meddling in his older brother’s business has always been a hobby of Jimin’s. their walls are thin, therefore being perfect for listening in on some of his conversations. however, there’s been a couple of times where Jimin’s cursed the people above for making his brother a loud moaner. at this point, Jimin knew of all of Hoseok’s favorite words to yell during his capades (those being ing and wow how did you do that.)

however, the one thing that intrigued him most was that one deep voice that would show up every Wednesday after 4pm in the form of a slammed door and loud sigh. jimin would wait by the shared wall just to hear the other’s voice rambling on about their week’s adventures. often the conversations consisted of the mysterious voice talking about their recent writer’s block and how much they hate their professors at university. jimin would listen to every word said, while his brother on the other hand called this person annoying, citing that they needed to get out more often. after about a couple of hours of talking, the voice would leave, turning down yet another invitation for dinner and they would stomp (yes, literally stomp. this kid was either really angry all the time or 5 years old.) down the stairs and slam the door once again. this became routine for Jimin, who often ended practice early at the studio in order to get home in time. the only problem was that hoseok never actually talked about this mystery friend and whenever jimin would ask, he would get a typical “what, do you like him or something?” in response.

jimin liked to think that no, he totally did not have a crush on his older brother’s college friend and no, he was not in the least bit captivated by whoever was on the other side of the wall. however, he was a bit curious as to why this person, who’s been coming over for nearly a year now, seems to leave no traces behind. even if jimin were to prop his door open a little bit to watch him leave, all he would get is a smidge of a backside, seeing this guy’s typical outfit of black jeans and a white t shirt, with the occasional hat on his head. sometimes jimin would see tufts of his hair sticking out, and the change of color in it (most recently it’s been a medium shade of pink). defeated, he would sigh, taking out his frustrations in dance.

__________________________

it was a few weeks before the term ended and jimin was busy practising for his final with taehyung, his (to put it lightly) quirky best friend. he continued to repeat the same sequence over and over in order to implement it in his brain, trying to clean up the messy edges in his steps. after doing so for a bit, he looks over to see taehyung, already on the ground panting for air. he plops down next to him, equally as tired.

“taehyung, you know we have to get these moves perfect for the project. i have to make sure i impress mr. seokjin,” jimin said, with his head in his hands. taehyung sat up, setting an arm around jimin’s shoulders.

“we’ll do fine, we’ve been practising for almost a month now. can we just take a breather, for a sec? i ate a pack of donuts before practise today and i’m feeling a little bit queasy right now.”

this is such a taehyung thing, jimin thought. only he would think of eating a dozen mini powdered donuts before dancing. before he could think any further, he got a phone call from his brother. either he’s in trouble and needs help or jimin forgot to flush again.

“hello?”

“get your back home soon. we have guests for dinner.” with that he hung up. hoseok had a bad habit of always trying to sound cryptic, much to his brother’s annoyance.

“taehyung, it’s your lucky day. i have to go home now. good practise to day,” jimin said, patting him on the back. that only seemed to make taehyung feel worse however as he quickly got up, running out of the room with a hand over his mouth.

________________________

running for the bus, jimin quickly got on before the doors closed, scanning his bus card along the way. he plopped down on the seat, putting his feet up on the seat in front of him. he wondered who the special guests were for the night. maybe it was his one aunt that was obsessed with aliens? or maybe his third (twice removed) cousin who jimin used to hang out with. he thought of all the typical suspects before ringing the bell to get off.

he hurried to the front door, dropping his house keys on the way. while bending down to pick it up, he noticed an unfamiliar car in the driveway. it was all black, sleek looking. weird, his aunt owned a hippie mini van. and his cousin rode a way too old rusty bike around. shaking his head, he ran straight to his room, quickly undressing to take a shower since he was all sweaty from practice. now , he wrapped a towel around himself, scurrying to the bathroom at the end of the hall, afraid that someone was going to see him in all of his glory. he locked the door behind him, basking in this mini sanctuary.

while showering, he thought up of topics he could discuss at dinner. whenever his parents had people over, jimin was usually the one to deal with the awkwardness of the situation as he was the youngest (after dinner he would go up to hoseok, asking why he didn’t help out as jimin made a fool out of himself during dinner. hoseok would always just laugh, leaving jimin to wallow in his own self pity.) therefore, the one who did all the dirty work. jimin knew never to bring up politics ever again as the last time he did that, his aunt went into a rant about capitalism and conspiracy theories. jimin continued to think critically while rubbing out the kinks in his back. when he was finally done washing up, he dried off and tied the towel around his waist, getting ready to walk down the hall into his room. he heard a door open, probably signalling the return of his brother from school. he exited the bathroom and almost got to his room before he heard someone exit from his brother's room, giving a small gasp.

jimin stopped in his tracks and he swore he was going to pass out from embarrassment.

in front of him stood a small man, who looked a little older and yes taller than jimin (how does this stuff always happen? he swears, his brother took all the height genes) with a shocked face. but who could blame him? if a half guy greeted jimin, he would’ve sworn he had died and gone to heaven. however in this case, this guy just kept staring in confusion and jimin just stood there carelessly, the water from his hair dripping onto the floor below them.

in this moment of silence, jimin put two and two together and thought holy this is probably the mystery guy who i’ve been listening to for almost a year and oh my god he is so beautiful. today he seemed to be fashionably adventurous as he wore black jeans but instead of a white shirt, wore a button up that hugged his fragile frame perfectly. his pink hair was now blonde and slightly slicked back, revealing some of his forehead. his perfect round mouth started to move, his throat making a clearing sound.

“well this is a weird and unexpected first meeting. hi, im yoongi,” he said, offering a hand. jimin stepped forward a bit, grabbing onto it and giving it a small shake. his mind was racing with thoughts like wow his voice does not match his body and wow is it getting really hot in here?

