Chasing Butterflies

Butterflies

That night Izzy couldn't sleep. Usually the dull white paint on the living room ceiling would bore her into a deep slumber, but that night the cheery yellow ceiling of Jimin's room kept her awake. Izzy shifted on the new mattress and tugged the thick comforter up to her chin as she rolled onto her side. The bedroom was fairly small—the smallest in the apartment according to the boys—which is why only the two of them shared it, the other guys were three to a room now.

Jimin's room wasn't exactly what Izzy had thought it would be, not that she'd been picturing his room. The walls and ceiling were a happy yellow that made her wonder if he had really been the one to pick it out. The walls were free of decoration, aside from a clock and a series of polaroids carefully tacked to the small, sunny stretch of wall between their beds. Izzy lay awake, staring at the pictures while Jimin snored lightly just a few feet away. Seven happy faces grinned back at her from the wall of pictures and a tiny smile worked its way onto her lips. As out-of-character as Jimin's room seemed to be, Izzy couldn't help but like the sunny walls and the small pictures; these things made her happy. Soft smile still in place, Izzy glanced over at the clock by the door, it was one of the few decorations that Jimin had up in his room. The arrows told her it was almost seven in the morning, she hadn't slept all night but it seemed pointless to try and sleep now, as the boys would be waking up soon and there would be no sleeping if they're running and screaming through the apartment.

The new bed let out a quiet squeak as Izzy sat up and stretched her arms over her head. She swung herself off the bed, shivering when the cold air hit her bare skin. She tiptoed over to the door, attempting to pull it open without any noise and failing when the door hinges let out an obnoxious screech. A quiet grumble came from inside the sunny bedroom and Izzy's head snapped back to look at Jimin, who shifted beneath his blankets and went still again. Izzy let out a sigh of relief and backed out of the room, leaving the door open as she didn't want to risk it squeaking again. Frankly, she didn't want Jimin to wake up quite yet, it would be too awkward. Ever since Friday night—the night of the dinner, the night that she and Jimin admitted their feelings—things had been strange between them. He would smile at her and her face would flush like a tomato. She would sit down on the couch and suddenly he was sitting beside her. And the weirdest part of their suddenly different dynamic was that Izzy liked it. She liked when he sat just a bit too close to her, she liked when he stared at her from across the room and thought that she didn't notice, and she liked the way his eyes lit up whenever she met his gaze. She really liked it. And she really liked Jimin.

Izzy padded down the hall, sparing a glance out of the living room windows. The sun was rising over the dull buildings of the South side and its soft rays shone through the windows, casting the apartment into a dim light. She navigated her way down the hallway, the dim rays of sunlight illuminated a path for her to follow and provided enough light that she could see Taehyung's shoes laying on the floor, and she managed not to trip over them. She pushed open the bathroom door and flicked on the light, running in quickly so no one in the open bedroom across the hall would wake up from the light. Izzy took her time in the shower, allowing the hot water to pour over her tired muscles. At some point her eyes had closed of their own accord and she just stood limply in the shower until a crash in the hallway and a loud groan that made her eyes spring open. Sounds like someone didn't see the shoes on the floor.

Shutting off the water and drying off with a towel from the cabinet Izzy realized that she had a bit of a problem: she'd forgotten to bring a change of clothes. "Crap," she muttered to herself. "Alright, think Izzy, think." She glanced around the bathroom, trying to not stare too long at the dark circles under her eyes when she caught her reflection in the mirror. The only thing that her groggy mind could think of was the towel. Uncertainly, Izzy wrapped the fluffy towel tightly around herself, gathered her dirty pajamas, cracked the door open just a bit and stuck her head out. Three beds sat empty and unmade in the room across from the bathroom and the light in kitchen was on, sleepy mumbling drifted through the apartment, followed closely by the scent of coffee. It was very early in the morning, so there was still a chance that Jimin was asleep, which meant that if she dressed at lightning speed no one would see her naked. Shutting off the bathroom light and sucking in a deep breath, Izzy yanked open the door and sprinted down the hall, one hand holding her pajamas and the other clutching the towel to her chest.

Izzy made it to Jimin's room in record time and quickly shut the door, trying to be as quiet as she could. Sighing in relief she turned around, only to be met with two empty beds, which meant that Jimin was awake and somewhere else in the apartment, so she didn't have to rush to dress after all. Knowing that she now had time, Izzy padded over to her duffel bag and pulled on a set of underwear. Jimin said that she could take half the closet and dresser but she hadn't gotten around to actually putting away any of her clothes yet. With the black lingerie safely on her body, Izzy cast a cautious glance to the door and seeing that the coast was clear, dropped her towel. She ruffled through her bag in search of jeans comfortable enough to wear on a Sunday.

"Holy shi—" a voice at the door had Izzy spinning on her toes.
"Jimin!" She gaped at the boy who stood in the doorway, looking a bit like an overripe tomato.
"I-I um, sorry!" Jimin stumbled over his words and Izzy frantically grabbed something—anything to cover herself with. "I just came t-to see if you uh wanted any br-breakfast. I didn't know you were um—"
"I-It's okay, I should've locked the door—"
"No, I should've knocked—"
"It's your room, you shouldn't have to knock—"
"But I still should've, I just...sorry," Jimin mumbled quietly, being very careful to keep his eyes on his suddenly fascinating bare feet and nothing else.

"It's okay, really," Izzy swallowed nervously, curling her toes in and out, still clutching an oversized gray sweater to her chest. They stood awkwardly still for the longest minute known to man before Izzy plucked up enough courage to find her voice again. "I should put some pants on."

Jimin's eyes widened to the point of looking like they might pop right out of his skull, "Right! I-I'm gonna go make you a plate." With a heavy red blush crawling up his neck, Jimin tripped over his own feet running out of the bedroom.

The second the door clicked shut Izzy yanked on the gray sweater in her hands and shimmied into the nearest pair of jeans, not caring if they were 'comfortable enough' for a Sunday. She took a deep breath in a futile attempt to slow down her racing heart. Why was she so shy about this all of a sudden? Youngkyun had seen her in her underwear more times than she could count. But they had been dating. Hell, they had slept together the first night they met, so she had never been shy about Youngkyun seeing her in just underwear.

But with Jimin it was different. It wasn't that Izzy cared if he saw her undressed, it was that she cared about what he thought of what he saw. For the first time in a very long while Izzy actually cared about someone. She really, truly liked someone. The warmth in her cheeks and the butterflies chasing each other in her stomach told her that much.