♡

When it comes to hating or disliking other people, it happens relatively quickly. Often it doesn't take much to change an opinion. In other cases, it can already be a first impression.

Jimin has noticed all sorts of little things about Yoongi over the last few meetings that he normally doesn't like about others, and despite meeting several times and getting to know Yoongi better, Jimin finds it hard to hate Yoongi. His sweet personality and charming smile make it difficult and trigger emotional turmoil in him, which increases every time they see each other. Jimin increasingly feels like a third wheel the more they meet.

Not to mention, he has not only hidden his inner wolf but also his inner feelings. It hurts to see how well Yoongi and Jin get along, and Jimin seems to enjoy seeing himself getting hurt, or maybe he just wants to see Jin happy, so he says yes to the meetings and later listens to sentimental songs and falls asleep with tears in his eyes. Whatever the reason might be, Jimin gives his best between classes and going to bed, telling himself, 'it will be fine'. Because consoling himself is the only thing he can do right now.

Jimin realises how much it downright hurts when it’s December, and Jimin suggests going to a market. Unfortunately, it's not just a date between friends. Yoongi joins them shortly afterwards, and Jimin‘s smile shortly falls before he regains composure as their gazes shift to him, an unpleasant and ugly feeling of jealousy creeps up on him.

He can only think that it must have been a communication mistake as he walks after them like a third wheel, longing and jealousy in his eyes. Jimin perhaps should have been clearer when he suggested going out. Undoubtedly, he is irritated and distraught as they stroll through the market, crisp air blows him into the neck.

The time feels miserably long for Jimin, and his heart tightens as he watches Jin's eyes fix on Yoongi during the draw, winning a larger stuffed toy a little later. Jimin feels a dull ache in his chest as he also wins a small stuffed toy. Nevertheless, this is of no greater heed to him than a proud look he would otherwise have received from Jin, but he doesn’t. It's for the other omega. 

He glances down at the stuffed toy in his hand with a watery smile and notices how it no longer has value for him. If he gives this to a child, they may have more of it, making them brighten up with joy.

Turning around, Jimin sees a toddler holding on to his father not far from the lot stall where they are standing. A little hesitantly, Jimin strides towards the family and briefly introduces himself and says where he got the fluffy-looking dog stuff toy from. Jimin is not interested in keeping it when it has a memory he would rather forget. 

The father is right to be a little sceptical, but Jimin eventually convinces them that he has no bad intentions and would not want to throw the stuffed toy away. His heart flutters when the boy takes the fluffy dog from his hands, grinning widely. Jimin can’t help but giggle, forgetting why he went to the boy in the first place.

The father thanks him before Jimin heads back with both Jin's and Yoongi's eyes on him. A wave of pride comes over him, biting his lip to keep from bursting into laughter. Seeing Jin look at him with a proud glint in his eye makes him hold back any comment that might backfire.

“Did you give something you won to someone else?” Jin coos and waves it through Jimin's hair as a sign of how cute he thought it was, and Jimin can't help a concealed grin. “The little one's eyes were so bright, even though he had initially seemed exceptionally shy. It reminds me of when I was on holiday with my family, and my grandmother bought me a stuffed bunny toy that I adore to this day. Somehow, it has a special meaning for me.”

“You were beaming like that, too?” Yoongi asks in return with a raised eyebrow and a gummy smile. His aura radiates adoration, causing Jimin to swallow hard. He shoves his hands deeper into his coat pockets, clenching them into fists and burying his nose in the material of his scarf. He would rather look at the ground than continue to watch the scene before him. “You must have been a cute kid. The brown eyes, the polite attitude. Eh, or were you a naughty kid?”

Jin snorts. “What makes you think that? I was the sweetest kid in the family.”

“Ah, well, if you put it that way, you were either really naughty or the only kid in the family,” Yoongi jokingly retorts, nudging the alpha with his shoulder. Jimin watches them both with a bitter taste in his mouth. He does his best to tune out the conversation and look around for the nearest Christmas stall, making it hard when they follow him as he heads for the next one, not far away.

