Chapter 11
On the ride to the campus café Yoongi found it rather hard to think because there was a funny sensation that felt like nerves coursing through him. He really hadn't expected a reply like this at all, from it being very quick or because there was a chance that Jimin might have changed his mind about the free coffee because he had just said it to seem nice that day. He had thought that maybe Jimin would see the unknown number on his screen, along with the rather stupid message, and he would have decided to ignore it for a little while before sending something back; something about him being too busy but he would get back to him when he was free. Which he would magically never be. Yet Jimin had replied to his message with a time and a location and it felt almost like a date even though he knew that that might not be the case.
Would he reply back so quickly just to be courteous?
The ride to the café seemed to take forever when in reality it was just fifteen minutes or so in the light traffic. Yoongi tried to not be impatient but it was hard, and he was usually a patient person by nature. Sitting at sets of lights had him almost squirming on the seat whilst he waited for them to change, but eventually he had no need to because he was pulling up at the curb just outside the café, pulling the clutch lever out fully and then twisting the keys in the ignition. He reached up to unbuckle his helmet first and pulled it free before climbing off the motorbike, which was secure on its stabilizers. As he pulled the keys free to unlock the seat storage he glanced into the café window and he saw that there was a familiar shock of jet black hair right at the very edge of the frame. Jimin was sitting inside, at one of the tables ten minutes early and when they locked eyes he saw him moving.
Shit, Jimin had just given him one of those tinkling little waves of his and so Yoongi lifted his own hand to return it as he lifted the seat cover up to shove the helmet in the storage section. He shoved the seat down and locked it again, reaching up to try and fix his hair as he did. He likely looked messy as hell right now but didn't he always? Yoongi shoved the keys into his jeans pocket and then moved to cross the short stretch of sidewalk to enter the café.
When Yoongi stepped inside he saw that the interior was rather quiet and empty, not like it usually was. As a result it was easy to spot Jimin seated the far corner table, though his dark clothing made it easy to do that too. Yoongi could see that he wasn't wearing his usual dance clothing but rather faded and torn-up jeans and a white tee, but it was his black hoodie that caught his eye. It looked rather big on him, like it would hang off his frame in all the wrong places in the most endearing way possible. Jimin had been looking out of the window of course, but when the bell sounded he looked over at him and Yoongi was pretty sure that he saw a smile on his face.
The mere thought that he might have smiled because of him made Yoongi's stomach feel rather funny just like the duration of the bike ride, and it was hard to stop his own smile from appearing on his face.
"You're here early," Yoongi remarked as he moved to get closer to him. One of the few customers inside glanced at him briefly before turning back to her laptop, earphones in playing soft acoustic guitars from what his sharp ears could detect.
"I could say the same for you," Jimin replied as he reached the table and lightly pulled the opposite chair out. The young man had his elbows folded on the rather rough untreated surface, and Yoongi managed to not copy his position. "But I didn't know you had a bike so that makes sense. It's nice; what model is it?"
"Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark," Yoongi replied without a hint of hesitation, the English words rolling off his tongue with ease even though they were rather complex. At this Jimin let out a sudden laugh and the sound caused another funny burst of butterflies in the pit of his stomach. "Want me to run that by you again?"
"Yes please," Jimin agreed as he stopped laughing and shifted to cock his head and listen carefully.
"Repeat after me. Royal. "
"Royal," Jimin said with a slight hint of accent on the 'y' that made it sound too thick, too heavy.
"Enfield," Yoongi said with a slight smile.
" Enpe- no, Enfield, " Jimin dragged the word out but he got there rather well.
"This part's the fun part, Thunderbird. You might wanna split it up into two words."
"I can do it, I can," Jimin wriggled on the seat and stuck the tip of his tongue out to wet his lips. "Thunder...buh-bird. Easy, what's the last part?"
Yoongi paused before saying the last word, just taking a moment to observe Jimin in the soft sunlight coming in through the window. It fell across his face in the most perfect of ways, made his eyes almost glow in a myriad of brown from deep chocolate to a slightly lighter honey-tinged note. Jimin held his gaze unblinkingly as he waited for him to speak, lips pouted out, and then he seemed to notice that he was staring and his cheeks suddenly seemed to flush with a hint of pink. Yoongi decided that he should probably give him a reply now.
