time and time again | kth (discontinued)

7

"You want to know what happened while I was there?" I dropped my backpack on the floor and sat down next to Jimin. He looked up from his phone, his face brightening. 

"Oh, you're back. How was it?"

"You want to know what happened? She broke up with me."

"What?"

"Alternate Maia broke up with alternate me."

"Wait." Jimin laughed. "You've got to tell me what went down."

"She said she thought I still liked my ex. And I didn't know what to say, because I have no idea what goes on in alternate Taehyung's life. But that's not the point. I'm just really--" I searched for the right words-- "I wasn't expecting that on my first trip."

"If you remember the terms, it says that we are not responsible for any events that may occur on a trip, Tae. We don't know what goes on in other universes." His gaze softened. "But how are you feeling, though?"

I shrugged. "I mean, it wasn't my fault, so I'm not that mad about it." I paused to look at him. "Do you think something like this will happen again?"

Jimin inhaled, then let out a shaky sigh. "I don't know. I can't guarantee anything, except for your safe travel there and back. And," he said, his voice getting noticeably louder and brighter, "speaking of safe travel, you've passed the initiation. Congratulations."

"Initiation?" I asked.

He waved off my concern with a hand. "That's just a nickname for the first trip people take, which is to make sure people respond well to the time traveling. Since your first trip went well, with no hiccups, my uncle told me to tell you that he wants you to possibly...stay in an alternate universe for an extended period of time. Just to see how people might react. He figured since you might want to spend time with Maia again, you'd be the perfect candidate."

"Candidate?" I said, having not retained anything he had just told me. But Jimin was already pulling a small vial from his backpack.

"Once you find a universe you like, stay there for a few weeks. Then, come back and talk to my uncle. He'll run some tests, but they won't be too invasive. Feel free to ask me for any more of this stuff if you run out." He shook the vial, then handed it to me.

As I took the container, the bell rang, and my AP World History teacher stood up to begin instruction. I slipped the vial into my backpack and took out my folder as the teacher began to speak.

Fortunately he didn't speak for long. Instead, he passed out an assignment, which meant I could talk to Jimin. "Why am I the one who has to stay there? Why can't I do something else?"

"Well," said Jimin, "that's what my uncle wants to test. You happen to be the perfect candidate."

"I don't want to see her, though."

He arched an eyebrow. "Do you?"

I thought of how much I'd missed her voice, how excited I'd gotten when she'd called me. "Okay. Well, what about school? I'll miss so many weeks of school."

Jimin put his pencil down to look at me, his eyes full of amusement. He laughed, shaking his head. "Tae. Answer me this: do you truly care about school right now?"

"I might not care about school anymore, but I certainly care about the AP tests I paid hundreds of dollars for. I'm not going to let alternate me fail them."

He spun his pencil around nonchalantly. "Just come back in time to take the test. Come on, Tae. We'll give you more money."

"Jimin, you can't go around bribing people for everything. That's not going to roll when you enter the workforce."

"But I'm not in the workforce right now," he said with a smirk. "Are you really going to reject money?"

I bit my lip. "How much more money?"

He leaned over to whisper the amount in my ear. "20 percent more than what was stated on the contract."

I looked at him, my eyes growing wide. "Jimin. 20 percent more? That's..."

"A shit ton of money," he finished. "But we're willing to pay you that much. This project's really important, you know."

"But you said you were financially--"

"So?" said Jimin. "This amount of money isn't going to set us back, by any means. Tae, I really, really want you to accept this offer."

"But--"

"On God," he said loudly. "I'll buy you bubble tea every week until the end of the year, if that's what it takes to get you to agree."

I was about to reply, but my teacher cast a glance in our direction. "Jimin and Taehyung! Are you discussing your DBQ right now?"

"No, sir," Jimin said under his breath. Then louder, "Sorry."

We fell quiet. He picked up his pencil and wrote something, then slid the sheet over to me. Yes or no?

He watched as the tip of my pencil met the paper, as I made my decision.

Yes.

a/n: this is a really short one sorry yall

so i had a snow day last wednesday and i watched parasite on f2movies (i know i'm late to the trends) and i swear i had to lay on my bed for ten minutes going through an existential crisis about that movie. it just hits so hard i'm