Work Text
Jimin had been working at Target since he was about 17 years old. Born in Busan, the kid only lived there for about 5 years before his parents moved to Seattle, Washington for his fathers job transfer. He was always that nice kid, everyone wanted to be his friend in school and when he first started working he had that bright vibe to him that screamed "you can ask me where the brussel sprouts are even if i'm bleeding on the floor and asking for someone to call an ambulance".
But after after 5 years he wasn't exactly that same bright face anymore, infact he was just tired all the time. All his favorite coworkers either quit, left to go to college or were fired. Jungkook left for college a year ago, Yoongi got a job at some music store instead and Hoseok was teaching dance classes instead. And not to say he didn't love Namjoon, but he rarely got to talk to him since he was always on register and Jin well...sure Jin was nice but it was always awkward when he would tell a joke and he is the only one laughing.
Especially when it's around new workers...
Now that is it getting closer to Christmas time the store is getting busier and busier. Now is about the time that seasonal workers are going to come in as well, which Jimin usually dreaded because he either hated them or he got along really well with them but once January hit they were gone and not even Facebook request would come his way.
Jimin felt like he played the role of that miserable employee in TV shows that still lives with their parents- which luckily he didn't, but a small apartment wasn't much better he supposed.
Now he stood in the kids area, fixing and stocking toys back up since for some reason parents can't take 5 seconds out of their day to put a box on the shelf. He would never understand...
"Jimin!" He heard from across the aisle and over to where the kids clothing was, just sighing and putting one last box away before making his way over. Pushing his black hair back his made it to where Jin was standing with who seemed like a new employee. He was tall, though Jimin was the shortest out everyone who worked here- Even Hannah was taller than him.
"This is Taehyung, he's going to be working in your department, you can train him right? I was planning on having Garrett do it but since he broke his leg and all." Jin said and Jimin just nodded, holding his hand old to his new coworker."I'm Jimin." He said and shook his hand and damn okay- guess his hands were huge too...
"Taehyung." He said in a rather deep voice for some reason Jimin was not expecting and just smiled softly at him.
"So I put both of you on the same break and lunch for the next few days that you are working together, just to keep both of you on track." Jin said and patted Taehyung's back.
"Why don't you start him out then?" Jin said and Jimin just nodded, waving the at the boy to follow him.
Jimin just took his back to where he had been working before, finishing to pick up the boxes off of the floor while the other stood and watched him restock the shelves. "So Taehyung? Korean?" He asked.
"Yeah, how did you-" The other started off before Jimin was chuckling a little.
"Target seems to attract Korean workers I guess, but the name gives it away." Jimin finished as he stood back up. Just looking at the taller and just was a bit curious as he always was when training new employees.
"So why are you working here? Just move here or?" He asked.
"I just got finished with university actually and moved back to my parents..." He said and Jimin noticed the blush on his cheeks from admitting he still lived with his parents but he just shrugged and started to walk, motioning for him to follow as he made his way to the front and first sections to where apparel started.
"so you're...21?" He asked.
"22 on December 30th." He said and just smiled, Jimin noticing the boxy smile that was quite cute actually...
The slightly older of the two just felt his own cheeks heat up a bit and just turned back to where he was walking.
the friendly conversation slowly turning into boring instructions once Jimin started to teach him about how things were stocked, some parts by color, others by brand and so on so forth. Sometimes Taehyung would ask questions and sometimes he would just nod when he asked if he understood.
Overall it was typical training, but Jimin couldn't deny there was something a bit different about this boy that he was afraid to admit.
He definitely found him attractive with his natural brown hair, tan skin and already notorious boxy smile that seemed to light up the store. Jimin just assumed he might be just like any other person he's worked with that he found cute...I mean when he first started working with Jungkook he definitely had a tiny crush on him that faded in about a week of working together.
But time has passed again and he has been working with Taehyung for a week, and he definitely was anything but boring and normal. And honestly Jimin doesn't think he's laughed or smiled this much since he first began working.
Taehyung was...unique. And he was quite odd but not in a bad way whatsoever.
Jimin remembers the first time the boy really had him bending over in a fit of laughter. The two were in the back room, getting a box ready to take out to juniors clothing when and Jimin had looked up to see Taehyung wearing a pair of kids sunglasses with a sparkly Justice fedora on saying, "How do I look?"
And Jimin just about had an asthma attack he was laughing so hard that Taehyung started laughing until the store manager came into the backroom and saw the two- both of them getting a stern warning before he left but the two just went into another fit of giggles before actually doing their job.
And just a week of Taehyung was turning Jimin's world around.A week after that the boy had found him on Facebook, making Jimin blink a bit as he saw the friend request and clicked on his profile. Kim Taehyung, born in Daegu, South Korea seemed to have moved to Washington when he was about 10 years old with his parents and had a pretty normal life based on his pictures.
