The first time Jimin braves Seoul on his own, he regrets it the moment he sets foot off campus.

Normally he’d be sitting in Taehyung’s car by then, likely singing off-key on purpose to whatever comes on the radio. Instead he stands in the middle of the sidewalk, eyes flickering in panic as he tries to find the correct bus stop because, “Just turn right when you get off campus, then left when you see the music shop Jungkook likes, then left again about five stores down, and then keep going until you find the third bus stop! Easy! I’ll see you later, okay? Bye!”

Apparently, Taehyung is bad at giving directions because the music shop is on a dead end street and Jimin’s left on his own to find the correct bus stop.

He knows how to read a bus schedule and map, really, but after what feels like days turning left, right, and ending up on streets he’s never seen before, panicking is the only thing he knows how to do. That, and stepping onto the first bus he see’s after an hour of walking around aimlessly.

"Hi, uh, does this bus go to the Hana apartments? Or anywhere near there?" Jimin asks sheepishly, one hand tightly grasping his backpack strap.

He doesn’t miss the raised eyebrow the driver gives him, “What, do you not know how to read a bus schedule, kid?” 

'Kid?' he thinks to himself because he’s a first year in university and this guy doesn’t look much older than him. What with his crescent-shaped eyes, smooth milky white skin, and thick, messy brown hair covering his forehead, Jimin concludes he looks downright adora— 

"No."

The word comes out short and raspy but it’s enough to bring Jimin back to his senses, just then realizing he hadn’t replied, and oh great the bus driver probably thinks he’s an idiot now. And maybe he is. Because he swallows and considers apologizing for holding the line up, stepping off the bus and leaving it at that. But then he see’s a glint in the bus driver’s eyes and a smirk threatening to tug at his lips, so Jimin finds himself scanning his card. Yeah, he decides while he takes a seat in the middle of the bus, he really is an idiot.

Every time the bus stops, the less Jimin recognizes the buildings and street names around him. Still, he waits until the fifth bus stop to get off, because at every stop he catches the driver eyeing him through the rear view mirror. He just knows that the driver expects him to get off quickly, and he doesn’t want to give him that satisfaction. So he stays, fiddling with the bottom of his white graphic tee and waits. Waits until enough time has passed to not look stupid and slings his backpack on, stepping off the bus with his head held high until he hears a voice behind him, low and sing-song, “Good luck finding your apartment!” 

Before he can turn around and argue, the doors close and all he can see is a grin on the driver’s face as the bus shuttles away. With a scowl written on his face, Jimin changes his mind that, no, the driver is not adorable. He’s an — okay, a good-looking , he amends later that night before bed.

taetae~: did you get back okay? your uncle texted me asking if you were out with me bc you weren’t home yet and you weren’t answering your phone
taetae~: i told him yeah
taetae~: jimin
taetae~: jimin
taetae~: hey
taetae~: park 
taetae~: ji
taetae~: min
jiminie: what do you want from me
taetae~: i’ve been messaging you all day, what happened?
jiminie: you happened, so i got lost -.-
taetae~: T_T
taetae~: but i gave you the best directions in the world!!!
taetae~: you could’ve messaged me
jiminie: my phone died
jiminie: because someone was playing games on it all day during classes

Taehyung sends a storm of crying and ‘sorry’ stickers and despite himself, Jimin laughs through his nose. He knows Taehyung won’t stop until he forgives him, so he relents and sends a sticker telling him to stop, followed by one of a bear eating, like it’s supposed to mean he forgives him. Taehyung gets it, though, because he sends a grinning sticker and Jimin replies with a sleeping one before locking his phone and setting it on his nightstand.

The second time Jimin braves Seoul on his own, he’s prepared. Having gone out exploring with Taehyung and Jungkook, he’s familiarized himself with the streets. So two weeks after the first time he got lost, Jimin doesn’t panic when Taehyung can’t drive them back to the apartments again. In fact, when his uncle texts him to stop by his aunt’s house to pick up some food before coming back home, he even knows exactly which bus to take and —

"You know, this bus still doesn’t stop by the Hana apartments," is the first thing Jimin hears after the bus doors hiss open to let him board.

