Hunger | A Jikook Hunger Games AU

̶̶̶̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ Chapter Two ̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶

Jimin searches the crowd for just about the only person that could bring him even the slightest bit of comfort during this awful, perilous event. His eyes scan over everyone multiple times before finally landing on him. The one he was looking for.

"Koo!" Jimin tries to get his attention, standing near the front of his section—the section for eighteen-year-old boys of his district.

The boy he called for turns his head, eyes brightening the slightest bit when he sees him. Not too much—not enough...never enough—but a bit, nonetheless. He navigates through the crowd, all the way up to Jimin, the only thing separating them being a fraying piece of rope. Jimin wished it wasn't there. He hated having a divide between them, even one as insignificant as this.

"Hi, Mimmie," Jimin knew this day was difficult for him. Most people could dismiss his sad demeanor being due to the overall solemn day of the reaping, just like everyone else. But Jimin knew the real reason behind his frown. He had known Junghyun, he watched him die with tears in his eyes. They were friends of sorts—Jimin was only a year younger than the boy. Their families were business partners; Jimin's family raised the cows, and Jungkook's ran a slaughterhouse, preparing the cuts and sending them to butchers around the district.

"You look really handsome, Koo," Jimin uses the boy's nickname again, the one exclusively for the older to use. Kook, Kookie, Jungkookie, those were all fine for everyone else close to him. But Koo was for Jimin.

The nickname Mimmie was created when Jungkook was crying one day and misspoke, butchering Jimin's name. It was a bit odd, but Jimin loved it. He gave him the name Koo in exchange. The pair got that much closer because of the endearing mistake.

His statement was true for the record—Jungkook really knew how to make a great outfit out of nothing. His sense of style was one to be envied of.

"You do too, but don't tuck your shirt in," Jungkook leans forward and pulls the patched denim shirt out of his jeans. "You looked handsome before, but you look cuter like this. It's the best of both worlds."

The combinations of those words and how close together they were brings a light blush to Jimin's cheeks. The truth was, with Jungkook, it was basically love at first sight.

He met him for the first time a month after The Hunger Games five years ago...Junghyun's Hunger Games. It was previously the elder brother's job to come with his father to pick up the cattle shipments each month, taking them to be slaughtered. But once he passed, the responsibility fell on Jungkook.

Jimin was thirteen at the time—almost fourteen. He hadn't previously known Junghyun even had another brother. It made sense why—from ages five to twelve, they went to separate schools.

It was only once children turned thirteen that they went to a larger, more populated school. The Parks and the Jeons just simply lived in slightly different parts of town, so they started at different schools. As much as Jimin would like to think he was friends with Junghyun, they really never knew much about one another, not while the boy was alive. Junghyun wasn't really one to talk.

When Jimin first saw his now closest friend—slightly cowering behind his father, a solemn look etched onto his face—his heartbeat sped up. It was nothing more than childish attraction back then, but looking back on it, Jimin liked to think of that day as when his love for him began.

Later that summer, in August, Jimin ran into him at school, happily surprised that he was there, since he was only twelve, after all, and he'd be turning thirteen after the school year began. In Panem, you were put into school based on how old you were when the school year began. Jimin learned that Jungkook was a special case, that he was put into school a year early. Jimin was extremely happy to learn they were in the same grade.