Date: ‪October 24rd‬
Time: ‪5:00pm‬
Mood: Suspicious
Location: Work

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Jimin was nice to her. Way too nice.

It was suspicious. What was his goal? Because no one in Y/n's experience was nice for no reason. Was he waiting for her to let her guard down so that he could attack? The type of attack she was thinking was more along the lines of something emotionally crippling, but she didn't write off any type of physical altercation just yet.

Because she knew from experience that the moment she opened up, he would leave. And before leaving he would do or say something that would make it so much harder to deal with. But then, he'd already done that much.

Gone for a week and it was already hard to handle. Difficult and confusing. She was aware of the fact that his lack of presence pulled at her in some way, but hadn't realized she missed him until she saw him again. Why did she miss him? She couldn't miss him. Missing him entailed that she liked him in some form or the other, and liking him was bad.

Not only was he a STALKER, liking anyone was not good for her. It was bad enough that Hyuna was insisting they were now 'bff' without adding a cute, blond boy to the mix.

Leaving was an inevitability and since they both refused at the moment, Y/n decided on her way to work the next day, that she was going to get them before they got her.

Whatever that meant. There wasn't a mean bone in her body and already her heart ached at the thought of hurting either of them, but it was deemed a necessary evil in her opinion.

Rushing into the convenience store away from the freezing cold, she steeled her nerves for what was to come.

"Red!!" Jimin appeared from no where, bright eyed, grinning from ear to ear and bouncing in place like a happy puppy. "Are you cold? Are you hungry? Did you have a good day? Are you happy? I'm happy." he giggled cutely.

All previous resolve was broken like a poorly built dam. He was too...everything. Being faced with him was too much, it made her feel things she didn't want to feel, things she didn't think she deserved to feel. Now she cursed herself for saying hello to him yesterday.

"Uh-" which question to answer first? Could she manage to without being awkward? "U-um. Y-y-yeah." she stuttered out before scooting along to her position behind the counter. No. The answer to that query was no.

"Oh good, you're here!" Her boss busting out from the back room had her jumping in surprise. "Let me tell you about my week."

And she did. In great detail, not forgetting to add in the story about her husband's prostate exam and not withholding a single second of the 168 hours of the last week. By the time she had finished with the hour long tale, Y/n's ears were ringing and Jimin had escaped somewhere off to the back after hearing the word prostate.

"And then-" her boss stilled when she caught sight of someone outside. "Yeobo!!" Like a teenage school girl, the thirty something woman skipped out the door and jumped into the arms of her husband.

This type of exit was costumary so Y/n didn't bother to even look up. It was another full minute before the bell above the door chimed. Looking up, she automatically nodded to the mint-haired regular before turning around to rifle through her bag. Most of the time, work time doubled as homework time.

What she didn't notice was that the second her attention was diverted, Jimin skidded into the room, recognizing his elusive hyung's scent. Turned out Yoongi had mysteriously moved out of Namjoon's home and into his own and hadn't informed anyone but a tight-lipped Hoseok of his whereabouts.

That meant, he'd managed to elude the Jibooty. But not for much longer. Both heard as a (still preoccupied) Y/n slipped in her earbuds and hit play.

"-this is mine MOTHER FUCKER it's not a FUCKING GAME-"

Yoongi's eyes widened the slightest amount as he froze in place, his and Jimin's gaze now locked in a stare-down. The air between them heated and crackled with built up anger and resentment.

"-fuck what you heard, it's what you hearing-"

Jimin scoffed at his hyung's audacity and poised himself, ready to attack. Yoongi's body tensed and Jimin gave him a look as if daring him to run.

"-it's what you hearing, listen-"

Right at the peak of tension, Yoongi spun on his heel and flew out the door, the younger man hot on his heels.

"-x gon' give it to ya, fuck waiting for you to get it on your own, x gon' deliver to ya'-"

Nodding her head happily to one of her favorite songs, Y/n turned with her laptop in hand to find an empty store. What happened to the costumer? Curiously, she craned her neck to catch sight of him at his usual spot, but found nothing. Figuring he decided to eat elsewhere, she focused her attention on her studies.

Miraculously, it was an entire hour she was able to work without Jimin staring at her. Maybe he had decided to be normal for a change?

No sooner had that thought gone through her mind when the man himself appeared, but through the front entrance. Had he left? She hadn't noticed.

Though he appeared frazzled, his hair askew and his cheeks red, and an unmistakably irritated expression graced his face, his body seemed to relax once he caught sight of her. She shot her attention back to the pc screen before he noticed her looking. When he came through the door something inside of her felt...calmed?

Again, nothing like what she felt like when faced with any of her crushes, or even anyone she had known before. But something inside definitely settled down when he was near, not that she could consciously say she was nervous when he was gone. In fact it was the opposite. Calm, sure, but frustrated soon took the front seat. Why did she feel this way?

"Marshmallow?" He'd taken his regular position, leaning against the counter with his chin in his palms.

Should she answer to that name? Her fingers itched to clench together but she fought against it and continued to type, uttering a soft, "hm?"

"Can I hug you?"

"No." The answer came faster than she could process it. Face burning up for a multitude of reasons, she resisted apologizing. There was no reason to issue an apology. It was ok to say no.

