Sunday, March 9th

The weekend came before he knew it, and thus did the day Yoongi had nearly forgotten of. March 9th, his birthday. He had taken off work, and conveniently, his best friend wasn't scheduled to work, meaning the two were free to do as they pleased to celebrate the occasion. Yoongi's parents planned to take him out for dinner. So Namjoon could have the birthday boy all to himself until then.

At eight in the morning, Yoongi's phone started vibrating on his bedside table. Sleepily, he took it in his hand and squinted at the bright screen.

Joongles has updated his snapchat story!

"Oh, great." Yoongi rubbed his eyes, heaving a sigh. "I already know what this is gonna be about."

He reluctantly opened the app.

Yoongi, too lazy to respond using the same platform, quickly switched over to his messaging app.

Yoongi: why the heck did u put that on ur story

Joonie: happy birthday~~~

Yoongi: take it down

Joonie: open ur front door

Joonie: guess who's in frnt of it

Yoongi: i hope its the mailman come to bash my head with a newspaper

Joonie: Yoongi no u just recovered from a concussion

Joonie: also its me

Joonie: [image sent]

Yoongi: tf u wearing

Joonie: clotehse

Joonie: *clothes

Joonie: we're going out for breakfast dude

Joonie: ma sis told me if im going somewhere nice that i hafta wear smth nice u know how she is

Yoongi: why do u have on something different in ur snapchat

Joonie: lmao u noticed

Joonie: couldnt decide what to wear at first

Joonie: do u like my final decision

Yoongi: dont really care tbh

Joonie: oh hush now u love fashion and u know it

Joonie: if u denying u lying

Joonie: k now open the door

Yoongi: nah

Yoongi: imma sleep in till 12

Joonie: yoongs no

Yoongi: *snoring sounds*

Joonie: yoongs cmon brkfst is waitn

Joonie: also me

Yoongi: havent picked out something to wear yet

Joonie: ooh thats ok i actually brought smth for u

Yoongi: r u srs

Joonie: yeh its super cool you'll love it

Joonie: now lemme in

It took a lot of willpower, but he eventually managed to throw off his warm covers and exit his bedroom, soon to enter the cold, dreary hallway. The house was quiet. Empty, too, since both his parents worked and they worked early. But, expecting them to have done what they had done last year, Yoongi made his way over to the kitchen, and surely enough, he found a hand-written note left to him by the loving couple.

Happy Birthday Yoongi!!

We hope you have a great day today, and we'll see you tonight.

Love you!

A sudden knock at the door broke his train of thought. Yoongi went to open it. Straightaway, Namjoon, who had been waiting ever so impatiently, threw out his arms and hugged his best friend with all his might, not taking into account that he may or may not have been crushing Yoongi's bones in the process.

"Happy birthday!!" Namjoon released the boy and stepped into his house.

"You said that already," Yoongi mumbled, shutting the door behind them as he rubbed his still tired eyes. "Now gimme the clothes already so I can change. I'm hungry."

"Anything for you, my darling Yoongs."

He took the bag of clothes that had been in Namjoon's hand and went back to his room to try them on. They fit perfectly, comfortably, and, examining them carefully in his bedroom mirror, Yoongi decided that he quite liked them. The outfit consisted of a solid black shirt and white jacket along with a pair of leather pants which were a touch away from being snug. He tugged at the hems of the jacket, smoothed out the wrinkles, slipped into his sneakers, fixed his hair, then took one last look at himself before giving an approving nod and leaving his room to join his friend. Namjoon whistled low and loud, bobbing his head and grinning in a way that made Yoongi want to hit him. And he did.

"Ow." The blond pouted. "I was just admiring how handsome you look, Yoongs. Why d'you have to be so violent all the time..."

"You were looking at my butt and smirking like a perv."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Maybe, but a friend kind of perv, not a perv-perv."

Yoongi scoffed. "Right. It's a totally normal thing to check out your friend's butt."

