ᴘᴀsᴛᴇʟ ʙᴏʏ. || ᴍ.ʏɢ + ᴘ.ᴊᴍ ✔️

thirty-four: be there

Jimin let the weekend slip by without talking much to anyone. And he felt guilty about it, especially with how many messages he was receiving from Yoongi and Namjoon - and Namjoon had, at one point, stopped by Jimin's house but conveniently at that time Jimin was out of the house - but he just needed the time to himself. To think. To feel. To think about how he felt.

To get his act together. To realize some things.

It was a gradual and painful realization he arrived at. But he got there, and he already firmly decided for himself he wasn't going to hide it under a mask any more.

That realization.

Come Monday morning, he walked to school a bit earlier than normal, prepared but not ready to talk to Yoongi.

Prepared but not ready. That perfectly described his situation right now.

It wasn't even 7:30 and Jimin was in his classroom, waiting. Twenty minutes later Yoongi came in.

"H—Jimin, hey."

Tentative in voice and manner, Yoongi approached Jimin's desk and slowly slid into the empty one in front of him. Class didn't start till 8:15. He could afford to talk for some time.

"You got me worried, Jimin."

Hearing Yoongi's voice again. Those thoughtful words, that tender tone. Jimin pursed his lips.

"Are you okay-"

"I'm sorry for ignoring you."

An apology. Yoongi's heart felt a little weak at the sound. "It's...it's okay, Jimin, like I said, I was just...worried." He paused, sweeping his gaze over the other boy's face. "...how are you?"

"Tired."

Yoongi let out a tiny breath of air through his nose as a sort of brief, forced expression of amusement, but more so he only felt concerned. "I can see that. You've got bags under your eyes."

"Mm." Jimin gave a slow nod. "Didn't sleep much."

"Why not?"

"Thinking."

"About?"

You. "A lot of things."

"I see..."

Sighing again, Yoongi tried to hold back his urge to just grab Jimin and hug him right now, but really that's all he wanted to do. And it was all he had wanted to do the past couple days, too. But especially now. On top of the dark circles on Jimin's pale complexion, the boy's eyes looked so, so heavy. Yoongi could so clearly see and feel the emotional stress Jimin was under. He had a feeling he knew exactly what it was about, too.

"Yoongi?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you after school?"

"You can talk to me now, Jimin."

"No. Privately." The boy shrunk into himself, hanging his head low. "It's important."

It struck something in Yoongi. A chord of some kind, one that sent an echo down every blood vessel till it reached his heart. He thought he knew. His confidence on the matter was almost 100%. And yet still, anticipation and curiosity tugged furiously at his brain and danced on his nerves.

"After school, where?" He asked. "Just outside?"

"We can go to the Golden Spoon," Jimin said. His eyes remained fixed on his desk in front of him. "That's always been a comfortable place to talk."

"Okay, that's fine."

And so Yoongi had to endure the wait. Anxiety nipped at his mind like cold wind on uncovered skin. He shivered at the thought of bad news. Honestly, he didn't even know where he was getting these negative expectations, when again, he felt he already knew what this was about.