Whil writing God's Little Emperor, I've of course been reading fics and posts on bith twitter and Tumblr, one of which was about Hong Jing potentially ousting Meng Mo while he's hitching a ride with Binghe.
In the post, it talked about how Shen Qingqiu totally forgot about it for the reason of Hong Jing being talked about maybe once as a "Cang Qiong Mountain Sect relic" and vaguely described as reacting to demons/demonic possession. We've seen the other peak lords use it with Shen Qingqiu to try and tell if he'd been possessed (and fortunately not reacting), and there's no mention of it ever reacting to Meng Mo being inside Luo Binghe when he went to get Zheng Yuang.
Another fic I've been reading and loving is "why destroy the world when I can get baba kisses" (or something really close, I'm sorry for forgetting the title..!) and Xin Mo reacting to Shang Qinghua and seeing it as his god/father. Hong Jing, being a spiritual weapon, may have a similar "soul" and reaction, but more subdued. He's the older kid, the very filial one that has learned to reign in its behavior not to cause trouble for his baba. Obeying him when he asks for favors is the most it could do for creating it, even if it means letting a demon inside the rhe sect. After all, baba knows best.
On the other, other hand, what if Bing-di saw Shang Qinghua (who he, at this point, have a very complicated relationship with) laughing and being buddy/very close to Wei Qingwei and that sparks.. something. Something he doesn't realize is jealousy. He sees the way Shang Qinghua looks at his shixiong, at the muscles and the way WQW is taller& bigger and .. is that Shishu's taste?
(that's a big can of worms waiting to burst open.)
Can you write something with vmin of Tae accidentally uploading inappropriate pic of jimin to twitter
Hehe. Sorry…I can’t do that. xD But~ I here’s something quick and short of Taehyung accidentally uploading a personal pic to twitter. I hope you enjoy this instead. 😘
What started off as a post about how great of a friend Jimin had been to him over the years, turned into a bit of a confession letter when Taehyung selected the image to post along with it. He intended to select the most recent selfie he had taken with Jimin, the two of them standing in close proximity of each other with their cheeks pressed together like two cute Pikachu. What he selected, instead, was the most recent picture of him and Jimin together from their personal album that Taehyung had save on his phone. The two were at Taehyung’s family home. It was a picture where Taehyung had his arms wrapped around Jimin’s waist, and Jimin has his around Taehyung’s neck. Their noses were pressed together, and both of them had the most affectionate smiles on their faces.
He realized it too late. Reading over his words, after the tweet was posted, he saw that it was the picture that his mother had taken the last time he and Jimin took a trip down there to see Taehyung’s family. His heart dropped in his chest, and he deleted the post almost as quickly as he had posted it. Remembering the glasses incident, however, Taehyung knew that picture would be floating around the internet by now.
Before Jimin could find out about it on his own, Taehyung got up off the couch and rushed to Jimin’s room. The elder was lying on his bed, back leaning against the wall. He had earphones in his ears, but they were removed when Taehyung came into the room. “What’s wrong?” Jimin asked after he had one bud pulled out of his ear.
“I’m so sorry, Jimin,” Taehyung said, tears already threatening to fall. Jimin would be furious about this. They had worked to keep their relationship secret from the public, and it worked for the most part. Everyone labeled them as friendship goals, so they achieved what they were going for. Sometimes it was hard not to announce to the world how much he loved this man, but it was for the best. Taehyung always reminded himself of that.
Jimin pulled the other earbud out, a serious, but mostly concerned expression falling onto his face. “What did you do?” Jimin’s voice was laced with more concern than anything else.
“I accidentally uploaded one of our personal photos to Twitter,” Taehyung said, regretting his spur of the moment decision to be cheesy on the social platform. He could have just told Jimin all of those nice things to his face, but he wanted the world to know how great of a friend Jimin was - it wasn’t his intention for them to find out much more than that.
“Which personal photo?” Jimin’s tone was edging closer to angry now, and Taehyung ducked his head in shame.
He pulled out his phone and opened up the photo that he had posted, and he sighed as he walked over to his boyfriend. “This,” He bit his lip softly as he faced the screen toward Jimin.
