Yoongi hates grocery shopping. Along the pathway to adult life, it's replaced schoolwork in the realm of things he wishes he could delete from his routine.

But here he is, only because it's been a week since he's had milk and he needs strong bones to make up for the fact that he bruises at the touch of a finger.

His pupils sweep around lazily, and he shuffles himself along the dusty floors. Wishing he'd worn something other than these comfy sweatpants because he's one aching yawn away from taking a nap in a nearby shopping cart.

Last night, he'd walked into his apartment complex much later than he'd planned, and it's taking a toll on him now. Not that it matters too much, because Yoongi's natural state of being is tired. Even if he hadn't abused his brain by sleeping less than three hours, he knows he'd be thinking about the same thing.

Does he feel bad about rejecting Jimin?

Well, that is...a question. A question that he must admit, he spent far too much time mulling over in his bed last night as he tossed and turned and flipped his pillow.

Which he now sees is really stupid, because the answer is clear as day.

No. No he does not.

It isn't that Jimin was mean to him last night, or even close to it. To be fair, he'd even offered to buy him a drink, and not in the sleazy, I-saw-your--and-now-you're-worth-my-cigarette-money type of way. Now that it's back on Yoongi's mind, Jimin just seemed pretty damn determined to become friends again.

But even so, something about it just didn't feel right. Being with him after what happened in high school didn't feel right, and in the end, Yoongi's not quite sure why. It doesn't take anyone special to change their ways over the course of nine years and then some. Especially if it's someone who can get as dead-set as Jimin.

So if he wants to be friends, he must be different now. Right? He must be.

Maybe Yoongi needs to rethink this whole not-feeling-guilty thing.

Either way, one thing is definite, and that is that he needs to pay more attention right now. This is a concept that he realizes in the process of coming face to face with some shelves.

A stupid sound comes out of his mouth as he jerks backwards, only to find that he's just strolled directly into a shelf of snack foods, and is now kissing distance from a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Clearly, he needs to stop thinking so deeply about his past and the people in it when he's walking around in public. That's something to save for the shower.

With a brief glance around to make sure nobody's seen him, he's about to continue on like a normal citizen when out of nowhere, there's a murmur in his ear.

"Hey there," it says softly, and a lip touches his earlobe by accident. (Or on purpose. Yoongi has no way of knowing.) "I lost my number, so I was wondering if you could give me yours."

A frown twists into his lips, the same frown that's always associated with the presence of a very special someone. Yoongi knows that voice better than he knows his own name.

"No way in hell," he says, not even bothering to grant him a look in the face. Jimin is obviously smirking back there, and it'll do Yoongi no good to see it. It'll probably - definitely - just piss him off.

"Oh, c'mon, man. I ran into you here. It's fate!" Jimin protests, wrapping an arm around him.

Yoongi couldn't possibly appreciate the gesture less, but he's too tired to spend the effort of throwing him off. "How do I know you're not stalking me?" he points out, shrinking under the touch even though Jimin's coat is kind of soft and kind of nice.

Jimin hisses in mock chagrin. "Yikes. Yoongi - one. Jimin - zero."

"You're a royal pain in the , you know that?"

"Right, though? I don't know what it is, but chicks dig it."

Yoongi finally comes to the decision that he's had enough. And enough, in this case, means that he's prepared to peel Jimin's arm off of his shoulder. "Okay, listen," he grumbles as he does it, secretly mourning the loss of Jimin's kind-of-soft, kind-of-nice coat. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but I'm still pissed at you."

Jimin blinks at him. Actually, he looks almost crestfallen - an emotion that's unusual to see on his face. "You are?"

"Yes," Yoongi confirms, his voice as dry as dead grass. "I've been genuinely considering hitting you in the head with this," he adds, holding up the basket of groceries in his hand. He's only somewhat joking.

Jimin pauses, taking this into consideration and making an expression that Yoongi wants to hit off of his face. With his basket of groceries. "Okay," the blonde says soon after, "Then tell me what I can do."

Yoongi just gives him this weird look. Tell you what you can do? He furrows his eyebrows, and Jimin knows that's a nonverbal question.

"You know, to make it up to you," he clarifies.

Yoongi's inner snark knows the answer to that proposal. "You can leave me alone," he tells him, tearing his eyes away. Which, honestly, doesn't feel satisfying at all.

Jimin shakes his head. "Nope. Not happening. Next option," he dismisses.

Yoongi lets out a heavy sigh of defeat. It's official - he's not getting rid of this idiot. And when he thinks about it, if he carries on being so stubborn, he's just going to make this harder for both of them.

So he supposes that maybe, in return for Jimin's persistence and determination to make things better, (which, come to think of it, is pretty morally sound) he owes him the answer. That being what he really wants, and has wanted for a long time.

"Well," he mutters, still feeling reluctance and looking down at his feet as they walk down some random aisle together. Their surroundings don't even matter anymore. "You could apologize."

