✔️ Tongue-Tied ➳ vmin

🥕8🥕

Kim Taehyung is such a dumbass.

"He knows it's your favorite one."

Joshua, chin in hand, smiles ever so slightly.

*********

Wringing the murky water from the rag into the pail, Taehyung flicks his fringe out of his face, admiring his handiwork. Glimmering glass panes sparkle in the morning sun, like precious diamonds.

Five down, another few hundred "unpolished gems" to go.

About to get back to his grueling task, Taehyung suddenly hears the shuffling of feet. A pair of worn sneakers appear in his vision, followed by the loud clunk as a bucket, filled with clear water is set down on the floor. Standing up from his stooping position, Taehyung straightens up, coming face-to-face with Jimin.

Jet black hair sticks up everywhere at odd angles, a grubby rag gripped firmly in a fist, his free hand hanging awkwardly at his side. His cheeks are rosy, lips swollen from where white teeth have bitten down. Looking rather sheepish, he brings a hand up to his messy hair, managing to muss it up even more.

Taehyung opens his mouth, but all his words evaporate off the tip of his tongue the moment Jimin's eyes meet his. Both boys locked in an intense gaze, a silent exchange passes between them, thoughts conveyed through their expressions.

After what seems like a million sunlit days, Jimin wets his cloth, proceeding to wipe the nearest window wordlessly. Taehyung joins him, the pair of boys cleaning in silence. For a brief spell, the only sounds in the space are the dripping of water and the squeaking of the rag rubbing against the glass surface.

Jimin's struggling to reach one of the higher panes when he feels a hand on his head.

"I'll handle the top ones," Taehyung reassures gently, tousling Jimin's raven locks (so his hair's really as soft as it looks). "Don't strain yourself more than you already have."

Red blooms across Jimin's cheeks at Taehyung's gesture, an internal turmoil of emotions and thoughts jostling to be expressed.

"...Thank you," Jimin finally mumbles with difficulty, turning an even darker shade of crimson that travels up to the tips of his ears.

Taehyung's hand stills, the redhead's mouth forming a wide "O" as he stares at Jimin like he's just pulled a full-sized dog out from his pockets. Jimin blushes harder and goes back to wiping, scrubbing hard at an invisible spot of dirt to try and fight the heat in his cheeks.

It takes only a few seconds for Taehyung to crack up, the boy dissolving into a fit of laugher, his eyes crinkling into crescents.

"S-Shut up," Jimin stammers, wishing desperately for a crack in the earth to just open up and swallow him whole. "If not I'm taking that back."

"Aw, you meanie!" Taehyung's just plain gleeful now. "Does that mean you'll go out with me?"

"Don't push it."

"Then at least respond to me on Kakao!" Taehyung begs, eyes wide and pitiful. "Please?"

A pause. Taehyung waits in anticipation.

"...Maybe." Jimin replies quietly, his facial features softening. He turns his head and offers him a half smile, his lip curling upwards slightly.

Taehyung's floored, a weird sensation bubbling in his stomach, warmth curling up in his chest. Sparks fly around in his brain as Taehyung tries to connect the dots and make sense of the strangeness he's feeling. Instead, this just causes his mind to short circuit.

If he has to get into trouble just to see that smile, he'll happily become a wanted criminal.

"What? God, stop making that face. You're so stupid." Jimin whacks Taehyung's shoulder with the rag in his hands, his hostile façade falling away to reveal a shy, red-faced boy.