Archive of Our Own

Yoongi has never really been fond of dates.

He thinks they sound a bit too orchestrated, especially if they’re blind and being set up by friends or family. He much prefers it when the meetings are natural, organic. When it’s a bump of the shoulders on the street and, maybe, perhaps, love at first sight or something.

(He’ll die before he ever admits out loud he’s a romantic. Because he’s not. Definitely not.)

Which is why Seokjin pestering him time and time again about setting him up with people in his Drama course makes him want to pull his hair out. And when Seokjin’s gone through all the people he could set him up with from his course, he switched to another list of people he encounters during his monthly meetings in the Too Gay to be Straight society. Yoongi doesn’t particularly understand how there’s so many potential people Seokjin wants to set him up with, not when Yoongi doesn’t seem like that much of a likeable person at first sight. He doesn’t have enough fingers nor toes to count the amount of times people have met him for the first time and then, at the end, mentioned how he’s so much nicer than I expected!

Even worse, Yoongi had been asked out on a “casual outing” – that is what Namjoon had called it, thought it had felt more like a d-word than anything – and he had accepted. Even worser than that, Seokjin had caught him through the coffee shop’s windows during the outing and made a shocked face before he ran to follow his group of friends who’d left him behind.

Which led to this moment in time.

Seokjin had pulled the chair across from him forcefully, sat down with a huff before waiting for Yoongi to look up from his book.

He had an inkling about what Seokjin was going to talk to him about so, without looking up, he asks casually with a heavy sigh, “What is it?”

“Who was it?”

“Who was what?” he asks, flipping a page over.

“Yesterday! The date.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yoongi says, leaning over to catch his straw between his lips, drinking some of his iced coffee, unaware of how Seokjin’s face was getting redder and redder at his nonchalance.

“Yoongi,” he states seriously, covering his hands with his and snapping the book shut with force.

Yoongi frowns, looking up. “You made me miss my place.”

Seokjin waves a hand around. “Who was it yesterday? I’m your best friend! I have to give whoever it is The Pass before you move stages.”

“Stages?”

“Yes, stages.” He nods, lips out in a pout before he snatches a few fries from Yoongi’s plate and gobbles them up. “One, first date,” he says over a mouthful of potato, counting on his fingers, “Which I suppose is what you had yesterday. Stage two, second date and some not-so innocent touching, hopefully coupled with a few lingering kisses. Stage three, another date plus full-on, mouth-on-mouth kiss, French kiss, the whole lot. Although if you got lucky at stage two, stage three can just be seen as build-up. Stage four, Foreplay with a capital F, because it’s a very important stage. It sets the whole mood for stage five, The Big Deed. Sex. Fucking. Making love. Hanky-panky. Lovemaking. Horizontal boogie–”

“Okay!” Yoongi exclaims, turning a few heads in the cafeteria. “That’s enough of that, I think.”

Seokjin smirks, “So, who was it? What stage are you on? Because if you say you’re very well onto the way to stage five, I will be extremely angry that you’ve kept it away from me for so long and–”

“Oh my God, do you ever shut up,” Yoongi grumbles under his breath. “He’s no one.”

“Ha! So, it’s a he.”

“I’m literally gay, Seokjin.”

“Okay, but I’m going to need a name. Because, you know what, he looked very similar to He Who Shall Not Be Named from the back, and if you’re actually dating him then I’m going to need a few hours to prepare a presentation on why you should not be dating that clumsy asshole.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes. “It was just a cake.”

“Just a cake!” Seokjin scoffs, looking to the side. “That cake could have won me first prize at that Christmas cake contest, and I would have been 200,000 won richer by now.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Wait,” Seokjin turns back to him. “You’re deviating.” He narrows his eyes and glares, “Was it really him?”