Of course it had to be this bus.

There’s a smirk on the driver’s face again and Jimin wants to punch it off, but instead blinks and settles for, “Y-yeah.”

He mentally curses himself for stuttering when the driver laughs, and he nearly drops his wallet when he fumbles through it for his bus card. The way the driver’s eyes all but disappear when he laughs doesn’t get past Jimin and he decides, as he takes a seat in the front of the bus, that he has a nice laugh — for an , anyway.

Five minutes pass before Jimin realizes that the bus driver remembers who he is, and he groans internally because did he really make that much of an impression? He stares at the driver, watching the way he moves his head along to the beats dripping from the radio, and reasons that it’s not so strange that Jimin remembers him. Because their first meeting was entirely mortifying for him. But it is strange that the driver remembers him, because he picks up hundreds of passengers a day and he really can’t be the only person who has asked where the bus stops. Or maybe he is. The thought alone makes him groan, outwardly this time, earning him a look from the driver, and Jimin shrinks into his seat.

His eyes stay trained on the driver, though, noting the way he mouths along to the raps playing over the mindless bus chatter, and Jimin considers explaining himself. That he’d just moved to Seoul from Busan recently for university. That it was his first time alone in the city last time. That he boarded the bus regardless that time because he remembered he had to go somewhere else before going back home. That he wasn’t actually an idiot. But then he wonders why he feels the need to redeem himself to a stranger. 

It’s when he finally takes his eyes off the driver and glances out the window that he realizes he’s missed his stop by two, and he sighs, reaching up to pull the wire for the next stop. Because walking a few blocks is better than taking a round trip and embarrassing himself in front of the driver again.

The third time Jimin braves Seoul on his own, the sun has already set and the buses come near their closing time. He’s stumbling out of the noraebang, laughing as he nearly falls off the last stair step, when he says goodbye to the rest of the dance team. After auditions a week ago, he became the new maknae of the team and the leader decided that getting Jimin drunk was the best way to initiate him into the group.

Getting him drunk does wonders for team bonding, but not so much for his sense of direction. He lets his muscle memory take over instead, landing him in a bus bench he hopes is the correct one. The crisp air bites at his skin willing his arm hairs to stand up, but despite the tank top basketball jersey he has on, Jimin feels warm enough to kick his legs up onto the bench and lay on his side like it’s his bed. He gets all of two minutes to rest his eyes before a bus screeches to a stop in front of him. There’s a laugh that shakes him awake from his short slumber, and he can’t help but feel like he’s heard it before. It’s only when he struggles to push himself up and stagger to the bus door that he realizes why.

"Oh?" Jimin blinks his eyes once, twice, rubs them and blinks again before a grin draws itself silly, "It’s you again!"

He swears the driver smiles for at least half a second, and that’s good enough for him, even though it’s followed by a tease, “No matter how many times you get on this bus, it will never stop by your apartment.”

The driver gets a closed eye smile in return and a curt nod, and Jimin doesn’t see the grin it places on his lips because he’s too busy waving him off and walking deeper inside the bus.

"Hey, you forgot to—" the bus driver looks back to find Jimin’s backpack on the floor, arms and legs hanging awkwardly off the seats, mouth squished and slightly open against the seat, eyes shut tight. He sighs, though it’s more of a breathy laugh, and finishes his sentence to no one in particular, "…pay."

Jimin lets the soft laughter lull him asleep, missing the way the driver makes sure to brake smoothly at every stop.

When Jimin opens his eyes, his body’s shaking up and down and he’s about to yell at the driver for driving so bad until he realizes he’s no longer on the bus. He’s cradled in someone’s arms. Blinking his eyes open, he finds loud and heavy breaths visible as tiny white clouds in the night air and feels arms shaking under his body. Behind him he see’s the bus, and above him the driver gritting his teeth. He isn’t able to get a word in before the driver notices he’s awake and, in under a second, his feet are planted back onto the floor. Groaning, Jimin latches onto his arm unable to stay up on his own, now both sleepy and still drunk. 

