mourir seul • nammin/minjoon •

• trente-cinq •

Namjoon himself couldn't believe it, but he really caught himself worrying about how he would look at this meeting. Or, as he would've called it, a little big talk. He looked in the mirror, fixing the loosened tie around his neck.

"You look like you're going on a date."

He turned his head to his brother, disturbing the silence of his room. "Why are you always saying this when I get ready for something important?"

"So meeting with Mister Park is something very very important?"

"Stop turning this so dramatic."

Taehyung chuckled. He handed Namjoon his jacket. "I absolutely won't." The latter took them with a thankful nod. "I just don't want to make a bad impression, Tae."

"You already did that when you threatened and let Yoongi point a gun at them. Not to mention Chris' clinic."

"I most definitely gave my best.", Namjoon protested, only for Taehyung to protest back. "You caused him a panic attack!"

"And I calmed him down right after. I can't control people's emotions and when they panic."

Taehyung sighed. "At least bring something harmless, like... flowers or stuff. And be gentle. Scared people don't like rude, loud, big men."

"Yeah, I promise. Don't be rude, don't be loud and.. I don't know, get smaller.", Namjoon commented. Taehyung rolled his eyes. "Just get out of here and be nice!"

"Yeah, yeah, take care."

<><><>

It wasn't a long drive to the location, however, the wait was. Namjoon was never the person to quickly jump out of something, but with how long it took for Jimin to appear, he almost went home. Well, he didn't owe him to be there when he asked, or more, ordered him to. He checked his phone. He did say to be at this location before noon, right after he sent the first message. Jimin even read it. It irritated him a lot, yet nothing he could change.

Watching the leaves swim in the puddle on the sidewalk almost got too boring, when a quiet voice behind him made him turn around. "Uhm.. excuse me, did you wait long?" The man in a fancy trenchcoat really did make him wait long. But who was he to be rude and no gentleman? "Of course not, I just got here. Good to see you, Mr. Park."

Jimin did smile a little. Though the peeking around the corner earlier made him know better. At least he's being friendly. "I thought we were already on a first-name basis?", he asked, a playful, shy smile on his lips. Namjoon was perplexed. Maybe he wasn't that intimidating to Jimin. He didn't know if he liked it. "Yes, we were.", he smiled, "But I thought, for the sake of politeness, I'm going to call you Mister Park."

"Well, Mister Kim, please call me Jimin."

"Only if you use my first name."

"Of course, if you want me to."

Namjoon took a look around. "Didn't you bring Mr. Jung?", he asked. "No..", Jimin answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "You see, I didn't catch his number. No one gave it to me. Or.. any other way to contact him." Namjoon mouthed an 'o'. Right. He never gave that information. "I'm sorry.", he said, "I made this mistake. I should've written that in the message."

"Yeah.. you also could've texted me the exact time.. I was waiting for an hour or such..."

"I thought 'before noon' was enough. Maybe I shouldn't have expected you to be used to my- wait, I arrived earlier than you. How could you have been waiting for an hour?"

"Well- I- uhm...", Jimin stuttered, caught red handed. "You- you lied too!" Namjoon's eyes went from confused to narrowed really quick. "Why did you lie? Did you hide from me?" Jimin looked down at his feet. Usually, he would have just laughed it off. But this time, there was a kind of person in front of him which couldn't have let him. "I wasn't quite sure how to approach you." This wasn't a lie, but it certainly felt like it. His heart began to skip a few beats, and his stomach turned upside down.

"So you let me wait for almost 40 minutes? On purpose?!", Namjoon asked, brows furrowed. Jimin's head rushed, he felt like he was going to pass out every second. Namjoon laid his hands on the trembling man's shoulders. "You're looking as if I'm going to kill you.", he said, minding to keep his voice down. It brought a soothing and vibrant tone. He sighed, long and deep. "Look, I promised that I was going to go easy on you, and I'm not risking breaking that. I know things have been confusing the last few days, and you're probably very confused and scared. I know that. I've met a lot of people that were in your place."

Namjoon slowly backed off, giving Jimin space. The latter did relax a bit, but couldn't bring himself to look up. "I know what you think of me. And I know that I'm not the kind of person you want to be associated with. But for now, you're quite literally stuck with me. You and Mr. Kim got yourself in a really bad situation, but I'm not someone with no empathy at all, alright?"

Jimin slowly began to raise his head again. His fingers still fiddled with some buttons of his coat, but he was able to look into Namjoon's eyes without freaking out. "So what does that mean for.. for me?", he asked. "It means,", Namjoon answered immediately, "that you and I are gonna have a talk. A really important one, because it determines how I'm going to treat you in the future. And that is kind of important for you."

"I figured.."

"But since a lot of people asked me to, I want to talk to you in a civil manner. Means you don't have to be scared. I know that sounds hard, I'm rather horrible with first impressions, but I suppose you're just going to have to trust me."

"Will this really decide what you are going to do with me after this..?, Jimin asked carefully. His head could already picture all the terrible scenes that could occur.

"Yeah, absolutely. But since I can be such a nice person, maybe we can relocate this to a more.. comfortable environment."

"Can we go to the cafe down the road?"

"Si tu insistes, chaton."