so far away | yoonkook

later hours : 20

"you made me miss my bus." yoongi calls seokjin fifteen minutes pass ten-forty after the blond left.

he's only grateful for the fact that he wasn't too distracted to ask the blond for his cellphone number. if he was, the plan would've been just one big flop.

"not my fault. you requested for stories, so I gave you some. don't tell me it wasn't worth hearing about the time namjoon got his head stuck inside the dryer." but not really. that story made up for most of the lost time, honestly.

this causes yoongi to chuckle. "namjoon does have a big head."

"he needs a place to store all that information about the chemical composition of the earth's core, yoongi-ssi." seokjin says on the other end of the line. and even though yoongi doesn't see him, he can practically imagine the smile on his lips as he talked.

"and the accelerating universe." yoongi adds, mid-chuckle. "but now I have to wait for a half-hour just for the next bus."

"you're still in gangnam, though. why not stroll for a bit?"

"so I can tire myself?" yoongi grunts.

just thinking about it makes his legs wobble already. or maybe it's just because he's been standing for too long. maybe.

"call namjoon then."

"can't. don't want to be a bother."

it's seokjin's turn to grunt. "you're weak."

"wrong, I'm a genius."

"I'm hanging up."

"hello, hanging u-"

"goodbye, yoongi-ssi."

yoongi sighs but he's not at all disappointed about seokjin ending the call.

at least he had seokjin's number. that way he can call him up whenever the opportunity between him and namjoon develops. it's easier to get them back together now.

yoongi isn't just doing this for himself, though, and he hopes when the day comes for him to explain, namjoon will understand. he hopes namjoon will hear his side and consider his idea. because yoongi doesn't know anyone else out there who could tolerate his dongsaeng longer than seokjin.

yoongi already knows seokjin can tolerate him long enough—love him long enough too.

a little while later when yoongi decides to turn his phone off, in an attempt to refuse calling up hoseok, he decides to cross back the opposite sidewalk and sit on the bench in front of the convenience store.

tonight isn't as cold as the last time he sat here.

actually, yoongi thinks the weather's shifting rather quickly now. for one, he can actually tread through the rest of the evening without wearing four layers of clothing.

and yoongi's not as sad as he used to be.

there's a mini-ache in his heart. he knows it will never go away. it can only be replaced by the help of something more powerful than any physical alternative, but it doesn't bother him too much.

things feel so much lighter right now.

so when yoongi sees a mop of orange hair, striking like flames against the night down his path, his mood lifts profoundly.

"jimin!" he hops off his seat.

yoongi doesn't know why he's calling out to him excitedly like this but he just does.

maybe it's the hopefulness that swells in his chest that motivates him to do it. or maybe jimin was just the closest he could get to familiarity without his emotions getting the best of him.

the guy halts and looks back. yoongi is waving at him, arm stretched pass his head because he fears jimin might not catch him.

but jimin does.

and when the orange haired lad is just staring at him, yoongi feels like something's wrong.

why wasn't he moving?

"hey, jimin! it's yoongi!" he tries one more time, his free hand cupped around his mouth as he yelled.

it's already pretty lame that they weren't even that far apart, more so the fact that yoongi never usually raised his voice so he seems a bit rough around the edges as he attempted to sound clearer.

then the guy cranes his neck forward in this awkward manner that makes yoongi think of a lost duck looking for his flock, sees him bringing his hand over his eyes to block the light and yoongi gets it. he's probably near-sighted.

did he even have glasses?

"yoongi!" jimin says after a second and finally jogs towards him. "what are you doing all alone here?" he asks, finally close enough to verify that it was in fact yoongi.

because jimin was still a bit wary having that he could hardly make out yoongi's features from his previous spot.

"I met up with a friend." yoongi says, smiling.

"but I thought namjoon was your only friend from here?"

"did he tell you that?"

jimin nods.

yoongi shakes his head. unbelievable.

"I can make friends too, you know?"

"hmmm, true. are you heading somewhere?"

"actually..."

actually, yoongi remembers that jimin was jungkook's co-worker and he'd been wondering if he was with the kid recently.

he knows it hasn't been that long but not having jungkook around all the time made yoongi worry. he wants to know what all the fuss jimin was making was about when he talked to namjoon the other morning. yoongi's yet to find out what the boy even does for a living.

"I was thinking, jimin-ah, are you still under working hours?"

jimin hesitates a bit. his eyes dart upward for a moment before they look back to yoongi.

yoongi sees this but doesn't comment on anything.

"you want to... see jungkookie?" jimin inquires, a hand coming up to hold his arm.

yoongi glances at the way jimin tightens his grip on his limb.

though jimin gives so much away with his actions, yoongi simply nods at him.

"okay. you can follow me through there." jimin points a thumb towards the direction he came from.

at the opposite sidewalk where a turn led to the gloomier side of gangnam was where they were headed.