nothing particularly striking had happened in park jimin's day to serve as an opening line.

now that he thought about itㅡyes, he was thinking about it; he was pretty freaking joblessㅡwhen was the last time something vaguely interesting had happened in his life? when was the last time his to-do list had changed from get up, get ready, get bored at university, get home, get food, get sleep?

"maybe i should get a dog," he contemplated, spinning around in his Spinny Chair of Contemplation. "that ought to spice things up a bit."

the trill ring of his doorbell broke him out of his trance.

it took him a moment to recognize the doorbell's sound as his own house'sㅡthat itself should say enough about how often jimin received guests.

tragic flashbacks to him pressing his own doorbell repeatedly, testing to see if it was out-of-order, and to him pondering on his Couch of Pondering if he should call an electrician to get it checked up.

maybe the doorbell only reacted to his fingerprint? was that why he heard its sound so little in the vicinity of his house, longing for company?

all in an attempt to convince himself that he did, in fact, have people who cared about him, he did, in fact, have friends, and he was, in fact, not a loner.

jimin rose from the Spinny Chair of Contemplationㅡslowly, at first, as if hesitant, but a wave of excitement seized him and he bolted for the door, fixing his hair and smoothing down the crinkles in his shirt on the way.

he inhaled deeply in front of the doorway, calming down his jittersㅡhe couldn't look too eager or he might scare them away. before he could swing open the door and embrace whoever it was, jimin chided himself, glancing at the peephole installed in the door. might as well utilize it.

he pressed his face against the wood, squinting into the small hole and adjusting his view to focus on the solitary male outside the door. the visitor bounced from foot to foot, bursting with enthusiasm. jimin narrowed his eyes, drawing away. was thatㅡ?

backtrack. jimin did, in fact, have friends.

correction, singular. a friend.

his name was kim taehyung, and he was at jimin's doorstep.

was jimin pleased?

not really.

the happiness that had inflated in jimin's chest didn't deflateㅡit popped. "what do you want?"

"jiminie, you're in!" taehyung exclaimed happily from outside. "please make me in too!"

"go away."

"listen, there's thisㅡ"

"no."

"you haven't even let me get a proper word in, jiminie!" taehyung complained. "you can't just veto it without knowing whatㅡ"

"i'm pretty sure that whatever it is, my answer is going to be no," jimin told him, picking at his nails and stifling a yawn. besides, he had a well enough idea of the purpose behind taehyung's visit. "i'm saving us both the time. you'll thank me later, taehyung."

don't get him wrongㅡjimin was grateful for taehyung. taehyung was a great guyㅡmore or less. however, jimin had found as of late that taehyung had only one particular topic of interest when he approached him, and jimin had made it a point to run far, far away whenever he spotted taehyung coming towards him.

running away, unfortunately, was not a viable option in the current scenario, so he decided to entertain taehyung for a while before returning to some mundane aspect of his typical saturdays.

"listen first, then talk," the younger chirped from the other side of the door.

"no."

"jiminie."

"no."

"okay! okay, there's this super cute guyㅡ" jimin rolled his eyes. here we go. "ㅡwho i think you'd really hit it off with!"

"no." jimin heavily emphasized on the syllable, as if to say, when i say something other that no, it won't be pretty.

taehyung, being taehyung, did not catch on. "it's not me, don't worry." a short giggle.

"shaking my head," jimin whispered, pressing a hand to his forehead. dealing with his best friend's bullshit for long enough, he'd discovered, often drove him to running a temperature. plus point of this was that he could bunk everything and stay at home all day. negative point was that he had to deal with taehyung's bullshit.

jimin was pretty sure that if he heard anything more from taehyung he'd either kill him or kill himself, so he decided that he might as well let him in because then at least they'd both have a chance for survivalㅡtaehyung's face was his saving grace.

he unbolted the door with a barely suppressed sigh, making way for taehyung to swoop in and barrel into the smaller boy, who was in the least to say, miffed.

"getㅡget off me, taehyungㅡ"

"have you been working out? i think you got taller! what did you do with your hair, it looks faㅡ"

jimin shoved off the other (note for those who may be engaged by an overly affectionate wild taehyung: jab him in the stomachㅡhe'll reduce his grip enough for you to escape. after that, run.) "oneㅡyes i have, thank you. twoㅡtaehyung, you literally saw me yesterday. and threeㅡi did this thing called brushing it, you should try it out sometime!" this was followed by jimin casting a disapproving look over taehyung's bedhead.

taehyung, who had nodded rapidly throughout jimin's mini-speech in a motion for him to wrap it up quickly, broke out into a grin on its completion and his chance to speak. "so about the guy ..."

now that taehyung was right bloody next to him, jimin realized that reaching out and oh-so-casually snapping his fucking neck back wouldn't be such a difficult task. taehyung may have had a cute face, but at the rate he was going even that might not save him.

"no."

"aw, come on!" taehyung latched onto jimin's arm, and since he'd already exhausted himself getting out of taehyung's bear hug, jimin didn't bother to resist. "i'm really sure you'll like this one!"

"just stop," jimin raised his available arm, "stop trying to set me up with people, taehyung."

taehyung pouted, "but, butㅡ"

"no. lookㅡ" jimin moved his gaze to the sulking face stuck to his arm. "i am happy for you, okay?" he struggled to sound happy for him. "your boyfriend's ... great. i'm not ... lonely or ... whatever ..."

taehyung tilted his head to the side, squishing his cheek against jimin's arm. "i never said you were lonely though?"

"well, i'm not," jimin said quickly, looking away. his anger at the smugness that had appeared in taehyung's expression gave him the strength to pull his arm free.

"jiminie, hear me out!" taehyung circled the exasperated boy so he was facing him, and proceeded to twist his expression into a mortifying one that sent chills down jimin's spineㅡaegyo, apparently.

"i think i'm going to pass out," jimin murmured weakly, making his way towards a seat.

"he's really cute!" taehyung announced, cupping his own face with his hands as if to adorn his expression further. just as jimin was about to drop down in the chair, taehyung beat him to it, climbing atop it and waving his hands up at an area that jimin had to crane his neck back to look at. "and tall!"

"who are you setting me up with, fucking gulliver?"

"and, and and and," taehyung bounced down and smiled widely, pressing his fingers into his cheeks. "he has dimples! dimples, jiminie!" he proceeded to take jimin by the hands and spin him around in glee. "none of the others i set you up with had those!"

jimin wrenched himself away from taehyung and flopped down in the seat, vision double from all the twirling. "that is true," he said nevertheless, because it was. besides, he did have quite the weakness for dimples.

as expected, taehyung's face lit up immediately. "oh my god, soㅡso yes?"

jimin exhaled heavily, getting to his feet. "taehyung, come with me."

taehyung nodded eagerly as jimin took him by the arm and steered him towards the entrance.

"where are we going?" he asked, voice low as if to avoid ruining any effect jimin may have been trying to create.

"oh," jimin positioned taehyung outside the house, "we're not going anywhere."

taehyung stared back at him in confusion.

"you are."

"whaㅡ"

jimin slammed the door shut.

"no."

"JIMIN!"