"Did you see the look on his face? Priceless!"

"I just let it happen man, ain't gonna to save no freshman who tried to go against our captain."

"Hell yeah."

Taemin watches against the locker, a lazy smile on his lips as Jimin's teammates praise him here in the locker room. The captain is sitting on the bench while drinking water, grinning as his teammates connect with him all over again after a while of not being together. It's obvious to tell the connection Jimin has with the juniors and seniors here, and it's obvious the respect they have for the small player.

They respect him, and care a lot about him too.

That much Taemin isn't blinded by, and it makes him feel good to see Jimin feel happy with others outside the roomie circle.

He deserves to go out and be with his friends again, and this is definitely what he needed.

"Amorzinho," Here we fucking go, "After here, where do you wanna go?"

Jimin finishes drinking his water bottle and puts it away, wiping his wet lips with the back of his hand, "I wanna take Mateo around and take him shopping to buy clothes for tomorrow."

Unlike Taemin's scowl, Lucas vividly smiles and nods, "Sounds good. I'll go talk to coach about something real quick and I'll meet you outside."

The team collectively all walked out of the locker room after getting their things, except for Gem, who stayed behind.

He stares at Jimin for a long moment with a delicate smile and extends a hand out to him.

Taemin perks a slow eyebrow, just as Jimin takes his hand and allows him to help him to his feet, only to wrap his arms around his neck while the other male hugs him tightly by the torso and lifts him off the ground adoringly.

Lucas was definitely right, Taemin was going to have a grand time with this Gem kid.

Unlike Gem though, Lucas at least has boundaries - ish.

This guy right before Taemin's eyes glides his hands down Jimin's spine and to his butt, squeezing tightly as he holds him up.

You've got to be joking.

Taemin immediately looks away with a scowl while Jimin squeals a little and slaps the back of his head, "Hey! You know how sensitive my butt is."

"Trust me I know," Gem snickers against his ear, "But you've been working out."

"And you got too flirty," Jimin is off him now, blushing a little with his teasing smile, "How's things with you and Wooyoung?"

Wooyoung?

Korean name??

"We broke up," Gem says, shrugging, "It's all good, shit happens."

Jimin frowns heavily but twists a reassuring smile, "I'm sorry to hear that. You'll find someone you'll see. Has anyone caught your eye lately? I know you're not one to settle off single for long."

Gem shakes his head, "Not really," And he suddenly twitches a smile, "Well, until today."

Jimin evidently grins, peeking an eyebrow, "Are you being cheeky, or you being serious?"

"I'm being serious," And his eyes suddenly flickers to Taemin, "Is your friend there single and gay?"

What.....

Taemin's eyes snaps from looking at the lockers, just to not have the need to bash some heads today, and his cheeks flushed when Gem grins directly at him with a wink.

Evidently Jimin's features falls, glancing at Taemin and then back to Gem, "Oh, umm I don't think -"

"I'm absolutely single," Taemin beams, approach the boy now with a flirty smile, "I don't know about the gay part though."

"Do you want to find out?"

"Depends, what's your strategy on exploring?"

"As far as you'd like me to go."

Jimin is glancing between the two, his features falling more and more as the clear interest fires up in their eyes as they now mimic similar grins.

"Um excuse me," Jimin squeaks, trying to make his presence known, "I don't really -"

"Do you have any social media?"

Taemin playfully thinks about it for a moment, his hand rising up and gently caresses a strand of Gem's hair away from his face, "It will take a lot more than sweet words to reach me, I can tell you that."

"Then let's stop talking," Gem suddenly grabs his hand, nudging him forward with a grin, "And let's do some action."

Jimin has had enough.

He snatched Taemin's hand away from Gem's grasp, glaring at his teammate, "Gem, out please. I need to talk to Mateo alone."

"Can you give us a few moments-"

"Gem," Jimin's voice grew darker, "Don't make me repeat myself."

Gem recognizes that voice, and it's a voice that no one really enjoys being at the receiving end to it.

And less Gem.

Not exactly a fun experience.

His features drops and he gives his captain a brief nod automatically, yet still glances at Taemin with a final wink before leaving the locker room.

The second they heard the door close, Taemin lazily amused looks at a fired up Jimin glaring to where Gem stood before flashing it to Taemin.

"The fuck is wrong with you? My teammate? Are you serious?"

Taemin bites back a cocky grin, glancing at his hand, "If you wanted to hold hands, you could've just said so."

Jimin glances to his hand still covered over Taemin's hand, scowling and let's him go aggressively, stepping closer to him, "You have some audacity."

"Do I?" Taemin snickers, leaning his side against the locker, peering at Jimin perfectly well, "I'm single aren't I? Just like you can hang out with Lucas all hours of the day, maybe I could be of use of a little friend too, right?"

Oh Taemin is pressing his buttons alright, and he didn't care.

Something about seeing Jimin jealous fired him up.

He's sucker for seeing my feisty.

A nerve twitched on Jimin's eye, standing upright now with his thin arms now crossed, tilting his head up with his gaze now..... Calm.

Very..... Calm.

The fuck?

What just -

"Fair point," Jimin chirps, turning around that even made his hair whip to the force, "In that case, Gem can take you out shopping right? In that way Lucas and I can add more pictures to our collection."

Taemin's smugness deflated, feeling that familiar vile stir up in his chest just to the mention of Lucas -

Wait.

Back up-

"Collection?" He shrieks, just as Jimin nonchalantly unties his hair and runs his fingers through the soft long strands, "The fuck you mean collection - Like of you two together?!"

"Of course!" Jimin chirps not bothering to tie his hair back up, "You would like the one where I'm on my knees by his crotch-"

Taemin yanks Jimin by the arm towards him, running his fingers through his hair before giving it a hard yank, forcing his face up to look at Taemin directly in the eye.

And he tries not to smirk.

Taemin can see that, and it pisses him off.

"I hate how much you know how to get under my skin."

Jimin this time chuckle, "What's funny is you thinking I'm joking."

Taemin's eyes blazed to those words, feeling his heart going a fucking mile by his jealous of imagining Lucas and Jimin -

Gently Taemin let's Jimin go, closing his eyes to gather his composure before just shaking his head, "Fine," He mutters, more so to himself, "Then it's settled."

Jimin's eyebrows twitched to Taemin's words, watching as he just takes a few steps back before chuckling to himself, looking at Jimin.

"Watch me spend a good time with your teammate on your birthday then."

And without another word, Taemin walks past him, but not before calling out, "I'll wait for Lucas outside."

And he walks out the locker room, leaving Jimin to darkly twitch a smirk to himself, shaking his head.

"As if that'll ruin my day so easily," Jimin sighs to himself, tusking with a shake of his head, "You'll have to try harder than that."

______________________
A/N:
Talk about tension from all sides.

Birthday day is about to be fun!!

Let's goooo!

I PURPLE YOU! <33