3 words, 8 letters and the world is ending
Authour: apricotloonie
Retrieved from: Ao3
Words: 2621
Ship: Jimim×Hoseok
Summary:
He said ‘I love you’ before running off to university. First, he said it, and then he ran away. This is a catastrophe, the world is about to end, his brain cells are bursting, the guy next to him puts a hand on his arm.
or
Jimin accidentally tells Hoseok 'I love you' without even realizing and he freaks out about it until he's back home.
--
When his alarm goes off, Jimin doesn’t get the time to whine about it or pretend he never heard it. There’re lips on his own when the first note of Garden starts, and his arms wrap themselves around a slim body. He doesn’t get to hear more of the confusing song. He rolls them over, sighing happily against his lover’s lips. When he'll open his eyes, the first thing that he'll see are the boy’s brown orbs, love shining beautifully in them.
He does open his eyes, smiling brightly at the wonderful sight. His boyfriend is half naked under him, his hair resembles a birds nest and he smiles sleepily up at the younger. Jimin loves waking up with his boyfriend.
“Why is your alarm a song you don’t like,” Hoseok questions/whines, pecking Jimin on the lips.
“I don’t understand it and it’s loud, it forces me to wake up,” the younger mumbles, resting his head in the crook of Hoseok’s neck. “But you’re better, way better.”
Hoseok smiles brightly, brushing a few strands of hair away from Jimin’s face and the younger can feel butterflies flying around in his stomach. He smiles as well, brushing his cold nose against Hoseok’s skin right where he knows it tickles him. A giggle escapes from Hoseok’s pretty lips, he tugs gently as Jimin’s hair to get him to stop.
“You have to get ready now, puppy, get up!” With a playful pat on the butt, Hoseok makes Jimin roll over. The boy sits up, rubs his eyes and stares at Hoseok.
It’s a habit Jimin slowly grew since he started living with Hoseok, who wasn’t his boyfriend at the time. They usually slept in the same bed, and Jimin sometimes observed Hoseok in the morning when he was the first one to wake up. When Hoseok found out, he didn’t find it creepy, simply asked if it helped Jimin in waking up. It was helping him, but he wasn’t ready to explain how back then. Waking up next to the person you love in the morning was the best motivation Jimin had to go through the day, knowing that if he could make it, they’d fall asleep in the same bed again at night, eventually.
Hoseok is Jimin’s motivation for everything, actually. He’s Jimin’s reward, the only thing he needs at the end of the day when he’s exhausted because of his dance practice or the long, boring classes.
He manages to get out of the huge bed, waddling to the bathroom happily and humming a tune he made up.
Hoseok knocks softly on the door a few minutes later to make sure Jimin doesn’t stay too long in the shower and ends up late.
“Hyung, have you seen-”
“Here," Hoseok hands Jimin his black jeans, "your pants, right? You left them on the desk chair last evening after dinner.”
Hoseok always accompanies Jimin through his morning routine, making sure nothing is forgotten and that Jimin always feels good before starting the day.
When Jimin arrives in the kitchen, his eyes widen. Hoseok made breakfast when he was in the shower, and seeing the amount of food there is, he knows he won’t be hungry until lunch.
“At what time is your first class, Hyung?”
Hoseok wraps his arms around Jimin from behind, accepting the food Jimin gives him thankfully.
“I don’t have any class in the morning, I have to see if any of the friends is free too, even though I’m pretty sure I’m the only one to wake up in the morning when I don’t have classes.”
“I told you many times Hoseok, you don’t have to wake up for me. I really appreciate it, but you should just sleep as much as you can,” he bites on his bottom lip worriedly, “I know you have trouble falling asleep sometimes.”
There’s a moment of silence, the time that Hoseok realizes Jimin might be awake when he traces the boy’s jaw, strokes his hair or traces shapes on the skin of his waist. His cheeks bloom a pretty pink, he buries his head in Jimin’s neck out of embarrassment. Jimin giggles.
“I’ll go back to sleep if I get tired, don’t worry darling.”
Jimin hums, spinning on his stool until he faces Hoseok.
“I have a two hours long literature class, and then the dance practice, and I’ll be back. But I don’t want to go, I just want to stay here," he whines. What time is it?”
He waits for Hoseok to get his phone and show him the time, but he doesn’t get to look, Hoseok’s widening eyes tell him that he’s late.
