He grabs his boxers from the end of the bed and slides into them, wiping off his stomach with a tissue. "Eh. I love the one I birthed and raised."
Jungkook cocks an eyebrow. "How did you manage that one?"
Jimin ignores him. "C'mon, Link. I'll feed you. Jungkook's gonna stay in here and think about the poor life choices he just made. Honestly, Jeon, fucking me in front of my child. He has feelings, you know. Can't believe you."
He hops out of bed and directs Link out of the bedroom door before Jungkook has time to protest, and when he makes his way to the kitchen, he's still grinning.
Link is calm now that there's a bowl in front of him and the storm has ceased, and Jimin leans against the refrigerator door, furrowing his brows. "You're a big baby," he says. "Can't ever give me any me time."
Links ignores him, obviously.
He spots his phone on the counter where he left it the night before and grabs it while he waits for Link to finish up. There's a missed call and a voicemail, both from Maggie Wells.
His stomach drops and he frowns. Why is Tyler's mum calling him?
He taps in his passcode and immediately goes to his voicemail. He silently tells his stomach to quit it with the nerves when he holds the phone up to his ear to listen.
"Hi, honey, it's Maggie. I hope you're doing well, we haven't heard from you in a while! We miss you, Min." She pauses to clear her throat and Jimin swallows heavily. "I figured we would have heard from you by now, you know, to celebrate Tyler's birthday like we've been doing, but if you're busy, that's okay. We'll save a place at the table for you just in case, and if not, we can catch up another time. Okay, baby, take care, and happy Tyler's birthday! Love you." Click.
Jimin exits the voicemail and frantically checks the time of the call, followed by the date on his phone. It reads October 2nd, and instantly, he feels like he's suffocating. He missed Tyler's birthday. Every year since high school, even after Tyler had passed, Jimin has spent the first day of October at Tyler's childhood home, celebrating, laughing, eating cake. His family carried on the tradition when he died as a way to focus on his life rather than his death, and they've always included Jimin.
Even when Jimin fucking forgot.
He listens to the voicemail again, and then one more time after that, and suddenly, nothing about this morning is funny anymore.
Over the next week, Jimin can't think of anything other than his call from Maggie.
He'd called her back after Jungkook went back to his house, and told her how sorry he was that he didn't make it and hadn't called. He told her all about his promotion, and blamed it on that.
She understood, of course, and asked to see him a different night. Jimin forced himself to say yes, and they planned to meet up for dinner within the month.
The entire thing left him feeling uneasy and wracked with nerves.
He has to laugh every time he thinks about his conversation with his mum at the apple orchard; almost like an ironic precursor. It's as if the universe knew he was going to fuck up, going to forget his late husband's birthday. It's haunting. If he felt guilty before October 2nd, it's nothing compared to how he feels now.
He's looking around his bedroom late one night and suddenly, he realizes it's like Jungkook unofficially moved in, erasing Tyler from the picture. Jungkook's sweatshirt is hanging off the closet doorknob, his sneakers and boots under the window, his headbands on the nightstand.
Jimin sucks his cheeks in, walking to the closet, and he yanks open the door. Jungkook has as many clothes hanging up as Jimin does, and Jimin frantically pushes it all aside, looking in the back of the closet for the items of Tyler's he kept after he died.
They're still there. Okay. That's good. Breathe.
He walks out into the living room and Jungkook is sitting on the couch, slightly bent over as he pets Link, watching something on TV. He looks up when he hears Jimin.
"Gonna come join your boys?"
Jimin tries to smile, but it comes out like a grimace. "Sure." He sits down beside Jungkook and stares at the TV, unable to focus on whatever's playing. Jungkook's hand around his shoulder feels heavier than usual. He tries to nudge him away, but he can't seem to make his limbs work.
They sit like that for a while, unmoving, unspeaking. Jungkook seems oblivious to the fact that Jimin's mind is racing with too many thoughts that he can't shut off. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose; when did his palms get so sweaty? He wonders how it's possible for Jungkook to ignore how unnatural his breathing is. It sounds so out of place. Maybe it's all in Jimin's head.
He feels like the photos on the wall are staring at him. He tries to avoid looking directly at them, but he can see them out of the corner of his eye, following him no matter which direction he looks in. He grows unbearably tense, clenching his fist. That's when Jungkook finally notices.
"You alright, baby?"
Jimin clears his throat, unable to look at Jungkook. "
"Yeah. I'm good."
"What are you looking at?"
He realizes his gaze is locked on the picture wall. So much for successfully staring elsewhere.
"Um, just looking at the pictures." He tries to swallow. "Girls are getting big."
Jungkook nods, still seemingly oblivious. How? "Still love that picture of you and me and Tyler at a Halloween party as the Three Musketeers. People thought we were so fucking weird."
"Probably."
"We should update the picture."
Jimin looks up at that. "Why would we do that?"
"Because we were babies. We can retake it at the Halloween party this year."
He clenches his fist harder. Tyler won't be there to retake the picture. "What Halloween party?"
Jungkook shrugs. "I started asking around if anyone wanted to come to our place for a party. Thought it would be fun."
"This isn't our place. You don't live here."