It was a relief that Jimin’s face lit up with a bright smile instead of looking at Taehyung with a frown. Laughter bubbled up in his chest, and the sound of joy in his laughter erased almost all of Taehyung’s worries. “Thank goodness,” He chortled. He sat up and took Taehyung’s phone, examining the picture more before looking back up to Taehyung. “I thought you meant that you had released nudes or something. This isn’t bad.”
“It’s not?” Taehyung asked with a tilt of his head. Of course, he was happy if people had more of an idea of what Jimin meant to him.
“No,” Jimin shook his head. He gently grabbed Taehyung’s wrist and pulled him onto the bed as well. He placed one arm over Taehyung’s chest, making the younger lie back so that Jimin could rest his head on Taehyung’s chest. “I mean, there might be some bad things to come of it, but we’ll deal with that when it happens.”
“So…you’re not mad?” Taehyung asked, snaking an arm under Jimin so he could rub his back.
Jimin shook his head against Taehyung’s chest, and Taehyung could feel his lips curve up into a smile. “Not at all,” Jimin hummed. He pushed himself up and pressed a chaste kiss to Taehyung’s lips. “If anything, this is a good thing. At least it will…hopefully…stop the fans from fighting over who either of us belong to.”
Taehyung chuckled, and he squeezed Jimin tighter. “They can believe whatever they want,” Taehyung said, and he pressed a kiss to Jimin’s head. “You’re mine.”
“You’re mine,” Jimin hummed in agreement, sounding sleepy now. It wasn’t long before both of them slipped off into a comfortable sleep, not worried about what would come of this. They would deal with that when the time came.
I was more in the mood for something fluffy, so this is what you get. xD Thanks for the request. I hope I didn’t disappoint too much. T^T
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
rrTo get back at White Star and the losses they endured battles after battles, Choi Han and his companions decides to get back to him by destroying one of Arm's strategic bases.
The secret hidden in the belly of the fortress was not one they expected, and the past clings at their heels.
It was fair to say that Jimin had not been ready for that. The other boy grabbing him and pulling him in for a romantic kiss. A kiss that stopped Jimin’s breath in his chest and made his head spin, all the while making him completely forget where he was or what he was even supposed to be doing. It was all too real—the moment, the feeling—almost real enough for Jimin to question if it even was real.
“Taehyung,” He breathed the boy’s name when his lips were free for him to do so.
The taller boy smiled sweetly down at him. “My name is not Taehyung, Sweetie.” He said, and Jimin blinked up at him in confusion for a moment.
“Cut! Cut!” The director’s shouts were the only thing that brought Jimin back into reality, reminding him that they were on set right now and Taehyung’s name was, in fact, not Taehyung. It was Jinwoo.
“Fuck,” Jimin muttered mostly to himself, but the knowing smile from his friend told him that Taehyung had heard it. With them being in such close proximity of each other, how could he not?
“That was good. That was good.” Director Jungkook told Jimin, giving him a pat on the back. “The emotions and everything—perfect. Do that again...just get the name right this time.”
So...this is an old discarded idea for a Vmin fanfiction with actors Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin, and...of course, Jimin being in love with Taehyung, if you can’t tell. Anyway...I never completed it, but I thought the tad bit that I had written was cute, so I’m sharing it. Maybe I’ll finish it eventually.
Tite: One Night Stand
Group: BTS
Pairing: Jitae (Vmin)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,918
Summary: The night after a fight between Jimin and Taehyung, Jimin goes out to a club and ends up in a hotel room with a stranger. Things clear up once Jimin finds out who the stranger is.
Warnings: Alcohol consumption.
Note: Based on this post by @junghoseokstrashcan . Also included hair color/dying suggestion by @lunatictaetae.
“Won’t Taehyung get upset if he finds out you went to the club?” Jungkook asked. He sipped slowly at his bubble tea, trying to make it last like he always did.
Jungkook and Jimin have been friends since high school. Jungkook was in his first year, and their friendship started on a matter of him admiring Jimin’s dance skills. He had asked Jimin to teach him to dance, and it all started from there. They were both kind of awkward and had a hard enough time making friends otherwise, so they stuck together like velcro.
