Jimin slips outside shivering when his body transitions too quickly from the almost unbearable warmth in their dorm to the frigid cold of the night. He shoves his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt, pulling it tighter around his body.  Linking his fingers together he jumps on his feet for a minute, before jogging down the stairs. He shakes his head when he sees the dark figure hunched over a few feet down the sidewalk, walking towards the other quickly.

“Why am I always finding you out here?”

“Why are you always looking for me, might be the better question.”

“You know I always worry when you are suddenly gone in the middle of the night,” Jimin whispers into the darkness, tilting his face back to look towards the starless sky.  He wonders what the older boy finds so comforting and calming about being out in the middle of the night, maybe it’s the open expanse of starless sky. The complete nothingness and silence and almost emptiness that becomes tangible this night of night.  Maybe this is the sort of atmosphere that Yoongi needs to think, to put his mind at ease, sort out whatever it is that is constantly plaguing his thoughts.  Jimin worries sharp teeth over his bottom lip, all the words he wishes to say lodging themselves in the back of his throat and dying out before they even have a chance to take form.

Jimin shifts on his feet, a little nervous because Yoongi has fallen completely silent. But if he’s being honest, silence has been sort of the norm when it’s come to the older boy recently. He doesn’t want to look at the older boy because he’s almost positive what it is he’ll see there, and he isn’t sure he wants to see it right now.  That hesitating look of wonder and disbelief and something skimming the outer edges of annoyance, it’s a look that puts Jimin on edge because he doesn’t know what any of it means.  Constantly checking his words and stilling his hands and correcting his stares, Jimin wishes that in the middle of the night he could feel free to do all the things he can’t during the light hours of the day.

Yoongi kicks his foot against the ground, attempting to stare a whole into the side of Jimin’s face.  Annoyed when the younger boy won’t look at him Yoongi shifts to his feet shuffling until he’s directly in front of the boy leaving him with no other option than to acknowledge him.  Jimin looks at Yoongi for less than 5 seconds before shifting his eyes back up towards the sky. 

“What is so interesting up there?” Yoongi questions, lifting his own eyesight upwards.

“Nothing…”

“Then why are you staring so intently?”

“I’m staring at the nothing.”

“That doesn’t make any sense Jimin,” Yoongi huffs, shoving his freezing hands deep into the pockets of his jacket.

“How does it not?  I’m staring up into the sky of nothing.”

“Then you are staring at the sky.”

“Well I figured that was obvious since I’m looking up.  And the only thing up, is the sky!” Jimin replies, dropping his eye sight and tilting his head to the side.  Yoongi frowns and shrugs his shoulders.  Jimin sighs to himself and takes a step backwards.  “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t fall asleep in the cold again.”

Yoongi’s frown deepens at the memory, thinking less about his own state and how he’d been shaking and more of how panicked Jimin had been the entire night. The boy hadn’t left his side, hands shaking and voice weak, eyes filled with anger and anxiety and something Yoongi had taken almost too long to decipher.  Jimin shifts on his feet, teeth biting into his lip again and Yoongi recognizes it for what it is something akin to a nervous tick that the younger boy has yet been able to shake.

“I’m not going to do that again,” Yoongi murmurs, fingers curling into fists.  He wants to reach out to the boy, smooth away the frown lines and soften away the sharp edges of concern but he doesn’t.  Instead he stands almost completely still, hands still shoved in his pockets and waits for the other boy to reach first.  Jimin is always the one that reaches first.  And Yoongi spends most of his time just waiting for the other boy to give him a reason to move a little closer, lean against him, or pull him into his arms.

“Ok.” Jimin’s mouth quirks slightly at the corner and it loosens something in Yoongi’s chest.  “I’ll go back to bed then.”

Yoongi is confused when the boy slowly turns away and heads back towards their dorm.  No pestering to come inside.  No begging for him to get to sleep relatively early.  No nagging about the cold weather and how it’s not good for his health.  No whining about coming back to bed because Jimin is a er for heat and Yoongi gives off more than his fair share. No smile, no hug, no cute little act to get anything from the older boy. 

It takes him a handful of minutes to realize he’s standing alone in the middle of the sidewalk blanketed by the darkness of the night and surrounded by nothing but silence.  He releases a sigh, rubbing a hand through his hair and tugging at the ends in frustration.  He takes a step towards the dorm, every intention of following Jimin, crawling into the younger boy’s bed and suffocating him with his own arms.  But he stops a second later, foot hovering over the sidewalk, the hands at his side shake and he turns his back to the dorm.  Plopping back down on the curb, he tilts his head back and stares at the sky, mouth falling into a frown.

The next day finds Jimin half asleep leaning against Seokjin’s shoulder in the back of their van, eyes heavy, body exhausted and chest feeling tight, as they head towards the studio for late night dance practice.  He coughs suddenly, turning his head into the shoulder beneath his head.  Seokjin frowns at the boy, concerned with the way the cough seems to rattle in Jimin’s chest as the boy continues to cough.  Lifting his hand he rubs at the boy’s head, Jimin whines softly leaning into the touch and trying to stop the coughing fit.

“Water?” Jungkook whispers from his other side when his coughing finally slows and dies out.  Jimin lifts his head slowly, reaching for the bottle with clumsy fingers and struggling with the cap. “I’ll do it hyung,” Jungkook murmurs, batting Jimin’s hands away and opening the bottle before lifting it to the older boy’s mouth.  Jimin flushes and half-heartedly fights against the younger boy, before giving in because he isn’t actually sure he could hold the water bottle anyways.

“Thank you,” Jimin forces out, voice hoarse.  Jungkook offers h