"Oh."

Not for the first time she disliked herself for being so soft. Pain works the same way for everyone and rejection was some of the worst, something she held first hand knowledge of. Maybe she should explain...

But why would that need an explanation? Who wanted to be touched by their stalker? Or a practical stranger?

"...red?"

"Hm?" She wouldn't look at him. She wouldn't. She wouldn't look. She wouldn't.

She looked and found him with his palms limp on the counter as he stared down at them.

"Do you...hyung said...and then...you said, and your friend...what I mean to say is...do you think I'm a stalker?" His coffee brown eyes held hers for a moment before she averted her gaze.

"Y-yes?"

"What!" he cried. "Really? Am I creepy? I don't mean to be! I just li-I mean I..." a sigh pushed it's way past his lips as one hand ran through his hair. "I'm sorry."

He sounded sincere, and as if the apology was hurting him in some way but she hesitated to accept it. How he failed to realize how weird everything he was doing, or normal by anyone's standards wasn't good. Whether he was merely naive, stupid or failed to notice that she wasn't accepting any of behaviors, she couldn't determine. But Y/n could not find it in herself to trust him.

Rather than replying she kept her attention on her schoolwork, though now she was definitely distracted enough to slow the typing down to a crawl.

"I guess I do come off that way. I'm really sorry." He hung his head in shame, bringing her to fight against her own gentle nature that much harder.

That Jimin was the abnormal one here had always remained a steady conviction of hers, but as of now she was realizing that wasn't quite accurate. Y/n was just as abnormal as he. What kind of person wanted to comfort their stalker? Albeit an apologetic and ignorant one. He was weird. But not altogether bad. It was just that his negatives seemed to burn brighter than his positives.

"You're...very interesting." he suddenly blurts. "I want to get to know you, but I don't know what I'm doing. I don't have any female friends, except for my hyung's girlfriend but that's different...and I've never dated before, so I don't know how to go about this."

Mouth flying open, she jerked her attention his way just as the bell above the door jingled. Flustered and red, she half turned to acknowledge the new presence, and the heat in her face increased tenfold.

"J-Jackson?"

"Y/n!" Shock and pleasant surprise mirrored her own expression as he approached, a familiar smile gracing his lips.

He was more handsome than she remembered. Brown hair, soft, gentlemanly demeanor and a friendly smile brought back all those memories of when she used to be so tongue-tied and awkward around him, and of all the hours that were spent yearning for his attention and approval. Odd how those little tingles she used to feel when greeted with his person were absent.

Which was good, she supposed. Perhaps that would make it easier to talk to him.

"H-hi! I mean-h-hello, um..." Or not. If anything, her face and neck burned hotter, but that was more from being flustered than a result of crushing on him.

From her peripheral, Jimin shifted silently so that he was halfway in front of her. Arms crossed, body tensed and a glare fixed in place, one look could have told them to tread carefully, but both treated his presence as though it were nonexistent.

"You're looking good," Jackson smiled. An annoyed grumble came from the blond between them, but it went unheeded.

"T-thank you," she replied shyly, tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

"How are you? I'm in town for a few days and was planning to visit, but I didn't know you worked here. When did you get a job?"

Jimin's fists clenched. No one cared.

"A couple m-months ago." She answered, studiously staring at her hands. "U-um. You, uh...how are y-you?"

Had she ever stuttered this much in her life? Yes. Had she ever talked this much in her life? Jimin wondered bitterly. This was the most he'd ever heard her voice and it was because of some other man. Jealousy coursed through his veins like a poison, bringing the normally mellow wolf inside of him to growl viciously at the perceived competition. It had been bad enough that Yoongi had escaped him yet again, but a new male encroaching on his territory had him snarling in anger. Human or not, Jackson would do well to stay away from his mate.

"Great, actually." Jackson replied, a hand moving up to sweep his bangs from his eyes, the muscles in his arms flexing unnecessarily. Jimin's eyes narrowed. "I just came by to grab a quick drink, but I'll see you later, kay?"

"S-sure." she answered, waving awkwardly as he headed off to a cooler to choose a beverage. Sighing in relief when he was out of sight, the action came back to choke her when Jimin set his fiery gaze on her.

"W-what is it?"

She could have sworn she heard his teeth grinding. He appeared to think for a moment before he ground out, "allergies."

"Oooh." Accepting the answer without question, she felt for him. Seo-Joon was known to come down with hay fever every year around this time and was always miserable up until he'd started to get shots to help with his allergies. Perhaps she should suggest Jimin purchase a humidifier.

Upon Jackson's return to the counter, bottled water in hand, Jimin's allergies began to act up again, this time in form of...glaring. And some noise from his throat that Y/n decided was definitely coughing and not growling.

"I'll see you later!" Jackson waved goodbye and Jimin's fist slammed onto the counter, before a very unconvincing sneeze left his mouth.

The poor man and his allergies. Feeling bad for him, Y/n bent to get him a tissue from under the counter, while the two males glared heavily at one another.

By the time she stood back up, tissue in hand, Jimin was blinking innocently, the door was swinging shut and for some reason, she felt like she had missed something.

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Lyrics
DMX-X Gon' Give It To Ya
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Edited 7/11/22