“When I’m pissed of at him, I don’t care if he gets pissed off at me too.” Jimin told him. Of course, he didn’t mean it. He always hated when Taehyung got pissed off at him, but he was too pissed of to care that that Taehyung would be pissed at him later if he found out. “Besides, I don’t want to hook up. I just want to go.”
Jungkook clicked his tongue and shook his head. “I think you know by now that it’s impossible for you to go to the club without getting hit on.” Jungkook reminded him. Even when Jimin goes to the club with Taehyung, there are always boys there who want to dance with him. Of course Taehyung won’t have any of that when they go together, however. “Add alcohol to that, and I think you’ll hook up whether you mean to or not.”
“That’s why I’m bringing you with me.” Jimin pointed out. Other than Taehyung himself, Jimin didn’t trust anyone but Jungkook to keep him in line when drinking.
~~*~~
Taehyung was nervous about it when his new hair color was revealed. He had experimented with different natural colors like blondes and browns, but this was his first time trying something different. He had to admit, he thought he looked good with pink hair, but he was mostly worried about Jimin would feel about it.
“What do you think?” Taehyung asked. He spun the salon chair so that he could face Yoongi. The elder had complained about coming here with Taehyung. He questioned why he would come here and waste his time in the hair salon, watching Taehyung get his hair dyed when he could be doing something more useful like working at home. “Do you think Jimin will like it?”
Yoongi barely offered a glance away from his phone. He was probably texting Hoseok, the boy he had been talking about nonstop for the past couple of weeks. “I think you’re looking at another argument tonight,” Yoongi said.
“Is it that bad?” Taehyung asked, and he turned back to the mirror, looking at his hair. He really liked how it looked.
“Did I say it was bad?” Yoongi questioned. “I’m just saying Jimin might not be happy with you having a new hair color without having talked to him about it first. Especially when he’s already pissed at you for posting an add about the puppies without him.”
Taehyung laughed, recalling the stupid argument they had last night. The thing about Jimin is that he gets upset about a lot of things that people don’t normally get upset about. Or…maybe Jimin was the normal one, and Taehyung just expected him to not get upset about normal things. Regardless of who was the normal one, Taehyung was really good at doing things that would upset Jimin.
That’s not to say their relationship was bad. It wasn’t, because Taehyung was even better at doing things to make Jimin smile. It just so happened that they had arguments sometimes. All couples did.
“He’ll get over that pretty soon. We actually talked about the add before I went and posted it. It’s not like I decided on my own that it was time to re-home the puppies.” Taehyung said. His and Jimin’s dog gave birth to a litter of three around two months ago. They had already decided then that they wouldn’t be able to keep all three of them, so they decided to find them good homes instead.
~~*~~
“I think you’ve had enough.” Jungkook said, attempting to take Jimin’s drink from him.
Jimin whined, easily snatching the drink back. “Taehyung hasn’t even bothered to ask where I am.” He complained. Normally Taehyung would be curious where Jimin was when he stays out late, and so Jimin’s phone would normally be exploding with text messages from his boyfriend by now. “I think it might be over between us.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes, knowing that Jimin was only being over dramatic because he was drunk. Their fight wasn’t that serious. He should know because, as their next door neighbor, Jungkook can hear just about everything that goes on in their apartment. Which, honestly, is a bit unfortunate for him on certain nights, or in the morning…and sometimes in the middle of the day…yeah…
“Maybe he doesn’t even know that you aren’t home,” Jungkook assured him, trying to take Jimin’s drink from him again just as Jimin was about to down it. Taehyung may not have messaged Jimin, but he did message Jungkook, and Jungkook told him where they were. “He went out with Yoongi earlier, so maybe he’s not even home.”
A huge frown showed up on Jimin’s face, and he knew that Jimin wasn’t convinced. “If he’s not home, then maybe it’s because he doesn’t want to see me.” Jimin complained. “So maybe we’re done.”
Before Jungkook even had the chance to counter that, some boy came up and sat next to Jimin. He threw his arm around Jimin’s shoulder, and Jungkook would have said something had he not realized this boy to be Taehyung himself. He had expected and been waiting for Taehyung to show up. Now he could leave Jimin alone.
