When Jiyoo wakes up for school the next day, she makes a decision; she wasn’t going to ruin Jimin’s birthday just because of her conflicting feelings. She tapes up her sore ankle to the best of her abilities, feeling a bit frustrated by how the tape only seemed to stick when her ankle felt the most uncomfortable. And just like that, she heads to school.

Since Jungah wasn’t officially accepted into the school yet, Jiyoo had time to breathe a little more than usual. She made sure to pay attention in her classes and tried her best to smile, even if she didn’t want to. The only person that seemed to realize she was putting up a brave front was Jimin, but seeing that she was trying so hard, he didn’t scold her for it.

Jiyoo made sure to apologize to Hyunbin too during their graphics class. His reaction was confusing, his eyes looking from her to Jungkook, then back to Jiyoo again to her dismay. When he’d returned to his seat, Jiyoo checked her phone to find a message from Jimin.

From Jimin:

Are we still on for today?

She sends a reply, assuring him that she wouldn’t miss hanging out with him on his birthday. His response made her freeze up.

From Jimin:

You don’t have to push yourself Jiyoo

“Who are you texting?” Jungkook asks, peering over her shoulder to look at her phone.

Jiyoo felt her hands twitch, almost hiding the message, but then realizing it would make her appear suspicious. She tilts her screen to Jungkook, scrolling up a bit so he wouldn’t see the last message.

“Wow, the special treatment, huh?” Jungkook teases. He was just about to go back to texting Jungah as usual when he suddenly frowns. “Wait, why didn’t anyone tell me about the plans?”

Jiyoo feels her stomach burn. Why did Jungkook feel the need to know what she was doing only when he felt like it? She shrugs and turns back to the front of the class, scribbling down some of the notes left by their graphics teacher in her planner.

Another twenty minutes went by and class was almost over before Jiyoo got another message from Jimin.

From Jimin:

Jungkook keeps texting me and is trying to invite himself to our plans. Make up some excuse and meet me in the back of the school

The bell rang, signaling the end of school. Just as Jimin prompted, Jiyoo made an excuse that she needed to go to the bathroom before meeting everyone. Jungkook nods and picks up his bag, leaving without her.

She could only watch his retreating figure before walking right past the bathroom and to meet Jimin.

--

“Jiyoo!” Jimin shouts, waving his arm as she leaves the school grounds.

She smiles and it doesn’t feel forced. Jimin’s grin only grew wider when he saw her true smile, linking his fingers with hers. He doesn’t miss the confused look on her face.

“It’s my birthday, so you can let me do this, right?” He winks playfully.

Jiyoo shakes her head with a smile, but doesn’t pull her hand away. Instead, the two walk hand in hand and as they badmouthed Jungkook. Well, it was mostly Jimin doing the talking, while Jiyoo just rolled her eyes and shrugged every once in a while.

“You have to admit that he’s being childish though, right?” Jimin whines, “I can practically see the hearts in his eyes.”

“It’s pretty… Gross.” Jiyoo agrees and looks away, though the conversation makes her feel uncomfortable. Wanting to talk about something else, she looks back at Jimin. “What did you want to do for your birthday?”

Jimin’s eyes held a pained expression. He should’ve realized talking about Jungkook would only hurt Jiyoo. Composing himself, he looks forward. “We’re going to go to the shops downtown.”

“You want to go shopping?” Jiyoo asks unsurely. She fakes a sigh, “and here I thought Seokjin was the only one obsessed with shopping.”

Jimin whines and uses his free hand to mess up Jiyoo’s hair, to which the latter just grumbles in response. The two mutually agreed in silence that from that point on they would not talk about Jungkook, Jungah or anyone else that would possibly aggravate them for the rest of the day.

They stopped at a hat store first, trying on different hats and shooting poses at one another. Eventually it became a contest on who could find the ugliest hat. Jiyoo managed to snag a wide brimmed purple hat that sagged awkwardly in the back, while Jimin was busy throwing peace signs up with his snapback with dollar signs printed all over them.

“If you’re trying to act cool, it’s not working.” Jiyoo teased, snatching the cap off his head and placing it on her own, right over the purple hat she wore. “Only I can manage to look good.”

