Archive of Our Own ^beta

1995

The first time Yoongi sees Jimin, his first words are, "mommy, um, why is it so red in the face?"

To be fair, Park Jimin is no older than thirty-days (and Yoongi himself is no older than two and a few months old). Swaddled in a soft cloth and tucked in the arm of his mother, baby Jimin keeps on yawning, his eyes curving into tiny crescents. Yoongi peers into the baby’s tiny face when his mother lowers Jimin just slightly, allowing little Yoongi to reach a hand out and pat the soft swell of his tender cheek gently. Jimin waves a clumsy fist at this, and the elders in the room laugh with delight at Yoongi's light squeal of surprise.

"That’s because he’s still a baby, sugar," his mother replies, cooing softly as Jimin lets out another yawn, a sweet little sound that makes even Yoongi giggle into his fist, "and babies usually look like this when they’re newly born."

"Even me?" Yoongi stares incredulously at his mother. Sure, Yoongi’s seen lots of babies before. He has a cousin called Soojin who’s only a year old, but the last time he’d seen her be a tiny little baby like this was when he was a baby as well. Yoongi doesn’t think you’re supposed to remember so much from when you were a baby anyway.

"Even you," his mother nods, lips still pulled upward into a loving smile as she turns to watch Jimin again, who has conveniently fallen back asleep whilst Yoongi was talking to her.

"Oh," Yoongi whispers, mimicking his mother and gazing at Jimin, his eyes filled with fascination. Jimin looks so tiny bundled up, especially when his face is the only thing Yoongi can see. His nose twitches and Yoongi bursts into a silent fit of giggles. "Well. It doesn’t matter, I think he’s cute!"

"He is, isn’t he?" This time, it’s Jimin's mother who speaks. Yoongi likes her, not because she gives him cookies and toy cars to play with whenever she visits (okay, maybe 75% because of that), but because she’s his mommy’s best friend. And she’s actually pretty nice to Yoongi, unlike the old woman from across the street who always scowls whenever Yoongi’s ball bounces into her lawn.

"Yeah, he looks like a… like a peach!" Yoongi’s eyes light up as he remembers the fruit, giggling some more when he realizes that, yeah, baby Jimin does look like a peach. "He’s pink, and soft, and round! Mommy, he’s a peach!"

Everybody laughs and Yoongi feels a little proud of himself for that. Making adults laugh is so fulfilling, especially to a two-year-old like him. He huffs with a toothy grin, eyes focused on Jimin’s peaceful face, frowning a little when the baby’s nose scrunches up just slightly and he looks upset when his mother accidentally shakes him gently due to her laughter. Yoongi quickly presses a finger against his lips, shushing them down.

"Shh, I think baby wants to sleep some more!"

The adults quickly stifle their laughter, all with fond smiles resting on their faces.

"His name’s Jimin, Yoongi-yah." Yoongi’s mother gently lifts him to sit on her lap, Yoongi’s own body still twisted into the direction of Jimin. He tilts to look at her mother when she says it once more, echoing after her. "Park Jimin."

"Park Jiminie?" Yoongi says, having a hard time pronouncing ‘Jimin’ as it is and ends up saying ‘Dwiminie’ instead. But his mother nods anyway and Yoongi grins, lifting a hand to wiggle his fingers at Jimin’s face. His voice is lowered to a stage-whisper when he speaks. "Hi, Park Jiminie, I am Yoongi. You should call me hyung because I am older than you, okay?"

"Will you be a nice hyung to Jiminie, Yoongi-yah?" Jimin’s mother looks at him, expression fondly curious as they wait for his response. Yoongi nods enthusiastically, puffing his chest up proudly and making a little noise to accompany it because being called hyung sounds like a great honour (especially when he’s just two).

"Yeah!" He lifts a finger and taps Jimin’s little nose lightly, giggling when Jimin opens his eyes with another yawn and notices Yoongi’s hand hovering above his face, hands blindly reaching for it. "I’m gonna be the best hyung there is!"

That seems to please the mothers as his mommy leans down to plant a kiss on his cheek and Jimin’s mother is pink with delight.

"Alright, sugar. We’ll be counting on you, Yoongi-hyung."

"Yeah," Yoongi nods once more, grinning even wider as Jimin finally catches his hand and his tiny little fingers squeeze around Yoongi’s, "I’m gonna be the best hyung ever, Jiminie! You can trust me."

1997

Yoongi hears Jimin before he sees him. And then he feels him, a force against his back pushing him to stumble forward a little. Grass crunches under their feet.

"Hyung, hyung, hyung!" Jimin is a squealing little thing when he wraps his arms around Yoongi’s back. Clutched in one of his fists is a paper, and the other twists around the front of Yoongi’s shirt. Yoongi spends at least two minutes calming Jimin down and unwinding his fingers from his shirt so he can turn around.

Jimin’s cheeks are blissfully pink and his eyes are bunched up into slits with the force of his smile. It makes Yoongi smile back, almost forgetting to scold the younger for running across the yard just to get to Yoongi. Almost.

"Jiminie! You shouldn’t run." Yoongi wags a finger in front of the younger’s face, trying to click his tongue the way his mother does when she catches him taking a cautious sip from his father’s root beer when he’s not supposed to (it’s really, really yummy though), except his tongue doesn't make the sound like he wants it to (he ignores it anyway). "You might trip and hurt yourself, and then you’d get a boo-boo. You don’t like boo-boos, do you?"

Jimin pouts a little, folding his arms behind his back whenever he knows he’s getting scolded. He shakes his head lightly. "No..."

"Then don’t run next time, okay?" Yoongi nods when he’s satisfied with Jimin’s response and extends a hand to pat his fluffy hair down gently, already smiling at Jimin. "You’re lucky hyung was there to stop you from falling."

"Jiminie knew that! That's why he ran to hyungie!" Jimin's expression shifts suddenly into the bright grin he always wears, especially around his favorite hyung. (That's Yoongi. Yoongi is Jiminie's favorite hyung. He knows it's him because he's Jimin's only hyung. That doesn't stop him from being proud of the title, though). He seems to suddenly remember what he ran outside for, his eyes rounding with excitement as he waves around the paper gripped in his fist, offering it up to Yoongi.

"What's this?"

"It's hyung, of course!" Jimin beams, pointing at the stick figure doodled in color red and then at the one beside it in blue, "and this one is Jiminie. We're holding hands, see!"

"Oh," Yoongi says, smiling so widely that his gums show and his nose scrunches a little. The rest of the picture are just scribbles in different colors. Flowers, Yoongi thinks, and clouds in the color pink. "It looks really nice, Jiminie! Hyung's proud of you. Are these flowers?"

"Uh-huh!" Jimin nods once more, squishing his cheek against Yoongi's and pointing at the different squiggles and lines on the paper, all in different colors. "And these are the bushes, this is a puppy! Our puppy, hyung, when we get one. And when mommy says it's okay. And then this is our house, our garden, the sun, tiny little birds and—"

Jimin continues on pointing at the different figures he's drawn scribbled onto the paper and Yoongi can't stop smiling so much because Jimin looks so proud—the healthy flush of his cheeks is an indication of that—even though his bangs are matted against his sweaty forehead. For a two-year-old, Jimin is good at drawing. He keeps on looking up at Yoongi for some sort of approval, which he finds in Yoongi's smile and in return, makes him smile even wider.

"Did you draw this for me?"

"Yeah!"

Yoongi hugs the drawing to his chest, feeling all kinds of warm like the pleasant heat that radiates off the afternoon sun. He finds himself nodding enthusiastically when Jimin asks him in a small, shy voice if he likes the picture. "Of course, Jiminie. I love it. Thank you for this gift!"

Jimin breaks out into a pleased giggle, one that gets Yoongi laughing as well, both their eyes turning into gentle half-moons as they grin at each other.

You're my bestest friend, Yoongi doesn't say.

But he hears it in the way Jimin laughs back.

You're my bestest friend, too. Ever.

(When Jimin's mother calls them back in for some afternoon snacks, the drawing is in one of Yoongi's hands, Jimin's small hand slotted in the other.)

1999

The first day Yoongi goes away for kindergarten, he remembers Jimin running after him.

Jimin waits for him with his face pressed against their window like a sad puppy being left by his owner. He waves him over when he's on the sidewalk, and only then does Jimin shoot out from their door and onto Yoongi in a minute, wrapping his arms around him tight with his head buried in his chest, sniffling softly.

"Hyungie, where are you going?" He cries, fingers gripping tighter at the back of Yoongi's uniform. Even though he knows his mother's ironed them carefully last night, he lets Jimin crumple the cloth without complaining. "Are you leaving Jiminie alone?"

Jimin is already four but he still stumbles over his words, still calls himself by his name, and Yoongi finds it completely adorable. It doesn't matter that he's stuttering or even that his voice is wavering, Yoongi can still perfectly understand him.

"Hyung's just going to kindergarten. I'm not leaving you, silly," Yoongi nods, tapping the tip of Jimin's nose when he finally looks up. He has tears in his eyes and his lips are pulled into a pout.

"Kindergarten?" Jimin wrinkles his nose at the new word, unable to say it correctly. Still, he looks over at Yoongi quizzically, untangling himself from Yoongi to swipe the sleeve of his sweater across his damp eyes. "Why can't you bring Jiminie with you? Who's going to play with Jiminie now?"

"Because you're not old enough yet," Yoongi frowns, taking his handkerchief from the back pocket of his khaki pants and wiping down Jimin's cheek. He hates it when Jimin cries, he looks so much better happy and smiling. "Hyung will take you when you're old enough, okay? I get home early, too! I'll come home with great stories to tell you, so you shouldn't be sad. Okay, Jiminie?"

Jimin's mother comes out just then, calling for Jimin and apologizing for making Yoongi late. Jimin whines and takes a step closer to Yoongi, hand reaching for his hand once more.

