あなたはwho?

Then call them best friends, Becky. Say it. Say that Jimin and Jungkook are connected-at-the-hip-share-a-single-brain-cell-soulmate-level best friends. Just like Jimin and Tae, right? Say it.

Actually, be specific and call them the closest duo in Bangtan, because at a minimum that’s what they are. Like, if you don’t want to say they’re each other’s real life best friend (meaning outside of BTS), at least say that they are closer to each other than they are to any other member — because you can at least acknowledge that, right?

And if you’re so sure they’re “brothers” then celebrate it! Stop pretending it isn’t special, call it a bromance! Ooh and ah over it, like people do when married male actors have a public bromance. Call them the next Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, the next Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. (Even if, rather than publicly roasting and joking with each other; they are more often than not sweetly supportive and flirtatiously complimentary…That’s fine, call them a CHEESY bromance).

But nobody will.

It’s either, “ALL SEVEN of them are so close and love each other like brothers” or “Jungkook has such a big crush on Namjoon 🤭” or “vmin are still the closest, they have a song about it!” or “Korean men have skinship in their friendships, shippers are so weird, stop projecting your fantasies” but it’s never “ah, well, season 2 of that soft little show? No one is surprised. As expected from the best friends who enlisted in the military under a rare, special Buddy system. Jikook are jikook. Of course they want to hang out together 24-7.”

People flood to the comments section to (very mildly, with much restraint) praise their bond, but NO ONE will call it the closest in the group, even though it objectively is. Well, no one but a subset of the fandom who immediately get called creeps and weirdos and fetishizers.

No one but shippers will acknowledge their closeness and it’s so obvious why:

Because if you acknowledge their closeness, if you do anything but minimize and ignore it, it starts to look a whole lot like something else.

And people are too homophobic to allow that.

Jungkook and Jimin enlisting together under a Buddy system that no other idols in the same group have ever used shows closeness.

Jungkook and Jimin filming not just one but TWO seasons of a travel show that primarily follows JUST the TWO of them (when they are part of a band of 7) shows CLOSENESS.

Jungkook going to Jimin’s house after a concert to cook him dinner and then the two of them going out the next day to presumably spend White Day together shows CLOSE. NESS.

Jungkook going live in 2023 every time Jimin left town, and mentioning Jimin relentlessly and making him flat out the entire topic of some of the lives shows that Jungkook thinks of him when he’s gone.

Jungkook complaining that he missed Jimin when they were both busy, Jungkook saying he wants to film travel shows with Jimin until they’re 50, Jimin mentioning Jungkook in the letters he posted while enlisted alongside him, Jungkook’s voice giggling from behind the camera while he films Jimin’s dance challenge for him…

Jimin saying if he could take one thing with him to a desert island it would be Jungkook. Jungkook saying if he was a girl he’d want to date a guy like Jimin. Jungkook showing up with a hickey Jimin gave him because they got drunk together and Jungkook wouldn’t stop spinning him in his arms. The same arms he proudly carried Jimin out of a concert with, while Jimin giggled and blushed.

Jason Momoa and Henry Cavill? Tom Holland and Jake Gylenhaal? Selena and Taylor? THEY COULD NEVER.

Everything jikook shows us points to a best-friendness of EPIC PROPORTIONS at the LEAST. They should be the best friend duo that gets talked about the MOST IN BANGTAN. They’re so close locals should know about it. Not Jimin and Hobi. Not Jimin and Taehyung. Not Hoseok and Yoongi. Not Yoongi and Namjoon. Not Jungkook and Jin. Not the maknae line. Jikook have lapped all of them, and they have for years, but ESPECIALLY in the last 3 years.

And in the last two weeks? In the last two/three WEEKS???

If Jungkook and Jimin were a man and a woman the events of the last two weeks would be a HARD LAUNCH, and EVERYONE KNOWS IT.

