“Hey, Yoongi?”

Yoongi hummed in acknowledgement but nevertheless didn’t look away from his laptop screen, busy working on an assignment.

“You can always say no, but if you want to Jimin says he can set you up on a blind date?”

At that, Yoongi spun around in his chair. “What?”

Namjoon rubbed at his nape absently. “A date. I know how you want a boyfriend, and well, why not, right?”

Yoongi snorted softly. “And a blind date is the best way to find the kind of person I want, right?”

Namjoon smiled. “Well, it’s not totally blind. He’s a friend, so I can vouch for him. He’s really nice.”

Yoongi sighed. He did crave a relationship, after all, the intimacy, having someone to call his, to be theirs. His last relationship hadn’t really gone well, so he was still kind of wary about dating again, but he would be willing to try, especially if it was with a friend of Namjoon’s. He trusted Namjoon’s judgement more than anything. If it didn’t work, then it didn’t work. No big deal. It was just one date.

He told Namjoon as much and the other man smiled widely, typing on his phone presumably to tell Jimin that Yoongi had agreed.

Yoongi made his way to the agreed café a little earlier than he needed to be there. He hadn’t been to that café before but he immediately liked it based on the theme of the décor. It matched his pastel mint hair and shoes. He scanned the place first for someone matching the description Namjoon gave him, though it was admittedly a very vague and generic description which didn’t help much. He decided his date--Jungkook, Namjoon said his name was--wasn’t there yet so he made his way over to an empty table by the window. There was still a good five minutes or so before Jungkook actually needed to be there, so Yoongi settled for scrolling through social media on his phone, occasionally looking around to the door to see if a tall and toned, hazel haired boy with a bunny smile--whatever that meant--had showed up yet.

“You’re Yoongi, right?” Yoongi almost jumped at the voice. He looked up to see an indeed tall and toned, hazel haired boy, though the bunny smile was yet to be seen. He seemed distracted, hardly even making the effort to look at Yoongi which disheartened him a little.

“Yeah. Jungkook?”

“That’s me.”

Jungkook finally sat down instead of standing awkwardly at the side of the table as though he wasn’t staying. Although, he looked a little frustrated--he still looked like he might leave any second.

“Look, the thing is, I don’t really want to be here, alright?” Oh. So he really did want to leave. Yoongi didn’t say anything as the other boy explained himself. He tried not to be too disappointed. Yeah, he was obviously hoping that it would have gone well, but it was better that the reason it didn’t wasn’t anything to do with him, right?

Yoongi schooled his expression into a neutral one as soon as he noticed the hazel haired boy’s eyes on him. Yoongi thought that was the first time Jungkook had even looked at his face since he got there.

“Oh. Okay, then. That’s fine,” Yoongi managed to say as calmly as he could, making sure he sounded unaffected, though he wasn’t sure how effective he was judging by the look on the man in front of him’s face.

“What do you want to drink? Or eat?” Jungkook asked, “I’ll pay.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened. He waved his hand in dismissal. “That’s okay, I can pay for--”

Jungkook cut him off. “You came here for no reason because of me. I’m sorry our friends set you up with me, it’s not fair on you. So I’ll pay.” Jungkook seemed sincere, and the selfish part of Yoongi agreed with him--he did have a point. He felt bad letting the other pay for him, but he couldn’t exactly say he didn’t want free food, especially if this was to be a waste of a day. So he told Jungkook his usual drink, and asked for chocolate cake too, because why not indulge a little?

Jungkook smiled upon hearing his order, and Yoongi finally understood what “bunny smile” meant. His two front teeth stuck out just slightly, like a bunny’s, only noticeable when he smiled.

“Not got much of a sweet tooth, huh?” the bunny smile asked, unfaltering.

Yoongi shrugged, still a little transfixed by his damn smile. “Too much sugary stuff makes me feel sick.”

“You’re gonna just love what I’m about to order then,” Jungkook laughed, the bunny smile even more prominent and wider now. It was adorable.

Yoongi snapped out of his thoughts, remembering what Jungkook had said when he arrived. He couldn’t afford to dwell on how cute his smile was in case it lead to thinking of more. This wasn’t a date anymore.

Jungkook soon returned with the food, making a face at Yoongi’s as he handed it to him. Yoongi in turn stared at the ungodly amount of whipped cream and sprinkles in Jungkook’s mug, wondering if he’d even asked for extra because surely they didn’t give that much.