“Hey there, gorgeous.” Taehyung said, removing the drink from Jimin’s hand. Somehow he was able to get it away without any complaints. “How about you set this down and come dance with me.”
“I can’t,” Jimin refused, reaching for his drink again.
Jungkook quickly stopped him, knowing that Jimin probably didn’t even recognize Taehyung in his drunken state—especially since his hair was a completely different color than it had been earlier that day. “Seriously, Jimin,” Jungkook said. He downed the drink himself so that there was nothing for Jimin to take. “You’ve had enough. You should dance. It’ll help you feel better.”
Jimin grabbed the now empty glass that sat on the counter, and he turned it up to get the last few drops out of it, frowning when it wasn't even enough to satisfy his tastebuds—though Jungkook is sure he’s too drunk for that to even matter. “Fine.” Jimin said, placing the cup back on the counter. “I can’t afford another drink anyway, so I might as well have some fun before I go home.”
~~*~~
Jimin hated the feeling inside of his head, but more than that, he hated the sun which shone through the curtains like an asshole. It was as if it was trying to show off that the whole world was alive and well while Jimin was in bed with a pounding headache and little to no memory of the night before. It took too long for his vision to clear up, and even longer for him to realize that this wasn’t even his room. The table over in the corner and the pile of menus on the nightstand told Jimin that this was likely a hotel. Fuck. Jungkook was supposed to make sure he got home last night.
It takes Jimin a good few minutes to locate his phone, which happens to be in his pants. At the same time, Jimin realizes that he’s only wearing his underwear and a shirt that is a few sizes too big with a familiar, comforting scent. He quickly unlocks his phone and texts Jungkook, demanding to know why he let Jimin leave without making sure he made it home. Yes, Jimin wanted to go out to the club and have fun. No, he did not want to hook up with a complete stranger and spend the night in a hotel room.
Jimin slowly rolled over, wondering if the person he left with was still there. It was completely possible that he brought Jimin to the hotel and left before Jimin fell asleep or before he woke up. Since Jimin was no longer in his own clothes, they clearly did something.
Sure enough, there was a large lump in the covers and a head of pink hair poking out.
“Fuck,” Jimin whispered. Rolling back around made his head spin and his stomach turn. He jumped up out of bed and ran to the bathroom—he didn’t want to leave an even bigger mess for the housekeepers to have to clean up.
With all of the contents from his stomach emptied in the toilet, Jimin closed the lid and sat down, looking at his phone again. Jungkook hadn’t responded yet. He hadn’t even seen the message. Jimin sighed, considering calling Taehyung, but he didn’t want to do that. The only thing he wanted to do was cry. If he called Taehyung and told him what happened, there was no way he’d ever forgive him. Still, Jimin had no idea where he was, and he was probably going to need a ride if he wanted to get home. Knowing him, he had probably spent all of his cash at the club yesterday, so there goes money for a cab.
Even if Taehyung did get pissed, Jimin knew that he wouldn’t just not come and pick Jimin up. He decided to call Taehyung. After punching the phone button next to Taehyung’s name, Jimin pressed the phone to his ear. It took a moment to start ringing, but, when it did, Jimin heard a sound coming from the room. Whoever he had left with was getting a call at the same time, and that would likely wake him up. If Taehyung answered, the stranger would probably hear him talking in the bathroom. Jimin couldn’t take that chance, so he quickly hung up.
“Fuck,” Jimin whispered to himself again. He didn’t hear any movement coming from outside, so he assumed that the stranger was still sleeping.
He stood from the toilet and slowly opened the door, peeking his head into the room. Now the stranger was completely under the blanket and Jimin couldn’t even see his head. Maybe his phone ringing had bothered him, and he pulled the covers over his head in frustration. There was a possibility that he could be awake.
Jimin tiptoes over to his side of the bed, and he started gathering his thing. He put his pants on first, trying to be as quiet as possible. He couldn’t find his shirt, so he just decided to keep the oversized one on, and he dashed for the door.
“Jimin?”
Jimin froze, his hand on the door handle. Had he heard correctly? Did this stranger, who didn’t sound so much like a stranger anymore, actually know his name? And…was it crazy for Jimin to think that he sounded exactly like Taehyung sounds when he wakes up in the mornings?
