Kim Seokjin-ah, it’s Jiyeon.

 I couldn’t even lie and pretend like the simplest text of all time didn’t send me straight into some sort of panic attack. I had immediately saved her number, as though I was scared the text would suddenly disappear into thin air and leave me with no way of contacting her, but I had been nervously glancing at my phone ever since. I had no idea how to answer her, what to say.

I knew I had hit rock bottom when I agreed to meet Namjoon in the park solely because I was so utterly lost on what to do.

“She’s just a girl, dude,” he told me as soon as I had started nervously rambling. I sent him a look.

“No, you don’t understand,” I tried, because he didn’t understand, none of them did.

“She’s just a girl, calm down,” I was told again and even though I wanted to scowl and explain to him why Jiyeon wasn’t just a girl, I ended up slumping my shoulders and look towards the group of playing kids near us in the park we were sitting in.

It was hard not to feel defeated. If Namjoon didn’t understand, then how could he possibly help? He didn’t even seem to care all that much anymore and it made me even more confused.

“Look,” he interrupted my sad, confused train of thoughts and I returned my attention to him to see that he was now offering me a supportive smile out of nowhere and I felt my eyebrow quirk. “She said she would go out with you, right? Why don’t you just tell her what you’ve planned for your date and ask when she’s available?”

“But, I don’t have anything planned… I don’t know what she would like,” I mumbled. Whatever small amount of confidence I had had disappeared long ago and it was really not helping me in this situation. It would be nice to be confident, or at least just not as awkward, for just one day while I got her to agree on a date.

Like my luck would allow that to happen.

Namjoon dropped his head in his hands at my words and sighed loudly. “Then ask her,”

I tilted my head like a confused puppy. It seemed logical enough, it wouldn’t be weird to ask her what she enjoyed doing so I could plan something she would like. She wouldn’t find that weird, right?

I muttered some sort of agreement under my breath while I pulled out my phone and opened up the conversation, quickly typing out the question and praying that she wouldn’t find my way of texting weird. Not that I texting any differently from my friends, maybe with less typos and curse words, but maybe she was used to something else?

“Stop overthinking it and hit send,” Namjoon told me in a way too authoritative voice and I looked up at him through my eyelashes with the most disapproving look I could muster. I really needed to find some friends with actual manners.

“But, should I add an emoji? Or just a smiley?” I asked, my attention back on the text but before I could do anything about it, Namjoon had reached in and pressed sent for me without a word.

I dropped my jaw and glared at him as best as I could because how was what he just did in any way okay? Who gave him permission to do that?

Worst of all, now the message had neither an emoji nor a smiley. What if she thought I was mad?

“Oh, chill, it’s just a text,” he huffed, not at all affected by the look in my eyes and I yet again realized how unable to respect me as the eldest any of my friends were. Vaguely wondered when that had happened because I was faintly sure they had been polite at the beginning of our weird friendship.

For some reason, the universe decided to calm me down before I started freaking out. My phone went off in my hand with a noise so loud I yelped in surprise and almost dropped the device.

I couldn’t even blame Namjoon for rolling his eyes at that.

With shaking fingers, I opened the new text and my heart soared when I read Jiyeon’s reply, simply because she had replied so fast.

“She says she likes books and animals,” I informed my friend, who I hoped was done mocking my not-so-manly reaction to receiving a text.

“Then take her to the zoo,” Namjoon shrugged and I chewed my bottom lip thoughtfully. It wouldn’t be the worst idea for a date, but it would involve a lot more talking than going to see a movie, for example. I wasn’t sure having to talk a lot would be optimal for a first date, at least not for me.

“But, what do I say to her? Like, how do I keep a conversation alive with her?” I asked because I was so lost that even Namjoon’s help could probably be useful.

I hadn’t expected him to actually groan at me but I had not expected him to actually get up from the bench we were sitting on, either.

“What are you doing?” I asked him skeptically, and frankly, I was very wary and a little scared of what insane idea he had come up with now. He wasn’t always known for thinking things through.

“Talking to girls is not hard, Hyung, just watch and learn!” he informed me and I watched with horror as he started marching over to two girls sitting under a tree not far from us.

Having absolutely no desire to get caught up in whatever he was about to do, I stayed seated, observing as discreetly as possible.

