Chapter Text
he gets home okay and texts to hoseok about it. there is no need to tell taehyung that because they are roommates or jungkook because he is always with taehyung. he goes to bed, in spite of it being almost morning and sleeps through the whole day. that's what sundays are made for, right?
it's already getting dark when he wakes up and pushes himself out of bed. he has one assignment he needs to do, so it’s not okay for him to just lie in bed all day, no matter how much he wants it. yoongi thinks he is alone at the house but when he gets to the kitchen, taehyung is there and the oven is on.
'eggs?' taehyung asks too cheerfully for yoongi's taste, and yoongi grunts. jungkook, who looks like he just showered, sits at the kitchen table watching youtube videos.
yoongi comes into the bathroom and it's all foggy and wet and gross, so he comes right out and yells at jungkook to go and clean it up. the younger has a habit of spending too much time in the shower and his only excuse is 'but I like how soap smells!'
taehyung gives yoongi a plate with one fried egg and a toasted bread and yoongi eats it, though it tastes bland, but it's not taehyung's fault. it is only because yoongi doesn't really wants to eat right now.
or do anything, to be honest.
hoseok texts him, all excited, about a friend of his who was studying abroad for a year and came back just yesterday, and that he is a very cool guy and yoongi definitely should meet him. yoongi replies him with a thumbs up emoji not being able to say anything else. when jungkook finishes cleaning the bathroom, yoongi brushes his teeth and then goes to his room and busies himself with his homework.
that’s how his sunday night passes by.
on monday yoongi goes to class and then on tuesday he also goes to class, and he is busy, so he doesn’t think of anything that is not connected with his student life. he starts reading some French novel that is as it says on a cover 'portrays the most depressing life one could ever imagine' and it gets yoongi thinking that it’s kinda troubling that he finds this novel so relatable.
hoseok demands that yoongi comes to a bar with him on wednesday for a 'quiet get-together' with just him, taehyung, jungkook, maybe jimin, and hoseok's cool friend who studies abroad, and his boyfriend. yoongi doesn’t argue that it's not a 'quiet get-together' when there is more people that one can count on one's hand, he really wants to, but he doesn't. he obeys, instead, and gets dressed on wednesday evening and brushes his hair. then he waits for taehyung and jungkook to get ready and goes with them to a stupid bar.
he sits in the corner of the booth, almost pressed to a wall, and hoseok gives him a bottle of pear flavoured cider. he listens to his friends chit-chat, smiles at the jokes and argues with jungkook about what kinds of plants grow on the south of Argentina, and relaxes. he completely forgets that someone else is supposed to come, till jimin voices his worry about hoseok's cool friend being late. then hoseok stands up and goes outside to call him. while he is away, taehyung tells yoongi a story about a dog that found it's owners when they moved, but yoongi listens to it only with one ear, because he tries to figure out why there is this unsettling feeling in his stomach all of a sudden.
and then hoseok comes back and says 'well, namjoon got lost because he always does. but it’s okay, 'cause jin hyung found the way so they are almost here'
and yoongi is like: ahhh… that’s why.
when jin walks in, he doesn’t notice yoongi first, he stands awkwardly behind namjoon, while namjoon is hugging hoseok, and then says hi to everyone else, and then jin does that too, and he introduces himself to jimin and then his eyes stop at yoongi.
'oh wow' he says, eyes wide with surprise. 'hi'
'oh yeah, that’s yoongi, he was at a party this saturday, but he left before you guys came' hoseok explains. jin still stares at yoongi and that makes him feel more uncomfortable than he already is.
'yeah, we uhh… we know each other' jin says as he sits down beside namjoon. 'we were in high school together'
'wow' taehyung and jungkook say at the same time.
'hey' namjoon nods at yoongi and then turns to hoseok. 'so, please, tell me what you were up to while I was away'.
and after that the night goes in a very ordinary way, with drinks and food coming to their table, with laughter and stories, with some music that plays in the background. but for yoongi this night is not ordinary at all, because he really wants to run away from all of this.
after a while taehyung notices that yoongi is being quiet and he asks 'yoongi, babe, what's wrong?' and he always does that. he always calls everyone babe, only when he talks to his friends he says their name first and then he says 'babe'. but not to jungkook. jungkook is always 'babe'. like taehyung doesn’t know jungkook's name. it’s like he thinks that this is exactly what’s written in jungkook's birth certificate – jeon babe.