Jimin didn’t say anything, and he didn’t even open the door. He was too petrified to move. Of course, if this stranger happened to sound exactly like Taehyung, it explains why Jimin went for him. Taehyung’s voice was one of the things that caused Jimin to fall for him.
“Where are you going?” The voice asked. It sounded closer now, almost like the man was standing right behind Jimin, and Jimin was still too scared to turn around.
“Home.” Was all Jimin said.
“Are you still mad at me?”
That was what made Jimin finally turn around and face this person. Who the hell else but Taehyung would ask that question. It didn’t really sound like something someone who was just a hookup would ask. So Jimin turned around, and sure enough, he was met with Taehyung’s face.
“Taehyung.” Jimin said, almost breathless. He couldn’t believe it. How did he and Taehyung end up together? Why was Taehyung’s hair pink? Why were they here and not at home? Was this some kind of joke? Jimin had so many questions, he didn’t even know where to begin. “Taehyung, why the fuck is your hair pink?”
“Do you hate it?” Taehyung asked with a frown.
Jimin shook his head, too many emotions flowing through him right now. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Taehyung, burying his face in Taehyung’s bare chest as he began to cry. “No, I don’t hate it.” He said, sobbing. “I love it, and I love you.”
Taehyung’s laugh vibrated deep in his chest, and it was just so comforting and familiar to Jimin…much like the scent of this shirt Jimin was wearing, and he was starting to piece things together in his mind. “I love you, too.” Taehyung returned. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I thought I…I didn’t know it was you.” Jimin explained, sniffling. “I just woke up in a hotel room, and I thought there was a stranger next to me, and—”
Again, Taehyung laughed, and Jimin looked up at him. His migraine hadn’t completely gone away, but Taehyung’s smile seemed to cure it a little. “You were worried that you came here with someone else?” Taehyung questioned. He grabbed Jimin’s wrist and pulled him to the bed. They both sat down, and Jimin let his body rest Taehyung, hoping that he’ll be less nauseous if he doesn’t have to hold himself up. “Do you think Jungkook would have left you alone if he didn’t trust the person you were with?”
Jimin trusted Jungkook more than that. It’s why he was so shocked when he woke up here with, who he thought, was a stranger next to him. He knew that it was very unlike Jungkook to leave Jimin unsupervised. The kid never drank much, so he was always good to keep around as sort of the one to watch over everyone else who drank more.
“Are you mad at me?” Jimin asked, sobbing some more.
“Why would I be mad at you?” Taehyung questions, brushing Jimin’s bangs out of his face.
Jimin shrugged, trying to remember what happened the night before, but nothing was coming to him. “Because I went to the club without you.” Jimin started. “Because I left with a complete stranger that happened to be you, but I didn’t know it was you. Because I could have cheated on you—” He stopped himself as he came to a realization. “Wait a minute,” He said, lifting his head from Taehyung’s chest. “What were you doing at the club?”
“Looking for you.” Taehyung told him. “You never came home last night, so I asked Jungkook where you guys were. I knew you’d be with him.”
Jimin narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. “Why didn’t you ask me?”
“You were pissed of at me, so I didn’t think you’d answer,” Taehyung answered simply. Sounded fair enough to Jimin.
“Fine. Fair enough.” Jimin said. “Why are here? Why didn’t you take me home?”
Taehyung laughed, and Jimin knew that he was recalling something from the night before. “I tried,” Taehyung assured him. “I called for a cab, but you tried taking my clothes off in the middle of the street before it even arrived, so I just decided to take you to the nearest hotel instead.”
Jimin sighed, resting on Taehyung again. “I’m just glad I ended up with you instead of some pink-haired stranger.” He mumbled.
“You wouldn’t have went home with anyone else.” Taehyung declared. “While we danced together, you were the one who pushed everyone away that tried to steal you from me. I didn’t have to do anything. You didn’t even know it was me you were dancing with, and you still refused everyone else.”
“I didn’t?” Jimin questioned. If his boyfriend wasn’t someone so eccentric, Jimin would almost be embarrassed about something like that.