Jimin makes a face like he was expecting pretty much any answer but that one. "That's it?"

"Yeah," Yoongi his lips, still watching his feet, "I mean, you humiliated me, but you never said sorry. That's kind of ty," he points out, shrugging his shoulders.

And when he says that, Jimin's eyes widen, a look of pure guilt blooming on his face. That isn't just kind of ty. That is expert-level, pack your bags and hop on the train to asswipeville ty. "I didn't?" he asks, incredulous. Yoongi just shakes his head slowly.

In a word, Jimin is horrified. Horrified that after everything, his seventeen year-old self was selfish enough to leave Yoongi alone. To hurt and wonder what went wrong. "Wow. I was an even worse person than I thought," he muses, voice laced with newfound shame and disappointment. "Listen, I️...I'm so sorry. I screwed up bad back then, I still can't believe it. And, um..."

His voice trails off for a second, and he tries to gather his many thoughts and translate them into what he really wants to say.

"I guess it's kinda naive of me to think you'd forgive me," he admits. Yoongi wonders if this is the first time Jimin's said that out loud, or even thought it at all.

"But I'm not that person anymore. I'm not a complete who cares so much about what his parents and 'friends' think of me that I'd throw you away like that."

Vulnerability. It's in the words, in his voice, and in the way he shoves his sweaty palms into his pockets. "So I guess I just hoped that, uh," he mumbles, clearing his throat, "That we could be friends again. 'Cause...you're a really good person, and I miss you."

This is probably the thing Yoongi hates most about all of this.

Jimin has this hold on him, even now, and he knows if he turns him away again, he'll regret it. He'll regret it so much because hell if he doesn't miss Jimin too. God, he misses him.

Honestly, he can't believe he's doing this. So much effort and repression of dumb emotions went into avoiding this man, and yet here he is. Who knows? Jimin could be lying, he could still be that same guy from high school, but no matter what his cynical, terrified brain supplies, his heart pushes it away, and all that's left is how much Yoongi just misses him.

"Give me your phone," he says.

The serious atmosphere dissolves, and Jimin blinks at him stupidly. "What?" he asks.

"Your phone," Yoongi repeats, making grabby, emphatic gestures with his hands. The bastard better pass it to him fast, before he changes his mind.

Jimin doesn't know what to do other than trust him, so he pulls the thin object out of his pocket and unlocks it. Without another word, he hands it to Yoongi.

The second it's in his hands, Yoongi taps away at its screen, and Jimin strains his eyes trying to get a look at what's happening. The phone is angled just so he can't see what Yoongi's doing, but he prays it's what he thinks it is.

Soon, Yoongi finishes his little tapping session, and he holds the phone out to return to Jimin. And when the blonde takes it back, he checks the screen.

yoongi

phone: 555-0167
email:

There's this feeling that joins Jimin in his chest and arms and head, and he has no clue what word to use for it. Satisfied doesn't cut it. He grins to show his appreciation.

"There. Happy?" Yoongi asks, and maybe, if Jimin isn't imagining it, he sounds just the slightest bit happy himself.

Jimin's goofy smile widens even more as he locks the phone and slides it back in his pocket.

And then, without another word, he stops to wrap his arms around Yoongi's small frame in a tight hug, lifting him off the ground for good measure.

"The hell are you doing?" Yoongi mutters, his body completely limp.

"I am victorious," is all Jimin says.

"Okay. Don't milk it, buddy." Yoongi presses his lips into a thin line, does his best to ward off the smile that's creeping up on him. And damn, is it hard.

Jimin gets in one last bone-crushing squeeze before setting him back down, and Yoongi wouldn't like to admit that he's missed Jimin's hugs, and that he regrets not hugging him back.

When his feet do hit the floor again with two tiny clapping sounds, he turns his head to take a look at their surroundings, and not at Jimin. "Now to find out where the hell we are," he remarks.

He's got a point. They've been walking mindlessly together for a while now, which has landed them in some other aisle, probably halfway across the store from where they started this weird little conversation.

"I have no clue," Jimin admits as he observes the area for himself. "But there's mac and cheese in this aisle, so I don't care."

"Oh my god. Are you still a mac and cheese addict?" Yoongi asks, disbelief lifting his eyebrows. "Is this still a problem?"

"Oh, give me a break," Jimin dismisses, waving him off with one hand and using the other to pick up three boxes at once. "Since when is mac and cheese a problem?"

"When you can eat two whole boxes in one sitting, that's when."

"Okay, listen, that was in high school. I was a growing boy."

"You're still the same height you were then, dip."

____

a/n
yoongi, a savage.

guys,, this chapter is kinda weird but i love it lol. the grocery store thing is my fave and i'm just attached to it for no reason at all

on an unrelated note, school starts back up for me tomorrow, but i'll try to keep updates on this frequent because slow updating isn't as fun. i hope you all are having a good night! (it's almost midnight here why am i like this)