AGE 7

“TAETAE!” Jungkook hears a voice call out before he’s slammed to the ground, breath leaving his body in a whoosh as he hits the concrete. “Owwwwww…” He whines softly, trying to keep his sight from swimming in front of him. When he blinks, he sees bright eyes close to his face. TOO close to his face for comfort.

“Are you okay?” He hears a faint voice, but the mouth on the stranger on top of him is moving, and he must just have a concussion. He tries to make a sound, but ends up just groaning, laying his head back against the concrete, eyes closing.

“Taehyung, what did you DO?” A shrill voice calls, and another body appears next to the stranger, who must be named Taehyung, because there’s no way that he was talking about Jungkook.

“I just ran into him, Minnie! I didn’t mean to!” The weight is lifted off his torso, and Jungkook lets out another groan, sitting up, his dark brown hair a mess from dirt and sweat. All he wanted to do was play in the park across from his family’s apartment complex, but now this happened. He peers at the two boys, whose faces are coming into focus finally.

They look pretty alike, and Jungkook muses that they must be brothers. One is much shorter than the other, and has baby fat on his cheeks, while the other is lankier with long hands. Jungkook squints trying to see, his head pounding slightly.

“Taehyung! Apologize!” The shorter one smacks the arm of the taller one, who comes over and peers down at Jungkook again.

“Sorry.” He says, and Jungkook is surprised at the sincerity of the action. He sits up and shakes his head, brown hair swaying with the movement.

“It’s okay, I should have looked where I was going.” The smaller boy of the two dusts off his shorts as he crosses to Jungkook and helps him up.

“I’m Jimin and this is my twin brother Taehyung. I’m really sorry that he knocked you over….” Jungkook can’t help but giggle slightly at the pout the other boy sports at the words.

“It’s really okay. I just came over here to play since it’s close to my family’s apartment.” Jungkook shrugs. Jimin’s eyes light up, and a bright smile grows over his face.

“No way! Taetae and I live just across the street from here too!” After a few minutes of discussion, they come to the conclusion that they live in the same apartment complex.

Jungkook never spends another day alone.

AGE 14

Jungkook hates school dances. It doesn’t help that Taehyung and Jimin left him last year to go to high school, leaving him all by himself to go to these stupid things. It doesn’t help that his head is all messed up from internal conflicts.

He’s not even sure when he started feeling this way about one of his best friends. Taehyung was another story. Taehyung was his partner in crime, his platonic soulmate, the one who always helped him play pranks on Jimin.

He took a deep breath at the thought of Jimin. The smaller boy, even though he was two years older than Jungkook, was something else. He’d started going to the gym, filling out his body and pretty much everything else. He remembers the first time that he saw Jimin shirtless after he first started going to the gym, and how he practically ran out of the room apologizing, which had confused the older boy.

He’s brought out of his daze by a pretty girl with long hair asking him to dance. He twists his mouth up slightly, apologizing with his eyes as he shakes his head lightly. He really needs to get out of here before he hurts someone’s feelings, like the flash of hurt in the girl’s eyes as she backs away from him, walking back to her group of friends.

He supposes that he should just it up, both about the dancing and about Jimin. Jimin is his best friend. There’s no way that anything would come out of it, no way that Jimin would ever like him back. He thinks of Jungkook as a little kid anyway, always ruffling his hair and calling him “Jungkookie~” like someone would call their pet or a child. He sighs, heaving himself off the table to nod to the teacher by the door as he makes his way out of the dance, kicking his feet as he walks back to his skateboard.

He doesn’t expect Jimin to be home, honestly, but when he’s unlocking the door to his apartment, and hears a soft squeak and the heavy padding of feet so familiar to him, his head turns to look at the other door, where a dark haired Jimin stands, eyeliner smudged around his eyes, smile bright.

“Jungkookie~” Jungkook cringes inwardly at the nickname, knowing that Jimin is just teasing him. “How was the dance hm? Taehyung’s still at practice, but I wanna hear all about it!” Jungkook sighs, turning to look fully at Jimin.

“Maybe later, Chim.” He feels the words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them. “Nothing really interesting happened and I don’t really want to talk about it twice. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He turns before he can see the hurt on Jimin’s face, closing the door to his family’s apartment behind.

AGE 16

Jungkook’s first year in high school also happens to be Jimin and Taehyung’s last, and neither one of them expect the waterworks that Jungkook gives them at their ceremony, soft red hair a mess as he buries his face in Jimin’s chest.

Jungkook doesn’t mean to be this way, but they’re the best friends he’s ever known. He doesn’t want them to leave for university, even though he knows that Taehyung is staying behind a year, and Jimin’s going to a dance academy in the city. Neither one of them will be very far from him, but it’s just not the same anymore.

“Kookie, look at me.” He hears Jimin say from his spot on Jimin’s chest. He sniffles and looks up at the older boy, eyes still shining with unshed tears. Jimin just sighs fondly and brushes his thumbs underneath Jungkook’s eyes, wiping away the remnants of tears from his best friend’s face. “You know I’m not going very far right? I’ll only be in the dorm for the first year, and then my own place, and then when you come up to the academy, you can move in with me. That’s what we planned, remember?”

It is what they’ve planned, ever since Jimin got accepted into the academy, and they showed interest in Jungkook after one of the dance club’s performances where he got to hold a solo position. Jimin is the one who proposed it and Jungkook just nodded, not quite sure how to react to the guy who he’s been practically in love with for two years asking him to move in with him once he graduates high school.

“Of course hyung.” He curses how his voice breaks after crying through most of the ceremony, and he can feel Taehyung’s hands on his back, soothing his sobs while his head rests on Jimin’s chest.

“It’ll be okay, little bun.” That’s Taehyung’s nickname for him, ever since he realized that Jungkook’s front teeth looked like a rabbit when they were in middle school together. “You’ll be out of high school before you know it! You’re so smart, Kookie, it’s maddening.” Jungkook snorts at that notion, shaking his head against Jimin’s chest.

“I’m not that smart, but thank you for that, Taehyung-hyung.” He sniffles a little bit before straightening up, out of Jimin’s strong arms. “Sorry I bawled on your uniform, Jimin hyung…” He bites down on his lip nervously, and Jimin just laughs.

“This is literally the last time that I’ll be wearing this uniform ever, Jungkook, no need to be sorry about crying on me. After all, I am your favorite.”

Jungkook has to duck his head to hide his blush from Taehyung and Jimin’s gazes.