Taehyung ended up staying for breakfast. Even though Yoongi offered to cook something for him, the boy contently settled for cereal as he insisted it was more than enough. And all the while as Taehyung ate his breakfast in a peaceful quietness, Yoongi had to suffer Jeongguk's irritating pacing as his friend so obviously contemplated how to talk to the cute, hearing impaired boy.

"Just use your phone like I did."

"But what do I say?"

"Stop bothering me, I'm trying to do my laundry."

"That's a weird thing to say..."

"Guk, do me a favor and take a step closer."

"No. You're gonna throw your laundry basket at me."

"Correct."

Tragically, to Jeongguk's utmost misfortune, Taehyung hadn't planned to stay very long. Apparently he only intended to thank Yoongi, then leave, but decided last minute it wouldn't hurt to stay for an offer he couldn't refuse. Once Taehyung finished, Yoongi set him up with the reusable containers of leftovers and wished him a good rest of his day.

Jeongguk's trembling mouth failed to get out words - not that they would have reached Taehyung's ears, but his sad, hopeless efforts certainly reached Yoongi's.

The blond stopped Taehyung at the last second to show him one more text message.

—

My friend Jeongguk here thinks you're a total babe.

—

A dark shade of red surfaced on the boy's cheeks, quickly spreading across his face and to his ears, which he scratched shyly as he glanced at Jeongguk, whispered thank you, and left.

Jeongguk's complexion drained immediately.

"Hyung."

"Yeah?"

"What did you write?"

" 'Please blush and look at my friend so he thinks I intentionally embarrassed him, then walk away so it seems even more suspicious'."

"You're lying, hyung, you're lying, you didn't, what did you write??"

"I'm hurt you don't believe me," Yoongi said, placing a hand over his heart. "And here I was trying to help you."

"You were not. Your sole purpose in life is to make me miserable."

"Now you're sounding like me. Don't do that."

Jeongguk whined as his friend dismissed the subject and returned to his earlier task of taking care of the laundry. There was no arguing with him now. That being said, the younger accepted defeat and simply went about his own business, lazing around Yoongi's apartment until he remembered he had a job to be at. It was the day after Christmas. Most of the stores that had been closed for the holiday were open now, including the diner at which Jeongguk worked as part of the waiting staff.

"I'll be leaving now, Yoongi hyung."

"Mm. Take care."

"You, too. Byeeeee."

He left. And Yoongi sighed in disappointment, already knowing the rest of his day would be a bore, because the boba and coffee shop where he worked was temporarily closed for maintenance and inspection until New Year's. Fortunately, although it would take a few days, Yoongi's boss informed him he'd still be getting paid for the missed work.

But it still meant Yoongi had nothing to do for the next few days. Not even classes. He was on a break as of now, meaning his part-time job was the only pass time aside from whenever Jeongguk or Hoseok could afford to hang out.

Yoongi decided to tidy up his already clean apartment just for something to do. After fifteen minutes he was bored again. He collapsed on the couch in the living room and switched on the TV. There was nothing good on, but he ended up sitting through two whole episodes of an anime he recalled Jeongguk raving about on several occasions. It was okay, Yoongi admitted, but he couldn't really get into many shows or movies these days.

Eventually he fell asleep in front of the screen. The show playing at a low volume was the only sound in his apartment for quite a while, so Yoongi slept soundly. Drifting in and out of dreamland, his subconscious couldn't at first get through to him that the knocking sound was, in fact, coming from outside of his head.

The front door to his apartment opened with Yoongi still fast asleep.

Then there was the feeling of something touching his face - just a gentle touch in the start, but it quickly turned into a more attention-grabbing pinch that finally triggered Yoongi to wake up.

"Can't even answer your own door. You're slacking, Yoongi."

He rubbed his eyes and sat up hastily, both appalled and mortified that someone had entered his apartment without permission, and that that 'someone' was Jimin, no less. The dancer stood in front of the couch now with his arms crossed over his stomach, already having taken off his coat and shoes which he left by the door. Yoongi felt his face go pale.

"The door was unlocked," Jimin said, as though that would justify his actions.

"This is still breaking and entering!"

"I didn't come to steal anything, relax."

Strangely enough this didn't make Yoongi feel much better. He got to his feet in a hurried attempt to regather his dignity and take control of the situation without further embarrassing himself. It didn't help that he was still wearing pajamas, but there wasn't much he could do about that now. Jimin had already seen him - not that there was anything particularly embarrassing about his sleepwear, rather it was the fact that Jimin had once again caught him off guard.

