Chapter Text
When Yoongi steps out of Hoseok’s car and sees Camp Crystal Snow in all of its renovated glory, his first thought is that he genuinely cannot wait to be in the actual workforce so that he doesn’t have to spend his entire summer working for rich kids at a summer camp.
Which, if you were to ask any of Yoongi’s friends, is an absolutely insane thing for Yoongi to think because he’s so inherently anti-capitalist that the forty-hour work week is a topic that everyone actively avoids once Yoongi’s had more than two drinks in him, but it’s so hot outside of the car that Yoongi thinks that he can’t be a camp counselor for another summer.
Yoongi largely doesn’t mind being a camp counselor.
He likes the job duties themselves, likes that he gets one day off per week to fuck around and that it’s close enough to the nearby town that he can take his roommate’s (though, fortunately, not his bunkmate- Hoseok is an absolutely delightful human being but they definitely need a break from one another sometimes) car down and sit in a coffee shop and enjoy some peace and quiet for the entire day while he watches movies on his laptop and ingests way too much caffeine, and he likes his fellow camp counselors.
He doesn’t like that most of the kids at this camp come from some of the wealthiest families in South Korea and the kids seem to know that. Don’t get Yoongi wrong, most of the kids are absolute angels, looking to just have some fun with their summer friends and learn how to, like, shoot an arrow or learn basket weaving or even just play tons of foot volleyball (Camp Crystal Snow’s specialty sport) for a solid month.
And he also hates the heat. Yoongi is pale and he needs to wear long sleeves so that he doesn’t burn in the sun, but long sleeves aren’t good in the sun because then he sweats a lot and the rich little fuckers make fun of him. And Yoongi knows that he shouldn’t be embarrassed in front of teenagers, but somehow, teenagers know exactly how to point out everyone’s biggest insecurity and he spent the last summer being called “Counselor Sweaty Pits” which isn’t even a creative or funny insult but made Yoongi irrationally angry all the same.
So, yes. Yoongi is mostly excited that this is the last summer that he’s going to have to be a counselor. After all, he graduates next February and he’ll be able to join the workforce like a good little capitalist and all will be right in the world.
But then Yoongi sees the reason why he kind of wants to be a camp counselor for at least two more years.
“Dude, we just got here,” Hoseok says. “Can you fucking chill with the pining?”
“You can’t swear here,” Yoongi says, deflecting. Though it is true. It’s important that none of the counselors swear. Even though the kids are all ten or older and probably swear more than Yoongi does at this point.
“Does it count if I swear in English?”
“You don’t know English-”
“I know how to swear in English,” Hoseok stresses. “I learned enough to swear in front of children, to order at a restaurant, and to get basic directions as long as the people I’m asking use left/right directions instead of east/west directions.”
Yoongi nods. He doesn’t think that Hoseok is allowed to swear in English at Camp Crystal Snow, but he respects Hoseok’s definition of what’s important to learn in other languages, so he doesn’t bother to tell him not to swear in any language around these kids.
“They’re all rich as fuck here,” Yoongi reminds Hoseok, instead. “The kids have probably been with actual English tutors since they were in diapers.”
“You’re probably right,” Hoseok says, while Yoongi stares longingly at his longtime crush and the absolute man of his dreams, Jeon Jungkook. “And, seriously, quit fucking staring. You need to either confess or just get over this weird-ass four year long crush that you’ve got going on.”
Yoongi glares at Hoseok. The crush isn’t weird. Yoongi actually finds it insulting that not everyone on the face of the Earth has a crush on Jeon Jungkook, because he’s the kindest and most wonderful and most beautiful person that Yoongi has ever laid eyes on and he firmly believes that he can’t trust anyone who is not immediately in love with the man.
“I’ll- I know, okay? It’s my last summer here and blah, blah, blah,” Yoongi says, mimicking the underwhelming pep talk that Hoseok has been giving him since they left Camp Crystal Snow the year prior. “But it’s not like this will be my last chance to see him unless I confess this summer. Plus, I have a whole month- that’s so much time.”
Hoseok rolls his eyes. “I’ll admit that you two do see one another quite often throughout the rest of the year, but once a month isn’t the same as every day for just over a month. And it’s not like you don’t have a reason-”
“Do you have a reason why you can’t confess to Taehyung?” Yoongi asks, eyes shifting to the boy who has been Hoseok’s bunkmate and fellow cabin counselor for the last three years.
Hoseok rolls his eyes. “Taehyung is gay.”
“Okay, and you’re a man,” Yoongi shrugs.
Though, Hoseok does bring up a good point about Yoongi not having a reason to not confess.
He’s actually not sure how he’s managed to not confess to Jungkook yet, but it feels like almost everyone around them knows what’s going on inside Yoongi’s brain except for Jungkook. The feelings inside his chest that he has for Jungkook are always threatening to burst outside of him whenever he’s around Jungkook, and Yoongi knows that it would be healthy to tell Jungkook about his feelings, but.
The thing is.
Jungkook just doesn’t seem interested in anyone.
And believe Yoongi, he’s tried to figure out anything that he can about Jungkook’s romantic past.
Last year, he asked Seokjin- Jungkook’s best friend and roommate who goes to the same college as Yoongi, though Jungkook goes to a different one- about what type of people Jungkook is interested in romantically, which had been a complete disaster. Seokjin looked at Yoongi like he couldn’t believe that Yoongi was asking him that, and then shrugged, saying that he’s never met someone that Jungkook was seeing. Said that he wasn’t sure that Jungkook had ever dated anyone and then walked away to yell at a kid who was eating glue instead of creating his macaroni portrait.
Plus, Yoongi has asked Jungkook directly if he’s seeing anyone and Jungkook has always gone strangely quiet when asked, like he didn’t want to talk about dating or romance or sex, so after their third or fourth individual hang-out together, Yoongi just stopped asking. And Jungkook’s never brought up anyone that he’s interested in.
At first, Yoongi thought that maybe they just weren’t close enough. Sure, Yoongi doesn’t see Jimin or Taehyung or Namjoon or Seokjin outside of their month at Crystal Snow, but that doesn’t mean that Jungkook doesn’t see multiple other people. Doesn’t mean that Jungkook doesn’t send all of them text messages and have weekly FaceTime calls and say that he misses them all of the time.
So, really. How could Yoongi know if Jungkook considers them to be close?
Then, there’s the fact that Seokjin is exactly like Yoongi’s own best friend, and is definitely the type to tease other people about their romantic feelings. Though Seokjin always somehow makes it seem good-natured. He’s teased Yoongi about his obvious crush on Jungkook, teased Hoseok and Taehyung about their feelings for one another (though, they might be even more pathetic for one another than Yoongi is for Jungkook), and even made fun of himself for having a crush on Jimin when they first met.
But Yoongi has never heard Seokjin tease Jungkook even once about liking someone.