The two girls seemed genuinely surprised that someone came up to them like that and by the way they smiled at him to begin with, I assumed he had flashed them his dimple-showing smile, which I had to admit, was kind of a great start. I was only a little jealous of that but not much, since I had never really had any reservations about my own looks. I knew I was pretty handsome and I was actually downright proud of how full my bottom lip was, but for some reason, that knowledge didn’t do anything to save me from my awkward personality.

Especially not when it came to Jiyeon.

I stared at Namjoon’s back and observed as his hands went flying as he gesticulated wildly while he spoke about something I couldn’t hear no matter how much I strained my ears. I could hear the loud smack, however, when one of the girls had gotten up and slapped her hand across Namjoon’s face. He didn’t move a muscle as the girls gathered their things and walked away while they kept throwing him disgusted glances over their shoulders. I didn’t even try to hold in the loud laughter and almost tumbled off of the bench.

“Wow. Really smooth!” I called to him, still with my hands pressed to my belly and my eyes filled with tears from laughing so hard.

“Not my fault they don’t appreciate a compliment,” he muttered, gently rubbing his cheek and walking back over to sit down next to me. A new fit of laughter took control of my body and I leaned forward, heaving for air. “Yah, stop laughing!”

I waved my hand at him, unable to say anything at the moment and simply continued to laugh. Maybe it was because I was so nervous about my own impending date that it seemed so utterly hilarious that Namjoon would fail while showing me how to act around girls, but it seemed impossible to stop laughing once I had started. Every time I thought I was beginning to regain my self-control, one look at Namjoon’s red cheek would sent me flying off the edge again.

“No, but seriously, Hoseok has chips, I’m going to his place. Come if you’re done being an ,” he told me and I managed to subdue my laughing to small fits of giggles.

I had no idea why the fact that Hoseok had chips would mean that we had to go to his place but I didn’t object seeing as I had just remembered that Hoseok used to have a girlfriend some years ago and thereby must have more experience to share than Namjoon.

I could tell that Namjoon really wanted to belt me when we reached Hoseok’s street and I had yet to completely stop giggling and I knew he was contemplating leaving me on the street so I wouldn’t be able to share my source of laughing with Hoseok and who else might be at his apartment. He didn’t manage to do so before I had already sprinted up the stairs and started knocking on Hoseok’s door which was shortly after opened by a sweaty Hoseok.

“Yah, why are you sweating?” I asked, completely forgetting about the story I wanted to tell at the sight of how my friend’s thin shirt stuck to his skinny, sweaty chest.

“Kookie wanted to play wii,” Hoseok breathed, laughing a little but otherwise seemed very relieved that we were there to help deal with the maknae of the group, who apparently had way too much energy today if he could tire Hoseok out.

“Kookie’s here?” Namjoon asked, appearing behind me and pushing past me into the apartment. I was just about to scold him for his behavior but decided not to bother since I was going to get my revenge by sharing his embarrassment soon enough.

“Yup. Yoongi’s here, too, but he fell asleep on the couch,”

I stepped into the small studio-apartment and took off my shoes. It was hard not to notice Jungkook right away since the young boy was practically jumping up and down for no apparent reason. Yoongi, sure enough, seemed to be fast asleep on the small couch and I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t just opted for the bed right behind the couch instead. Seeing as he wasn’t that tall, however, the couch probably wasn’t all that uncomfortable.

Lucky for me, Namjoon stepped further into the apartment before I managed to get my second shoe off, which meant that he was Jungkook’s first victim.

“Hyung!” He whined, already in the process of simultaneously forcing a wii-remote into the hand of the blonde guy and pulling him towards the TV by his wrist. I could see how hesitant Namjoon was by the way he seemed to struggle against Jungkook’s grip, but like everyone else in our group, Jungkook was stronger despite his younger age. The only one who might maybe be able to really fight Jungkook was Jimin, and he wasn’t here at the moment. Not that he would lift a finger to help Namjoon out, anyway.

“Finally,” I heard Hoseok mutter. It didn’t take long before he plopped himself down on the couch, not caring whether or not he squished Yoongi’s legs in the process. Yoongi simply huffed in annoyance, pulled his legs out from under Hoseok and placed them on Hoseok’s lap instead.

