RENEWAL || BTS

11

The following week was spent by Jimin deep in his thoughts, pondering over the possibilities of his theory being true.

I must be bonkers. He thinks to himself and knocks his head against the wall continuously. What the hell, Jimin. Where the heck do you think you are? Zootopia?

Namjoon eyes the boy, weird, as he walks by with his bags in his arms. Heaving a rather loud sigh, he drops his bags and makes his way over to Jimin, placing his hand in between the boy's head and the wall.

"Jimin-ah. What are you doing?"

"O-oh, hyung! Uh... nothing. I'm not doing anything." The older slightly narrows his eyes and sighs again. Jimin had been doing this for the past week, and he is so sure that something is up. However, the man had decided that he won't push it if Jimin doesn't take the initiative to talk about his problem.

With a soft smile on his lips, Namjoon lightly pats the boy on his head.

"How about helping us carry stuff onto the car then? Everyone brought too much stuff here, it'll be great if you can lend a hand." With a curt nod, Jimin pushes himself up on his feet and trails behind Namjoon.

__

"Jiminie!" Taehyung shouts into Jimin's ear, pulling him out of his line of thoughts and making him flinch at the same time. The nickname gave him goosebumps too.

"H-huh?"

"We were asking who you want as a roommate!" The boy chimes as his signature box-like smile spread on his lips.

Everyone in the car looks at him expectantly, excluding Hoseok, who is driving.

"Namjoon hyung." He answers with no hesitation. Hoseok and Taehyung groan in slight annoyance since they've lost the bet they made with Jungkook and are now forced to feed him unlimited lamb skewers for the entire week while Namjoon smiles to himself, proud that he's Jimin's choice out of all the boys.

Jimin proceeds to stare out the window, continuing his previous thoughts.

Even though the car is all loud and noisy with Taehyung and Hoseok continuously cracking jokes and the couple laughing at them, Namjoon notices how quiet and distant Jimin is.

He's at it again.

Frowning, Namjoon turns and stares at the road.

What's going on in that head of his?

__

"Ah, finally! We sat down for so long my butt hurts." Taehee murmurs to herself, only to get a quite unexpected answer from her boyfriend.

"Want me to massage them for you?" Jungkook says teasingly in a hushed tone, earning himself a slap on his arm.

"Yah yah yah! No PDA, please! We have a child here!" Hoseok shouts as he wraps one of his arms around Jimin's shoulders defensively.

"Am I hearing things or did I just hear Hobie screaming?" A rather small, familiar voice erupts, making Jimin raise his brows in scrutiny.

"Someone's coming." He mumbles to himself, and Hoseok who heard him leans in closer to whisper, "Who?"

"Oh, Jin hyung!" Taehyung's voice pulls the two apart, looking up to see two men, both with huge grocery bags in their arms.

Jimin had recognized the taller brunette to be the man Taehee talked to a week ago. But somehow, the shorter, dark-haired male seemed familiar too.

"Kids! You guys are back already?!" Jin beams happily, his voice an octave higher than usual making Yoongi beside him flinch and later groan, annoyed.

"Yes, hyung. We just arrived. Woah. Yoongi hyung, did you really just went grocery shopping?" Namjoon asks as he takes a few glances at the bags in the said man's arms. Yoongi only rolled his eyes in annoyance before making his way into the apartment lobby, to which Jungkook and Taehee follow.

"Ah, hyung, we should go in too. We'll take these." Hoseok says and grabs onto one of the bags -Taehyung doing the same- before leaving for the lobby.

Suddenly, it's all quiet. Jimin takes the chance to steal several glances at the man they all called 'Jin hyung'. He gives off a kind and mature vibe, and he's definitely what people call good looking. He has a feeling that he's going to like this man a lot.

"So this is Park Jimin? Do you remember me?" Jin questions with a kind smile, to which Jimin shyly nods as he looks down, suddenly taking interest in the concrete floor under his feet.

"Sorry, hyung. He's just a bit shy. He'll open up later when he gets used to the environment and people." Namjoon explains and gives Jimin a light, assuring pat on his shoulder.

"Of course! I understand. It's great to finally see you in person, Jimin. I'll tell you this beforehand, just call me hyung, alright? I don't like it when people are too formal with me." Jin reaches his hand out for Jimin to shake, and he timidly does so.

"Y-yes, hyung."

"Ah... he's cute. So I heard that your father is adopting him?" Jin asks, the warm smile never leaving his face.

"Well, he's already adopted. Just around a week ago."

"Ah, I see." Placing one of his palm against his cheek and the other on his waist, Jin continues staring at the flustered Jimin with a smile.

"Hyung. Please don't even think about spoiling him."

__

After an intense ghost leg game, the guests are finally settling into their rooms. While Jin and Yoongi share the master bedroom, the others share regular-sized guestrooms except for Hoseok and Taehyung, who had to sleep in the living room.

As Namjoon organizes his luggage, Jimin sits on his side of the bed and stares out the window blankly. He has so many questions to ask, and yet when he actually thought about it, his questions are just bizarre. It's probably better to keep things to himself rather than having people think he's crazy.

However, it's been a week; and he doesn't think he can endure the frustrations any longer.

"Hyung." He calls out, his voice small. Namjoon stops whatever he's doing upon hearing the voice and turns to face him.

"Hm?"

"Um... Hyung, can you... promise me that you won't judge me for asking?" The younger boy asks hesitantly with a worried look. Namjoon frowns at his odd request but still does as he asked.

Even after the older promised, Jimin is still hesitant and anxious.

What if he starts disliking me after I ask him?

Seeing how he plays with his fingers nervously, Namjoon puts down the stack of clothes he's holding and moves to sit beside the younger, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Jimin-ah, I'm your hyung, aren't I?"

"Y-yes..."

"Then you should know that you can trust me. I won't judge you, okay?" He says and waits patiently for the boy to open up. But when he doesn't after a good minute,  Namjoon's shoulders eventually slumps as he sighs and smiles softly.

"It's okay, Jimin. Don't push yourself. You can tell me when you're ready to, okay?" Just as he was about to stand and walk away, Jimin grabs onto his long sleeve. And with his small voice, he says, 

"Hyung, I think I was a fox."