It is only — I repeat: ONLY — heteronormativity that keeps the majority of ARMY from assuming they are dating. That’s it. That’s literally the only reason anyone in the fandom is even arguing about what they are right now. (Well, that and rival ships, which at this point should really only be referred to as patched-together inflatable rafts).

Call them just best friends. I respect that take! Some people don’t see the romance and tension and affection that I see, and that’s cool! Call them the best of friends.

But for the love of god stop minimizing their closeness. Stop pretending they treat anyone else in the band the way they treat each other. Stop pretending that they’re not choosing each other over and over and over again.

And don’t call them fake, or forced, unless you want to talk about the fact that everything we see about them is official content. Not unless you want to pry open the can of worms that is your parasocial relationship with them and acknowledge the hard truth that you actually don’t know either of them at all.

A random dive into the recent activity in my brain:

Jimin is a boob man and Jungkook is an ass man. It is what it is.

I wonder if Jungkook ever got over the fact he had to wear military-issue socks and not his toe socks that he's accustomed to?

They just spent 18 long months with a bunch of other men...when did they... you know... and how... you know... its not a monastery... so... anyway... like I said, intrusive thoughts...

I wonder if they had a subunit nickname in their barracks. If so I'm 100% positive it was Minkook. MIN GOOGIE!

Some of the comments during Weverse lives make me want to push people off a cliff... violent, I know, but some people shouldn't be allowed on the internet, know what I mean?

FIFTY EIGHT DAYS LEFT FOR JIMIN AND JUNGKOOK... 58!!!!!! one month and 28 days until they are:

And it is exactly two months until June 13.

I think it’s so ironic that just yesterday we were talking about them two coming off as a pair and today we get this news. I mean, ironic and unexpected but not really surprising…

When Jikook get particularly “loud”, for an entire year (like 2019, for example) or just a few months, the community flows between being shocked by it everytime and being used to it for what it is… the closest duo doing things a close duo does.

But lately, I mean especially after the enlistment, it’s really hard to keep up and we’ve all reached a point (as it should be, I know, time passes by and things move) where we all move on to the next thing pretty soon. It would be impossible to talk about sharing breaks and cars, and then the unit, and then the shower, and then free time and phonecalls and weverse comments all, the, time. But if you truly, truly focus on it, since Are You Sure dropped things have not been the exact same. And these two… maybe it’s just me wishing them the happiest life but these two look more in peace with showing they’re close. And I’m here for it.

I guess what I’m tryna say is nothing too serious- we’ll get there once they’re back, safe, settled, and once they feel comfortable with sharing their experiences and “new” selves - but just that I hadn’t witnessed k-jkkrs going so crazy over something collectively in a hot minute. I swear. I wanna share just some of their most iconic reactions.

“If you keep doing things like this—‘enlisting together,’ ‘sending wreaths together’—the next step is marriage.”

“Seriously, being curious will get you dragged by the collar… they keep pulling me in like, ‘come here!’ LOL. The two of them really seem like that kind of relationship (which they actually are). I mean, how can they be this obvious? Ugh, I can’t.”

“They really seem like a married couple”

“Yeah… why send two of them? They could’ve just engraved both names on one and sent it… Ha, these billionaire penny-pinching spouses are seriously so funny…”

“Why go so far to make it a set…”

There would just be too many to share so let’s just not…LMAO

These same individuals also claimed that Jungkook chose to become a cook to distance himself from Jimin. And yet, Jungkook has openly shared how, after finishing his kitchen duties, he goes to meet with Jimin, and they spend time talking and singing together. Showering together is likely optional, but they choose to, and even enjoy singing while doing so.

What’s especially frustrating is how often Jikookers are proven right, yet our voices are consistently overshadowed by antis who are quick to push the narrative that Jimin and Jungkook aren’t close. Of course, you’ll never see them admit they were wrong. Instead, they simply spin a new story and move on. Now that they can no longer claim Jikook aren’t together, their latest excuse is, “Everyone showers together in the military.” LOL!