So, because Yoongi had a really hard time figuring out his own sexuality and did so much reddit research (he was a teenager, okay) on different romantic and sexual attractions, Yoongi just thought that maybe Jungkook feels little to no romantic attraction. Thought that maybe Jungkook falls somewhere on the aromantic spectrum.
He could still confess to Jungkook, sure- he’d watched a drama once where the second lead said that being rejected would help him move on in the long run, and Yoongi thought that it was good advice because he doesn’t think that these feelings are going to go away on their own at any point in the near future- but he never wants to make Jungkook uncomfortable, so he figures that it’s best to just keep quiet. To keep his feelings locked away where apparently everyone except for Jungkook can see them.
“Yoongi-yah, you’re finally here,” Yoongi hears Seokjin yell out. And Yoongi rolls his eyes, but fondly because he genuinely is excited to hear Seokjin’s voice.
He’s been bunkmates with Seokjin for the last three years and he’s not sure why . They have pretty much nothing in common and they’re always in charge of the oldest group of boys who always tease Yoongi for his big, fat, gay crush on Jungkook. Yoongi does his best to deny it in front of Seokjin, but there’s no way that he doesn’t know about Yoongi’s feelings, if the aforementioned teasing is anything to go by.
“I’m here,” Yoongi says, urging Hoseok to pop the trunk of his car so that Yoongi can get the two giant suitcases that he brought out of there. He knows that two suitcases is a lot, but he hates trying to do laundry in the small “rest area” that the camp provides for the counselors- which is just a cabin that was renovated so that they don’t have to shower or do laundry in the same places as the campers- so he tends to bring more clothes.
Yoongi’s struggling to pull the larger of the two suitcases out of the trunk, listening to Seokjin ask Hoseok about his surgery from last year, when a muscly, tattooed arm snakes around him to pull it out. Yoongi’s breath hitches, definitely not feeling like he can breathe with Jungkook’s arm touching his shoulder.
“I got this, Yoongi-hyung,” he says, voice airy and light and as beautiful as Yoongi remembers it being. It’s been nearly two months since they were last able to get together, since Jungkook had gone back to Busan for a bit directly after the semester ended, and Yoongi almost forgot how pretty Jungkook’s voice sounds when he talks. “You can take the smaller one, since you’re smaller than me, you know?”
Yoongi rolls his eyes, glad that he’s able to not feel starstruck when Jungkook is so close to him. “Was that a dig at my height?”
“I’m surprised that you caught it,” Jungkook says.
“Don’t you dare,” Yoongi warns.
“I thought that it would go over your head,” he finishes, laughing. “It’s nice to see you, Yoongi-hyung.”
Yoongi smiles back, unable to even pretend that he’s annoyed with Jungkook at all. It’s kind of embarrassing for him, he’ll admit, but he likes Jungkook too much to even bother trying. “It’s nice to see you, too, Jungkook-ah.”
Jungkook smiles, something bright and wide and the most beautiful sight that Yoongi has ever seen in his life.
“We’re bunkmates this year, Yoongi-hyung,” Jungkook says. “I don’t know why, but all of a sudden Jin-hyung said that he was going to bunk with Jiminie-”
“What about Namjoon?” Yoongi asks. Previously, Namjoon and Jungkook had taken care of some of the younger campers together, while Jimin and Haneul took care of some of the older campers. “I heard that Haneul wasn’t coming back this summer-”
“He’s not and they didn’t even hire anyone to replace him,” Jungkook gossips. “So Minsoo-hyung decided that Namjoonie-hyung would solo counsel the oldest boys, since according to the hiring guy here, Namjoonie-hyung is the most responsible and the only person who he could trust of us to watch any of these boys on their own-”
“Bold of him to say when he keeps bringing all of us back every summer-”
“Then, when Minsoo-hyung was assigning the rest of us our new cabins, Seokjinie-hyung suddenly said that he’d get back in the car and go home if he wasn’t in a bunk with Jiminie-hyung.”
Yoongi blinks. “What?”
“Yeah,” Jungkook says, shrugging. “I have no clue what happened so suddenly, but it was weird.”
“Huh,” Yoongi says, confused. “Maybe his small crush has been revived?”
Jungkook rolls his eyes. “Definitely not. They’re absolutely best friends now. Them and Namjoonie-hyung- it’s weird to see how well they all vibe together. Which I have to see a lot since Seokjinie-hyung keeps having them over to the apartment all of the time. Like there’s seriously not a weekend where he doesn’t invite them over so that they can all play Mario Party on the Switch-”
Which, okay, Yoongi didn’t know that they were all apparently best friends and spent a lot of time hanging out in Jungkook and Seokjin’s apartment. But that just further cements Yoongi’s theory that Jungkook isn’t actually any closer to him than he is to anyone else who works at Camp Crystal Snow. So he definitely should keep his feelings to himself and not expect Jungkook to talk about his dating life for the rest of the time that they know one another.
Yoongi honestly thinks that’s the only fair point to take away here.
“But it all worked out for the best since I now get the honor of bunking with you this year,” Jungkook continues like he hasn’t just sent Yoongi into a spiral about how Jungkook could get married in the future and never mention it to Yoongi and Yoongi is somehow going to find out when they’re still FaceTiming on a Tuesday night and Jungkook’s husband or wife accidentally walks into the frame and then Yoongi will ask, “Who is that?” and Jungkook will say something like, “Didn’t you know? I’ve been married for twelve years. Huh, I guess I didn’t see you at the wedding.” and then realize that he doesn’t actually want to be friends with Yoongi any longer and then will probably delete Yoongi’s phone number.
“And we get the twelve and thirteen year olds, which is the best group to have because they’re not anxious like the ten year olds and they don’t stare into your soul to know all of your weaknesses like the seventeen year olds do.”
Yoongi blinks, finally deciding to move from the small parking lot where the staff park for the summer and where parents usually drop their kids off. “They do that to you, too? I thought that they thought you were cool.”
“Please,” Jungkook scoffs. “The oldest kids are pissed that they have Namjoonie-hyung instead of you and Jinie-hyung this year. They were already complaining that their favorite Counselor Sweaty Pits wouldn’t be their counselor this year.”
“I fucking hate that nickname-”
“You know that they only tease you because they like you ,” Jungkook laughs. “I’m even fairly certain that Jihoon-ah has a crush on you.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes at the teasing tone, but he can’t exactly argue. The teenager was surprisingly not shy about letting Yoongi know how much he likes him in particular. When Yoongi was sixteen, being attracted to men had terrified him and caused him to actively refuse to even look in the direction of any boy that he found attractive.
But Jihoon was not shy about always wanting to be on Yoongi’s team for things- yes, even foot volleyball, where Yoongi was probably the worst of all of the counselors- and asking to sit with Yoongi in the dining hall even though counselors and staff usually sit at a different table from campers.
“He probably grew out of it,” Yoongi laughs, dragging his suitcase behind him, following Jungkook who is much faster than him. “He probably realized that there are way better men than me out there- better looking or cooler or whatever. Or, at the very least, realized that he likes someone his own age. Not someone a decade older than him.”
