𝒍 ꪆৎ

Chun on X has put all the AYS memes together in one edit, love it!

I’ve recently seen a couple of posts on jm’s birthday live from 2021 pop up on my tl. This live has also seemingly sparked some general discussion on 2021 jkk.

So, I’m gonna share my own experience🫶🏽

I remember watching this live in real-time. It started off with typical Jimin antics (which was literally just him exisiting and being the most adorable being on earth). It was his first solo live in a while so, understandably, he was feeling a little bit awkward. Nevertheless, he talked with us, answering some comments, reading birthday wishes and sharing some recent updates. It went on like this for a couple of minutes until he apparently couldn’t take the silence anymore😭

About 10 minutes in, he suddenly goes:

“I’m gonna call someone to guest on this live with me, kay?”

AND THEN, I find myself watching, absolutely stunned, as the man ducks out of frame and crawls (??) under the table to make his call.

At this point, we were just watching the abandoned wheely chair while jm is talking in the softest, most baby tone to whoever is on the other end of the line. I really wanna emphasise his tone cause I’d never heard him talk like that before. Anyways, he continues asking that person to join him on the live and I remember thinking ‘hah it’s probably jk’🤪 (cause literally who else does he speak to like that?)

Jm finally emerges from the depths of the table, asking the other person if he can put him on speaker. Of course, turns out it was jk.

So, jk abandons his work out session with the bros to come keep jm company on his live (someone did the maths💀 and apparently he travelled 15 storeys or something from the hybe gym to get to jm in under 2 minutes). Bro dropped everything as soon as that phone call ended.

(Honestly, I would too if jm was asking so sweetly.)

^^that screencap TAKES ME OUT HAHAHHAHA

Jk shows up and obviously, those two have me cheesing the whole time. Jm slaps a tiddie, soju is brought onto the premises and even hobi comes by.

Now, Hobi’s little visit was interesting. Interesting cause he asks jm “why are you in jk’s studio?😋🤨”.

Now, I didn’t really pay any heed to that. It could’ve just been a genuine question BUT, jm has this reaction that had me raising a brow. He ducks his head and smiles shyly?? Here I was thinking that little offhand comment wasn’t too deep but, apparently it was. He even chokes on his water a little when hobi keeps teasing. Considering jk’s head is out of frame, we don’t know what his reaction was (let’s assume he was smiling. he’s a smiley guy after all:)).

Anyway, they continue until jk has to leave. Cue jm begging him not to and jk replying back with the most indulgent tone abjabsjsjjs. It was so cute.

Anyway, it is as the allegations state, they were insufferable in 2021. The tannies were holding the ptd concerts and, afterwards, those two would always be hanging out together in their hotel rooms (jms words not mine). They were really stuck at the hip and yes, jm went through this seemingly random phase of being uber-shy and bashful around jk.

I guess this post will be me repeating myself for the umpteenth time, but I feel like it all needs to be said, even more so after watching most of Are you sure?! and most definitley after watching 2 of the 3 Sapporo episodes.

JM and JK chose to do this show.

They chose to travel together in CT, JM flying out to JK who was just starting his solo debut journey.

They chose to travel to Jeju for the show, just before Chuseok (where they went back together to Busan and spent time with their families) - Tae not being part of the plan, basically insisting (being adamant about it) to join them just a couple of days before they were meant to leave for Jeju and doing so when JK was literally overseas at the time performing and busy just before the release of 3D and later on Golden.

They chose to go to Jeju for the show while only a month or so prior they were there together alone, no cameras and no Tae (who knows, maybe even scouting and checking out where to stay and what to do for the show).

They chose to do this seconds before 3D landed and JK and JM are thrown back into crazy schedules (JK with Golden and JM with Muse - which we were unaware of at the time).

And they chose to go together to Sapporo for their last trip before enlistment (after spending a couple of days in Tokyo together).

To spend that last opportunity of doing stuff they wanted, being free, eating good food, TOGETHER. Quality time with EACH OTHER.

THEY CHOSE!!!

Just as they CHOSE to enlist together and spend the next 18 months of their military service together.