“It’s a quarter to nine, hurry up!”
Jimin does hurry, he usually has a fifteen minutes walk to the university, but this time it’s not enough time. He runs to the bedroom, grabbing his backpack and throwing the first books he finds inside. He doesn’t find his jacket, so he grabs the sweater that’s on the desk chair. It’s perfect for him, it belongs to Hoseok, and Jimin always loved wearing oversized clothes, especially when they belong to Hoseok. He hits his head against the front door trying to tie his shoelaces.
Right before leaving, Jimin jogs to Hoseok who is calmly sipping on orange juice with an amused face and kisses him quickly.
“See you later Hyung, I love you,” he screams, slamming the door shut behind him.
The apartment gets silent the minute the door is shut. Hoseok stares at the closed door with big eyes and his mouth agape.
Jimin runs to the nearest bus stop, checking the time the next bus arrives before running again towards his university. He doesn’t manage to arrive on time (that wouldn’t be human) but he manages to enter the lecture hall without the teacher noticing. Fortunately, he brought the right books and even finds a fresh bottle of water in his bag, that Hoseok must have slipped inside before he left, or maybe when he was showering.
In the middle of opening his notebook, Jimin stops, frowning. Something is wrong, but he doesn’t know what. And then he realizes what’s wrong and he bites on his fist to not scream in panic.
He said ‘I love you’ before running off to university. First, he said it, and then he ran away. This is a catastrophe, the world is about to end, his brain cells are bursting, the guy next to him puts a hand on his arm. Oh, it’s just Namjoon. Why is Namjoon putting a hand on his arm?
“Jimin, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m the ghost. I’m dead, Hyung.”
Namjoon frowns and takes his hand off Jimin’s arm. He doesn’t have the time to ask what really happened, Jimin already started whispering loudly again.
“I told Hyung I love him!”
“Well, I don’t see anything bad with that,” Namjoon starts, but he’s cut off by Jimin who is shaking his head, running a hand through his hair out of nervousness.
“I didn’t actually tell him. I screamed it, slammed the door, and ran to class because I was late. That wasn’t supposed to happen like that! He must be freaked out now! What am I going to do, Hyung,” the younger whines, taking his head in his hands.
Namjoon tries to reassure him the best his can, but even when doing his best, Namjoon really sucks at reassuring his friends, especially when it comes to love. So Jimin ends up unable to focus on his lecture, rubbing his temples in a desperate attempt to make his neurons work, either to understand what the hell is his teacher talking about or how he could make it up to Hoseok for saying ‘I love you’ so simply.
None of them had said it before, and Jimin thought Hoseok would be the one the say it first but here he is, freaking out because he screamed it just as if he was talking about the weather. Maybe Hoseok freaked out and left the apartment, maybe he cried because he got emotional, maybe he feels sad that Jimin didn’t make it special, maybe-
Just before the lecture ends, Jimin gives up and hopes that everything will go well once he gets home, that he will simply talk to Hoseok and get his daily hug because he really, really could use a hug right now. And not from Namjoon.
When his lecture finally ends, Jimin remembers he has dance practice so he won’t see Hoseok before another three hours. He won’t see Hoseok before a long time. And he doesn’t have the courage to text him right now, he’s still too scared about the words that slipped from his mouth, even though they were sincere.
“Namjoon-hyung? Can you text Hoseok and tell him that I, uh, will bring takeout after practice? Please?” He doesn’t need to make his puppy eyes at Namjoon, because the boy is always willing to help his dongsaeng and so he takes out his phone within seconds and even lets Jimin check the message before sending it.
“Thank you so much, I owe you, Hyung! See you tomorrow,” he waves at his friend while walking out of the lecture hall, running back a few seconds later to get the book he left on his table. There’s no way he’s paying that Raimbaud collection of poems again.
He arrives a bit late to his dance class but the others are used to it and don’t blame him. His dance class is on the opposite side of the university so it’s impossible to be there on time. He tried before. He meets Jeongguk on the way, one of the youngest members of the dance class, but one of the bests too. Everyone is fond of Jeongguk in the class, not only because of his music and dance skills but because he and his best friend Taehyung are the ones who bring joy to the less confident ones, and they joke around a lot while still being serious and a great help to the group.
Taehyung isn’t a dance student, but he often comes to practice, giving them his point of view as a spectator, a more general view that is much appreciated. He takes care of them too, making sure they drink enough and take breaks when they want to stay and practice more.