"Finally. I was ready to just leave you on the ground because you’re so damn heavy," the driver says through coughs, folded over with his free hand on his knee, back steadily rising and falling through heavy breaths.

"Hey," Jimin laughs, bubbly and way too bright for the time of night, "I can’t be that heavy. And the bus is just two steps away." 

His finger points directly behind them, but he keeps his eyes on the doubled over bus driver. “You’re just weak,” he grins and elongates his words, poking the driver on his side to punctuate.

A huff comes from the driver, but he stands up anyway and looks Jimin in the eyes, features softening the moment he see’s Jimin’s wide grin. Through half-closed eyes, he doesn’t notice the way the driver’s eyes linger on his face before he feels arms snake around his waist to help his balance. And then there’s a mumble he doesn’t catch, a cough, and, “Come on before I change my mind.”

Jimin doesn’t remember much after that, but he recalls grumbling “Apartment 563” while the driver buckles his seatbelt for him — and hey, when did he get inside a car? And then he falls back asleep, but not before noting that he likes the faint cologne smell cloaking the car.

A low voice wakes Jimin up the second time that night, catching the tail-end of a hushed complaint, “… hell am I doing right now?”

He’s in shaking arms again and he doesn’t have to look far behind him to see a somewhat familiar car. Jimin laughs and says, voice rasp from sleep, “Being a good ajusshi. A weak, but very good ajusshi.”

His body stops shaking and the burn of a pair of eyes staring at him only makes him grin wider, even though he nearly falls on his back when he’s let go of in a rush.

"What ajusshi? How old do you think I am?" 

Jimin’s eyes are still half-asleep, and he leans on the driver again, because even though the alcohol still warms his body, the driver’s body warmth is even better. His grin is still apparent as he lays his head on the driver’s shoulder, and he answers with the best logic he can muster, “You called me kid, so… ajusshi!”

The half-scoff, half-laugh that follows is strangely like music to Jimin’s ears. He recalls the way the driver fell into his own world when hip-hop played on the radio, and Jimin thinks that maybe this laugh could do that to him too. 

"Hyung. Yoongi hyung. Not ajusshi."

"Yoongi hyung," Jimin drawls slowly, sleepily. Then he smiles because he likes the way his name rolls off his tongue easily, like he’s not a complete stranger but someone he’s known all his life. He’d like that, Jimin thinks when the sensation of Yoongi’s arms around his waist makes him shiver more than the cool night air, he’d like to know Yoongi all his life. Because what type of stranger goes out of their way to drop off another very drunk stranger at their apartment at what-the-hell o’clock at night?

Jimin forgets whatever happens after that too, when he wakes up the next morning, but he doesn’t forget the way Yoongi’s name feels sliding off his tongue.

Grunts, yells of “No!”, and electronic blasts wake him up the next morning with a groan, and he finds Taehyung sitting at his desk, phone in hand playing some new mobile rpg. His head is throbbing and he buries his head face first into his pillow, breathing out deep, steady breaths in an attempt to lull himself back to sleep. Another “!” comes from his desk, though, and Jimin doesn’t hesitate to grab a pillow beside him and chuck it in Taehyung’s general direction.

He misses, but it gets Taehyung’s attention anyway.

"It’s Saturday morning, why are you already being loud as hell?" Jimin muffles into his pillow. It’d be inaudible to anyone else, but Taehyung understands him loud and clear. 

"Because that’s why you love me!"

"But I hate you." 

"No you don’t." 

Jimin can almost hear the -eating grin in his voice and he darts his arm out to reach for another pillow, but ends up grabbing at air and Taehyung laughs. So he rolls off his pillow instead and throws it at Taehyung’s laughing head. 

He doesn’t miss that time and Taehyung almost falls off the chair. It’s Jimin’s turn to laugh, even though his head is still pounding. 

"Seriously, why are you here?" he asks when his laughter dies down and Taehyung’s done glaring at him, hand massaging the top of his head.

"You woke me up last night, so I’m here to return the favor," Taehyung says, leaning back in the chair with a slight smirk tugging on his lips, as if that’s supposed to make any sense to Jimin.