Yes. Yoongi thinks to himself. It had been Namjoon, also commonly known as in their conversations as He Who Shall Not Be Named as Seokjin had started to hate him ever since Namjoon had seemingly tripped over thin air and smashed his face into Seokjin’s cake while has was on his way up the stairs to the showroom where the judges were to deliberate. Yoongi thinks about saying the truth. Then, he thinks about lying. Somehow, it sounds better than to have to sit through a few hours of Seokjin detailing every single thing he hates about Namjoon, even if the poor guy had continuously tried to apologise for almost five months. (And failed, because he’s clumsy as fuck and had caused some sort of accident every single time he even came close to Seokjin.)

“No,” Yoongi decides upon. “It wasn’t him, so there’s no need to worry. You can go now.” He rubs at his nose and picks up his book again, flipping through where he thinks he was at, skimming through the lines until he’s found the place where he left off on.

“No! I can’t leave,” Seokjin says, flipping his book closed once again. This time, Yoongi had somehow foreseen this happening, so he’d left his thumb on the page. This, however, also means his thumb has been caught in the forceful way Seokjin had shut the book.

“Fuck, Seokjin,” he hisses, taking his thumb out and losing his place again. He sticks it into his mouth as if wetting it would help, blows on it and feels the coolness on his thumb.

“Sorry,” he winces, and at the least he looks apologetic, so Yoongi waves him off.

“’s fine,” he says as the pain fades into a light burn he can easily ignore.

“Okay, good,” Seokjin nods at himself. “But I can’t leave.”

Yoongi sighs. “And why is that?”

“Because, Yoongi. I’ve been trying to set you up on dates for ages and you’ve never accepted even one. Not. A. Single. One,” Seokjin says dramatically, eyes incredibly serious for something that, in Yoongi’s opinion, shouldn’t be that big of a deal. He’s never really been interested in having a love life. He’s happy with his life as it is.

“That’s because your dudes are weird.”

“What!” Seokjin yelps indignantly, “They’re all incredibly nice. Okay, maybe there’s something wrong with a few of them – they are Drama students after all, so they might have a few loose screws…”

Yoongi raises an eyebrow.

“Anyway,” Seokjin waves his hands around angrily. “Stop diverting the subject–”

“I’m pretty sure the one that diverted the subject in the first place was you.”

“– and tell me right now who you went on a date with.”

“Why do you want to know so bad? I’ll let you meet him at some point, if I think it’s getting serious,” Yoongi lies through his teeth. For one, he didn’t like Namjoon in that way, so he’s for sure not going on any more “casual outings” with him. They’ll be strictly Music department buddies who share the same studio. For two, he hardly knows anyone at university – most people who meet turn into acquaintances rather than friends, so he forgets their names quickly – and the people he does know, Seokjin knows, too. Also, he has no one to introduce to Seokjin. Not now and, to his knowledge, not in the near future.

“Because if he caught your eye…,” he pauses and looks off into the distance with a weirdly fond smile on his lips. Yoongi looks at him as if he’s the weirdest person he’s ever met. “They must be one hell of a guy. You literally don’t fall for anyone. In the ten years I’ve known you, I feel like you’ve never even talked about your partners.”

“What partners?”

Seokjin directs A Look at him. Yoongi raises his eyebrow. He clears his throat. “Okay, your one night stands.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes. “It’s because they’ve all been average. Good enough for a fuck, but nothing special about them that’s made me think, wow, I need them in my life.”

“See!” Seokjin bangs a hand on the table, rattling Yoongi’s glass, the metal straw clinking against it. “That’s why I need to know who it is.”

It’s no one, Yoongi wants to say but, for some reason, he just wants some peace of mind and he knows that if he continues being “single” or whatever, Seokjin is going to keep pestering him. So, he might just pretend he’s going on dates with someone, so that it seems like he’s trying not to die alone.

Yoongi glances around the cafeteria, looking for someone who looks decent. His eyes skim around brunettes and blondes, before his eyes suddenly come to a halt when he sees pink. To be honest, he’s never been completely fond of pink – not in clothes, not in shoes, not in food, not in drinks. Not even in underwear. But somehow, when he looks at a boy smiling happily, laughing with his eyes screwed shut as the two people he’s sitting with seem to be in a very serious discussion, he decides maybe pink isn’t too bad.

