Work Text:
“Whenever you’re ready,” Kim Namjoon said from behind the desk, his eyes flickering to the propped up camera to make sure it was recording. Jimin took a deep breath and then gazed up, expression defiant.
“I don’t care if your mother hates me, I don’t care if the entire world thinks we shouldn’t be together,” he said fiercely, clutching the paper of dialogue in his hand. Hoseok looked down at him, expression alarmed. Alarmed, but… with just the right amount of fondness. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Kim Hosung.” Jimin’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, his voice cracking as he finished his proclamation. “Because I love you, hyung, and no one will ever make me change my mind about that.”
Hoseok hesitated for a moment, and then the papers fell to the floor as he rushed to grab Jimin, long fingers tangling in his hair to keep him steady, and to guide his face up for a breathtaking kiss. Jimin gasped wetly, the tears in his eyes falling down his cheeks, his mouth parting in happy surprise.
When they broke apart, lips still brushing with every heavy inhale, Jimin could only remember their first kiss - well, their first real one, the one shared after a similar proclamation in an empty parking lot.
( Hoseok’s breath had come out in puffs of white air, his fingers turning red from the freezing winter night as they clutched Jimin’s coat. The film crew had given them a five minute break, and the seconds were slipping away, but Jimin hadn’t cared about his job at that moment. Because Hoseok had finally confessed.)
Jimin smiled up at him and took a step back, hand coming up to wipe away one last stray tear. Crying on cue was his specialty, and Jimin really wanted this job. Namjoon seemed to appreciate it, if the wide grin on his face was evidence.
“That was fantastic!” Namjoon exclaimed. “Your chemistry is incredible! Of course, we knew that, you both have been acting together for years, but to see you just turn it on like that…”
Hoseok was always a bit more susceptible to praise, and the blush spreading across his cheeks was adorable. Jimin wanted to kiss him again. “Well, we’ve had a lot of practice,” Jimin grinned. And it was true, in all senses of the phrase. Hoseok and Jimin had been in four different dramas together, and then there were the commercials and the award shows and the fashion shoots. And then after all the glamorous events ended, they went home together to practice some more.
“Of course,” Namjoon said. “It’s just fascinating to see, it’s like you guys are actually boyfriends!”
“Well, we are,” Hoseok pointed out. Namjoon just laughed.
“Already getting into character, Hoseok-ssi! We knew you’d both be perfect for this drama.” He stood up with a chuckle that turned into a gasp as he knocked the camera off the table. “Oh shoot, I hope I didn’t break it again.”
—
“How does that fit?” Taehyung asked, circling around Jimin with a pin caught between his teeth. Jimin stretched out his arms, feeling the jacket tug lightly over his shoulders, but in the mirror it looked alright. The dark navy made his lightened hair appear even brighter, and the school emblem on his chest made him feel younger. Even at twenty-eight years old, he could still pass for a college student - at least for a few flashback scenes.
“Feels good,” Jimin replied, and then shrugged off the jacket when Taehyung held out his hands. “Pants are a bit tight, though.”
“Only where it matters,” Taehyung grinned. “Hoseok-ssi told me your butt is your best asset, and he’s not wrong.”
“Aish, you got him talking too much,” Jimin grumbled fondly. He unbuttoned the crisp white shirt and handed it to Taehyung too, eager to get back into his comfortable travel clothes. “Anything else to try on?”
“No, you’re done,” Taehyung said, carefully taking Jimin’s pants to avoid messing with the pins at the hem. “Hoseok-ssi has the more complicated wardrobe, since he’s the chaebol character. You’re stuck in the uniform stage until we get to the halfway point.” Jimin made a face - his character’s work uniform was much worse, a garish button down indicative of his status of a fast-food employee.
“Great,” he said with false enthusiasm. “Try to talk the writers into at least writing in a dance party or something?” Taehyung gave him a thumbs up and pointed him back towards the changing area. Jimin shrugged on his shirt and sweatpants, and then tugged on his jacket. His phone pinged with unread messages, and Jimin smiled as he opened the first.
Hoseokie-hyung -> Jiminie
cooking kimchi jjigae for dinner!! just like we had on our first date.
Jiminie -> Hoseokie-hyung
if we’re recreating our first date, that means we have to watch the notebook too!!
“Nice jacket!” Taehyung whistled as Jimin pushed open the curtain. Jimin glanced down at his outfit, and realized he’d grabbed Hoseok’s instead of his own when he’d left that morning. “Is that from the Louis Vuitton collection?”
“Must be,” Jimin said, sliding the jacket off one shoulder so they could peer at the tag. Taehyung ran his fingers over the leather with envy, then paused.
“Wait a second, didn’t Hoseok-ssi just wear this to an event? Do you both share a stylist?”
