Work Text:
Jimin has had a very long day. He'd woken up without a care in the world, but college is hard and with his near death experience on the train no one can blame him for feeling like he's had a hard fucking day.
Not only that but he's a dramatic little shit, so Taehyung and Jungkook are not at all surprised when the second Jimin comes home he heads straight for his room and flops face down onto his bed.
They are, of course, good best friends and roommates, and give him his space for only 10 minutes. Enough time to groan and feel bad for himself, but not so long that he starts complaining so loud the lady next door can hear. He is exactly as they expect to find him, rolling slightly side to side and muttering to himself.
"Jiminie, what's wrong?" Taehyung asks.
This is not the first time Jimin has done this, and usually it's over a minor inconvenience. Maybe a professor couldn't speak to him until the next day, or maybe he just didn't eat all day and feels too sorry for himself to actually get up and get something.
Or even worse, maybe Jimin embarrassed himself on the train again and is finally starting to regret it. It's not that likely though.
Jimin continues to roll back and forth on his bed, mentally cursing himself. God how can he manage to be so... stupid? So embarrassing, so careless, and such a scaredy cat that he couldn't even take Yoongi up on his offer. Not that he wants to because he is a giant baby and hot boys scare him just as much now as they did in middle school.
He groans loudly one more time for good measure before making room on either side of him for his best friends. Both boys sit wordlessly down on either side, already counting the seconds until Jimin breaks and spills what dumb thing he's done today.
"I've had the worst fucking day," Jimin groans into his pillows, slipping into Korean because it's easier to whine in.
Jungkook and Taehyung share a look over his head, but stay silent. If they indulge too much in Jimin's antics he might start to think they like his flare for the dramatic. Despite his need to whine and complain, Jimin's need to fix his problem is much greater. He sits up eventually and gives a miserable sort of sigh before barreling forward.
"Yoongi spoke to me today," he groans, hands coming up to cover his eyes.
Jungkook and Taehyung share another look, more confused.
"Who's Yoongi?" Taehyung asks.
"Only the hottest guy on the planet who I've been creepily staring at everyday on the train."
Jungkook laughs at Jimin so hard he falls off of the bed.
-
-
-
It takes nearly two hours for them to shut the fuck up and listen to the entirety of Jimin's problem. He tells every terrifying second of the encounter, making sure to mention every thought that went through his head and anything else he can embellish on the spot. In the end, they're completely useless in helping Jimin figure out what he's supposed to do.
"I don't know," Jungkook says, "If he's willing to look past you being creepy and try to hit you up, he must really want you. I'd tap that if I were you."
Jimin hits him with his pillow as Taehyung contemplates, "Would it be tapping that if Jimin is the one getting spanked?"
Taehyung gets hit too.
-
-
-
In the end they don't come up with a solution. Instead Taehyung and Jungkook make the solemn promise to never leave Jimin alone on the train again, and then promptly break the promise the very next morning.
Jimin wakes up to a completely empty apartment and a note from Taehyung that says you got this Jiminie~ hwaiting ! with a stupid little heart with eyes next to it. They've doomed him to the most awkward morning in existence and have the audacity to leave a note with a cute character on it. If Jimin weren't so pissed he'd think it was sweet.
He take extra special care getting ready and tries to tell himself he's not dressing up for Yoongi, what even is a Yoongi, Jimin doesn't believe in them.
Unfortunately, no matter how hot he's looked for school he's never taken the care to go the extra mile and coordinate his outfit, pick jewelry, and even dot some concealer under his eyes. Usually this is reserved for special occasions, not his almost hour and a half long psyche lecture.
He nearly sweats away all his concealer while walking to the right entrance to the underground. He's not running and it's nowhere near hot enough for him to sweat, but if he pretends that he's not nervous to see Yoongi after yesterday's disaster, maybe he won't be.
Because there's no coming back from not only saying a desperate 'please' to the mans invitation to talk (his voice even cracked!) but then following that by getting off the train an entire stop too early to avoid the embarrassment that would be sure to come if he actually spoke more than a few words to Yoongi.
