He received an unexpected message from Jimin early in the morning.

Jimin:
hey jungkook? remember how i said i'd try 2 make plans 4 us to hang out sumtime soon?

Jungkook:
yeet

Jimin:
r u busy

Jungkook:
does internet browsing count as being busy

Jimin:
lol no

Jungkook:
so wut did u hav in mind

Jimin:
well i was thinking we could go 2 the mall and just do wtvr

Jimin:
i was gonna invite a few others

Jimin:
it could be fun

Jimin:
so r u interested?

Jungkook:
sure sounds good

Jimin:
:)) gr8! we're all gonna meet up at the mall at around 11

Jimin:
dont be laaaaaaaaate

'A few others', Jimin said. Jungkook had absolutely no doubt that included Taehyung. This thought circling in his head, he found himself standing in front of his closet for about five minutes, simultaneously smiling to himself while cycling through his entire wardrobe several times. Why does it matter what I wear? He asked himself at some point, though hardly listening to his own words. It's not like this is a date. Am I trying to impress him? Probably. But there's no guarantee he'll pay much attention to me.

The thought of that undoubtedly made him a little disappointed. Sad, even. But he tried his best to stay positive and not be discouraged. If he could say just a few words to Taehyung today, maybe even strike up a conversation, then that would be progress. And any progress at all was a good thing.

He ended up picking out a pair of black skinny jeans that tightly, yet comfortably, hugged his legs and rear, and a white t-shirt which he partially tucked into those jeans. The forecast said it was supposed to be fairly warm that day, so he decided no jacket was necessary. Slipping into his high-top black sneakers, Jungkook glanced at the clock sitting on his dresser--10:46. He didn't live too far from the mall...but perhaps, he wondered, he should have selected his outfit a little quicker. The bus might not get him there before eleven.

It did. Scarcely. By the time the bus pulled into the stop nearest to the mall, everyone was already there, waiting for him. Not for too long, but Jungkook could somehow tell he was the last one.

"I'm here!!" He called out, drawing the attention of the five boys standing at the mall entrance. Five...it was more than he expected. Jimin was there--naturally--and, to Jungkook's surprise, so were Namjoon and Yoongi, aka the boy he had recently become friends with and the boy he wanted to become friends with. Namjoon and he had gotten along well and hit it off pretty quickly, whereas with Yoongi, progress was slow. Then again it hadn't been long, and Jungkook was mostly certain the mint-haired boy didn't hate him, so he was giving himself the benefit of the doubt here.

Standing next to Yoongi and Namjoon was Hoseok, the red-haired bouncing bottle of sunshine Jimin had told him about--Taehyung, too, though Tae had never mentioned a name. And speaking of Taehyung...

The brown-haired boy lifted lazy eyes to look at Jungkook as he made his way over to the group. And Jungkook couldn't help but smile, because merely the sight of that boy raised his spirits, and eye contact between them, albeit brief, brought warmth to his cheeks. He looked so cute and stylish--with his blue jeans, ripped at the knee, light maroon jacket over a t-shirt where a pair of sunglasses hung from the neck. His skin looked a beautiful tan under the late morning sun. He looked beautiful.

But he was talking with Jimin. As usual. And Jungkook couldn't just bring himself to interrupt their conversation, despite his friendship with Jimin being the perfect excuse to do just that. So instead, he approached Hoseok, who had already seemed to have taken some sort of an interest in him.

"Hoseok, right?" Jungkook said with a smile, holding out his hand. The redhead beamed and accepted the gesture gleefully.

"The one and only. And you're Jimin's friend, the one who gave Yoongi a concussion?"

Jungkook let out an exasperated sigh, pouting. "You can just call me Jungkook. I'd rather not have that be what I'm remembered by."

"Oh, it's alright," chuckled Hoseok, "I don't think he's mad at you anymore. Yoongi's a sweet guy."

"Are you guys close?" Jungkook asked, quirking an eyebrow. He had no idea these two were even acquainted, let alone friends. To his surprise, Hoseok nodded.

"Well," he hesitated, "he might argue. But I'd like to think we've gotten close. Despite only having known each other for about a week and a half. I mean, he saved my life, I'd say that counts for immediate closeness. We're practically besties, I'd say."

Jungkook shot the boy a dubious yet slightly amused look, to which Hoseok responded with an 'I'm serious! That scowl on his face is nothing but a disguise.'

He wasn't actually scowling at the moment, though, which was rare. Jungkook looked at the mint-haired boy and found his expression rather inscrutable, with his shoulders drawn in and blank face staring at the ground. Namjoon had wandered over to talk to Jimin and Taehyung for some reason. And now Yoongi seemed to be awkwardly waiting around for people to do or say something to him.

"So, Yoongi, what do you want to do first?"

"Huh?"

Yoongi lifted his head abruptly at Jungkook's question, puzzled to find both he and Hoseok staring at him attentively. Taehyung, Jimin, and Namjoon all looked at him too, which caused him to tense up noticeably.

"W-wait, am I deciding? Who decided that?"

Namjoon slipped away from Jimin and Taehyung and stood by Yoongi's side, throwing his arm around his friend's shoulder and smiling reassuringly. Moments later, the mint-haired boy dropped his gaze to his now intertwined fingers.

"It doesn't matter to me," he said in a quiet voice. "This was Jimin's idea...he can choose."

"Really?? If that's the case, I wanna go to the arcade."

Jungkook made an instinctive ooh upon hearing that six letter word. It had been a while since he last went to an arcade, and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been dying to go to one again. Luckily for him, the rest of the group agreed with Jimin's decision, and before he knew it they had all gathered in front of a Dance Dance Revolution system. Hoseok had been the one to hunt it down the second they entered the arcade, and in a matter of seconds the redhead was inserting money into the machine's slot. He only stopped when he heard Taehyung make a proposition.