'just a little tired' yoongi smiles uncomfortably, but taehyung doesn’t hear this because he gets distracted with loud laughter from the other end of the table, where namjoon tells everyone stories about the time he was in the States.
namjoon talks a lot, but it's only because he has something to say. he turns out to be really cool, yoongi can admit that if he brushes off all of his petty thoughts. it's pretty obvious that namjoon is a very good storyteller, and that he is intelligent and has perfect sense of humor. he is a good company, and he clicked easily with the rest of their group, no wonder hoseok was so excited about him returning.
but yoongi can't help but notice that jin, on the contrary, is very quiet. maybe even quieter than yoongi. he smiles at the jokes and gives short answers if anyone asks him something, but doesn’t participate in conversation at all. he looks almost like he is uncomfortable and doesn’t really know why he is here.
when yoongi finishes his second cider, he pushes taehyung and jungkook so they would let him out. when he stands up, jimin gets all worried and asks 'hyung, are you leaving already?' in a whiny voice and then hoseok screams something like 'do you hate us?!' and jungkook just jumps at him in attempt to stop him.
'jesus christ, guys, I just need to pee' mumbles yoongi. and they let him go.
he goes to the restroom but then decides not to go back to the table and sits at the bar instead. it's wednesday, so there is only a few people, and it's not hard for him to get bartender's attention. he orders a beer and while he waits for it he watches music videos that are played on the flat screen at the bar.
'hey' jin says near his shoulder and it startles him 'everybody thought that you lied and really left, so I volunteered to go look for you.'
'yeah sorry' yoongi says and takes a sip from the glass that bartender puts in front of him just to avoid saying anything else.
'too loud there, isn't it?' jin smiles at him and sits on the nearest bar stool 'i feel kind of tired from all this buzz.'
'me too' yoongi agrees. jin looks at the menu board and then at the tv screen and then at yoongi.
'I wanted to talk to you at the party but you left so quickly' he says, glancing somewhere else for a moment and then looking back at yoongi. 'how's life?'
yoongi sighs.
'bad question?' laughs jin and yoongi smiles at him sheepishly and jin nods. 'yeah, I'd sigh too. I can't think of anything more appropriate'
'well, I think 'meh' also works good' yoongi suggests. 'or hysterical laughter.'
jin giggles and then lifts up his forefinger like he has an idea.
'a loud cry' he says solemnly and his expression is funnier than his words, and it makes yoongi chuckle. jin smiles a wide genuine smile. they sit in silence for a bit until jin breaks it.
'I honestly don’t think I've ever met a person who would say 'life has been great' to this question'
'life is cruel to everyone' yoongi shrugs. he takes another sip of his beer. 'wait, ask the question again. I think I have the best response.'
jin laughs, and then sits up in his chair, and makes a very serious face. 'hi, yoongi. haven’t seen you in ages! how's life?'
'ugh' yoongi groans and makes jin laugh once again. and it makes his heart flutter.
they joke a little more and then they talk about their classmates, like it always goes when two people who went to the same school meet. though, both of them know very little about their schoolmates so conversation dies out very quickly and they just go back to the table.
when they join others, they see taehyung and jimin playing some kind of game, namjoon and hoseok who are still talking very animatedly and jungkook who is scrolling boringly on his twitter timeline. they sit down in front of each other and taehyung shuffles closer to yoongi.
'hey, jin hyung' he says, putting his arm around yoongi. 'please, tell me what yoongi hyung was like in high school, because I know nothing about his past, but I can't be friends with him if he was a bully or liked Nickelback or something.'
jin smiles at this, and yoongi shudders, he has no idea what jin can say about him.
'yoongi was very sweet' says jin warmly. 'and I liked talking to him very much.'
and yoongi blushes as red as a tomato.