Chapter 24

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Jimin forgets his phone at home, so he can’t text Yoongi the good news, but he bounds in, filled with adrenaline, ready to tell Yoongi that they can break up now, that he’s finally free of Jimin’s stupid plan.

He’s surprised to see Yoongi’s bag and coat already sitting on the table in the kitchen. Yoongi comes over, sometimes, without warning, but normally he’ll ask Jimin first or Jimin’s mom will mention that she’s invited Yoongi over for something.

Jimin checks his room first, and then glances at the open door of the bathroom, and when Yoongi is in neither, he wanders back down stairs to see if he’s outside, or something.

He isn’t, but as Jimin’s just about to shout his name, he hears familiar voices coming through the cracked door of his mother’s room.

“It’s nothing weird,” Jimin can hear Yoongi, barely, as he slinks up next to the door, peeking in to see Yoongi helping his mom fold a basket of laundry into neat piles across her bed. He leans his ear towards the crack so Yoongi’s voice becomes clearer, “I still thought he was nothing but an obnoxious kid. He and Jihoon were so annoying, once they hit twelve. I never wanted to, or tried, to do anything to him. Not back then, not when we were kids, there was just… always a feeling. I could never really explain it. When I was ten - Jimin was around eight - I’d fallen on the sidewalk. I was supposed to be watching Jimin and Jihoon while my parents were cooking. They went running off and I was trying to keep them in view. I saw them going inside and tried to slow down, but fell. I went in the backyard to cry. I didn’t want anyone to see, especially not Jihoon. Jimin came in the back, eventually, said he was looking for me. I told him to go away, but he’s stubborn as hell. Instead, he looked all over my arms and legs, kissed my bruises, wiped my cheeks, kissed those too and said, 'now everything will be okay, hyung’,” Jimin remembers the moment, perfectly, hearing Yoongi relay it, but he hasn’t recalled it on his own in years. He’s forgotten that Yoongi used to play with them. Once he turned, like, thirteen, he started to be mean to Jimin and never tried to talk to him or Jihoon anymore, and Jihoon thought that he hated him, and Jimin decided to hate Yoongi for making Jihoon so sad, and each year they just grew further and further apart until Jimin forgot they were ever close at all, “There were other times, over the years, but it was always that same feeling. It never went away. I didn’t know what it was until recently.”

“Love?” Jimin’s mother suggests, and Jimin nearly laughs at the idea of Yoongi loving him.

“Love,” Yoongi agrees softly, and the word does something strange but not bad to Jimin’s chest, those wild butterflies that have recently taken residence in his stomach all bursting to life at once.

“Sometimes it sneaks up on you,” his mom says, nodding as if Yoongi’s story makes perfect sense, “you don’t even notice and then, one day, it all just makes sense,” Yoongi makes a quiet noise of agreement. The two are silent, and Jimin thinks about going in to talk to them, but his mom starts speaking again just before he goes to push open the door, “I knew you were Jihoon’s brother, but I didn’t know you played with the boys back then. Jimin’s mostly just called you, 'that annoying hyung’ and complained about how mean you are.”

Yoongi laughs while Jimin is flooded with embarrassment, “I didn’t play with them much, after a while. I heard them calling me boring one day when I was younger and didn’t want to spoil their fun, but, I was always around. I don’t think they noticed me much unless I started to tease them, but I was usually watching out for them,” Yoongi explains, and suddenly a lot of Jimin’s memories make far more sense.

“How things change,” Jimin’s mother half-jokes.

Yoongi laughs again, but it’s a different sound. It’s not happy, or humored, but uncomfortable, a little self-deprecating, and maybe even wistful as he mutters, “yeah, they really change.”

Jimin isn’t sure what he’s feeling, but it’s too much. He turns away from the door, pressing his back against the wall and wonders why he feels so nervous and why Yoongi’s acting seems so much like it’s not  acting and why he kind of wants to kiss Yoongi all the time and what if that weird feeling he’s had is just like they’re describing, what if he’s in love with Yoongi. He doesn’t have a lot of time to freak out over his almost-epiphany, someone exiting and startling Jimin out of his thoughts.

“Oh, oh, ah, hyung!” Jimin exlaims, waving nervously with both hands as Yoongi stares at him with wide eyes.

“You’re home?” He asks, glancing between the room and Jimin so rapidly Jimin thinks he might get whiplash.

“Yeah, just, uh, just got home,” Jimin half-lies, gesturing a little too wildly, his hand movements irrelevant to his words, “what, uh, are you? You’re here?”

“I was… I am here,” Yoongi nods frantically, “I am here but I was just leaving. I have to go right now.”

Yoongi starts towards the door immediately, and Jimin is too dumbstruck at first to stop him. Just as Yoongi is pulling his second shoe on, laces still untied, Jimin remembers and calls, “wait, I have to tell you something!”

“Sorry,” Yoongi yells back, throwing his bag over his shoulder and pushing through the door with his shoes still not fully on, “I just really have to go, right now, there’s an emergency, bye!”

            Did you really just come over to
            help my mom fold laundry??? 11:34PM

11:53PM no. i was waiting for you. 
               she put me to work.

                    What did you need??? :o 11:54PM

12:09AM nothing. 
12:11AM it was dumb.
12:15AM it doesn’t matter.

                                   you sure..?? :/ 12:15AM

12:20AM yeah. 
12:21AM don’t worry.
12:23AM it was nothing bad.

              okay!! that was some really 
              good back story earlier!!! :D 12:27AM

Jimin watches the little symbol and the words “Boyfriend is typing…” appear and disappear six times in a row and stays awake for a full thirty minutes waiting for Yoongi to text back (he doesn’t) before he starts to wonder if maybe it wasn’tjust back story.

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