╰──╮
After that conversation, Namjoon now wanted to say those words more than ever.
But every time he saw Jimin, he immediately got flustered and quickly loses the words. He feels like it's too soon but Jeongguk wants him to know it's okay to say it when it's right. But at the time, Jimin and Jeongguk were waiting at the lunch table. It was getting colder so they stopped eating outside and they all three found a spot. Jimin was saying what all went down while he was gone, cutting out the personal moment because why would Jeongguk want to know that?
"I know Namjoonie said that the guy is hyper like a golden retriever but...I really do hope he isn't mean. You never know behind closed doors." Jimin nervously says, fiddling with his bracelet.
"You have a point but let's just hope he's nice."
"Hey guys." Namjoon spoke, having a hand on the new student's shoulder. "This is Hoseok. The new student I have in my class."
The male name Hoseok bows and shows his hand. "It's nice to meet you guys."
Jimin smiles and shakes his hand. Hoseok smiles brightly at him, earning a nice smile back too. He let's go of his hand and faces Jeongguk, showing his hand to him. Jeongguk was frozen in place, not lifting up a finger. Hoseok tilts his head, then nervously moves his hand away. Namjoon sits himself down beside Jeongguk as Hoseok sits down too, sitting beside Namjoon. Jeongguk immediately gets up and grabs Namjoon's arm, pulling him away from the table.
Jimin curls his brows in confusion, looking at Hoseok. He shrugs. "I'm Jimin. And the one that pulled your friend away is Jeongguk. He's...not the shy one but apparently he is today—he recently came back from vacation so he's apparently a different person."
Hoseok chuckles. "It's nice to meet you. I was actually also on vacation before I showed up."
Namjoon pulls his arm back, rubbing where Jeongguk held tight. "Ow, what?"
"That's him!" Jeongguk whisper yells. "He's the one I saw at the beach! The one I got butterflies in my stomach from!"
Namjoon widen his eyes. "You're fucking with me."
"I'm really not! I know that heart shaped smile anywhere. I stared at him long enough on the beach to remember him."
"Jeongguk, you know what this means?" Namjoon puts his hands on Jeongguk's arms. "He's the one that you hoped to find. And he's here. In our school! You have a chance!"
Jeongguk lowers his eyes. "There's no point."
Namjoon knits his brows, moving his hands off. "What do you mean? You were hoping to find him."
"I know but...don't think I'm even gay. And what if Hoseok isn't into men and I'm left confused and embarrassed?" Jeongguk looks at him, brows curled.
"Jeongguk-ssi." He places a hand on his shoulder. "Don't overthink about it, okay? You need to...sense it in a way. Only think about how you feel and try to find traits of him."
Jeongguk sighs. "You're right—I need to relax."
"Just go on and be friends with him. For the moment, pretend that you just met him, okay?" Namjoon moves his hand off.
Jeongguk nods.
▁▁▁▁▁
Jimin stares at the sky as he messes with his bracelet, laying down on the blanket he brought. After class, he patiently waited for Namjoon to show up, Namjoon planning to meet with each other on top of the hill. Jimin was usually early so he's never mad when Namjoon's late.
"Psst. Jimin-ssi."
Jimin blinks and sits up, turning his head to where he heard him. Namjoon curls up a smile once he made eye contact with him. Namjoon stops hiding from his spot and walks up to him, sitting down in front of him on the blanket. Jimin giggles from the sudden, fully turning to face him.
"You try to sneak up on me?" Jimin comments.
Namjoon chuckles. "I wouldn't do that to you. C'mere."
Jimin giggles, scooting closer to him and puts his arms around Namjoon's waist, resting his head down on his chest and sliding his legs up to curl in a ball as Namjoon wraps his arms around him and rests his chin on his head. He softly sighs, biting the inside of his cheek as he looks at the clouds from afar.
Jimin softly sighs. "You get warm so quickly... You're like a personal heating pad."
Namjoon softly chuckles. "I'm all yours then."
Jimin places a hand on his chest, hearing and also feeling that Namjoon's heartbeat is going a quick pace. His brows curl, moving his head to look at him. "You okay? Your heart beat is really fast."
Namjoon looks at him. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's natural."
"I...Is it because I'm close to you?" He raises a brow with a slight smirk.
"Well duh. Is your heartbeat fast?"
Jimin giggles. He lifts his hand to grab his hand and moves his hand to place on his chest. Namjoon blushes from the hand placement, nervously chuckling. Jimin holds his hand with both of his, smiling at him. Namjoon stared at him, gulping hard. Say it when it needs to be said... That's what Jeongguk told me. I need to say it now!
"Does it—"
"I love you."
Jimin's smile slowly lowers. Namjoon immediately froze when he saw his smile fade away. Jimin lowers his eyes, trying to think through what he just said to him. Namjoon curls his brows, nervously moving his hand away in fear of rejection. Jimin looks at him, then looks down at his hands and reaches for them, softly gripping his hands.
"Namjoonie." Jimin whispers, brows curling.
Namjoon's eyes started to water, lowering his eyes down. He's scared. He felt like he doesn't love him back from how he has reacted. Jimin panics from his change of emotion and moves his hands up to cup his face. He didn't want to see him cry. He doesn't need to see him cry from his own confession.
"Namjoonie, please look at me." Jimin whispers again. Namjoon slowly looks at him, a loose tear falling down his eye. Jimin quickly wipes it away. "That's unfair to say." Namjoon lowers his eyes, more tears falling out. Jimin wipes his tears again. "It's unfair because I loved you before you even thought about it first."
Namjoon looks at him. "What...?"
Jimin giggles. "I love you, Namjoon-ssi."
╭──╯