But Yoongi's not on the train. Or at least, not where he should be, in the middle of the car, sitting down with his headphones in and casually looking so good it makes Jimin want to die. He's not in any other part of this particular compartment either, as far as Jimin can tell. He can add his slowly sinking heart to the list of things he's dutifully ignoring.
He spends half the train ride berating himself for putting so much stock in Yoongi getting on the train and embarrassing the hell outta him for the second day in a row. It's not something sane people look forward to. He spends the other half of the train ride mindlessly scrolling through the 'taekookmin' group chat, debating sending a message to yell at his friends.
He doesn't send a text, and really he's never done yelling at himself for the never ending cringe that he subjects himself to.
-
-
-
Jimin has become so accustomed to seeing Yoongi every morning and afternoon on the train that his absence is easily noticed. He gets so lonely with nothing to do that Jungkook and Taehyung join him on the train again. Maybe because they know Jimin can't make them a public spectacle now (they've only kind of learned their lesson about speaking Korean in public, and have a new unspoken rule that as long as the person doesn't look even slightly Asian, it's fair game to talk about/around them).
Despite the fact that Yoongi no longer rides the same train, Jimin still has to. He can't exactly search every line at every hour in hopes of catching Yoongi at just the right time, and he still has to go to class. You could say that he forgets about Yoongi, but really he just changes his priorities.
For example, it used to be a priority to get on the train at the right time so he could ogle Yoongi and make uncalled for comments about him. Now his top priority is becoming valedictorian. It might be a smidge too late to be caring that much about his grades, but nonetheless it's pushed him to put his school work first.
Who is he kidding, he's doing homework to distract himself form the fact that Yoongi could just drop in any day and ruin his life, and the fact that he hasn't deigned to be within 100 feet of Jimin since that terrible day. Maybe Yoongi really had been planning to tear him a new one when he offered to talk, and had simply settled for the public humiliation he'd already caused.
So Jimin has constant vigilance while on the train. No more crass comments and certainly no time for jokes. Well maybe a few jokes, but only because Taehyung is shit at reading the atmosphere (can't he tell that Jimin wants to brood?).
It's almost poetic that Jimin next see's Yoongi as far from that damned train as possible. It's not a meeting so much as a hit and run.
Jimin is running so late to class, and he doesn't have the excuse of 'I got lost' like he might have had if this were the beginning of term. He's late and basically in pajamas and he's 90% certain that he has drool all over his face still, so he's fucking running and praying to every god that might exist that, by some miracle, his professor is a little late and won't notice him slamming into the lecture hall.
Only he never makes it to the lecture hall. He's a minute run away from the just getting to class (which started 5 minutes ago), not looking where he's going. He turns a corner and runs straight into a group of people, taking them all down with him.
He must be in shock. Jimin can't move, can barely breathe, and that's before the group of boys start laughing at him. There's 4 of them, all plowed over because Jimin couldn't get to class on time.
And god, if it isn't just his luck that a stomach dropping familiar voice says, "Now Jiminie, this is a new way to get my attention."
Jimin doesn't have enough presence of mind to process the comment, brain stuck on the fact that of course this is how he meets Yoongi again, and of course it could literally not be a worse time for this happen. So instead of dealing with what is surely a much needed - and far too embarrassing - talk with Yoongi about boundaries and how he's sorry and how he'd literally rather throw himself into the sun than have a repeat performance of this, he just runs.
He's up in two seconds flat, barely getting out a , "Sorry, late for class," before he's sprinting across campus and praying to the gods he left out before that he can get though the day with minimal embarrassment.
(It doesn't work. When he gets home and tells Taehyung what happened to him, he laughs so hard he shoots orange soda out his nose and all over the couch. Jungkook doesn't even have the decency to stop laughing long enough to be disgusted that he is now covered in a combination of snot and fanta).
