Chapter Text
"Ten years?" Namjoon asks.
"Hmm?" Jimin says, lazily lolling his head over on the pillow to look at Namjoon, lying on his side next to him with his head propped on his crooked arm. The guest bed mattress is comfortably firm but narrow for two grown men, but Jimin doesn't mind at all. In the daylight filtering through the window blinds, Namjoon is gloriously golden from head to toe, sweat-burnished skin glowing like dawn. And there's nothing now stopping Jimin from reaching out, from stroking his hand over the rolling hills and valleys of his body, further mapping that new, wondrous horizon.
At least until Namjoon captures Jimin's hand in his, pulls it up to his lips to kiss each knuckle, thoughtfully. "You said before, ten years? But that would've been in college, and back then, you didn't actually..."
"I didn't? Hyung, I've had a crush on you since I threw up on your shoes!"
Namjoon shakes his head. "No, but really—I was there all along, and you never said anything. And even if you thought I was straight, obviously that didn't matter with plenty of other guys—"
Jimin arches both eyebrows and tries to suppress his grin. "Kim Namjoon, are you saying that I was a slut?"
"No, I'm saying that you knew what you liked and what you wanted, and you enjoyed sharing that with others. Even if they hadn't figured out yet themselves what they wanted. It was one of the things I always admired about you," Namjoon says, as serious and firmly heartfelt as ever he'd told Jimin in college.
Now it just makes Jimin's smirk wider. "So what you're saying is that I was a slut and you were a jealous bitch."
Namjoon groans and lets himself drop face-first down on the mattress, one long arm flopping over Jimin's chest. "So jealous," he mumbles into the sheets.
Jimin squirms under Namjoon's heavy arm to sit himself up and look over at Namjoon, without disturbing his leg where Namjoon had carefully wedged it between two pillows before they'd started anything. "You know, you could've said something, too, hyung," he teases.
"I did," Namjoon grumbles.
"I mean, back in college."
Namjoon lifts his head from the mattress to give Jimin a wounded look. "I did!"
"What?" Jimin laughs. "You absolutely did not, I'd have remembered that."
"It was after your contemporary showcase," Namjoon insists. "When Taehyung officially introduced us—it was like the second thing I said to you."
"Hyung, you must've been hitting on some other dancer," Jimin says, shaking his head. "Do you know how horny I get after a performance goes well? If you'd actually come onto me then, you'd have had to beat me off with a stick. Or your hand, or your mouth..."
He runs a suggestive hand down Namjoon's spine to give one of his rear cheeks a squeeze, but Namjoon is frowning as he props himself up on his arms. "It was you," he says. "You're the only guy I hit on in college. I thought...well, I knew I was bi, but back then I thought I could just... overlook it. And then I went to your hip-hop dance, and then I saw your showcase. You'd destroyed the stage and you were in those skin-tight black leggings and you were glowing, and I went fuck it and tried to shoot my shot. And you went—rightfully!—who's this scrawny dweeb in glasses—"
"—You weren't wearing your glasses that night," Jimin says.
"—I was until you came over," Namjoon sighs. "And that haunted me for years afterwards—maybe if I'd kept them on, so I could've seen your expression properly. Or maybe if I'd worn a different shirt, or done something else with my hair—or if I'd just been patient enough to wait, to actually get to know you. So that I could've told you something real, sincere, instead of making an ass of myself with some stupid pickup line about taking you back to your place—"
"That—" Jimin chokes. "That was a pickup line?!"
"A terrible attempt at one!" Namjoon moans into his arms. Then dares pry up his head to ask, "But yeah, what else did you think it was?"
"I, uh...I thought you were making fun of me," Jimin admits. "At first, anyway. Then I got to know you well enough to know you weren't like that, so I thought you'd been...worried about my health?"
"...So in your eyes I was either an utter asshole or an oblivious fool?"
"I thought you were straight! But yeah, honestly, college me was a total newb."
"No, you were adorable! What about college me?" Namjoon flips over onto his back to press the heels of both hands against his eyes. "I thought you thought I was an ugly dick and I still wouldn't leave you alone. What a jerk!"
"Hey, don't you be saying anything rude about college Namjoon!" Jimin says, giving Namjoon's closest pec a light slap and grinning at the satisfying smack. "I've got a lot of very fond memories of him, you know."
Namjoon grabs his wrist to stop another slap. "Well, I've got a bone to pick with him," he says and rolls over again, onto Jimin, straddling his hips and kneeling up on the mattress to avoid putting weight on Jimin's braced leg. He loosely presses Jimin's wrist down into the bed, his other hand on the mattress by Jimin's shoulder to cage Jimin under him. "We could've been doing this for ten years!"
Jimin smirks up at him, winding his arms around Namjoon's shoulders to pull him down to him. "Then, hyung, guess we'll just have to make up for lost time."
"So you're not going back to Korea tomorrow after all?" Taehyung asks, practically bouncing on the sofa cushions.
Jimin shakes his head. "PT's going well, but it's going to be a couple months before I'm fully mobile, so..."