It doesn’t make sense, though, so he just blinks at Taehyung, prompting him to continue. Taehyung launches into the story of how he heard Jimin constantly drawling “Yoongi hyung” last night when he walked down the hall to his apartment until his uncle opened the door, thanking the guy who helped him there.

As if that isn’t embarrassing enough, Taehyung adds, “Also, I looked out my window to see what the hell you were doing and I saw him. Was that the bus driver you told me about? Because he looked exactly like you described, you know, ‘smooth, perfect milky-white skin, messy but not too messy brown hair, super cute almond—”

Before Taehyung can continue mocking Jimin’s voice and description of Yoongi, Jimin ignores his headache in favor of tackling Taehyung off the chair and onto the floor with a thud. There’s a grunt that slips from Taehyung’s mouth, but it’s quickly dissolved into a laugh despite Jimin repeatedly hitting him in the face with a pillow. 

"So, Yoongi hyung, huh?" Taehyung manages, stifling a laugh as he wiggles his eyebrows, before a pillow comes for his face again.

When the pounding in his head becomes too much and overpowers his desire to strangle Taehyung, he drags himself back into bed. He lays down for only all of one minute though because, “Oh yeah, Hoseok hyung katalked me last night, saying he thinks they got you a little too drunk. So I brought some hangover soup. It’s in the kitchen, get up and have some.” 

Jimin groans into his comforter, waving his arm out aimlessly when a finger flicks him in the head. 

"Don’t just lay in bed all day, you’ve got a hyung to find and thank," Taehyung sing-songs, giggling like a little kid when he ducks to dodge a stuffed toy aimed at his face and backs out of the room, singing his goodbyes. 

The fourth time Jimin braves Seoul on his own, he’s just finished nursing his hangover and he comes with a purpose.

"An… iced caramel macchiato?" Jimin asks the cashier at a small cafe, as if he’s supposed to know what Yoongi likes to drink. As if he knows Yoongi at all. 

The cashier pointedly ignores the questioning lilt in his voice, punching his order in, and ten minutes later Jimin walks out of the cafe with a cold drink in his hand wondering if he should have gone for an americano instead. Americano’s are bitter, Jimin knows, and Yoongi left an embarrassing and bitter taste in his mouth after their first encounter. Then he remembers Yoongi’s gummy smile and that he brought Jimin back home, and decides that a sweet caramel macchiato is the perfect choice.

When the bus comes to the stop where Jimin first met Yoongi, Jimin grins, iced drink in hand, ready to thank his new hyung with his rehearsed speech. But then the bus doors open and his grin falls because Yoongi isn’t sitting in the driver’s seat.

"Um, does Yoongi… hyung still drive this bus?" 

This driver considers Jimin, hesitating before he nods, “Min Yoongi? Yeah, his shift starts late afternoon after mine, though. Three more hours.”

Jimin thanks him for the information and doesn’t repeat his mistake of boarding the bus with no actual destination, stepping off and returning to the bus bench.

The drink sweats beside him, leaving a wet circle on the bench while Jimin waits. 

taetae~: i came back to check if you ate the hangover soup bc i spent my own money on that
taetae~: and then your uncle told me you went out
taetae~: does this mean you’re really finding and thanking that hyung?
taetae~: good bc when i was waiting in your room you wouldn’t stop his name while you were sleeping

Taehyung sends laughing sticker after laughing sticker and Jimin struggles to keep a straight face because he’s still sitting on the bus bench in public. And then Taehyung continues, and Jimin has to keep himself from running back home to punch him in the face. 

taetae~: so i hope you get to moan his name for real~

What Jimin doesn’t expect after three hours of waiting around, mindlessly browsing through nearby shops, is for Yoongi to greet him with, “So I heard you asked for me. What do you want?” 

Regardless, a grin still pulls on Jimin’s lips and he holds out the drink, water droplets falling to the bus floor, “Thought you might like something to drink during your shift. And… company?”