I was momentarily torn between sharing my story about Namjoon’s failure or discreetly asking Hoseok for advice since the two conscious members besides the two of us seemed to be busy. As hesitant as Namjoon had been half a minute ago, it didn’t stop him from giving the ongoing wii-tennis-match his all. I didn’t have to see his face in order to know exactly what kind of expression he was wearing. I could just imagine the smirk on the maknae’s face, too, as he was currently beating Namjoon’s .

Deciding that it was no fun teasing Namjoon when his attention was completely elsewhere, I went to take a seat at the foot of Hoseok’s bed, facing the TV but sitting close enough for us to have a casual conversation without having to speak too loudly. The last thing I needed was to get Jungkook involved in this.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” I asked him, letting my eyes flick to him for a second before I continued to watch the intense battle next to me. Hoseok ran a hand through his jet-black hair and huffed slightly, presumably to catch his breath.

“Shoot,”

I inhaled slowly to calm my suddenly raging emotions but it didn’t seem to help. “You used to have a girlfriend, right? Like, a while ago?”

That apparently got Hoseok’s attention since he twisted his upper body to face me without disturbing the sleeping Yoongi any further. He nodded as a way of answering my question while at the same time encouraging me to go on.

“How should I plan a date? Namjoon told me to ask her what she likes and she said animals and books so he suggested a zoo, but if I take her to a zoo, won’t I have to talk a lot? How does a date even work?” I rambled, making sure to keep my voice low enough for only Hoseok to hear.

Thankfully, Hoseok was one of the more respectful guys in our little group and he was more likely to treat me like the eldest than almost any of the others. That didn’t mean that he didn’t enjoy teasing me just as much as the others, but something about the desperate, pleading look I sent him made him stay serious, much to my great joy.

“A zoo is actually a great idea, especially if she likes animals,” he started, looking very thoughtful. “A date shouldn’t be too hard, but it’s not unusual for them to be a bit awkward in the beginning, so don’t let that affect you. You have a lot of questions about her, right?” he continued and pursed his lips when I nodded. “Alright, then use the date as an opportunity to ask those questions. Anything to keep the conversation flowing, just don’t… You know… Ask her anything creepy,”

“Creepy?” I repeated, not even sure what kind of question that would be. If anything, I would be scared of asking her any personal questions because of the fear of being creepy now.

“Yeah, like… I don’t know… Don’t ask her about her dead pets or whether she has ever a ,”

I couldn’t even stop myself from smacking him across the back of the head. The thought of her doing anything like that made my stomach turn and it was just plain wrong.

“Don’t talk about her like that,” I hissed, surprising myself with how hostile I sounded all of a sudden. Hoseok pouted and rubbed the back of his head.

“I didn’t!” he argued, sending me a look. “I was just giving you an example of what not to say,”

I switched my attention to the wii-match, which seemed to have evolved into an actual almost-fight, where Namjoon was trying to pry the controller out of Jungkook’s hand while swatting away with his own controller in an attempt to make the younger loose. Had I not had my head so full of worries, I might have laughed at the scenario.

“Sorry,” I eventually mumbled, letting my eyes drop to my hands which were pointlessly turning my pink phone over and over.

Hoseok huffed but I somehow knew it was a way of saying he had forgiven me. “Just be yourself, Hyung. Don’t overthink it, you’ll just freak yourself out. You’re handsome and awesome, she’s going to love you,”

I didn’t want to let it show how the word love made my heart skip a beat but I sent Hoseok a small smile, genuinely thankful. With his words replaying in my head, I unlocked my phone and typed out a message before I got a chance to overthink it.

How about we go to the zoo?

I tapped the sides of my phone, staring at the text. I had already hit sent, but I was still sure I had done something wrong. Said the wrong thing, indicated something I hadn’t meant to, maybe even misspelled something.

All of my worries were forgotten the moment she messaged me back.

Oh, cool! I would love to go to the zoo with you, how about this Friday?

A grin pulled at my lips until I couldn’t conceal it anymore and I turned my phone to face Hoseok to show him the conversation. He read it quickly and without taking his eyes off the screen, he smiled and lifted his hand to give me a high five.

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A/N

I’m so sorry I haven’t updated sooner, life is craaazy. School is taking up a lot of my time because wow, learning Chinese is hard work, so many new characters all the time, I might die. I joined a club and now I practice dancing five days a week.. I will try to be better!!!