"It's fine," Yoongi's mother answers back, smiling affectionately at the children who've now held hands between them. She gives Jimin's mother an exasperated but fond sigh, eyes crinkling as she looks over at her. "Kids. You know how they are with separation."

"It's okay, Jiminie," Yoongi says, "hyung will come back later! I promise. Then we can play lots."

Jimin's bottom lip wobbles, though he finally loosens his grip around Yoongi's uniform. He takes a step back as well, gazing directly into Yoongi's eyes. "Promise?"

"Yeah," Yoongi nods and makes Jimin finally smile when he leans over to press a kiss onto the younger's forehead, "promise."

"Okay." Jimin allows his mother to hold his hand as they wave Yoongi goodbye, watching him and his mother climb into their car and drive away.

(Jimin ends up watching the clock the whole day, looking out the window half the time and only playing with his toys half-heartedly. They aren't as fun as they are when he's playing with Yoongi, anyway.

When Yoongi comes home a little after four in the afternoon, Jimin greets him with a squeal and a tight hug.

"I missed you lots, hyungie," he mumbles when Yoongi's finally changed out of his school clothes and they're both lying on their stomachs in Jimin's room, playing with toy cars.

Yoongi grins, because Jimin can be so cute sometimes. So he leans forward, this time pressing a kiss upon Jimin's soft cheek, and ruffles his hair.

"I missed my Jiminie, too.")

❦

Jimin starts to send Yoongi off to kindergarten every morning.

Every morning he waits outside the streets in his pyjamas, holding his mother’s hand until Yoongi appears.

Of course, Jimin tries to hold back his tears. They well up in the corners of his eyes, and his pink cheeks puff up as he does his best to be a big boy in front of his hyung. Yoongi finds this adorable, and he kisses Jimin’s cheek every time.

He laughs, patting Jimin’s fluffy hair down one day when Jimin hands him another picture card. For most people, they would only see colorful scribbles, but Yoongi already knows how Jimin draws them down.

(The stick figure in red is him, and the one in blue is Jimin. They’re also always holding hands. It’s really not that hard.)

"Thank you, Jiminie!" Yoongi doesn’t forget to say, wrapping his arms around Jimin when the younger finally steps into his arms for a goodbye hug.

Jimin sniffles, but he mumbles back a, you’re welcome, hyung before Yoongi’s mother calls for him to climb into their car.

(In the background, their mothers share an amused look.)

❦

It’s a Saturday morning, the first Saturday after entering kindergarten, and it’s just seven but Yoongi’s already running across their yard to reach Jimin’s house.

When Jimin’s mother answers it, she smiles and lets Yoongi in, already having expected him when his mother called the night before saying that Yoongi was talking about visiting and giving something to Jimin.

"Good morning! Is Jiminie still sleeping?" Yoongi chirps when he’s toeing off his shoes by the entryway.

"No, honey," she replies, placing a hand on the back of Yoongi and gently leading him to the foot of the staircase, "I think he’s drawing some more pictures upstairs. Go ahead."

Yoongi’s face splits into a grin as he gives her a nod before running up the stairs, feet thumping loudly against the floorboards. He knows where Jimin’s room is without his mother telling him, of course. He’s only been to Jimin’s room about a thousand times, and he likes that it’s the one with the sky blue door because it suits Jimin a lot.

He knocks, hears Jimin’s cheerful, "come in!", and pushes open the door. He’s hiding his gift for Jimin behind his back, though it probably doesn’t do much as it is quite big, in Yoongi’s opinion. He still tries his best though.

Jimin doesn’t seem to notice because he’s way into his drawing, tongue sticking out the corner of his lips as he fills in a circle with pink. He has one palm against the paper to keep it from moving out of place, and Yoongi’s never seen anything cuter. Jimin doesn’t even look up when Yoongi walks towards him. Yoongi laughs a little when Jimin jolts as he speaks up.

"Jiminie, what are you doing?"

"Hyung!" Jimin squeals, immediately dropping his crayon in favor of hugging Yoongi. He jumps from his seat in his little chair and stumbles into Yoongi’s arm, wrapping his hyung into a tight hug and reaching up to plant a kiss on Yoongi’s cheek. Yoongi likes Jimin’s kisses and hugs, so he doesn’t complain. He’s a little annoyed that he can’t hug Jimin back though. He needs to give his gift soon so he can hug Jimin all he wants.

"What are you doing here?"

"I brought a present," Yoongi says with a grin, and he feels a pleasant sense of warmth spread across his chest as Jimin visibly brightens, his cheeks bunching up when he beams and holds his hands out, palms facing upward, "close your eyes first!"

Jimin loves surprises, so he doesn’t complain and simply lets out a shrill squeal of excitement as he forces his eyes shut, face screwing up at the intensity of his expression. "Jiminie’s ready!"

Yoongi laughs and when he’s sure Jimin’s really closed his eyes, he finally brings the white stuffed bear forward, guiding one of Jimin’s hands to wrap around the bear’s paw. Jimin instantly laughs and opens his eyes without Yoongi’s instruction as soon as he grasps the soft toy, gasping when he sees his gift and hugging it against his chest, swinging his tiny body around in glee.

"I love it, I love it!"

Yoongi’s smile widens. Giving Jimin presents is one of the best things in the world, because he always looks like he’s just received the best present in the world. Which he says, always. (Even when Yoongi gave Jimin a pebble he took from their yard a few weeks ago.)

Jimin stands on his tippy-toes, leaning against Yoongi to press a smatter of loud, wet kisses to his face. Laughing as he makes smacking noises with his lips. (Yoongi really, really loves Jimin’s kisses.)

"Thank you, thank you," he says when he finally calms down, looking at the bear with all the love in his eyes whilst petting its head gently, "I really love it!"

"Hyung’s glad." Yoongi nods, proudly smiling when Jimin tightens his grip on it. "It’s for when I’m at school and you’re alone. Think of it as hyung! So you can hug it and kiss it and play with it until hyung comes home. Then you won’t miss me as much!"

"That’s really nice." Jimin smiles softly, looking up at Yoongi. "Then I have to call it Yoongi too."

"No!" Yoongi frowns, shaking his head. "Because I’m Yoongi. There can only be one Yoongi in your life, Jiminie."

"Oh." Jimin giggles, laughing and pressing another pacifying kiss to Yoongi’s cheek. "Okay. Then… Hm… It can be Sugar instead! Because your mommy calls you sugar. So it’s still hyungie."

"Okay," Yoongi finally agrees, the smile on his face returning as he pats Jimin’s head affectionately, "okay, it can be Sugar then."

Jimin’s cheeks flush a pretty shade of pink when he’s excited and Yoongi just needs to kiss them, so he does. Jimin laughs some more before kissing the bear instead, ignoring Yoongi’s pouted lips. He laughs even harder when Yoongi whines.

He grins, turning around to carefully set Sugar on his chair and faces Yoongi, resting his palms on Yoongi’s shoulders before leaning up to press a soft kiss to Yoongi’s nose.

"Thank you, hyungie."

2001

When Yoongi enters primary school, Jimin heads off to kindergarten.

He doesn’t cry anymore when Yoongi goes to school because now the both of them leave for school at seven in the morning. They still meet each other before they leave though, unless Yoongi wanted to see a pouty Jimin after school who wouldn’t talk to him until he tickled his sides and kissed his cheeks plenty of times. (Which is really cute sometimes, and Yoongi would do it more often but he doesn’t really like seeing Jimin upset, not if he can help it.) Jimin doesn’t allow Yoongi to leave without leaving a kiss on his cheek.

He doesn’t call himself by his name anymore but Yoongi thinks he’s not any less adorable because Jimin is still his clingy little baby even when he’s already six and Yoongi’s already eight.

"Yoongi hyung!"

Yoongi twists at the familiar sound of Jimin’s voice, waving his hand at the younger and smiling. "Don’t run!"

Jimin only slows down a little, tiny feet still pumping to reach Yoongi in record time. He’s giggling, cheeks only a little flushed when he barrels into Yoongi and wraps his arms around the older. "Yoongi hyung."

"Hi Jiminie," Yoongi says, patting his head and taking his bag from where it hung around his back. He swings it to one of his shoulders and holds one of his hands out to Jimin, who takes it with a bright grin.

Some days, when Jimin’s mother is too busy at the hospital, Yoongi and his mother picks him up instead. It’s a convenient arrangement because they live right beside each other, and Jimin’s kindergarten is only five minutes away from Yoongi’s primary school. (And Yoongi gets to hold Jimin’s hand for a much longer time, so really. He has no complaints.)

"You know, today, during play time, I saw a snail on one of the plants!" Jimin begins, adding a skip to his steps as they walk back to where the car’s parked, "and it had a cute tiny pink shell. It reminded me of hyungie."

"What," Yoongi grumbles, jutting his lower lip to form a pout. Jimin giggles and presses up against Yoongi’s side. Yoongi thinks it’s terrible Jimin’s aegyo is just too cute.

"Hyung’s still cuter, though!" Jimin says with a nod, greeting Yoongi’s mother who has been waiting for them to return by the car.

"I better be," Yoongi huffs and helps Jimin climb into the back seat before sliding in himself, his pout turning into a soft smile when Jimin snuggles into his side in the warmth of the car.

Jimin reaches for his hand and he lets him intertwine their fingers together. Jimin’s fingers always fit so perfectly in the spaces between his, and it’s the best feeling in the world.

❦

Yoongi grins and climbs down his bed when Jimin knocks on his door.

It’s Saturday and that means they get to play together. Although Yoongi has made friends at school (there’s Hoseok, who is just like Jimin except louder, and there’s also Namjoon, who’s more like Yoongi except smarter, and the three of them always play together at school), Jimin is still his best friend and Saturdays are for Jimin only.

"Hyungie!" Jimin beams when Yoongi has finally opened the door. He immediately envelops Yoongi into a hug, letting out a soft giggle when he reaches up to plant a kiss on Yoongi’s cheek.