“How do you even drink that monstrosity?” Yoongi asked after Jungkook had informed him what it was.

“The real question is how do you drink that gross bitter Americano?”

Yoongi gasped in fake offendedness. “Excuse you, Americanos taste amazing. That abomination you have just tastes like liquid diabetes.”

And the bunny smile was back.

“AKA liquid heaven.”

Yoongi shook his head as Jungkook took a sip of said “liquid heaven,” smiling a little at the boy’s cuteness.

“Just taste it.” Jungkook offered him the mug, holding it out in the space between them. Yoongi stared at it, debating whether he should or not. He didn’t know what came over him then, but he leaned over and sipped at the drink from Jungkook’s hand. By the time he had realised what he was doing it was too late to back out so he just acted like it was perfectly normal, humming at the admittedly pleasant taste--though he could tell if he drank more than a few sips he would want to throw up.

“Yup, liquid diabetes,” he confirmed. He refused to look at Jungkook after whatever it was that he just did, so he picked at his cake instead.

“See? Isn’t it so much better than yours?” Jungkook asked.

Yoongi chuckled. “Not a chance. I don’t know how you can drink a whole venti sized cup of that.”

Yoongi took another bite of his cake, still refusing to look at the younger. This proved to be a mistake as he ended up jumping about a foot into the air as he felt something touch his nose. He immediately felt his cheeks heat in embarrassment.

“Sorry, you just had--”

“I figured, I’m just jumpy, sorry.”

Yoongi wiped at his nose with his hand, making sure whatever was there was gone.

“It’s all gone, don’t worry,” Jungkook assured him.

Yoongi decided to trust him and stopped fussing with his nose in favour of drinking his beloved Americano. He noticed Jungkook eat a strawberry from his cake and he just, held out his hand on instinct. He didn’t know what kind of instincts these were, but again, he just kept his hand there, palm facing up, expectantly waiting. Jungkook looked from his hand up to his face and then back, clearly confused.

“Strawberry,” Yoongi stated simply like it was obvious.

Jungkook scoffed but a smile formed on his lips anyway. “Stealing my food now, are we?”

Yoongi smiled back. “No, I’m asking for your food. There’s a difference.” He closed his fingers to his palm and then opened them up again, urging Jungkook to indulge him.

“Say ‘please’.”

Yoongi almost laughed, and then for the third time already, he confused and surprised even himself by replying with aegyo. Why on earth did he do that? Jungkook wasn’t exactly someone he knew well, or even someone he would grow to know well, considering the circumstances. Jungkook looked just as shocked as Yoongi felt, understandably. Nevertheless Yoongi kept up the cute act, pouting at Jungkook expectantly. Finally, Jungkook all but threw a strawberry into Yoongi’s waiting palm. It was kind of cute, how he was pretending to be cool and not care about his display of aegyo. He was cute.

Oh no.

Jungkook cleared his throat, and it was probably a welcome distraction for the both of them. Why did Yoongi always have to make everything awkward?

“So, you’re a friend of Namjoon’s?”

Yoongi smiled fondly at the mention of Namjoon. “Yeah, we’re both actually in the same course.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened with interest--or at least, Yoongi assumed it was with interest. “No way, you study music too?”

“Yeah, do you?”

“Yup.” The boy smiled. “I’m a first year though. I’m guessing you’re in third year like Joon?”

Yoongi nodded. He absently wondered how he had never heard of Jungkook from Namjoon before when he was evidently close enough with him to even call him nicknames.

“Joon didn’t tell me you were a music student.” Yoongi stopped, realising that Namjoon hardly told him anything at all about Jungkook, actually. Except that he was sure Yoongi would like him.

Jungkook stared blankly at Yoongi. “Um, I’m sorry he got your hopes up?”

Oh yeah, Jungkook didn’t want to be there. He had almost forgotten about that, what with the interest Jungkook had seemed to be showing in him. He must have misread it.

“So what do you play?” Jungkook spoke up again, thankfully. “As in, music.”

“Piano,” Yoongi answered instantly, always happy to talk about music, “And I rap, but I don’t think I’m all that good,” he added instantly, unable to talk about himself without playing it down.