“No, but we share a closet,” Jimin replied with a laugh. Taehyung pouted and followed him out the door to his car.
“You can tell me if you share a stylist!” he called out as Jimin climbed in. “I’m in the industry, I can know these things! Jimin-ah, can I borrow it?”
—
“Can I get your opinion?”
Hoseok glanced up to see the show writer Yoongi slump into the chair next to him, sheets of paper held aloft. Hoseok recognized the familiar outline of a script, but it was barely incomprehensible beneath scribbles. “Uh, sure?”
“The confession scene is too weak,” Yoongi grumbled. “Everyone is saying it’s fine, but it doesn’t feel like the entire confession, a pivotal fucking scene, should just be fine .”
“I guess not,” Hoseok nodded, a little nervous about the dark circles under Yoongi’s eyes. Filming has already begun, but the producers are always like this - jumping the gun on filming when the script hasn’t been finalized, ordering more episodes mid-filming if the first cuts are getting good reactions from test audiences. He and Jimin are exhausted already, but Min Yoongi seems to be one step away from falling off the deep end. “Let me take a look, alright?”
KIM HOSUNG (Hoseok - running/panting): Will you just stop running away?
CHOI MINJU (Jimin - walking fast): No, I won’t. And you should just let me, everyone says -
KIM HOSUNG: I don’t care what everyone says! They’re idiots, and I’m tired of listening to idiots instead of listening to my heart!
CHOI MINJU (stopping and turning to Hosung): And what is your heart telling you?
KIM HOSUNG: That you’re the love of my life, and if I lose you, I’ll lose everything that matters to me. I don’t care about losing anything else.
“What’s wrong with it?” Hoseok asked, and Yoongi sighed heavily.
“The producers approved it, but it just feels weak, you know? Like, Hosung needs to say more, but I can’t find the words.”
“What if you say something like…” Hoseok paused, eyes scanning the paper again. “Something like ‘ That you are the one person in the world who can make me smile wider than I ever thought possible, and the only reason I want to keep smiling.’ He handed the paper back to Yoongi. “Or something like that. It’s what I told Jimin.”
Yoongi had taken the paper back and was making a small note in the blank space, his tongue caught between his teeth. “Hmm, yeah, I like that… That’s what I would say to Namjoon-ah - I mean,” he glanced up sharply as if realizing he wasn’t alone. “I mean, that’s what the character would say to someone they really liked, er - the character, not me!”
“Sure, hyung,” Hoseok smiled, patting his hand as the man blushed at the slip. He didn’t even think Yoongi had noticed he’d spoken about Jimin, but that was alright. Yoongi needed his help more. “Maybe let’s brainstorm some confession ideas, alright? For Hosung or… anyone else that might need them.”
—
“Safety first!” Jungkook repeated, watching through a screen as Hoseok darts in front of the car. Jimin knelt in front of it, his expression terrified.
The car isn’t moving now, and both he and Hoseok are in gym shorts, but when filming takes place tomorrow, they’ll be ready to make the audience believe Hoseok is saving Jimin from being hit by a car.
( Yoongi had rolled his eyes when he’d described the scene to a giggling Jimin, saying the producers wanted the cliche drama moment. )
“Okay, and then Hoseok-ssi, you’ll get ‘hit’ by the van,” Jungkook said, coming over to the pair to mark a small piece of tape on the ground where Hoseok’s knee was. For a drama about a poor boy falling for a chaebol, there were quite a few action scenes, and Jungkook was in charge of choreographing the scenes. “We’ll be filming the hit in reverse, so just make sure your limbs are clear of the car when you get ‘hit’.”
“Got it,” Hoseok said brightly, dramatically bumping into the dashboard as an example.
“And then we’ll film the scene where Jimin is cradling you,” Jungkook continued, and Jimin got into position easily, his fingers tightening around Hoseok’s shoulders as he hunched over him. Even in casual clothes and ten odd crewmembers standing around them, Jimin could easily imagine the agony he would feel if Hoseok ever got hurt like this. His legs looked broken from this angle, knobby knees poking out and pale against the dark pavement.
Jimin bent down and let his lips brush gently against Hoseok’s forehead. “Thanks for saving me, hyung,” he murmured, an improved version of his lines. Hoseok looked up at him with a soft expression, as if saying the same back.
“Wow, you guys look so natural,” Jungkook said, bringing them back to reality. Jimin glanced up to see the man staring at them with a slight blush on his cheeks. “Like you’ve been together forever, no awkwardness at all.”
“We have,” Hoseok smiled, and Jungkook’s blush deepened.
“I know! Just crazy to see in real life!”