Because truthfully, Yoongi is among the older people out here. Counselors are usually college-aged, people who just need to make enough to get them through the next year of school. Seokjin just graduated college, Yoongi believes, so he’s out here for probably his last summer just like Yoongi. Yoongi thinks that Jungkook is the only counselor who hadn’t done his military service directly out of college- except for Hoseok, who can’t serve, though he doesn’t seem to mind since he had to take time off of school for his recovery last year- so he’s actually a sophomore with Jimin and Taehyung.
Yoongi thinks that that’s all correct anyway. All he knows for sure is that Hoseok didn’t have to serve in the military and that the beautiful, bunny-looking boy who Yoongi has been in love with since he first saw him two years prior is twenty-two years old, compared to Yoongi’s twenty-six.
“I don’t know, Yoongi-hyung,” Jungkook says. “It might have been a whole year since you last saw him, but I think that feelings just grow over time when you’re missing someone.”
Then, an awkward pause where Yoongi thinks that he’s maybe not breathing because holy shit is Jungkook about to admit to having romantic feelings for someone , followed by a polite chuckle. “I mean, that’s what I’ve heard, at least.”
“Ah,” Yoongi says, still feeling stiff and like he doesn’t know how to behave around Jungkook, which is insane because they have each other’s phone numbers so they text pretty frequently and Jungkook had a really busy semester but they still met up three times during it, even though Yoongi and Jungkook live on opposite ends of the college that Yoongi goes to, so it’s like a forty-minute bus ride to meet up.
But, still. Facing the idea of bunking with Jungkook- AKA spending almost all of their time together this summer- is terrifying Yoongi to the point that he’s surprised that he’s managed to have any semblance of a normal conversation with the younger boy at all.
“Maybe,” he finally acquiesces. He knows that his feelings grow deeper because he feels more and more like he might accidentally spill his feelings for Jungkook every single time that they’re within five meters of one another, but he certainly doesn’t want to admit that out loud.
“Aw, and here I thought hyung would miss me since I was in Busan for so long,” Jungkook whines and Yoongi swears that Jungkook is trying to make his eyes as big as possible because now they’re sparkling and the size of the fucking moon.
And Yoongi.
Well.
He’s just a guy .
But Jungkook doesn’t seem to know that Yoongi is just a guy. Just a small guy with a little, gay heart that can’t handle Jungkook whining in front of him, trying to get Yoongi to say that he missed him, with those big-ass eyes that make Yoongi want to propose on the spot.
Because of course Yoongi missed him.
Of course Yoongi spent the entire time that they were apart telling himself that he didn’t need to text Jungkook every single day like he normally does. Telling himself that it would be fine if Jungkook didn’t want to FaceTime on Tuesday nights like they usually do. Because what if Jungkook wanted to meet up with some of his high school friends? What if he realized that, all of a sudden, without school to talk about, Yoongi is kind of a boring person and they have nothing in common?
Naturally, Jungkook kept their standing Tuesday at seven p.m. FaceTime call, and he texted and called Yoongi more than normal. It’s not like they see one another in person all too often, but maybe Jungkook also felt a little uneasy with the increased distance between them and felt the need to reach out even more.
Maybe.
Yoongi didn’t linger too much on the why of Jungkook’s increased communication.
(That’s a complete lie- Yoongi lied awake in bed for hours after getting off of a three hour call from Jungkook one random Friday night- but Yoongi couldn’t come up with any reason why Jungkook might keep calling him, so he is choosing to pretend he hadn’t started thinking about it at all.)
“Of course hyung missed you,” Yoongi says, a little too honestly, feeling a blush already rising on his cheeks. “Missed you more when I couldn’t see you in Busan than I did when I couldn’t see you in Seoul.”
“Oh,” Jungkook says, cheeks light pink already. Yoongi thinks about telling Jungkook to make sure that he wears sunscreen this summer. Because if Jungkook doesn’t have to wear sunscreen, then all of their campers will think that they don’t have to wear it either, and Yoongi doesn’t want to take care of ten boys with sunburn all summer long. “I missed hyung, too.”
Yoongi doesn’t think that his heart can handle talking about Jungkook missing him any longer, so he immediately decides to change the subject so that he doesn’t accidentally blurt out his feelings for Jungkook moments before they’re supposed to share a cabin with ten teenagers for a whole month.
“How was your family?” Yoongi asks. “I mean, I know that you sent pictures of your family dog and the beach and gave me updates on the phone, but-”
“Busan was nice,” Jungkook mercifully cuts Yoongi’s rambling off, a small smile adorning his beautiful face. “Seeing my family was really, really lovely. Of course, I’ll go back to see them for Chuseok, but I hope that I can spend the winter holiday in Seoul with hyung.”
Yoongi nods, that makes sense. Traveling can be expensive and trying to return home every semester can be tiring- it’s why Yoongi only travels back to Daegu for Chuseok- so it makes sense that Jungkook would want to stay in Seoul with Seokjin.
“I’m sure Seokjinie-hyung would be less lonely, then,” Yoongi agrees, glad when he realizes that they’re finally at the top of the hill that overlooks the entire campground. Yoongi can see Cabin Two (aka Paradise, since the camp has silly little names for all of the cabins) where he and Jungkook will sleep. “I remember him telling me that he lives there all year round since his family is so close.”
“He does,” Jungkook says, sounding confused. “But that’s not-”
“Yoongi-hyung!”
Yoongi turns around at his name being called, squinting in the general direction where he’s fairly certain that Taehyung just called out from. Yoongi really hopes that he didn’t forget his sunglasses like he had last year. There’s a small store on the campground itself that sells sunglasses but Yoongi doesn’t want to walk in there ever because he can only imagine how badly the teenagers would tease him for buying something from the camp store and he doesn’t want to have to wait until his first day off next week to buy a pair from the town nearby.
“Is that Kim Taehyung I hear?” Yoongi asks, smiling as Taehyung barrels into him, wrapping his arms around Yoongi’s shoulders.
“Of course it’s me,” Taehyung says. “Your favorite dongsaeng.”
“That’s definitely not true,” Yoongi hears Jungkook mumble from the side.
Before Yoongi can assure Jungkook that he is indeed Yoongi’s favorite dongsaeng, Jimin pipes up from his side, “I’m here, too, Yoongi-hyung.”
“Oh, I didn’t even see you,” Yoongi says truthfully, turning away from Jungkook and Taehyung to face Jimin. “Taehyungie was in my way.”
Jimin rolls his eyes. “It’s good to see you. I thought that I might get to see you at some point in the last year, but it appears that Jungkookie is keeping you to himself.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes back at Jimin. “ You could have asked me to hang out, too, you know. I didn’t know that you were wanting to see me.”
“Yoongi-hyung, don’t be dense,” Jimin says. “Everyone always wants to see you, but you only ever venture out of your apartment for school or Jungkook.”
