GENIUSLAB

it’s on a particularly dark and quiet late evening – dark for the kind of a summer season they’re in at the time, and quiet for the usual standards of their dorms when all seven of them are present, deciding to stick around while between schedules – that yoongi thinks: what weird ways time tends to flow when you’re someone like, well. him.

sprawled across the bed like a starfish, not having bothered to either take off his clothes or turn on any lights in the room, he might be looking into the darkness or have his eyes closed entirely; he’s not all too sure, a bit too tired to focus his thoughts enough to decide what is the truth and what is just the skewed perception of his mind. one of his hands is gripping onto a phone, thumb hovering above it like it wants to type something out, despite the screen having long since shut off – it may have been just five minutes. or an hour. maybe close to two now – he wouldn’t know.

what he does know, is that it’s been just a few weeks since the successful festa in busan, since reaching the extreme heights of excitement followed by an equally sudden ride down, since accidentally meeting someone he had not dared to think about for the longest time, having buried the thoughts (the memories, the heartbreak, the guilt) deep enough to not have them resurface at random times of the day.

just a few weeks, he thinks, because usually, a few weeks is that: just.

but now that he’s here, finally wanting to reach out to her, suddenly the time gap feels overwhelmingly big. all at once, he remembers what it means to be a normal person, with a regular job, and what “getting in touch soon” means to them, as opposed to people like him.

    >> hello, it’s min yoongi

he starts typing, but–no, god. no. it sounds like he’s replying to a job interview. a serious of rather furious tap tap taps rids the screen of the unfinished message.

    >> hi, how are you?

once the words glare back at him from the screen, nearly offensively in its simplicity, he doesn’t even bother to backspace them, instead quickly swiping and deleting it all in one go. the tone isn’t right, too lighthearted, like he couldn’t be even less considerate of his own fuck up.

    >> i’m sorry

is the first message that he ends up sending: the shortest, the simplest and the most appropriate of all attempts. it feels heavy on his fingers, almost as if it’s not quite as simple apology as it might seem. as if it has years upon years worth of history hidden in between every character.

@NASA_Johnson: Wow, there are a lot of @BTS_twt & RM fans! Thanks for the submissions – we’ll add "Moonchild," "Mikrokosmos" & "134340" to the playlist! What other songs can we include on #NASAMoonTunes? http://nasa.gov/moontunes

          there are some things that they don’t really know of each other , some parts of their lives not necessarily hidden away , but never mentioned to one another ; sometimes it isn’t ever important enough to be mentioned out loud , unless the topic comes up and they have a full on discussion about it. jeongguk’s sure that each of his hyungs have moments from their pasts that he knows nothing about , is positive that even he has his own moments he never talked about or really found the time to talk about. 

          staring at yoongi currently , with his fingers pressing deep into the pale skin under water , the maknae figures that there’s no harm in doing such a thing ; it’s not like he’ll submerge underwater and drown , is what he thinks to himself unless the exact opposite happens. 

          ‘ wh – shit , hyung !! ’ 

          a giant wave of panic rears its head within him , hands immediately leaving the elder’s waist and grabbing a hold of his torso , keeping him still and upright , heart thudding in his chest as he sees yoongi struggle within the water. jeongguk whines when the rapper begins to calm down , not really registering the tight grip his hyung had on his upper arm , fingernails causing visible indentations in his bicep. ‘ h - hyung ,’ a murmur as he grabs onto the elder’s thin wrists , calloused palms providing a sense of slight protection or warmth within the chill of the pool that surrounds them. 

          he feels terrible , to put it simply ; tears begin to well up in his eyes as he searches yoongi’s puffier , glaring gaze , the panic that had swelled up within him not calming down until he had gotten some kind of certainty that the elder is really , truly , genuinely okay. the wheezing , gravelly words were evidence enough that he is most certainly okay but jeongguk stares right past that , gently leads his hyung out of the pool with a free hand on the small of his back. 

