Bound to fall

1💌

~🎀~

Snow clings to Jimin's shoulders as he climbs the stairs to his childhood home, more than excited to be on a break from school for the next few weeks - his final year of college feels never ending, and he feels like he deserves a break now more than ever.

He stomps his boots, trying to get any excess snow off before pushing the door open. Before he can try and take them off and swap them for inside shoes, his mother is in his arms, squeezing him tight.

Smiling, he squeezes her right back, nearly lifting her off the ground with the force of the hug, laughing, "I missed you too."

"I know it's only been a few months, but that's too long for my only baby to be gone," she huffs, pulling back to hold Jimin at arms length, taking in his appearance. "You get comfy, I'm going to get you some lunch."

And really, Jimin just ate a little while ago on the train, but he would never turn down his mother's home cooking.

"Where's dad at?" He asks, leaving his boots near the door and padding inside the cozily heated house.

"He's helping one of his friends move," she calls through the kitchen, "you remember Taehyung?"

Oh, yes, he remembers Taehyung - aka the man he developed a crush on from their first meeting when Jimin was leaving for college. Apparently a lifelong friend of his father's, who would host Jimin's dad at his house but never bothered to travel himself.

It made sense, considering Jimin was growing up in this house and Taehyung had no children, that the men would prefer to stay at his home without the burden of a child running around.

But then, Jimin had met the man in passing very briefly, and it had shifted his taste in men perhaps forever.

"Taehyung moved?" He asks, walking into the kitchen still wearing his backpack with all his personal belongings, not yet ready to head up to his old bedroom when Taehyung is the topic of conversation.

"Yes, oh," she turns towards Jimin, frowning, "he actually just got divorced, poor thing, and now that it's finalized he's left her with the house. So he decided to move closer to us, right next door. I suppose it's for support."

"Oh," Jimin tries to keep his face neutral, but his mind is telling him that Taehyung is now on the market, though he only has a few weeks at home before going back to school until the summer. "That's a bummer."

"Yeah," she shrugs, reaching over to pinch Jimin's cheek, "be sure to be nice to him, I've invited him for dinner tonight. Just, maybe don't bring up the divorce."

"Of course, mom," Jimin leans into her hand, which turns soft after the initial pinch. "I'll make sure he's really comfortable here."

°-°

It's not that Jimin has a bad relationship with his father; he knows the man loves him, and wants him to be happy. It's just that they have so little in common, that Jimin always feels a little like he's pretending around the man - which, isn't a problem when he's only home for a little bit at a time.

But while he goes on at the dinner table about his work baseball league starting up in the spring, Jimin finds himself hopelessly distracted by Kim Taehyung sat directly across from him.