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The convenience store door dings and Yoongi doesn't bother looking up.
He really should though, considering how thugs could try robbing him especially at this time of night and threaten his life. But honestly, as a college student, he has two papers, three projects and finals all coming up in the next month so dying doesn't sound too bad at the moment.
He stays put at the cashier, tapping his pen against his lips and thick-ass, expensive-ass, boring-ass textbook flat on the counter.
The customer, the only one who's entered the store since Yoongi started his shift, finally comes around to the counter, dropping two arms full of snacks in front of Yoongi (he was hugging his loot all the way here, and Yoongi isn't sure if the man has ever heard of a basket). Okay, more like, the customer waddled over to Yoongi, because the snacks were piled up so high Yoongi couldnt see any part of his face, save for his eyebrows and a fluffy tuft of brown hair.
Yoongi chuckles, slapping his book shut and going straight to scanning the shitload of snacks. "Woah, movie night?"
The customer straight up giggles, and Yoongi looks up at him, because, how fucking cute.
Cute boys giggling? In this economy?
Yoongi takes in the sight before him, and not to be gross, but this is the cutest man he's ever laid his eyes on. God, why did he have to be so fucking gay? And for the cutest guys too.
His mind goes blank for a bit before he notices the man's lips moving and registers that he's talking to him.
"Nah, I'm just studying for finals. You know, the usual all-nighter," the man says, and goes to scratch the back of his head, and Yoongi can't help but notice the man's sleeves pulled well down to his fingers when he had lifted his hand. Sweater paws, too? Man, Yoongi's fucked.
Yoongi clears his throat, and goes back to scanning. "Ah, yeah, can relate. I'm a third-year. You?" He tries not to sound too hopeful that he wants the stranger to continue the conversation. Night shifts at convenience stores were always pretty lonely, and though Yoongi does love his alone time, a little bit of company helps keep him sane.
"I'm a freshman! Wait, where are you studying," the customer squints at his nametag, "Yoongi-hyung? Can I call you that?"
The way he said his name, plus the teasing little "hyung" bit kinda wrecked Yoongi, he had to admit it, because this kid was really really attractive. And Yoongi could've sworn the corner's of the man's mouth curled into the tiniest smirk after he said it. Fuck, it was too late into the night for this.
They tell each other their respective colleges and it turns out they don't go to the same universities. Lucky for Yoongi, because he wouldn't forgive himself if he had missed a very handsome stranger walking around campus every day.
"And uh, yeah, you can call me that," Yoongi replies shakily, all semblance of confidence, if any since the start of the conversation, totally vanished. He bags up the items quickly and gives the man his change.
The mystery man gives Yoongi a shy smile, like he wasn't straightforwardly flirting with him just a minute ago, and Yoongi manages to call out after him as he's leaving the convenience store. "Bye, stranger!"
His own voice lingers in the air for a while, before the ding! of the store door swinging shut cuts off their conversation. His thoughts about the stranger, however, remain in his mind a while longer.
--
"Jimin," the man announces the next time he comes round to the store about a month later, in the wee hours of night.
Yoongi can't help the loud "huh?" that escapes his mouth in response.
"I didn't tell you my name the last time. It's Jimin." He flashes Yoongi his brightest smile.
He's wearing a red pullover tucked into a pair of tight black jeans with a leather belt tight around his small waist. Yoongi tries not to make it too obvious that he's checking the man out. Jimin looks good.
"Jimin," Yoongi says, voice trailing off into a question. He tests saying the name out loud again, and decides he likes the way it rolls off his tongue.
Jimin nods, and his fluffy hair is softly jostled up and down. Yoongi kinda wants to reach out and touch it. The older man gulps, wondering if he's dreaming, yet again, because this Jimin guy struck the genetic lottery: he possesses the kind of beauty that is hard to describe in words. His aura is soft, even the way his eyes crinkle into crescents when he spoke gave off a warm feeling, but something else, something Yoongi couldn't put his finger on, gives him elegance that had Yoongi's breath caught in his throat whenever he made eye contact with him.
But Jimin places his item on the counter and Yoongi's heart sinks. A pack of... tampons?
Sudden panic flits over Yoongi's features, when he realises he forgot to hide the way his face fell when he pieced everything together: the younger man has a girlfriend. Of course, the most attractive man he's met around town is already in a relationship. Yoongi can feel his cheeks growing hot with embarrassment, because of course Jimin wasn't flirting with him the first time. He'd read the entire situation totally wrong.
"Oh..." Yoongi lets out a nervous laugh. "Girlfriend, huh?"
"Sorry?" Jimin replies. Yoongi looks up at Jimin whose head is tilted and brows are furrowed, looking confused.
"Your girlfriend..." Yoongi looks down at the tampons, then adds on, "time of the month...?"
"I don't-- Oh my gosh, no," Jimin starts giggling. Then he starts cracking the fuck up as Yoongi looks on. Now he's confused.
The way Jimin laughs is, well, cute. He clutches at his stomach with one hand, and his whole body violently thrashes forward as his other hand is clutching onto the counter for support. No sound is coming out of his mouth, except for high-pitched staccato squeaks. It goes on for a while, much too long in Yoongi's opinion because he doesn't know what's so funny.
"Uh, Jimin? You okay?" Yoongi says after half a minute of Jimin just squeaking, and Yoongi almost reaches his hand out to help Jimin stand upright because the younger man was laughing for way too long at... nothing? "Did I say something funny?"
Jimin takes a deep breath, barely managing to stand upright, still holding onto the counter with one hand. Yoongi realises Jimin has tears in his eyes, and the younger man goes to wipe his own tears away as he replies Yoongi but it muffles his own words.