          ‘ i – i’m sorry , hyung , ’ a tiny voice makes itself audible , different from how he had been earlier , eyes wide and glassy. ‘ are you okay ? let’s go back to the rooms , hyung – i have an extra towel. ’ 

yoongi sniffs, the water in his nostrils sliding further in and down in a gross way that he’d rather not experience, and because of how shitty it feels, he makes sure to make it extra-loud and pathetic.

it’s not like it’s planned, no, yoongi doesn’t think so. even at his worst and meanest, he probably still wouldn’t have come up with a plan like this -- but here’s the thing about the philosophy of min yoongi’s life: when the opportunity shows up, you grab onto it and squeeze everything you can out of it.

and so he does.

because although that stinging sensation in both his throat and eyes is absolutely terrible, and alongside the gross sensation of wet clothes sticking to his body, he would’ve never willfully go for experiencing it, he’s still able to see the light in the dark tunnel of this situation. and it’s a bit ironic, that this light ends up being the sad and scared expression painting itself all over jeongguk’s face, but hey -- a man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do and desperate times call for desperate measures. in any other moment, yoongi would probably feel bad -- would itch to comfort the younger, placate him on one way or another -- but here and now, no rules apply. he deserves it, is what he thinks, when he clears his throat from the remnants of the gross chlorine test in a much more loud and dramatic way than it’s necessary.

there’s no way for his relatively small body to ever win over jeongguk’s high, strong and sturdy form in a regular way -- but when a factor of surprise is involved, that’s a whole another story. a dirty trick, some may call it; but to yoongi -- it’s just being smart and resourceful.

so when he turns, slipping from underneath the gentle hand hovering at his back, it’s sudden and quick and erratic enough to be unpredictable. when he pulls an arm around the younger’s neck again, he doesn’t try to overpower him with strength, but rather use the instability that comes with the sloshing water, the wobbly gravity of their bodies. when he jumps at him, (with a raspy war-cry that probably sounds more like a shriek of someone realizing that there’s a disgusting bug crawling up their face, than an intimidating rally), he almost entirely climbs on top of his back, pushing down on top of the wide set of shoulders, eager to give him at least a quarter of the treatment he himself was just subjected to.

          perhaps , although his main reason for dumping the rapper into the water was that his time had come , another was because of the teeth that dug deeper into his skin , a slight twinge of pain rushing through his body but he had shrugged it off , laughter shaking his body even as yoongi practically slipped from his arms , into the initially cold waters , ripples moving outwards from where he had been dunked. the otherwise calm waters had been disrupted once more when he , himself , had dove right in to steady his hyung , worry that he might not be able to keep himself upright pushing past the amusement that had shone right through his doe eyes. 

          though , honestly , he supposes surprise is imminent on both of their expressions right now : jeongguk didn’t really expect yoongi to leave such an indent in his skin from his teeth , if anything. he must’ve really not wanted to be dunked in , the maknae muses , an impish grin curling on his lips. 

          silence befalls them , almost tense and shaky , when browns clash and meet ; yoongi looks much like the girl from the ring : sadako yamamura , a striking resemblance , really. it causes jeongguk to waddle backwards a few steps , the echoing of his own words coming back to bite him in the ass. 

          in this moment , jeongguk fully believes the words his hyung murmurs to him.

          a rather unattractive yelp escapes his lips when the elder practically tosses himself at the maknae in the water , arms outstretched and the look in his eyes screaming death towards jeongguk. the younger of the two giggles nervously , waddling backwards and almost stumbling in the water , his foot slipping. ‘ wha – hyung ! ’ at this point , he’s laughing again but this time , it’s tinged with a hint of mercy , to let him off easy. his body leans against yoongi’s smaller frame this time , head squished against the elder’s side as arms wind themselves around his neck , his own hands coming up to pull at yoongi’s slightly ( less than his own ) toned arms with a bit of a struggle. ‘ ah , whyyy ? leggo , hyung , please – ! ’ 

          even in death’s face , jeon jeongguk laughs , slumping in his hyung’s clutch , wide eyes turning to stare at him with a twinkle in his eyes. he takes in the way the elder’s hair droops over the paleness of his features and how he looks extremely irritated , causing a snort to escape jeongguk. 