“That’s not true,” Yoongi says as he watches Jimin raise his eyebrows at Jungkook, looking confused. “I had to leave the apartment all of the time for Hoseok when he was in recovery. He wasn’t allowed to walk up stairs for like a week, you know.”
“Really?” Jimin asks, as Taehyung says, “Is Hoseokie-hyung here, too? Is he doing okay? We didn’t talk much before the procedure…”
Which, ah, Yoongi does know that. Entirely too well, actually. Hoseok is verifiably in love with Taehyung, who is also in love (with the little TM symbol in Yoongi’s brain) with Hoseok, but Hoseok feels like he can’t have any nice things because Taehyung is gay. And even though no one at the camp has ever thought of Hoseok as anything else, he didn’t always have the easiest time dealing with his Taehyung-related feelings prior to having surgery.
“He’s fine,” Yoongi says easily. “He’s here, too. Hyung was down there bothering him the second that we got out of the car.”
“I should go see him,” Taehyung says quickly, pulling Yoongi into another quick hug before sprinting down the hill toward the parking lot. “See you all at dinner!”
Yoongi fondly rolls his eyes, thinking that he really hopes that Hoseok and Taehyung manage to work out their relationship this summer. Though he hopes that they can at least do it secretly since they have to be in a cabin with minors present. He also thinks that having sex in a bunk bed for your first time is not the best way to go about things when Taehyung only lives, like, twenty minutes away from Yoongi and Hoseok’s apartment.
“Hyung, let’s get your stuff into our cabin, okay?” Jungkook suggests. “I think some of the kids have already started to arrive here. I already heard Jihoonie complaining to Minsoo-hyung about not having you as a counselor and I’m fairly certain that his brother is in our cabin this year.”
Yoongi nods, following Jungkook’s lead to Cabin Paradise.
He tries not to focus on the way that the veins in Jungkook’s arm seem to pop as he carries Yoongi’s suitcase up the stairs to the cabin’s door. Jungkook’s definitely gotten bigger since the last time that Yoongi saw him, apparently not exaggerating when he told Yoongi that all he was doing in Busan was working out. Yoongi zeroes his gaze in on Jungkook’s fingers, tightening around the handle on the suitcase in a way that makes his arms flex, his muscles contracting in a way that Yoongi is enamored with.
Obviously, he fails at not looking at Jungkook’s arms, so Yoongi chooses to deliberately look away because he thinks that it might be illegal to have horny thoughts within a ten meter radius of minors.
“Welcome to cabin number two,” Jungkook says, pushing the door open. “My home for the third year in a row.”
“Really?” Yoongi asks. “No wonder I thought that all of my kids liked you so much. You had time to mold them into loving you so much.”
“I think that they just like that I am the only counselor who has any chance at winning foot volleyball, honestly.”
Yoongi nods. That makes sense. Him, Hoseok, and Namjoon are particularly bad at playing, almost always either missing the ball or attempting to trap it with parts of their bodies that are not meant for trapping. Seokjin and Taehyung usually avoid being anywhere near the ball, usually trying to switch out with campers and claiming that it’s because the campers deserve to have more fun even though Yoongi knows that they’re being lazy. Jimin is actually pretty good at playing, but it’s not an exaggeration to say that literally none of them stand a chance when Jungkook is playing. The kids who are more athletic always flock to Jungkook, too, so there’s really no chance for the rest of them, including Jimin.
“That’s probably true, actually,” Yoongi teases. “Not like you have any other redeeming qualities.”
Jungkook chuckles, clearly catching onto Yoongi’s teasing tone. “I think that I have at least some redeeming qualities, hyung,” he says (whines, really, but Yoongi can’t process that well at all right now, so he’s choosing to believe that Jungkook is just saying this in an absolutely normal intonation). “I have so many things that people like about me.”
“Really?” Yoongi teases.
“Hyung, really,” Jungkook pouts. “There’s so many great things about me. I’m sure that you can think of one thing that you like about me outside of my foot volleyball skills.”
Of course Yoongi can think of so, so, so many things that he likes about Jungkook.
He likes that Jungkook is sweet to him and to the campers, but he can also be kind of bratty and will definitely play the dongsaeng card with Yoongi- or, even worse, the maknae card when they’re all at the camp- when he thinks that the situation calls for it.
Yoongi likes that Jungkook is one of the softest souls who he’s ever met, the type of person who talks to the fish in the river and tells people to watch their step when he notices a bug on the ground.
He likes that Jungkook can be shy, constantly blushing and dramatically hiding his face in his hands when Yoongi compliments him on how hard he works, or when Yoongi says that he’s proud of Jungkook’s grades or when he got named ‘Employee of the Month’ at the school dining hall that he works at during the semester.
He likes that Jungkook has a louder side- something that only comes out when Jungkook is at his peak comfort levels. Like when he and Yoongi are tucked into the back corner of the coffee shop that they almost always meet at when they get together during the school year and Yoongi tells a bad joke and Jungkook laughs loudly and unabashedly and Yoongi would care if it were anyone else, would think that they’re being obnoxiously loud for the cafe, but with Jungkook, Yoongi knows that it’s a sign of his comfort level and Yoongi likes that so much.
Yoongi likes Jungkook so, so, so much.
But it’s not like he can say any of this to Jungkook without his feelings showing all over his face.
So, instead of telling Jungkook all of the things that Yoongi likes (loves) about Jungkook, he coyly says, “I’ll let you know when I think of something.”
And it’s meant to be a joke, but it comes out breathy and small and not like it’s a joke at all.
And Jungkook looks oddly serious when he takes a step toward Yoongi.
Yoongi doesn’t take a step back and away from Jungkook, which would probably be the appropriate response to Jungkook stepping closer to him, but Yoongi’s still caught off guard from being cabin mates with Jungkook this year and from his face and his arms and really everything about Jungkook, so he thinks that his brain isn’t working very well.
“I’ll hold you to that, Yoongi-hyung,” Jungkook says, nearly face to face (face to chest, more like, though) with Yoongi. His voice is barely a whisper and Yoongi thinks that the air in the room is suddenly too heavy. His face is too hot, Jungkook is too close, and Yoongi is three seconds from blurting out one of the many reasons that he likes Jungkook so, so much when the cabin door bursts open and Yoongi jumps back from Jungkook, as though he’d been bitten.
“Jungkookie-hyung, Yoongi-hyung!”
“Ah, Yeonjun-ah,” Jungkook says, easily recovering (which, of course he did- he probably thought that Yoongi would back away like a normal person instead of choosing to be eye level with Jungkook’s throat) and moving to grab Yeonjun’s bag. “Good to see you again, kiddo! Which bunk were you thinking about having?”
“You’re the first one here, so you get your pick of the litter,” Yoongi says. “Well, excluding this bottom bunk closest to the door since Jungkookie’s stuff is on there. And also the bottom bunk on the back wall. That one is for me.”
