And The Games Begin

Chapter 50

The lights are bright and blinding when he steps out onto the stage, the noise from the crowd bordering on deafening, and he can't stop smiling. The look on his face matches Jungkook's, he's sure, which looks like it's about to split in half. He doesn't really recall walking across the stage, or shaking Chris's hand, or waving to the audience, but when he watches it back weeks later, he'll see that he did. All he remembers right now, in this moment, is wrapping his arms around Jungkook and breathing in the smell of his aftershave, all but melting into his embrace. Jungkook squeezes tightly, kissing his hair, and Chris, it's so, so good.

When the crowd starts to die down, he takes a seat next to Jungkook on the plush, white couch, rubbing his sweaty palms on his trousers, smiling harder when Jungkook drapes his arm over his shoulder.

" So this is my boy!" he says stupidly, and a couple of the audience members whistle and cheer.

Jimin slaps his leg. " They know who I am."

" Yeah, but I like telling people. Oh my God, baby, I can finally tell people. Guys, this is my fiancé! Look at his face!"

He blushes. " Jeon, please."

Chris smiles and places his hands on his lap. " Jimin, welcome."

Jimin nods. " Thank you. It's good to be here."

" Here with me?" Jungkook asks, nudging him with his elbow.

" No, here on this couch." He bounces up and down on the cushion. " So comfy."

" Okay. Jimin." Chris's expression becomes serious and Jimin stops moving. " Let's first talk about the proposal. Did you have an idea it was you, and not Cam?"

Jungkook laces his fingers through Jimin's hand before he starts talking.

" I was hoping it was me," he says honestly, half smiling. " Going into it, I wasn't one hundred percent sure, but looking back, I should have known. I mean, like, I really know this guy."

" You do." Jungkook confirms.

" Yeah, I do, and I feel stupid for even questioning him, really."

Chris turns to Jungkook. " When did you know Jungkook, that you wanted to be with Jimin? When did you decide you wanted to propose to him?"

" I never got to propose to him, remember? Not really, anyway. It got hijacked."

Jimin shakes his head and brushes his hair out of his eyes. " You were taking too long, that's not my problem."

Jungkook ignores him. " Well. He was the first person to grab my attention, and the only one to keep it all the way through. But I regretted giving him the first impression rose for a while."

" Hey, I didn't know that."

He nods. " Yeah, I feel like there's a bad omen surrounding whomever receives the first rose of the season. It always seems that everything goes down hill from there. And I was afraid of that for a while."

" Getting superstitious on me, Jeon?"

" I guess so. I just wanted all the good luck I could get, so I could keep you."

The audience aww's and Jimin makes a fake gagging noise.

Chris laughs. " So, it was him from the beginning?"

Jungkook shrugs. " Did you not watch the season, Chris? It was, like, painfully obvious. I tried to be subtle but..."

Jimin pats his knee affectionately.

" We'll work on that skill."

" Thanks, baby, I appreciate it."

" And Jimin. Was it the same for you? Did you know as early on as Jungkook did that you were a perfect match?"