          & when he seems to have given completely up , an arm ( free from captivity ) snakes underwater to loop around yoongi’s waist , the other arm following suit and wrapping itself around the front only to attempt to lift his hyung up in the sloshing water , wriggling wildly while his fingers dig into the other’s skin , moving in a way to tickle the elder. 

“you deserve it, you little brat--,” yoongi huffs with audible exertion to his voice, wheezing just the tiniest bit when a splash of water hits his nostrils, causing him to inhale some of the chlorine water. it leaves him with an uncomfortable burning sensation -- but as he’s already uncomfortable all over: wet, still in clothes, forcefully pulled out from the gentle lull of the past sleep that was still lingering in the corners of his eyes before he hit the water, it doesn’t really matter. “shush it and take it like a man!” and the way he exclaims it is a bit like a warcry, a new wave of strength pushed into trying to overbalance jeongguk in the water.

which isn’t easy. the smaller, weaker body will always lose the strength battle, and yoongi knows it, but it doesn’t mean he wants to just give up. he’s never been a quitter.

so he tries, and shifts, and flexes the muscles that he managed to somehow, miraculously, develop in his arms and upper back, and the pained cry of jeongguk’s voice is satisfying, urging yoongi to go on and on. he can almost taste the victory on the tip of his tongue, almost, just a little more--

the one thing that yoongi desperately tries to hide from the whole world, is how sensitive he is. not in the emotional sense (although that is true to some extent, too) -- but the physical one. there was a point in his life when he thought there was something wrong with him, with his skin or his body, or his mind maybe, something in the dna.

he was just so vulnerable to the touch. not just any touch -- he could deal with a lot. he could take being punched or tripped, grabbed and pulled. but when it was light, when it was gentle -- when it was done with a purpose to tease the receptors just underneath his skin -- that was when it became problematic.

back in the day, when yoongi’s very first girlfriend so eagerly tried to hold his hand, her lithe fingers circling around the thin skin of his wrist and slipping over the palm of his hand in the gentlest of touches, he freaked out. jumped and twitched, feeling like a thousand of ants crawled up the inside of his arm. it didn’t look good -- they broke up even before yoongi managed to steal the second kiss, the poor girl not liking the idea that his boyfriend was apparently appalled at the idea of holding hands.

throughout the years, he managed to learn how to control it, even enjoy it -- he finds comfort in the tiny tingles that come from gentle caresses, in digits playing with his hair and scalp, in nails scratching his back. even (or especially) fingers that hook into his, seeking the comfort of hand-holding. (that first girlfriend would probably be proud, if she saw him now.)

but then -- then it all also came with significant downsides, like when someone tries to use the sensitivity against him.

like the snake also known as jeon jeongguk.

when the fingers wiggle into his sides, yoongi nearly instantly doubles over, paralyzed by the shivers running all over his small body; he trashes a bit, losing all the strength and letting go of jeongguk in the favor of desperately trying to get away from him. it’s not very successful, and in the chaos of trying to yell at him, laugh, call for help and stop, and physically move away, he ends up inhaling way too much water to be either pleasant or safe, the liquid drowning him on the inside, like when you take a sip of a strong alcohol in a wrong way. it chokes and burns and yoongi tries to throw his head back, as away from the water as possible, while reaching blindly for jeongguk -- any part of him -- to hold onto something stable. when he gets a hold of his upper arm, he holds so tightly that he’s sure the teeth marks are not the only ones he’s going to leave the pool with.

          a snort is the only noise that really escapes his lips at the grumble , hearing it loud & clear since the pool has been closed off just for them for the time being ; jeongguk supposes that’s one of the quirks of being able to clutch onto fame so tightly , quiet moments like these are always appreciated. not only that but he’s sure he wouldn’t have been able to pick yoongi so easily like this if people were actually around ; he thinks he would have actually died on spot if that were the case. the maknae thinks there are more pros than cons in such a situation , then proceeds to let out a giggle , wet footprints being left behind on the concrete while he shuffles towards the poolside edge. 

