dissolve. ✓

ONE

"what do you mean, 'he's leaving?'"

jimin looked at him like he was moron, which, admittedly, was not an unusual thing, and picked at his salad.

"i mean he's leaving, namjoon," he said, voice sharp but low so it wouldn't carry across the cafeteria to any of the poor, innocent high-schoolers with no knowledge of the 'death match' they had missed out on over the weekend. "after all the bullshit he just went through, can you blame him?"

he had a point there. jeongguk's car still had a sizable, taehyung-shaped dent in the hood from where he had mown taehyung down just three days ago. and that had been the least traumatic part of the whole debacle.

"well, yeah," namjoon said around a mouthful of chicken nugget that made jimin blink at him in disgust―and only jimin could make something as simple as blinking convey such disdain. "but what about you?"

jimin pursed his lips like he might not answer but eventually said, "what about me?"

namjoon stared at him. jeongguk did too, a bit.

"you're his soulmate!" namjoon said, as if the older didn't know that.

everyone knew that and had for years. park jimin and kim taehyung were their generation's resident perfect match™ and had been since they met on the first day of sixth grade. they were inseparable, practically joined at the hip (in every way imaginable) and they were going to be together forever and ever, amen. for taehyung to flee the country and leave jimin behind? unthinkable.

and yet jimin was chewing on his tongue, stabbing at his salad without actually picking the fork back up to bring any of it to his mouth.

"soulmates don't always stay together, namjoon," he said tartly, which was an evasion if jeongguk ever heard one. "look at you and yoongi."

namjoon winced, eyes straying unerringly to the far side of the cafeteria where yoongi sat alone at a table, his books spread out around him to discourage friendly overtures. his hair looked as if he had ran his hands through it thousands of times, dark circles under his eyes. he looked exhausted, and he didn't meet namjoon's eyes even though it was obvious from the tension in his shoulders that he knew the younger was looking.

"yoongi and i will work it out," namjoon said with the kind of faith that always made namjoon and jimin exasperated and jealous in equal measure. "we're soulmates! we're literally perfect for each other, made to be together."

jeongguk made a disagreeing noise in his throat. "that's not exactly what it is, joonie," he said, and not for the first time because namjoon was just too idealistic to bother with the nuances of real life sometimes. "just because two people understand each other perfectly doesn't mean they necessarily work as a couple. you can understand someone and still not want to be with them."

jimin pointed to him, raising her eyebrows at namjoon in triumph. namjoon just frowned.

"but you and taehyung do want to be together," he said, getting back on topic. "you've been together for years. and now all of the sudden, taehyung is just fine with leaving his soulmate behind?"

jimin looked away. he was pale, which was unusual for him, with those same tired circles under his eyes as yoongi; for all that taehyung had been the primary victim in the whole mess, jimin had fielded his share of attacks recently too and it showed. he huffed a sigh and threw down his fork, sending it clattering across the table.

"he's not," he said, glaring at his fork like it had run away of its own accord.

jeongguk picked up the fork and held it out to him, laying it gently down on his neatly folded napkin when he didn't take it from him. "he's not...leaving?" he asked, confused.