Taehyung laughed again, shaking his head. “You had to ask me for my name,” He told Jimin. “Even then, you told me that your boyfriend had the same name, and you were so cute going on and on about how great your boyfriend was that I didn’t have the heart to tell you that I was your boyfriend.”
Then Jimin felt embarrassed. It wasn’t embarrassing being drunk to the point of not even recognizing Taehyung, but it was embarrassing to think that he was gushing about Taehyung to a complete stranger. Knowing that Taehyung probably heard all of the lame and cheesy things Jimin says about him to his friends.
“But…if I didn’t know it was you…why did I try stripping you in the middle of the street?” Jimin asked instead of questioning some of the embarrassing things he probably said.
“Because the stranger you thought you were dancing with had the same eyes and smile and laugh and voice that you find so irresistible about me.” Taehyung said, smirking gleefully. Those must be some of the things Jimin admitted last night. “Turns out you can’t resist me even when you really want to because you think I’m a stranger.”
Jimin wasn’t sure if that was really something for Taehyung to be happy about, but Jimin wasn’t going to question him. It turned out that Jimin couldn’t really cheat on Taehyung with anyone but Taehyung himself, and, apparently, that was all that mattered.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Lance/Shiro (Voltron), Shiro/healthy habits
Characters: Shiro (Voltron), Lance (Voltron)
Additional Tags: blame tumblr, it's not even smutty, it's fluffy, I want a healthy Shiro who puts on some weight because he gets less stress, and his booty to get fuller and more awesome to look at and grab, Don't @ Me
Summary:
When you get a body like Shiro's, sometimes there's clothes you cannot wear anymore. Not because you don't like them, but because you can't wear them anymore.
Thankfully, there's always a solution.
When Taehyung accepted the job at the local animal shelter, he wasn’t prepared at all for what it meant to work at a place that, by law, couldn’t turn away any animals that were brought to their door steps. He had gone into this prepared for lots of kitten kisses and puppy love. What he wasn’t prepared for were hordes of animals being brought here shortly after the holiday season because they were spontaneous gifts to children who didn’t actually want a pet, they just asked for a turtle because they wanted a real life Donatello, only to find out that real turtles can’t do backflips and aren’t black belts.
Other than the days where they have to ‘clear space’ in the shelter—that was the term that Taehyung created for his own sake because he couldn’t bare to say what they were actually doing—Taehyung actually loved his job. It was the most rewarding job he had ever had, and it definitely beat bagging thousands of groceries a day at their local Hy-Vee. It was rewarding when their cats and dogs, and any other animals, actually found good homes. It was so rewarding to watch abused animals come out stronger when they were done with their rehabilitation training.
Taehyung was busy mopping the floors, headphones in with his warm music for cold days playlist going, as today had reached the record lows for the month, and Taehyung was bundled up in his sweater indoors. He must have been too into the music, or had the volume up too loud, because he felt a quick, but somewhat gentle slap to the back of his head. He pulled one earphone out and turned around to see Hoseok, the manager of the shelter, standing behind him, holding a small piece of notepaper.
“I need you to run by Petco and pick some things up before we close,” Hoseok said, handing the list to Taehyung.
Usually, regular employees weren’t selected to run such important errands, but Taehyung had been working for this place for over a year now, and he liked to think that Hoseok considered him a good friend and permanent employee by now.
Taehyung grinned and took the list from his boss. “I would be happy to, boss.” He said, flashing his pearly whites. Petco runs were another one of his favorite parts of the job. Not only were their dog biscuits delicious, but Taehyung had started developing a little crush on the boy who always worked the register on days that Taehyung was ordered to go there. Not to mention — he got paid for the mileage, so that was always a little bit extra on his check that he could look forward to.
Taehyung grabbed his keys from where they were on the key rack, and he took off after hopping into his car. On the way, he actually took a look at the list. It seemed like they were in need of a lot of supplies this week. It had been a while since Hoseok sent him out with such an extensive list. Normally Hoseok would be the one do the shopping when they needed this much stuff, so Taehyung knew that he must have had a lot of other things he needed to take care of before closing up for the day.