Before Jiyoo could protest, Jimin took his phone out and began to snap pictures. Jiyoo yells embarrassedly, trying to swipe at his phone, but Jimin easily held it out of her reach.

“As if I’d get beaten by someone that looks like she’s five.” Jimin laughs aloud.

The next shop they visited was a stationary store. The amount of different colored pens and notebooks was aesthetically pleasing, drawing in the two as they scribbled all over the sample papers in the store.

With a glittery green pen, Jiyoo made sure to write her name and Jimin’s names together, showing him the print with a smile. “Green is a cute color. Looks good, right?”

“You like green just like Hoseok hyung.” Jimin smiles. He grabs a red pen of his own and draws a small heart between their names, capping the pen with a satisfied twist of his hands.

“I like green, but I think red is my favorite color.” Jiyoo hums, the two taking the time to look at the different notebooks. “What’s your favorite color?”

Jimin hums, overexaggerating how hard he had to think about such a simple question. Jiyoo could only chuckle. She never realized it before, but Jimin was pretty cute when he wasn’t going full mother mode about how messy she was.

“I like blue and black, so it’s a hard decision.” Jimin ponders aloud.

The two walked around for a bit before Jiyoo suggested they should pay and go to the next store. Jimin looks at her confused. “But we’re not buying anything?”

Jiyoo shrugs, placing a notebook on the counter. Jimin looks at her surprised. “You didn’t have to buy me anything silly.”

“Who said I was only buying something for you?” Jiyoo teases.

When the cashier rang up her purchases, Jiyoo held up the notebook and shifted her hands until the notebook became two different books. One book was blue while the other was black, handing him the black notebook.

“Now we can have matching planners.” She giggles. “Happy birthday Jimin.”

Jimin takes the book into his hands as a soft smile spreads on his face. The planners were simple, but anyone could tell they were matching, both having the same design, just in different colors. He places his planner into his bag as Jiyoo does the same, the two locking hands again as they arrive at the next place.

“A boba tea shop?” Jiyoo hums, “I thought you didn’t like my type of sweet drinks?”

Jimin shrugs, “they sell smoothies here too.”

Jiyoo smiles, but doesn’t say anything more. She knew Jimin only took her here to cheer her up. The tips of his red ears gave it away after all. Looking up at the menu, Jiyoo goes with her usual black milk tea with 120% sweetness, trying her best not to look at the taro or honey milk teas for they would only remind her of the Jeon family.

“Are you ready to order?” Jimin asks, tilting his head down to almost match Jiyoo’s height.

Jiyoo nods, but before she could approach the counter, Jimin walks forward first. He orders a strawberry smoothie and a black milk tea, not missing the extra sweetness for Jiyoo. She stands awkwardly to the side, not realizing what was happening until Jimin took out his wallet to pay.

“Wait! I should pay since it’s your birthday!” She tries to pull out her wallet from her bag, fumbling with the zippers.

By the time she managed to pull her wallet out, Jimin had already finished paying and was guiding her over to one of the booths to sit down. Jiyoo frowns, not liking how Jimin had paid for her drink.

“It’s just a drink, you baby.” Jimin chuckles.

The frown on Jiyoo’s face was more of a pout instead of a frown, the expression making Jimin coo at how cute she looked.

“But still…” Jiyoo mumbles, “How did you know what kind of drink I liked?”

“Because I like doing things that make you happy.” Jimin says with a smile, his eyes turning into crescents as he reaches over the table to grab one of her hands.

He rubs circles into the side of her palm, the action soothing Jiyoo’s nerves. She wasn’t as mad that he’d paid for her, instead enjoying the silence that the two shared before their drinks were ready. Jimin, being the gentleman he was, grabbed the drinks and returned to the booth. He made sure to put a straw in for Jiyoo before doing the same to his own drink.

Jiyoo never had a boyfriend before, but if she thought about all the shows she’s seen before, Jimin would make the perfect boyfriend.

“Besides, if you’re that upset, you can just buy me a drink on your birthday.” Jimin shrugs. “When is your birthday anyways?”

He took the time to pull out the planner from his backpack, his eyes not leaving Jiyoo’s as she answered his question.

