Never Mind | #yoonmin

24

"Holy shit!"

"Hmm?"

"Oh my god..."

"What?"

"Yoongi??"

"Whaaat?" I whine as I sit down next to Hoseok on my coach with two glasses of whiskey. He doesn't come over that often anymore, we usually just meet at a restaurant, so I took this opportunity to buy a nice bottle of whiskey.

Hoseok is staring at his phone with his hand in front of his mouth. "What is this??" He shows me his screen. I place the glasses on the coffee table so I can take his phone. I see a dark photo with some figures. As my eyes dart around the image I suddenly gasp and also slam my hand in front of my mouth. That's me.

"W-what? W-where did you get this photo?" I stumble as I investigate it better. It's a blurry photo of me in a dark alley, but lit up just enough by a pink and yellow neon sign to recognise my face. My hand is clenched into a fist and in a position which looks like I'm about to punch the guy in front of me. Taehyung. His back is turned to the camera so you can't see his face and I find Jimin hidden behind the sign, luckily.

"It's on Reddit man." Hoseok's voice sounds shaky.

"Fuuuuck..." I scroll to see if the person who posted it wrote anything, but there are only comments. I scan through them quickly and see my name mentioned a bunch of times already. "Send it to me." I hand Hoseok his phone back and grab mine. My mind is racing as I wait for him to send me the link. Who the fuck took that picture? And why did they post it?

I run my hand through my hair and feel my phone buzz from Hoseok's message. I quickly open the link to look at the post again. I zoom in on where Jimin is standing to make sure you really can't see him. Luckily you can only see his hand, reaching for me. Taehyung basically isn't recognisable either, he's blurred quite a bit because of his movement. But it's clear that the guy with the fist is me. I look at myself and see a young version of me, acting on his instincts. Is this how other people see me?

"Yoongs... Please tell me what is happening in this photo." Hoseok turns to fixate his eyes on mine.

I take a deep breath and place the phone next to me. To delay the explanation a bit more I take my whiskey glass and drink the entire contents in one go. I haven't told Hoseok about me and Jimin yet, not because I don't trust him with the information, but just because I haven't really spoken him since. I clear my throat and turn to him.

"So ehh... Remember when I went to go see Jimin and his friend, after you and I were having dinner last time we met?"

"Yeees..?"

"That's the first night Jimin and I kissed... This picture is taken right after."

"Wait wait... hold up... You and Jimin kissed? And that was just the first time?"

How much should I tell him? "Yeah, we ehh..." I pause and wonder what harm it could do to tell him everything, I'm 100% sure he won't start spreading this information.

"Oh my god, you two are totally fucking aren't you?" Hoseok didn't even have to wait for my answer. This guy can read me too well.

"Yeah..." I scratch my neck.

"Ha! I knew it! That's why I haven't seen you in a while, you've been buuussyyyy..!" Hoseok playfully squeezes my cheek, but I quickly slap his hand away from me with a chuckle.

"Oh my god you're totally blushing, so cute!! But Yoongs, that doesn't explain why you punched someone else." His demeanour changes back to a more serious one.

"Right... That guy is Jimin's friend Taehyung."

"You punched his friend?? Why??"

"No no, I didn't actually punch him, I almost did. You see..." I go on to tell him the story of the whole evening. At the end I start biting my nails while I wait for Hoseok to respond. He just looks at me for a moment and suddenly bursts out in laughter. I can't help but slowly relax into a laugh as well, Hoseok's laugh is way too catchy.

"Oh hyung... Only you could get yourself in a situation like this, it's like Daegu all over again." He continues laughing. He's not wrong, I used to get into some very random fights every now and then in Daegu. If it wasn't a bouncer then it was Hoseok who'd drag me away and we'd run and hide in an ally to catch our breath until we laughed. This time luckily nobody had to drag me away — it was in fact Jimin who was dragged away.

After all these years it still feels good to have a laughing Hoseok next to me during a serious situation, he can make seemingly humourless events feel more lighthearted. Our laughter dies off and I let my body fall against the back of the couch with a groan.

"Hobiii... What am I going to do? If this spreads..." I don't even know how to finish that sentence. What will happen? Will the views of Honsool drop?

"I don't know Yoongs... Fame comes with troubles like this."

"Fame..." I sigh. "I don't feel famous at all. Sure, I've had a couple people stop me in the street before or talk to me in restaurants, but I'm hardly gossip material."

"Seriously? That's what you think? Dude, you have super famous guests on your show, of course people know you." Hoseok takes his glass and starts sipping.

"Well yeah, people might know me, but I'm not anyone special. I don't sing, act, dance... I just let other people talk about their talents, but nobody watches the show to see me. Do you know what I mean? Why would people gossip about me?"

"Well, you'll find out soon enough I guess." Hoseok pats my shoulder.

"Fuck..." I take another deep breath and stand up to go get the bottle of whiskey. I don't want to think about all the possible negative outcomes of these pictures. For tonight, I just want to drink my whiskey and talk with my friend. I don't want to think about how well everything has been going with Honsool and that it's only a matter of time before some shit hits the fan. Is this the first hit?

I waddle back to the coach and pour our glasses with a way too generous amount of liquid before sitting down again and grabbing my phone. I open the Reddit post and start reading the comments while I sip the drink that is supposed to help me forget about this.

- I always thought there was something off about Min Yoongi.
- RIGHT?! I don't trust him.
- Is that how he convinces his guests to come on his show?
- Daddy.
- Got daddy issues?
- I do now 😏
- Who is he punching? Seokjin? Does he need a pay raise or something?
- Omo no don't hurt Jin's face!!!
- Lol Jin would murder him with his eyes if he'd touch his face.
- Damn, red flag alert. Still hot though. Maybe even hotter 🥵

"Yaa, don't read the comments!" Hoseok tries to take my phone but I don't let him.

"Some of these comments are actually pretty funny." I chuckle. Sometimes I scroll through the comments on the Honsool episodes on YouTube, and there are the occasional comments about my looks. It's a strange feeling. Even though I don't think I'm ugly, I never really considered myself to be that handsome, I usually get my confidence from other things. But since reading comments like that I can't help but feel a little bit... smug? I try to not let it get to my head, but I can't deny it's nice to read those things. Daddy is a new one though.

"Do your fans ever call you daddy?" I ask Hoseok curiously.

Hoseok laughs and almost chokes on his sip of whiskey. "It happens every now and then, mostly on Instagram. Why? Are people calling you daddy?"

"Yeah..."

"You're definitely entering fase 2 of your fame then." Hoseok chuckles and raises his glass to me. "To Yoongi, daddy of talk shows!"

"Dude."