Strings

42| Jeongguk

The air was biting cold. It seemed as though the cool of October turned bitter overnight, bringing in a frosty November chill. Bundled up in a hoodie, a jacket, and a scarf, he edged his way into the crowded mall and then the food court.

Yoongi generally didn't ask him to the mall, neither of them really liked the noise or the crowds, but Guk wasn't about to turn him down. Taehyung was spending the day with Jimin, something about their penpal anniversary, and he liked being able to spend time with his best friend.

"Guks," Yoongi waved from one of the food lines. "C'mere."

"Hey hyung," He smiled, stepping up beside him. "What's up?"

What he meant was: 'Why are we at the mall?'

"I ordered a new recorder online, but they'd only deliver it to the outlet store. We're leaving as soon as I have it."

Jeongguk chuckled, that was probably the only reason Yoongi would willingly walk into a crowded space: music. It was obvious the people in close proximity were putting the elder on edge, his fingers worried at his pockets, unsure of whether or not they should clench into fists and punch the nearest solid surface. Gguk felt that anxiety too, knew all too well how its effect took hold of them. He ground his heels into the tile, spreading his feet apart, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in a glare. Leave us alone. It said. It was almost obvious when the people behind them shuffled back a bit. Yoongi's eyes met his gratefully, it didn't need discussed.

Armed with milkshakes and fries, the pair made their way to the outlet store. While Yoongi spoke to the clerk, Jeongguk perused the aisles for something interesting. There were instruments, tools, cleaning supplies, parts, cd's, music books, blank and full, and stands.  A back corner of the store was walled off and converted into a music studio, full windows allowed for a view of the drumset and microphones set up inside. Currently, Wonho was sitting at the drums, pounding away while Jooheon stood to his left, head nodding to whatever beat Wonho was creating. Jooheon held up a hand to stop Wonho's progress and showed him a different beat, maybe he was a teacher. They sent him a wave of recognition and he nodded politely in response, again busying himself with the selection of music books in front of him.

"Hi Jeongguk,"

Gguk jumped, fumbling with the pages of the book in his hands. Hyungwon stepped back, alarmed.

"Sorry, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, sorry, I didn't see you in there."

He smiled, running a hand through his hair. "I was laying on the floor, not important." He laughed. "Seok's busy with his lesson and Honey says I'm distracting him."

Gguk smiled, feeling unsure of the direction of the conversation. "Ah,"

"I just wanted to say hi, I was on my way to grab coffee for everyone in there, are you going to be here long? I could grab you something?"

"Ah, Kooks, I got it, we can go whenever you're ready." Yoongi sighed, situating a bag over his shoulder, he stopped short to greet Hyungwon. "Hello."

"Hi, Yoongi, right? Kihyun's mentioned you a few times."

"Yeah, nice to formally meet you." Yoongi offered him a polite smile.

Hyungwon smiled.

"Thank you for the offer, but we were getting ready to leave." Gguk shuffled his feet, replacing the book on the shelf.

"No problem," he nodded, "I should get going before they send Kyun after me, have a good one." He waved, striding effortlessly into the crowded mall.

"How many people are laying on the floor?" he mumbled, "I'm done hyung, I don't need anything."

"Who's on the floor?" Yoongi questioned, trailing after him into the noise of the main halls.

"Nobody," he chuckled, "Let's get out of here."

In the parking lot, Yoongi unlocked his car and laid his recorder in the backseat, careful of bumping it. He didn't drive often, but he had a car for times like these. Buses were inconvenient anyway. He started the heat before Yoongi joined him up front, shivering in the cold.

"How are things with Jimin?"

"Really good, he was really understanding, like I said, and he's not treating me any differently. Maybe better, I feel like we're closer now." Yoongi had a tiny satisfied smile on his lips, not exactly rare, but special. It made Jeongguk smile too, he belted himself in and let Yoongi drive to his dorm.

"What if we made brownies?" Yoongi pouted in thought.

"Why would we make brownies? We can just pick some up," Gguk suggested, he wasn't really a baker and, as far as he knew, neither was Yoongi.

The elder shrugged. "Could be fun."

He nodded thoughtfully, "Okay, should we call Jin?"

Yoongi nodded, "Better to be safe than sorry."

"I do like my apartment not crispy."

Jin showed up with bags of ingredients, Namjoon at his side. " 'Cuz I don't think you'll have all of it."

They were dressed like they'd both just come from work. Namjoon was in slacks and a grey button down beneath a heavy charcoal peacoat, and Jin in his cooking frock and a green parka. They each wore a matching blue scarf wrapped securely around their necks.

Jeongguk pouted, "Have you no faith in me Jin hyung?"

Namjoon sighed in confidence, "He doesn't even trust me!"

"That one makes sense though," Yoongi pointed out with a shrug and Namjoon's shoulders drooped in defeat. Jin laughed, handing a few bags to Jeongguk.

"I guess that's fair."

"What's fair?" Taehyung appeared at Jeongguk's side, resting his chin on the younger's shoulder.

"I didn't know we were having a party? What did you bring?"

"We're making brownies," Yoongi explained, pressing a kiss to Jimin's cheek and letting them all inside with his copy of Gguk's key.

"I need to make another one of those," he mumbled to himself.

Tae hummed, still stuck to his side, "Say something?"

He shook his head, nuzzling his chin against Tae's face. "Nothing."

They all shed their coats and shoes, Joon pushed his glasses up his nose and his hair out of his eyes while Jimin let his messy hair free of it's beanie. Gguk offered Joon a change of clothes and Tae charged the thermostat, turning it up only slightly at Jin's behest, because the oven would make the apartment warm soon enough.

Jimin draped himself over the back of the couch, watching Jin and Yoongi work while Jeongguk made a big pot of hot chocolate for everyone.

"You know, it feels like we're missing someone." He hummed. He knew exactly what he was doing, but he gartered the attention of the others, Yoongi looking over his shoulder curiously.

"Who's not here?"

"Hoseok." Jimin grinned, eyes squinting in satisfaction. "Yoongi, you should ask him if he's busy. If that's fine with Kook?"

Jeongguk stared between the couple, Jimin's mischievous grin and Yoongi's pleading eyes. "It's fine with me, Hoseok's nice." He replied, giggling.

"Yooongiiii," Jimin sang, rolling onto his feet and coming over to hug his boy. "I lost Hoseok's number, can youu text him for meee? Pleeease?"

Yoongi closed his eyes, frowning deeply. Everyone paused, quietly watching as Yoongi relented bit by bit to Jimin's scheming demands. He fished his phone out of his pocket and sent a glare around the room, everyone turned away except for Jimin of course.

This is me, kinda back. today's July 11, i wont publish til august. I wanted a break from self pressure. my books get quiet attention, they're put on a lot of lists, but get a lot less views and likes through the story progression. it makes me feel like i'm doing a bad job, so i took this break.

I hope you like this chapter, i'm not sure what im doing rn xD