“Taehyung isn’t coming, today. He said he had a meeting with his art t.a. I don’t trust that guy,” Jeongguk mutters the last part under his breath, but Jimin doesn’t miss it.
“If you want me to stop saying you have a crush on him, then stop being jealous of every person he talks to,” Jimin groans, pushing Jeongguk slightly through the studio’s open doors. They both enter and greet the ones already there before changing as quickly as possible. They’re the most hardworking ones on the team, so even though they arrive later than the others, they never waste time while changing, they’re quick and effective.
Jimin feels like the dance practice goes by too fast, but there were barely any mistakes made so he doesn’t ask the team to stay longer, and he knows he couldn’t have. It’s been three hours since they’ve been working and they only had a few snacks Taehyung had given Jeongguk for everyone. Everyone is hungry, and Jimin has a boyfriend to come back to. He doesn’t take time to talk to the others, explaining quickly that he has a date even if it’s not completely true.
On his way home, Jimin buys takeout sushi, knowing Hoseok loves this one shop the most, and walks home as fast as possible.
-
Jimin enters the apartment quietly, making sure to not slam the door like he’d done in the morning. He can hear the shower running from where he stands in the hallway, he takes his time to change clothes and prepare the table for lunch, so when Hoseok gets out of the shower everything is ready.
Hoseok gets out of the shower soon enough, and he grins at Jimin when he meets his eyes. Jimin doesn’t grin back, though, he’s a nervous wreck. Because that is a thing that Hoseok doesn’t seem mad nor sad about his sudden confession, but the problem now is that he hasn’t said it back, and Jimin feels his brain cells burning and his heart bungee jumping. He’s going to pass out and die right there, in the middle of the kitchen.
“Hyung,” his voice comes out weak, it makes him frown. Hoseok notices straight away and comes closer, taking the younger’s hands and leading him to the kitchen counter where they sit down on the old wooden stools.
“Jimin-ah, what’s wrong? You seem terribly nervous and scared… Is it because of what you said this morning?”
Jimin shivers when Hoseok places one of his hands at the small of his back and moves it up and down. It’s soothing and he loves it, but it doesn’t relax him enough. Not wanting to speak, he simply nods, staring down at the food in front of him.
“It’s okay, Jimin,” Hoseok is about to keep taking but Jimin cuts him off, he has to, because Hoseok doesn’t know exactly how he feels and he knows he has to give an explanation.
“I don’t find it okay, Hyung. I said it without even thinking because I think about it most of the time, and of course, I do, I do love you, but saying it is like proposing to you, it feels like, I don’t know, like I’m forcing you to stay with me or like I’m- I don’t even know it’s just- I wasn’t planning to say it like this,” he takes a deep breath, he’s talking too fast and he doesn’t really know what he’s trying to say, but he knows he needs to speak so he’ll feel less nervous.
“There should’ve been a mood, y’know? I should've said it in a more romantic moment, and I don’t even know if you were ready to hear it, because you still haven’t said it back! It’s just three stupid words but they’re so scary, Hyung, I don’t know what to do…” His shoulders slump and he lowers his head.
Hoseok brings Jimin close to him in one swift movement and embraces him. Jimin gasps, he feels like he’s gonna cry out of anxiety and maybe he is already crying, he doesn’t really know.
The older stays like that for a long moment, until he feels Jimin’s breath slowing down and his body relaxing in Hoseok’s arms, and then he pulls back.
Soft lips meet plump ones, a hand is placed on a cheek and simple but complicated words are whispered, making eyes go wide.
“I love you too, Jimin,” Hoseok smiles gently. “I didn’t have time to say it back this morning, and now you just kept talking. I love you. It felt good to hear it, it made my day.”
“It did?” Jimin sounds calm now, relieved to finally hear his lover talk about it.
“It did. I knew you’d be stressing over it all day, but you know what? It’s funny. It’s a thousand times better than the romantic way. Because you said it naturally, I know it was sincere. I like our way of doing things, we’re a messy couple, that’s why I love us. I love you.”
“You’re right. It feels good to hear it,” Jimin chuckles, a grin appearing on his face.
Jimin realizes now, perfection isn’t funny, and there was no reason to worry about this. He’ll have to text Namjoon later and tell him he's not dead, finally.