-
-
-
Yoongi must take this unfortunate meetings as the go ahead he needs to start taking the train again. Maybe Jimin really offended him, or more likely he was a serial killer in a past life and this is the universe's way of punishing him for his crimes.
Yoongi doesn't notice him right away, too busy looking at something on his phone. Jimin tries to take this opportunity to hide by dashing behind the teenage girls huddled next to him, and spectacularly fails by tripping and nearly pushing the girls over on his way to the ground.
A deep chuckle sounds from over Jimin's head, a chuckle he know will visit him in his nightmares soon, accompanied by Yoongi's accented Korean, "You know, there are so many better ways to get my attention than falling."
He stares resolutely at the floor of the train car, deciding he doesn't need to answer. He's already made a fool of himself and it's barely 8am, he doesn't need need to make it any worse by opening his mouth. But the floor is really gross, and smells, so Jimin can only force himself to face it for so long, eventually relenting and getting up.
Still trying his hardest not to meet Yoongi's eyes, he stares at the ground with so much focus he starts to strain his eyes. But a movement causes them to go out of focus, and when he can actually see again he see's Yoongi's face under his, the man bending over to look into Jimin's eyes.
The eye contact alone causes Jimin to go beet red, jumping back slightly from the man in front of him. Every second he looks at Yoongi he remembers the other disastrous occasions they've actually spoken. Or really, interacted, usually only one person talks when they meet.
"Not even a good morning? That's hardly a way to greet your hyung," Yoongi tuts, smiling slightly as Jimin flushes even farther - a feat he didn't think possible.
Jimin closes his eyes and asks, "Do you consider most people who sexually harass you for weeks and push you over randomly, close to you? You might want some new friends."
"No, not all people, just cute brats like you," the other man chuckles, "I feel like I'm always having to ask you to look at me Jiminie. Maybe next time we meet you can just start by meeting my eyes?"
Jimin cracks one eye open, just to see that heart stoppingly cute grin, the one that shows all of Yoongi's gums, and promptly shuts his eye again. It's too early to be confronted with this much embarrassment and this many questions. Their stop is soon, that is if Yoongi plans to make his way to the University today (Jimin's still not certain they go to the same school, he's only seen him there the once after all), and Jimin really hopes that he can make it through the next few minutes without having to open his eyes again.
They sit in silence for only 30 seconds when Jimin has to put his foot in his mouth again, "What makes you think that we'll meet again?"
Yoongi snorts, and probably smirks because he seems like that kind of guy, "Well, what do you think? It seems to me that fate is dead set on us speaking, and we just haven't really gotten around to it yet."
"Who says fate knows anything?" Jimin asks, squeezing his eyes shut tighter against the need to see Yoongi's reaction, "Seems to me fate is dead set on me dying slowly from blushing too much, or maybe a heart attack. Can we just take a permanent rain check on the talk and give my poor heart a break?"
A laugh, real and genuine, falls from Yoongi's lips. At the very least he finds Jimin amusing, if also a little creepy. It's a short lived laugh, and so sweet to Jimin's ears he nearly beams at Yoongi like he would if they'd been half a train car away.
The train starts to slow, a voice going over the speakers announcing the arrival to their stop. In the next second Yoongi moves into his personal space and whispers, "No, I rather agree with fate. I'll see you later, Park Jimin."
By the time Jimin opens his eyes, maybe to retort or maybe just so he can get off the train - he's not entirely sure of his own motives a this point - Yoongi has already left and Jimin has to run to get off before the door shuts again.
-
-
-
That day when Jimin gets home Jungkook takes one look at him and says, "Whatever you did or Yoongi said, I don't wanna hear it. I'm trying to study for my chem midterm. I haven't even taken the test yet and it's already kicking my ass."
Taehyung, ever the dutiful best friend, laughs at Jimin's dejected face and claims that Jimin, "Enjoys complaining about Yoongi too much."
Neither boy cares about Jimin's whining, even when it reaches such volume that the lady next door slams her hand against the walls a few times in warning.