“It’s December 5th.” Jiyoo says with a chuckle. “What? Are you gonna write that down in your planner?”

“Of course.” Jimin assures her.

He draws a little happy face next to the date of December 5th, spinning his planner around to show Jiyoo, pleased with her smile.

“And here I thought I was just buying you a planner to keep organized.” Jiyoo says with a playful tease.

“Hey! I’m not that scatter brained!” Jimin whines.

“I know.” Jiyoo pokes his forehead, flattening out the bump in between his furrowed eyebrows. “You’re one of the more organized ones out of the boys. That’s why I thought the planner was fitting.”

Jimin’s heart swells. To think that a few months ago, Jiyoo was cowering in fear of him. He vowed to never lose himself and scare her like what happened the day she was thrown in the pool. Seeing her happy expression was enough to make him think that suffering through Jungkook’s stupidity was worth it.

“After all, when Seokjin is around, you’ll be the mom, right?” Jiyoo jokes.

Jimin reaches across the table and purposely messes up Jiyoo’s hair again to her dismay.

“By the way, when are the other guys’ birthdays?” Jiyoo asks curiously.

She copies Jimin and pulls the planner out of her bag, writing down all of the others’ birthdays as Jimin told her. She takes a moment to pause on September, remembering Jungkook’s birthday by heart. She shakes her head, opting to not think about Jungkook. It was Jimin’s day after all and she didn’t want to make him feel bad for her.

The two continued to laugh and joke around until it started getting dark, to which Jimin said they should probably start heading home. The two bowed and said their thanks to the workers, to which they earned smiles back.

“Hope you last long! You guys are cute!” One the staff cheered.

Jimin grin grew wider as Jiyoo flushes, quickly ducking out of the shop. Neither of them denied the staff’s words and Jimin felt a bit, prideful? It was almost as if Jiyoo didn’t mind the prospect of him being her mate.

Something that was different about the current generating of mating was that not all mates were shared amongst groups. It was more of the older generation’s way of protecting their mates, while simultaneously ensuring their brethren also had mates. It was never set in stone that it couldn’t be a monogamous relationship; it was just much more common for mates to happen in groups.

When they arrive at Jiyoo’s home, Jimin makes sure to walk her all the way up to her doorstep.

“I had a lot of fun today.” Jiyoo says, looking up at Jimin. “Happy birthday Jimin oppa.”

“I might have to make you my own mate if you keep acting cute like that.” He says, ruffling her hair softly.

Jimin understands why Namjoon liked doing it now. It was simple, but provided enough contact to Jiyoo to where she wasn’t uncomfortable.

“You wouldn’t want me as your mate though. After all I’m just-”

“I like you for being you Jiyoo.” Jimin cuts her off.

He pulls her in for a hug, his arms resting on her shoulders. It wasn’t a secret that Jimin was a bit self conscious about his height, but since Jiyoo was so small compared to him, it was nice to feel a little bigger-

Almost like he could protect her no matter what the danger.

Of course, if Jimin was that amazing, Jiyoo wouldn’t be at war with her emotions right now. He sighs, pulling away slowly to smile at her. Even if he couldn’t completely get rid of her problems, he didn’t mind knowing he could still take her mind off of them for a while.

“Even if you were a beta or an alpha, I’d like you for being you. I like you Jiyoo.” Jimin smiles.

He leans forward, planting a kiss to the crown of her head. Jiyoo flushes, but doesn’t reject his contact. They bid their farewells and Jimin makes sure to hear the door lock before walking back down the sidewalk to Jungkook’s house. He did technically promise he’d be there for dinner, though he was less than enthusiastic to know it was just another bonding exercise for them to be friendly to Jungah.

Also he didn’t promise what time he’d come either.

“You’re late.” Jungkook grumbles, not looking his way as he plays the game on his phone.

Jimin shrugs and sits the farthest away from Jungkook. He liked the latter, when he wasn’t being an towards Jiyoo, but Jungah sat adjacent to Jungkook, and Jimin would rather not sit within her vicinity.

“Where were you?” Jungah asks Jimin.

