Park Jimin was never a shy boy. On the contrary, he was quite popular and outgoing. He was athletic, so all the boys wanted him on their team for PE. He had those chubby cheeks that girls love to pinch. Participating in class was no big deal for him. Therefore, teachers appreciated having him as a student.

And Taehyung, well, he’s proud to call Jimin his best friend.

Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin met in kindergarten. It was not until fifth grade, however, that they became friends. They were doing an project, and Taehyung, being curious, had been playing with the hot glue gun despite instructions not to touch it. Jimin was right next to Taehyung. Clumsily, Taehyung hot glued his sweater to Jimin. And, well, Jimin could say they just became ‘stuck’ to one another, afterwards.

Life for Jimin became colorful after meeting Taehyung.

In their first year of high school, Jimin was chosen as the class representative - a scheme plotted by Taehyung. As class representative, Jimin had to participate in planning for the festivals and all events. Seeing it as Taehyung’s fault, Jimin dragged a pouting Taehyung to every meeting. Only one good thing came out of the meeting: Meeting Min Yoongi. Yoongi presided over his third year class, and so naturally the trio became close. That same year, Yoongi introduced three things to Jimin and Taehyung: underground performances, Namjoon, and Hoseok. Hoseok was the leader of an underground dance crew but has since resigned to create the Flying Monkeys in his second year and Jimin’s first year of college. (Which was a year ago.) Namjoon was an interesting person. Not as interesting as Taehyung. No one can be more interesting than Taehyung. (Fun Fact: Sometimes, whenever Jimin goes over to Taehyung’s house, the former would discover the latter imitating famous actors in front of the mirror.) But Namjoon was interesting in a good way. Insightful and wise. Namjoon taught Jimin and Taehyung so much about life:

The secret to happiness is the acceptance of yourself.

Happiness is not based on external status, it is an internal state.

Every man has a right to choose his own destiny.

Be grateful for this moment, it is all there is.

Cherish those that you love, you never know if you’ll see them again.

After meeting him, Jimin and Taehyung felt like they became even manlier.

A year later, after becoming second years, Jimin and Taehyung found themselves standing in front of a Hello Kitty themed restaurant. Raising an eyebrow, the two maknae (at the time) sent questioning looks to their hyung. Scratching his head, embarrassed, Namjoon ushered them inside quickly. They later realized that Namjoon wanted to introduce his girlfriend to them and her two younger cousins. Namjoon had planned to set them up. Namjoon’s girlfriend worked there, so during the duration of their “date” she was their waitress. Awkward, because Jimin and Taehyung didn’t even try to showcase any interest in her cousins. (They did not want to pretend to be interested, because that would be leading them on.) Instead, in a strange turn of events, the two best friends became closer to the cafe’s youngest baker, and only male employee, Seokjin.

It was in their third and final year that the two friends met Jungkook. Their high school had a buddy program where a third year was assigned and expected to act as a mentor to a first year. The school made the mistake of pairing Taehyung and Jungkook. Having nothing in common, Taehyung and Jungkook avoided each other at school. Taehyung attended none of the buddy program events. Reason: he was busy hunting down unicorns. (Like, for real, Taehyung thought unicorns and mermaids were real.) It didn’t bother Jungkook, though. He thought the program was stupid, anyways. On the other hand, Jimin was ecstatic to finally mentor a first year, only to be left disappointed. His first year turned out to be a stuck-up rich kid who took advantage of others’ kindness and intelligence and gagged at the sight of Jimin and his ‘tacky’ style. Unlike Taehyung, Jimin tried his best to attend the buddy program events, like the Sunday picnic day. Most of the time, he ended up being alone. There was one event that was done at school. Fed up, and wanting to make most out of the program, since it was his last year, Jimin grabbed Jungkook and had him as his buddy for the remain of the year.

After Taehyung, Jimin can proudly call Jungkook his best friend. Even though the younger one would Jimin’s head, call him short, and ignore him for fun. Jimin can’t deny the fact that he absolutely adores the way Jungkook smiles and gets overly excited over small matters.

“Taehyung,” Jimin nervously bites his fingernail, “what if they’re mad at me?” After some coaxing from Taehyung, Jimin agreed to tag along and participate in whatever their friends had planned for the day. Of all the times he spent with Jimin, so far, this has to be Taehyung’s proudest moment. In the midst of cheering for his success, Taehyung forgot to mention it to the others.