He scrambles up Yoongi’s bed after Yoongi lets him in, removing his backpack from around his back and placing it by the foot of the bed. He grins at Yoongi, head tilted as he asks. "What do you wanna play today?"

"I dunno." Yoongi shrugs his shoulders after he closes the door, walking over to Jimin and taking the seat beside him. "What do you wanna play today?"

"Hmmm." Jimin taps a finger against his chin as he thinks. He doesn’t really need to do that, but he’s seen people on TV do it a lot so he picks up the habit of doing it, too. He brightens up when he remembers something, grabbing his bag once more from the floor. "Oh, I forgot! Mommy and I baked cookies last night and I want hyung to taste them!"

He produces a container of cookies in his bag, turning to Yoongi when he opens it and grins. "It’s chocolate chip! Hyung likes that, right?"

Yoongi nods his head, though he purses his lips in question. "Isn’t it too early to eat cookies, Jiminie? Mom might get angry."

"Uh… well, it might be! But… I really want hyung to taste these cookies because I helped bake them…" Jimin says, pouting when he takes one cookie from the container and brings it to Yoongi’s lips, "just one bite?"

"Okay," Yoongi says before taking a bite from the cookie, the sweet crumbly taste of it melting in his mouth. He makes a satisfied noise, reveling in the way Jimin’s face lights up at his reaction, swallowing down before grinning, "Jiminie, this is really good!"

Jimin laughs happily, putting the cookie aside and leaning across to plant another kiss, but this time on Yoongi’s crumb-covered lips.

He’s all crescent eyes and pink cheeks when he says, "that’s exactly how daddy says it when mommy makes him taste her food, and then mommy kisses him like this!"

Jimin leans in again to press another kiss and this time the two of them burst into fits of laughter.

They end up playing house that day. Jimin kisses Yoongi every time he takes a bite of cookies (nobody tells on anybody when Yoongi’s too full to eat lunch that day), and Yoongi dotes on Jimin and holds his hand leading him to wherever they want to go next (because Jimin says his parents always hold hands), and the two of them calling each other "honey".

The whole day Yoongi feels warm and happy, and he hopes Jimin does, too.

2003

There’s this huge tree in Jimin’s backyard that they always hung around under of.

When Jimin was barely three, Yoongi always had to be there watching him attempt to walk and run all over the place, in case he tripped. Jimin has always had way more energy in his tiny toes than Yoongi’s whole body.

But now that he’s eight, Yoongi doesn’t have to worry about him as often as he did before. Of course, Jimin is much better at running now. He’s still energetic, still laughing about the littlest thing like the beetles underneath rocks or the little butterflies fluttering around his mother’s potted flowers. It’s adorable, except on days when Jimin has too much energy in him.

Like now, with Yoongi looking up at him with his face screwed into a concerned expression as Jimin attempts to climb up said tree.

"Jiminie, that’s dangerous," Yoongi yells, one hand cupping around his mouth and the other waving at Jimin to go down.

Jimin is relatively still low on the tree, legs wrapped around the trunk and hands scrabbling for the next tree branch he could hike himself further upward with. Yoongi still thinks it’s dangerous and, really, it’s Jimin’s first time trying to climb a tree and Yoongi doesn’t even know where he’s gotten the idea from.

"It’s okay, hyung! I can totally —"

Except Jimin doesn’t get to finish his sentence because his foot misses and slips, his fingers loosening around the current branch he’s holding onto, and he falls with a surprised cry.

Yoongi’s heart leaps out of his throat, and he’s running towards Jimin with his arms outstretched to catch him, but he still misses and fails to catch the boy from his fall.

Jimin’s already sitting up, legs sprawled out awkwardly on the grass as he inspects his palms. He’s quiet when Yoongi reaches him, just silently looking at the scratches on his palms. Yoongi tries to peer into his face, only managing to catch a glimpse of Jimin’s wobbling lips when Jimin pushes back, quickly twisting around to avoid Yoongi’s gaze.

"Jiminie, let hyung look," Yoongi starts, holding his hands out but Jimin flinches, scooting away from Yoongi. Yoongi’s hurt for a moment, the way Jimin rejects his offer putting an immediate frown on his lips. He’s worried, because Jimin, if anything, has never rejected Yoongi. It hurts, but Yoongi doesn’t give up. He knows Jimin doesn’t mean it.

"N-no, it’s, it’s fine, hyung," Jimin whispers and Yoongi can see the way his shoulders are slowly shaking, his soft sniffles reaching Yoongi, "I-I’m fine."

"It’s okay, Jiminie," Yoongi says softly, inching closer to Jimin so he can be facing the younger boy again. He slowly reaches for Jimin’s hands and this time he doesn’t move away, allowing Yoongi to wrap his fingers around his thin wrists. He doesn’t resist when Yoongi pulls them up close to his chest. "Let’s see… you’ve got a few cuts here, but I don’t think it’s deep. No splinters, too. That’s good."

Yoongi inspects his palms carefully that he’s surprised, once more, when Jimin promptly bursts into tears. His head tips back as he wails, fat tears rolling down the side of his face.

"What’s wrong, Jiminie? Are you hurt somewhere else? Your knees?" Yoongi gently places Jimin’s hands on his lap so he can take a look at Jimin’s knees, brushing his fingertips against the tender skin and frowning when he only sees shallow gashes. He looks back at Jimin, gnawing on his lip in worry. "Your knees are hurt but they’re not bleeding. Where are you hurt, Jiminie? Please let hyung know."

"I-it’s," Jimin hiccups, attempting to look at Yoongi but this only brings him to only crying louder, his fingers curling into fists on his lap as tears continue to stream down his cheeks, "Jiminie’s sorry. He’s sorry he - he didn’t listen to hyung and f-fell. Hyung, don’t h-hate Jiminie."

"Jiminie," Yoongi says gently, understanding Jimin even through his babbling. He extends his hands to wipe the tears from Jimin’s cheeks and crawls over to wrap his arms around the younger’s shoulders, guiding Jimin’s head onto his chest.

He rubs a hand up and down the younger’s back soothingly just like how his mother does when he’s upset. Maybe it’ll cheer Jimin up. Yoongi knows he is upset, because Jimin never calls himself by his name anymore. He says it’s because he’s a big boy now. But he slips back into it when he gets upset, or sad, or afraid. And right now, Yoongi thinks he’s all of those things. Which is never good. He doesn’t like an upset or sad or afraid Jimin. He wants his Jimin to be happy.

"Jiminie, don’t cry. Hyung isn’t mad," Yoongi says softly, feeling relieved when Jimin’s crying lessens to just the occasional sniffle. His shoulders still jump with every shaky breath, but at least he’s not crying hard anymore. "Hyung can never be mad at Jiminie."

"Y-you don’t hate me?" Jimin looks up, eyes red-rimmed and nose running. He lifts a hand to swipe underneath his nose. "Hyung doesn’t hate Jiminie?"

"Of course not," Yoongi confirms, nodding his head firmly, "I love Jiminie. I love him so much I can never, ever, ever get mad at him."

"I’m still sorry…" Jimin lowers his head, biting on his lip. "Sorry I didn’t listen to hyung."

"It’s okay." Yoongi soothes one hand down the younger’s hair, finally happy that Jimin’s shoulders stopped shaking. "I know next time you’ll listen to my words better, right?"

Jimin nods, and when Yoongi pulls back to inspect if he has any more cuts or bruises, he simply extends his arms, gesturing at Yoongi to carry him.

"Hyung, carry me! I wanna go inside now," Jimin mumbles, wiggling his fingers at Yoongi’s direction. He’s still pouting and it makes it extra hard to say no to him. Not that Yoongi had any intention of doing that.

Yoongi stands up and brushes his hands over his shorts before turning around to crouch, offering his back to Jimin, who climbs onto it after. Jimin wraps his arms around Yoongi’s neck securely and Yoongi reaches to hook his hands around Jimin’s knees before Yoongi starts to walk slowly back to the house.

Jimin leans his head onto Yoongi’s shoulder and presses a kiss against the older’s cheek, making himself comfortable on Yoongi’s back.

"Thank you, hyung."

(They go back to Jimin’s bedroom and Yoongi cleans up his wounds for him, wiping the small cuts clumsily with a wet towel and putting on Pororo bandaids wherever Jimin points to (even though sometimes, there aren’t any cuts to where he points).

Jimin peppers Yoongi’s face with giggly kisses and they eat ice cream while holding hands afterwards, because Jimin says he’ll feel better faster if he’s holding Yoongi’s hand and Yoongi agrees.)

2007

The thing that Yoongi realizes when he turns fourteen and enters junior high is that, 1.) being an actual teenager sucks, 2.) "my dog ate my homework" does not actually work (especially if you do not actually have said dog), and 3.) he’s in love with his best friend. Not with just any of his best friends (because both Namjoon and Hoseok will fight for that title), but Park Jimin.

They were going out for a walk. Saturdays are still for Jimin, and today he had wanted to go for a walk.

They were only a few blocks away from their houses when Jimin stopped with a gasp. Yoongi quickly went to his side to see if the boy’s hurt when he crouched down, cooing softly at what’s gotten his attention. 

Yoongi furrowed his brows, unable to see anything from where Jimin was looking at until he stretched forward a hand, palm facing upward.

A tiny kitten slipped from between the bushes, sniffing Jimin’s fingers before butting its head against his palm.

Jimin laughed then.

It was quiet, the leaves in the trees were rustling from the gentle breeze of the wind. In the distance, Yoongi could hear cars driving by. But it was quiet.

And Jimin’s voice stood out from the rest. The soft tinkle of his voice above everything. The comforting pitch of it, the way it brought the best kind of warmth in the pit of Yoongi’s belly.

When he looked at Jimin, the younger was already looking at him. He had been grinning, his teeth peeking from beneath his lips as his cheeks colored red.

"Hyung, look at this kitty," he said, fingers brushing down the kitten’s fur, "it’s so cute, isn’t it?"

