BTS’ Jungkook and Charlie Puth have had a thing going on for about a year and a half now, and we are not sure what to call it. 

Let’s not say ‘bromance,’ which has become too hackneyed a term they will call any sight of two men not hating each other "bromance." It’s more than mere professional admiration between two musicians. It’s not quite a full-blown “stanship (stan: a maniacal fan),” as some have gone so far as to say. 

The only thing that is certain at this point is that Twitter is their preferred mode of communication.

It all started with Jungkook’s cover of Puth’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore” in February 2017. Puth was quick to spot the cover and responded with a casually misspelt tweet, “Love this Jungcook,” which no longer exists as Puth pulled a classic case of “tweet-and-delete,” perhaps due to the spelling error.

He referenced the incident months later in his June 2017 interview with MYX Philippines: “I think (BTS) are a fantastic band and I want to meet them in person one day, and apologize to Jungkook for mispronouncing his name.” 

Following the interview, Jimin and Jungkook dropped a second cover of the same Puth song, which boasts 17 million YouTube views as of Friday. The first cover by Jungkook has amassed 5 million views.

Before the radio interview and second cover came around, Puth let the world know that he really likes BTS’ music in March 2017 via a tweet that said exactly that: “I really like BTS’s music.” BTS returned the love a day later: “We really like Charlie Puth’s music,” becoming one of the most exciting celebrity Twitter back-and-forth of the year.

Puth reached out to BTS once again in November, but this time in private. “Yo, DMs!” tweeted Puth, which sparked an explosive fan response and speculations surrounding a possible collaboration. Details regarding the personal messaging remain hidden to this day.

As recently as June 22, Jungkook picked Puth’s “The Way I Am” as his favorite travel tune when the BTS members sat down for an interview with Apple Music to discuss their playlist.

One of the first things Puth did after the release of the music video for his new single “The Way I Am” was tweet to Jungkook about it. “Jungkook look,” he tweeted in what many interpreted as a sweet gesture, with a link to his new music video only an hour after it was unveiled Monday. 

Jungkook has yet to respond, but that didn't stop fans from showering the tweet with over 81 thousand retweets and 161 thousand likes (as of Friday).

Where will this mutual courtship lead to? Even if it does not culminate in a collaboration, it’s delightful for music fans to watch the generation’s best pop talents bonding.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)