“They’re not mad,” Taehyung reassures him. He stops at the red light, just a few minutes away their destination. Briefly checking his hair in the mirror, Taehyung says, “They’ve been asking a lot about you, Chim Chim. So you coming will make their day.”

“So, they know that I’m coming along?”

“Well,” Taehyung pauses before gulping and stepping on the pedal, “to be honest, I didn’t even tell them.”

Jimin groans, facepalming. “You brought me out of the comfort of my home. Yet, you forgot to even simply mention anything to them.”

Taehyung turns the steering wheel to the left and enters the parking lot of Namjoon’s apartment complex. He parks relatively close to Namjoon’s place, of course, in consideration to Jimin. Clenching and unclenching his right fist, Jimin waits for Taehyung to walk around the car, grab the crutches from the back seat, and then assist Jimin down.

The idea of a prosthetic leg came up once or twice during Jimin's doctor appointments. His mother and Taehyung, who came along as the 'father' figure, supported the idea. But Jimin flat out refused. He didn’t see any reason to have to get a fake leg. Becoming a dancer would still be an impossible, unreachable dream.

"Remember-" Taehyung looks back "-Namjoon broke up with his girl friend. The one from the cafe, but he's totally dating someone else now. That playboy. I forgot what her name was, since I never met her. Namjoon said she was pretty, though." That may or may not be true. Namjoon has a history of dating girls only because their ankles looked pretty in red Converse high tops. "And," he continues, "Seokjin isn’t working at the cafe anymore. He said Namjoon’s ex-girlfriend asked too many questions for his comfort. But he’s working at some bookstore. Our golden maknae and Yoongi hyung are graduating soon. High school for Jungkook, and college for Yoongi. Be nice. Show how excited you are, or give them early congratulations." Taehyung is walking at a pace too fast for Jimin. The poor boy almost collapses from exhaustion. He stops midway to catch his breath.

Reaching the back door, Taehyung presses the buzzer, asking for permission to enter. The door opens by itself, and Taehyung walks through. He does, however, immediately walk out after noticing he left something important behind.

"Mianhae, Chim Chim," he says, scratching the back of his head, sheepishly. "Here, let me help you."

"It's okay," Jimin replies, putting on a brave face and regaining his walk.

Upset that Jimin won’t let him, Taehyung whips out his phone and dials a number he remembers from heart: Jin’s.

"No. I'm calling the guys."

Jimin waits in Taehyung's car. Windows are rolled down, so that Jimin doesn't get a heat . The owner of the car remains outside, kicking rocks.

"Why the hell did you call us to come down, Tae?" Jimin's ears perk up to Namjoon's deep voice. Peeking outside and keeping his head low, Jimin sees Namjoon leading the crew with Hoseok trailing at the back, wearing a ducky floating device.

Jimin leans back into his seat, squinting his eyes closed. His heart quickening. Having second thoughts.

"Hey buddies," Taehyung waves.

"That's hyung to you," Seokjin states.

“Hyung!” someone shrieks. Jimin recognizes the voice. It’s none other than his annoying brat, Jeon Jungkook. His annoying brat marches up to Taehyung and strikes a finger into the older man’s chest. “Where’s Jiminie?”

“It’s Jimin hyung,” Seokjin repeats, sighing.

“Where’s Jiminie?” Jungkook demands, disregarding his hyung.

“What’s up with this kid,” Yoongi grins, fixing his sunglasses. “He used to run and hide whenever he saw Jimnie. That boy always showed an embarrassing amount of love and affection towards the heartless maknae.” Jungkook spins around and pouts. Yoongi bends his knee and shoots ‘arrows of love” towards the maknae as Jimin would have done. Blushing, Jungkook swats the arrows away, as if they were real.

“He probably misses Jimin or at least the way Jimin showered him with attention,” Hoseok comments, grinning at the maknae’s burning cheeks.

Yoongi places a beach ball and umbrella on the ground. “Ah, what an attention seeker.”

“I’m not an attention seeker,” Jungkook stomps his foot.

Taehyung chuckles. Jungkook may be a brat, but at least he entertains his hyungs with his cute moments. Something touches his foot and he looks down. It’s a b