Chapter Text
“Are you still mad at me?” Jimin asks, not taking his eyes off of his hand. It still hurts if he tries to bend his fingers properly, but the ice is helping.
Yoongi takes a deep breath through his nose. He cracks his neck and places the mug on the coffee table in front of Jimin. The tea is still hot, Jimin watches as the steam rises and fades away.
“I don’t know.” Yoongi answers and it’s not the answer Jimin was looking for, but at least it’s an honest one. “It’s not like I’m mad mad at you. I just didn’t— This is the first time I saw this side of you, that’s all.”
Jimin sighs. It all happened so quickly that he’s still processing it.
-
Yoongi locks the door of his shop and Jimin can’t keep his eyes off of him. Sometimes he feels really silly because about 3 times a day he thinks to himself wow, my boyfriend is so cool. It would probably be a little concerning if Yoongi wasn’t the type of person who worships Jimin every chance he gets.
“Mmm, got me a capable man.” Jimin murmurs as Yoongi places the key in his pocket and turns to face him.
“Babe, you can’t say that every time I’m done with my work.”
“Says who?”
“Me. I do.”
“Why not?” Jimin smiles, his voice dripping honey as he wraps his arms around Yoongi’s neck and bumps their noses together. “My boyfriend is a working man.”
“You literally make more money than I do.” Yoongi says and keeps his expression serious, but that’s only because he has an amazing poker face. His hands still slide around Jimin’s waist.
“Doesn’t matter to me. You’re hot.”
“Of course I am.”
“You are. Extremely so. Now let’s go, I’m starving.”
“Yes, your honor.”
Yoongi gives him a small peck on the lips and Jimin thinks about how cute his face is during the last moments of the sunset. He takes Yoongi’s hand in his own, intertwines their fingers and starts walking in the direction of their favourite restaurant.
Jimin sees a guy walking towards them and he notices he’s staring at him and Yoongi, but only because it’s so obvious. Most people are either immersed in their phones or at least have earphones in, so when someone is looking directly at you in Seoul, you’re going to notice.
For a split second Jimin has a bad feeling about it, but then he dismisses it, because what are the chances of something bad happening on such a pretty day when he’s with his loving boyfriend, right?
Right? Wrong.
As they get closer and closer to each other, the man doesn’t take his eyes off of them. Yoongi is on his phone, probably texting Hoseok that he’s done for today. Jimin looks around and there are people, the street isn’t completely empty. The man is taller than both of them. He’s not sure why is he scanning the situation as if he needs to find the closest exit, but he swallows and keeps walking, until they’re face to face with the stranger.
He stops in front of them and Yoongi almost trips because he was so focused on writing his message.
“Can we help you?” Yoongi asks him.
“Yeah, aren’t you a tattoo artist? Min Yoongi?” the man asks.
Yoongi chuckles, clearly surprised. “Yeah. That’s me.”
“My friend got a tattoo by you recently. He took a selfie with you to show me, that’s how I know what you look like.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember him, the guy who wanted a date on his collarbone.”
“Yeah, that’s him.” The man says and looks down at their joined hands. “I was actually thinking of booking an appointment myself.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to.” Yoongi smiles and grips Jimin’s hand tighter, clearly not missing the way this man is so focused on them holding hands. “I can either give you my number, or the Instagram account of my shop.”
“Ah, actually, you know, I think I changed my mind.”
“Is that so?” Yoongi’s voice is dripping with condescension, as if he’s speaking to a confused child and Jimin isn’t sure how he feels about this situation. “Too bad, your loss. Shall we, honey?” he looks over at Jimin with a smile on his face.
Now, Jimin has had his fair share of homophobia during high school and he knows that bigots hate it the most when you’re not offended or hurt by their behavior. That’s why he’s prepared when the man scoffs and once again pointedly looks down where Jimin and Yoongi are holding hands.
He crosses his arms over his chest and says. “Yeah, I just didn’t know you’re one of those people. I really don’t want someone like that touching me.”
