Chapter Text
“Bye Guys!” Jimin yelled to no one in particular. Before he could even open the door his dad stuck his head into the entryway.
“You’re leaving early?” His dad was a bit of a worrier, not just over Jimin, but over the whole family. Usually his three little brothers got the brunt of his anxiety as Hoseok had just started middle school and was angsty as ever, Tae was a mischievous 5th grader now and Jungkook was just a toddler, but Jin never forgot to dote on his eldest son when it came down to it.
“Yea remember last night at dinner I told you and Appa that Yoon and I were going to study before first period today.” Jimin never really minded his parents like other teenagers seemed to, he was happy to say that he had a very open and trusting relationship with both his parents. Jin and Namjoon were pretty much the perfect parents with the perfect family, sure they had their fair share of issues and fights, but they have always tried to work together as a family unit.
“Yea honey I remember, be careful okay?” Jin smiled down at his son while fixing his shirt.
“Yea, yea. I always am.” Jimin smirked up at his dad as he turned to leave the house.
“Bye bye Jiminie!” Rounding the corner was his Appa holding a sleepy looking Jungkook in his arms. Jimin gave his baby brother a smile and Namjoon a wave as he finally walked out the door to start his walk to school.
‘Shit’ Jimin mentally cursed while checking the time on his phone. Leaving his house always took longer than he thought it would and now he was gonna be late. He sped up his pace to a jog when the High School building came into view. He jogged all the way to the library and then speed walked to the back table that he and his best friend Yoongi always worked at. An apology for being late was on the tip of his tongue until he saw that the table was empty.
‘That’s weird. Usually I’m the one who’s late’ Jimin thought as he sat down, he shrugged it off thinking maybe his friend had just overslept. He took out his phone to see if Yoongi had sent him anything to let him know he was going to be late. He wasn’t that surprised when he found nothing. Since the first day of freshman year when Jimin met Yoongi he had never been very good at responding to text messages, and that hadn’t changed in the two years he had known him since. Jimin clicked the call icon on his phone and brought it to his ear, to his surprise the call immediately went to voicemail.
He ended the call quickly, ‘Okay maybe something weird is going on’ he decided to push that feeling down and get started studying while waiting for Yoongi to show up.
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Jimin knew Yoongi was many things: his best friend, the school’s star basketball player, a pretty good student when he tried, polite to his parents, nice to his siblings, almost scarily skinny but ate like a monster. Yoongi was so many things, but the one thing he wasn’t was a flake. Jimin was startled when the warning bell for the first period rang and Yoongi still hadn’t showed up. Had he just been stood up?
‘Well technically he didn’t stand me up, because it wasn’t a date or anything’ Jimin reasoned to himself while making his way into his English class. When he entered he politely responded to the teacher’s greeting while searching the already seated students. Yoongi wasn’t here yet.
‘Okay, maybe he’s sick, or there was a family emergency’ Jimin reasoned in his head while the teacher began to take attendance. Yoongi would be here, Jimin tried to remember if yoongi had ever missed a day before, and he almost came up blank until he remembered. During freshman year, there was a day when he was gone in December,
‘but didn’t he seem sick the day before’ that’s right. Jimin had just assumed yoongi had been sick that day and yoongi hadn’t told him otherwise. Now that he really thought about it, Jimin couldn’t think of a single time that his friend had offered an explanation for his absence.
Real worry began to seep in after third period ended and Yoongi had yet to show up or answer any of his messages. Jimin dialed Yoongi for what felt like the 100th time this morning while walking to the cafeteria. Just like every time before there was no ring, sending him immediately to voicemail. Jimin let out a frustrated puff of air, he wasn’t sure what he expected after all this time, the day was almost half over anyway. Jimin resigned himself to the idea that maybe Yoongi just wouldn’t be here today.
That left Jimin to face lunch alone, ‘that’s just great’ the thought of what he was going to do about having to sit alone had barely crossed his mind when he heard a familiar voice say his name.
“Jimin” He whipped around so fast he almost collided head on with his best friend. So many thoughts ran through his head in an instant, relief, a bit of frustration, but what bubbled up to the surface was immediate concern.
“What happened to your face?” The words came out before Jimin could come up with something more tactful.