-
-
-
The food on campus isn't ideal, but it's cheaper than leaving campus would be, and Jimin's window between his classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays is only 30 minutes. He can suffer through mediocre food twice a week if it means not missing class.
Taehyung and Jungkook don't feel the same, and never try to meet him. It's the one time during the week that Jimin really gets to be alone, and despite loving people, he cherishes the break from the constant noise.
You could understand why it makes him slightly annoyed when a boy he doesn't know plops across from him and starts chattering a him a million miles a minutes, interrupting Jimin's much needed 'eat and be quiet' time.
The boy is going back and forth between Korean and English at a dizzying rate, filling in that blanks where he doesn't know the word or is maybe just to lazy to think of it. It kind of makes Jimin's head spin with the rapid fire change between languages, baffled at how someone could possibly want to change languages mid-word. He's so baffled it takes a long time for him to actually register what the guy is talking about.
"You know, Yoongi hyung wasn't kidding, you're cheeks are seriously giant. Of course he won't say how cute you are, but I can tell by how upset he is at those particular cheeks. Seriously, the guy never shuts up about you and then I have the 'audacity' to suggest that maybe he should just ask you out like a normal person and he gets defensive."
"I'm sorry?" Jimin says tentatively, "Who are you?"
"Jung Hoseok!" the guy chirps, a giant smile stretching his face into a heart shape. It would almost be scary how wide the smile is, if Jimin didn't live with Taehyung and his 2 mile wide (Luffy looking ass) smile.
"Come on, Jiminie, keep up with the conversation! Anyway Yoongi is too awkward to just ask you out, no matter how much he pretends he's all cool and stuff. So I was trying to tell you that you need to do it."
Jimin is slowly starting to understand why this guy, Hoseok, is here. But for the most part he's just confused as to how he found him. "What if I don't want to ask him out? How do you know what I look like anyway? Are you stalking me for Yoongi?"
A shrill laugh shakes the other man's entire body, mouth opening even wider if that's possible. "Please Jiminie, Yoongi told us all about the things you used to say, of course you wanna ask him out!"
"I didn't know he could understand me!" Jimin yells, not bothering to ask who 'us' is, and drawing attention of several people around them - all of whom stop their conversations to glare at him. "Besides, you didn't answer my question."
Hoseok shrugs, "You tend to remember the living embodiment of a tomato that runs you over and then can't even stay long enough to apologize before running off. Did you even go to class that day? You ran in a completely different direction than where you were heading before."
Jimin starts to flush at the memory, but elects to not answer his question. Instead he tries his hardest to remove all emotions from his face and look as uninterested as possible when he asks, "So what has Yoongi said about me?"
Clearly he's unsuccessful, if another round of Hoseok's laughter is anything to go by. Jimin flushes even more and makes a point of taking a giant bite out of his sandwich so he can't make an even bigger fool out of himself.
"Oh god," Hoseok laughs, miming wiping some tears from his eyes, "You both are so gone for each other, and you've literally had one conversation. This is just too good to be true."
"Who said anything about being gone for him?" Jimin says through his mouthful of ham sandwich.
"Oh, I'm sorry, would you prefer the term sweet on each other? Planning on going steady? Whipped? Jimin, you don't even have to say anything more, you both act the same about each other."
They stew in silence for a bit, Jimin once again too embarrassed to meet someone's eyes. Eventually Hoseok takes out his phone and texts for a bit. When he's done he forces Jimin to look at him with force of will alone and says, "So Yoongi's on his way here, but I have a feeling you're gonna find a reason to leave in roughly 2 seconds. So listen carefully, because this offer will only come once: do you want me to give you his number?"
A big part of Jimin's brain is panicking because Yoongi is gonna be here any second, but the part of his brain that seems to be in control of his mouth says, "Why would I say no to that?"
