Taegchi
dude it's been ten minutes is jimin okay or do i gotta call me mum at the hospital

me
i think he just needs another minute

me
hoseok's said he's sensitive i don't wanna push him

me
but if he's there much longer then i'll knock again and try to coax him out of there

me
also i'm gonna want to take a shower when he's done, could you bring up my overnight bag? i should have clothes in there.

Taegchi
you got sweatpants and boxers in here did u plan on sleeping shirtless again

me
i mean i usually do but pls let me borrow a shirt tonight...

Taegchi
yeah man no problem. i'll be up in a minute to get u smth.

-

It's several times within those ten minutes Jeongguk hears the faintest sniffle come from inside the bathroom. He doesn't knock, or text Jimin after those three messages he sent earlier. He doesn't like not doing anything, though, but Jeongguk's more afraid of making the boy more upset by talking to him right now.

So he sits outside the door pouting and wondering if there were something he did wrong.

"Hey, Guk, is he done yet?"

Taehyung's voice snaps him from his daze. "Oh, uh." Jeongguk cranes his neck to look at the door. "No, he's still there."

"Sure he's not asleep?"

Jeongguk squints, then rolls his eyes. "It's not funny, Tae," he whispers. "He was crying."

"Have you heard him recently?" Tae asks.

"Well, not for a little bit."

"Could have taken a nap."

Jeongguk's skeptical. More than skeptical, but he's concerned enough about Jimin at this point to do something. Tentatively, he knocks at the bathroom door. No answer. He presses his ear against it. Can't hear anything. Taehyung raises his brows at his friend, winks in a way that makes Jeongguk want to throw something at him, then ducks into the first room on his right to get his friend a shirt.

Jeongguk wraps his fingers around the doorknob "Jimin?" he calls and pushes the door open just an inch - he's been here enough times to know the knob lock is broken in the main bathroom, but Jimin of course wouldn't know that. "Everything okay?"

There's no verbal argument to stop opening the door, so Jeongguk pushes it open fully.

Jimin's lying on the floor. Fast asleep.

Jeongguk falls to his knees slowly, carefully, a smile forming on his face as he watches Jimin's sleepy breathing form bubbles between his lips.

He almost doesn't want to wake the boy.

With a gentle hand Jeongguk shakes Jimin's shoulder.

"Psst. Sleeping Cutie."

He won't hear that, right?

To Jeongguk's relief, it appears Jimin doesn't, as the boy's eyes flutter open, his pretty eyelashes batting against his cheeks whilst he lifts his head from the bathroom floor.

And he sees Jeongguk. Hovering over him. Gazing with soft eyes and the sweetest smile.

He sits up - shoots up, actually, like a Jack-in-the-Box that spent a little too long coiled up in his box. His cheeks flush. Confused as to what's going on, Jimin whips his head around, realizes he's in the bathroom, scrambles to his feet, remembers what happened before he fell asleep, then blurts out another apology to Jeongguk and races out of the bathroom all in the span of ten seconds.

And Jeongguk has to sit there on the floor for another ten seconds to regather himself.

From behind him Taehyung tosses his overnight bag and a balled up shirt.

"Hurry up with your shower, Guk, we're gonna try to crack down on this history project for real."

"...got it."

Taehyung closes the door behind him.

Jeongguk has no issue with hurrying up. Although he enjoys long, hot showers, right now he's not enjoying the feeling of sticky soda in his hair, nor the slight guilt that his group partners are currently downstairs trying to work on something he's supposed to be a part of.

That in mind, Jeongguk gets to his feet, adjusts the shower temperature, then strips down completely before stepping under the running water. He grabs the nearest shampoo bottle as the water's rinsing his hair. A dollop in his palm, he furiously massages his scalp and lets it wash right out again.

Jeongguk already showered earlier that day so he skips the body wash and steps out of the shower after no more than a few minutes. Grabbing a clean towel from the stack in Tae's bathroom, he dries himself and his hair and changes into the spare pair of boxers and sweatpants he keeps in his overnight back. Then he reaches for the shirt that his friend had so kindly lent to him.

Only one problem. Taehyung must have picked this one up from his floor, because it smelled. And not a good smell. A "I've probably been on the floor for weeks and can't remember what a washer looks like" kind of smell.

Honestly, Jeongguk can't say he's surprised. It's such a Tae thing to do.

He grabs his phone from the bathroom sink to text him.

-

me
thanks for the sweat rag buddy, but can i exchange it?

-

He taps his bare foot on the cold floor tiles as he waits. Two minutes and no reply. Oh, I'll bet he's real hard at work, huh.

Tossing the gross shirt aside, Jeongguk opens the door and prepares to go to Taehyung's room to get a clean one himself.

Needless to say it takes him aback to find Jimin standing directly outside.

In a strange moment of shock the two just stare in silence. Jeongguk's the first to speak.

"Uhh...you need to use the bathroom again?"

Jimin's not speaking. As if it weren't already from before, the boy's face becomes a rosy red, as do the tips of his ears and nose as his jaw falls and hangs open slightly.