          the sheer panic that makes itself known within the elder’s voice doesn’t faze him in the bit but only makes him laugh a little more , tightening his hold on yoongi , toned arms circling around his waist , holding him securely so he doesn’t get hurt ( he wouldn’t really forgive him if he had hurt his own hyung ). ‘ what do you mean ? we all exercise together sometimes , hyungie , don’t be like that ! ’ jeongguk takes a step closer to the edge , toes curling over the curve as he bends a little at his waist , bringing his hyung closer & closer to the water.

          ‘ hyung , i really did mean it when i said i’d treat you if you raced with me though , how can you call me a liar ? i’m so hurt. ’ though , he really isn’t , pink - cheeked from holding in his laughter in the case that he might just drop yoongi into the pool from laughing too hard. the consequences of that wouldn’t be too great. a sideways glance casts itself to his hyung’s facial expressions , the wrinkles forming on the other’s face and the constant frown only deepening , panic radiating off the rapper’s body in thick waves ; it only made jeongguk that much more eager. 

          though the eagerness immediately flatlined when he felt something lightly sink into his tanned skin , not enough to make a threatening mark but enough to be threatening. the younger immediately jolts , losing his grip on the elder only slightly , his body stiffening in shock. ‘ wait – why are you biting me , hyung ? ’ at this point , he’s sure to be shaking with silent , suppressed laughter despite being at gunpoint with pearly whites to his shoulder instead of an actual gun. he takes a risk and lets an arm go , one arm still holding onto yoongi’s waist. ‘ that’s kinda weird , i didn’t know you were like that , hyung. ’

          there’s a moment of staged hesitance before he leans further and completely lets go of the other male , dropping him into the shallower end of the pool with a loud laugh , diving directly in after and quickly tugging at yoongi’s arms to keep him upright. a cheeky grin immediately surfaces as he pushes wet hair away from his own face , free hand rubbing at his own slightly bitten shoulder. ‘ yay ! ’

it might or might not be a well known fact -- which yoongi doesn’t necessarily care about -- that once his mind is set on something, he’ll try his hardest to pursue it until the goal is reached. whether it’s independence, music or getting some (any) definition to his hopelessly noodle arms, he’ll push forward, on and on, right through the adversity, lack of faith or his own laziness.

fighting the maknae -- even if it’s a really unfairly uneven battle -- is not an exception. the tighter he holds him and the farther he takes him, yoongi’s teeth indent a bit deeper against jeongguk’s shoulder and his legs kick a bit more, hitting the backs of jeongguk’s thighs, with just one of the slippers barely hanging off of yoongi’s big toe. but it’s really hard to fight this battle, when what he tries to achieve is essentially to not be dropped--in the water or otherwise--and he can’t just use his whole force in the fear of exactly this happening.

he’s kind of stuck, and when he finally fully realizes it, he kind of just. deflates. 

“i’m not trusting a word you say, you traitor. stop laughing. this is not funny--,” yoongi scowls at the way jeongguk shakes so very visibly against him, the kind of shaking that only happens when something says something stupid and you try so hard to not laugh. yoongi knows all about it, being the subject to it so very often himself. (it’s hard to maintain a stone-like public facade when you’re all but loving to laugh at stupid shit people around you keep doing and saying. oh, the hardships of fame.) “what do you mean, ‘i didn’t know you were like that’, you little--i’m trying to fend for myself, since i apparently brought up a traitor who would rather fight against me than for--,”

and then he’s being dumped in the water, a dramatic splash that echoes in the empty pool space and all. 

even though the water isn’t very deep at all, he still goes under, and his poor slipper that hung on for dear life onto the very tip of his toe until the last moment floats to the surface way before yoongi’s head does.

when strong arms (fuck those strong arms, in this particular moment, yoongi thinks grumpily) pull at him and help him steady in the water, yoongi stares at jeongguk even as his vision is blurry from the water running into his eyes, even through the wet hair plastered onto his forehead in less than attractive ways. and for a moment, he’s a bit bewildered. shocked, even. until the last moment, he didn’t really think the younger will do it.

