4 | Buddies

     I wake up with one goal: to get closer with Jimin. The shimmering sunlight that seeps through the blinds seems to transition warmth into support, momentarily blinding me while making me smile nonetheless. With an arm crossed over my face, I turn my head and peek over at Jimin's bed. It was empty. 

Well that was a disappointment. I shuffle my upper body to get a better look around the room. Where was he? 

I then pull myself up and crawl to the end of the bed to look out the window and shoot, there he was two stories below chucking some hoops. I lightly groan and tumble onto the floor hopelessly. 

"Jimin hyung!" I call out, the words themselves bringing a grin to my face. He looks around curiously for a few seconds before finding me (giving me more time to watch him-), eyebrows raising lightly as I jog over towards him. "Uh...mind if I join you?" 

He blinks once before passing the ball to me, gesturing to have a shot. 

We continue on dribbling up and down the court, defending against each other. I slowly become stuck within a mix of absolute joy to ultimate torture: each time he jumps to take a shot I follow and our bodies seemingly suspend in mid air with his white shirt and my grey shirt inches apart, my eyes helplessly left staring at the many expressions that appear on his face: determination, bliss, passion. Every smile he flashes and cheer he lets escape overwhelmes me with incandescent feelings I often wish I could control. 

"Hyung, you play so well. Why haven't you joined the club?" 

He stops to dab his forehead with the sweatband on his left wrist and I notice how he's always wearing one. I shift my gaze from it back to him and continue smiling. He looks up at the blue sky with clouds that are puffy yet light and the memory of our first meeting revisits me suddenly. It was on a day just like this, and I find myself looking into his eyes for a sign to confirm my wonder of the possibility that he's thinking the same thing. He glances at me before putting his hand out. "Thanks Jeongkook, this was fun. We should do it again sometime." 

I subconsciously my lips and shake his hand with confidence that the upwards curving of my mouth will remain the same for quite a while. We walk back to the dorms together and I let him shower first as I pace around the room casually, exhaling a chuckle to see Taehyung still in bed. My attention then moves onto Jimin's desk which is piled nicely with several sports theory books and a couple light novels. A slightly crumped photo of his family of four sits protected within a photo frame on the far corner. The cupboards stored light weights, skin care products and more sweatbands. He had several sheets of notes and cut out catalogue pages blue tacked to his wall. Some notes were directions to specific locations, one in Busan, likely his home; the catalogue segments were of pizza and sticky rice cake stores, and of course, milk tea stores. I smile gently as the notion of standing among the things held dear to the one I hold dearest sinks into me, and my eyes waver towards the bathroom door as I feel that intense need to have him and have him unconditionally okay with being mine. A soft sigh escapes my lips as Taehyung finally yawns and awakens, Jimin exiting the bathroom simultaneously, a clean sweatband now on his left wrist; I really should ask about that when I get the chance. 

The two elders meet each other's eyes at the same point and a pause of silence sprouts to existence as I wait for one of them to speak, but neither does. Taehyung's the first to break away, tossing off his blankets and ruffling his hair. A quiet but distinct groan makes me question if he's purposely trying to pretend that he's distracted by his just-awoken state, but Jimin's voice makes the thought vanish. 

"Jeongkook-" my own world pauses to relish in the sound, "you can use the shower now." 

My blank face abruptly begins furiously nodding and I grab my towel and prepared pile of clothes and dash into the bathroom like lighting was chasing me. I shut the door with a fast click to seal the storm out and take a good hot shower, noticing Jimin's previously used sweatband sitting beside the sink. I bite my lip as a decision is made and think about which cupboard I put my navy tie into as I wipe my hair dry. 

Author's Note | Ah, I'm getting excited for this story. I spent some time reading through all the notes I had (as well as prewritten parts) from 2014 and I got so emotionally invested in it haha (sorta proud I produced something like that almost a year and a half ago). Hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I do. :) Have a nice day and take care.