reset ; ym

Sixty one days later

Jimin felt weird when he saw Hoseok sitting by the window of the café, waiting for him. He knew he shouldn't; they were friends, after all, but at the same time Hoseok was Yoongi's best friend. What if he was a little bit biased and things were going to be awkward between them?

But when he saw Hoseok grinning at him once he was in sight he knew it was dumb of him to think that in the first place. He took a seat opposite his friend and gave him a warm smile.

"I ordered you a cappuccino," Hoseok said, "Our drinks should be here any minute."

"Hello to you, too."

"Sorry." Hoseok grinned. "How are you?"

"Good, good." Jimin nodded, looked out the window. "I'm getting better, you know? I mean, sure, things... happen, but I've been thinking a lot and – oh, you know what? Let's not talk about it." He smiled courtly. "What have you been up to?"

Hoseok gave him a scrutinizing yet soft look. "Alright," he sighed, "I'll get back to that later, though." The waitress arrived with their coffees. It broke the momentary tension. After taking a sip of his latte macchiato, Hoseok finally answered Jimin's question.

"Not much," he said, "Mostly university... Had to study a lot for upcoming exams."

"Oh, you tell me," Jimin sighed. In between the mess that was his love life he had neglected his studies way too much. Sungdeuk was anything but happy with his performance, no matter how hard Jimin tried to please him during his dance classes. "I really need to focus again."

"Yeah, it's tough," Hoseok agreed, "I didn't do much all semester long. Now I have to repeat everything. So stupid."

"You tell me," Jimin sighed and took a sip of his cappuccino. "I'm kind of afraid I won't pass this semester."

At that, Hoseok frowned. "What? Shut up. You were one of the best students before, you can't do so bad now."

"I skipped a few dance classes," Jimin admitted, "I can't skip anymore, otherwise they won't let me take the test."

Hoseok's mouth fell open to form a perfect 'o'. "Jesus," he said, "That sucks."

"Yeah."

"What about your theory classes?"

Jimin shrugs halfheartedly. "They're alright. I didn't revise anything at home, though. Gonna be a hard exam."

Only now that he so openly talked about it did he realize what an impact the drama had on his life. He gave Hoseok a sympathetic smile; enough whining for the day.

"Anyway," he said and cleared his throat, "Anything new I should know about?"

But Hoseok shook his head, much to his dismay. "No, everyone's pretty much dead at the moment. It's all university and avoiding awkward encounters with the group."

Jimin's eyes widened. He groaned and hid his face behind his hands. "God, I'm sorry. This is all our fault."

"Hey, stop it." Hoseok gently pulled his hands down to get a look at Jimin's face. "Don't be stupid. It'll take some time. And, honestly, if one relationship was enough to tear the whole group apart, then we should truly reconsider our friendships."

Jimin shrugged. "I don't know. I feel like the whole back and forth between Yoongi and me is honestly tearing at my sanity."

"You mean the kiss?" Hoseok asked and Jimin nodded.

"Yeah, that, and the fact that he has a girlfriend now."

Hoseok choked on his drink. He coughed; Jimin patiently waited for him to calm down.

"He what?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"No!"

Oh. Maybe Jimin shouldn't have said anything, then. Or, maybe he should have.

"I went to his place the other day to talk. Didn't call beforehand which was kind of stupid. When I got there he tried to avoid the conversation, and at first I thought it was because it confused him just as it confused me. Or maybe he wanted to avoid whatever he felt. I don't know. But then, this girl appeared next to him, and she was even wearing his shirt. I think she was the reason why Yoongi didn't want to let me into his apartment. She must have been." Jimin shook his head. "He didn't even say anything when I left."

For a few moments, Hoseok just silently stared at him. Then, he huffed. "That asshole."

"Hm?"

"He didn't even say he was seeing someone." He thought for a moment. "I guess it can't be that serious, then."

"Yoongi isn't the guy for one night stands."

"Well, God knows how he tries to find himself. Maybe he is having a midlife crisis." Hoseok slammed his hand against the table, so loudly that a few other costumers turned around and threw them curios glances. "I'm gonna talk to him."

"What?" Jimin gave him appalled look. "No!"

"I have to. He is my best friend!" Hoseok reminded him. Then, a bit calmer, he added, "Look. When you were dating Jungkook, wouldn't you have wanted someone to give you a wake up call and remind you that maybe you were only trying to distract yourself from Yoongi?"

Maybe Jimin had. But everyone had trusted him enough to believe that he could judge his own situation well enough to make sane decisions. "I guess."

"I don't think Yoongi is ready for a new relationship," Hoseok said, "I know he is discreet about his feelings, but he is hurting a lot. And I can see that you are, too. I don't care what happens then but I do believe you two should talk."

Immediately, Jimin shook his head. "I can't. I can't see him. He'll hurt me."

"He won't, Jimin. Just a rational talk. You two can hate each other all you want after that, but you need closure."

"He wouldn't want to see me anyway," Jimin said, "I know that. He hates me."

Hoseok opened his mouth to disagree but stopped himself last second. He closed his eyes, breathed through deeply.

"That's not true," he said, "But fine. If that's what you want to believe... I'll go talk to him this week and find out who that girl is. Someone really needs to get him back down to earth."

Jimin looked down at his cappuccino. Suddenly, he didn't feel like drinking it anymore.

"Yeah," he mumbled absentmindedly, "I think... I think I'm gonna go now. I still... got some stuff to do, you know?" He took his purse out and put some money on the table. "Thank you for the cappuccino, and thanks for talking to me. Hope to see you around again."

Hoseok sighed. He nodded and forced a soft smile. "Sure, Jiminie. Always. Call me if something's up, yeah?"

Jimin nodded. "Of course. You, too."

Then, he got up, grabbed his stuff and quickly left the café. He didn't know what had come over him; he just knew that all he needed was distance from Yoongi, otherwise, he would never be able to close the chapter of his life that the man had been such a huge part of.

An.: Wash your hands people and stay safe!!