mall elves | yoonmin

december 14th.

In retrospect, Jimin should've seen this coming.

He's always been a soft person, someone who loves and forgives a little too quickly, so he probably should have known he couldn't hate someone as awkward and adorable as Yoongi for very long.

The inevitability of it doesn't make it any less annoying. 

It's the inevitability of cracking a slight smile when Yoongi makes a clever joke at his expense, thinking the way that Yoongi sneezes is cute (his voice is so low but he has the tiniest baby sneeze? Jimin needs an explanation now.) It's the inevitability of fondly remembering how much Yoongi looked like a baby deer trying to balance on the ice last night, and how despite how much the guy claims he hates Christmas, he eats a candy cane with his lunch every day.

And yes. It is, as previously stated, annoying. At least, it is at first.

"It's okay, sweetheart," he coos to a little girl in a fuzzy green dress who's not very happy right now. Namjoon figured that the two quarrelers needed to work together more, so they're taking kids' pictures with Santa, and Jimin is in charge of getting them to sit still and not ball their eyes out. Some of them are really afraid of the big man, weirdly enough.

"We're just gonna take your picture for mommy, okay?" he tells her, rubbing her back. "Then you can have a candy cane from us. Do you like candy canes?"

The little girl nods, and though she's still sniffling, the sobbing is over, and Jimin rejoices in his head. "Alright, honey," he says, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "Sit still, okay?"

Then, he trots over to the side, and it is now Yoongi's job to take the picture. And seeing as this little girl's mom is standing there, scrolling on her phone, it's also Yoongi's job to try and get her to smile.

"Hey, look here!" he calls to her, and when he has her attention, her red and puffy doe-eyes directed right at him, he sticks his tongue out and crosses his eyes.

That seems to do the trick. She even giggles a bit, and Yoongi captures it in two pictures.

"We're pretty good at this," Jimin whispers to him, once he's given the little girl her candy cane and her and her mother went to the desk to pay.

Yoongi frowns at him. It's not an untrue statement, but he thought the unspoken yet consensual plan they made last night was to go back to hating each other. Hating each other is easier. Hating each other does not consist of pointing out that they work well together.

"It's not that hard a task," is what he ends up saying, looking more annoyed than usual.

It seems ironic to Jimin that his rediscovery of what really pisses Yoongi off - kindness, warmth - comes when he doesn't care to use it against him anymore.

"But we're pretty good at it, are we not?" Jimin reiterates, smiling, and not in the bitter way.

And oh, does Yoongi hate that.

It doesn't help that Jimin is right, either. They are pretty good at this, together, and it makes literally no sense at all. He's so relieved when his break rolls around, and Jimin is left to man the check-out desk now because Yoongi's finally free to escape.

The problem is, he's bothered right now. Really bothered, and there's no way he'll be able to take his usual nap on the table, every care about Namjoon and Christmas and Jimin cleared from his head.

What he ends up resorting to is mindless wandering, just strolling around the store and looking at different toys because he's not the least bit hungry either, so lunch is not on his to-do list. Honestly, he kind of just wants to go home.

But that's only until he hears a voice from down below, and when he turns his head thirty degrees downward, he sees a familiar face.

"Mister Yoongi!"

Jongdae. The cute, smiley little bastard that almost gave him a heart attack back on Jimin's first day. Truthfully, Yoongi couldn't be happier to see him right now. "Hey, it's my bite-sized bro," he greets, holding out his hand so Jongdae can give him a fist bump, which is happily accepted. "How's it goin', buddy?"

"It's good! My mommy is going up to give the man at the cash register something," he says with enthusiasm, pointing over at the counter where Jimin just so happens to be standing, having a friendly conversation with a short-haired woman that Yoongi remembers is Jongdae's mother.

"Ah, gotcha," he replies absently, distracted for a second by how cute Jimin's smile is. He's always so kind and warm to others, and Yoongi wonders if maybe one of the reasons he hates him so much is because he's jealous.

Now, he wonders if he could ever deserve someone like that.

"Mister Yoongi," Jongdae's voice brings him back to reality, and the raven-haired boy blinks Jimin out of his brain, directing his attention back to his so-called 'bite-sized bro.'

"What is it?" he asks.

The young boy looks just as innocent as ever, so what he says next catches Yoongi off guard. "Do you like like that man?" he asks him, pointing over at Jimin.

Yoongi's eyes widen.

Son of a bitch.

"What?" he blurts out, looking as caught off guard as he's ever looked.

Jongdae wears a smug expression, as if he's just watched his annoying sibling fall into a puddle. "Do you like like him?" he repeats patiently, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face because he just knows. He might as well have stopped asking, but there's something that seems to please him about seeing Yoongi get flustered.

"I don't know why you'd think that," Yoongi returns, trying his best to sound calm and collected despite the fact that this six year old is questioning him about his love life.

Jongdae claps with an expression that seems to say he knows the answer, and Yoongi wonders if this is how it feels to be Dora the Explorer. "Oh, because you like boys!"

"Shh!" Yoongi panics suddenly, grabbing Jongdae's hand and dropping down to his knees so they're both out of sight and behind the shelves. He isn't in the mood for being outed to a Christian woman in front of this entire store. No thank you.

Jongdae's face falls innocently, though, and he looks lost and maybe even a little hurt. "But you said-" he starts.

"I- I know what I said. And I do like boys...in that way, but we've gotta keep it on the down low," he explains gently. Especially in the position they're in now; god forbid his mother see him talking to a gay person.

"So...I was right. You do like like that man," Jongdae muses in a whisper, getting all smiley again.

Yoongi raises an eyebrow at him. "Huh?"

Jongdae's grin only deepens. "Do you wanna kiss him?"

"Oh, for god's sake," Yoongi groans.