“yay?” he mimics the sound jeongguk made, only with a questioning notes at the end, “yay?” he does it again, because, seriously?

“you’re a dead man swimming, jeon jeongguk.”

it might be either his inner kid or his inner fighter coming out -- yoongi wouldn’t know in this particular moment -- but he launches himself at jeongguk with as much speed and force as he can only muster, slowed down by the relatively heavy, wet clothes weighing him down in the water. still, it’s easy to reach his arms out, hands clasping onto the younger’s shoulders and pushing with his entire weight, aiming for a payback. those wrestling classes have paid off, in the end, as he manages to maneuver jeongguk’s bratty, smug face in a headlock even in their water-slippery state. 

          ‘ i am giving you respect , hyung ! i’m respecting your wishes to be given attention , right ? ’ a laugh echoes throughout the spacious pool area , arms and legs itching to be moving in the water once more , to feel the exhilaration rush through his body , adrenaline pumping through his veins ; but at the same time , he feels at ease , standing in the four - feet area of the pool , water spread out around his torso as he converses with the lethargic rapper before him. it’s times like these that he feels grateful for time slowing down and allowing them a moment to breathe , to tease and be playful. 

          a brow cocks when the elder begins to tell a story about a cat a relative once had , unsure of where the story is going or what the moral really is until yoongi ends the story with cats being able to scratch. the boy stares at the other male with slightly widened eyes , a laugh bursting through his parted lips before he leans against the edge once more , cheek resting against the coolness of it. ‘ are you telling me that you’re actually a cat , hyung ? ’ the maknae pushes , grinning cheekily , squinting before he tilts his head. ‘ i see the resemblances , y ’ know. ’ 

          the push and pull relationship jeongguk has with yoongi is something that he’s really come to like and has gotten used to ; he tends to play around with the second eldest the most and not only that , he looks up to yoongi a lot more ( maybe not to the scale that of kim namjoon , the man himself , but somewhere there ). their relationship is something that jeongguk treasures closely to his heart , thinks that he owes a lot to the rapper for raising him to be the man he is now. 

          with that in mind , jeongguk only briefly thinks of letting him off the hook but would it really be him if he did just that ? nah , he muses and uses his arms to pull himself out of the pool , entire upper body tensing with the stretch before he leaps onto the cement , shaking the water off slightly as he nears his hyung with a playful grin , arms outstretched , palms facing outward. 

          ‘ i think you need to get some exercise in , hyung ! midnight pool racing sounds like so much fun , i’ll treat you to food after , promise. ’ ( will jeongguk keep his promise though ? probably not. ) 

          with the slight promise of getting yoongi into the water , the vocalist proceeds to near his hyung , wet arms hooking underneath the elder’s and hoisting him up with absolute ease ; ‘ ready , hyung ?! ’ 

          yeah , he might die tonight. 

“of course that’s what you take out of all this... just the one tidbit that you can push,” yoongi grumbles under his breath, words just low enough to have been lost if they were anywhere more crowded and louder. by all means, he sounds like he’s complaining, put off by the younger’s attitude--but there’s a whole lot of fondness behind those fake tones of annoyance. for the jest, for the moment of lightheartedness, for the person who feels like family, like a younger brother, like someone whom he has looked after for many years and someone who yoongi knows that he is being looked after by, too.

if he stopped there and allowed himself to think about it some more -- those insistent, complex, deeply emotional thoughts -- he’d probably get even a bit teary, way too affected by those middle-of-the-night soft moods. 

thankfully, it’s one of those moments that he is not given the time for it, eyes focusing back at the sudden movement in front of him. with a great level of wariness, he watches as jeongguk pulls himself out of the pool, (his gaze gets a bit harder when he gets a good look at the other’s muscles tightening upon the momentary exertion, and not for the first time, yoongi wonders if jeongguk actually tries to rub it in), and shivers just the tiniest bit when a spray of droplets of pool water hits him in the face and arms once jeongguk shakes it off himself like a dog. (a puppy, yoongi’s mind suggests, apparently affected by the playful expression of his doe-big eyes.)