Yoongi’s staring eyes feel heavy but it feels like a weight is lifted off his shoulders when Yoongi takes the drink from him. But then Yoongi takes a sip and his face twists and his shoulders are heavy again. Jimin’s hand reaches for the back of his neck, rubbing nervously as he half-laughs, “Yeah, sorry… I bought it three hours ago.” 

"You could’ve bought a new one," Yoongi suggests, though it sounds more like a joke and the weight is lifted again. 

"I brought the wrong wallet with me, so I didn’t have enough money for a new one," Jimin admits through a nervous chuckle and a smile that turns his eyes into half-moons. 

"Is that also why you haven’t scanned your bus card yet?"

Jimin’s smile falters when he digs his wallet out of his back pocket and can’t find his card, realizing he can’t pay for the bus fare. His smile falls even further when he notices that Yoongi hasn’t driven away from the stop yet, probably expecting him to get off. He didn’t think his plan all the way through, Jimin notes before slightly bowing his head in apology and turning on his heel to get off the bus. 

The doors close on him before he can get one foot out, though, and Yoongi just shrugs when Jimin turns around with confusion written all over his face.

"That drink tastes like , so I’ll settle for your company instead," Yoongi explains, shifting his eyes to the side-view mirror while he waits for the road to clear.

Jimin’s grin returns from ear to ear. There’s a handful of open seats in the bus, but Jimin stands right behind the driver’s seat, holding onto a bar for balance.

Yoongi is two years older than him. He’s from Daegu. He’s also a university student, majoring in film with an emphasis on cinematography. It took a while to convince his parents, and he works as a bus driver and a freelance photographer to pay for his own living expenses, including his tiny studio apartment just outside the city. He’s made a bit of a name for himself — according to himself, anyway — in the underground hip-hop scene, directing music videos and photo shoots. He also recently started rapping and composing music when he can as a hobby, but never formally released anything. And no, he won’t let Jimin listen to them. Because he says so, is why. Because he’s the hyung. Becau—

"Holy , fine, if I let you listen to a song, will you never board this bus ever again?" 

Jimin learns a lot about Yoongi in the long hours he stands behind him that day, holding tightly onto the bar because Yoongi makes turns too sharp for a big bus, swearing he’s not doing it on purpose. So he knows that Yoongi’s ultimatum stands no ground, but he plays along anyway. 

"But hyung, what if I need to use this bus?" Jimin whines, pouting even though Yoongi’s eyes are kept on the road. 

"Walk instead."

“‘Eyy, hyung,” he whines again, though he grins now, lightly punching Yoongi in the shoulder. 

Yoongi quips something about disrupting his driving and, “do you want to die?” but in the end Jimin wins and Yoongi reluctantly says he’ll have a CD ready for him the next time he boards his bus. 

So Jimin comes back the next day after classes.

"I didn’t think you’d come right away. What, you have a crush on me?" Yoongi greets, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips when the doors open. 

Jimin might have been flustered if Yoongi wasn’t holding a CD in his hand like he was expecting Jimin to be at that same stop. But he was, so Jimin mirrors Yoongi’s teasing grin the best he can and answers with a question, “Then why do you already have a CD ready?” 

Yoongi opens his mouth to answer, like he has a comment ready to fire, but closes it quickly and lets his grin falter while Jimin lets his grow. 

"I think you’re the one with a crush, hyung." Jimin laughs and Yoongi’s snark comments are still on pause for a second too long before he denies it and shoves the CD in Jimin’s stomach.

Jimin learns more things about Yoongi after each visit. Like the way he prefers to listen to Jimin talk instead of talking about himself. But then his eyes light up when Jimin brings up his music compositions and then he can’t stop talking. Yoongi also says he doesn’t mind being a bus driver because he doesn’t do much except sit for hours. But then a small car will try to squeeze in front of the bus and Yoongi mumbles a curse, under his breath so the passengers won’t hear him, and Jimin just laughs. 