The Petco in their city wasn’t located too far from the shelter where Taehyung worked, and it was one of the biggest Taehyung had ever seen in his life. It was Taehyung’s favorite place to shop for his little dog that he had in his apartment, and it definitely beat the over-priced, locally-owned pet supplies store that existed in his small-town hometown.
Taehyung was disappointed, when he got to the register, to see, not Namjoon, but a boy much shorter than him. This boy was so short that Taehyung might have missed him if it wasn’t for the long line that he had to wait in. Taehyung had never seen him before, and he definitely wasn’t hot like Namjoon, but at least he was still cute. “This is going to be tax exempt for the shelter,” Taehyung said before he began putting his stuff up on the counter.
“Okay, just a second,” The boy said, and he looked at the computer screen for a moment, as if he was trying to remember how to do tax exempt transactions—he was definitely new. Either way, Taehyung took this as the perfect opportunity to take a look at his nametag.
“So, Jimin,” Taehyung said as he started placing his supplies onto the counter. “Does Namjoon not work today?”
“Uhm, no,” Jimin said after a while, probably after he finally figured out what he was supposed to be doing. He started ringing up what Taehyung had piled onto the counter. “He quit. Yesterday was his last day, and I was hired to take his place.”
Taehyung was crushed. He thought that he and Namjoon were building a fairly decent bond, so why didn’t the other tell him that he was planning on leaving?
“Oh,” The disappointment was clear in Taehyung’s voice. He cleared his throat, trying to sound brighter. He didn’t want to upset the new boy. “Would that make this your first day?”
There was something about the way Jimin giggled that assured Taehyung that seeing his face regularly was going to be far from a disappointment. “Of course not,” Jimin said, a small smile playing at his lips. “Wouldn’t that be odd for them to stick me by myself on my first day? Namjoon trained me before he left.”
“Oh,” Taehyung didn’t sound so disappointed this time. If Namjoon trained him, that meant that he learned from none other than the best. “He was nice. It’s going to be weird not seeing him when I come here, but I have a feeling that we’ll get along.”
“I hope so,” Jimin said, and he leaned over the counter to scan the bags of dog food that Taehyung had in the cart. He had gotten so carried away talking to the new boy that he hadn’t realized all of his items were already rang up.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” Taehyung said, and he lifted one of the bags up to make it easier on Jimin to reach them. He was definitely a lot shorter than Namjoon, who would have reached across the counter without a problem. It was almost cute seeing Jimin try, and part of Taehyung wanted to be a dick and not help him out just so he could watch the cute struggle.
“Thanks,” Jimin said, and he shot the barcode with his gun.
“I have three of these,” Taehyung told him, “Two of these,” He said, lifting another bag, “And one of these.”
“Your total is 136.42,” Jimin said once he was done scanning all the items.
“Okay,” Taehyung said, and he pulled out his copy of the shelter’s debit card. Since he went shopping for them so frequently, Hoseok opted to just giving him a copy of the store card so that they wouldn’t have to switch back and forth so much. It was a decision he came to after arriving at Petco without the debit card because he had forgotten that Taehyung was the last person with it, and he had to call Taehyung at the shelter to bring the card to him.
“Which...animal shelter do you work for?” Jimin asked.
That’s right. It had been so long since Taehyung purchased from a new person, he had forgotten that ‘the shelter’ wasn’t specific enough. There were many shelters all over their college town. “Oh, it’s, uh, the city shelter,” Taehyung told him.
“Right…” Jimin said, tapping his computer screen. “That’s the kill shelter, right?” He eyed Taehyung suspiciously. “You don’t seem like the type that would work at one of those…”
“It’s not as bad as you think,” Taehyung stated before realizing how those words would sound to someone who might not have known what working at a kill shelter was all about. He registered it when Jimin rose an eyebrow at him. “I mean—I don’t mean killing the animals. I just mean working at the shelter. It’s—” Taehyung sighed. There wasn’t really any way he could save himself at the moment. “It sucks when we have to clear space, but other than that, it’s nice.”
“Right,” Jimin said. He ripped Taehyung’s receipt off from the printer and handed it to him, his cute smile and interest in this conversation gone in a flash. “You have a great day.”