Aside from that, Yoongi wasn't bothered by Jimin showing up at his apartment.

At first.

But out of nowhere the memory of last night struck him again and Yoongi's blush betrayed him.

"What're you, uh..." Get a hold of yourself. He'll tease you again, you clown. "...what're you doing here?"

"Funny question."

"But you're not laughing."

"You're right, I'm not." Jimin let out a deep sigh. "To be honest I didn't expect to come back here again so soon. Didn't want to, but you see the thing is, Taehyung means the world to me, as I'm sure I made very clear by now, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for him, especially for his birthday, which is coming up very soon."

"Oh, is it?" Yoongi nodded in acknowledgment. "How old is he gonna be? Is he younger than you?"

"Besides the point. The point is that he requested something of me, and although I'm not too happy about it, I would never dream of turning him down for his birthday."

Yoongi wasn't quite understanding. He waited a moment for an explanation to follow, then said, "And you're telling me this, why...?"

"Because," Jimin emphasized, "he wants you, for whatever reason, to celebrate his birthday with us. And I'm gonna say right now, Yoongi, even though I'm reluctant to ask you in the first place, I'm letting you know that if you turn him down and break his heart......no, that's not even an option, you don't have the option to do that."

It was touching, he couldn't deny that. Without his knowing a smile slipped onto Yoongi's face. "He's silly. He should've just asked me when he stopped by earlier."

"Tae came here earlier?"

"Uhh..." Was it supposed to be a secret? "He just came to say hi. And...thank me for the gift. That's all."

"Of course he did." Jimin sighed again and shook his head. "Kid told me he was going on a bike ride for some fresh air. Even though I told him he should stay inside because he's still recovering from a cold...he's so stubborn..."

Yoongi chuckled. "Sounds like Jeongguk."

"Who?"

"Oh, he's my friend." Speaking of which... "Uh, do you think Taehyung would mind if he joined us?"

"Tae mentioned you, no one else," Jimin said sternly.

"Guk's a nice kid, I promise. I think he and Taehyung would get along well."

"Besides the point. Why invite someone else? We're not throwing a huge party or anything."

"Taehyung seems very social. I think he'd enjoy more company."

"Oh, since when are you an expert on my best friend?"

"I'm not," Yoongi laughed shyly. "I'm just saying..."

"I'm not very keen on the idea, but it's Tae's decision, not mine," Jimin sighed, readjusting his crossed arms. "If it weren't for his birthday, I'd say absolutely no. But knowing Taehyung, he'd be up for inviting the whole neighborhood..."

The slight pause in conversation allowed for Yoongi to think. Just a small breath of time, but it was enough to allow Taehyung's words from earlier that morning to replay in his head and reignite the question he had hesitated to ask that boy.

"Jimin cried...because of it."

"Jiminie...Jiminie never cries these days. He works all the time to take care of me, maybe it's...been wearing on him, or something."

His curiosity battled with him again and was quickly winning the fight. It became even more compelling as Yoongi abruptly registered that Jimin was no longer standing in front of him, but rather was making his way over to the front door.

"Are...are you in a rush?"

"Hm?" Jimin stopped to turn around just as he had begun to reach for his coat. "Maybe, maybe not. Why?"

"Do you have another job to get to?" Yoongi asked.

"It's not nighttime, nor the weekend, for that matter. And I already told you dancing at Cat's Eye is the only 'work' I have."

"But Taehyung told me you work all the time."

The emotion in Jimin's face changed in the beat of a heart. His brow furrowed, eyes flooding with an accusatory gleam that locked on Yoongi and almost made the blond flinch in shock. He caught himself, however, and returned Jimin's harsh gaze with a much calmer one.

"I mean, I was just wondering," he said innocently. "I thought you might have another job, but it didn't make sense why you would be going without food and other things while having two different sources of income."

"It's what I told you."

"Then why did Taehyung say-"

"Because he believes I have a steadier job, that's why."

A stern tone of voice. Evidently this was a touchier subject than Yoongi had anticipated. He hadn't anticipated this at all, actually. His guess had been that maybe Jimin had chosen not to mention he was balancing two jobs, both of which were low-paying, but apparently this wasn't the case.

Yoongi considered he could be jumping to conclusions again. But when he thought about it, more things made sense, including why Jimin had voluntarily been outside in the cold despite having a home where he could have been much warmer.

