Apathy, and His Smile JIKOOK||

Chapter 10

a slightly shorter chapter than usual

No one's POV

When both the boy's had arrived back at Jimin's apartment after their shopping spree, Jimin asked Jungkook to put away the groceries whilst he decided to start on unpacking his belongings. During that period, Jimin had taken some time to tell Jungkook more about himself: about his family, what he had studied at university, his friends, his hobbies, his favourite snacks. He told Jungkook as much as he could say, but not enough to discourage the pleasant mood, so he made sure to leave out the part of his currently divided family and his mother's health situation.

Jungkook had listened quietly, wanting to know more about this chirpy man, and had purposely taken his time with placing away the groceries. He had spotted the banana chip-bag which had caught his eye at the supermarket, and when he questioned Jimin about it, Jimin only grinned ear to ear before he carried on emptying out the cardboard boxes.

Afterwards, the two men started to prepare their dinner, with Jungkook preparing the ingredients and Jimin at the stove. They both talked all the while through, and Jimin asked Jungkook about himself. Even though there wasn't much to say, he had told Jimin his preferences in food and his favorite colours which, while he expected would include black, had also surprisingly been the colour yellow.

Although their time together so far had been so ridiculously short, Jimin had felt himself feeling more comfortable around the quiet man, and Jungkook had started to slowly open a door which he never thought existed in himself.

The evening had been calm and hearty, and had a very benign aura surrounding it. Jimin had discovered through the hours that even though Jungkook had a rather mechanical manner, he could be benevolent, gentle, and almost humane.
And Jungkook had unearthed a personality trait in Jimin which he wouldn't have preconceived if it wasn't for the time he had spent with him; Jimin was no doubt friendly and more extroverted than he was reserved, but he was also very much susceptible to becoming demure and shy and modest when he spoke about himself as a person.

The awkward tensions between the two had gone, and had been replaced with new, warm feelings of closeness.

***
Jimin

As he laid out a few thick quilts and pillows ontop of the futon, Jimin sighed to himself. The past couple days had certainly been hectic. In fact, hectic would have been putting it lightly. He still couldn't get his head around the strange turn of events, and even if he could, it still would seem unbelievable to many. But now that he had gotten to know Jungkook a little better, Jimin didn't feel uncertain about it all, or not as much as he had initially. Jungkook seemed to be a good person, whether he was a bionic or not, so he took his current validation of Jungkook and kept it to the front of his mind.

The older stood in front of the futon with his hands on his hips, and pursed his lips. He hoped Jungkook would be okay with sleeping in the living room. Jimin had considered maybe moving it into his bedroom; he knew Jungkook wouldn't care either way, but it was still waaaaaaay too audacious and thoughtless from his own perspective. One could say, Jimin was sure he'd be unable to sleep at all already so he wasn't about to strengthen that possibility.

He looked up when he saw Jungkook walk into the room wearing a white shirt and grey shorts, and he stood up. "You good to go?"

Jungkook nodded. "I never said thank you. How should I make this up to you?"

Jimin tapped his chin, and looked up. "How about becoming my personal slave?"

"Okay."

Jimin ruffled Jungkook's hair playfully. "I was joking! Don't take everything I say too literally!"

"What about what you just said?"

"Yes, no, well, it's really up to you to decide whether you want to or not," Jimin laughed. "And you don't have to pay me back." He gently patted him on the shoulder and gave him a kind smile. "Goodnight."

Jungkook smiled back; it was a faint but tender motion, and Jimin felt his cheeks turn slightly pink when they locked eyes. "Goodnight."

Jimin walked out the room and switched off the light on the way. He took one last look over his shoulder, and saw Jungkook already tucked up in bed with his eyes on the ceiling.
Jimin shook his head as he chuckled to himself, then he made his way to his bedroom.

When his head hit the pillow, he too found himself staring up at the ceiling above him. He had too many questions bouncing around in his head, and with his mind on the loose, he found it difficult to settle into the sheets and really call it a day.
Everything seemed so new to him, and in the beginning, Jimin had found it exciting.

A new apartment, a new job, and now a new roommate.

There was no denying the slight rush from letting an extremely attractive stranger into his home, and he knew that he should really be feeling skeptical instead of excitement, but he couldn't help what he was feeling.
Sometimes he knew he felt too much. He tended to over think at times, which could probably be the cause of it, but what could he do? It was just his nature to over complicate his own thoughts sometimes.

He rolled over, and buried his head into his pillow. Why wouldn't his heart slow down? There must be something wrong with him to feel like this about someone he's known only a day, and it didn't help that that someone was sleeping not too far away. Jimim shook his head, and squeezed his eyes shut. He had to be practical about this. No drama-like scenarios, or weird feelings.

For now, just sleep.

***
Jungkook

As he laid in the darkness, Jungkook found himself unable to welcome any sort of shut-eye. He felt a strange urge in his body to just jump up and frantically pace around. It was probably due to what had happened recently. He had been erased from the company, him and his entire model versions, and he didn't know why.

He couldn't remember why. And that was what was so frustrating.

He placed his hand on top of his chest in an effort to slow his heart.
What he was feeling: confusion, frustration, anxiousness-how was it possible? He had been biologically altered to not ever feel, ever. So how was this possible? Jungkook swallowed. Had they ridden of him and others like him, because they were faulted? Because they were like this too? It would make sense. They had been told that if someone could feel more than one emotion, then they would likely feel more in the future.

And when Jungkook had watched those first snowflakes fall from the sky the day he had had the meeting with Hoseok, he had felt a miniscule fraction of happiness.

He sighed.

Where he was, wasn't too bad. It wasn't bad at all, he found him correcting himself. In fact, he was sure he wanted to stay here with Jimin for the period of time that they were supposed to have together. But he still wanted answers. He had to know why he had been rejected this way, and the others.

Jungkook rolled over, and closed his eyes; the last thing playing in his mind was the blonde boy's rosy-cheeked smile.