Growing Pains

38

Jin was in the university library studying when a large cup of hot coffee was placed in front of him.

He looked up to see Yoongi smiling shyly as he took a seat on the other side of the study table.

Jin smiled back before raising his face to Yoongi, causing the latter's smile to widen and his eyes to light up as he leaned across the table to kiss Jin on the lips.

It has been two months since the party at Yoongi's apartment, seven weeks since Yoongi asked Jin out.

Several minutes after Namjoon had carried Hoseok away and left Jin alone in the kitchen, Yoongi had come in and asked Jin if he was alright.

Jin supposed he must have looked quite distressed because Yoongi had approached him worriedly as he examined him for any signs of injury.

Though Jin assured him that he was fine, Yoongi had stayed by his side all night and kept him company.

When the party wound down and everyone left except for Namjoon and Hoseok who had crashed in one of Yoongi's guest bedrooms, Yoongi had driven Jin home and slept on the couch.

The next morning, Yoongi had taken Jin out for breakfast and they had spent the day together.

That night, Yoongi told him that he liked him.

A week later, Yoongi officially asked him out and Jin said yes.

Yoongi had fallen for Jin the first time he saw him when Jin had come to visit Hanyang with Namjoon the year before.

Yoongi had been the student that showed them around the university.

Jin was shocked when Yoongi told him how he felt.

For one thing, Yoongi was an older student who was popular on campus.

He was smart, rich, and known for being quite generous and caring even though his outward demeanour said otherwise.

Many wanted to date Yoongi but no one has ever been successful at cracking his cold exterior.

No one until Jin.

Something about Jin called out to Yoongi, made him want to protect him, call him his.

So Yoongi had fallen back and observed Jin, trying to find ways to break through the invisible wall that Jin had erected around himself.

Walls that Jin put up the day he left his hometown.

Walls that Jungkook's silence helped reinforce.

And he had found a weak point in the wall – Jin's close friend and housemate, Namjoon.

He had befriended the tall but clumsy fellow.

And when he saw the interest Namjoon had for his friend Hoseok, he had encouraged Hoseok to become friends with the younger, never dreaming that it would develop into anything more because the two were so different in temperament and personality.

Namjoon and Hoseok were like the moon and the sun, but Yoongi supposed the old adage was true - opposites attract.

And Namjoon was the reason Yoongi finally got close enough to Jin to breach his wall.

Because now Jin was Yoongi's boyfriend.

It made Yoongi very happy.

"It's your birthday tomorrow, Jinnie. What would you like to do?"

Jin gasped.

Once again, he has forgotten his own birthday.

It was bad enough that he forgot last year and had to be reminded by Jungkook, but to forget it two years in a row?

He recalled what he did last year.

What Jungkook did for him, and he realised he wanted to celebrate his birthday that way again.

To soar down a slope with his precious dongsaeng.

But his dongsaeng was gone, disappeared from his life with no explanation, no goodbye.

His heart ached for Jungkook but Jin steeled himself.

He has moved on.

He was with Yoongi now, and Yoongi cherished him.

"Take me to a ski resort, Yoongichi. I want to celebrate my birthday on a slope with you."

And I want to say goodbye to my unrequited love for Jungkook, give it a proper send-off.