Jimin was still Jimin, but Yoongi couldn’t help thinking about the look in his eyes earlier in the train when he awoke him. At times like this the huge difference between their characters was the most visible, because while Jimin was really free spirited and chill, Yoongi was a lot more conservative and wasn’t so used to close contact with others. He also couldn’t understand why was it bothering him so much when Jimin was acting just as usual.

The motel room Jimin had rented was just as he described it – nothing too fancy, but good enough. Yoongi really couldn’t remember the last time he ever stayed at a hotel, but the younger seemed really accustomed to such rooms.

“Do you go to such trips often?” He asked as he sat on the bed, already feeling sleepy.

“Hmm… You can say so. Sometimes the teacher assigns us to go to different locations if the project we are doing requires it, sometimes I travel alone when I feel uninspired.”

It never failed to surprise Yoongi how different he was when he was talking about his job. Jimin’s constant smile would fade away and a more serious look would appear, his tendency to joke around and be sarcastic almost all of the time would subdue and his eyes would literally sparkle with passion. Yoongi wondered if he looked any differened when he was behind the lenses.

“Does it help? With making you feel somewhat inspired again.”

“Depends. Depends on who I meet, where I go and how hard I actually try. Sometimes I end up coming back with no photos taken, sometimes I end up filling my entire memory card, heck sometimes I end up forgetting all about my camera and just walking around the place I'm at and that helps clearing all the bottled up frustrations. Either way, I’m convinced that you can’t really look for inspiration, it usually comes whenever you least expect it.”

Yoongi found himself unable to answer anything back. He was older than him, yet he felt like he always learned something new through Jimin and his perspective, and he was starting to think that that the younger was going to be disappointed with him. His throat started feeling funny, as if something was stuck and wasn’t coming out. He went for a cold shower instead of unpacking. The cold water always helped him sort his thoughts.

--

“I really thought you had decided to drown yourself there! I’m starving, so please get your mermaid dressed and let’s go eat fifty servings of sushi.” Jimin practically scolded Yoongi, who had just gotten out of the shower.

“Oh sorry, I thought you were going to go ahead and eat first. I’m not really used to this.” Yoongi laughed a little, kind of relieved that he didn’t have to eat alone. “And whats with the mermaid?” He raised an eyebrow at the  comparison while putting on his jeans.

“Well if you like spending forty minutes under the shower you can't really blame me for figuring out that you must be one hardcore mermaid undercover, but don’t worry, I won’t tell this to anyone, but rather use it as a blackmail material.” Jimin sneered, as if he was believing his own words. Yoongi stared at him for a few minutes before throwing his shoe at him and muttering the usual ‘You make no sense Park Jimin’. Of course he missed Jimin by a lot and his shoe fell somewhere on the ground and unfortunately for him the younger didn't seem to be botherd by Yoongi's remark, just as always. Yoongi was thought that he should just stop getting suprised.

They decided to walk around before settling down to eat. Both of them took their cameras along, even though neither of them planned to. It was only past 9pm, but the wind was almost freezing, definitely a lot chillier than in Seoul. Yoongi was still feeling somewhat weird, even guilty. Guilty for possibly hurting Jimin because of his clumsiness and because he still doesn't know how to properly deal with people who arent forty years older than him. He didn’t like it at all. He knew that he was probably overthinking everything again, but Jimin was a person he didn't want to hurt, or at least not that often. The younger's smile often made him feel calm and accepted. He had been a victim of fake smiles and dishonest people many times in his short twenty one years. But Jimin was sincere, he was sure about that, so he wanted to make sure that he could properly apologize for making him feel upset with his silly reaction, after all all he did was poke him on the cheek to wake him up. A bright flash of light snapped him out of his thoughts, making him take a few steps back.

“Your side profile looks good, you know, you can be a really great model if you wanted to.” Jimin said to the still dumbstruck Yoongi, while admiring his shot. He really thought the older looked good. But Yoongi didn't move nor say anything back, so the younger looked up from his camera. “Hey, what’s up? What, don’t tell me you dislike having your photos taken, because-“

“I’m… I’m sorry Jimin.”

Jimin shut up, realizing it wasn’t the time to be joking around. Ever since they met he had always been a lot more careful around Yoongi than he was with his other friends. He knew the other needed time to get accustomed to others, so he didn’t want to repulse him by acting way too over-attached, as he did otherwise. But he didn't know what cause Yoongi to be so distant and as if purposly trying not to get too close to people and it was all new to him too, it was like walking on a mine field, he wasn’t sure when could he step behind the boundaries. He didn’t ask anything, nor urged the other to continue. He waited patiently, until Yoongi was ready to talk.

“About earlier... I know kind of reacted too stiffy… I always react to stiffy and sometimes it comes out a bit too much, so don’t think of it too much… please. I haven’t had many friends and surely I wasn’t close to any of them, hence my awkward anything." Yoongi said and scratched the back of his neck. "But I like having you around and I know it’s probably really selfish of me to be asking you to be considerate of my inability to be as non-conservative as I wish to be, so I’m sorry for that.” Yoongi was shifting from one leg to another at this point, being glad that it was dark outside so his flushed cheeks wouldn’t show.

Jimin listened to him carefully and smiled. And besides it was his fault too, he thought that by now he could allow himself to get a little closer to the older so he acted without thinking. But on the other hand he was glad that Yoongi was definitely improving, he never expected the older to be able to apologize so straightforwardly. Jimin felt a lot closer to the older now, but all the uncomfortableness around them right now wasn’t something he appreciated, so he did what he was best at – make everything around him brighter with his magical smile.

“I don’t even remember what are you talking about Sebastian, all I know is that I’m hungry and that there is a restaurant near us, so let’s go.” Jimin said in a cheery voice and grabbed Yoongi’s hand to drag him to the restaurant.

“Sebastian. Really.”

“Well, at least I gave some credit to your gender, didn’t I? Now you’re a male mermaid. I know, I know I’m a genius.” The younger confidently explained and let his hand go and slowed down a little, seeing that Yoongi got his message. It all fell back into pieces.

“Thank you.” Yoongi murmured and Jimin pretended not the see the rare smile that appeared on his face.

By the end of the night Yoongi was convinced that Jimin could join him undewater, but as a whale, because that kid really wasn't kidding when he said fifty servings of sushi. So much for their budget.

A/N Yay for sea monsters and mermaids \o/ Thank you for reading ♥
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