Before he knows it, he’s already made his mind up, and he’s lifting an inconspicuous finger and pointing it at the boy. “Him,” Yoongi tells Seokjin, and he immediately whips his head towards the direction he’s pointing in.

“Pink hair?”

Yoongi’s eyes never stray as he looks at the way the boy takes a mouthful of his lunch, still smiling as he chews. Yoongi gives him an affirmative hum in response.

It’s when he hears the scrape of Seokjin’s chair against the tiles that he’s probably made a big mistake.

He almost has no time before he stands up to follow Seokjin, but Seokjin is nothing if not determined as fuck and he’s walking so fast that Yoongi can’t catch up to him before he gets there.

Yoongi watches Seokjin’s back as he stops at the table where pink-haired boy is sat, and just stands there, looking at him. Yoongi’s already by his side before he can even utter a word.

He pinches Seokjin’s elbow and hisses his full name. A warning.

Seokjin waves him off. “You, what’s your name?” he says in a scarily serious and menacing tone, and Yoongi just doesn’t understand what the heck he’s doing. Or, what he’s about to do, or where this is heading.

The moment Seokjin had stood motionless besides their table, the three guys had stopped talking and turned to him. They’d been in a weird sort of four-way stare contest until Yoongi had appeared, and pink-haired boy had broken the stare and glanced towards him.

“Um,” the pink-haired boy says, thrown aback.

One of the other guys interrupts him, making Seokjin’s attention move towards him. “And who the hell are you? That was a very rude way of asking for a name.”

“I’m only here because I want to meet who’s caught my best friend’s heart,” Seokjin says with determination.

Yoongi wants to hit him in the head. “The fuck–”

“Your what?” The guy replies, turning his head towards pink-haired boy. The other guy does the same. “You’ve been dating someone?” Then he turns back to Seokjin, “Who’s the best friend you’re even talking about, you crazy-head?”

“This guy!” Seokjin exclaims, tone almost proud for some weird reason, and he puts his hand on Yoongi’s back and pushes him forward as if he were being presented as an object. This time, Yoongi swats the back of his head. “Ow! I don’t think that’s a very ideal image to portray to a possible partner, Yoongi,” he mutters. “And he’s an awfully picky one, so I was just curious.” His tone softens from the very first moment in which they’d met. “Sorry if I sounded harsh.”

Pink-haired boy looks at Yoongi and tilts his head. The way he’s looking at him makes something inside Yoongi nervous. He turns back to Seokjin and smiles at him. “It’s fine. I was just a bit surprised, is all.” He stretches a hand out, “I’m Jimin, nice to meet you, Yoongi’s best friend.”

Something tingles at the way his name rolls off of pink-haired boy’s – no, Jimin’s – tongue. It sounds as if he’s said it a hundred times before. As if this weren’t the first time ever they were meeting.

Seokjin catches his hand and shakes it. “I’m Seokjin,” he says before breaking into a smile and pulling on Jimin’s hand, pulling him up until they’re both standing and Seokjin is enveloping Jimin into a hug. “You don’t seem like a weirdo, and you sound exceptionally nice. I’m giving you The Pass for now.”

Jimin laughs in his arms and Yoongi can’t help but think it’s a very nice sound.

“Hang on, hang on,” the guy who hasn’t spoken a word says. Seokjin and Jimin break apart. “You’re dating someone?”

Jimin glances towards Yoongi. He flashes him a smile and shuts both eyes in what he probably thinks is a sly wink. Yoongi hides his smile behind his hand at the way he looked.

“Yup!” Jimin says, taking a step forward until he’s standing next to Yoongi. He elbows Yoongi’s side with a smile. “We’ve been on a few dates.”

