Strawberries and Cigarettes

Chapter Thirty-One

When Yoongi eventually managed to pull Jimin out of his apartment, the boy was grumbling and throwing a fit about not being able to finish the marathon.

"You can come over sometime soon and me and you can knock out the stuff you didn't finish tonight?" Yoongi offered as the climbed into the car. He wanted to get Jimin home fast and this turned a half an hour walk into a 5 minute drive.

Jimin smiled as he hopped into the car. "If I'm not busy with school, i would love to. Dance and homework takes up a lot of time."

"Well, " Yoongi said, "I get that, I'm almost always working or doing chores at the house." he said, pulling out of his driveway and driving down the dimly lit road that led to Jimin's house, "You know, it's weird that we live in such different homes but literally like five miles apart."

"Small towns tend to do that type of thing," Jimin seemed to be speaking without thinking, watching as trees and lampposts passed him by. "The higher classes mix with the lower classes. They don't separate. It's beautiful when you think about it."

"It's judgemental, you go to school, work, and any outside place and are judged by anyone not in the same class as you. It's insulting and embarrassing and just all out cruel." Yoongi spat as he turned onto Jimin's street. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but he understood what it felt like to judge and be judged and it was so horribly wrong. You never feel safe, or warm or happy, and you never know who to trust.

Jimin snapped out of his daze and gave Yoongi a saddened look. "I don't judge like that. How could anyone judge a person based off where they live or what they have? Isn't that the point of us being all mixed together? Is so that way we can see that a house isn't what makes people better?" Jimin ran his mouth, not thinking correctly from the nap he had gotten.

"Not everyone in the world works like you do Minnie, hell not even I do. If they did maybe life wouldn't be so... messy." Yoongi sighed, pulling into Jimin's driveway, neither of them noticing the black car in the garage.

"Plus a world where everyone acts like you would make you a bit less special, and that would kinda suck because I'm very fond of how amazing you are just being... yourself." the elder added, stretching over and kissing Jimin's cheek.

Jimin blushed, holding the area on his cheek. "Yoongi..." he said, looking a little sad. "I- You- we can't keep doing this. Especially not while I'm here" Jimin's voice was melancholic, almost as if he regretted saying it. He had his head turned away from Yoongi, looking at his neighbor's lawn. His mother always hated their lawn because of how perfect the grass was. She hated the lack of clovers, mostly, and so did Jimin as he stared it down.

"Minnie," Yoongi said, unlocking the car doors, the noise of which was louder than he was expecting, "You can't just be scared of who you are and what your parents will say, if that is what this is." he watched in distress as the younger opened the car door, neither of the boys noticing the garage door opening, "Plus Minnie, it isn't even like we're dating! It's completely platonic as far as they're concerned!"

"Yoongi! I just can't!"

"Damn straight you can't.",

There he stood, the man whose face could be seen in Jimin's, but only if one looked for it, his arms crossed over his chest, eyes burning into his son's.

The panic was visible on Jimin's face, his mouth hung ajar, his eyes were wide, and his body stood frozen. Despite the sound of the engine, a pen drop could have been heard.

"Jimin..." Yoongi whispered, reaching out and grabbing the boys wrist from across the consol, "Get back in Minnie come on." He tugged, not wanting the boy to get in trouble with his father, and not feeling like it was his place to interject just yet. During the commotion Jimin's mother had wondered her way outside as well, and now stood a few feet behind Jimin's father, Her hand covering her mouth and her teary eyes blinking ever so often.