Consciousness came gradually, sluggishly, not at all quick enough for Jimin to fully register that he had heard a familiar voice in the distance, followed by the closing of a door. The front door of Yoongi's house. Quiet feet made their way down the hall while a certain red-haired boy checked various rooms to find the one he was looking for. He eventually found it, at the end of the hall on the left, and by that time it was too late for Jimin to fling himself out of bed to avoid any suspicions. The door to the bedroom was opened, and who should be standing there but Jung Hoseok, whose jaw hit the floor at the sight of his two friends lying next to each other on the same bed, hands clasped tightly together, blankets over both their bodies. His eyes were opened to their full capacity. A grin threatened to take its place upon his lips.
"Park. Jimin."
He was fully awake now. Yoongi, however, was not. So as carefully as he could, Jimin pulled out his hand from Yoongi's grasp, peeled off the blankets, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He lifted his faltering gaze to look at Hoseok, somewhat alarmed to find the redhead beside himself with joy.
"Park Jimin, you-"
"Sshhh!!"
"I had no idea you two were-"
"We're not, which is exactly why you need to 'sshhh'."
Hoseok gasped softly. "Are you telling me you snuck into his bed with him-"
"Don't make me sound like a pervert."
"Well, you have some explaining to do, Park Jimin."
"We can talk somewhere else." Jimin glanced at Yoongi."But you need to promise to keep your voice down. And also, stop using my full name."
"Okay, okay, deal."
Jimin and Hoseok went immediately to the living room. The redhead took a seat on the sofa and patted the space beside him, gesturing for his friend to sit down, but Jimin shook his head and remained standing.
"Hoseok, what are you doing here?"
"Hey, you're avoiding the subject," Hoseok murmured, pouting.
"I'm not," persisted Jimin, "I just wanted to know."
"I heard from Namjoon that Yoongi was sick, and I wanted to stop by to see how he was doing, since he wasn't answering my texts and I was worried and all that."
"How'd you get in the house?"
"Door was unlocked."
Ah. That's my fault, actually.
"So what's the story, huh?" Hoseok pursed his lips. He quirked an overly intrigued eyebrow at Jimin, who could hardly look at him without blushing.
"What story? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"C'mon, Chim-Chim, I'm talking about you and Yoongi cuddling together on his bed-"
"We weren't cuddling!" Jimin argued, voice coming out a touch louder than he had intended. He cleared his throat. "We...weren't cuddling. Just holding hands."
Hoseok let out a soft laugh and his grin broadened. "And that makes a difference??"
"Shut up, it does."
"Explain."
Jimin was biting his tongue now, shuffling his feet as he debated whether or not he wanted to tell Hoseok. Sure, Hoseok was his friend, but Jimin wasn't quite certain if he could confidently trust the boy with his deepest secrets. The redhead was on the verge of exploding with curiosity at this point.
"Can I trust you to keep this between us?" Jimin said eventually. Hoseok vigorously nodded his head.
"Of course. Of course."
"I mean it, promise you won't say anything to anyone, especially not Yoongi."
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
I hope I don't regret this.
"I...held his hand at the festival last night," Jimin began, "but only because it made him feel at ease...because he gets really anxious around big crowds and stuff. And of course, after the fireworks I found out he had a really bad fever, so Namjoon and I took him home, we got to talking, and next thing I know I'm left with the responsibility of taking care of Yoongi till he gets better. Not that I minded, it's just...well..." He paused. "A-anyway, long story short, I think Yoongi was either in a lot of pain or having a nightmare, so I held his hand again to see if it would calm him down and it worked. That's it."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"You guys didn't kiss or anything?"
Jimin's face turned beet red.
"Oh my gosh, Jimin, you kissed Yoongi, didn't you?"
"Hoseok, I think you should leave."
"Aw, but I want details!"
Within the next few seconds, Jimin had somehow managed to guide Hoseok over to the front door and opened it, preparing to kick him out of the house in as polite a manner as he could. He didn't think he could handle Hoseok asking any more questions.
"How was it? How was the kiss??"
Jimin started to close the door on him. "See, now I knew I shouldn't have told you anything."
"C'mon, it's not like I'm gonna tell anyone!"
"Goodbyyyyeee, Hoseoooook."
He finally got the door closed entirely, and he didn't hesitate to lock it. He felt bad, just a little bit, but upon peeking through the window and discovering Hoseok had already left, that guilt went away. Jimin heaved a sigh and returned to Yoongi's room to check on him. Still sleeping. He quietly retrieved his phone and left again, deciding at that moment he would make good use of himself and prepare breakfast for when Yoongi woke up. He had no idea the kinds of ingredients that Yoongi had at his house, but Jimin was a decent enough chef that he'd be able to make due with whatever he had. Fortunately, the Min household was fairly stocked, as Yoongi's mother had gone shopping earlier that week.