“A few?!” The other three yelp at the sudden revelation. Yoongi’s eyes bulge out at the same time. He has absolutely no idea where this is going. He thought he’d be able to point at some random person and Seokjin would say okay got it, see you later. He’d never thought this would be the outcome.

Jimin hums.

Yoongi thinks he should provide some input. “We’ve been on three dates?” He thinks three is a good fake amount, right?

“Three?!” Seokjin exclaims. He comes closer to Yoongi and says, in what he thinks is a low voice but is definitely not. “What stage are you on.”

“Stage?” one of the other guys pipes up confusedly.

When Yoongi glances at Jimin he’s got an eyebrow raised cutely. Yoongi groans. “God, will you like, shut up,” he places his hand over Seokjin’s mouth before placing his hands on his shoulders and moving him slightly away from the table. “Anyway, now that you’ve met, it’s all done, right? Jimin and I will just… continue doing our thing so you can stop meddling. You know who he is, now, satisfied?”

“Satisfied?” Seokjin huffs out before placing his hands atop Yoongi’s and pushing them off. He sits down in the seat beside Jimin’s. He props his chin on one hand before patting Jimin’s seat with the other. “Please, sit. I think I’m right to say that we,” he emphasises, looking at Jimin’s two friends who both look confused but nod anyway. “Want to know every single detail of these three dates.”

“And how you met!” One of Jimin’s friends says.

“And since when!” The other one adds.

Yoongi looks at Jimin and hopes he’s able to read the apology in his eyes.

Jimin nods, pats his lower back secretly as if to say I’ve got you.

“We’d be happy to answer all your questions,” Jimin begins, and Yoongi chokes on thin air. How is this going to going to go well in any shape or form? “But, sadly, I’ve got dance practice to get to, and it’s on the other side of campus.”

Yoongi’s shoulders relax in relief. When he exhales, it’s shaky. He hadn’t even realised he’d been holding it.

“We can meet and talk over this some other time,” he grins at the rest before directing his eyes at his friends and saying, “Together. So, don’t ask me anything before that.” He mimics zipping his lips up, “I will not be saying a word if Yoongi isn’t present.” Yoongi does not think it’s cute. He turns towards him and says, “I’ll text you about it?”

Yoongi nods absentmindedly at the question and, it isn’t until Jimin’s packed his bag and disappeared behind the cafeteria’s doors that he realises they don’t even have each other’s phone numbers.

(And, well, that he’s also dating someone?)

¿?

¿?

Seokjin almost refuses to have their “meeting” over hot pot. That is, because he’d apparently been going around asking about Jimin and his personality and his friends to all of his Drama friends, and a good chunk of them had mentioned one of Jimin’s friends called Jungkook who eats like a pig and will always pull out the I’m the youngest card and never pay back.

Yoongi thinks that Seokjin and Jungkook are kind of similar, except Seokjin pulls out the I always cook for you at home, you jackass card and has refused to pay for their bill when they eat out together seven times out of ten in the past month. (Yoongi thinks they’ll get along, if they’re not fighting for food.)

It turns out that Yoongi was right, and Seokjin and Jungkook are immediately passive aggressively arguing about which meat set they should order. (Seokjin wants the one with most beef variety, while Jungkook wants the one that includes a variety of meats instead.)

Taehyung, Jimin’s other friend, is quietly inputting his own opinions into the discussion, although to makes things harder, he forgoes siding with either of them, and is adding another meat set into the previous two options. When Yoongi glances at Jimin, he’s just smiling fondly at them, not even bothering to look through the menu. As if he’d sensed Yoongi’s eyes on him, he turns to look at him and smiles. Yoongi smiles back.

“Jungkookie,” Jimin starts, quieting the three others. “I think we should let Seokjin decide. He’s the one paying after all.”

“But he wants to order the beef platter!” He flashes Seokjin a glare that Yoongi reads more as playful than menacing. “I’m sick of beef. I had barbeque last night with the guys from the gym and had a good amount of beef for the rest of this month.”