He's immediately shouting at himself in his head, because goddamn Jimin that sounded desperate. He barely registers Hoseok handing him a piece of paper with Yoongi's number and kakao ID. His brain comes back online in time to hear, "Hyung might not look like it, but he's a serial texter that absolutely abuses emoji's, just be ready for that."
Jimin nods, vaguely aware that he has maybe 2 minutes to get out of the goddamn canteen before Yoongi shows up and turns Jimin into a stuttering blushing mess.
"I think I just... I'm gonna go to class?" He murmurs, voice begging Hoseok for some help. It's ridiculous, he's known the guy for literally 15 minutes.
Hoseok just smiles and says, "Of course, see ya later Jiminie."
Later Jimin figures he must have made it to class, and his notebook shows that he took notes, but he couldn't tell you anything passed getting out of his seat and leaving the mess hall. It's a miracle he made it home safe.
-
-
-
No one is surprised that Jimin doesn't text Yoongi. Taehyung does find him staring at his phone several times, empty chat open on a conversation with 'Hot Hyung'. But really, Jimin has never been the most outgoing when it comes to romantic overtures, or as Taehyung would say 'asking politely to get railed so hard you forget what year it is'.
He does see Hoseok again, once in passing. He gives Jimin a disappointed look, as if to say that he didn't go through all that effort only for Jimin to not text Yoongi. Jungkook and Taehyung do their own disappointed staring, but he knows that from them it's because they're tired of him being nearly head over heels with some guy that he doesn't even have the guts to talk to.
A couple weeks pass with no confrontation, leaving Jimin to think that maybe Yoongi was wrong about fate, or maybe he listened when Jimin asked for the indefinite rain check on their meeting. Either way, his absence is noted by Jimin and he feels some mix of relief and sadness. Despite always making a fool of himself, Jimin has really started to like Yoongi for more than his looks. He seems funny and sweet despite his constant teasing. Jimin could see himself really liking Yoongi.
Which is a problem when they still really haven't had a proper conversation.
-
-
-
Taehyung and Jungkook hold an intervention for Jimin around 3 months after the first time Yoongi tried to talk to him. It starts innocently enough, with Taehyung suggesting they all watch a movie together, truly bond in a way they haven't really been doing recently.
Obviously Jimin is not going to turn down movie night with his two best friends, and is completely oblivious to their motives. He happily buys them all the drinks they like, makes popcorn, makes a mental list of the movies he wants to watch, even brings all of his blankets into the living room in order to make a fort to watch in.
But the second Jimin plops himself onto the couch, food, drinks, and blankets in hand, Jungkook and Taehyung stand up and turn to face him. Both boys have their arms crossed, strict 'I'm not mad, just disappointed' looks on their faces. But they don't say anything at first, just occasionally glance at each other, trying to communicate that the other should start first.
After a silent conversation that goes on for far too long, it seems to be decided that Jungkook should go first, so he says, "Hyung, we're worried about you."
"Oh shit," Jimin breathes, "If you're calling me hyung, this is serious."
Taehyung nods, a mock serious expression coming over his face, "Yes, some might even say life and death."
Jungkook hits his arm without looking at him, his jaw tightening with the effort to not laugh. Both of them have to take a second to collect themselves before starting again.
"We've had some pretty interesting conversations with a few of Yoongi hyung's friends," Taehyung says, eyes lighting with mischief.
Jungkook look equally gleeful as he says, "Yeah, Seokjin hyung, Namjoon hyung, and Hoseok hyung have been really helpful. Apparently Yoongi hyung is just as pathetic as you."
"So we've decided," Taehyung makes a small waving gesture between the two of them, "That as your loyal best friends and sidekicks in this god awful romcom, that it is about goddamn time we made you get your ass in gear and get laid."
"Or get a boyfriend to be gross with," Jungkook shrugs, "Whichever comes first. We figure with how gross you both already are, both of things are inevitable."
Taehyung nods sagely, like he's an expert in all things Jimin and romance, "Exactly, Hoseok hyung has already told us that he gave you Yoongi's number, and that he's tried to talk to you. It's time for you to get your shit together."
