jeongguk should have known.

he should have known that other people named jimin existed in the world, therefore instructing someone who he didn't know and didn't know him to lead anyone, anyone who gave their name as jimin to his table, was a risky, terrible idea.

he should have known, with every flash of confusion that had passed through his mind, he should have known with jimin's confusion, that something wasn't right. he should have said, at the very moment he'd heard jimin breathe, "hey, jimin. it's gukie. the guy you've been talking to for half a year. how's it going?"

he should have known, despite the fact that jimin's voice had been oddly high-pitchedㅡto nervousness or if it had been natural, he didn't knowㅡthat it wasn't a girl's voice; despite the fact that even if shin jimin had had a raspy, phlegm-layered voice, he'd still have loved her all the same.

he should have known that the jimin he was talking to wasn't the same jimin he'd chatted with online for so longㅡhow hadn't he known that? he should have known that.

how hadn't he known that?

"i should have known."

"excuse me?"

jeongguk looked up with a startㅡthe cab driver had one hand outstretched and one eyebrow raised, eyes flickering between the cab meter and him. jeongguk looked at the fare himself, then out the windowㅡthey'd come to a stop.

"that's my house," he said, pretty obviously.

"good, you should know that." the driver snapped the fingers of his extended hand, and jeongguk shook his head to snap himself out of whatever state he was in and handed him the required cash.

stepping out of the cab and into the cold of the evening, jeongguk felt a sudden wave of dreadㅡhow would he explain what had happened with the whole date to her? she'd probably accuse him of making up excuses to get out of a date with herㅡand she'd been planning for it and looking forward to it for so long, how could he let her think that?

he fumbled with his keys and let himself in with some considerable difficulty, thanks to his mind being completely elsewhere. as his phone connected to his house's wifi, a volley of dings sounded from his pocket, causing jeongguk to wince and pull it out reluctantly. what was he going to say?

21:02, the time on his phone read. more than an hour after their scheduled date.

"something'll come to me," he mumbled to himself nervously, checking the notifications. "it's going to be okaㅡ"

57 messages from 14 chats

none of the fourteen chats were jimin's.

was she ignoring him? understandableㅡhe deserved it. with a sigh, he scrolled through his contacts, opening his chat with jimin and considering what to say.

traffic.

sick.

i forgot.

the truth?

jeongguk shook his head resolutelyㅡno. even he still couldn't believe that what had happened had happened, and even if jimin could somehow believe it herself, what would she think of him? the fact that he'd mistaken a guy for her ...

he'd mistaken a guy for jimin. he stared at the phone screen glumly until it dimmed into blackness. he'd never hear the end of it from seokjinㅡ"i told you that online relationships don't work. i told you that you didn't know this girl at all. you just wouldn't listen, huh? thought you were all that, wouldn't give your hyung's well-meaning advice a thought? now you can suffer for eternity, brat."

jeongguk didn't like how he could predict so much of what seokjin might say.

"this online relationship isn't over," he told himself firmly. "if anything, it's developing. no couple doesn't have fights."

... but he wasn't really feeling up for their first fight right then, so he decided to leave it for another day. besides, maybe jimin wanted space!

excuses.

to distract himself from the current situation, he picked a chat at random and typed in a message before he'd even given the user a glance.

GUKIEMONSTER
yo

SEOKJINX
how was your date!

so much for 'distracting himself from the current situation'. not a chance with the person he was chatting with.

SEOKJINX
hey you read my message

SEOKJINX
wait

SEOKJINX
do i get to say "i told you so"?

GUKIEMONSTER
unless you said "the bookings are going to get mixed up and you're going to end up having a date with the wrong person who is a guy fyi", no

  jeongguk had definitely not been planning on telling seokjin about what had happened, but there was no way he was going to let him say that.

SEOKJINX
damn i didn't say that though

SEOKJINX
wait what?

SEOKJINX
holy guac did that actually happen?

GUKIEMONSTER
i have the worst luck

SEOKJINX
you should file a complaint or something

SEOKJINX
which restaurant was this?