“Okay, but that’s just you,” Seokjin interjects. “We,” he says, motioning to the rest of the table, “Were not at that beef barbeque buffet you had last night.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes and glares at the menu.

Yoongi sighs. Jimin’s really nice. He wants to keep being friends with him, if that’s what they could be considered outside of the whole “fake boyfriends situation”. They’ve texted on and off during the past day, and Jimin’s cute and funny and enthusiastic and endearing. Yoongi wants him in his life. He seems like a good addition.

Which probably means that he has to play nice with Jimin’s friends, too. “I’ll pay for your extra platter, Jungkook.”

“Oh,” Jimin says, completely ignoring the way in which Jungkook looks up from his menu at Yoongi’s words and nods enthusiastically. “There’s no need for that, really. He can suck it up.”

Yoongi watches from his peripheral vision how Jungkook starts grumbling under his breath.

He places a hand on Jimin’s elbow without thinking twice, leans closer to his side and mumbles “It’s okay, it’s just one dish. I have to make a good impression on your friends anyway, right?”

Jimin smiles. “If you’re sure,” he mumbles back, vaguely aware of how the conversation has stilted and their friends are looking at them trying to figure out what’s happening. “I’m almost ninety nine percent sure you’ve already got Jungkook’s approval. Food is the way to Jungkook’s heart.”

Yoongi hums, shuffling his chair closer to Jimin’s. “And Taehyung’s?”

Jimin looks to the side in thought, making the other three turn their attention away in an instant. Yoongi hears bits and pieces of their new conversation about udon, ramen and glass noodles, but focuses on Jimin’s side profile with his eyes. It’s then that he realises, that Jimin’s not bad looking. In fact, he’s really good looking. Pretty, beautiful in a sense, especially with the pink hair that falls onto his eyes just so.

“Deep and meaningful conversations or playful ones. No in between.”

Yoongi blinks and watches the way Jimin’s smiling at him in a way that definitely says I’ve caught you staring at me. He clears his throat. “Noted.”

“Lovebirds,” Seokjin announces while clapping with his hands loudly. “It’s time to order.”

“We haven’t even decided which noodles we’re picking!” Jungkook whines.

Seokjin turns his head, smile a little evil and Yoongi chuckles to himself without meaning to. Jimin elbows his side. “I’m pretty sure I said we’re picking udon.”

¿?

“So,” Seokjin says, propping his chin on his folded hands. “Please begin,” he says, looking at Yoongi and Jimin expectantly.

“Um.”

“Where shall we start?” Jimin asks.

“How did you meet? When?” Taehyung wonders. “I’m sure we would’ve at least noticed you’ve been going out with someone. And on three dates.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook supplies.

“Well, we– Um,” Yoongi says, because his imagination sucks and he’s never been on dates. Doesn’t know how they go or what people do on them. Namjoon and him had just gone out for coffee. Yoongi had thought it was to talk about their next music project due in a little over a month. Namjoon had intended to get to know more about Yoongi as a person, about his life.

Jimin places a hand on his forearm under the table. “We met through Hoseok.”

Huh, Yoongi thinks as Jimin says those words, that was an easy way out.

“You know Hoseok?” Seokjin asks.

“Dance practice,” Jimin responds smoothly. Like he’d anticipated these questions and had been practicing before today.

“Makes sense,” Seokjin nods, as if it required approval.

Jimin smiles. “Was around a month ago? A little less. We’ve talked for a long time, but only decided to go on a date after around two weeks of knowing each other, and then the other two dates just came randomly one after the other.” Jimin turns his head to look at Yoongi, and the expression on his face is nothing but fond. Yoongi thinks Jimin is a fantastic actor. Should be given an Academy Award in his first film if he ever decided to go into acting, no matter how small his role would be. “Guess we were just really eager to see each other after the first one.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi supplies, as if that’s going to be of any help towards their façade. Hopefully with the way he thinks he’s looking at Jimin, it’ll just look like he’s distracted being too enamoured with Jimin. “Really eager,” he adds. Doesn’t care how it makes him sound like to Seokjin nor how embarrassing it might be to say that.