"Yeah," Yoongi nodded, out of breath. There was a riot starting in his stomach, a storm in his chest. Love.

It was such an ordinary thing.

He’s heard Jimin laugh so many times before. He’s seen him smile, seen the blush of his cheeks countless times before. It were all the permanent things Jimin wore that made Yoongi realize.

He was in love with Park Jimin.

The boy he’s been with since the younger’s birth. The boy he’s seen grow up with him. That Park Jimin. The Jimin who clings onto him and asks for him and wants to be with him wherever he goes. The Jimin who looks at him with pure adoration in his eyes, who smiles at him with the brightest of smiles, who kisses him and hugs him on multiple random occasions. Just because they’ve always done it since they were kids.

The Park Jimin who still runs to him, calls him his favorite hyung, his best friend.

And that’s why it sucks.

Yoongi feels like death realizing that he’s in love with his best friend.

He’s only fourteen, sure, but he knows what love is when he sees it.

(Love is Jimin. Sunkissed, chip-toothed, flushed cheeks, Park Jimin.)

The guilt of falling in love with Jimin, innocent twelve-year-old Jimin, eats him up from the inside. 

So he doesn’t do anything about it.

(Even though, much later when he’s finally given it some thought, he learns that he may have been in love with Jimin after all these years after all.)

❦

But when Valentine’s day rolls around the year he discovers his newfound feelings for Jimin, he manages to buy a rose wrapped in pretty paper to give to the younger.

He hesitated giving it to Jimin, at first. Jimin’s only twelve, he probably doesn’t even know what it means.

The boys and girls at his school exchanged love letters written in pink scented art paper, luxury chocolates wrapped in pretty heart-shaped boxes with money they’ve probably asked from their parents, and bouquets of flowers Yoongi can’t even name. He wonders just when did people start taking Valentine’s so seriously when they’re just fourteen.

He calls himself a hypocrite when he quietly buys a single rose on his way back home.

He slips into Jimin’s house right before dinner, his mother smiling amusedly as she watched him tiptoe his way out of their house as he did his best to hide the rose underneath his shirt. (Jimin’s mother does the same.)

"Hyung!" Jimin says happily as he receives the rose from Yoongi, hugging it to his chest. "What’s this for? It looks so pretty!"

"Oh, that, uh," Yoongi stutters, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his head, "it’s just a rose. It’s a thing you do when uh, it’s February 14th? Between friends? Best friends. So, yeah. Happy Valentine’s, Jiminie."

Jimin smiles wider hearing Yoongi call him best friend.

They’re both much older now. Taller. Jimin’s figure has filled in, and so has Yoongi’s. His cheeks however, are still the softest Yoongi’s ever seen, even though Yoongi’s own cheeks have slightly slimmed down. He thinks Jimin’s growing beautifully.

"Thank you!" Jimin pecks Yoongi’s cheek quickly, and although he’s done it a thousand times now, Yoongi still blushes madly. Jimin doesn’t seem to notice as he looks at the rose with fascination. When he looks up at Yoongi, he’s frowning, lower lip jutting out slightly. "I haven’t gotten you anything though… Am I a bad best friend?" 

"No!" Yoongi exclaims, then clears his throat when Jimin appears to be taken aback at his outburst. He musters on a smile, his laugh sounding fake to his ears. "No, I mean. It’s not a need, anyway. I just wanted to do it. You don’t have to, Jiminie."

"Oh… okay then." Jimin nods, then lifts the ends of his lips into a soft smile. "I’ll just take care of this flower in return. I’ll make sure it grows healthily! So hyung doesn’t have to worry." 

Yoongi’s smile grows more genuine, his skin feeling electric as Jimin wraps his arms around him in a hug. It’s just like any hug he’s been given before, but at the same time it’s not. Because this is Jimin. And everything changes after you find out that you’re in love with somebody.

Right now, Jimin is glowing.

He’s always glowed like the sun.

But this time, this time he’s Yoongi’s sun. His star. 

The absolute center of his universe.

And Yoongi knows he can wait until Jimin realizes the same.

2009

It’s weird when your best friend avoids you.

That’s exactly what Yoongi thinks when Jimin does it to him.

And it hurts a little.

Well, that’s an understatement. It hurts a fuckton. Somebody can pierce through his chest and squeeze his heart dry and Yoongi thinks that would hurt less than having Jimin avoid him.

He lets his head drop against the plastic surface of cafeteria table with a resounding ‘thunk’ when Jimin, without fail, manages to avoid him for the fourth time this week.

"What did I even do?" He groans, lifting his head slightly to send a baffled look at his equally baffled friends. Namjoon simply shrugs and digs into his sandwich while Hoseok hums, frowning as he follows said Jimin around with his eyes.

He sits in a table with his friends Yoongi doesn’t even know about — well, he does. But he hasn’t gotten their names down. Jimin has a lot of friends outside Yoongi’s circle, apparently.

"Maybe you’ve said something you shouldn’t have?" Hoseok starts, pursing his lips to one side, "or maybe he’s just sensitive today." 

"It’s been four days, Hobi," Yoongi laments, slumping further onto the table as he hopelessly cranes his neck to look at Jimin. He doesn’t even glance at Yoongi.

"And he can’t be sensitive, he said hi to me earlier when we met," Namjoon says through a mouthful of sandwich and Yoongi’s head almost snaps at the speed he turns his head to look at Namjoon.

"Did he say anything about me?"

"Nah, he was talking to his friends. I just happened to pass by."

"Then what’s wrong," Yoongi groans loudly, unmindful of the stray eyes that land on their table, "I hate you for that, by the way."

"What, it’s not my fault he’s avoiding you," Namjoon reasons out, seemingly unperturbed by Yoongi’s threat.

"It’s not my fault either, I haven’t done a thing."

"There, there." Hoseok pats his thigh in an attempt to soothe him. "You’ll find out soon enough. You and Jimin are basically attached at the hip. It won’t take that long, just be patient."

Yoongi sighs wistfully watching Jimin laugh among his friends. He doesn’t seem bothered at all. Then what’s the problem?

❦

Everybody knows that Yoongi is the most patient towards Jimin. It’s a universally known fact. But when Saturday comes and Jimin still hasn’t sought out Yoongi himself (jesus, does Jimin know how to avoid. They live right beside each other and Yoongi still hasn’t caught a glance of Jimin at home since he’s started actively avoiding him last Monday), Yoongi takes the matter into his own hands.

It’s especially easy that Jimin doesn’t seem to have notified his own mother of his avoidance, because she easily allows Yoongi to enter their house. (Not that Yoongi couldn’t have easily charmed her into doing so. Jimin’s mother thinks of Yoongi as her own son.)

Yoongi knocks on Jimin’s door and receives a quiet "it’s open" as a reply.

Just when Yoongi’s about to push it open, he hears scrambling from the other side, a thump, a yelp, and then running all in five seconds flat. Suddenly, the door is slammed back.

"I take it back, it’s not open!" Jimin yells, and when Yoongi tries to open the door, it doesn’t budge, "go away, hyung."

"Jimin-ah," Yoongi tries, turning on the doorknob to find that it’s been locked. He sighs, giving up on forcing the door open and leaning his forehead against the surface of the door instead. "Come on, Jimin. Let me in." 

There's a beat of silence, and Yoongi can imagine Jimin worrying on his lip with his eyes downcast, stuttering fingers playing with the sleeve of his shirt — just like how he is when he’s thinking, hesitating. It makes something in Yoongi’s chest squeeze, to be at the receiving end of Jimin’s doubt when the younger has always ran into his open arms without thinking twice.

When Jimin fails to answer, Yoongi just closes his eyes with another sigh, this time of resignation. His hand loosens around the doorknob. "Okay, fine. You don’t have to talk to me, I just. I just wanna know, did I do something wrong? Is it something I said? I just wanna know, Jiminie." 

Yoongi feels like he stands there for an eternity just trying his best to listen to Jimin’s breathing on the other side, and he’s almost about to completely give up, face the reality that maybe Jimin just really doesn’t want to talk to him anymore, when the door opens a crack, orange light from Jimin’s room flooding out into the hallway.

He thinks he may be hallucinating when he hears Jimin call out to him softly, just a quick "hyung" said under a breath, but he slowly, cautiously pushes the door open and when nobody stops him, he enters inside.

Jimin’s standing in the middle of his room, caught in a position like he’d been planning to sit on his bed but then changing his mind a second after to stand in the middle instead. His shoulders stiffen when Yoongi closes the door behind him and Yoongi’s heart crumbles at the sight. 

"Hey," he says, voice barely a whisper.

Jimin’s room hasn’t changed since he’s last been here — it’s only been a week, after all. But somehow, it feels like everything’s different. Like he’d taken a bite of a magical cookie and now everything is distorted and unreal. He feels unreal in the middle of the room with Jimin who looks like a deer who accidentally stepped into the lion’s den.

"Yoongi hyung," Jimin replies, slowly turning his body so that he’s facing Yoongi, though he still can’t look him in the eyes, "how are you?"

It’s the normalcy in his question contrasted to the tremble in his voice that makes Yoongi laugh. He doesn’t mean to, honestly, but it’s just weird when a person you’ve known for basically all sixteen years of your life starts acting like he doesn’t know you. It’s weird and it fucking hurts so Yoongi laughs because he can’t do anything about it anyway. 

"Great, Jimin-ah." He forces a smile and almost laughs again at the shift in Jimin’s expression, his face shifting from forlorn into a confused shock, lips parting as he finally managed to gaze into Yoongi’s eyes. "My best friend stops talking to me for reasons I don’t know but I’m great. Fuck, I feel amazing. How are you?"

"You know it’s not like that…" Jimin’s voice wavers, the way it does when he’s about to cry and christ, Yoongi suddenly feels guilty to the core. It’s not Jimin’s fault, and even if it is, it can never be Jimin’s fault.

