During the next few weeks, Jimin comes back to the flower shop multiple times.

Sometimes, it's to buy flowers for his now official girlfriend, who had kissed him on his tattered couch on a stormy Friday night, finally sealing the deal. And other times, he admits, it's just to drop in and say hi to both Yoongi and the cat.

Although he's not really used to being around people as quiet and timid as Yoongi, Jimin somehow feels like he's quickly getting used to it.

There's one particular time that he walks in after it's already dark outside, and when Yoongi asks him softly what he's doing there so late, he laughs when he realizes he can't even remember.

That night, he stays for several hours. It's easy to lose track of time when they're together; he doesn't even notice how late it's become until it hits him that they haven't seen another human being in at least two hours.

"Oh, ," he mutters as he glances at the numbers on his lock screen. "The shop's not meant to still be open now, is it?"

Yoongi's lips drop open, a realization sparking on his face. "No," he says, making his way over in this endearing little trot to turn the shop's faded sign around. Jimin thinks it's the fastest he's ever seen him move. Not counting the time the sleepy boy had flown into the back room after telling his name, of course.

Once the 'open' side of the sign faces them, Yoongi gives the cat - who's sprawled out on the floor - a scratch on the head before calmly returning to his spot behind the counter, curling up with attentive eyes as if he's waiting for Jimin to start talking again.

And although Jimin knows he should really get home, something in him just refuses to let him go.

So he doesn't, and his worries return to the back-burner for a little while longer.

Along with their conversations losing that awkward strain they used to have, (Yoongi is still quiet, but speaks more often than before) the tiny florist tells him a new tidbit about himself every time they meet.

Starting with, "I hated school," the third time Jimin visits and making its way as far as, "I've been running this shop for about six years now. I'm pretty much on my own," two weeks later, Jimin feels like he's actually learning stuff about him.

"So, how long have you liked flowers?" he asks one windy afternoon in early May, leaning up against the counter as Yoongi slides an orange daisy in a bouquet with its brothers and sisters. In the past week, Jimin has started to stick around to watch him make his arrangements, and he has to say, he doesn't regret it.

"Since I was seven," Yoongi recalls simply, somehow able to hold a conversation with Jimin (albeit a bit one-sided) and neatly arrange the flowers at the same time.

Jimin hums, rather impressed. "That's a long time," he comments, trying to remember back to when he'd only lived seven years. It's hazy for him, but he's sure if a passion of his had begun that year, he'd remember it better. "I don't know if I've really liked anything for that long," he adds thoughtfully.

Yoongi glances up at him for a second before slipping a red rose into the bouquet, eyeing it with an unreadable emotion. "Why not?" he questions.

The younger boy shrugs indifferently. "I guess I'm not very good at sticking with things," he admits. And it doesn't really sound like he cares, but he usually cares much more than he lets on.

He's known for a while that this is a weak point in his personality. That's why he's working on it. He's working on committing to things and people, not being so afraid to be loyal to them. To care about them.

He doesn't say that out loud, though.

"Is she an exception?" Yoongi asks him suddenly, holding out another vibrant red rose and lightly rolling its stem between his index finger and thumb.

Jimin frowns. He kind of has to think about the answer to that question. He hadn't really thought about it that way before.

But he supposes that she's an exception. 

Right?

Jimin, come on. Don't be a jackass. Of course she is. Why would you be coming back to get her all these flowers if she wasn't?

"Yeah," he says, nodding his head - almost as if to better convince himself - as he stares at the bright rose in Yoongi's hand, its petals a more vivid red than he even imagined a rose could be.

A symbol of love.

He doesn't know why he feels this odd tug at his heart when he reminds himself that's what it is.

After that day, Jimin begins to feel a bit unsure. A bit strange. Everything starts to feel like it's changing, and suddenly, he's noticing things that he never used to.

It's an experience that toys with him in two different ways, both of which make him feel very uneasy.

One of them always gets the best of him during the hours he spends with Yoongi. Things start to jump out at him that never did before.

Like that weird thing Yoongi does with his lips when he's concentrated, or that the smaller boy likes to wear oversized sweaters with sleeves that cover his hands. Or the way he flinches if their fingers brush accidentally while he's handing him a bouquet.

He notices Yoongi's endearingly blunt remarks, ("You have little baby hands," is his personal favorite) and the way the older boy sometimes gets sleepy while they're talking, but when Jimin asks if he wants to take a nap, he tells him to keep going, that he's not tired. He notices that his dark eyes are very easy to get lost in, and that he tends to quietly tap his feet to an imaginary rhythm while he arranges his flowers.

It's funny, really. Lately, he's been watching Yoongi make arrangements for customers other than himself, simply because he likes to. The days that he's dropped by recently have all been to hang out with Yoongi. Not to buy anything from him.

And that sort of brings him to the other area where he's noticing things he never noticed before.

Recently, he's started to feel like his girlfriend is acting very differently towards him. And that's not differently like the she-seems-a-little-sad kind of differently. That's differently like the who-the-hell-is-this-girl kind of differently.

Quiet. Unaffectionate. Distant. Things she has never been are finding their own home in her personality, and it's kind of freaking Jimin out.

Sometimes, he'll tell her to scoot closer to him on that same tattered couch where they'd first kissed, realizing how large the gap is between them, and she'll just pretend like she didn't hear him.

Sometimes, he'll call her up, asking if she wants to go out and do something, or just lounge and eat snacks and forget about the outside world, and she'll sound like she's lying when she tells him she's busy. "I have stuff to do," she'll say. "Maybe later."

"Just stuff," she'll say when he asks what she means by that. "School stuff."

Now, that's all weird enough on its own. So imagine how he feels when he tries to give her the bouquet with the roses in it, and he gets a sudden, outlandish reaction; in the middle of a restaurant, she bursts into tears, clutching her white blouse tightly with her trembling fingers, and Jimin doesn't have the faintest clue what to do. It's so bizarre, so unlike her.

He can't help but worry.

"I think something weird is happening with my girlfriend," he admits to Yoongi one afternoon, watching his nimble fingers place tulips into a bouquet for a middle aged man who'd dropped by about a half an hour ago.

Today is one of those days that the tiny florist is wearing a huge knit sweater, and he's been sleepy the whole time, often yawning in a way that Jimin can't help but notice looks like a kitten.

"Why's that?" Yoongi questions softly, sounding curious but still never taking his eyes off of his work. It's kind of fascinating to watch, Jimin has to admit. His ability to focus on two things at once is admirable.

"I mean," he sighs, resting his head in the palms of his hands. "She's just acting really strange. I can't keep up."

He wishes he knew where Yoongi's cat was. A fluffy, purring cat would do wonders for his state of mind right now.

"But you really like her, right?" Yoongi asks him, adding another tulip.

Jimin lets out a heavy breath, nodding honestly, though he wasn't really expecting that question. It's the second time Yoongi has asked him something like that. "I do," he replies. "Why?"

Yoongi glances up from the flowers to make eye contact with him. "Don't give up, then," he says.

The remark is so simple and to the point, but somehow, he feels like he can hear something more behind it, a meaning that Yoongi doesn't have to explain in words for him to understand.

Jimin swallows dryly.

Don't give up.