He might've gotten away with it on the phone, but in person Taehyung's watching him too closely, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And after that?"
Jimin shrugs, not trying to hide how widely he's smiling. The one glass of wine he's had is one too many for him to care, and anyway Taehyung would be able to tell no matter what expression he makes. "Actually, Joon-hyung and I have been talking, and—well, I haven't decided for sure yet, but I might be selling my Seoul apartment. Since this place is big enough for—"
He doesn't get any further before Taehyung's put down his own wine to tackle him—gently, for Taehyung, not jarring Jimin's leg, but still practically ending up on his lap, arms octopusing around him. "Minnie, that's awesome! I'm so happy for you! Both of you!"
"Yeah," Jimin says, still grinning as he hugs back. Over Taehyung's shoulder, Jimin's gaze alights briefly on Namjoon, over by the exercise equipment and deep in conversation with Hoseok. But even as Jimin watches, Namjoon turns slightly—instinct? Or maybe he just keeps glancing over, too—to catch Jimin's eye and beam back at him.
"Oh no," Taehyung says, looking between Namjoon and Jimin as he gives Jimin's ribs an extra squeeze, "you guys are so cute, how are you so cute?"
Jimin just shakes his head, fighting a blush. He hadn't even been sure they were going to tell everyone; they hadn't talked about it, Jimin hadn't even thought about it, not until Seokjin and Hoseok were ringing the doorbell, and Namjoon had turned to Jimin with joy and panic warring in his eyes and rushed out, "Do you want them to know yet? Or would you be more comfortable—"
And Jimin knew what he wanted, but wasn't sure about Namjoon; he started to say, "If it's all right with you—" and hadn't needed to go on; he got the answer in Namjoon's million-watt smile. So that when Namjoon opened the door for their friends, holding Jimin's hand and still smiling fit to power all of San Francisco, Hoseok and Seokjin were already smirking, before Namjoon or Jimin could say a blushing, stammering word.
"What about you?" Jimin asks, tickling Taehyung until his arms let go, like unspringing a trap. "You and Kookie, with Yoongi-hyung, how's that going? Will you be moving in together yourselves somewhere?"
Taehyung sits up, glancing over the island counter to the kitchen, when Yoongi and Jungkook are helping Seokjin prepare dinner, standing side by side as Jungkook chops vegetables to be added to Yoongi's bowl. There's nothing obvious about it, but the way their shoulders occasionally bump as they work in tandem, the casual, comfortable domesticity, is like another blanket tucked around Jimin's cozy heart.
When Jimin looks back to Taehyung, though, his friend's face has gone serious, even pensive. Jimin drops his voice, even if none of the others are listening anyway. "Tae?"
"Yeah, about that," Taehyung softly replies, and swallows, throat working. "I've been meaning to tell you. Jungkook, and Yoongi-hyung, they...the two of them, they..."
Oh no—the three of them had arrived this evening together, and Jimin had assumed that Taehyung had stayed with them in their hotel room after flying in from Europe last night—but maybe Taehyung hadn't wanted to admit that he'd gotten a room alone. And Yoongi and Jungkook had had these last few weeks together, without him... "Yeah, what about them?" Jimin says, taking Taehyung's hands as he glares over at Jungkook and Yoongi, wondering which of them he's going to have to murder. Or both? Maybe Namjoon could take out Jungkook, Jimin can handle Yoongi—
"They..." Taehyung whispers, head down, hesitant, "they're both...really...really good at sex Like, you would not believe how good. And it's exponentially better when it's the two of them together—"
Or never mind, Jimin knows who he actually has to kill. "Yah, I really don't believe you!" he cries and shoves Taehyung off of him and onto the floor.
It possibly says something about his and Taehyung's relationship that none of their other five friends so much as glance over, much less stop what they're doing. "What?" Taehyung whines, pouting up at Jimin as he rubs his tail bone. "I figured since you're finally getting some great action now, too, that you wouldn't mind hearing about mine!"
"You didn't have to make it sound so serious!" Jimin hisses. "I thought that, like, they'd dumped you to get together!"
"Jimin-ah," Taehyung says with impressive dignity given that he's sitting on the rug massaging his sore butt, "people don't dump me; I dump them."
"Why are we even friends again?"
Taehyung tips back his head and hollers toward the kitchen, "Jin-hyung, why are we all friends?"
"Because perfect tens have to stick together or we throw off the bell curve for everyone else," Seokjin answers promptly without looking up from the stove.
"That," Taehyung says, nodding. "Plus you're a sucker for a pretty face," and he tilts his head back on Jimin's good knee to bat his lashes up at him.
Jimin rolls his eyes. "I don't believe Namjoon-hyung actually thought we were dating."
Taehyung sighs dreamily. "But how adorable is it that he resisted jumping your bones for all those weeks of inconceivable temptation, out of respect for our imaginary love story? What a sacrifice!"
Jimin blushes. "It was hardly—"
"No, it really was," Namjoon interjects, leaning over the back of the couch behind Jimin. "You can't imagine how hard it was, when he dozed off on me right here on this sofa, and I didn't think I could do this," and he leans further over to claim a kiss from Jimin's willingly upturned lips.