You know, the latter could maybe (not really) be explained as a need not to go through this alone, the whole hardship of military service, not necessarily with each other. Although that explanation doesn't really hold water as: a. they could have, if it was about not going through it all alone, enlisted with another member, which clearly they they chose not to; and b. In doing so, they chose a harder service- so if this was about making military service easier on them, well this was definitley not the way to do so. The two chose to go through whatever process they had to go through in order to be able to do this together. The together, the two of them, was the end deal. Yes, it is easier on them because they have each other to go through everything that military service and life entails, but the point is that it needed to be JK and JM and that this choice and being able to do this is what makes enlistment bearable for them.

Enlistment was a choice made but at the same time, imo, a necessity for the two of them. And yes, don't come at me for saying this. Of course they could and would survive going it alone, but at the same time that would be it - surviving. Them doing this together was something both of them needed.

Back on track...

Joint enlistment was a choice but also a need.

Spending their last free time, doing the things they love to do, enjoying good food, enjoying the snow, enjoying hot springs, enjoying snowboarding and skiing, enjoying BEING - doing all of this together just before enlistment - that was a full on choice!!!

Imagine you are about to be sent away for the next 18 months to a place where your whole life is restricted. What you eat, what you do, when you wake, when you sleep, you're told what you're allowed to do and what you aren't, when you can use your phone and when you can't, you are given only several days every 3 months to go home, have time off.

And before that happens, basically 2 weeks out, you have a little tiny window of some free time (unscheduled) in which you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want to with whoever you want to, one last time before it all happens - enlistment.

Think for a second what you would choose to do in that time and who you would choose to spend that time together with.

JK chose to spend it with JM.

JM chose to spend it with JK.

(And they allowed us to have a peak into that with this show - out of necessity but also another choice made by them to let us see THEM as they are with each other - well some of how they are with each other).

All while both are going to be spending the next 18 months together as is in the military.

Do you get it now?

The choices and how very loud and obvious they are?

It's about making those memories before enlistment.

It's about having those experiences to reminisce on while in service.

But above all it's about doing that together.

Making those memories together.

Living those experiences together.

And then enlisting together.

CHOICES!!!

I think that anyone that has eyes and half a brain can see just how meaningful, even emotional, this trip is for them.

Their choice of BEING together in this specific place and time is everything.

As I'm writing these lines, @wonsummernight went and posted this:

A perfect edit to a perfect song choice, as usual!!!

And what a perfect finish to my over sentimental post.

JM wasn't feeling well. But he soldiered on throughout that first day.

And at night, well, quite a sleepless one, looks like things jumped up a notch and not in a good way.

And to those that are watching and don't understand the dynamics of the two it might appear that JK is being a little distant perhaps. Definitley not too talkative. Not as much as they sure want him to be.

I will say this again - what we see is edited content. JK spent the whole day with JM, the night too. And not in silence. Surprisingly (NOT) even when the cameras were off, or perhaps, like I mentioned, conversations and interactions cut out.

Another example to the cutting and editing is the conversation we get at the 50:58 minute mark. It's quite obvious that this convo, that has to do with JM getting wacked in the nose overnight, happened after the whole interaction that we get to see at 52:54 minutes. In the latter JM is wiped out, just waking up, feeling like shit (hard to hide), while in the first JM is fully awake and conversational, probably feeling a little better than before. A little better perhaps, but well awake for sure.

Top that with the fact that we know those two and how they communicate with each other. At times no need for words. Eye contact, facial expressions, a touch at times, are enough for them to know what the other is saying or feeling.

In the wake of all that, we get the little interaction in the morning.

JK is aware of the cameras, he's telling the cameras - us - that JM is "dying right now". Meaning, he's feeling REALLY bad.

And JK wants JM to be better. He prepares the medicine for JM to take and gives it to JM.

But he doesn't force him. He doesn't argue with him.

He places it in JM's hand and leaves.

Allowing JM to decide if and when to take it.

And this, my friends is it.

This is how you know just how close they are. How much they know each other. Know if you can push, insist, and if so just how much to do so.

JK wants JM to take the medicine. He tells him he needs to take it, but he doesn't stand there waiting for him to, because he knows JM. He knows that there is a good chance that JM won't want to and he isn't going to argue about it with him.

And JM doesn't.

He places the medication back on the table without taking it.

Does he take it later on? We don't know for sure, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't though. But even if he did, he did it in his own time of his own accord. JK standing over him insisting he take it at that moment would have been futile, and JK knew that!!!