They carried on talking for a while, moving on from music to anime somehow, because apparently Jungkook was a huge ing nerd and loved anime. He was mid-Naruto impression when Yoongi noticed some of the café staff giving them funny looks, and he was not sure if it was because of Jungkook’s impersonations or because they were sitting there without eating and hogging a table. Jungkook noticed too after following Yoongi’s gaze and apparently assumed it was the latter, as he then asked Yoongi what else he wanted to have.

“Oh, no, I’m good,” he answered, waving him off, already a little concerned about the amount of calories in his first slice of cake. “Just get your own stuff.”

“Come on,” Jungkook coaxed, “Why not? We didn’t even eat any proper food.”

Yoongi hesitated, and Jungkook grinned as though that was a win. “You like Portal cakes?”

Yoongi blinked. “What cakes now?”

Jungkook laughed. “You know, the cake they have in Portal? Please tell me you’ve played Portal.”

“Um.”

“Okay, we have to play Portal sometime.”

Yoongi blinked again. Jungkook was acting like he… cared. Like he wanted to be around Yoongi, like he wanted to see him again, too. Like they were friends.

“Anyway, it’s a black forest gateau.”

“Oh, right,” Yoongi replied dumbly.

“So, yep, I am getting you one of those, good good, glad we could come to an agreement!”

Jungkook was gone, cackling, before Yoongi could refute, so he just sighed and gave in. (And, in fact, did enjoy the cake when Jungkook returned with it.)

Yoongi felt his guards dropping even more through the next hour they continued to talk in the café, so much so that somehow he ended up gushing rather embarrassingly about Kumamon and the amount of teddies he owns, to which Jungkook listened to and watched him fondly. Jungkook was just so nice, so fun to talk to and to be around, so comfortable, not to mention so damned adorable , that he just, couldn’t help it. He forgot all about what Jungkook said at the start of the date, and well, Jungkook wasn’t doing a good job at acting like he didn’t want to be there so he couldn’t really be blamed, could he?

He only remembered Jungkook’s whole initial speech once they were outside, Jungkook wrapping his jacket around his shoulders, and that’s--not something he should be doing if he didn’t want to lead Yoongi on. Of course, he was probably just being polite, but Yoongi couldn’t help the way his heart skipped a beat and the way his body heated up--and not just from the jacket. He quickly shrugged it off again and held it out for Jungkook to take back, but the other boy just blinked in confusion at him. Feeling tears prick at his eyes, he hurriedly shoved the jacket onto Jungkook’s arm and sped off in the other direction, willing the stupid tears to go away. Why was he even tearing up at something as small as this?

He heard Jungkook calling his name but he didn’t turn around or acknowledge him for fear of letting the tears fall, or hurting himself by hoping for something that wasn’t going to come.

But Jungkook caught up to him and blocked his path, forcing him to stop. Still, he refused to look at Jungkook’s face, instead focusing intently on the design of his graphic tee.

“Jungkook, what are you doing?” he managed out, surprisingly calm.

Jungkook floundered a bit, before finally saying, “Don’t go yet.”

Yoongi shook his head, fiddled with his earlobe. Jungkook was so confusing. “Why not? Your friends surely aren’t still here so you don’t need to pretend for them. I don’t want to keep you any longer if you don’t want to be here.”

“I know what I said at the start of today, but please forget that. Please.”

“Why?”

It took a moment for Jungkook to respond, and he was visibly nervous throughout. Did he really mean it? Yoongi wanted to believe him; it didn’t seem like he was lying.

But he also didn’t want to get used and have his heart broken again.

But Jungkook said, “Don’t go. Please,” and Yoongi melted. He looked sincere.

Before he could think anymore, Yoongi wrapped his arms around Jungkook’s middle, soon feeling Jungkook the press of Jungkook’s cheek against the top of his head as he reciprocated the hug. It felt nice. And Jungkook was warm.

Jungkook offered him his jacket again, and then even offered to walk him home, and Yoongi couldn’t help but smile.

And then Jungkook entwined their fingers, and although startled, it made him smile even more.

They reached Yoongi’s flat far too quickly for his liking, but when he looked at Jungkook, he thought he saw disappointment on his face too--unless that was just him projecting. He waited a few moments because Jungkook seemed to be hesitating, but when he didn’t make to do or say anything more, Yoongi ended up smiling at him once more and waving goodbye.