“That’s weird, given that my shop is literally called Queer Tattoos. Did your friend not mention?” Yoongi tilts his head, faking confusion.
“What? No. You’re lying, he wouldn’t go to a place like that.”
Jimin is dying to say something but he knows he will only make it worse. He can feel the heat rising in his chest and he doesn’t like getting angry. He admires Yoongi’s calm way of approaching situations like this.
“Or maybe…” Yoongi starts. “He actually did and simply didn’t wanna tell you because he was too afraid of your reaction, given that you’re such a piece of shit.” He says it with such a huge smile on his face that if Jimin wasn’t able to hear him, he’d think he’s wishing someone a good rest of their day. “You don’t have to worry honey, I don’t tattoo homophobes anyway.”
“Wait a second, I’m not a homophobe.”
“Oh really? Then why wouldn’t you want someone like me touching you? Was that referring to how much of a better wardrobe I have compared to you, did I misunderstand?”
Jimin chuckles, switching his weight from one leg to another, impatient to get going.
The stranger looks at him then and actually checks him out – head to toe, which is probably not the straightest thing this man has done in his life. “What are you laughing at? Don’t you have a dick to suck or something?”
Jimin takes great pride in the fact that he keeps staring at his pretty, full, glossed lips as he says that.
“I do, but you’re kinda in our way man.”
“Disgusting.”
“Yes, extremely.” Yoongi speaks again. “You do realize that you’re the one who stopped us in the middle of the street and you’re still standing in front of us, right? No one is forcing you to talk to people like us.”
“Yeah man, forgive me for thinking you’re normal. Whatever, I’ll find a better tattoo artist, you ain’t shit anyway.”
“Sure I ain’t. You have yourself a nice day honey.”
It’s in that moment that Jimin notices the rage in man’s eyes flashing for a second before he’s stepping towards Yoongi. “Call me honey one more time—“
Jimin is in front of him before he knows it, placing Yoongi’s hand behind his back. “You take another step and I will break your jaw.”
“Oh, is that so? You’re gonna break my jaw?”
“Yes, that’s so. Good luck explaining to people how that happened.”
“What, is this how you bitches defend yourselves? Your boyfriend can’t talk for himself now? I though he was a big boy, huh?”
Jimin would like to say that he’s very fucking hungry and the sun is already down which means that he won’t be able to enjoy the sight of Yoongi’s adorable cheeks bathing in sunlight as he stuffs them full. And the reason for that is the man in front of him. That’s why he lets go of Yoongi’s hand, balls his fingers into a fist and swings forward.
It’s not a particularly hard punch, he’s thrown better ones, but it’s enough to send the piece of shit stumbling backwards, holding onto his nose.
“You got anything else to say to me, big boy?” Jimin asks him.
“You’re fucking crazy.” Is all he manages before he’s walking away, much to Jimin’s surprise. He was honestly expecting to receive a hit back, at least.
Jimin takes a deep breath to calm himself as he flexes his fingers, touching over the knuckles tenderly. Then he turns around and sees Yoongi’s blank face.
“What the fuck was that Jimin?”
-
“I understand.” Jimin nods. “I don’t know what happened, I’m not usually a violent person—“
“I know you aren’t, that’s why I’m still processing that you actually punched a guy in the face.”
“He wouldn’t leave us alone.” Jimin says, looking at Yoongi. “Listen, I know I shouldn’t have done it and you can be mad at me, but he wouldn’t leave us alone. I wasn’t gonna let him speak to you that way.”
“I get that, but you don’t go hitting every homophobe in their nose, Jesus. Do you know how many encounters I’ve had like that? Even worse ones? And I’m fine and I’ve never punched anyone.” Yoongi says, gesturing with his hands.
“Look, I’m sorry hyung. It just happened. It’s not like I was planning to do it. Reflex. Adrenaline. That’s all.”
“What are you apologizing for right now?” Yoongi asks and Jimin won’t lie – his chest stings a little bit. He feels like a kid being scolded for getting into a fight in school.
“What?”