“I can't affirm or deny that,” Jin says loudly enough that Jimin feels the urge to roll his eyes in annoyance. If he could just vanish into thin air, Jimin would do that. That's not the case, though, so he distracts himself by looking at some candies. He's about to ask for some candied sweet potato when something else catches his attention. Gingerbread hangs down from the ceiling of the stall and looks incredibly delicious.

Jimin reaches with his hand but can't take it off the hook. His arm is too short to reach the candy bag. Pouting, he turns over to Jin and asks for help, “Jin, can you h…” 

His words become quieter, watching as Jin turns to Yoongi and shows him a cute candy figure made out of chocolate.

Oh.

The hand with which Jimin has reached out for the gingerbread begins to tremble. He quickly pulls it back and hides it in his jacket pocket with a heavy heart and tears in his eyes, eyebrows pulled low in a downward gaze. He would like to go home just to avoid this situation and keep his heart from hurting even more, knowing that he can only watch from afar.

Is it selfish to wish the Alpha would pay attention to him too? The half-hour they've been here already feels like anything but a friendly meeting. It's as if they've seen through his feelings and only have eyes for each other. Jimin feels left out, among other things. Would they even notice if he were to go home?

“Is this what you wanted?” A familiar, deep voice suddenly snaps him out of his thoughts, and he gasps softly, an outstretched arm reaching for the gingerbread Jimin was about to grab over his shoulder, holding it in front of his face when it’s no longer on the hook. 

Jimin's eyes widen before he takes a step back and turns to the alpha, who has approached him unnoticed and whispered in his ear. He’s dressed in a black down jacket, cargo pants and a black hood on his head. If Jimin didn't know it was Jeongguk, he would certainly be afraid of being mugged, as the sun has already set. 

“Oh, it's you!” Jimin says, somewhat relieved and unclear as to why he is blushing, as he thanks Jeongguk for the gingerbread and takes it from him. The alpha scratches the back of his head sheepishly, the corners of his mouth pull into a sheepish smile, and he mumbles, “Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, and sorry for being late, I couldn't find you guys…”

“You didn't miss anything special,” Jimin replies with low energy. Eyebrows drawing together, Jeongguk tilts his head in the way of silently, asking the meaning behind his words. Jimin, however, doesn't elaborate, and he is grateful that Jeongguk doesn't either. The thing he could the least need right now is for Jeongguk to know about his feelings. Things might only worsen, and he’s not ready to tell someone about his feelings apart from Jin.

“Jeongguk!” Jin exclaims, beaming with joy, and heads towards them with Yoongi. “I'm glad you made it after all. Did you have animation class until just now?”

“Yes, I did. Sorry, class ran a little late.”

“It’s fine,” Jin replies, shaking his head and continues, “We haven't looked at many stalls yet. Let me introduce you to my colleague Yoongi. Yoongi, this is Jeongguk, my brother.”

Jimin bites his cheek and looks awkwardly at the ground beneath his boots. He feels more than out of place. Without paying much attention to Jeongguk or the others, he turns around and goes to pay for the gingerbread, missing Jeongguk's side glance.

Jimin half listens as Jeongguk greets the other omega in a polite voice. It makes Jimin even more upset, as everything seems to revolve around the other. Next thing Jimin knows, Jin says he has no more time and is doing everything they did with Yoongi. Jimin has to swallow hard at the thought, and he attempts to distract himself with the gingerbread he just brought, taking a few bites and letting it melt on his taste buds. 

The market becomes more crowded as they walk around, and the distance between him, Jin and Yoongi increase. It becomes difficult to follow them through the crowd until they finally come to a slightly less crowded corner, and Jimin's heart drops, and he stops. This leads Jeongguk to run into him and ask him what's going on, but all Jimin can hear is his heart hammering high in his ears, drowning out everything around him as soon as his gaze falls on the hands of his best friend and the other omega. 

Jimin’s facial expression morphs into sullenness, and the corners of his mouth turn downwards, flinching when someone abruptly tugs on his coat sleeve. His breath catches in his throat, but seeing it’s only Jeongguk who pulled him to the side to make space for other market visitors lets him calm down.