Reminds me a little of JK during MOTS ON:E live online concert day 1, not rushing to JM when he was crying while doing his ments. Waiting for the camera to fan out, for his part to end, allowing him to go to JM and comfort him but in the way that JM will accept that comfort while on camera. This is how you know your person, love them, want to be with them, but at the same time allow them to be themselves, know them and how to be there for them on their terms, not yours.

JK wasn't being abrasive, he wasn't mocking JM or being uncaring. Quite the opposite.

While leaving JM to take the medication - well, to decide if to or not, he did what he can do - JK being a man of action. He went and built the stone tower. An unusually tall one.

And even if we don't know what his own wish was, seeing his remark to JM to make his wish, we can really kind of guess what it was!!!

Lessons in how to start an episode right here.

Jikook being all sentimental.

This is not the first time they were in Sapporo. JM was talking about six or seven years ago, while this came to mind straight away:

Sapporo snow festival February 2016.

One of those probably memorable moments.

This is such a young Jikook, this being one of the first louder JK moments at the time.

I'm sure they created some beautiful memories there. None as beautiful as the ones they created in Tokyo though.

That was theirs, and that is also why we don't get to share any of their Tokyo time in 2024. That is theirs and theirs alone. And yes, I know that JK was working part of their time in Tokyo, but see, if they weren't intending on spending time together, JM could easily have joined him a few days later. But he didn't.

Them sitting there on that sofa and talking about the show, btw, was filmed most likely at the end of their trip, just before leaving for the airport and home.

This is them leaving Sapporo.

28 November 2023. Basically 2 weeks before they enlisted. Them sitting down, at the very end of their last trip before enlistment. Understandably emotions would be heightened. And that trademarked move of JK's...

Moving on to their arrival in Sapporo.

Ok, so as I mentioned in my Jeju posts, I saw a clear shift in JK in Jeju. Lighter. A weight lifted off his shoulders. He was the same here, even more so. But the one I wanted to talk about was JM. Because I felt like here, in Sapporo, is where we see that same shift in him. In CT he was sick but content to be with JK. In Jeju he was happy but still felt a little distant (not from JK but not allowing himself to fully let go), less touchy feely with JK, like he was holding back (with all of the shifty cheeky behaviour that was going on he still felt like he was holding back). But here, he's just all in. He's handsy and touchy feely, and talkative. So so talkative. I won't lie, I was a little shocked. In the best way possible. This was a side of JM we didn't get to see for such a long time. Free. Open. Some of the conversations they had, and some of the things JM talked about, never in 100 years would I have thought he would bring them up on his own accord and share his thoughts with us about them.

This one for example:

JM talking about this so openly. JK's reaction or lack thereof makes me feel like this wasn't the first time the subject came up with the two of them.

Not to say that I don't think that JK was taken aback by JM bringing it up there and then. His initial reaction was not stressed but maybe a little worried?

But with saying that, imo this is not the first time he's heard this. And the maybe a little worry is not about the subject and more about the timing of the convo.

Happiness.

That is what I see.

Even when having this conversation, which is not an easy one to have for the two of them.

Remember how the subject of being married with children came up during Festa 2020? Remember how the two stayed conspicuously silent on the matter?

And yet, JM brought it up there and then, openly, with a smile on his face, his hand not leaving JK's shoulder for one second during this whole convo.

All and all it was just so heartwarming to see them throughout the whole episode. Like I said, they just looked happy. To be there, together, with each other, making new memories to take with them for the next couple of years.

Back to them arriving in Hokkaido, can someone please explain to me why JK found the need to change that camera angle to show us JM's hand on him?

JM well aware and letting go pretty much immediately.

Next we had them in the car/van/whatever it was. Doing this:

Ok then, what to say here?

What indeed?

Truly, I'm seriously asking here, because I'm kind of at a loss for words, lol.

Just another one of those super sus super "nothing platonic going on here" moments.

Kind of like this one.

But the eye squint, that smile, lip pucker and shoulder lift...

This sequence:

Really JK?

Can you be any more obvious?

🤣🤣

Just two dudes going on a dude vacay, right?

And JK once again when hungry... looking for his food is he?

Oh, and last but not least:

This is how 2 people enter a room when they are well aware of the camera in the room:

And this is how 2 people are caught off guard by a candid camera placed in a room they weren't supposed to be entering together...

Oopsy.