"Twinspark," he said smoothly, seeing Jimin's brow twitch at the word, and then his lips. He made a few soft sounds under his breath as he tried to get it right, struggling with connecting the first two syllables because he kept stressing too heavily on the first. "You gonna give up or?"
"No no, let's just call it…" Jimin turned his head to look out of the window at the bike again, running his eyes over the red and black paint job on the engine block and the flowing silver letters. "Sparky!"
Sparky? Why did hearing that made Yoongi feel the need to start laughing, a rather frothy mixture of giggles spreading in the pit of his stomach that threatened to spill free so he had to bit down on his lower lip. When Jimin turned back to him with a rather pleased smile on his face he couldn't help but laugh.
"Sparky is cute and easier to say." The air fell silent for a moment, nothing but the faded sounds of traffic coming in through a slight gap in the open window, and then he made a soft noise. "Oh, the orders, um-"
"I can go order if you want?" Yoongi offered, lifting a hand to lazily gesture back at the counter.
"I'm the one buying, right?" Jimin said as he moved to get out of his chair, that same smile still present on his face. Yoongi found himself hoping that it might stay around for the duration of their meeting if possible. "What do you take?"
"Americano," Yoongi replied before jokingly humming a rather familiar tune under his breath. Jimin actually went to start singing the words when he stopped and so the other man started laughing again, the pitch rather high-pitched because he was clearly embarrassed. From what he heard however he seemed to have a rather pleasant voice. Yoongi was almost tempted to start humming again just in case he carried on singing.
"What'd you take?"
"Caffé au lait," Jimin said, still lingering by the table rather than go over to the counter. "Talk about completely different tastes."
"Opposites attract," Yoongi replied a little too quickly, realising he had said it only after he had closed his mouth. He felt a brief rush of embarrassment at this and yet Jimin had a smile on his face as he crossed the café to get to the counter. He shifted to watch him go and then he turned back to look at the table. After a moment he pulled his phone free to check the screen just for the sake of it, seeing a bunch of notifications that he decided to ignore as he shoved the device back into his jeans. It took Jimin a moment to get the orders and in that time Yoongi just watched the occasional roll of traffic that went passed out the window until he was placing the saucers down on the table and sitting back down in front of him.
"Um, Jungkookie said that you're a freshman but you're older; that you're twenty?" Jimin asked as he pulled his chair in. At this he nodded as he moved his cup closer to him, the saucer scraping on the wood ever so slightly.
"Yeah, I went travelling with 'em," Yoongi explained as he dropped his gaze to look at his own coffee. "With Seokseok, Namjoonie - he studies applied music and creative writing, and Seokjin - he majors in acting."
"You study applied music and photography, right?" Jimin asked, before adding. "A friend of mine sees you in the labs sometimes, working on music and stuff."
"Are you the same age as, uh, Jungkook?"
"No, I'm already nineteen," Jimin explained as he stopped twisting the cup around and lifted it to take a sip. "I major in dance here, obviously, but I take evening elective maths classes at a nearby college. Myongji."
"Maths?" Yoongi asked as he wrapped his hands around the cup, the warmth heating up his palms almost instantly. "So you're smart, huh?"
"Yes," Jimin replied with a rather shy smile as he reached up to run a hand through his hair. "I'm smart."
He was just about to lower his hand to the table again when Yoongi noticed something, something rather interesting about his fingers. It wasn't his rings, which he saw quite a few of - mostly thick metal rings or black bands, but rather the fact that his nails were a rather startling shade of gold.
"Oh," he tugged on his sleeves to try and hide his fingers from sight. "It was a test, for the performance night. We have to put a lot of work into our visual presentation too so we have costumes, makeup; it's all important. Tae, my friend, was trying to find the right tone for my visuals so…"
Jimin stopped talking and let out a rather awkward laugh. "I look pretty funny, right?"
"Gold suits you," Yoongi said after a moment of thought, seeing that Jimin was still pulling his hoodie cuffs over his fingers as if trying to hide them from view. So he reached over to lightly take hold of one of his hands, folding the cuff back so that they were revealed again. In his grip he felt the younger man tensing slightly, particularly when his fingers brushed against his knuckles. "It suits you perfectly, so don't do that."