He catches sight of Jimin’s hands curling into fists by his sides, and he wonders just how much his fingernails are digging into his palms. All he wants to do is to take them and gently unfurl his fingers, run his fingertips over the tender skin. His pride doesn’t allow him to.

"Then what is it, Jimin-ah?" Yoongi murmurs, all sarcasm and heat in him trickling out of his skin, and all that’s left is just a person who really wants his best friend back. "I… I feel like I’m losing you, and I don’t want that. Just tell me what I did, and maybe I can change that? I promise I’ll do better, whatever it is. Just don’t cut me off like this."

"It’s not that," Jimin repeats, shaking his head wildly, "it’s never like that. I’m just… I’m scared. Yoongi hyung, I’m scared."

This surprises Yoongi. Jimin’s eyes are glassy with unshed tears but this time he doesn’t break their eye contact and he doesn’t flinch when Yoongi takes a step closer. Yoongi’s hands hover by Jimin’s side, unsure where to put them at all — even though all he wants is to hug the younger to his chest.

"Why are you scared?"

"I’m scared because… I think, I think I’m in love with you, hyung," Jimin finally confesses. His voice is down to a hushed whisper, like he doesn’t want to say it out loud, like if he speaks any louder he’ll break. "I’m in love with you, Yoongi hyung."

Jimin’s probably expecting Yoongi to push him away, maybe in disgust because even Yoongi has to admit he’s never seen his friends fall for other guys. Or maybe he’s expecting Yoongi to laugh, to shoot him down or brush it off as a joke. Yoongi sees it in the way his shoulders shake with the effort to not cry, probably. Sees it in the way the boy barely even breathes in both anticipation and fear, his teeth clamping down on his lower lip hard as he waits for Yoongi.

He probably doesn’t expect Yoongi to let out a relieved laugh. But Yoongi does. He laughs, and this time it’s the most freeing thing he does the whole week. It feels so good to be able to laugh around Jimin again and not feel thorns wrap around his ribs tighter every second he tries to breathe.

He laughs, tipping his head back, until his stomach hurt, until he had to lean forward and plant his hands on his knees, until Jimin’s gently questioning him if he’s alright.

When he calms down, remnants of laughter still escaping his lips in small breaths of air, he straightens up. This time, nothing holds him back from cradling Jimin’s hands against his chest. He uncurls Jimin’s fingers without much resistance, brushing the pads of his thumbs against the crescents across his palms gently.

He glances at Jimin when he speaks. "I hate it when you hurt yourself like this."

Yoongi brings Jimin’s palms up to his lips, pressing butterfly kisses all over the skin. They’re both quiet for a moment, Yoongi letting Jimin’s word sink in, Jimin unbelieving of what’s happening.

"I’ve been waiting for this moment since I’ve realized I love you two years ago." Yoongi smiles softly, basking in the reaction he gets from Jimin, who flushes profusely with his jaw dropping open like he hadn’t expected Yoongi to reciprocate his feelings at all. "I’m glad that you love me, Jimin-ah. It’s the only thing I would ever want in this life."

"Y-you mean, you like — love me back?" Jimin mumbles, still shellshocked at the confession, although there’s already a hint of a smile curling the corners of his lips upward, "like, love-love me back?"

"Yes." 

Yoongi feels so warm. So warm and so in love and so, so grateful.

"Yes, Jiminie." Yoongi nods. And, just like they’ve always had, he bends forward, pressing a kiss on the upturned corner of Jimin’s lips. "I love you."

2011

"Are you sure you can make it back on time, hyung?" Jimin worries on his lower lip, lifting his phone to get a better view of his screen where he’s currently on a video call with his boyfriend. Yoongi looks unbothered, only tucking his chin into his scarf tighter while pushing his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose.

"‘Course I will be," Yoongi replies a moment later, seeming to be looking around before continuing to walk, his own video going fuzzy due to the motion, "it’s your big day, baby, wouldn’t miss that for anything."

"It’s just prom," Jimin huffs, pouting his lips to distract himself from noticing his own cheeks heating up at Yoongi just naturally calling him pet names. It’s been two years since they’ve started going out officially, and Jimin’s heart still races every time Yoongi so much as does anything remotely romantic (which is a lot of times, and Jimin always ends up wondering how he hasn’t died of heart attack yet). "I mean, if you can’t make it because of uni then it’s fine. I don’t want to make you even busier than you already are."

"Nah," Yoongi shakes his head for a moment, eyes wandering back to catch his camera and smile at Jimin, "not that busy anymore. I didn’t have anything to do the past few weeks so I managed to finish all major projects then. I can go home… Unless, you don’t want me to?"

"Hyung!" Jimin’s immediate reaction — the offended gasp, the unbelievable frown, and the furrowed eyebrows — draws a chuckle from Yoongi, pulling his lips up into a gummy grin. "Don’t say that ever again. When do I not want to have you home with me?" 

"If you say so, sunshine," Yoongi hums, smile still in place as he has fun teasing Jimin. They watch each other just do their own things for a few more minutes until Yoongi has to leave for his class.

"I gotta go, Jiminie," he says, finally pausing in his walking to take a good look at Jimin from his screen, holding it up so he can view it better, "I’ll be back this weekend just in time for prom, okay. I’ll see you then."

"Mm, okay." Jimin nods, lips curling into a small pout but he lets Yoongi go anyway. "I love you."

"Love you, too." Yoongi grins, lifting a finger to tap against his screen. "Now give me a kiss before I go."

"Really?" Jimin deadpans, nose crinkling in (feigned) annoyance at Yoongi’s endless teasing. Still, he sighs exaggeratedly, pressing a quick, loud kiss against his phone’s camera and playfully scowling at Yoongi’s delighted face. 

"Cute." Yoongi laughs, stomach already churning at the idea of seeing Jimin again. "Love you, Jiminie."

❦

"I swear to god," Jimin harshly whispers as he nudges Yoongi’s shoulder, wanting for the older to stop laughing but he just wouldn’t, "my mom actually wants to adopt you."

"Aw, Jiminie," Yoongi snickers, turning around after he finishes (tried to, anyway) fixing his tie, "I wouldn’t let that happen. As unfortunate as it is, I’m not into incest."

"You’re sick in the head, Min Yoongi," Jimin grumbles, shooting Yoongi a nasty look but ending up smiling anyway. Especially when Yoongi’s standing right in front of him, flesh and bones, dressed down to the nines. Except — Jimin reaches out to straighten the tie perched on his sternum. He brushes his palms over Yoongi’s shoulders when he finishes, beaming happily at the older. "There we go. You look good, hyung."

"Mm," Yoongi grins, snaking his arms around Jimin’s thin waist and pulling him flush against his chest, "and you look as beautiful as ever, sunshine." 

Jimin heats up, pushing weakly at Yoongi as he mumbles incoherently, unable to form words at the way Yoongi just makes him so speechless.

Yoongi laughs, pressing his forehead against Jimin’s before landing a kiss on his boyfriend’s lips. Slow, sweet, gentle. It’s not until Jimin’s mother knocks on his door that they pull away, identical lopsided grins etched on their lips. 

"Come on, baby," Yoongi murmurs, stealing another kiss from Jimin’s plush lips, "let’s get going."

❦

Arriving at the place, Yoongi’s immediately reminded of why he had opted out of his own prom when the time had come to years ago.

Loud-mouthed kids are everywhere, the glitter and the glam of the girls’ gowns scintillate under the dim lights and the mixed scent of strong perfume lingers in the air. Still though, Yoongi musters a smile when Jimin looks at him in concern, silently asking if he’s okay with their current arrangement.

Yoongi wouldn’t have said yes if it weren’t for Jimin asking. He couldn’t find it in himself to even deny the younger when he’d hesitantly asked months ago. He’d said, "Of course, who else would go as your date?", and Jimin had given him a beautiful smile and he knew then that he wouldn’t regret saying yes to it.

Even now, with all the other things that make his head hurt, he doesn’t regret a thing.

Yoongi loves Jimin the best when he’s blooming. Growing in his environment, glowing much like the sun. When he’s with his friends (all of whom Yoongi still doesn’t know, not really) laughing and having fun. And when he’s given the chance to see Jimin the way he rightfully should be, who is he to pass up the opportunity?

Yoongi still has days where he feels guilty taking Jimin all for himself. Days where he feels like he keeps Jimin away from finding out the other things out there he can enjoy. The other people (much better people than Yoongi) he can fall in love with.

And on days like that, he thinks maybe, maybe Jimin would want that. To be free. To be a person of himself, without Yoongi’s name attached after his own.

Then Jimin does things like — like right now.

He turns around, and Yoongi watches his eyes scan the crowd for a moment. Watches his smile drop a little when he doesn’t find Yoongi where he last saw him, and then their eyes meet. Jimin’s eyes light up, the stars in his orbs twinkling back to life, as he finds Yoongi amongst the sea of faces. He grins, waving a hand enthusiastically. 

‘You’re doing good?’ Jimin mouths, and Yoongi grins from his place by the punch, raising a plastic cup in reply. Yoongi can almost hear the way Jimin giggles under his breath when his shoulders lift up as he smiles.

‘Come dance with me later?’

‘Yeah. Save your last dance for me?’

‘Of course, baby. Of course.’

Yoongi thinks, it's okay to be a little selfish at life. Especially when it gives him somebody like Park Jimin.

❦

"Thanks for doing this for me, hyung," Jimin yawns later when he’s tucked into the passenger’s side of Yoongi’s car (well, technically, Yoongi’s mom’s car). He’s sleepy after a whole night of socializing and laughing and dancing, but he manages to lean across the console and plant a clumsy kiss on Yoongi’s cheek. He snuggles back to his seat when he’s satisfied with himself, lips curling into a lazy grin, "I really, really appreciate it."

"Who said I did it for you?" Yoongi teases, driving out of the lot and making their way back home. He spares a quick glance at Jimin — who’s pouting — and chuckles softly, "I did it for myself. I got to see you shine tonight and I’m happy because of that."