"It is. Ask anyone. I'm sure Jimin would check out your butt if he were here, too-"

"Okay, that's enough. Let's go already."

Yoongi had to practically drag Namjoon out of his house now, seeing as the boy was too busy laughing at him to do anything else. Once they were outside, however, Namjoon got himself together and claimed the driver's seat of his pearl white Honda civic which was parked right outside the house. It had been a gift from his sister who, though neither liked to brag about the subject, certainly did make a pretty penny in her line of work as a clothes designer.

"You haven't told me where we're going yet," Yoongi noted as he climbed into the passenger's side.

"Patience, my child." Namjoon pressed a finger to his friend's lips and was promptly slapped for doing so. He chuckled. "You'll like it, though. I promise."

A fifteen minute drive later and Namjoon was parking his car again, this time in front of a family restaurant called Kim's Diner. Fairly small, and from the outside seemed like the type of place locals would come to often and where regulars would have somewhat close relationships with the people who worked there--that was just the vibe Yoongi got from it, anyway. His stare lingered on the welcome sign on the transparent door. Namjoon nudged him.

"After you, Prince Yoongs."

Tentatively, Yoongi stepped forward and pushed open the door. Lifting his eyes from his white-laced sneakers, he soon found himself gazing upon a familiar boy dressed in a nice white shirt and grey, button-down vest, with a black apron tied around his waist that reached his knees. He appeared to have just finished taking a customer's order, tucking a ballpoint pen into the spirals of a small notebook, pushing a lock of his dark orange hair behind his ear. Then he saw Yoongi. And Yoongi bolted. Because no one on God's green earth should look that good in waiter's attire. He was wearing an apron. A freaking apron and he shone in it.

Tragically for Yoongi, Namjoon managed to catch him with little effort by latching on to the boy's collar and giving it a firm tug.

Namjoon smiled innocently. "What's wrong, Yoongs? Not hungry anymore?"

"Joon, you planned this." Yoongi gripped the blond's wrists. "You probably asked Taehyung or something, didn't you?"

"Actually, Jungkook told me." He nodded once. "Ya know, he apologized to me about hurting you, too. Guess he found out we were close. Also, he's my friend now."

"What?"

"Jimin is watching you. I think he's waiting for you to come inside. Ah, he's waving now." Namjoon turned to Yoongi. "He looks cute, doesn't he? I can understand why your face got so red."

"My face is not red."

"It's very red."

There was no escape. He had no choice but to face this head-on. Jimin and he were friends now, right? There was no reason to be so nervous. Breathe.

"Yoongi! Namjoon! Hi!"

Bright and cheerful as ever, Jimin walked up to the two boys with a radiant smile stretching from one ear to the other. And though he had greeted him, Namjoon could see that the orange-haired boy's sparkling eyes were trained on Yoongi much more than himself. And he didn't mind. He quite enjoyed the sight of Yoongi's ears growing increasingly redder the longer Jimin stared at him--not a spiteful kind of enjoyment, of course. Namjoon simply knew that Yoongi was happy to see his new friend, shy as he was about it.

"Listen, I have to go give this order to the cooks," Jimin blurted, "but I'll be right back for you guys, okay?" He paused for a long second, and Yoongi could have sworn Jimin's cheeks gained a bit of color. "I, uh...I mean, y-you guys can take a seat anywhere. Be right back!"

And off he went. Not even gone for a second, and Namjoon leaned over to whisper in Yoongi's ear.

"He was totally checking you out."

He had no words. He wished he could have just elbowed Namjoon in the side and hissed, no, shut up, he wasn't. But he had no idea how to misinterpret what he saw. Jimin had clearly eyed him from head to toe in the brief amount of time between his words, not to mention the faint, "oh my gosh" that fell from Jimin's mouth as he was walking away. Suddenly Yoongi felt Namjoon take hold of his forearm and slowly guide him over to an empty table. The two sat down. Yoongi stared at his hands.