Yeonjun throws his bag onto the bed above Jungkook’s.
“Taehyun is here, too,” Yeonjun explains. “And he’ll want the bunk beside Jungkookie-hyung so that he can absorb his coolness or whatever he thinks that it will do for him.”
“I am cool,” Jungkook agrees. “Must be why you chose the bunk above me.”
Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “Is anyone else from last year here, hyung? Beomgyu? Soobinie? Hawonie? Also, why did we get so many switch-ups for counselors? And where is Haneulie-hyung?”
Yoongi shrugs, answering only Yeonjun’s final question since he spoke way too quickly for Yoongi to remember any of the other things that he asked. “He probably graduated. You know that Jungkookie, Jiminie, and Taehyungie are probably the only ones who will come back next year.”
Yeonjun blinks. “What? Why wouldn’t you come back?”
“I graduate college next year- much like Haneulie-hyung did this year. Seokjinie-hyung, Namjoonie, and Hoseokie all graduate soon, too.”
“Okay,” Yeonjun says, but it sounds much more like he’s saying “Okay, and what’s your point?”
“After we graduate, we go off to get adult jobs,” Yoongi kindly explains. “Where we have to sit in an office all day and staple papers and, I don’t know, read emails or whatever it is that people with weird corporate jobs do at their weird corporate offices.”
Yeonjun blinks again. “I just don’t understand why you would rather do that than come here, I guess,” he mumbles.
Then, just as quickly as he’d burst into the room, he’s off asking Jungkook if there are any extension cords so that he can charge his phone from the top bunk, and whining when Jungkook says that there aren’t and all of the kids are expected to surrender their phones at the end of the day just like the year prior.
“They’re just going to miss you, you know,” Jungkook says to Yoongi once three more kids have come into the cabin and selected their bunks and all whined when Yeonjun mentioned that Yoongi might not be their counselor next year. “Even the kids who you’ve never had in your cabin before- well, you know how they all get attached to all of us since we have to run classes and all of that.”
“Speaking of,” Yoongi says. “What classes are we in charge of and when? I assume you probably already know since you were originally in this cabin anyway.”
Jungkook nods, pulling out his phone. “I wrote it in my notes app, but you should probably go and check in with Minsoo-hyung,” he says. Then, more tentatively, he adds, “He was asking a lot of questions about you. He didn’t seem to want you and I to be in the cabins together, either.”
“Really?” Yoongi asks, surprised. Minsoo is Yoongi’s age and kind of like the head counselor for Camp Crystal Snow. He does all of the hiring for counselors and he has his own fancy cabin where he and the other heads of the camp sleep without any children.
But Yoongi knows that this is a full-time job for Minsoo. He works to order all of the supplies for the classes that the counselors help teach and he schedules all of the classes and makes sure that all of the cabins are clean before the counselors and campers arrive.
He’s also extremely nice to Yoongi, so he’s surprised to hear disdain lacing Jungkook’s voice when he’s speaking about Minsoo. And even more surprised to hear that Minsoo didn’t seem to want Jungkook and Yoongi rooming together. A few years prior, Minsoo basically told Yoongi that he could choose who he would like to room with for his time at Camp Crystal Snow.
“I’ll check in with him at some point,” Yoongi dismisses. “Getting here was a whirlwind of seeing people for the first time in so long and I forgot.”
“But hyung liked seeing me the most, right?”
“Gross,” Beomgyu comments from where he’s sitting above Yoongi’s bed.
Yoongi chooses to ignore that comment because he doesn’t think that it would be healthy to read into the younger boys thinking that Jungkook is flirting with him.
“Don’t call us gross,” Jungkook scolds. “There is nothing wrong with missing your hyung. Didn’t you miss Soobinie while you were away from him all school year?”
“We go to the same school,” Beomgyu deadpans and Yoongi snorts, deciding to finally change out the bedding on his small bunk. Minsoo does a pretty good job choosing the bed sheets and blankets and pillows, but Yoongi is quite particular about having silk sheets (the one luxury that Yoongi allows himself) and pillowcases so that his hair stays nice and soft.
While Jungkook and Beomgyu playfully argue about the fact that it’s okay to show people that you miss them, Yoongi finishes checking in the campers and making sure that everyone has a bunk and helping the boys start to unpack.
After fifteen minutes, Yoongi figures that they should probably go on a tour of the campground since their cabin has two new campers. Plus, Yoongi finds out that one of the thirteen year olds didn’t check in with Minsoo before coming to the cabin, just walking over since he knew which one he would be placed into.
“Alright, I’ll take Jungwon over to check in with Minsoo and talk to him myself and you can start with taking the rest of the kids over to the cafeteria,” Yoongi says to Jungkook. “We’ll meet up with you there and then we can take them to all of the areas that they need to know about.”
“Sounds good,” Jungkook says.
“I’m not sure how long it will take me with Minsoo since I need to learn what classes we’re teaching this summer,” Yoongi explains. “Plus, he always chats a lot, so who knows how long we might be at the lodge with him.”
Soobin rolls his eyes. “Minsoo-hyung only talks a lot when he’s talking to you. Because he has a crush on you.”
“Not everyone who is nice to me has a crush on me,” Yoongi kindly explains. He loves that the campers are so cool about Yoongi being gay, loves that the new generation is a lot cooler about anything related to self-expression in general, but he wishes that they wouldn’t see every interaction he has with other men on the campground in a romantic light.
“Name one,” Soobin says.
“Seokjinie-hyung,” Yoongi says. Then, he rattles off, “And Hoseokie, and Taehyungie, and Jiminie, and Jungkookie, and Namjoonie, and all of the campers from last year that I had-”
“Jihoonie-hyung is in love with you,” Yeonjun pipes up from his own bunk, trying to get his phone charger to reach the wall outlet without sacrificing his own comfort. “And Jungkookie-hyung-”
Suddenly, a loud noise from the corner cuts Yeonjun off and Yoongi turns around, immediately concerned that he’s already going to have an injured camper on his hands. Fortunately, it seems that one of the small dressers provided had fallen over next to Jungkook, who stands beside it, cheeks pink in embarrassment from accidentally knocking it over.
“Jungkook-ah,” Yoongi says, worried. “Are you okay? No one else was over there and got hurt, right?”
Jungkook shakes his head. “No one over here,” he confirms. “Sorry- I was messing with it and it fell over.”
“That’s okay,” Yoongi says, relieved. “As long as you’re okay.”
Jungkook nods, looking down like he’s still embarrassed. Yoongi gets it. Especially after last summer when he got his infamous nickname. Now, Jungkook will probably get called Counselor Knocks Things Over or something silly like that.
“Good,” Yoongi says. “Let’s head out, then.”