“I’m not attacking you or anything, I just wanna know. What are you apologizing for?”
“Well, you’re mad at me, so—“
“Don’t apologize cause I’m mad at you, that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Will you let me finish?” Jimin says and he seriously didn’t think this would be their evening. He didn’t expect to be sitting on his couch, arguing with his boyfriend.
When Yoongi blinks a few times, clearly taken aback with Jimin’s tone, he nods and lets Jimin speak.
“I’m not apologizing just because you’re mad, obviously. I’m sorry I punched him.”
Yoongi has his arms crossed on his chest. “You’re not tho.”
“What? I just said I am.”
“No, you’re not. You don’t regret it.”
Placing the ice pack on the coffee table, Jimin shakes his head. He takes a sip of his tea. It’s getting cold. His hand hurts and it’s probably going to swell, at least a little. “You’re right, I don’t regret it and I’m not sorry for punching a guy who called us bitches and told you that you suck at tattooing simply because you’re gay. In fact, I hope I broke his nose.”
Yoongi is staring at him and Jimin is aware it lasts only for a few seconds, but it feels like forever in his heart. They have never fought before, not even over small things and Jimin really hoped that their first fight will be about who forgot to buy the milk and not something like this.
He’s wondering what’s gonna happen now. Is Yoongi gonna leave? He’s not gonna leave him, right? Of course not, this isn’t that big. He might leave the apartment, to cool off a little. After all, Jimin doesn’t know what’s Yoongi like when he argues.
Then again, Yoongi doesn’t know what’s Jimin like either.
What happens is that Yoongi snorts, palming his face and sighing loudly. “Okay. At least you’re being honest.”
“Yep.”
“Let’s be clear here – I don’t give a fuck about him. I’m not upset that he got a bloody nose, I’m upset something could have happened to you. What if he hit you back? He was bigger than both of us and I sure as fuck don’t know how to fight anyone.”
“I would have kicked his ass.” Jimin says with confidence.
“Really? You would kick his ass?” Yoongi raises his eyebrows and Jimin notices he can’t keep his lips from turning up in an amused smile. He breathes easier.
“Absolutely destroyed his ass.” He confirms, sliding closer on the couch.
“What if something happened to your hand? Let me see that.”
Yoongi’s fingers are gentle and careful as they caress Jimin’s hand, going over all of his fingers and knuckles. “Hyung, it’s fine. I promise. I’m just sorry I didn’t have my rings on.”
“Park Jimin.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop.”
Then Yoongi looks at him, still keeping Jimin’s hand in his lap and says. “I’m not mad. I’m just surprised. I thought you deal with this stuff the way I do.”
“I usually do. I just— I wanna say something but I’m afraid you’re gonna tease me.”
“I always tease you, say it anyway.”
“I feel very protective over you. And before you say that’s stupid and you don’t need protection, I know all of that. I don’t feel like you need to be protected, I just care about you so much. That’s all. It just happened.”
Yoongi nods in understanding, leaning his head closer and nuzzling their noses together. He whispers in the small space between their lips. “It’s not stupid. I feel protective over you as well. That’s exactly why I got so worked up over this whole thing.”
“I’m not sorry I punched him. But I am sorry for upsetting you and worrying you. I’d never do that on purpose, I promise.”
“I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry for yelling at you.”
“You didn’t yell at me.”
“Eh, I yelled a little.”
“Yeah, but like – one sentence. That’s nothing. I kinda deserved it.”
“No. It’s not nothing and you didn’t deserve it. I don’t like yelling. Especially not at you.”
Jimin smiles, feeling warmth spreading everywhere. His stomach makes a noise of protest tho because with everything that happened, they didn’t get a chance to actually go eat. Yoongi chuckles and cups the back of Jimin’s throat.
“Don’t go around hitting people, Park Jimin. I like your cute, precious hands.”
“What, you weren’t even a little turned on by that?”
“Alright, that’s it, I’m leaving, you ruined it—“ Yoongi says and goes to get up, but Jimin pulls him back down, placing a kiss on his forehead.