“jimin, i'm hoseoks younger brother,” he offered, letting go of yoongi’s now wet hand. they continued to stare at each other and jimin could’ve sworn he saw yoongi’s eyes travel a bit lower than his face before he simply side stepped him and walked into his room.

closing the door behind him, he leaned against it, rubbing his face with his hands. he just made a complete and utter embarrassment of himself out there. he silently asked god what he did to make him angry. jimin knows it was wrong to steal a cookie from the cookie jar downstairs, but he didn’t know karma was going to get him this bad. standing up, he throws off his towel, and quickly gets his clothes together.

he pleads to let this dinner not be awkward, expecting his brother to do most of the talking because this is yoongi, hoseok’s now (not) mysterious friend. he’s probably going to get bombarded with questions from his parents, and yoongi’s going to respond with long answers about his hobbies, life, his college major and all that boring . jimin throws on (quite literally.. he’s in such a rush to get downstairs and pick a seat that’s going to be very far from yoongi) track pants and a see through white t shirt because apparently that’s the only clean shirt he has. wiping off his damp hair, he puts some gel in to make it stay in place and give it that effortless look. after he’s done he goes downstairs to find that everyone’s already at the dinner table.

his mom is seated at the head, his dad on the right side of her. next to jimin’s dad is hoseok and oh look, the only free seat is next to yoongi. he slowly makes his way there, looking around at anything he could possibly do or get to delay time. unfortunately, this day has already not been awkward enough as everyone is staring at him and holy he thinks his s are showing through his shirt. he quickly sits down, his seat tottering a little to his left, with yoongi catching it before it falls. jimin sends him a small smile before looking towards his mom to silently ask for help.

she seems to get the message as she claps her hands together in a motherly fashion before passing around the dishes. as soon as everyone’s plate is filled she asks yoongi about his major (as expected).

“actually, i’m undecided but i think im going to go for business with a minor in music.”

“oh, do you like playing music?”

“yea, i produce and write my own lyrics. it’s really good to do on the side to pay for college plus i love doing it,” he said, with a genuine smile at the end.

“that’s so nice. actually, jimin really loves to dance so maybe he can dance to a song of yours one day.”

that seemed to be the icing on the cake as jimin slightly choked on the corn, his brother laughing silently at the thought. jimin looked towards his mom, giving her the look. she seemed to be unfazed as he finally turned to yoongi who looked like he was going to piss himself from laughter.

“oh really now? i haven’t even seen jimin dance before. i bet he’s really good,” he said with a teasing tone.

“jimin honey, i think you should do an impromptu solo for us right now, to show yoongi here how good you are,” his dad said, catching onto his mom’s teasing. however, hoseok just dismissed it, saying jimin was “just ok” before talking about him and yoongi and university life.

___________________________

after dinner, jimin got up to help his mom with the dishes in order to avoid the sausage fest that was happening outside (in which his very tipsy dad gathered hoseok and yoongi up to watch some baseball) as everyone was yelling and screaming at the tv and each other.

“jimin, why do you look at that boy like he’s from a different planet? he seems like a nice guy. plus he’s cute,” his mom said calmly while drying the dishes. however, jimin was not calm as he seemed to be washing the same plate over and over again, trying to get rid of it’s non existent stains.

“let’s just say we had an awkward encounter before dinner. and mom, i don’t need you to set me up again,” jimin said calmly. he finished the dishes and was about to put them away before his mom pushed him out, claiming he needed to interact more with people. he walked to the living room, watching these three grown men whine and shout profanities at the tv. he inched his way to the seat closest to the door, not wanting to alert anyone of his presence. however in the midst of doing so, his brother noticed him and waved him over.

“jimin finally! i know sports aren’t your thing but come join us,” he said, patting the seat between him and yoongi. yoongi seemed too fazed by what was happening on the tv to notice jimin, so he plopped himself on the seat, leaning back to hopefully follow along with what was going on.

however, the only interesting thing to jimin seemed to be yoongi’s scent. it smelt a little bit like musk or sandalwood. something rustic but also homey. oh jimin thinks. he’s been hanging out with his mom too much.

when the commercial break starts, jimin’s dad leaves to go get a beer, hoseok following close behind. at this point jimin thinks nothing could get worse as the last time him and yoongi were together. but, he soon feels a set of eyes on him but jimin continues to look at the screen, trying to look interested at the toe fungus cream advertisement. yoongi clears his throat again, now turning his whole body.

“yes?” jimin says, looking towards yoongi’s way finally. and wow, he thinks his cheeks are starting to turn as red as his hair as yoongi’s gaze is really intense and focused onto him.

“sorry for what happened earlier. i didn’t um, know you were home yet.”

“that’s okay.”

after that, they fell into silence, unsure of what to say next.

“i’ve never seen you around before. how long have you known my brother?” jimin asks, knowing that the first part is a lie. however, he just plays along with it, hoping to find out more about yoongi.

“yea, guess it’s my fault though. hoseok always invited me over for dinner but i was always busy. school and stuff. but he’s always talked about you. i should’ve just knocked on the door, or rather the wall to come invite you over,” he said.

jimin stumbled a bit on the last few words. he must’ve made a confused face as yoongi cleared it up for him.

“we know you listen to us. we can hear your chair slide up against the wall and your gasps whenever i tell some of my juicy stories.”

at this point jimin knew he was gone. it was the point of no return as he got up, ready to go cry in his room. before he could go though, yoongi grabbed his wrist, standing up with jimin.

“what a shame your brother never formally introduced us. who knew my best friend’s brother was so hot?”

okay, jimin thought. maybe he did like his brother’s best friend.