Jimin makes a shy noise at this, though he extends a hand towards Yoongi, who takes it without missing a beat. They rest their intertwined hands on Yoongi’s lap.

"You know I only shine because I have you by my side, right?"

"That’s me," Yoongi hums, absentmindedly playing with Jimin’s fingertips. When he reaches a stoplight, he turns to face Jimin, lips stretched into an affectionate smile. "I’m just a moon, but you’re my sun. Without you, I would never shine as much as I do now."

"But you’re my sun," Jimin drawls out sleepily, a cute whine to his voice, "you’re the center of my universe, Min Yoongi." 

Jimin falls asleep before they get home, but Yoongi says it back anyway.

(And you are mine.)

2013

"This is stupid," Yoongi mumbles from Jimin’s bed, sitting with his legs crossed as he watches Jimin lock the door behind him, a bottle of alcohol cradled in his arms and two shot glasses pinched between his fingers, "you know this isn’t really one of the brightest ways to welcome your birthday."

It’s two hours to Jimin’s eighteenth birthday and the younger has a fist secured around the neck of a whiskey bottle. Amazing.

"It most definitely is," Jimin counters, walking back to his own bed and climbing up beside Yoongi, setting the bottle and shot glasses down between them, "I just want to taste alcohol, okay. It’s not fair, you know how it tastes. I don’t."

"And that’s exactly why I’m telling you this is stupid." Yoongi rolls his eyes as Jimin reaches for his bedside table to grab a random textbook from it, making it their own makeshift table and placing the two shot glasses on top. "Jiminie, alcohol tastes like shit. It’s not fun like in the movies."

"Hyung," Jimin deadpans, looking at Yoongi dead in the eyes. This shuts up Yoongi for a minute, until he’s grumbling again. "Come on, just. Indulge me for a bit, will you?"

"When do I not indulge you," Yoongi sighs in defeat, finally giving in and snatching the bottle from Jimin’s fumbling hands, cracking the cap open and gesturing at Jimin to hold the shot glasses still as he pours into them. "I return from Seoul just for your birthday and instead of cuddling and kissing you’re forcing me to drink alcohol with you. I can’t believe this."

"We can cuddle and kiss afterwards, okay." Jimin finally grins, excitement lacing with his tone as the shots get filled and Yoongi winces at what the boy has coming for him. He’s reminded of the freshman uni student that he once was. The parties, the hangovers, the regret. Honestly, he’s just glad Jimin wants to get smashed with him instead of with anybody else.

"Does your mom even know she has a soon-to-be-drunkard for a son?" Yoongi clicks his tongue, quickly dodging when Jimin reaches across to smack his arm with a laugh.

"Hey!" Jimin’s wearing a pout, though it’s clear he’s trying to hide a grin underneath it, the corners of his lips twitching upward every now and then. "I just want to know what it tastes like, okay. Think of it as a test run. If I don’t like it, then at least I know not to drink it when I get to uni. And mom knows. I think she’s only okay with it because she knows I’m drinking with you. She trusts you more than she does her own son. It’s horrible."

"What can I say," Yoongi sets the bottle in between his legs to hold it in place, "I’m what you call a charmer."

Jimin simply snorts, nudging one of the glasses closer to Yoongi. "You go first, hyung."

"What, are you finally scared now?" Yoongi raises a brow playfully not waiting for Jimin to reply before taking the glass in between his fingers and lifting it up to his lips. He knocks it back easily and just only slightly winces at the bitter, burning trail the alcohol leaves down his throat. He glances at Jimin, frowning at the hesitance that flashes in Jimin’s eyes. "You don’t have to drink, you know. Being eighteen isn’t all about getting to drink alcohol, Jiminie."

"I know," Jimin huffs petulantly, picking up his own glass and tentatively taking a sniff. Yoongi forces back a laugh at how Jimin’s nose scrunches up at the strong smell and pats his knee comfortingly. Jimin grumbles and finally brings the glass before his lips. Without a word, he tips it back just like how he saw Yoongi did a few seconds earlier, only to end up sputtering and spitting the liquid back out.

"Jesus, Jimin," Yoongi is quick to take the glass from Jimin and grab Jimin’s towel hanging from the back of his chair, dabbing at Jimin’s chin, a worried frown curving his lips downward. "That’s it, don’t drink, baby."

"No," Jimin manages to whine through a stinging nose, swatting Yoongi’s hand away gently and plucking the glass from his grasp, looking up at him with determined eyes, "I was just surprised at the taste, ’s all. I want to try again."

"Jimin." Yoongi sighs. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into the younger. Sure, he’s usually stubborn. But even this surprises Yoongi. Why Jimin was so adamant on drinking, he’s not sure. Yoongi knows it’s his first time drinking, ever. Unlike Yoongi who’d often snuck out when he’d been sixteen to drink with his friends, he knew Jimin hadn’t even tried a sip of alcohol before the current event. It confuses Yoongi, to see the way Jimin wipes his lips with the back of his hand as he gestures at Yoongi to pour another shot into his glass. To see him so resolute to drink, like he wanted to prove something.

Yoongi heaves another sigh as he obliges, pouring in much less than earlier and arching his brow when Jimin raises it to his lips again. This time, when Jimin drinks it in one go, he doesn’t spit it out. He merely coughs, face screwing up at the burn but he drinks it all down, nonetheless.

Yoongi waits until Jimin speaks, one hand still caressing the younger’s knee for comfort.

"I," Jimin smacks his lips together, brows knitted as he lets the aftertaste of the alcohol linger in his mouth, "I think it’s not too bad."

"Does that mean you still want to drink?" Yoongi’s shoulders slump, scrutinizing the younger’s expression for any kind of hesitance, though Jimin only grows bolder. He nods firmly, tapping the glass back against the textbook to urge Yoongi for another. Yoongi decides to do what the younger wants, holding back his nagging lest Jimin thinks he’s going against him. At least he’ll make sure he doesn’t get drunk himself so that he can take of Jimin later.

Jimin’s smile only wobbles a little when he gets ready to knock back his second shot, and Yoongi sighs heavily once more.

This is going to be a long night.

❦

Jimin gets tipsy after only three shots, cheeks already a flaming red, a look complemented by his watering eyes. His limbs are soft and his voice starts to lower into a drawl, and when Yoongi refuses to pour him another, he starts to whine and tries to wrestle the bottle away from Yoongi’s firm grasp.

"Baby, Jimin," Yoongi says, circling his fingers around Jimin’s wrist to pin it down his side, "hey, you’ve drank enough okay?"

"No," Jimin stutters, eyes hazy when they look up at Yoongi. His spit-slick lips curl into a ridiculous pout as he tries to shake Yoongi off, curling his fist tighter around his glass. "Want more, please."

"Jimin." Yoongi hates to do it, but he uses a harder voice to get Jimin’s attention. The younger stops struggling, his figure slacking and his pout deepening. Yoongi shakes his head, regarding him with concern. "Jimin, stop it. That’s enough for now. You’ve drank enough."

"But I…" Jimin whispers in a small voice, seeming to curl into himself as he lets the glass in his grasp roll between them, "I want to drink."

"Baby." Yoongi sets the bottle down the floor by the foot of the bed, along with the textbook and glasses, before scooting over to Jimin. When he fixes Jimin’s pillows and guides the younger to lie down, Jimin doesn’t resist and simply lets Yoongi take care of him. When Jimin’s finally comfortable lying on his back, he turns to his side and makes grabby hands towards Yoongi, who quickly complies and fits himself beside Jimin, who wraps his arms around the elder’s chest and buries his face into the crook of his neck.

Yoongi feels Jimin’s warm breath against his neck and sighs. He seems to be doing that a lot. He reciprocates and wraps his arms around the younger’s shoulders, raking one hand down his hair to push it back his damp forehead.

"Now will you tell me why you wanted to drink so badly?" Yoongi asks when Jimin doesn’t say anything after minutes, running his hand up and down the younger’s back soothingly. Yoongi would’ve thought that Jimin had already fallen asleep, but the eyelashes occasionally fluttering against his skin tells him otherwise. He feels Jimin curl his fingers around the hem of his shirt, then a shudder of breath. Then, Jimin sobbing into his chest.

"Jimin?" Yoongi’s startled for a moment, his heart leaping out of his chest the moment he hears Jimin’s soft cries. He attempts to lean back to take a look at Jimin, but the younger only holds him tighter and closer, shaking his head profusely as he keeps his face buried.

"Baby, are you hurt? I need to know." Yoongi frowns when Jimin shakes his head again, and he feels the younger’s tears dampen his shirt, though that’s the least of his worries for now. Why Jimin is sobbing into his chest is the first. "Jiminie, talk to me."

"Yoongi hyung," Jimin murmurs weakly, his voice cracking due to his tears and Yoongi’s chest clenches, "I just. I just want to… to fit in."

"What do you mean, Jimin-ah?" Yoongi’s genuinely confused, his brows furrowing at the younger’s words. He continues caressing the younger’s back. "Fit in with what?"

"With you," Jimin mumbles, finally raising his head and looking up at Yoongi, tear tracks down his flushed cheeks glistening, "and with other people… I… A few months from now, I’d be in uni, too. And everyone drinks in uni. You drink in uni - you drank before you got into uni. I just want to be like that. I want to fit in, hyung."

Yoongi groans mentally, remembering all the stupid and drunk moments he’d called Jimin in the middle of the night, worrying the younger endlessly with how he’d mumble into the speaker with a shit-eating grin, alcohol in his system and absolutely brain-dead. He regrets everything. "Shit."

"I don’t wanna be left behind, hyung," Jimin continues, averting his eyes so he’s not looking into Yoongi anymore, bringing one of his hands between them to play with the collar of Yoongi’s shirt absentmindedly, still sniffling, "I want to fit in. I want to be the kind of person people would want to hang out with. I want to be the kind of person you’d be friends with."

