Our Yesterdays and Tomorrows

An Alternate Tale

Notes:

T/N: KOREAN VOCABULARY LESSON!!! WOOHOO!!!!! Here are the new words we used this chapter!

• Neo gwaenchanh ni: 'are you ok?'

• dakcheo: literally 'shut up'

~oooOooo~

HERE IS SOME MORE USEFUL INFORMATION FOR THINGS FOUND IN THIS CHAPTER!!!

• "He shoved his fist, thumblodged between his index and middle finger, toward him, smirking."Gesture means 'fuck you' in South Korea.  (web(dot)mit(dot)edu/eddietwo/src/xwrits/GESTURES)

• Daerim: A bad part of Seoul.

• Crescendos and diminuendos: 

~oooOooo~

"I... Mathan-ah, ple-please don't-"

"There's nothing I can do, Jungkook. The pictures are already out there. My source found them on the dark web."

Jungkook's face crumpled in on itself, surprise, chagrin, and sadness coming together to color his features. What would their parents think? They hadn't had time to properly tell them about what they had found in each other. What about their friends, their coworkers, their fans - what would they think? Jungkook couldn't sort his feelings - they were jumbling onto each other with surprising quickness.

"I am going to do my best to fix this, I promise I will," Mathan continued. "They haven't been leaked onto the Internet yet and if Sven has his way, they never will be. The pictures... they came from your electronic devices, at least these did, and they may be safe now since those things are part of your personal belongings and have been purchased by your friends. Nobody wants to handle stuff this hot - it'll put them on the authorities' radar faster than they can say 'boo'."

Jungkook eyed him, confusion taking over his already emotional countenance.

"I mean," Mathan tried again, "the police would be on to them really fast."

This resonated with Jungkook and he nodded in understanding.

Mathan continued, touching Jungkook's arm, hating the way he had slumped forward, the energy he had tried to muster dissipating the longer they spoke. "But Jungkook, I can't lie to you. There are more pictures out there like that. Jimin had some and so did Taehyung. And Jimin's personal belongings are... still unclaimed."

Jungkook felt a twinge of anger at that. He wasn't entirely sure that it didn't show on his face.

"I'm going to go to Sven and see if I can get him to buy them. I can't see how he won't - letting anything personal of Jimin's be left for public consumption would just be... out of character for him, let's say that."

Jungkook looked at Mathan, through him, as he thought about his Jiminie sitting dressed up like a doll for that man. It made him sick. That he could buy Jimin's things and use them to control him... Jungkook didn't like the power that gave a man such as that.

Mathan read the concern on Jungkook's face and sympathized. "It's not ideal, I know. But at least it won't be public fodder. Do you - do you know what I mean?" Mathan felt like he had been rambling, running off at the mouth, because he felt so bad for him, so very bad that Jungkook had to hide himself, hide the love that he so obviously felt for those two men. Mathan knew a little something about hiding his feelings and he didn't like it one bit.