartment. Taehyung was resting his head on Jimin’s thigh, watching the TV screen. He turned the TV off just to talk to Jimin.

“I love you.” Taehyung said. It caught Jimin off guard because, sure, he and Taehyung had been kissing and holding hands and sharing ice cream, but that never really equated to being boyfriends in Jimin’s book.

“I love you, too.” Jimin said back without hesitation.

“Good.” Taehyung hummed, a fond smile on his face. He to his other side so that his head was facing more toward Jimin’s stomach rather than the TV. “Good. I’m glad.” He said, mostly mumbling to himself, but the amount of fondness in his voice was the cutest thing, it almost distracted Jimin from Taehyung’s hands lifting up his shirt. “So…um…are we boyfriends?” Taehyung asked, looking up at Jimin’s face. He still had Jimin’s shirt lifted just a little bit, and the cool air of his apartment teased the skin of Jimin’s stomach.

“First,” Jimin said, his hand going for Taehyung’s by instinct. He took the one that wasn’t holding his shirt up. There’s one thing that he hadn’t confessed to Taehyung yet, but he had to do it if they were going to move forward in their relationship. “I have another confession to make, and then…you decide if you still want to be boyfriends or not.”

Taehyung didn’t say anything. He let go of Jimin’s shirt, but not his hand, and he adjusted his position so that they were more comfortably facing each other, and Jimin knew that he was ready to listen.

“I told you I’ve only ever had one boyfriend before, and that’s true, but…” Admitting this wasn’t as easy as Jimin thought it was going to be. It’s personal. Too personal for sharing with Taehyung. It’s why it’s the only secret he hadn’t told him yet. “I haven’t only ever slept with one man.”

“Neither have I.” Taehyung assured him, tightening his grip on Jimin’s hand.

Jimin swallowed around the lump in his throat. “I slept with a lot more than one man.” He added, hoping that would get the point across. “A lot more. I couldn’t get to where I am now with my work if I didn’t. It was impossible to find a job without—”

Taehyung fully pushed himself up on the couch, and he turned Jimin’s body toward him. His large hands cupped Jimin’s cheeks, and he pressed his lips to Jimin’s. “Just don’t let anyone take you after me, Park Jimin,” Taehyung whispered, his breath hot against Jimin’s lips. “A lot of happened in our past. I’m not going to let that stop us. We were brought back together for a reason.”

With another simple kiss followed by a more passionate one, Taehyung had Jimin pushed back onto the old, broken-in couch in his apartment. Although not the most comfortable or most ideal place for a first-time , that had to be the best Jimin had experienced in his life. Taehyung talked very dirty, but in the very best kind of way. He definitely didn’t let Jimin feel like his was just a hole to get off in. He paid attention to how Jimin reacted to every word, every touch, every kiss. He quickly found all the things that Jimin did like, and stirred away from all the things he didn’t.

Jimin’s body was in pain, and he was left exhausted and panting in the end, but none of that mattered because Taehyung brought him into his arms, smooching all over Jimin’s face and complimenting him. Showering him with words of love and affection, and he made sure Jimin knew how amazing he was. And, for the first time in six years, Jimin felt valuable again. His tears this time were of happiness, an overwhelming joy that he wasn’t used to feeling. They weren’t tears of sorrow or regret. Taehyung would never be the cause of such tears.