GUKIEMONSTER
the blindfold or whatever

SEOKJINX
oh!

SEOKJINX
that's a dark restaurant, right?

GUKIEMONSTER
yea??

SEOKJINX
you should have told me!

SEOKJINX
that place kinda sucks :/

GUKIEMONSTER
the food wasn't that bad though?

SEOKJINX
ha yeah sure

SEOKJINX
i sneaked out some food once, tasted it without the whole darkness factor

SEOKJINX
i gagged

GUKIEMONSTER
yikes

SEOKJINX
yep

GUKIEMONSTER
tbh it's not completely the restaurant's fault about the whole mix-up

GUKIEMONSTER
i kinda gave them weird instructions that must have confused the shit out of them

GUKIEMONSTER
i guess i'm just mad that i had an entire dinner with some guy i've never met before in my life without even realizing it

seconds after he pressed send, jeongguk's eyes widened. fuck, why had he told seokjin that? seokjin, of all peopleㅡ

SEOKJINX
you didn't even realize it?

jeongguk held his breath.

SEOKJINX
hey don't get too hung up over it

SEOKJINX
you must have been pretty nervous

he exhaled.

GUKIEMONSTER
hyung you're a blessing to this universe

SEOKJINX
yeah i know

SEOKJINX
so how was the date!

GUKIEMONSTER
i told you already

GUKIEMONSTER
the bookings got mixed up, i ended up having a date with some guy

SEOKJINX
yeah you said that

SEOKJINX
how was it?

GUKIEMONSTER
wtf hyung our whole date was an accident

SEOKJINX
an accident that happened

SEOKJINX
to have spent an entire dinner with him, you must've done something??

SEOKJINX
how did it go?

GUKIEMONSTER
i

GUKIEMONSTER
don't know??????

SEOKJINX
how was this guy?

GUKIEMONSTER
he was ok i guess???

GUKIEMONSTER
hyung it doesn't matter

GUKIEMONSTER
it never should have happened in the first place

SEOKJINX
but it did!!

SEOKJINX
cmon he couldn't have been bad

GUKIEMONSTER
what r u suggesting i'm confused

SEOKJINX
nothing!!

SEOKJINX
i just want to know if you enjoyed the date

jeongguk hated it when seokjin made him think.

had he enjoyed the date?

GUKIEMONSTER
to a point

SEOKJINX
let me guess, you enjoyed it to the point that you found out that he wasn't her

GUKIEMONSTER
idk

SEOKJINX
jeongguk

SEOKJINX
don't let her change the way you see him, they're two different people

SEOKJINX
you're in denial with all your "it was an accident, hyung! it never should have happened, hyung!"

SEOKJINX
it happened, deal with it

SEOKJINX
i bet my everything that the date was great until you went and messed it up

GUKIEMONSTER
*jungkook

GUKIEMONSTER
the date ended pretty crappily for the record

SEOKJINX
ends are generally crappy

SEOKJINX
the rest wasn't, was it?

GUKIEMONSTER
um ur definitely suggesting smth but i cant place it???

SEOKJINX
no of course not what

GUKIEMONSTER
look if i had known that he wasn't her then i wouldn't have talked to him the way i did

GUKIEMONSTER
the only reason it was to an extent nice was bc of who i thought he was

SEOKJINX
so basically you weren't planning to act yourself around this girl

GUKIEMONSTER
whAT NO

GUKIEMONSTER
I'M 724148140503% JEON JUNGKOOK AROUND HER

SEOKJINX
how so? because it sounds to me that you acted a particular way thinking that he was her :/

GUKIEMONSTER
NO IT'S JUST

GUKIEMONSTER
if i'd known he was a he

GUKIEMONSTER
i wouldn't have

GUKIEMONSTER
um

SEOKJINX
...how did the guy react when you found out he wasn't her?