"Let's go decorate gingerbread. I saw one of those stalls when we walked past it, or duck fishing. I don't care. I haven't done either in a long time."

"I already have a gingerbread-"

"-but not self-decorated,” Jeongguk hums and tilts his head, waiting for Jimin’s answer. Jimin has to admit that he is not used to this openness and gentleness from Jeongguk. Seeing the certain sparkle in his eyes when he mentioned decorating gingerbread reminded him of a child asking to go outside to the playground. 

“Okay, fine,” Jimin huffs and watches silently as he grabs his hand, pulling him to Jin and Yoongi, who look a little lost near a kids’ toy stall. Jimin doesn’t comment on how warm Jeongguk’s hand is in the cold evening or that he merely hides them with his jacket while they talk. 

"There you are. We thought we lost you for a moment," Jin remarks, relieved when they see them. Jimin gives them a fake smile, undecided about whether he would have preferred that. “You look like you want to go somewhere. Did you see something interesting?”

Jeongguk nods in agreement. "Yes, I found a stall where you can decorate gingerbread, and I wanted to go there with Jimin. I know it's not your thing... or do you want to come with me after all?"

"You're right. Hmm... Yoongi, what do you think?"

"Decorating isn't really my thing," the omega looks apologetically at the friend’s group and bites his lip nervously.

"No worries. I saw there's a beautiful garden with lights and decorations not far from the market exit. Shall we split up and meet there in an hour or so?"

Jimin doesn't have to look to the side to notice that Jeongguk looks at him briefly and then agrees with a hum. "Let's do this. Let's go, Jimin."

Jeongguk gently tugs on his hand, and together they make their way to the stand where they can decorate gingerbread men. Jeongguk grins softly as they enter and are greeted by the baked goods' pleasant warmth and smell. They are lucky to have just enough room for two people, as this baking stall seems to be extremely popular.

“Here you go…” Jeongguk hands him a tray of various Christmas-style gingerbread figures and places it on the table before them. Jimin sulks that they are not fresh gingerbread squares but is aware they should be cool to decorate. Jimin eyes the various decorations spread out in front of him on the table they share with a couple already busy decorating and talking to each other.

"Oh? They have other figures?"

"Yeah, I didn't see that before," Jeongguk laughs lightly and pulls his hood down, reaching for the royal icing in the piping bag he brought from the stall owners. Both quickly lapse into a comfortable silence for now and concentrate on their own works of art. Jeongguk looks like he is pursuing his passion, Jimin notices and smirks at how focused he is with dark brown strands on his face. His eyes slide down to his hands, where he sees a perfectly decorated gingerbread. It almost looks like Jeongguk is taking decorating too seriously or like a challenge.

Jimin leans in and throws a glance at the gingerbread men between his fingers. "You have a knack for it."

“Thank you. I love drawing and such. One reason why I chose animation as a major.”

“Hm… how is it? What do you learn there? I can imagine some things, but it also makes me curious about what exactly you're studying.”

"I have computer science and arts courses in which I learn about animation, the methods of manipulating visual content, drawing and computer graphics. I also have an English course, but I'm still weighing up what suits me more or where I want to go."

"It does sound like a lot, knowing you have two majors…"

Jeongguk turns to him, a little taken aback. "How do you know?"

"Jin told me once, telling me how worried he was since you picked up two majors and not just one. Might explain why I haven't met you lots of times when I came over." 

"Could be," Jeongguk hums, puts the gingerbread man aside and takes a snowflake in his hand, immediately beginning with red royal icing. "I do have a few online courses, so I might also have been in my room, but you didn't notice."

"So… wait, while I might have rambled about something embarrassing you could have been this entire time in your room, listening?"

Jeongguk shrugs and teasingly whispers. “I don't know. Have you said something embarrassing? Usually, I wear headphones for my online classes.”

This makes Jimin breathe a sigh of relief and reassures him. There have been moments when Jimin has talked about embarrassing experiences and told Jin about them, thinking they were alone, but Jeongguk doesn't seem to know anything about any of them.

“So, why did you choose to study social work?”