So after about an hour of just straight up creeping on his profile he finally hit accept, making the two friends.
...were they friends?
Time passed more and it's now been 2 months since Taehyung started working with Jimin. It was the end of November and December was coming in a few days but even then snow came everyday for the past week and this was the time of year Jimin dreaded taking the bus home. Standing in the freezing cold for 30 minutes sucked but it was better than walking through snow with no heat whatsoever to get home.
Jimin didn't usually work night shifts, but when he did he always took longer than usual to get to his bus stop so he tried to leave as early as he could even if it was just being the first one out the door with everyone behind him.
Tonight was one of those night shifts and Taehyung happened to working that night shift as well. Both back in the breakroom getting ready to leave after clocking out, Jimin was bundling up in his coat and scarf before yawning. The jingling of Taehyung's keys filled the air as he moved about to grab his things.
"Hurry up Tae." He said and just heard a muffled response before the boy was pulling his own jacket from the closet and pulling it on before walking out with Jimin. the two waving Namjoon off who was just leaning his chin in his hand almost about to fall asleep it seemed.
ah the joys of working at a 24-hour establishment and having a car, only meant you can be scheduled at 2am if needed.
"I hope he doesn't pass out when driving home later." He heard Taehyung say as they finally stepped outside in the cold are, the crunch of the snow patches on the ground filled the air as they walked through the parking lot, Taehyung to his car and Jimin to get to the sidewalk he needed to get to his stop.
And as always when they worked together Jimin just kept walking when he heard Taehyung unlock his car after saying bye, but after a few moments he heard the other calling out his name.
"Jimin- uh, do you want me to take you home?" He asked, making Jimin turn around from where he was and shuffle in the spot he was standing at and shook his head.
"This is how I get home everyday it's fine." He said and was about to turn around again before Taehyung spoke up again.
"But it's dark." He said and Jimin stopped in his spot again and looked at Taehyung's face who seemed sincere and seemed genuine. Maybe even a bit worried?"Come on, I'll take you home it's not a problem really." He said again and Jimin just sighed, taking the offer and walking towards him.
Jimin climbed into the passenger seat and buckled himself in as Taehyung did the same, starting the car as well and immediately turning the heat up on full blast before driving out of the parking lot and onto the road.
"Where do you live?" He asked, Jimin just pointing at him to go left out of the parking lot and just started taking the long road down.
The drive was mostly silent, save for Jimin's directions and the soft jazz music playing on the radio. Another unique quality Jimin now learned about Taehyung...
After finally pulling up to Jimin's apartment complex and he was unbuckling his seatbelt, he heard Taehyung speaking up again- but he seemed almost nervous in his tone of voice.
"Can uh- Can I ask you something?" He asked, making Jimin's stomach flip a little and he looked at the other in the driver seat, watching his fingers tap nervously on the steering wheel.
"Of course." He said and just bit his lip while he waited for the question.
"I-...I don't want to make things awkward between us or anything but..." He said and finally looked over at Jimin himself, seeming to have been a bit scared to do so before.
"I think you're really cute." He said flat out, making Jimin blush and turn his head downwards, looking at his lap.
He heard Taehyung groan a bit and sigh, "See I knew it would make things weird- gosh, I'm sorry Jimin just forget-" He said but Jimin cut him off before he could finish and shook his head at his words.
"It's fine Tae, really." He said and a soft smile formed on his face as he looked up at the other, licking his chapped licks which reminded him of how he should have bought chapstick during break for a moment.
"So-"
"I...I think think you're cute too...handsome really.." He said and messed with the scarf to loosen it up a bit.
The car stayed silent for a moment but the jazz playing softly in the background sort of made the mood seem like it was coming straight from a drama, it made Jimin was to laugh just thinking about that.
"...You like Coldplay?" were the next words that came out of Taehyung's mouth, catching Jimin a bit off guard but he responded anyway, nodding.
"Yeah." He said with slight confusion.
"I have tickets- I uh, I was going to go with my brother but he had a thing to do so..." He trailed off, something about that sentence was a bit off, making Jimin wonder if his brother really had a thing or he was going to ditch him to take another person instead.
Either way it made Jimin's stomach fill with little butterflies and nod.
"I'd love to go."
"Really?"Jimin just smiled and nodded, seeing that infamous boxy smile on Taehyung's face before he unlocked the car for Jimin.
"I'll see you at work tomorrow then." he said.
"See you tomorrow." Jimin said before getting out of the car and walking up to the front door of the complex, turning to see the car still there before stepping inside and then the headlights disappeared. Turning back again and seeing the car gone now.
Jimin doesn't think he smiled so much until Taehyung came along.