🏕️
Hours later, once Yoongi has snuck away from Minsoo (which did require Jungwon repeatedly saying that he couldn’t remember where the gymnasium was and that it would be a really big shame if he had to miss the dance class being taught by Jimin and Seokjin because he was unable to find it on his own) and Jungkook and Yoongi gave a comprehensive tour of the campground to their rowdy kids, Yoongi is so, so ready to sit down and eat with his friends.
“Good to see you all,” Namjoon says, sounding weirdly formal, as he plops his tray on the table, knocking some radish onto the table.
“Uh. You, too?” Yoongi says, sounding confused. Namjoon is the only person who Yoongi hadn’t seen earlier in the day, but he had assumed that no one else was whisked away by Jungkook’s strong arms and probably had enough brain cells to say hello to Namjoon.
“I’m so serious,” Namjoon replies, sitting down in between Seokjin and Hoseok, who are across the table from Jimin, Yoongi, Jungkook, and Taehyung. “I’ve been with sixteen and seventeen year old boys the entire day and all they want to do is talk about the hottest celebrities and adults at the campground. And they kept asking me for my opinion on it and got mad when I wouldn’t say whether I thought that Jimin or Yoongi was prettier.”
Jimin huffs. “Well, I’m upset that you didn’t answer that, either.”
“I should be considered the prettiest,” Hoseok says. “I mean, I was a literal girl before.”
Namjoon blushes slightly. “Just like with the boys, I will not be commenting on who I think the prettiest counselor is.”
“It’s because he thinks it’s me,” Jimin whispers under his breath to Yoongi, who kicks him in the shin in retaliation.
“He’s your best friend,” Yoongi hisses. “He’s obligated to say that you’re the prettier one of us.”
Jimin shrugs, then goes back to eating the food on his cafeteria tray, like he doesn’t agree with Yoongi.
“Don’t worry, Yoongi-hyung,” Jungkook whispers from beside him. “I think that you’re the prettiest.”
Taehyung and Hoseok simultaneously pretend to gag, then laugh and high five as though they’re the funniest people in the world, and if Jungkook and a table (respectively) weren’t in between Yoongi and the two of them, Yoongi one hundred percent would reach out and smack both of them for being so rude.
“Don’t be gross in front of us,” Seokjin whines and Yoongi laughs. Seokjin may be the oldest of the group, but he certainly was used to being the youngest in his family, constantly whining to get his own way. “I can’t handle it. My stomach is already sensitive and I don’t need it to get any worse.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes. “What are you always so dramatic for?”
“Fun,” Seokjin says, shrugging.
Yoongi shrugs, too, trying to pretend like his heart isn’t in his throat right now. Is Jungkook really flirting with him? He’s been acting a bit more… well, more like he likes Yoongi than normal. Asking if Yoongi missed Jungkook the most and saying that Yoongi’s the prettiest- and, well, really that’s all , but it’s definitely enough to send Yoongi’s mind reeling about the possibility of Jungkook liking him as well.
But, that doesn’t seem like it can be a possibility. Jungkook has always been a straightforward kind of person. Yoongi has watched as Jungkook fought with everyone under the sun because he’s very attuned to his feelings and unafraid of expressing his feelings. It’s a huge part of the reason that Yoongi thought that Jungkook could fall somewhere on the aromantic spectrum. Surely, if Jungkook is always straightforward with his feelings, then he would be upfront if he liked Yoongi, right?
Yoongi isn’t sure. He doesn’t know how to read Jungkook, so he thinks that maybe he should just play things by ear. He lowkey promised Hoseok that he would confess to Jungkook by the end of the summer, but it’s only the first day of camp. Yoongi has time.
“So, Seokjinie-hyung and I got dance and horseback riding this year,” Jimin announces. “Which is literally insane because I don’t think that I’ve ever ridden one of the horses here, but we move. What did all of the rest of you get?”
“Oh,” Yoongi says, remembering his endless chat with Minsoo. “Jungkookie and I are in charge of the arts and crafts class as well as the swimming class.”
“Ugh,” Hoseok rolls his eyes. “That means that you two are going to be the favorites this year. They always like whoever is in charge of swimming lessons the best because all you have to do is be a glorified lifeguard.”
“It’s not our fault that everyone likes the lake the best,” Jungkook says, using his shoulder to nudge Yoongi’s own. “Or that they already like me and Yoongi-hyung the best.”
“No one likes you two the best-” Taehyung starts to argue, but Jungkook simply says Jihoon’s name and the entire table goes silent, save for Yoongi who groans.
“I love that kid, truly,” Yoongi says because he genuinely is fond of young Jihoon, “But I am really glad that neither of us are coming back here next year.”
Jimin raises his glass toward Yoongi, who lifts his own up and taps it against Jimin’s. “Hear, hear.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes fondly and thinks that he should buy Jihoon a hat or some shit like that from the camp store to commemorate being Jihoon’s first crush. He’ll wait until the last day of camp, though, so that he doesn’t feed into the crush any.
🏕️
Jungkookie (Camp Crystal Snow) > Me
10:15PM
Hyung
I can see you’re awake
Are you ignoring my messages????
When your phone screen is SO bright that I can see the notifications popping up in your glasses reflection?????
Oh and now you’re giggling…
Wanna sneak outside?
“Why is it chilly at night?” Yoongi grumbles as he closes the cabin door as quietly as he can behind him. Which, to be fair, is not that quiet at all. The door is one of those old-timey wooden doors that seems to have springs that snap closed so that anyone inside (and maybe people in other cabins) would be woken up by the loud noise if someone tried to sneak out. So there’s a good chance that at least three of their ten campers woke up.
Still, it is chilly and Yoongi wishes that he had thought to put on a hoodie before coming outside.
“It’s not that cold,” Jungkook comments, sitting down on the slightly dirty stairs. Yoongi doesn’t love this aspect of camping, but he’s used to it enough to sit down next to Jungkook, who has begun to take off his own sweatshirt. “You’re just tiny.” Then, “Here, take mine. Don’t want the whole fucking campground to wake up because you had to sneak back inside.”
Yoongi grumbles that he’s a perfectly normal size, thank you very much, but accepts Jungkook’s sweatshirt anyway and pulls it over his body. It’s much too large for Yoongi, which is fine since Yoongi usually wears his clothing oversized, and it smells so much like Jungkook that Yoongi’s head starts to feel dizzy enough that he feels the need to lift his nose up so that he can breathe in fresh, cool air.
“Thanks,” Yoongi says once he’s got the sweatshirt on himself and he’s no longer chilled to the bone. “Now you’ll get cold, though.”
“Not me, hyung,” Jungkook says. “I’ve got all these muscles that will keep me nice and warm.”
Then, he flexes his biceps and Yoongi chokes on nothing, wondering what kind of person he must have been in his past life to have to be tortured by pining after the single most attractive person on the planet who is apparently not shy about flexing his very attractive muscles.
“Ah, hyung,” Jungkook says, potentially laughing at Yoongi’s pain. “I really missed you while I was away. I know that we talked so much while I was there, but I guess that there’s nothing that could ever replace being next to you.”