Rationally, Jimin knew Jungah was just asking him a question out of curiosity, but he couldn’t help but cringe internally. Had she always sounded this stuck up?

“I walked Jiyoo home.” Jimin says simply.

He doesn’t tell them what they did today, watching as Jungkook perked up at the sound of Jiyoo’s name. Jimin felt a bit angry at the boy.

He had the same thought as Jiyoo; why did Jungkook care what Jiyoo was up to if he didn’t appear to care about her feelings at all anymore?

It didn’t explain why he was gone for the rest of the day, but the others could only guess that he spent the day with Jiyoo. Only Jungkook had known since he had seen Jiyoo’s messages earlier that day, the boy letting out a huff.

“It’s not fair you guys got to go out. We didn’t even get to spend time with you on your birthday.”

Jimin shrugs again, not feeling bad about his decision. In fact, he was happy with the choice he made today to hang out with Jiyoo.

“You all need to stop babying that girl. She sounds spoiled enough based on Jungkook’s stories.” Jungah adds, her honesty not exactly being wrong, but coming out rude in Jimin’s opinion.

“And you need to stop speaking for other people.” Jimin retorts, not missing the way that everyone stopped talking.

He didn’t care; if Jungah was going to be honest, he could be honest too.

“I’m not.” Jungah defends herself. “I’m just saying that you spend too much time with a girl that isn’t even your mate.”

“Well you’re not our mate either and we still spend time with you.”

Jimin was shocked to be honest, for it wasn’t him that said that. He looks up and finds Taehyung with his eyes glued to his phone, tapping away at the screen as if he hadn’t just told Jungah off.

“That doesn’t mean you two can be rude to Jungah either.” Seokjin grumbles, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“He’s not wrong.” Suga shrugs.

“Come on guys, we’re supposed to be having fun since it’s Jimin’s birthday.” Hoseok tries to mediate.

“Hoseok is right. Come on, let's go eat.” Namjoon agrees.

Dinner was awkward. Jimin refused to say anything, besides thank you when they all sang him happy birthday. Jungah had gone out and bought a cake for him, but luckily since she’d gotten him a mango cake, he was excused to take one bite and nothing more since the boys knew he hated mango.

“It’s an expensive cake, can’t you just eat a bit more?” Jungah asks, her eyebrow raised.

“He doesn’t like mangoes.” Taehyung shakes his head, saving Jimin the headache of having to say anything more.

For the rest of the night, Jimin copied Taehyung and played games on his phone, only replying to the others when prompted. They all left a few hours later. The car ride was quiet, mostly because all of the boys were feeling different about the situation.

It was clear that Jungkook liked Jungah and Jimin was pretty sure Seokjin liked her too, since he was the one that scolded him the most about not eating the cake that Jungah spent her money on.

Namjoon and Hoseok were both trying to tell Jimin that his behavior was a bit much as well, though they both listened in when Jimin told them that he was out with Jiyoo. They probably genuinely liked spending time with Jungah.

Suga was silent like usual, while Taehyung’s behavior was something that wasn’t surprising to Jimin, though at the same time it was since it felt like everyone was currently too distracted with Jungah to care about Jiyoo. Did Taehyung still care about Jiyoo?

“Hoseok hyung, can you give me Jiyoo’s phone number?” Taehyung asks, unlocking his phone.

Hoseok says her number out loud, and Jimin almost missed his chance to copy down her phone number. When he finished saving her contact info, he looked up and saw Suga sliding his phone back into his jacket pocket without a word. Suga was always more on the quiet side, but Jimin knew that he probably put Jiyoo into his contacts as well.

“You know Jungkook probably won’t like you texting Jiyoo all the time.” Namjoon tells Taehyung.

The latter shrugs, “he seems too occupied with Jungah to care, so this is my chance to get closer to Jiyoo. Plus it’s not like we all have to be Jungah’s mate.”

His statement made the car go silent. While Taehyung’s words held truth, they were all a group. That meant that they initially intended to mate the same person, just as their parents had.

Was this going to split them up? Jimin wasn’t sure, but there was one thing he was sure of.

He didn’t want Jiyoo to be upset. And he was glad that at least some of the others felt the same way.