“Nice to see you too” Yoongi hummed out, he didn’t seem too bothered on the outside by Jimin’s bluntness, but he unconsciously lifted a hand to gingerly touch the giant bruise that completely covered his jaw.
“Come on, I’m hungry” Yoongi quickly followed up his last statement with a change of topic while tugging on Jimin’s sleeve towards their normal lunch table.
Jimin felt like someone had dumped cold water on his head. Seeing yoongi hurt like that made him feel something and he wasn’t sure which emotion it was. He didn’t move, even when his best friend pulled on his sleeve. Questions raced through his mind: who or what had done this, was this why he was late, what if he was hurt more under that hoodie he always wears, a bruise didn’t explain why he wasn’t answering his phone. One thought came to the forefront of his mind through the mess: He had to know what had happened to his friend.
Yoongi seemed to realize that Jimin wasn’t going anywhere without an explanation. He sighed heavily,
‘he looks tired’ Jimin’s brain supplied.
“Basketball practice” Yoongi muttered while gesturing to the bruise. Jimin wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince him or himself.
“And I overslept this morning, sorry I missed our study session…” Yoongi’s eyes were anywhere but Jimin’s and at that moment he knew he wasn’t going to get anything else out of his friend. As much as he didn’t like it Jimin knew he had to let it go for now.
“It’s cool, let's go get lunch, we can cram some now. I really need to pass this test” when those words left his mouth the effect was instantaneous. Yoongi’s shoulders slumped as the tension left them. A puff of air left his mouth in relief and the corner of his lip quirked up in a half smile. Jimin matched Yoongi’s smile with a full one of his own as they walked to their table.
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The rest of the day went off mostly without a hitch. He felt like he was prepared enough for the test that he didn’t fail, and after lunch Yoongi seemed to go back to being himself rather than the nervousness he had carried this morning. The only sign to any outsider looking in that anything was wrong with Min Yoongi was the massive bruise on the side of his face. And the simple explanation of basketball practice seemed to suffice for everyone else, but Jimin knew him better. There was something underneath the surface, when he thought no one else was looking, Jimin had seen his mask drop.
‘Has he always looked that tired?’ The question lingered behind his lips along with all the many others swirling around in his brain as the day continued to drag on.
When the final bell rang Jimin couldn’t help it but rush out of his seat to get to his locker as fast as possible. Once he was done gathering all his things he quickly made his was to his friends locker, where Yoongi was lazily pulling books down and shoving them into his bag.
“Are you coming over tonight, don’t have practice right? and I think my dad is making Bibimbap if you’re staying for dinner-“ Jimin cut off his rambling when Yoongi shut his locker with a little more force than necessary. Many people thought that Yoongi was cold and didn’t show any emotion, but Jimin had known him long enough to recognize the emotions behind the normally stoic face. One look and Jimin knew this emotion, though he was confused as to why it was directed at his offer. Yoongi looked conflicted and the nervousness form earlier seemed to be seeping back into his body language.
“Sorry Jiminie, I uh, told my dad I would help him with something tonight.” If Jimin was expecting anything it was not that. For as long as Jimin had known the other, he barely ever mentioned his dad, and Jimin couldn’t think of a time he had ever blatantly refused dinner, a free dinner, and Jin’s cooking at that. It had gotten to the point where Jin had just made an extra portion on days when Yoongi didn’t have practice. Namjoon had told him that he should just have Yoongi move in because he practically lived at their house.
“Oh, okay…” Jimin looked at him skeptically and was a little disappointed. Yoongi was quick to try to amend,
“Probably tomorrow, it’s just, this thing, my dad, he really wants me home for it, and uh if I miss it… um well, I just don’t want to make him mad ya know?” No, Jimin wanted to say, he didn’t know. He didn’t understand why yoongi seemed so nervous about his dad and this mysterious thing that his dad was doing. He wanted to sit his best friend down and make him tell him what’s going on, but he knew that Yoongi needed his space.
’if it was anything super important, he would tell me’ that though is what justified him leaving it alone for now.