“Where was the first date?” Taehyung asks.

Jimin looks at Yoongi, raises an eyebrow.

Yoongi freezes momentarily but then tries to recall any chick flicks he’d seen while surfing through channels where there were pretend relationships in them. “I think you retell it nicer,” he says.

“Damn, that’s making me a bit lovesick,” Jungkook mutters under his breath, and Taehyung and Seokjin giggle on either side of him.

Jimin looks at him, surprised at the comeback, before he throws his head back in a laugh. He pats at Yoongi’s hand underneath the table and, without preamble, Yoongi turns his hand under his palm and intertwines their fingers. Jimin looks down and smiles at him sweetly before turning back to their friends. “Okay, so first date we just went to the cinema, second was dinner and karaoke, and our last one was just coffee study date.”

“Oh! Thursday, right? The coffee date?” Seokjin provides and. Well, Yoongi hadn’t even realised Jimin had remembered the fact he’d been on a date with Namjoon the other day, Seokjin had seen him on the date but not with who, and that is what started this whole spiel.

Yoongi thinks Jimin is pretty and nice and cute and clever. The list seems to be getting longer.

“Yeah!”

“Hang on,” Jungkook interrupts, “So, when you said you couldn’t come to play videogames with us was because you were going on a date and not because you had a midterm to study for?”

“Sorry?” Jimin squeaks. “But, in my defence, you guys always play games in the challenge mode and you know I’m bad at games. I just wanted a break.” Jimin pouts then, and Yoongi thinks he has incredible self-control because he doesn’t coo at Jimin out loud at the action.

Taehyung sighs. “He is pretty shit.”

Jungkook nods solemnly as if this were a great tragedy.

“Hey!” Jimin whines, and pouts harder and Yoongi really cannot resist this time. His hand comes up before he can even think twice, and he pinches at the side of Jimin’s lips, thumb pressed on once cheek while his index presses the other.

“You’re so cute,” Yoongi coos quietly, low enough that only Jimin can hear what he says, while the rest are just looking at the action that’s going on.

“Feel like we’re all third-wheeling,” Jungkook states, “Together.”

Jimin’s eyes flick to the side, attempting to twist his features at Jungkook’s words, only to find himself incapable of doing that with Yoongi still pinching his face.

Jimin squeezes Yoongi’s hand under the table and he finally lets go, booping his nose with a finger before they both turn back to their friends.

“What if we recreate their second date!” Seokjin says all of a sudden, the waiter that’s lighting up their hot pot and adding the soup losing his cool momentarily. “We’re getting food, and there’s a karaoke nearby that’s pretty cheap. We already feel like we’re third-wheeling, anyway, and I’ve always wanted to see Yoongi on his date action. And also,” his eyes glint as he directs Yoongi a look. Yoongi doesn’t like that look. “Yoongi paid for the date, right?”

Jimin looks at Yoongi and he shrugs. It was only ever going to go one way since Seokjin started speaking, so he might as well look like he knows about date etiquette. Jimin nods at Seokjin.

“Then he’ll pay for this date with three third-wheelers, too!”

Yoongi sighs in defeat. Jimin rubs his thumb over the back of his hand.

“Is karaoke on him, too?” Taehyung asks.

“Let’s split between five for karaoke,” Jimin suggests much to Yoongi’s relief. He’d been eyeing some music equipment to purchase for his final project, but he might have to ask Namjoon if he’s willing to purchase together.

Jungkook sighs. “Okay, but only because he was going to pay for my meat platter even before knowing he was gonna be charged with the whole bill.”

¿?

“So, Jimin,” Seokjin says the second Yoongi stands up to go pay for their meal at the cashier. Taehyung and Jungkook had rushed to the toilet, both having had too many Cokes with their lunch.