Yoongi feels his cheeks heating up. He knows that Jungkook probably means this in a platonic way, probably said something similar to Seokjin when he got back into his apartment after returning, but his body can’t seem to help its reactions to Jungkook saying such sweet things to him.
Yoongi turns his head to face Jungkook and gives him a small smile, which Jungkook returns.
“I get it,” Yoongi says, because it’s true. He loved the extra text messages and phone calls and video calls that he received when Jungkook was in his hometown, but nothing compares to being sat next to Jungkook underneath the clear sky and the bright moon. “It made me realize that I want to see you so much more when we’re back in Seoul.”
“I wouldn’t mind it,” Jungkook whispers. “My apartment can get kind of hectic and I know yours was a weird place last year because Hoseokie-hyung was recovering- but, Yoongi-hyung, I really want us to get comfortable in each other’s spaces.”
“Really?” Yoongi asks, surprised.
He had always thought that the cafe where they meet up was a safe spot. Yoongi never wanted to pressure Jungkook into inviting Yoongi over or pressure Jungkook into accepting an invitation into Yoongi’s apartment.
Yoongi never even considered that Jungkook was maybe waiting for Yoongi to make the first move.
“Of course, Yoongi-hyung,” he says, voice sounding almost desperate. “I wish that I had you over so many times. I love going to those cafes in Seoul, but sometimes I just want to hang out with you and not have to be doing homework or sitting in those chairs because, hyung, the main cafe that we go to is cute but the chairs are not comfortable at all and I just think that we could become even closer if we chose to see each other more-”
“Yeah,” Yoongi says, cutting Jungkook’s passionate rant off. “Jungkook-ah, of course hyung wants to see you more.”
Jungkook blinks. “Really?”
Yoongi nods, hoping that Jungkook doesn’t truly feel like Yoongi never wants to see him. For years, Yoongi has chosen to let Jungkook take the reins because he never wanted to push his feelings and potentially create any discomfort for his younger friend.
He genuinely never considered that he should have maybe been pushing more than he was.
“I- Jungkook-ah, hyung loves seeing you,” Yoongi admits, feeling like it’s too close to telling Jungkook that he loves him. “I always want to hang out with you, but I always got too concerned that you might not actually want to see me that much, so I always just thought that if you wanted to see me, you’d ask.”
“You’re so silly, Yoongi-hyung,” Jungkook says. “I’m glad I kept asking you to hang out, but I can’t lie and say that I didn’t have those same thoughts about you, but you always seemed so happy to see me that I thought that maybe hyung is just more shy than I originally thought…”
“I am shy,” Yoongi agrees, twisting his body so that he can lean back on one of the posts surrounding the stairs and face Jungkook. “But I should have shown you that I wanted to see you more. I guess I just always get nervous in friendships.”
Jungkook moves to mimic Yoongi’s body position, his toe-sock clad feet touching Yoongi’s bare feet. “Why?”
Yoongi shrugs. He’s genuinely not sure why. All he knows is that ever since he was younger, there’s been this little anxiety monster living inside of his chest, telling him that everyone either hates him, barely tolerates him, or is only pretending to like him to spare his feelings.
Logically, Yoongi knows that this can’t be true of every person that he meets. Sure, there are going to be people in the world who don’t like him and there are probably going to be people who just tolerate him and, as much as he doesn’t want there to be, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that someone might just pretend to like him for a bit depending on the circumstances. But he’s also aware that it’s pretty unfair to think that everyone is lying to him because that does nothing but paint them out to be bad people when Yoongi knows that it’s just his messed-up brain that is deciding that no one likes him.
“Just- bad brain stuff, I guess,” Yoongi mumbles, not really feeling like detailing his intense battle with depression and anxiety to his long-time crush. “Makes me nervous about getting close to people, you know?”
Jungkook nods. “Yeah. I mean, that’s not what my bad brain stuff does, but I get what you mean.”
“You have bad brain stuff?” Yoongi asks.
Jungkook nods. “Yeah. Mine makes me anxious in social situations,” he explains. “Coming here the first year was absolutely terrifying to me. Especially when we were halfway here and Seokjinie-hynug told me that we weren’t going to be in the same cabin.”
“I didn’t realize it was hard on you,” Yoongi says. “You seemed like you fit in so easily with everyone here. You talked to me like we’d been best friends our entire lives.”
Jungkook shrugs again. In the moonlight, Yoongi thinks that it looks a bit like Jungkook is blushing. “Hyung has always been easy to talk to, I guess. With some people, it feels like a chore, or like my throat is going to close up the entire way if I even try to get a word out- but it’s always been easy to talk to you. Always felt like the most natural thing in the world to me.”
The air is once again getting too thick for Yoongi to breathe. Jungkook’s voice sounds too serious, too much like he might mean what he’s saying. Yoongi doesn’t think that he can handle it well at all.
So, instead of giving Jungkook back the same sincerity- instead of saying something like, “Talking to you is the easiest thing in the world for me, too, because I am head over heels in love with you and not only do I want to see you more, I want to see you every day because my heart feels so, so fucking empty when you’re not beside me.”- Yoongi jokes, “Guess hyung just has a comforting aura or something. You should tell Hoseok that. He was really prickly with me when I first moved in.”
Jungkook doesn’t sound like he’s joking at all when he agrees.
They both go silent after that. Yoongi doesn’t think that he’s made things too awkward, but he thinks that he might have killed a moment with Jungkook by saying that.
The thing is… Yoongi just really feels like he can’t let himself get too comfortable in a situation like this. He has so many concerns. What if he misreads Jungkook’s intentions? If he does something silly like that, he might just go and tell Jungkook that he’s in love with him, thinking that Jungkook could feel the same way, and if Jungkook doesn't like him (which is way more likely than Jungkook actually liking him at this point since Yoongi keeps derailing intimate conversations), then he might ask to, like, transfer cabins or something so that he can avoid Yoongi. Then, the next thing that Yoongi knows, he’s eating lunch with Jihoon at the camper’s table because no one else wants to talk to him and he’s lost all of his friends and Hoseok will probably evict him.
So. Really. Yoongi had to make a joke.
But, still. Yoongi thinks that Jungkook keeps trying to be vulnerable and honest with Yoongi, so maybe he can try to give some of that same energy back.
“I’m really glad that Seokjinie-hyung dramatically said that he would leave the campground if he didn’t get to be counselors with Jimin,” Yoongi says, looking up at Jungkook, who apparently was already staring straight at him. “I’m glad that we get to spend this time together.”
“Me, too, hyung,” Jungkook says, a content smile gracing his face. “Me, too.”
🏕️
Yoongi finds himself stuck in a conversation with both Minsoo and Jihoon the next morning at breakfast. And Yoongi can’t quite figure out why Jihoon seems to hate his head counselor so much, or why he felt the need to wander away from Namjoon and the rest of his cabin so early in the morning, but Yoongi hasn’t had a coffee yet and he’s way too tired to process the vaguely threatening energy coming off of the seventeen year old.
