16 – JM focus
Jimin had been standing outside the gates, waiting to walk with Taehyung, for five minutes. He knew the bus would leave soon but he didn't want to ditch his best friend. Sure, Jungkook was with him, but Jimin was doubtful of the boy's ability to hold an unsupported conversation with his crush. He did worry about Taehyung.
"Jimin! What are you doing? The bus will leave soon," said Hoseok, who had just exited the gates from behind Jimin. After Jimin explained why he was waiting, Hoseok looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, Chim, I walked past the office and it looked like they both got detention. I think they're going to be a while, so I think you should go without him. You know you can't just skip a practice."
Jimin looked longingly back at the school but decided that Hoseok was right. He didn't want to leave Taehyung there or get on the bus without him; it felt like abandonment. However, looking up at Hoseok, he smiled and realised he was overreacting. Jimin didn't know what they had done, but at least they had each other. He sped to the bus with Hoseok and managed to catch it before it departed. Being the last ones on the bus, there was very limited seating choice. Everyone was in groups of even numbers and nobody wanted to disturb those sitting by themselves. This made it very hard to find two empty seats that were near each other.
Hoseok nudged Jimin and he saw two seats, one in front of the other, that were unoccupied. Jimin shrugged and they decided to take them. Jimin took the seat behind Hoseok, who immediately swivelled around to face Jimin. He smiled and Jimin found it impossible not to smile back. They managed to chat relatively normally for about a minute. Whoever was next to Jimin was part of a group of five with the people behind them and the girl next to Hoseok was engaged in an intense conversation with the two in front of her.
It was loud and crowded and Jimin wished he hadn't left Taehyung. Sure, he was probably still in detention and waiting for him would have cost Jimin valuable practice time, but even so, Jimin felt a little bit guilty.
Jimin and Hoseok's stop was the seventh along the bus route and not many people stayed on that long. After the second stop, just fewer than half the students had left, including the four people behind Jimin, but not the one next to him. The boy turned back around, having nobody to talk to, and Jimin watched Hoseok double take as he recognised him.
"Oh, Yoongi-hyung! Hi, I didn't realise it was you! You know Park Jimin, right?" Jimin froze in his seat. He hadn't noticed it was Yoongi either. Trying desperately hard to be calm and cool and normal, he turned his head towards Yoongi and smiled politely. Yoongi was even more beautiful up close. The way his soft hair looked naturally fluffy and irresistible, his intoxicating and mysterious eyes. If only he would smile, thought Jimin. Yoongi looked back at him and replied to Hoseok,
"Not really, but I've seen him around." Jimin thought that being referred to in 3rd person was better than not being acknowledged at all, so he took that as a win. Yoongi went back to looking at his phone and Jimin noticed he had his earphones in. Hoseok objected resolutely,
"Yoongi, would you please get off your cellphone? I know you get off at the sixth stop and I really don't feel like ignoring you until then. Just have a nice conversation with me and Jimin," he said and Jimin admired his confidence. Yoongi considered the proposition. Jimin didn't know what he wanted the answer to be, which made him even more anxious to hear it. Finally, Yoongi sighed and paused his music, taking out his earphones and stuffing them in his coat pocket.
"Fine." Jimin was expecting him to offer conversation, and when it didn't happen, he gathered all his strength and courage to say,
"Well done in the basketball tournament yesterday, you played really well." Yoongi just stared out of the window and said,
"I could have done better." He spoke with almost no emotion and Jimin laughed. He felt a strange compulsion to keep trying, despite Yoongi's insensate response.
"Are you kidding? You beat everyone else by miles and Jungkook told us you weren't feeling well. That's pretty cool." Yoongi huffed softly but didn't reply. As much as Jimin wanted to keep going, he knew he was blushing and thought that if he spoke again, he would stutter. So he let Hoseok do what Hoseok did best and talk until Yoongi's stop. Yoongi mumbled a goodbye to Jimin who felt weirdly honoured, despite having been blanked for about three stops. Hoseok apologised on Yoongi's behalf and Jimin wondered if Yoongi was usually like this.