Jimin thinks he’s a tad bit scary, but only in the sense that he’s probably protective of Yoongi. Still, Seokjin scares him a little, and he’s not even actually dating Yoongi. Although, he thinks it could be nice, if today and the last 48 hours were anything to go by.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think about Yoongi’s karaoke skills?” he asks, narrowing his eyes and Jimin shifts in his seat.

Jimin thinks. Yoongi’s a Music Composition student in one of the top universities in South Korea. He’s probably pretty great, right? Music Composition must have some singing aspects to it… right? “He’s great!” he settles on saying, a wide smile on his face. “I love his voice.”

Seokjin’s face breaks into a smile, and Jimin thinks he’s done well. “I see,” he says nodding, which is a rather weird way of replying to his response. He shrugs it off and to his relief, Yoongi shows up, leaning on his chair.

“We ready to go?”

Seokjin gives Yoongi a weird look he can’t decipher. “Yup! Just waiting on Jungkook and Taehyung.”

Yoongi glances at Jimin as he pushes his chair back and stands up. “Toilet,” Jimin explains. He fits one arm in the sleeve of his jacket and, when he struggles with the other, Yoongi comes up beside him to help. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Yoongi says with a gummy smile. Jimin decides there and then that he likes that smile and wants to see it more often. Wants to see Yoongi more often.

The second they enter their karaoke room, Seokjin, Taehyung and Jungkook rush towards the tablet so they can line up their songs. Yoongi and Jimin settle down comfortably on one side of the sofa, hands still tangled together from when they’d walked from the hot pot restaurant to the karaoke place.

“How are your karaoke skills?” Jimin asks all of a sudden, remembering the weird interaction with Seokjin.

“Terrible,” Yoongi says shaking his head, “What about yours?”

“Uh-oh,” Jimin says quietly, eyes wide open as he stares at Yoongi.

“What is it?”

“I might’ve told Seokjin I thought you were a great singer and that your voice was really nice when he asked about,” he removes his hand from Yoongi’s to do some air quotes, “‘Our last karaoke date’.”

Yoongi groans quietly. “When was this?”

“When you got up to pay.”

“Think our cover may be blown,” Yoongi says, and he looks up to see Seokjin leaning close to the other two so they can all see the tablet screen, yet his eyes are trained on Yoongi and Jimin with a knowing smile.

Jimin looks in the direction Yoongi’s looking at and sees Seokjin’s same expression. He winces. “Think so.” He turns and leans the side of his body heavier on Yoongi’s, tangles their hands together again, “Sorry.”

Yoongi shakes his head. “It’s okay. I can deal with him.”

“Do you think he’ll try to set you up on more dates?”

Yoongi sighs into Jimin’s hair. “Not if you say yes.”

“Say yes to what?” Jimin asks, leaning back onto the sofa and looking at Yoongi curiously.

“Will you go out on an actual first date with me?”

Jimin seems momentarily starstruck before his face breaks into a smile, cheeks scrunched up and eyes turning into horizontal crescents. “I would love to.”

“Well, that’s that then,” Yoongi says in delight, squeezes Jimin’s hand in his.

Jimin squeezes back. “That’s that then.”

¿?

Jimin’s singing some Big Bang ballad with Jungkook while Taehyung does some ad-libs in the back with a third microphone that they’d acquired from reception.

Yoongi’s sitting back because he didn’t know the song and, when the first notes had begun and Jimin had started singing, he’d been entranced and hasn’t been able to see or hear anything else but Jimin for the last minute.

The sofa sinks beside him, and he turns his head to the side to see Seokjin’s come back from the restroom.

“Hey,” Yoongi says.

Seokjin nods in response. “So, you’ve never been on any dates with him before?”

Yoongi shrugs. “Nope.”

“You almost got me, not going to lie,” Seokjin laughs. “Seemed like you two liked each other a lot during lunch.”