Rice, fish, and kimchi. A simple yet hearty meal; moreover, one he knew how to make quite well. But before beginning to cook, Jimin turned some music on and set his phone on the counter.
He cracked his knuckles. "Here goes."
It took him a lot longer than it probably should have. First of all, locating the cabinet that stored the pots and pans proved to be a difficult task, but Jimin gave himself the benefit of the doubt by noting that this kitchen had a lot of cabinets. Or maybe it just seemed that way to him because Jimin's house was small. And also never nearly as stocked, since Jimin was extremely lazy when it came to grocery shopping. And he always tried to be sparing in what he spent, because his father was paying for the majority of his living expenses, and he felt guilty enough about that. But seeing as he was still in school and didn't make enough money at his part-time job to cover those expenses, he relied on what his father sent him. One day, though, he vowed he would pay back that man for all he had done for him.
Now the second thing that gave Jimin some difficulty was fully focusing on what he was doing. Not in the sense that he was more likely to make mistakes in his cooking, but the process was done much slower than normal due to Jimin consistently getting distracted by the music. Jin, Big Bang, B.A.P...all his favorite artists, favorite songs on shuffle, striking a happy cord in the boy's heart and making it impossible for him to resist humming the familiar tunes, and before too long he was unable to defy the urge to dance, too, right there in the kitchen, as he was cooking.
As this was happening, unbeknownst to Jimin, Yoongi was in the process of waking up. Finally. After having slept like a rock for 10+ hours. Faintly, upon regaining consciousness, Yoongi heard music playing in the near distance. But it wasn't his music. His phone was still in his backpack. He checked to make sure of that, just in case he'd left music on without realizing it. Puzzled, the mint-haired boy rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and draped his legs over his bed. Then, with extra care he got to his feet and made his way over to his bedroom door, opened it, stepped out into the hallway, and tiptoed in the direction of the music. It led him to the kitchen. And there he found Jimin, carefree Jimin, dancing in the kitchen to one of Jin's songs, lost in a world of his own. Yoongi watched him. For as long as it took for Jimin to notice him standing there. And the moment they made eye contact, Yoongi humored Jimin by mimicking the dance move the orange-haired boy had just done.
Jimin didn't know what exactly possessed him to do it--maybe he was caught up in the moment--but he boldly reached out and took Yoongi by the hand, and before either of them realized it they were both dancing together, eyes fixed on one another, giggling each time one of them would make a wrong step, smiling and just getting lost in this peculiar moment of bliss. Neither thought at the time how romantic it was. It just happened so naturally, especially to Jimin, whose head would fill with thoughts of Yoongi without him even being aware. And Yoongi had simply been swept into Jimin's pace. He was still a bit lightheaded from his fever, but not nearly as ill as he had been the previous night, however just enough so that he felt like he was hardly touching the ground.
Eventually, though, Jimin registered exactly what was going on, particularly how close his face was now to Yoongi's. The orange-haired boy flinched, and he was hit by the sudden urge to feel Yoongi's forehead to see if it were as hot as it had been last night--not so, he discovered. Still quite warm, but not alarmingly warm. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Are...are you hungry, Yoongi?"
Yoongi blinked slowly. "I am."
"Do rice, fish, and kimchi sound good?"
"They do."
"That's good."
"Mm."
"...how're you feeling?"
"Eh."
"That's better than yesterday, at least."
"Mm."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Surprisingly, yeah. I feel like I slept really well."
Jimin's cheeks reddened a bit. He turned his head away. "That's...good. I'm glad."
"You okay?"
"M-me??" Jimin pointed to himself, taken aback by the soft-spoken question as well as Yoongi's somewhat concerned gaze. "I-...I'm fine. You should be more worried about yourself."
"Don't need to be," Yoongi argued lazily. "You and Namjoon worry enough so that I don't have to."
It's 'cause we love you so much. Jimin permitted himself a slight smile. "Yeah, I guess we do, don't we..." He said quietly. "Can you blame us, though? I've only known you for a little over three months, and yet within that time you've gotten a concussion, encountered some not-so-friendly dude who assaulted your friend, almost had your life taken by the ocean, and passed out in the middle of a festival because of a high-temperature fever."
Yoongi's countenance was gradually taken over by a solemn look, and he lowered his head. "Sorry," came a sad mutter. "I'm good at causing trouble for people, aren't I?"
Jimin's heartbeat faltered at the sound of Yoongi's dejected voice. Feeling as though he said something he shouldn't have, Jimin wrapped his arms around the mint-haired boy, hugging him in a way that was meant to reassure him that no, he was wrong. Yoongi never caused trouble for him.
"Never," Jimin whispered. "Never."