GUKIEMONSTER
shouldn't you be asking how i reacted when i found out that he wasn't her

SEOKJINX
i know how you must have reacted

SEOKJINX
you made a scene by screaming at him for no apparent reason

GUKIEMONSTER
that did not

GUKIEMONSTER
happen

GUKIEMONSTER
and for the record!! he screamed back at me!!!!!

GUKIEMONSTER
and for the record!!!!! he acted like a completely different person too when i did!!!!!!!

SEOKJINX
maybe both of you were acting like people you weren't

SEOKJINX
and the people who you were acting like seemed to get along,

SEOKJINX
how about the ones that weren't?

GUKIEMONSTER
WE YELLED AT EACH OTHER

GUKIEMONSTER
THATS NOT GETTING ALONG

SEOKJINX
you yell at me all the time

GUKIEMONSTER
uh yeah hyung?

GUKIEMONSTER
in case you haven't noticed we don't exactly get along

SEOKJINX
wdym we're practically besties

GUKIEMONSTER
that better be sarcasm

SEOKJINX
..........hm

GUKIEMONSTER
just

GUKIEMONSTER
i have his username okay?

GUKIEMONSTER
i won't erase him from my life or whatever as youre oh so scared of

SEOKJINX
aha!

SEOKJINX
if you have his username, how bad could it have ended?

GUKIEMONSTER
oh my god hyung will u drop it

SEOKJINX
i'm just trying to help you, okay?

SEOKJINX
you'll regret losing him later, when this online girl just poofs from your life

jeongguk felt a sudden burst of anger erupt within him, and his fingers tensed.

GUKIEMONSTER
you don't fucking know her

SEOKJINX
and you do?

he did everything he could to not reply to that.

SEOKJINX
wait

SEOKJINX
so technically you haven't met her yet

SEOKJINX
so technically i still have a chance to say "i told you so"

GUKIEMONSTER
told me so about what

SEOKJINX
that it's not going to work out

jeongguk closed the app.

a ding signified another message from seokjinㅡjeongguk wasn't going to open the chat again for a very long time, but he still read the message from his notifications.

1 new message from SEOKJINX
give the guy a chance

jeongguk rubbed his temple, feeling a sudden need to take an aspirin and a long, long nap. who knew talking to one stubborn hyung was so exerting?

besides, a chance for what?

and then jeongguk thought of what would have happened if he'd never started that one chat with shin jimin, if he'd backed out halfway through. he wouldn't even know her that day. with a start, he realized that he wouldn't even know the other jimin if it wasn't for the female one.

jeongguk wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

"might as well find out," he murmured, opening a random social media's app and typing in his username: jimbles.

tapping on the person whose profile popped up, he scrutinized it for a minute, then shook his head, unsure. too vague to tell.

when it had come to his hunt for the female jimin's account, jeongguk had sent out messages to a dozen 'miniemouse's at the same time, receiving a variety of replies in multiple languages and contexts, until he finally stumbled upon the right account.

this time, he decided to go over each account before attempting anythingㅡhe didn't need this jimin taking screenshots of his cautious-texting style as well.

"just droppin' by, howdy doo!" what had he been thinking?

and a couple sites later, he found him.

park jim 🌱
@ JIMBLES
following  53 | followers  329

BIO:
hate - h = ate, rearrange that and you get tae, wow what a coincidence ???

jeongguk stifled a laughㅡhe guessed the 'tae' he was referring to with so much hatred was the guy he'd mentioned towards the end of dinner, taehyung. he also guessed that the guy with him in his profile picture was the same boy.

he also guessed that taehyung was jimin's best friendㅡjeongguk could relate to insisting on hating a person with all the life within them but in reality holding them closer to their heart than anyone else.

jeongguk hated seokjin in said way.

does he ever not wear that shirt? jeongguk wondered, noticing that jimin was wearing the same long-sleeved striped top he'd worn to the date in his profile picture. it's cute and all, but ... hygiene.

this account was definitely jiminㅡjeongguk was sure of it.

and with a nod and a small smile, he tapped a button on the screen.

are you sure you want to follow JIMBLES?
YES | NO

you are now following JIMBLES.