"What?" Yoongi is perplexed as ever.
"I said," Jimin lets out a final giggle, "I'm gay, Yoongi-hyung."
If Yoongi's cheeks were red earlier, then his entire face is now turning a bright crimson.
"No girlfriend?" Yoongi squeaks.
"Heck no! I was on the way back when one of my friends who is a girl asked me if I could do something for her, saying it was an emergency. Turns out she wanted me to buy tampons. She said something about my masculinity being not too fragile that she trusted me with this stuff, you know?"
Yoongi nods slowly, not knowing what to make of this situation when Jimin speaks up again.
"You're not being weird just because I came out to you right?"
Yoongi tries to defend himself because God knows, but is interrupted by the younger man.
"I'll have you know that I'm comfortable in my own skin, and I've spent my whole life fearing what people would think if they knew I liked other men and now that I'm confident in myself, no random person being uncomfortable is going to stop me from loving myself! I kinda liked you the first time I came here and that's why I came back but if you're going to--"
"Jimin," Yoongi says, quite carefully, like he's afraid someone will hear him, "I'm gay too."
Jimin's adorably stern face he wore when he was on his rant immediately softened. "Shit, I'm really sorry," he says sounding apologetic.
"It's okay," Yoongi shrugs, partly because he was trying to be professional since he was, in fact, still on shift, but also because he caught the part about Jimin saying he liked him and he was trying hard not to let it show on his face that he was truly honoured that this absolutely adorable and handsome man liked him. Like, like-liked him. Means he didn't read the situation wrong the first time.
Yoongi bags up the pack of tampons and hands it to Jimin along with his change. The younger man just continues to stand there, biting his lower lip and looking awkward as he rocks back and forth on his heels.
"If you're not in a rush, I could make some coffee for you in the back...?" Yoongi says, heart racing and hoping Jimin takes up the offer because Jimin was really attractive and Yoongi was genuinely intrigued. The crush was really strong with this one, and they've only met twice.
"I'd love to but," Jimin just raises the bag of tampons and frowns, shoulders drooped. "I have to go."
Yoongi looks after Jimin as he walks to the door and steps foot into the night, but just before the door fully closes behind him, he pops his head back in. "Next time! I promise!"
Yoongi just chuckles, feeling his chest bubble with anticipation of Jimin's next visit. "Cute."
--
Yoongi doesn't see Jimin for a few weeks, but when he finally does, it's 2am on a Wednesday. The store is empty, and Jimin orders coffee for two.
"Looks like you're not too busy right now," Jimin smiles softly. He looks extra comfy in his black and blue polka dot raincoat. It had been raining earlier. A pair of silver framed glasses rested on his nosebridge. Yoongi's heart almost clenches at the sight. Almost. Because he doesn't know what kind of person Jimin is and doesn't want to disappoint himself, but if their encounters so far were any indicator, Jimin seemed like a sweet guy, even with his little rant the other day. Yoongi didn't know if his attraction to the younger was purely physical, but Jimin's aura was addictive and Yoongi was drawn to him.
They sit at the tables in the corner of the convenience store, stirring their cheap coffee by the glass separating the warmth inside the store and the light drizzle outside.
"So why have I never seen you before this?" Yoongi asks the question he's been most curious about.
Jimin continues to stir his coffee, and from how the younger is looking down, Yoongi can see his short eyelashes and how Jimin is just so pretty. When Jimin finally looks up, the usual soft happiness in his features were replaced with a tinge of sadness. "I broke up with my ex, so I moved."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that. That sucks," Yoongi says, careful about his words.
"Don't be sorry, I'm over him. I just made the stupid mistake of dating my own roommate. Well, I guess he technically he made that mistake too, but whatever," Jimin says with a sad smile. "It wasn't a messy breakup or anything. We saw each other too much and the sparks just went away pretty quickly. I didn't want to room with an ex, it felt too weird. So I left."
Yoongi feels a surge of courage run through him and he reaches out to squeeze Jimin's hand and offers him a soft smile. Jimin looks up at him, looking surprised at the gesture so Yoongi panics, pulls his hand back, but not before Jimin holds on even tighter. He asks a soft, "is this okay?" to which Yoongi nods, blushing and Yoongi lets Jimin loosely tangle their fingers together after. The butterflies in his stomach are going berserk right now. He barely knows this guy and yet, this seems right.
Yoongi feels warm. Stirring hot coffee while rain lightly pattered on the glass, holding hands with Jimin. (Jimin would go on to become Yoongi's first and only boyfriend, but they don't know that yet.)
Yoongi soaks in the moment. He's had many quiet times, especially because he works the graveyard shift, but those moments felt almost lonely. It's so uncharacteristic of him to open himself up to a stranger but here he is. There was just something welcoming about Jimin, something that made Yoongi trust him. Heck, Jimin made him come out on their second meeting when most of his university friends didn't know he wasn't straight. That something about Jimin turned their little 2am coffee date into a conversation that lasted hours, that ended when the sun started peeking through the clouds, and if Yoongi was being honest, he hasn't opened up to anyone since he moved to this big city. He learnt a lot about Jimin, his crush on the younger growing bigger the more Jimin revealed the little parts of his life.
The older man looks at how Jimin's eyes disappear into slits of joy when he gets excited about a topic. The way Jimin's too-big glasses sat cutely on his sharp, yet flat nose. His skin was dotted all over with faint freckles, moles, and little blemishes, and it made Jimin seem more real and beautiful. His pretty plush lips, and how they'd purse together when he was attentively listening to Yoongi talk.
It was all so enduring, Yoongi liked Jimin - this complete stranger - and he wanted to see Jimin again and again.
And so, he did.