"So tomorrow morning, when you see Yoongi hyung on the train, you're gonna say something first," Jungkook says, a weird sharpness to his voice, "Because if you don't you might lose the opportunity. Also Hoseok hyung will tell us and I have no problem kicking your ass for being a little chicken shit."
"Well said Kookie," Taehyung agrees, holding his fist out for a first bump.
The entire time he was being lectured, Jimin was staring at them with an open mouth, his cheeks slowly getting more and more red. He gets it, he's being stupid. There's a chance that Yoongi is just as stupidly interested in being with Jimin. But how does one move on from almost stalking a person and saying such gems as, "You know, I've never been into pain before, but if he hit me I'd just say 'harder'."
Really, just knowing that Yoongi has heard him say the worst things ever, just completely making an ass out of himself in a public way, it's not something he really wants to repeat. Ever.
"Have you guys ever thought, that after all of this, it might work out? That we might go out a couple times and fuck and that it still might amount to nothing." Jimin asks, looking down at his hands, "Is it worth it, to stress myself out this much for a month long relationship?"
When Jimin looks up again, the smug looks dropping from their faces. Taehyung's eyes are soft and his voice fond when he says, "That's a risk everyone has to take Jiminie, even if you meet someone the normal way."
"Besides," Jungkook says, "There's almost no way Yoongi hyung will turn you down. And if he breaks your heart, we'll be there to break his arms."
Jungkook gets git by Taehyung this time, who just smiles at Jimin and says, "We'll be there to make sure you're okay. But just the fact that you think it might get that serious means you really need to ask him out. Like ASAP."
Jimin smiles, just a small one, but still big enough to make his cheeks scrunch up and allows himself, for the first time in several weeks, to think about a future that might possibly include Yoongi in a way that doesn't mean public embarrassment. At the very least he'd like to be Yoongi's friend, but in an ideal world? Well, Jimin's not even sure how much to hope for.
-
-
-
If Jimin believes his friends, Yoongi will be on the train the next morning. Which means that Jimin has little to no time to plan just how he's going to convince Yoongi that he can do things other than say sexual things and turn bright red when confronted about them.
He takes his time in the shower, blow dries his hair, picks out an outfit that makes him look cute as hell, and then stares at his bedroom wall in thought. He has an hour before he needs to leave now, which if you really think about it is not that much time. One hour.
It feels like he blinks and then his alarm is going off to tell him that he has to get his ass moving or he won't be at school on time for his first class. He grabs his stuff in a daze and moves his way out of the apartment.
Taehyung and Jungkook are gone again, a note in Jungkook's handwriting that says remember what we said hyung with a vaguely threaten and weirdly buff bunny on the side.
Maybe, when this is all over, he'll find it in him to be grateful towards his friends. They've pushed him a lot recently. Or maybe he'll want to transfer schools, only time will tell.
Jimin sends a quick prayer to every god he can remember off the top of his head, just a few words along the lines of 'hey universe and it's deities, please make sure I fuck this up as little as possible in the next few hours'. He needs all the help he can get.
It's sunny today, a rarity now that the winter term has started. The sun is bright enough that even though it can't be more than 50 degrees out, his skin is warmed by it. Perfect winter weather to fall in love.
Miraculously he gets to the station just in time for the train to arrive, and for every put together thought he's ever had to leave his head. Of course he has to get on the train anyway, he doesn't get a second chance at this.
So he steels himself and slips through the doors, head immediately turning back and forth to try and find Yoongi. He's right where he always is, the middle of the car, looking down at his phone and smiling about something. Maybe one day, Jimin will know what.
He doesn't fall, he doesn't run away, and only blushes a little, on his way over to Yoongi. It only takes a few seconds for Yoongi to look up and see him, his smile widening a bit.
"Is that seat taken?" Jimin asks, pointing next to Yoongi.
"No, in fact I've been saving it just for you."