It's not the brightest hallway. But from the light of the bathroom through the half-open door and the light creeping up from downstairs, Jeongguk can see clearly how Jimin's eyes travel over him.

"My...my phone's...in there..."

"Oh, you left it in here?" Jeongguk spins around to check for it. There's another device that had been pushed toward the back of the surface of the sink. Jimin's phone, obviously. Jeongguk picks it up and hands it carefully to its owner. "Sorry, should have seen that. Uhm, are you..." He takes his chance to ask again. "...are you sure you're alright, Jimin?"

"Me?" The boy's eyes widen for a second. "Alright? Yeah, yeah, why wouldn't I-? Be, why wouldn't...I be...?"

"You were crying."

"I'm..." Jimin turns his head down. His bottom lip sticks out and Jeongguk's heart tries to, too. "I'm alright...just..."

"You don't have to say if you don't want to."

He smiles. And Jimin stares.

This is what becomes the norm for them.

"I'll be down to help you guys soon. I just have to grab a shirt." Jeongguk slips by Jimin in the hallway, glancing back at the boy right before disappearing into Tae's room. "Try not to get too much work done without me."

He laughs at his own joke so that Jimin doesn't have to. Anything to help the boy feel more comfortable. That's all he wants to do at this point, it seems the most logical step in getting closer to Jimin, to anyone, really - to first, just make them feel comfortable.

Except now Jeongguk's a little worried he made things weird.

Being shirtless around Taehyung is a normal thing for him, they're practically brothers, and it's normal at his house because half the time Jeongguk sleeps without his shirt on the account of it being more comfortable to him, but this is a different story. Jimin's a different story. A very interesting, adorable story.

By the time Jeongguk emerges from Taehyung's room wearing a new, clean shirt, Jimin is still standing there in the hallway.

"...everything good?"

"Me??"

The state of shock and embarrassment must have lasted longer than Jeongguk, at first, realizes, but as he watches Jimin stutter out yet another apology and unconvincing "yeah, I'm alright" before pulling up his hood and racing down the stairs, he understands that the poor boy has probably felt nothing but embarrassment since he got here - well, he did seem to enjoy the movie. There's that, at least. And now they all have a project to do.

Could be fun. Or really boring. But knowing himself and his group mates, the former is more likely.

He makes his way down the stairs, barefooted, but wearing a shirt now.

"That's not the shirt I gave you," Taehyung comments straightaway.

"The shirt you gave me had last week's sweat on it," Jeongguk answers back. His friend only laughs.

"Nice. Now get your butt over here and help me brainstorm ideas for our 3D model. I offered a suggestion to make the Washington Monument using a single toothpick glued to a piece of cardboard, but Hoseok kindly reminded me this is Korean history. So that's a no-go."

"Stellar idea, though, Tae," Hoseok chortles. "Even though I don't think Mrs. Choi would give us the best grade for it, I'd hope creativity would count for something."

"Yes, thank you, Hoseok." Taehyung grins in pride. The grin fades instantaneously as the doorbell rings. "What." He turns around.

Yoongi's walking towards the front door with a wallet in his hand.

"Dude, did you seriously order pizza?"

"Yep."

"Well, I guess that's fine....wait, that's my wallet!!"

Jeongguk purses his lips and watches in disappointment as Taehyung scrambles to his feet to go run after Yoongi. Then he turns his eyes to Jimin.

The boy is sitting next to Hoseok on the floor in front of the coffee table, across from Jeongguk. Jimin has his face turned down as he appears to be thoroughly pouring over a page in their Korean history textbook. His lips are pouted, but this time in concentration. And his ears are still stained red.

Jeongguk smiles without noticing.

"I guess we're all having pizza now," comes Taehyung's incredibly sarcastic voice from over by the door. He sighs a dramatic sigh and sets the pizza box on the coffee table. "Only three of us can have two slices, though, cus Yoongi's selfish and decided to only order one pizza despite being at a house with four other guys. Also, you're paying me back, Yoon. Fifteen bucks."

"The pizza was ten."

"I'm charging interest."

"I don't-" Jimin's timid words scarcely manage to break through. Jeongguk and Hoseok both look at him.

"Did you eat dinner before we came here?" His friend asks in a hushed tone. "If not, you should at least have one. Even if it's not your favorite."

"Pizza Muzzo makes the best."

Jimin lifts his head up just enough to meet Jeongguk's eyes.

"Really, you should try them." Still smiling, Jeongguk opens the pizza box to let the savory scent waft through the living room. He watches Jimin's expression closely. The boy looks conflicted, more conflicted than Jeongguk believes a person should ever be when it comes to pizza. But he's patient as Jimin sweeps his gaze over the pie, then eventually gives a small, shake of the head.

"I'm good. I don't care much for pizza anyway."

"Well, what do you like?" Jeongguk asks without hesitation. "Tae's house is basically my house, I can go get you something."

"Does Tae have coffee?" Hoseok asks, and his friend turns to him in what looks like minor distress.

"He does."

"Jimin likes coffee."

"Sweetened?"

"Three small spoonfuls of sugar and a little creamer if there is any."

"Got it."

"Hobi..."

—