More than Just a Friend | Jikook

Prologue:

Trailer:

"Jimin, Jimin, Jimin," the seven year-old chants his friend's name like a mantra, pulling him into his bedroom excitedly.

The nine-year old tumbles in after his excitable friend, giggling at the Jeon's eagerness. He always enjoyed having sleepovers with the younger, finding that they just clicked. Their age never seemed to bother the elder and instead made the Park super protective of his "Prince Jeon."

"I'm coming," Jimin says, eyes widening once Jungkook opens the door to his bedroom.

"W-Woah," the nine year-old says, astounded. "This is amazing, Jungkook."

Jungkook smiles proudly, showing off the fruits of his labor. With a little help from his brother, he decorated his bedroom just for the occasion, his bedroom lit by his various glow-in-the-dark stick-on stars and moons on the walls, glow-in-the-dark planets hanging from his ceiling, adding to the ambience. But that's only the room. There is a pillow-blanket fort the Jeon brothers made for Jungkook's sleepover that he can't wait to show his older friend.

Grabbing Jimin's hand, Jungkook pulls Jimin into the fort, the inside lit by miniature, battery operated tea lights. He has candy, popcorn, juice, water, and a laptop with Netflix queued up, perfect for a movie night/sleepover.

"Did you do all of this by yourself?" Jimin asks breathlessly, sitting down and covering up with the Hulk blanket laid out for him.

"Well... Junghyun helped just a bit," Jungkook confesses.

Jimin blushes due to this bit of information, fiddling with his hands. "Will... Will Junghyun join us tonight?"

Jungkook's eyes narrow and his eyebrows angle harshly, his face scrunched up so only his front teeth are visible in his pouted mouth. "No, you're mine, Jimin. Just mine. You're my friend, not Junghyun's."

The elder looks down at his hands, chewing his lip. Jungkook is his favorite person ever, but he's been finding himself more and more interested in the Jeon his age, wondering what it'd be like to hang out with him too. Jungkook was like his cute little brother, but Junghyun for some reason, grabbed Jimin's attention like never before.

It was just a crush.

Jimin would try and get closer to the older Jeon during classes where his and the Jeon's would interact, like lunch, gym, music, and art. Junghyun was always great at art and super nice. While some of the other boys would make fun of Jimin for his interests and nerdiness, Junghyun never did. He always treated his brother's best friend with respect, staying mostly quiet.

Something about Junghyun interests Jimin in ways he can't quite understand and he can't help but wonder what it would be like to get closer to him.

Jungkook is Jimin's closest friend, but he's younger, not going through the same curiousness Jimin is, the same inner turmoil. While Jimin wonders about things like relationships and where he fits in them, Jungkook would much rather watch cartoons, play games, and be his usual, carefree, bunny self. There is a disconnect between them. And Jungkook has been picking up on it.

He just hopes he'll catch up to his beloved Jimin soon enough.

Author's Note: This is a book for pride month. I hope any potential gaybies/questioning people who read this find it cute and helpful. Maybe it'll feel like a way to not feel so isolated and different. I'm pansexual myself, so I've gone through this myself. Everyone's experiences are unique though, so my experiences + my friends' won't necessarily align with anyone else's. But it's better left said rather than unsaid.

What do you think of the story so far?

Make sure to take care and love yourself as best as you can.

With lots of love,

-BBM