times two; yoonminseok

VI

"have you heard of exposure therapy?" jimin questions yoongi as they walk underneath the night sky, the beams of the streetlights becoming their only source of brightness.

yoongi shakes his head, his hands remaining in his pockets, following his regular commute to his home. yoongi has already made too many changes that day (skipping work, staying at the coffee shop all day until jimin got off work, and skipping his workout) to change his walk home.

"well, maybe you could try that." jimin inquires, his hand resting on his chin as he struggles to keep up with yoongi's fast pace. yoongi was an odd man, jimin saw. he rarely smiled, disliked help, and couldn't make direct eye contact, not caring how important the matter. this man was nothing like hoseok. nothing at all.

yoongi leads jimin through the silent sidewalks of the night until they reached his apartment building.

"this is it." the elder mumbles and walks towards the stairs. jimin isn't sure whether he was supposed to follow or not, so he stayed behind. yoongi had never invited him into his house, so how was one to know.

yoongi was half-way up the staircase when he grunted. "well, are you coming?" he questioned, obvious aggravation in his voice. jimin scoffed. this older man may be in need of jimin's help, but if he kept acting this way jimin wasn't sure how he'd be able to keep up with it.

yoongi unlocked the door to the small apartment and threw his jacket onto the couch. "welcome in." he mumbles to jimin who was too busy admiring the interior of the shabby home. fairy lights lined all of the walls, oil diffusers (something he heard hoseok was very interested in) were laid out on every available surface, and books were strewn around widely across the sitting areas. there was nothing more to say except that jimin was in complete awe. this small place had hoseok written all over it, and jimin loved the absolute living hell out of it.

he tried not to imagine a world in which he and hoseok were the ones living in this house together. one where they were the ones who read harry potter together while the scent of peppermint filled the air. jimin felt himself gripping tightly onto his shirt as he spun through the tiny living area.

little did he know, that a rather short male was watching him the whole time. yoongi smirked to himself as he saw jimin twirl around like a child. "wow," yoongi interrupts, causing jimin to snap out of his state and into the living one, "hoseok was right when he said you were cute." yoongi chuckles. jimin can't help but blush. he wasn't used to receiving compliments.

yoongi leaned up against a column which separates the kitchen from the living area and smiles lightly at jimin's growing pink cheeks. "you can stay here tonight if you want. it's getting rather late." jimin gasped at the thought. stay a night at hoseok's place? why, it was a dream come true! but, come to think of it, jimin hadn't seen hoseok since they entered the room.

"where's hoseok?" jimin dared to question. yoongi looked at the ground as he answered solemnly, "staying at a hotel for tonight." jimin frowned. he didn't realize that the boy's fight was so intense.

jimin ponders the idea, and sees nothing potentially wrong with it. he was going to be spending a long while with this man, so what's the harm in starting to warm up now? jimin saw none.

an eye smile popped onto jimin's face as he smiled brightly. "i'll stay tonight!" yoongi smiles along as well. yoongi didn't know why he felt such a pulling towards the young man. maybe it was because he reminded him of hoseok, or maybe it was because he was one of the only ones who provided him a sense of help. either way, it freaked yoongi the hell out.

as jimin settles on the couch, a thought dawns on him. "yoongi?" he says. yoongi grunts in response while lowering himself into an armchair that looked to be from 1969. "sorry i didn't do anything to help today." jimin sighed with a pout lining his lips. yoongi shakes his head with a smile on his face.

"i did so much different today, jimin. don't ya know?"

jimin shakes his head in confusion. "whatever do you mean?"

yoongi chuckles along with jimin at his blatant overlooking of the change. "i didn't do anything according to my schedule, i invited you into my house, and you're staying over. that's so much!" yoongi exclaims.

jimin smiles widely. perhaps he truly did make a change, even though it was only the first day.

"exposure therapy." yoongi says as he gets up, winking at jimin in the progress.

"now i need to go have a major anxiety attack in the shower to make up for it. see you in the morning."