Taehyung breaks into applause like they just danced a perfect pas de deux, with Jungkook and Hoseok, laughing, joining in the clapping.
"Great," Yoongi says, in his driest, most trying-not-to-smile voice, "it's 2seok take 2."
"In which case you should consider yourself lucky, Yoongi-yah," Seokjin tells him, "that they've already had a week to get it out of their systems. Now go tell your boytoys"—Yoongi makes a sound like his lungs were replaced by vacuum—"to set the table, dinner's almost ready."
"Boytoy Number One reporting for duty!" Taehyung says, jumping to his feet and cheerfully ignoring Yoongi's wheezed yelp of denial.
Hoseok watches Taehyung slap Jungkook's butt and then pinch Yoongi's on the way to collecting plates. "Can't wait for that whole story," he says with a bemused grin as he takes a seat on the ottoman. "So how is your knee doing, Jimin-ah?" he asks, giving Jimin's leg a careful look, and they discuss the particulars of his rehab for a few minutes, until Jimin realizes Namjoon's gotten distracted checking something on his phone.
That particular look of nervous concentration is becoming familiar enough that he hardly needs to ask, "Hyung! Did your editor get back to you?"
Namjoon nods jerkily. "She, uh, wants the next chapters."
"I told you!" Jimin exclaims, giving his arm a congratulatory squeeze.
"Oh, is this the new novel?" Hoseok asks eagerly. "How's that coming along?"
"It's meeting the last deadline, anyway," Namjoon says, shrugging.
Jimin pokes him gently in the ribs. "Also it's amazing. It might be the best thing he's written."
"What, you got to read it already? No fair!" Jungkook protests from over at the dining table.
"Boyfriend privilege," Jimin says, smugly and playing it up to draw attention away from Namjoon's awkward hesitation. Jimin had actually stopped asking him about the book, but three days ago Namjoon had brought him the completed first draft, the moment he'd finished writing the last chapter. And then Jimin had started reading and hadn't been able to stop to sleep or eat, not until he'd finished it.
The truth is that all of their friends are going to know as soon as they read it what it's about—who it's about. The names, the nationalities, the descriptions, are different; but the feelings, they'll all recognize. Namjoon's sure they're going to laugh at it; Jimin knows they won't. Cry a little, maybe. If they laugh, it will be with them, Namjoon and Jimin both, laughing along with all the joyful ridiculousness of life, moved and inspired with every page.
What Jimin hasn't told Namjoon, or anyone else, not even Taehyung, is the back of the notebook where he's been sketching out dance moves for the last three days. It's choreography he won't be able to do for months yet, but he's not going to give it to anyone else; it's not for anyone else's body.
Besides, it will be some time yet before Namjoon's novel is actually out in print. By then, Jimin should be fully dancing again. He's been thinking about making some calls to arrange a showcase. Just something local, a few performances. Maybe he can do it along with a book signing. It's been years since he's been the star on stage, but he knows there will be at least one person in the audience to cheer him on.
It's only fair, really, after all Namjoon's done for him, to give him another video for his folder.
"Dinner's on!" Seokjin shouts, louder than he needs to given the condo's not that big and they're all downstairs. "I haven't made this recipe in forever so you all have to come right away to tell me how good it is! —What do you mean, you're not done with the sauce, Yoongi-yah? What have you even been doing?"
"Who, hyung," Taehyung corrects, "who has he been doing," and he squeezes Yoongi around the waist with both arms. Yoongi sighs but doesn't actually make any attempt to pry himself free. Taehyung hooks his chin over Yoongi's shoulder to look over at Jimin and Namjoon, instruct, "I'll trust you to get Jimin safely to the table, Joon-hyung."
"I've been walking on crutches on my own for weeks!" Jimin protests.
"You haven't been allowing your boyfriend to put all those big sexy muscles to good use? Oh, Jimin-ah," Taehyung says, shaking his head in weighted disappointment. "I'm so sorry, Namjoon-hyung."
"Thank you," Namjoon says, just as serious, "it's been very difficult."
"I take it back, it was better when you were jealous of Tae," Jimin groans theatrically, but Namjoon just laughs as he gives Jimin a hand up. And if Jimin takes an extra few seconds to steady himself leaning on Namjoon's arms—well, Namjoon's big sexy muscles are right there and Jimin's not going to pass up the excuse, even if he doesn't need one anymore.
And it's all the better when Namjoon leans in to murmur in his ear, "Oh, I can show you how jealous I am." Jimin can't help but shiver, and Namjoon adds, as he pulls back to hand Jimin his crutches, "Later. In private."
Jimin stifles his very definitely just-in-private reaction and answers Namjoon's smirk with his own. "See, this is the problem with dating a straight guy. All the privacy and whispering and sneaking around."
"Well then," Namjoon says with no small satisfaction, as he steers them both to the dinner table to join their friends, "isn't it fortunate that you'll never be dating any straight guy ever again."
"Ever?" Jimin asks, just making sure.
"Never," Namjoon confirms, and kisses him to seal the deal.