Yoongi mentally notes to kick himself later, but now he brings his hand under Jimin’s chin, tipping his head upward slightly so they’d meet eyes once again. He slides his hand to cup the younger’s cheek, brushing his thumb over the wetness on his cheek. He leans down to plant a small kiss on the tip of Jimin’s nose, pressing their foreheads together.

"Baby," he starts, gazing into Jimin’s eyes. He can smell the alcohol in Jimin’s breath but he kisses him anyway, slow and sweet and gentle. When he pulls back, Jimin’s eyes are tearing up again. "Baby, you know you don’t have to be an alcoholic to get into uni, right?"

This draws a snort from Jimin, and Yoongi finds himself grinning at the response. At least he knows Jimin isn’t totally implacable.

"And—and, that I love you, and that you are my most favorite person - no, that you are my person in the whole wide world?"

Jimin gives a small nod, his cheeks reddening even further and this time, this time it makes something much like love bloom in Yoongi’s chest.

"You’re my baby, and I would always be there for you. You will always fit with me, you know that, right?" Yoongi removes his hand only to reach for one of Jimin’s hand, intertwining their fingers together and lifting it up against his mouth. He presses a kiss to the back of Jimin’s hand. "Like our hands, see?"

Jimin stays silent, his eyes shining with gratefulness as he gazes at Yoongi.

"I’ve known you for eighteen years now, and I would still choose you over anybody else," Yoongi murmurs, thumb caressing the smooth skin of the back of Jimin’s hand, "so you don’t have to worry about losing me. Okay?"

Jimin takes a few seconds, but he finally nods. Slowly coming to believe Yoongi’s words.

"As for having friends, you don’t have to worry about that," a fond smile tugs on Yoongi’s lips, "because my Jiminie is the best when it comes to making friends. Not everybody drinks in uni, yeah? And even if you don’t drink, I’m confident you’d still get friends. You get everybody’s attention just like that, you know? It’s something you have that make people like you."

"Really?" Jimin finally says, shifting closer - the closest possible - to Yoongi. "I… I’d make friends? Lots of them?"

Yoongi laughs because, God, Jimin is adorable. Wonderful, even. He nods, kissing the younger’s lips affectionately once more. "Yes, baby. You’d make a lot of friends."

This seems to appease Jimin, because he starts to smile. A little dopily, but it’s sincere and Yoongi knows that for now the younger’s insecurity is waved to the back of his mind once more. He hums, pressing twin kisses to the younger’s heavy eyelids.

"Now get some sleep," Yoongi wraps his other arm around the younger’s back securely, untangling their fingers to place his hand on the back of Jimin’s neck and guide him back to his chest, "we need you to be energized for tomorrow. I do have a plan for a birthday date, you know."

Jimin giggles, sighing to himself softly as he snuggles in, snaking both his arms around Yoongi’s neck and letting his eyelids flutter shut.

("And Jiminie?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy birthday, baby.")

2015

They’re still in bed even though it’s half past one in the afternoon.

Jimin has decided to stay over the night yesterday, though he hasn’t brought anything with him because he rightfully has a whole drawer in Yoongi’s apartment just for his things. There are some things — a pair of socks, a pen, a charging cable — of Jimin’s that are scattered around Yoongi’s whole apartment. Just pieces of him to remind Yoongi of his presence even when he’s not around.

Although Jimin’s taken to just renting a dorm by his university to save some money, Yoongi’s rented a whole (albeit small) apartment on his own. It’s only a single bus ride from Jimin’s dorm, which makes it convenient for the both of them. Yoongi works part time as a waiter for a local restaurant downtown to add to the amount his parents send him every month to pay off the rent, and recently he’s started doing music for a small company who had recruited him after he’d graduated from university.

Jimin’s really proud of his boyfriend, and he lets Yoongi know by spending whole afternoons just cuddling in the older’s warm bed, just how he likes it.

Today, though, Jimin gently untangles himself from his boyfriend’s embrace. He does his best not to wake Yoongi up (which is not all that hard, honestly. Yoongi could sleep through a storm), but the lack of Jimin’s warmth on a particularly chilly day stirs Yoongi awake.

The older groans and scrabbles to reach for Jimin’s sleeves, wanting to keep the boy by his side.

"Jimin, stay," he mumbles, eyes still closed as he tries to chase for sleep.

"Can’t," Jimin replies with a little frown, looking around for his phone, "I promised Gukkie I’d help him with some choreo, and I promised Tae I’d bring him with me. So I have to go back to the dorms to pick up Tae and then head to the studio."

"But babe," Yoongi whines, finally opening his eyes only to be met with Jimin grinning down at him amusedly.

Jimin sits back down on the bed and Yoongi wastes no time in snaking his arms around Jimin’s waist and plopping his head onto Jimin’s lap, heaving a deep satisfied sigh at the warmth of Jimin’s body.

"You big baby," Jimin mumbles affectionately, running his fingers down Yoongi’s hair, "I really have to go though. I’ll be back later, yeah?"

Yoongi refuses to budge for a minute, tightening his grip around Jimin to show his annoyance at the idea of Jimin leaving, but loosens it after a while, sighing another when he rolls onto his back and glares at Jimin.

"You better."

"‘Course." Jimin laughs. Yoongi can be ridiculously cute sometimes. "I’ll be back around seven. We can have dinner together? I’ll get going now. See you later hyung."

Jimin dips down and meets Yoongi in a gentle kiss, who pushes himself up slightly to meet Jimin’s lips halfway. He’s still scowling when Jimin walks out of the bedroom, and only smiles when he gets a text from Jimin minutes later.

From: Jiminie

Hyung, don’t sleep too much ok!!

That’s bad for your health.

Let’s eat dinner outside today. <3

Love you~

❦

Jimin waves him over when he arrives at the restaurant the younger wanted to have dinner at. He’s already seated at one of the tables and Yoongi easily manoeuvres past the rest to get to him. He notices that Jimin has a different shirt on when he takes a seat.

"I had to go back to the dorm after practicing with Guk," Jimin explains, handing Yoongi one of the laminated menus so he can order his food, "because I sweated too much. Anyway, Tae also said that I have to be home before nine, he might head to bed early ‘cos he has an exam tomorrow early in the morning."

Yoongi scrunches his nose at that, waving a waiter over to take his order, "this is why you don’t lose your keys, Jiminie."

"Not entirely my fault," Jimin whines and props his elbows on the table, resting his chin on top of his folded hands, "why’s the RA taking too long to give me a duplicate of my key, anyway? The system sucks."

Yoongi simply snorts with a shake of his head. Jimin then changes the subject and rattles off about how his afternoon went with Jeongguk (a junior of Jimin at his dance program) and Taehyung (Jimin’s dorm mate slash best friend) and how the two had blatantly, unabashedly flirted in front of him.

A key burns hot in the pocket of his pants.

Now he just has to find the right timing.

❦

It’s a little over eight when they finish eating.

Jimin pats his stomach with a contented sigh and that makes Yoongi smile. Seeing the soft swell of his stomach through his shirt has always made Yoongi smile, knowing that the boy takes care of his body like Yoongi always tells him to.

"Ugh," Jimin says when they stand outside the restaurant, his fingers slotted between Yoongi’s.

"Come on." Yoongi laughs, purposely ignoring Jimin’s protests. "I’ll walk you to the bus stop."

"I just pray to god I get my keys tomorrow," Jimin groans when he leans his head upon Yoongi’s shoulder, the two of them walking the quiet streets down to the bus stop.

"Mm," Yoongi hums when they’ve sat down the bench, running the pad of his thumb down the thin flesh of the back of Jimin’s hand, "why don’t you stay over at mine tonight?"

"I can’t do that," Jimin mumbles, looking at Yoongi with a pout, "I’ve already stayed over last night. I can’t keep on mooching off of you, hyung."

"It’s not called mooching off if you just live with me," Yoongi utters under his breath, turning his gaze to the other direction in order to avoid Jimin’s gaze. His heart stutters in his chest when Jimin exclaims softly.

"Did I… hear correctly, hyung?"

"Well," Yoongi clears his throat and shifts in his seat awkwardly. He faces Jimin with a small half-smile and half-grimace on his lips. "Yeah, I mean. Would it be so bad? We’ve literally lived all our lives together anyway. I know you still have two years left of uni, and that’s why I didn’t ask you at first but I just thought maybe? My apartment’s not that far from —"

"Yes," Jimin cuts him off with a soft breath. A sigh, an answer with the hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Of course. If you ask me, I would say yes."

"Okay." Yoongi’s dumbfounded for a moment. Still, even after twenty years, he’s still stunned whenever Jimin says yes to him. Still surprised that Jimin chooses him, even when he can have somebody else better.

But here he is, Park Jimin. Beside him holding his hand as he smiles after saying ‘yes’ to moving in with him.

Yoongi’s heart beats wildly in his chest, just like the moment he realized he’s in love with his best friend.

"Okay," he whispers, already leaning in close to kiss Jimin, "good."

(When Yoongi presses the key into Jimin’s palm later, Jimin laughs. A mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Aw, hyung," he teases an already blushing Yoongi, "you really thought about this, didn’t you."

"Brat," he banters easily, smiling despite the hotness of his cheeks, "of course. I’ve been thinking about it since I was like, what, fourteen."

"You’re so cute," Jimin giggles, hopping onto Yoongi’s back even without the older’s offer and pressing his cheek against Yoongi’s, "I love you so much. I can’t believe I’m living with you now."

"I know," Yoongi says, craning his neck to peck the younger’s cheek, "me too."

(Two days later and Jimin’s drawer at Yoongi’s apartment is upgraded to a whole new closet.)

2017

"I think we need to take a step further into our relationship, hyung-nim," Jimin says seriously, lips pursed into a thin line as he nods at Yoongi, who only looks at him weirdly and starts to hold him at an arm’s length, even with their hands intertwined.

