flowers and ink » yoonmin

ten.

Jimin was walking into his apartment from the alley entrance. Yoongi trailed him, surveying the garbage on the ground and the mold dripping down the brick walls. They had been at Cafe Bliss after closing the shop. They were going to hang out at Jimin's, because that's what friends do. They hung out. Their relationship had hardly changed since Yoongi's confession; Jimin had been right- Yoongi didn't care whether or not he succeeded in pushing Jimin away. The insults and dirty jokes that made up ninety percent of Yoongi's vocabulary stayed the same, but they were more playful. Yoongi also looked less exhausted, like it had been sucking his energy to keep Jimin away. At the same time, Jimin was surprised that Yoongi had given up on trying to keep him safe with his behavior. I don't want to hurt you, he had said, but maybe he didn't think Jimin liked him enough to get hurt by him. It was a whole mess of confusion, so Jimin just let it be, enjoying his time with Yoongi a lot more.

"It kinda sucks that you have to walk through this place to leave your apartment," Yoongi said as they neared the door, and Jimin just shrugged with one shoulder. Their footsteps echoed against the dirty brick.

"You get used to it," he replied. Then he heard Yoongi gasp, and he whirled around, half-afraid and half-hoping that Yoongi had fallen into a pile of trash. Instead, the tattooed boy was staring at the old upright piano Jimin had bought at a sale for a tiny fraction of its price. Jimin sighed at the piano. He didn't know why he had bought it; it'd been sitting against the wall where the alley dead-ended, gathering germs for a good year now. He didn't even play. But Yoongi rushed to it as if it was a brand new grand piano, his excitement dimming a little as he pressed down on the wildly out-of-tune keys. Jimin remembered the park encounter from what felt like ages ago, and the memory felt like an epiphany.

"We're gonna call someone and fix this up and put it in the store and put plants on it and fairy lights and it's gonna look so nice and I'll play it for the customers," Yoongi rambled to Jimin. Jimin was about to say absolutely not when he saw that Yoongi's eyes were wide open with excitement. He couldn't say no to those dark, glistening eyes. He sighed.

"Fine."

Yoongi nearly squealed. "Let's move it in now!"

They struggled with it for an hour, finally managing to get it through the door(Jimin had no idea how they'd done that; it seemed like the piano had shrunk itself to get through). They dragged it over to the right wall, in a space that Jimin had contemplated filling with another shelving unit. When Yoongi pushed his hair back with a bandanna he summoned from his pocket, Jimin was suddenly glad he'd left it empty. By the time they got it situated, they were both drenched with sweat, Yoongi's white shirt nearly transparent. Jimin tried not to look at Yoongi, but he couldn't help himself; Yoongi looked so good with that bandanna, and it was entirely unfair.

"Is there a bench?" Yoongi asked, and Jimin shrugged, sure he'd blurt something like take off your shirt or you look really freaking hot if he opened his mouth. Yoongi disappeared into the alley and Jimin pinched his arm. "Get it together," he whispered. Soon, Yoongi reappeared, carrying a bench. He sat it down in front of the piano and surveyed the thing proudly. Jimin stared at it less proudly. It was ugly; the dark wood was moldy and the keys were stained brown. It seemed to be sagging in on itself, but Yoongi seemed to have high hopes for it.

"If we put some leafy plants on the top and some vines crawling up its sides, it'll look charming, not like a pile of shit," Yoongi enthused, and Jimin thought that maybe it was a good idea after all. Besides, Yoongi looked so happy gushing about it.

"You call someone who can fix that thing and I'll go out and buy some fairy lights," Jimin said, throwing an affectionate smile at Yoongi. Yoongi looked at him with panic for a second, before hesitantly nodding. Jimin felt a pang of defeat; he'd been hoping for a real smile. With one last glance at Yoongi to make sure he was okay, Jimin walked to the small home improvement store, a few buildings down from the park. He kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with others. He wished for his earbuds, cursing himself for not bringing them. He felt calmer with his music.