thick as thieves || bts x mamamoo

twenty four;

"Sit still, Jimin. If you keep shifting your head around like that I might accidentally end up drawing you a unibrow," Hyejin chides, her brows furrowing as she tries her best to painstakingly apply her usual cosmetics onto Jimin's face, the other restless in his seat.

Jimin bites his lower lip and tries his best to follow instructions and stare straight ahead. After all, it's not like he can tell her that the reason he's so restless is because he's nervous to be so close in her presence. Thank god he was able to convince Byulyi that he could simply be disguised as another male, rather than a female. He probably would have died of embarrassment before Hyejin could even get a chance to do his makeup if he had actually had to cross dress. "A unibrow is still way better than Byulyi noona's original plan."

"I don't know," Hyejin giggles as she pats some sort of powder onto his forehead and cheeks. "I think you'd make for a really cute girl."

Jimin knows she's just saying that to tease him, but his face still heats up regardless as he stammers, "Not- Not as cute as you."

Oh god.

Did he just say that out loud?

Why is he like this?!

Hyejin pauses for a second, before dusting her brush off and setting it back down on the table, a wave of hair shielding her face from Jimin's nervous stare and internal state of panic. She reaches for a jar of some other cosmetics to apply to his face and it isn't until she turns back to look at him that Jimin sees the faint pink scattered across her cheeks. "Th- Thanks."

Jimin's heart stops.

This isn't fair! How is she allowed to be so cheeky yet also this cute?!

"N- No problem," is all he manages to stutter out, still a bit stunned at this rather shy side of Hyejin that he's never gotten the chance to see until now. It's clear that Hyejin and Wheein look up to Byulyi as their leader, their role model, so it isn't surprising that the two of them emulate a similar air of confidence as the older. It seems he's been so swept up in the pace of things that he's forgotten that they might have simply been putting on a strong front simply because they were nervous about being thrown into a new and unfamiliar situation. It suddenly dawns upon him that despite his recent infatuation with Hyejin, he really doesn't know much about her, about her past.

He stares thoughtfully at the girl before him for a moment, before asking, "How did you and Wheein meet Byulyi noona?"

Hyejin pauses, quietly wiping down the brush in her hand almost as though to delay answering the question. "Wheein and I... We aren't secret nobility like Yongsun unnie or grew up with a sword in our hand like Byulyi unnie. We were orphans, just a couple of street rats that never knew when we would get our next meal."

Jimin's eyes widen. "Wow..."

Hyejin's smile is one of fondness towards her childhood memories, yet a shadow of bittersweet reminiscence lingers beneath the curve of her lips. "Our unnies may be sisters bound by blood oath, but Wheein and I... we're sisters bound by time. I can't even remember a time in my life when she wasn't by my side. Growing up, she was the only family I had. We fought with one another, but also fought for one another. We were quick enough to realize that if we wanted to survive, we needed skills, something that could earn us enough money to make it through each week."

"Is that where you learned...?" Jimin waves his hand around in a couple of vague gestures, but Hyejin still easily picks up on what he's trying to say and nods.

"We were once lucky enough to sneak inside a circus performance unnoticed." Her eyes sparkle with excitement at the memory. "It was... It was so beautiful, Jimin-ah, so thrilling. The performers looked like they were defying gravity when flew through the air. I knew that it was what I wanted to do, or at least try. After that night, we trained so hard and did everything we could to practice until we had enough for a performance."