"We should make this a competition."

"A competition," Hoseok repeated, craning his neck to look over his shoulder.

Taehyung smirked--and that image became imprinted on Jungkook's mind because yes, he did find it quite attractive--and glanced at Yoongi. "We'll take turns," he suggested. "The person with the lowest overall score has to do anything the winner says."

"I like the idea," Jimin said. Jungkook also nodded in agreement.

And so they went through with it. Eager as he evidently was, Hoseok was allowed to go first, and skillfully did he secure his first place position with a perfect score. Taehyung went second. Jungkook paid even closer attention--to Taehyung, that is, whereas everyone else had their eyes glued to the screen. Third was Jimin, who squeezed ahead of Tae, and fourth was Jungkook, who squeezed ahead of Jimin. Fifth was Namjoon--poor guy clearly had no idea what he was doing, easily slid into last place. Yoongi did better than him, a little worse than Taehyung.

So the final outcome was that Namjoon owed Hoseok. The redhead, already having something in mind, led everyone over to a claw machine in which sat a mountain of stuffed animals. Namjoon was puzzled at first but soon shrugged and did his best to capture a stuffed animal in the stubborn metal claw.

Yes, he tried his best.

Jungkook, bored with watching the blond's hopeless struggle, slipped away from the group and went to find something else to do. He didn't think anyone would notice, and they didn't, or at least not completely, as they were all quite amused and distracted by the scene of Namjoon growing increasingly frustrated with a machine. Hands in his pockets, Jungkook scanned the arcade and before long came across an old favorite of his--Guitar Hero. No one was using it. He figured, why not, right? and took hold of one of the guitars, put on the shoulder strap, and inserted his money, then began to play, absentmindedly forgetting he was here with a group at all. And that was unlike him. Typically, Jungkook was always around people. He enjoyed company. So he, himself, wasn't entirely sure why he had walked away from everyone else in the first place.

Guitar Hero was an easy game for him, but it still required a lot of concentration. He tuned out his surroundings. All that was on his mind were the screen in front of him and the placement of his fingers on the guitar's colored buttons. It wasn't until he finished a game that he realized he was being watched. And the thing that brought this to his attention was Taehyung coming up from behind him and grabbing the second, currently unused guitar and slipping the strap around his shoulder. Jungkook's heart skipped a beat.

He looked the black-haired boy in the eyes. "We're doing versus. Loser gives the winner a piggyback ride to the food court."

Jimin, who was standing directly behind them along with the rest of the group, chuckled at Taehyung's suggestion. "What kind of award is that?"

"First thing that came to mind," Tae said with a shrug.

"Well, Jungkook just got a perfect score. I hope you're ready to have a 61 kilogram weight on your shoulders."

"Jimin, how do you know how much I weigh?"

"Wait, I was right?"

"Ahh, it doesn't matter." Taehyung waved his hand, signifying he was bored with the conversation. He popped some money into the coin slot. "C'mon, Kookie, I'm gonna leave you in the dust this time."

Kookie? Jungkook's eyes widened a bit at the unexpected nickname. That's really cute. He pursed his lips, biting back a smile. I really like that. Kookie. It sounds oddly sweet when it's coming from his mouth. I want him to call me Kookie more often...

"You ready?"

Jungkook blinked himself back to reality. "Uh, y-yeah," he stuttered. "I'm ready. Are you ready?"

"Ready to be carried piggyback style to the food court."

"Do you want Jungkook to carry you that much?" Jimin teased, giving Jungkook's bicep a quick squeeze. "I mean, he's pretty built for a seventeen-year-old. I bet he could do it effortlessly."

"Shut up, you know that's not it." He adjusted his strap and lightly tapped the guitar's colored buttons. "C'mon, Jungkook. Let's do this."

"Wow, Tae, with how confident you were about this, I figured you at least kind of knew what you were doing."

Jimin squinted at the screen. Namjoon stifled a laugh.

"Even I could've done better than that, man."

"Another perfect score from Jungkook, too."

"Up on Taehyung's shoulders you go, Jungkook."

It took all he had in him not to laugh at Tae's ill-tempered expression, more specifically, at the boy's adorable, pouty lips. But he managed to hold it in, somehow, as Taehyung lowered himself slightly so that Jungkook could easily climb onto his back. By the time he was up there, he couldn't stop himself from smiling. While Jimin and Hoseok and Yoongi and Namjoon were all busy poking fun at Taehyung, Jungkook was on cloud nine, and a part of him wished the food court weren't so close to the arcade. You know, so he could enjoy this just a little longer.

"I can see a McDonald's from here."

"I want Panda Express." Taehyung tugged Jungkook's foot. "Do you see a Panda Express?"

"Yeah, there's a Panda Express."

"Sick. All in favor of Panda Express say 'aye'."

"Aye."

"All in favor of Tae treating everyone to lunch say 'aye'."

"Aye!"

"Hey."

The orange-haired boy giggled, and he soon ran out in front of Tae and Jungkook, pulling out his phone and snapping a lighting fast picture before Taehyung could realize what he was trying to do.

"Ah, dangit. Blurry." He showed it to Yoongi. "You can still recognize their faces, right?"

"...a little."

Hoseok peeked at the screen. "Ooh, send that to me, Jimin."

"Me too."

"Jungkook, Imma send it to you and Tae, too."

Still smiling, Jungkook gave a small nod of acknowledgment. His gaze shifted briefly over to a store they happened to be passing by, and he caught a glimpse of their reflection in a window, the moving image of him clinging to Taehyung, his own arms locked around the boy's chest--not too tightly, of course. But tight enough that he felt Taehyung's heartbeat.

He wanted it to last.