Jimin blinked his eyes open.

It was dark in his room.

Why was he awake?

He rolled over, figuring he had woken for no reason since it was clearly the middle of the night, and fully intending on going back to sleep. Tomorrow was Saturday, and he had every intention of using his free day to sleep in.

Then his phone began to buzz and light up, and Jimin realised that this was probably why he had woken up.

Throwing out a sleep-weakened arm to where his phone was on his bedside table, Jimin fumbled to pick it up. After nearly dropping it several times, he finally managed to get a grip on his irritatingly-slippery phone case and brought it over to his face.

It was too bright in contrast to the rest of the room, and he had to squint at the screen on order to make out what it said. It was an incoming phone call – who would need to call him at… half three in the morning?

Turning the brightness way down so that he could actually look at the screen without giving himself a headache, Jimin fought through his sleepiness to actually consider answering his phone.

Finally able to see who it was that was calling, he… nearly squealed.

‘Min Yoongi’ the screen read.

Somehow he had forgotten that his crush and himself had traded numbers a few weeks ago, but that was mostly because they hadn’t used them until now.

As ever, any time Jimin thought about Yoongi, Jimin was forcibly reminded of just how cool he was, and how much Jimin liked him.

They had met a few months ago through their mutual friend, Hoseok. It was always amazing to Jimin just how much of a socialite that man was, seeming to know pretty much everyone on their university’s campus. While Jimin and Hoseok knew each other fairly well through being part of the university’s dance club, having known each other for several years now, Jimin was well aware that he had only met a small selection of Hoseok’s long list of friends.

Yoongi was one of the few that Jimin had had the privilege of meeting, from when Hoseok introduced them because of Yoongi’s need to find a singer for a project.

From the first moment they met, Jimin had been smitten. Yoongi was two years older, a production major, and hot as hell. Jimin was well aware that he had no chance, but it hadn’t stopped him from lusting after the older man for the last few months. Despite the fact that they had only actually seen each other in person a few times, and each time Jimin had become phenomenally shy, he still couldn’t help but hope that maybe at some point they would get to talk more.

So an opportunity like this, with the object of his affections reaching out to talk to him directly? It was pretty much a dream come true (part of Jimin had to wonder if this was in fact a dream), and Jimin did his best to work through the sleepiness and answer the call instead of rejecting it.

“Hello?” He asked. He had intended for his voice to be much more confident than that, but as it was he sounded small and sleepy. Well, it wasn’t a totally incorrect assessment, at least.

There was a small pause on the other end of the line. “Hey Jimin,” Yoongi spoke, sounding casual, as though calling a near-stranger at three am was completely normal. He didn’t even sound that tired, and Jimin had to wonder exactly how true the stories Hoseok had told him about Yoongi being practically nocturnal were.

“What… what’s up?” Jimin asked, biting back a yawn.

Seeming to not have noticed the yawn, Yoongi continued. “So I’m nearly done with the track for that project I told you about a few weeks ago, and I was wondering when you might be free to sing on it?”

Oh. It was all business. Fighting down his disappointment – despite knowing that the chances of Yoongi calling to ask him on a date were incredibly low, he couldn’t help but have hoped – he sat up, rubbing at his eyes and doing his best to concentrate.

Thinking through his schedule for the upcoming week, Jimin frowned. “Uumm… I’m free for most of Tuesday, and on Thursday afternoon? I have a few hours spare here and there on other days, but I don’t know if they’d be long enough to properly record it… I’m not really that fussy about when.” He was aware that he was rambling, but he couldn’t help himself. Something about talking to Yoongi just made it impossible for him to shut his damn mouth, and being sleep deprived really wasn’t helping.

Judging by the silence on the other end of the line again, Jimin had to wonder if Yoongi was actually as awake as he had first judged. “Okay… um… I can probably do Thursday afternoon? But we’ll have to be done by five, I have something on then.”

Jimin nodded, and then realised that Yoongi wouldn’t be able to see that. “Sure, that works.”

“Really, thanks for this Jimin.” Yoongi suddenly sounded very intense, only solidifying the idea that Yoongi was probably also very tired.

Still, Yoongi’s gratitude made Jimin feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and he giggled a little. It only dawned on him now that on Thursday he would get to see Yoongi. Just the two of them. For several hours.

It would be so great.

Since he couldn’t make any sound, still being on the line with Yoongi, Jimin settled for letting out his excitement by kicking his legs under his blanket. It worked surprisingly well, the satisfying bounce of his legs against the mattress reflecting his jubilation perfectly.

“Well I guess I’ll see you….” Yoongi yawned audibly in the middle of his sentence, “sorry, I’ll see you on Thursday?”

Jimin giggled again, unable to resist the cuteness of the yawning. Yoongi might put out the aura of being super tough, and someone to be at least wary of, but Jimin had been able to see through this façade right from the beginning. It probably had helped that the first time they met Hoseok had been trying to keep a flower crown on Yoongi’s head, the result of a bet.

“Yeah, I’ll see you then, hyung. Now get some sleep, it’s late.” Jimin said teasingly.

“It’s late?” Yoongi asked, sounding genuinely confused. He was silent for a second – presumably checking his phone – and then spoke again. “Oh , I really hadn’t realised how late it was. I probably woke you up, didn’t I? , I’m really sorry Jimin.” He sounded genuinely distressed, and while Jimin found it utterly adorable, he knew he should let Yoongi know it was fine.

Although the longer this conversation went on the worse the pounding in Jimin’s head became, he powered through it in order to keep this conversation going. This was the longest conversation he had ever held with Yoongi, and he was determined to have it go as well as possible, wishing to leave the best impression.

“Hyung, it’s fine. I’m not even that tired.” His statement was probably invalidated by the yawn that came next, and the fact that there was little to no strength in his voice, but Yoongi didn’t call him out on it, other than chuckling.

“How about we both agree to go to sleep as soon as we end this phone call?” Yoongi teased back.

Jimin hummed. “That sounds like a good idea.”

There was a rustling sound on the other end of the line. “Alright then, Jiminie.” Yoongi’s voice abruptly sounded much more tired – not that Jimin was that surprised, it was probably four am by now. “Bye.”

At this point memory took over, the words coming out of his mouth fuelled by habit and tiredness. “Alright hyung, bye.”

“Bye, see you on Thursday.”

“Bye.”

“Yeah, love you, bye.”

Beep.

Wait, what?

Had Jimin’s imagination taken over and entirely made up the end of the conversation? Or had his crush just said that he loved him?

Had he fallen asleep momentarily and dreamed it?

He stared at his phone, screen still on, hands trembling slightly, entirely confounded.

That small seed of hope in his chest that had been pulsing with hope over the course of the conversation, whispering that that maybe Yoongi had asked him to do it because he liked him back, sprouted and bore fruit in the span of a second.

Freudian slips were a thing, right?

Could that be Yoongi’s true wish?

In the intervening minute Jimin had received no other messages from him, so presumably he hadn’t realised what had just happened.

Well either way, there was little Jimin could do about it now, he thought, scooching back down into bed. Yoongi was probably getting ready for bed himself, and Jimin was too nervous to try to bring up the topic himself through text or phone call. Even with the barrier of his phone between himself and Yoongi he still would worry about potentially embarrassing himself.

No, it would be much better to wait until he saw Yoongi in person.

And maybe, just maybe, Jimin would end next week with a boyfriend.

That night, despite his interrupted slumber, he slept with a smile on his face.