“We–,” Yoongi says before backtracking. “I think we do like each other. We’ve grown to in the last few hours.”

“Yeah?”

Yoongi nods. Smiles when Jimin looks at him and flashes him a grin and a cheeky both-eyed wink that reminds him of two days ago when Jimin had pretended to have been his date when they’d been complete strangers. When he’d just gone along with the flow knowing nothing at all and. Well, Yoongi thinks Jimin’s just an incredible person, no matter how short of a time they’ve known each other. “I think he’s a great person. Really cute.”

Seokjin says nothing and they continue to look at the younger three as the next song in the queue starts and they start jumping to the beat.

“Wait, so who was the guy from that coffee date?”

Yoongi freezes. He contemplates lying for a second, before he figured there’s probably no point in it, and he might just tell him straight now. “Kim Namjoon.”

“What.”

“Sorry,” Yoongi winces.

“No, seriously,” Seokjin says, and for some reason Yoongi hears a hint of sadness instead of the usual anger. “What?”

“What, what?”

Seokjin gives him a onceover, completely quiet, before he sinks into the sofa. “I must confess. I’ve been seeing Namjoon on and off for the last three months.”

“Huh?” Yoongi says, more confused than ever. “What?!” Jimin looks over at him at the outburst, but Yoongi’s eyes are solely focused on Seokjin.

“He sent me an e-mail, the loser,” Seokjin says, although for the first time ever it sounds fond, “And he said that the reason why he’s always tripping and fumbling and making a mess of everything when we bump into each other is because he gets nervous around me because he likes me. He thought if he confessed via e-mail there’s be no chance for physical accidents,” Seokjin finishes with a roll of his eyes.

“What?”

“We’ve been seeing each other a few times a week, whenever you’re not in the music studio mostly, and I asked if we could keep it a secret because, well, I have a reputation to maintain.”

“What reputation?” Yoongi asks incredulously.

“The fact that I’m popular enough to have a mortal nemesis!” Seokjin says, flicking Yoongi’s forehead. “Isn’t it obvious? The more popular you are, the more friends you have. The more friends you have, the more haters you’ll gain, too. And then, comes in, ultimate mortal nemesis. In my case, Kim Namjoon. Or, well. Was?”

“I literally do not understand a thing you just said and am extremely confused.”

“In summary,” Seokjin starts, “Namjoon and I are sort of dating, he’s not my mortal nemesis anymore – I just pretended to keep image – and when you and Namjoon went out… it can’t have possibly been a date.”

“Okay, okay,” Yoongi says, not in the mood to discuss. If Seokjin says it’s like that, then he’ll take it. It makes him more comfortable in many ways as, back when he thought Namjoon was Seokjin’s nemesis, he’d already been uncomfortable with the idea of doing it behind Seokjin’s back, but now that he knows their relationship, he’s happy to just accept it wasn’t a date. Maybe Yoongi had just been projecting and Namjoon wasn’t looking at him lovingly, but maybe just… daydreaming about Seokjin? He’ll take that.

The song finishes and Jimin approaches them, hands the microphone quietly to Seokjin who jumps at the opportunity to sing again.

Happily, he plops down on the couch and settles beside Yoongi. “Everything okay?”

Yoongi looks at him and smiles. Everything is great. Fine and dandy. He hums, throwing an arm around Jimin’s shoulders to pull him closer, until Jimin leans his head on Yoongi’s shoulder by instinct. Yoongi thinks they’re already so connected. “I’m great now that you’re back here with me.”

Jimin chuckles, tickling the skin on Yoongi’s neck. “Are you not going to sing anything?”

“I’ll sing if you want me to sing,” Yoongi says. “Although I must warn you in advance that, when I say I’m bad at singing, I mean I really am truly terrible.”

“It’s okay,” Jimin smiles. “I’ll cover you up.” He fumbles to take a hold of Yoongi’s hand in his, tangles their fingers together. “I’ve got you.”

¿?

BONUS