He was buying time. Guilty, choosing to endure unpleasant conditions rather than facing Taehyung.

"Did you...lose a job at some point?"

Yoongi felt a bit relieved as Jimin started to make his way back towards the couch, looking like he could use a place to sit down. And he did.

"I never had another job."

"Why not?" Tentatively, Yoongi sat down beside him, leaving some space between them. "Even with just a starting position at a fast-food place you'd probably be doing better off than you are now."

Jimin didn't answer. With his head hanging low, he stared at the carpet in a painful silence until it seemed he couldn't bare it anymore.

"I've tried," he said softly. "But I can't. I tried applying for a number of places, I even got as far as to actually getting hired, but I can't do it. I don't know why, I just can't. And I don't care to think or talk about it, that's why I never told Taehyung, and also because I know if he found out, he'd push himself to go find a job of his own, and I don't want that. I want to take care of him, not the other way around."

Yoongi understood where Jimin was coming from, at least to the extent where he could empathize. He couldn't say that he would do the same, however. But Yoongi acknowledged that he wasn't in Jimin's position, he didn't have the same relationship with Taehyung, so he couldn't know exactly how Jimin felt about any of it.

And somehow Yoongi couldn't help but respect him. The dancer's methods might have been distorted, but his intent was pure and vivid as could be.

"Taehyung's lucky to have a person like you in his life."

The words fell out of Yoongi's mouth before he could filter them. And he considered, not a second later, that they might have sounded too sincere, because Jimin was soon gazing at him in a way that rekindled that blush in Yoongi's cheeks.

"Is that your attempt at flirting, Yoongi?"

"I beg your pardon??"

"Don't play dumb." Jimin chuckled as a smirk tugged at his lips. "You're not very good, I'll be honest, but I can teach you. Here-"

"Uh, n-no," Yoongi blurted in a panic, "that's okay, thanks, though, I-"

There was no hope for him. The dancer had already reached out to trail his index finger along Yoongi's jawline, just as he had done before. It was such a small thing, but the blond's heart went absolutely haywire.

It just felt...fuzzy. And not the unpleasant kind of fuzzy, which is why Yoongi couldn't bring himself to push Jimin away.

"You look so cute in pajamas, Yoongi."

"They're...they're really plain," he forced a laugh in response as Jimin tilted his head towards him.

"Mm. Maybe. But cute anyway. You smell nice, too."

He moved closer to Yoongi.

"Did you shower just before I got here?"

"Not...too long ago..."

"Yeah, I can tell your hair's still a bit damp."

Jimin wrapped his arm around Yoongi carefully, then entwined he fingers with the blond locks which he began to play with.

Yoongi couldn't hear himself think anymore.

"You look distracted, baby, what's wrong?"

"Baby??"

It was risky to turn his head. At this point, Jimin was as close as he could be without actually sitting on Yoongi, his face near enough that the blond could feel the other's warm breaths.

"You're..." Calm down, don't get worked up. "You're just teasing me."

"It's only a tease if I don't go through with it."

"What?"

Jimin's quiet laughter rang ten times louder in Yoongi's ears. "I said," he whispered, "it's only a tease if I don't go through with it. Last night, I guess I teased you a little. But if I actually kiss you, it's not a tease. Make sense?"

When did the topic of kissing me come up??

"Look this way, baby."

He couldn't think at all now. Completely disregarding the warning signals he established about this boy, he slowly faced the dancer who had already slid his hand down the side of Yoongi's face to cup his cheek.

"It's just a kiss. No need to stress over it."

"Just a kiss..."

"Right. Now close your eyes for me."

It happened sooner than Yoongi expected. The sensation of Jimin's lips brushing, then pressing against his own, more than just a graze, but an actual kiss. Short-lived but sweet.

"Your apartment is closer to where we'll be going, so we'll probably swing by in the morning or something. Make sure your friend is ready by then, okay? We're not going to wait for him."

"...right."

"Good. Glad we're clear on that."

He pecked the corner of Yoongi's mouth before standing up from the couch, soon to make his way over to the door to retrieve his coat and shoes.

"It's the 30th, by the way. I want you to remember that now in case I don't see you for the next couple days to remind you."

"The 30th..."

"Mhm."

Yoongi faintly heard Jimin's amused laughter through the fuzziness in his head. A charming, musical sound.

"Till next time, Yoongi."

Next time.

—-

end of chapter eleven.

the writing in this chapter is so choppy abdkwjdk but anyway i'm too lazy to edit for more than just grammar lol so :D