He also learns his phone number after his third visit, so Jimin whips out his phone and adds him on Kakao Talk right away. He messages him with one thumb, other hand too busy gripping onto the bar for balance as Yoongi makes a harsh brake. 

jiminie: hyung~ this is your favorite dongsaeng jimin!
jiminie: you should learn how to brake better

Yoongi’s reply comes hours later, when Jimin’s sitting at his desk reading for his classes at 11 at night because he was out all afternoon. 

yoongi: sorry you have the wrong number, my favorite dongsaeng isn’t named jimin
yoongi: and i brake perfectly

Jimin decides he’s done reading for the night (three pages is better than none at all) and settles into his messy sea of blankets and pillows, phone in hand and smile in place.

jiminie: so this isn’t musical genius min yoongi hyung?
yoongi: it is
jiminie: then i don’t have the wrong number!
yoongi: but my favorite dongsaeng still isn’t named jimin
jiminie: hyung :(
 

They text until Yoongi stops replying and the ‘1’ doesn’t disappear and Jimin falls asleep waiting with his phone on his chest. He wakes up — late and only because Taehyung barges into his room to shake him violently — to a new message from Yoongi. It’s just a sticker of a peach character falling asleep, but Jimin understands the hidden apology and smiles stupidly at his phone, sending back a good morning sticker before Taehyung can drag him out of bed. 

Jimin doesn’t realize he’s never actually seen Yoongi standing up or walking until he sees him at his university campus. The first thing he does is laugh. It gets Yoongi’s attention right away, turning around and greeting him with a sour face and an annoyed, “What?” 

"Hyung! You called me short before, but," he makes a point to stand right in front of him, bringing a hand up measure the non-existent distance between the height of their heads, "we’re the same height!" 

Yoongi reaches up to swat Jimin’s hand away before stuffing his own into his jean pocket. He mumbles something Jimin can’t quite catch, until he settles on, “What are you doing here?”

Jimin laughs softly, hand instinctively coming up to cover his mouth in an attempt to muffle himself, and clears his throat before grinning widely, dropping his hand to his side, “Came to visit you!” 

A smile pulls at Yoongi’s lips before he can control it and raise an eyebrow instead. Jimin catches this. His heart seems to skip a beat in return.

"I mean, I’m at your university because my friend’s friend goes here and he dragged me along on the way home, so I thought I’d look for you since I’m here anyway, and…" 

Jimin trails off when he realizes how strange it really sounds. Because they’ve really only talked via Kakao Talk and every other day when Jimin gets on his bus for an hour or so. Because although Jimin considers Yoongi a friend after the past five weeks, he’s not sure Yoongi thinks the same. 

"…And you thought you’d treat your hyung out for lunch after a long three hour lecture? Ah, Park Jimin! Who knew you were such a caring dongsaeng?"

The warmth of an arm around his neck and a hand ruffling his hair shakes Jimin out of his thoughts of how to backtrack. He’s confused for a second, mouth slightly hanging open, eyes blank. But he recovers quickly, smile returning to its rightful place. He eyes Yoongi’s smirk but he plays along because, well, it’s Yoongi and he called him a caring dongsaeng. Who could turn that down?

Jimin finds that he prefers seeing Yoongi out of the bus.

For one, he doesn’t have to worry about distracting his hyung too much from driving and getting a bunch of citizens into an accident. Mostly, though, he likes being able to properly look at Yoongi’s face and have him looking back. Sometimes, Jimin swears he feels Yoongi gazing at him when he thinks the younger doesn’t notice. But he does. And it takes every inch of himself to not swallow whatever it is that suddenly feels lodged in his throat.

So he stops visiting Yoongi on the bus, opting to drop by his university instead after his own classes. Sometimes he comes bearing food or the promise to treat him for lunch again, and sometimes he complains that Yoongi’s the one with a job and “you’re the hyung, shouldn’t you treat me?” 

Still, Jimin finds himself paying more often than not. Not that he minds. 

Maybe it was the moment he stepped onto the wrong bus. Or probably not, because Jimin’s not sure he believes in love or even like at first sight. Maybe it was when Yoongi went out of his way to take a drunk-him home. Or maybe it was the first time he saw him at his campus and went out for a non-date. Or maybe sometime in between. Whenever it was, Jimin doesn’t know. What he does know is he always hopes it’s Yoongi when his phone vibrates. He’s not sure how it happened, but he’s sure he’s screwed because he likes Yoongi more than he ever intended.