"Don't you find it…" Jimin paused to try and think his words over. "Don't you find it a little strange?"
"Why'd I find it strange?" Yoongi asked as he lifted his cup to take a sip of his coffee.
"Well, I mean people usually find it strange," he explained as he turned the cup on the saucer again, playing with it in a fidgety manner. "My friend gets made fun of sometimes, because he wears things like makeup and nail varnish. People stare at him a lot."
"Does your friend give a shit?"
"Ah, no," Jimin laughed softly and shook his head in reply. "No, Tae doesn't give a shit."
"Then it don't matter, yeah?" Yoongi said as he eyed him over the cup. "You said it's for a performance, so it's art and it don't matter. But even if it was just 'cos you wanted to wear it, it don't matter."
"…That's nice," Jimin said as he finally stoned playing with his cup to look at him. "That's a nice sentiment, one I wish I could relate to."
"Well, if people stare at you just know this," Yoongi put the cup back down so that he could fold his arms on the table in perfect imitation of his posture. He even cocked his head ever so slightly so that he could hold his eye-contact completely. "They're staring at you 'cos you look good. OK?"
At this the other student started laughing, that same rather high-pitched giggle that he had done earlier when he had embarrassed himself. He lifted his hand to cover his mouth as he did, revealing his nails without a single hint of self-consciousness.
"I'm still waiting on an agreement," Yoongi said with his own smile as Jimin lowered his hand and shifted his gaze across the café interior. "OK?"
"OK," Jimin agree with a nod, still avoiding his eyes as he did. Yes, there was most certainly a pinkness to his cheeks just like earlier, a sign that his compliment had worked.
"So, what's with the costume?" Yoongi asked, coffee completely ignored in favour of something much more pleasing. "What're we talking here? Sequins? Crazy shit?"
"The costume theme for the routine is - wait," Jimin paused and lifted a hand to wave at him. "You're cheating!"
"Huh, cheating?" he asked in confusion, reaching up to point at himself. "What'd you mean? I was just asking about the costume 'cos I was curious and-"
"I just nearly told you the narrative for the routine and you haven't even guessed yet," Jimin explained.
"Ah shit, I forgot you were smart," Yoongi retorted as he reached up to scratch at the back of his head jokingly. Just like he had been hoping that same amused grin stayed on Jimin's face and he knew right there and then he had to just keep finding ways to make it appear.
"Lemme guess, you want me to take a shot at the narrative again. Right?" Jimin nodded and lifted up his cup, finally taking a proper sip for what must have been the first time over the duration of the 'date'. "I said love, yeah? But I need to be more specific so, uh, I'm gonna go with romantic. Am I getting close here?"
"Yes, you're finally in the ballpark," Jimin said, holding the cup in front of his lips. There was a slight blob of foam in the corner that he hoped he would lick free before the urge to reach over and wipe it off overcame him.
"In the ballpark? Shit, that was my guess," Yoongi exclaimed, causing another snort of laughter.
"OK, so I found the song again but it took me forever and Namjoonie's shitty obsession with nineties' music to find it, and it's about…" He drummed his fingers on the table for effect, seeing Jimin dropping his gaze to watch him. "Kisses."
"Wow, you're smart too," the dancer joked as he lowered his cup back onto the saucer. "What kind of kisses?"
"Secret kisses - forbidden love," Yoongi said, and a moment later he jerked in his seat. "It's forbidden, yeah? That's why she sings about running off with the guy, right?"
"Bzzzz, you're wrong," Jimin said, laughing for a moment before stopping. "Well, I mean…you're not wrong but the forbidden aspect isn't the most important part of it."
"So it is forbidden?" Yoongi asked, narrowing his eyes at him ever so slightly. "Why's it forbidden, huh?"
"Maybe I'll tell you if you get the right answer?" Jimin suggested, before hastily adding. "But only one guess a day so you can't guess again!"
"Guess I'll just have to listen to the song a few more times and try and figure it out."
"And maybe watch the routine again," Jimin suggested as he lifted his cup to take another deep sip of coffee. Yoongi could see the way his lips quirked up at the corners, not fully hidden behind the cup.