“Jimin-ah!! Get over here! Why you so late?” Jungkook waved him over, bursting with excitement.

Jimin rubbed the sleepy dust from the corners of his eyes before realizing that the little cloth he was holding between his fingers was a handkerchief. His handkerchief.

He did all that he could not to hyperventilate as he crossed the room, feeling a strong pull in two directions, nearly splitting him in half. A part of him wanted to turn right back and run away, while the other part desperately wanted to see what happened next. The curiosity might have killed the cat, but it wasn't lethal to humans, was it? He convinced himself that there was no way Jungkook could ever find out who sent it, conquering the urge to flee, putting up a fake surprised face as he joined him, listening to his surprised wonderings.

“Who do you think it's from?”

“Did you get one?”

“Feel it, it's super soft.”

“How did she manage to hide it in my desk? I was pretty early.”

“Do you think she's here right now?”

Jungkook just kept asking questions as his eyes explored every inch of the fabric in front of him, leaving no room for answers or comments.

He kept touching it and playing with it all through class, causing Jimin to overdose on butterflies, his insides twisted into a knot after a vicious attack by a swarm of butterflies that just wouldn't let up.

At lunch he recruited Jimin as his sidekick on a mission to compare the color of the lip print to the lipstick color of every girl at school. Jimin wasn't sure what he'd do if they found one with the same shade. What if his handkerchief ended up being the reason Jungkook and some girl got together and lived happily ever after? Of course he wanted Jungkook to be happy, but that was too much for him to handle. He couldn't be the reason for Jungkook being with someone else.

Luckily, the color Jimin had chosen didn't appear to be in style with the current high school girl fashion, so after circling the school twice, Jungkook's grumbling tummy brought them back to the cafeteria for some well deserved lunch.

“I didn't think it would be so difficult to find her.” Jungkook mumbled with his mouth full.

“I mean, if she likes me, why didn't she like.. sign it or come forward? If she just likes me in secret, she'll never find out if I like her back.” he added, watching the lip print.

“Maybe she's scared of what you might think of her and that you might not like her back. Sometimes it's better to keep the hope alive instead of risking crashing and burning.” Jimin offered, being way too honest.

“She's got really pretty lips.” Jungkook smirked, mesmerized.

“What?” Jimin coughed as he accidentally inhaled a mouthful of rice in surprise, feeling as his cheeks started burning.

“See. They're like the perfect shape, like someone drew them. Aren't they pretty?” Jungkook traced the shape with his finger. Jimin just nodded, trying to keep calm and control his breathing.

“Hey, try kissing them then!” Jimin blurted out, drowning in giggles, not believing he had had the nerve to actually say it out loud. Jungkook started laughing too, but suddenly got very quiet, holding the handkerchief at face-level. Acting as if it was a person, his expression turned soft as he slowly went in for the kiss, planting his lips right on the lipstick print. For a split second Jimin closed his eyes, he could almost feel Jungkook's lips on his, unnerving every cell in his body. He felt like he was floating inside a warm cloud on a sunny day. He knew this was as close to a kiss he would ever get, causing a strange mix of feelings to wash over him. There were all kinds of things mixed in there, happiness to at least get this close, to get a proper indirect kiss, and a desperate yearning for more, sadness knowing it could never be more, frustration that he was complicating their friendship like this, and about a thousand other things. But mainly he was happy. Happier than he had been in years.

Jungkook grinned sheepishly. “What if she saw me.” he chuckled, tucking the handkerchief carefully into his pocket and getting up to return his tray. It was time to head back to class.

“Oh, hey, you dropped something.” Jungkook bent down, skillfully balancing the tray with one hand as he picked up a little piece of paper.

“Oooh! What's this!” his eyes doubled in size.

“It's just a name card of this shop assistant, she gave it to me in case I needed some more help.” Jimin shrugged with disinterest.

“Dude, you realize she wants you to call her, right?” Jungkook said with excitement. For some reason, his excitement pierced Jimin's heart like a thin needle.

“Yeah, I mean... If I need more help, yeah...” he shrugged again.

“No, !! She's coming on to you! She likes you!! Seems like I'm not the only one with a fan, except yours isn't secret! Is she pretty? You gona call her?” Jungkook pushed.

“She's alright, I guess. I don't know. What do you think?” he asked, hoping that somehow, somewhere deep inside Jungkook was an inkling of jealousy.

“You should definitely call her!” Jungkook replied without the slightest hesitation, returning the card to him.

The disappointment hit him harder than he had expected, making it difficult to pretend that everything was okay. He kicked himself for getting his hopes up when he already knew it was hopeless. He was such an idiot.

When they got back to class, Jungkook found two more handkerchiefs waiting for him on top of his desk. A couple of girls waved at him, before running out of the classroom in a giggle-frenzy. As if Jimin wasn't feeling blue enough, now he was just one of Jungkook's many fans.

“Don't worry, you'll get one too. Besides, you've already promised yourself to miss shopgirl.” Jungkook put his hand around him and patted his shoulder encouragingly. He was clearly not doing a great job of hiding how he was feeling. It was hard to smile and be bubbly, when you were watching what you wanted the most slip through your fingers.