Jimin only calls Yoongi hyung-nim when he either wants something or is teasing Yoongi. He’s been doing it since they’ve been in high school and Jimin’s twenty-four now, but he still does the same thing. So Yoongi’s a little skeptical when he says it.

"What?"

It’s Sunday, and Jimin thought it would be a great idea to force Yoongi out of bed early in the morning to spend some time bonding together. (Yoongi had grumbled and grunted all the while Jimin tried to push him out of bed, only curling his arms tighter around the younger in an effort to stop him. But Jimin was resolute and bribed Yoongi with three hours of cuddling for the afternoon, and it was an offer Yoongi simply could not deny.)

And now, they’re walking hand in hand down to the park that’s near their apartment complex. It’s a relatively quiet morning. The sun isn’t too hot on the skin, and the wind is fresh. Jimin is happy beside Yoongi, and Yoongi thinks it’s not all too bad.

That is, until Jimin had let out a yelp and stopped Yoongi in his tracks, tugging him back by his hand.

"Say that again, Jiminie?" Yoongi frowns, glancing over at his boyfriend only to find him grinning ear-to-ear whilst looking at something across the street.

"I said, I think we should adopt a puppy," Jimin says, still taken by the dog he’s seen across the street. A small, fluffy, white thing darting from one post to another, stringing its owner along. "Look at it, hyung! Isn’t it just the cutest? It looks just like a cloud on a leash. I think one would look cute in our apartment!"

Yoongi’s frown deepens as he watches the dog for a moment and sure, he can agree that it does look cute. But he’s not sure if the two of them can take care of a puppy at the moment anyway. Yoongi’s slowly getting more work from his company, and Jimin’s just started his mentoring program at the dance academy he’s currently working at.

Besides, he’s not sure if their apartment even allows pets.

He voices this out to Jimin, who only turns to him with his eyes rounded and lips pouted, and it’s horrible because he knows just how much it makes Yoongi cave in to his wishes. Jimin is horrible.

Yoongi pushes his face away and starts to walk ahead, tugging Jimin along. Jimin makes a pitiful noise as he treads after Yoongi, throwing glances over his shoulder to look at the dog.

"Come on, hyung, please," Jimin continues, wrapping both his hands around Yoongi’s arm.

Yoongi scrunches his nose and tries to pry Jimin’s fingers off his arm, only to have Jimin squeezing around him tighter. When Jimin doesn’t budge, he stops trying. Jimin just keeps on whining, rubbing his cheek against Yoongi’s shoulder and even going so far as to nuzzle his nose against Yoongi’s cheek.

Yoongi tries to stifle a laugh when he pointedly, decidedly, determinedly, unwaveringly says no to Jimin’s request.

❦

But "no" can only mean so much when one has a very persistent and adorable Jimin hanging off their limb.

Four hours later finds them at a local pet store with a very excited Jimin bouncing on his heels (Yoongi is sulking, but he won’t admit it, because it’s now 1PM and his promised afternoon cuddles seem so far away).

Jimin is crouching down to see the puppies in one of the lower cages, curiously tapping on the glass divider and squealing in awe as the puppies all gather around the spot.

"You do know that if we get a dog, it needs to be tended 24/7, Jimin-ah," Yoongi says, but it falls on deaf ears Jimin doesn’t even look at him. He only belatedly hums absentmindedly to reply. Yoongi grumbles to himself.

Yoongi spends about five minutes following Jimin around the store with his arms folded across his chest before he gives in, because damn Jimin is cute, but there are great competitors in this shop, Yoongi thinks as he watches actual balls of fluff dart from one corner to another.

Soon enough, he’s holding hands with Jimin again (his hand always seems to end up in Jimin’s, but it’s not like he’s complaining), looking through cage after cage. Every puppy is cute, but Jimin says nothing feels right. So they look through more cages, until Jimin stops at the second to the last cage.

It’s one with considerably less dogs than the rest, only having about five puppies in total. When Jimin approaches the glass, the puppies yap and hop on the glass divider, wanting to reach the hand that Jimin is dangling from above. Jimin is more than eager to pet each and every pet.

Yoongi’s standing back when he notices that one of the five is merely sitting up as if waiting for its turn. Its cute beady eyes stare at them in attention with its tiny head tilted slightly, perhaps in curiosity.

Yoongi slowly approaches it as Jimin is still occupied with the rest of the puppies. He extends a hand towards the puppy for it to sniff, and soon the puppy is standing up, holding onto his hand as it licks his fingers, tail wagging behind it happily and seeing it so excited gets Yoongi smiling to himself, twisting and turning his hand to play with the puppy.

"You like that, hyung?" Jimin says, startling Yoongi slightly.

"What?" Yoongi replies, acting nonchalant as he slowly pulls his hand back and the puppy sits once more, gaze following his hand retract.

Jimin purses his lips and reaches for the same puppy instead, using his thumb to brush along the fur on its head. He giggles when the puppy tips its head to lick his thumb.

"I like this one, too," Jimin nods, scratching the spot behind the puppy’s ear with his blunt fingernails. He looks back at Yoongi with a grin, "do you like this one, hyung?"

Yoongi huffs, biting back a smile in realization of what Jimin is attempting, and raises a shoulder to shrug.

"It doesn’t matter what I like, Jiminie." His eyes stray to the puppy playing with Jimin’s fingers, and his chest feels warm all of the sudden. The idea of spending lazy moments with Jimin and the puppy suddenly filling his mind. They’d make a cute family, he thinks. Still, he says, "you get the dog you want."

"Hmm," Jimin pulls his hand back and wraps it around Yoongi’s arm, smiling sweetly at him that Yoongi’s heart drops for a second (even after all this time), "I want a puppy with you. Then it should be a puppy that you like, too. So… what about this one, hyung?"

Yoongi watches Jimin for a moment, the hopeful smile on his lips, the way his eyes shine even in the shitty lighting of the shop, the permanent flush of his cheeks. It pulls his lips up into a smile, the smile reserved only for Jimin. He nods, letting out a breath of a laugh when Jimin cracks an even bigger smile.

"This one is just perfect, Jiminie."

❦

They name him Holly.

Holly is a brown toy poodle with a discipline much like Yoongi and adorable eyes much like Jimin.

He sleeps mostly on top of Jimin’s stomach for the next few days that Yoongi thinks of returning it back to the shop, but then he totters after Yoongi during the days Jimin is away and sleeps by his foot when he’s working on his compositions that Yoongi grows attached to him way quicker than Yoongi usually does to things. So he doesn’t, even if the little shit likes monopolizing Jimin on most days.

(But on days where Yoongi just wants Jimin all for himself, Jimin pushes his face away when he realizes that Holly is by the foot of their bed, innocently blinking up at them.

Jimin blushes and quickly throws on a shirt, mumbling to himself, "I’ve failed our son, Yoongi. He’s not innocent anymore, he saw us making out."

"He’s a two-month-old puppy, baby," Yoongi groans, dropping his forehead against Jimin’s collarbones, his voice borderline a whine, "come on, babe, just forget that he’s here, I really need you."

"Shhh, don’t talk to him like that," Jimin pushes at Yoongi’s shoulder, wanting to climb out of bed and gather their puppy in his arms, "you might hurt his feelings."

"He’s a puppy," Yoongi whines, propping himself up on his elbows as he pouts down at Jimin, "if I take him out to the kitchen will you let me have you?"

"No," Jimin says with resolution, slipping out underneath Yoongi to take Holly to the bed with them.

Yoongi allows himself to collapse on the mattress with his face pressed into their pillow, Yoongi junior weeping silently in his pants.

Sometimes, he loves Holly.

But in times like this, he just doesn’t.)

❦

"Hey, hyung," Jimin whispers softly, his fingertip drawing light circles on Yoongi’s chest. They’ve been in bed for two hours now, the moon high in the sky outside their window. Holly’s sleeping in between their legs, but Jimin’s still pressed up against Yoongi’s chest, one of Yoongi’s arms wrapped around his waist.

"Mm?"

"Do you… do you like our family?"

Yoongi cracks open one eye, taking a glance at the younger’s sincere expression before opening both eyes, leaning in closer to watch Jimin more intently, sleep slowly creeping away from him.

"You mean me, you, and Holly?"

Jimin nods.

"Of course. Of course, I love our family."

There’s a pause, and Yoongi patiently waits for Jimin to speak up.

"I do, too," he says, barely audible. He licks his lip and sucks it in between his teeth, worrying on it lightly. Yoongi raises a hand to cup his jaw and thumb at his lower lip, easing it out from between his teeth. "Do you think… do you think you’d still like it if we get… an actual son? Or daughter. Or, just. Do you think you’d like to have children… with me?"

Yoongi doesn’t miss a beat and says "of course", leaning down to seal his answer with a kiss against Jimin’s lips. He’s smiling when he pulls back, brushing his knuckles over the swell of Jimin’s cheek gently. "Of course, I’d love that."

Jimin lets out a breath of relief and Yoongi laughs softly at his expression. He brushes Jimin’s hair back. "Though I’d love it more if we get kids after we’re married though."

This makes Jimin sputter, and Yoongi can make out his blush even in the dark.

"O-of course, after we’re married, idiot," Jimin says, flicking Yoongi’s forehead lightly. He ends up kissing the same spot he flicked, melting into Yoongi’s embrace after.

"Okay, baby," Yoongi hums his acquiescence, pulling Jimin in closer, "do you think you can wait, though. For me to propose, that is. I don’t want to marry you without at least having seven digits in my bank account."

"Idiot," Jimin utters once more, grinning from ear-to-ear, "of course. I’d wait thousands and thousands of years for you. I won’t be going anywhere."

"Good," Yoongi nods, closing his eyes once more, a faint smile still on his lips, "then we’ll get married, and then have kids. Sounds like a plan."

"Mhm," Jimin traces a fingertip down the side of Yoongi’s face, in love and grateful and everything in between, "perfect."

("I love you."

"I know, baby. I love you too.")