“You know?” Jimin asked, surprised. No one had believed them so far, could Jungkook actually see the truth -
“Yeah! You guys worked together first in 2013,” Jungkook said, and suddenly he began speaking so quickly it was like the question had opened the floodgates. “ Dark and Wild , where you both played friends of the lead characters, but quickly became fan favorites! And then you both starred in Wings, which was your first show together, and if I remember correctly you won all these fan-voted awards - I voted everyday - and then Map of the Soul was incredible! Everyone really believed you guys were together, like in real life -”
“Jungkookie,” Jimin tried to interrupt, but it was no use. Jungkook was apparently a very big fan, and it seemed rude to interrupt his moment.
—
“Places, everyone!” Seokjin shouted from behind the camera. Assistants rushed around the set, moving water bottles out of sight from the camera or touching up their hairstyles. Jimin grinned at Hoseok and received a wink in return. Even after working together for a decade, it still felt like a rush to fall into new characters. Sometimes it felt like falling in love all over again.
“Okay, we’re filming the first kiss,” Seokjin said, setting the scene for the crew. “Hoseok-ah, you’ll pull him in with your left arm, make sure to get your fingers right beneath that logo, alright? And then we’ll have you stand there for three counts, and then Jiminie, you’ll make the first move to kiss him. Lots of angles, lots of kissing! So get comfortable with each other.”
“I’m not sure it’s possible for us to get more comfortable with each other,” Jimin giggled in a whisper to Hoseok. But it had been fun practicing this scene together in their bedroom the night before - soft, surprised kisses turning longer, more intense, more romantic, until Jimin had pressed Hoseok onto the bed with an urgency he hadn’t expected.
When the set was ready, Jungkook held up the clapperboard to note the first take. Hoseok smiled once more before settling into character - his warm expression changing to agony, desperation as Seokjin shouted ‘go!’. Jimin felt his emotion slip into defiance, ready to walk away from Hoseok angrily.
“You can’t just leave!” Hoseok groaned, taking a fevered step forward as Jimin took a step back. “I need to talk to you!”
“That’s all you ever do is talk !” Jimin retorted, spinning on his heel. “I’m going to find someone who actually does something for a change.”
Hoseok sighed dramatically, looking so adorably frustrated that Jimin almost broke character to comfort him. “Want me to do something? Fine!” And then he reached out (with his left hand, and Jimin felt his fingers curl around his bicep right under the restaurant logo on his shirt) and pulled Jimin closer, until their noses were almost touching.
Jimin waited for half a beat, staring up at Hoseok’s distraught eyes and then down the straight slope of his beautiful nose before landing on the curve of his lips. He’d spent days - years - kissing those lips, but every single time it filled him with an onslaught of love. Jimin waited another second and then pressed up, swallowing Hoseok’s gasp with his mouth curved around those precious heart-shaped lips he loved so much.
It was a sweet kiss, almost too gentle for the fiery character of Choi Minju, and maybe on their second take Jimin would press harder and with more desperation, but for now he let himself get caught in the moment, the familiarity of kissing Hoseok in front of about thirty people.
“Cut!”
Jimin let his lips linger for just a second longer and then pulled back, grinning wide at the flush spreading across Hoseok’s cheeks. “That was wonderful!” Seokjin exclaimed, standing up from his director’s chair to join them on set. “Really fantastic job, maybe a bit more frustration next time, Jiminie.” He clapped them both on the back jovially. “But really natural, almost like you’re really dating!”
“Hyung,” Jimin began, starting to feel exasperated. “We are dating.”
“Your characters aren’t -”
“No, I mean us ,” Jimin said, motioning back and forth wildly between himself and Hoseok. “We are dating. We’ve been dating for like four years, hyung.” He stared around Seokjin to peer at the others. “Did you guys really not know ?”
“We’ve literally told all of you,” Hoseok jumped in, looking bemused as he took in the surprised expressions. “And I get that we’ve never come out publicly and said ‘we’re official’, but I really thought you all knew by now!”
Seokjin looked stumped for a moment before turning on his heels. “Namjoon-ah, why didn’t you tell me they were dating?” At Namjoon’s shocked expression, he sighed. “Aish, he’s in love too but won’t admit it, he must be projecting,” Seokjin whispered to Jimin and Hoseok knowingly. “That’s good to know, I was always rooting for you two to get together.”
“Thanks?” Hoseok said with bemusement, but Seokjin was already clapping loudly to make an announcement.
“Alright, change of plans! Yoongi-chi, I need to write in quite a few more kiss scenes for these two lovebirds. Might as well make the most of it, and maybe you’ll finally get some desperately-needed inspiration, am I right?”
And then he motioned for Jungkook to set up the clapboard again, and Jimin turned to Hoseok. “That went well,” he grinned, brushing stray hairs away from Hoseok’s eyes. “Think we should tell the world officially now?”
“Maybe during the press tour,” Hoseok replied with a glint in his eyes. “Something to look forward to.”