“Okay, well good luck with your dad’s thing… I don’t know how i’m going to explain to Jungkookie and Tae that their favorite Hyung isn’t going to be here” Jimin jokes, giving his friends arm gentle nudge as they exit the school building together. His smile grows when he’s rewarded with a chuckle out of Yoongi.
“Tell them I’ll be there tomorrow for sure, okay? And Apologize to your Dad for me. He probably made extra for me and I’m not gonna be there.” Jimin just shook his head at that.
“Dad loves cooking, and he loves you. More than his own sons sometimes,” Jimin smirks at the embarrassed flush that crossed Yoongi’s cheeks at the unexpected praise, “Anyway, you’ll be back soon enough to eat us out of house and home like you always do”
“Yea…” yoongi trailed off as they reached the point where they would have to part ways, Jimin heading to the left down the sidewalk towards his house and Yoongi to the right where the student parking lot was and his car was parked. Yoongi looked over his shoulder towards where he would be heading.
“See you tomorrow Jiminie” he said, and if Jimin knew any better he would think that Yoongi seemed reluctant, like maybe he wanted to tell him something.
“Try not to be late this time Hyung.” Jimin gave his friend his brightest smile.
“Yah, I won’t” Yoongi waved him off turning to walk toward his car. Jimin felt a pang of some emotion he couldn’t quite place yet. The walk back to his house felt way longer than it was this morning. Jimin wasn’t sure what to feel about yoongi. He had a feeling he wasn’t telling the truth about the bruise on his face, and the way he turned down their usual offer, and how he spoke about his dad today. Jimin realized suddenly what that emotion was that he was feeling. Uneasy.
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When he opened the door to his home he was immediately hit with the delicious smell of his dad’s cooking and the soothing sound of his dad’s singing.
“Hey dad,” he greeted with a smile as he entered the kitchen, kicking his shoes off and setting his bag on a nearby chair. Jin turned around with a smile, but frowned a bit when he noticed what was missing.
“Is yoongi not coming for dinner tonight?” Jimin sighed and sank down into a chair, but before he could even open his mouth to answer his Appa was asking him a question.
“Did something happen between you two?” Namjoon was standing in the doorway, looking just as confused as to the missing fixture in their household that was Min Yoongi.
“What? No. He was just busy today. He said he was doing a thing with his dad..” Jimin trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He didn’t truly know why Yoongi couldn’t be here, and it just kept bugging him.
“A thing?” Jin questioned while trading glances with Namjoon. They could both sense the mixed emotions their son was putting out.
“Ugh, I don’t know!” Jimin exclaimed, quickly getting up out of the chair so he could pace the kitchen, “He missed our studying this morning and he didn’t answer his phone at all when I called him, and then he was late to school and, and he had this bruise on his face-“
“A bruise?” Jin put down the spoon he had been using to stir dinner while his expression changed from mildly concerned to full parent mode.
“Yep, and He was all weird when I asked him how he got it, and then when he told me he couldn’t come over he couldn’t give me a good excuse and he seemed all nervous about his dad, and I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t sure how he’d respond to that and If it was really serious he’d come to me, right?” Jimin felt like all the wind had left his sails in that moment, deflating a bit once the whole story was out there. Had he made the right choice. He was starting to question whether his friend would really come to him if he needed it.
Jin and Namjoon exchanged worried glances over Jimin’s head as he sank back down into his chair. He felt like a bit of worry had left his shoulders, his parents always had his back, they would help if he needed anything.
Namjoon sat down next to his son, taking a moment to consider before speaking,
“Jiminie, Yoongi is a smart kid. He knows that we love him, and as long as you continue to be there for him I think he’ll tell you if he needs help.” Joon put his hand on Jimin’s shoulder as Jin nodded his head in agreement.
“Did Yoongi say anything about tomorrow night?” Namjoon continued carefully.
“Yea,” Jimin sighed, “he said he would be here tomorrow for dinner.”
“Okay,” Namjoon said with a reassuring smile, “Then we’ll all see him tomorrow, and your dad can check out that bruise and we can all be there for him, okay?”
“Okay” Jimin gave his Appa a weak smile in return. He always knew what to say and when to say it.
“Everything is going to be fine Jiminie, it’ll all work out” Jimin nodded as his Appa stood and left to go get the rest of his siblings for dinner.