cute

• thirty-one •

Yoongi didn't like how the apartment felt. It was lonely. Since their 'talk' two days ago, Jimin had locked himself away in his room and had only come out to go to work and use the bathroom. Yoongi had been able to live with it the first day but he'd already given in on the second. He didn't like not having his roommate around, he didn't like not being able to talk to Jimin. Worst of all, he hated not being able to care for Jimin while he was in little space – which Yoongi knew he was in because he could hear the nursery rhymes and the playful giggles through the walls.

Putting the shopping bags on the counter, Yoongi unpacked all the groceries into the fridge and the pantry, making sure to put Jimin's favourite snacks in sight so that the boy would know they were there. He then went into the living room and cleaned up the mess of leftover bowls and cups he'd made after going on a movie marathon for two days. All his motivation to write had been lost and Yoongi hated to admit it, even think about it, but it was probably because of Jimin – or rather, his lack of presence.

The man did the dishes and vacuumed the living area and hallway before deciding he may as well dust. This was a first – Yoongi thoroughly cleaning his house. He usually put off cleaning for a few weeks until it got to an unignorable point. And even then, he'd clean whatever could be seen by guests.

An hour or so of cleaning passed and Yoongi eventually grew tired of wiping down surfaces and putting things into the bin. He'd done enough for today.

Initially, Yoongi was going to just fall onto the couch and resume binging some bad Netflix movies before he decided he'd rather talk things out with Jimin. More specifically, drop his pride and apologise.

Walking down the hallway, Yoongi came to Jimin's room and knocked on the closed door. He waited for a minute before knocking again.

"Minnie?" Yoongi called out.

There was some shuffling from the other side of the door before he heard a lock turn and the door opened only partially.

"What?" Jimin looked at Yoongi with a big pout.

Yoongi looked behind the boy and into his room where there was a small table set up, his plushies all in a seat with a little wooden teacup and plastic food in front of them.

"Are you having a tea party?" Yoongi asked, unable to contain the small smile that came over his lips. It was just so damn adorable.

"Uh huh," Jimin nodded his head and looked back at his plushies, "but Papa's not invited because he was a meanie."

It shouldn't have felt as hurtful as it did. Yoongi shouldn't be genuinely upset by the comment. He was actually sad about not being invited to an imaginary tea party. God dammit.

"Sweetheart," Yoongi sighed and leaned against the door frame, "I'm really sorry."

The room fell silent as both boys realised what Yoongi had just said. 'Sweetheart'.

Yoongi wanted to tell himself it was because the room smelt like honey and so he got caught up in sweet thoughts. He wanted to tell himself that he wasn't really so lost in these feelings for Jimin that the pet name had actually just slipped past his lips.

Jimin wanted to tell himself it was just an accident. His Papa had only ever called him 'Minnie' in the past, just like all his friends did. But he couldn't help but be hopeful. He liked the sound of 'sweetheart'. It made him feel all fuzzy inside and want to smile. He wanted to believe that his Papa was starting to love him the same way Jimin already loved him. But . . . recent events had proved that hope to be false.

His peak of happiness quickly deflated with that thought.

"I need to get back to my party," Jimin started to close the door, but Yoongi shot his hand out to hold the door open.

"Can I join?"

Jimin sighed and stepped back, pulling the door open more. He just couldn't say no to Yoongi, no matter how sad the man had made him feel.

"You can sit next to Bear," Jimin pointed to the stuffed toy at the table before taking his seat between Octo the octopus and Sheepy the goat.

"Sheepy is going to get mawwied soon," Jimin informed Yoongi, "so we're having a party!"

Yoongi picked up his wooden cup, "a tea party?"

Jimin nodded his head and pretended to take a bite of his plastic cake, "she l - likes tea."

"Oh," Yoongi nodded his head, "who's she marrying?"

"Bear!" Jimin happily announced as he reached across the table and picked up his favourite toy, cuddling it into his chest. He then turned the teddy around and let it sit in his lap, pretending to feed it some cake off his own plate. Kookie and TaeTae did that with each other so Jimin figured his bestest friend Bear would appreciate the gesture.

Yoongi felt like he melted into mush in his seat just watching Jimin, "you're so cute."

"Hmm?" Jimin looked up at Yoongi with doe eyes.

"N – nothing," Yoongi cleared his throat and sat up, "I just think Sheepy and Bear are cute together."

Jimin nodded his head in agreement before looking to the side of the room, more specifically at the colouring in Yoonie had done for him a while ago. It was still his favourite picture.

"Papa?" Jimin looked back to Yoongi, "can we get a cat?"

Yoongi lightly laughed at the comment, "a cat? That's like having kids and we're not even together yet."

Jimin looked at Sheepy sat next to him, then down to Bear in his lap.

"Then let's be boyfriends."