"I don't want to be here."

Namjoon let out a soft breath through his nose. "Oh, c'mon, yes you do. Just tell him you think he looks cute, he'll say the same thing to you, and you two can stop blushing in front of each other. Okay?"

"You say that as though it'll come easy to me," Yoongi murmured, sticking out his bottom lip. If he were more honest with himself, he would have admitted that he wanted to tell Jimin he looked cute. It wasn't a strange thing to do. Friends compliment each other all the time. Well, when it came to him complimenting Namjoon it was more like once in a while, but that was beside the point. Jimin might have been his friend now, but it would be a long time before Yoongi could become comfortable with saying such things.

"Don't look so troubled, Yoongs." Namjoon reached across the table and tapped the boy's nose with his thumb. "I'm not trying to pressure you. Just...ya know, trying to be encouraging and all that. If you do decide to say something to him after all, I could compliment him too so you don't feel weird about it."

Yoongi lowered his head.

"...or we could just order food. That's fine, too."

The two boys took their menus in hand and started scanning the items. Namjoon glanced up every now and then at Yoongi.

"You can order anything," he said. "It's my treat."

"Kimchi fried rice."

"Hey, don't tell it to me, tell it to Jimin."

"No," Yoongi said stubbornly. "You order for me."

"If it were a stranger, I would, but it's Jimin. Your friend Jimin. And if you want to get closer with him, avoiding verbal communication is a no-no."

"Who said I wanted to get closer with him?"

"Your eyes."

As if on cue, who should walk up to their table but Park Jimin, notepad in hand, smile brightening once Yoongi had acknowledged his presence. The mint-haired boy, however, tensed up, scarcely resisting the urge to scoot to the farthest end of the bench.

"I still can't believe you two are here, and so early in the morning, too," Jimin said, taking a quick glance at his watch. "Not even nine o'clock. Though I guess that's not early for some people. Anyway, did you guys know I worked here?"

"Your friend spilled the info without me even asking," Namjoon replied. "Apparently Jungkook thinks you look really funny in your work clothes. Ah, but that's not specifically why we came here. It's Yoongi's birthday today."

The boy in question picked--what he would deem--the worst time to look up at Jimin, who, after having received this new information, now gazed upon Yoongi with sweet, smiling eyes.

"Happy birthday, Yoongi."

Jimin then turned to Namjoon,

"Hey, is it okay if I pay for his meal? Or was this meant to be his present from you-"

"No, I've got something else for him," Namjoon explained, quite pleased by Jimin's request. "By all means, treat the boy."

Jimin felt satisfied with Namjoon's approval, and with pen in hand, he faced Yoongi and said, "So what can I get for you? Ah, before you tell me, though, I just wanted to let you know that you look hot, Yoongi. Like really hot. Now what would you like? You can choose anything on the menu. Anything at all. It's on me."

Yoongi had known what he wanted ahead of time. But he couldn't respond. Not with the bomb Jimin had just dropped on him. His cheeks grew warm and he hid his face, embarrassed beyond words. Now would have been the perfect opportunity to say something like, oh, you don't look bad yourself, or I was actually going to say I thought you looked good in your uniform, or at least, thanks, Namjoon picked this outfit for me. But not a sound came out of his mouth.

"He'll have an order of kimchi fried rice and a cup of black coffee. And I'll have the tteokbokki with a side of white rice. Oh, and just water is fine for me."

Jimin scribbled quickly on the small sheet of paper, repeated the order to Namjoon to confirm it, then disappeared to go deliver the order to the ones preparing the food. Meanwhile Yoongi had still not lifted his head. And he felt ashamed, as though not replying to Jimin had been immensely rude of him.

"It's alright, Yoongs." Namjoon patted his shoulder. "If my attractive friend told me I looked hot, I'd probably be really shy, too."

"Nu-uh. You'd say 'thanks, I know.'"

"Would not."

"Would too."