Jimin has a lot of experience in one-sided attraction, though. So he tells himself, as he locks his phone after checking it for the 10th time in the past minute and tosses it on his bed, that he can handle it. That he’ll get over it sooner or later the way he got over Jungkook.

But it happens when he comes to visit Yoongi on campus just two weeks after he stops visiting the bus.

Yoongi walks out of the lecture hall to find Jimin sitting against the building wall, earbuds plugged in. He crouches down next to him and pulls one out, “Why don’t you come while I’m working anymore?”

The question takes Jimin by surprise and he reflexively lets out a tiny, “What?” before he fully registers the question. Yoongi’s eyes are piercing and he has to look away, pulls out his phone to pause his music and to have somewhere else to look.

Technically, it’s a casual question, but it feels heavy, loaded. It’s uncomfortable, so Jimin goes the joking route, “Oh, why? Do you miss my company?” Before he can stop himself, he’s wiggling his eyebrows and nudging Yoongi’s side with his elbow. 

A scoff comes as a reply and Yoongi stands up, adjusting his backpack with a shrug, “Nah, never mind. Let’s go, you’re buying today.” 

Yoongi turns on his heels and starts walking before Jimin has even stood up, but not before Jimin see’s the slightest hint of red on his normally milky-white cheeks.

So the next day Jimin goes back to the familiar bus stop, iced caramel macchiato in hand. The grin that appears on Yoongi’s face before the bus slows to a stop is the only confirmation Jimin needs to begin grinning himself. When the bus doors open with a hiss, Yoongi’s grin is gone and instead he’s greeted with, “What’re you doing here?” But Jimin knows better. 

"Company," is all he says in reply, shoving the drink into Yoongi’s hand.

The bus visit starts off as always. Jimin tells the driver about his day (“and then Taehyung’s text message sound goes off almost ten times in a row and all you hear in the lecture hall is “pika pika?” over and over and Jungkook lost his and then we got kicked out”), and Yoongi replies when appropriate, and it’s nice and comfortable. 

Thirty minutes later is when Jimin decides to challenge the comfortability.

"Hyung," he starts, volume dropping a noticeable level. This startles Yoongi, he notices, because his shoulder tenses under the hand Jimin didn’t even realize he’d placed there. No one else would ever notice, though, by the way he replies with a smooth, casual, "What?" 

Jimin massages his shoulder slowly, squeezing when he leans in to whisper in his ear, “Did you miss me?” 

Yoongi breaks a little too harsh at the next stop. 

"Well, sorry, because this is my stop, but I’ll come by tomorrow! Bye, hyung!" Jimin grins, words tumbling out quickly one after the other. Before he can regret it, he presses his lips against Yoongi’s cheek and notes that it is indeed as soft as it looks and bolts out of the bus.

yoongi: the
jiminie: what~?
yoongi: damn it jimin you know what
jiminie: i don’t think so hyung
yoongi: jesus

Yoongi sends an irritated bear sticker and Jimin can’t stop smiling at his phone.

yoongi: i can’t believe i’m even about to ask this
yoongi: do you
jiminie: do i what?
yoongi:jimin
jiminie: hyung
yoongi: …

Jimin laughs and relents, because he knows how hard it must’ve been just to say anything at all.

jiminie: yeah i do

He quickly sends an embarrassed peach sticker and tosses his phone, not sure if he wants to see the reply at all. His phone buzzes twice and he stares, weighing the pros and cons, and god he feels like a little schoolgirl so he mans up and grabs his phone. 

yoongi: good

Yoongi also sends a sticker of a nervous looking dog holding a bouqet of roses and Jimin can just imagine Yoongi cringing the moment he tapped the send button. So, naturally, he lets him sweat it out and doesn’t reply.

Not even five minutes later, his phone rings and he’s greeted with a loud, “Park Jimin I ing swear I will run you over with my bus!”