“Hyung- Yoongi-hyung,” Jihoon says, interrupting the conversation that Minsoo had started, walking over with his own tray of food. Yoongi wishes that the conversation with Minsoo would be over since he wants to take his tray and sit down with all of his friends, but he also doesn’t want to be rude. “Why did you abandon me this year? I was supposed to have you as a counselor.”
“Namjoon is a great counselor,” Yoongi replies. “Probably the best one out here. That’s why Minsoo put him as the only solo counselor.”
Jihoon narrows his eyes at Minsoo. “Oh, so you took Yoongi-hyung away from me.”
Minsoo’s eyes widen. “Um, I didn’t- I just thought that Namjoonie made the most sense to solo counsel-”
Jihoon sighs, apparently not believing that Minsoo did not intentionally sabotage the counselor/cabin set up. “I’ll just get going. Yoongi-hyung, will you pick me first for foot volleyball tomorrow afternoon?”
“Do counselors get to choose campers this year?” Yoongi asks. In past years, campers have all chosen who they would like to be with- with Jungkook’s team always filling up first. Then Jimin’s team. In fact, Yoongi is fairly certain that his team always gets filled last . “If that’s the case, then I’m definitely choosing Minho.”
Jihoon gasps. “What? You would choose Minho over me?”
Yoongi nods. He’s teasing Jihoon a bit, but he’s also completely serious because Minho is one of the campers who is not only insanely competitive, but also absurdly good at pretty much every sport.
“This is sick,” Jihoon pouts, stalking away. “See who chooses you tomorrow afternoon.”
“So the counselors aren’t choosing, then?” Yoongi calls after Jihoon, who turns around and glares at Yoongi.
Once Jihoon is sufficiently out of hearing range, Yoongi laughs. “That kid is too fun to tease. He takes everything so personally.”
“Only when it comes to you,” Minsoo supplies. “Kid hates me because he seems to think that I’m competition in his efforts to win you over.”
Yoongi snorts. “He’ll learn this summer that I am way too old for him. And he’ll be able to crush on someone his own age when he goes off to college in the next few years.”
And Yoongi really does hope that is the case for Jihoon. Yoongi actually adores the younger boy, thinks of him like a younger sibling (since Yoongi has none of those of his own), and he’s flattered to be the boy’s first love. But he thinks that Jihoon should really take the time to explore what he could have with people his own age.
Once he gets to college, Yoongi thinks that Jihoon will have the time of his life falling in love.
“So, you’re interested in people your age?” Minsoo asks, suddenly looking shy.
Yoongi’s mind instantly goes back to Soobin suggesting that Minsoo is so chatty with Yoongi because he likes him.
Yoongi shakes that thought from his head. He can’t live his whole life simultaneously thinking that everyone hates him and that everyone has a crush on him. Those are both impossibilities.
Still, just to be sure, Yoongi says, “Around my age. The last person I had a crush on is a few years younger than me.”
Yoongi tries to keep it in the past tense, not really interested in confessing his crush on Jungkook to Minsoo right now, but Minsoo’s eyes flick to the counselor’s table and Yoongi knows that he’s looking at Jungkook.
“Right,” Minsoo says. “Well, you know, it’s your last summer here and I was hoping that we could exchange our socials before you leave. Maybe our phone numbers, too, since I’ll no longer be your boss and we can legally be friends.”
“Legally,” Yoongi snorts. “Yeah, here,” he says, balancing his tray in one hand and grabbing his cell phone out of his pocket with the other, and handing it over to Minsoo. He doesn't know why he keeps it on his person, they rarely get reception out here. The wifi is pretty good, but if Yoongi’s being honest, everyone who he talks to is at the camp anyway.
“Cool,” Minsoo says, when he’s apparently finished putting his phone number in. “Text me soon, okay?”
Yoongi nods, hoping that the conversation is finally over because breakfast time is literally only half an hour and Minsoo easily took up twelve minutes of Yoongi’s time. Plus, there’s the time that he had to wait in line… Really, he has maybe ten more minutes to shovel all of his food down his throat.
“So, I see that Minsoo-hyung finally made his move,” Jimin comments when Yoongi sits down in between Hoseok and Seokjin at the counselor’s table. “He’s only been pining for the entire time that I’ve been here.”
“He was pining before that, too,” Seokjin unhelpfully adds.
Yoongi doesn’t acknowledge either of them, instead choosing to scoop his rice and eggs into his mouth as quickly as possible.
“I just can’t believe he finally worked up the courage to ask for Yoongi-hyung’s phone number,” Taehyung adds. “I clocked him more as the type to stalk all of hyung’s social media and then pretend that it came up in the suggested follows section.”
“Really weird that you’ve thought about it before,” Yoongi notes.
Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Jiminie and I have had a bet going since our first year on when Minsoo would ask you out.”
“I can’t believe that he couldn’t wait one more month,” Jimin sighs. “The prize is a good one.”
“Wait- now that it’s over, will you finally tell us the prize?” Hoseok asks, seeming excited. “You two have been talking this up for years now, but you’ve been so, so secretive on the prize!”
“Well-” Taehyung starts, but Yoongi cuts him off.
“Minsoo didn’t ask me out,” he says through a mouthful of rice.
“What?”
Yoongi slowly finishes chewing, then swallows his food, before saying, “Minsoo didn’t ask me out. He said now that we can legally be friends, he wanted to exchange phone numbers.”
Everyone blinks at him. “Is that not the equivalent to asking you out?”
“No,” Yoongi protests, mixing his food because he really wants to finish it before they have to go out and do half a day of classes. Today, Yoongi and Jungkook are doing art class in the morning and swimming in the evening. Art class is the worst one to teach because, while the campers absolutely love it, it’s easily the messiest of all of them. Though, Yoongi will admit that a lot of the campers could be professional macaroni portrait artists by this point.
“Besides,” Yoongi adds, “Jungkook asked me for my phone number on, like, hour two of knowing one another. Do you all think that means that Jungkook asked me out?”
Yoongi looks up from his tray, surprised to see every last counselor staring at him. Except for Jungkook, who is pointedly looking around the room like he’d rather look anywhere than Yoongi’s face right now.
“That explains so much,” Namjoon whispers.
Hoseok sighs. “I told you all.”
“What?” Yoongi asks, confused. “What did you tell them? And what makes sense?”
Seokjin stands, signaling that it’s finally time to leave the cafeteria and Yoongi is sad because he has at least a quarter of his food left on his tray, and claps Yoongi on the shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Yoongi-yah. I’m sure that you’ll figure it out.”
Yoongi doesn’t quite know what Seokjin is talking about, or what any of them are talking about for that matter, but he supposes that he can just go with the flow, and hopefully figure out why everyone is acting so weird about him and Minsoo and him and Jungkook.
He’s still got a month to figure things out anyway.