“i think it’d be best if you stopped thinking, because clearly you’re getting some weird ideas--me, exercise? didn’t you mix up your hyungs?” yoongi asks with an edge of slight panic to his voice as he sees jeongguk coming closer and closer, and really, he just tries to buy himself some time, because there’s only so much he can do right now, backing away not an option at this stage anymore.

“jeongguk, i swear to--you’re a liar and a brat and a menace, we both know it,” so maybe buying time hasn’t really been working all that well for yoongi, his personal space invaded and body pulled at and misplaced in an absolutely threatening way. there is no way. no way. 

          when it comes to similarity , jeongguk would place himself beside the second eldest of the group / comparing their habits that tend to seep further into the day , when the sun has set and stars have begun to litter the midnight - blue sky. alone in his own hotel room , he had his laptop open , light blue - ish light dulling when the maknae let it run on its own for quite some time , blacking out eventually. his body had felt sore and restless , fingers drumming on the table before he forced his body out of the chair and grabbed the necessities needed to swim in a pool. 

          from there he had found himself trying a multitude of things in the water , keeping his brain awake & his body moving ; he couldn’t sit still for too long , no matter what the situation was. in some ways , they weren’t exactly similar either : exhibit a being that jeongguk had decided to get up and do any kind of strenuous activity over laying in his bed and drifting off to sleep like any other person with their sanity intact. thus , he went ahead and figured : songwriting can wait a bit … i need to clear my head. so incredibly immersed in the chlorine - filled water he was that he never noticed the other in the pool with him , watching him from afar as his body glided throughout the warmth of the water. it was only when he attempted a turn , his ankle hitting the edge with a resounding thunk ! and a muffled grunt , that he had taken notice of yoongi. 

          it led to where he is now ; floating on his back much like an otter while laughing , with ease , at his hyung’s words. 

          ‘ so , basically , hyung wants attention ? ’ a cheeky grin appears on the younger’s youthful features , body gently moving so that he stands now , the heels of his feet resting firmly against the pool floor. he knows how yoongi works , has known for quite some time , despite how hard it had been for all of them to open up to each others years & years back ; but he knows how he works , prides himself in it almost , because of how similar jeongguk feels they are. the grin only widens when he drifts forward a bit , the amusement reflecting back into his own doe - like eyes. ‘ kinda remind me of a cat. cats don’t like getting in water either , right ? ’ 

          then again , when jeongguk opens his eyes , stares directly into yoongi’s slanted & triangular eyes , he sees past the stigmas pinned to his hyung and sees someone who wouldn’t mind a bit of company here and there. he smiles , gently now , & finds a bit of amusement in how he’s the exact same ( though , there’s really no surprise ) ; individual time is important but sometimes , to have someone else there besides you – that’s something that the maknae craves too. it’s a push & pull. 

          a laugh had stretched itself out of his lips from the flick  , pain not once arriving ; he’s close to the edge now & could reach out to yank the elder into the water if he so wishes to. ‘ huh , really now , hyung ? ’ cheshire - like grin pulls at the corners of his lips , palms pressing down on the cement of the poolside edge , body leaning forward ( as if … as if he’s ready to pull yoongi into the warmth , letting the water chew and swallow ).  ‘ i can’t believe you until you’ve actually shown me , yoongi hyung – a ‘ pile of muscle ’ like me can move pretty powerfully though … i wanna race against you now. come in the water , hyung. ’  gently , gently & with words at first ; his eyes scream a prank incoming , glint brighter than the north star. 

yoongi’s first and natural instinct to the younger’s words is to scowl, face contorting into something that might’ve been regarded as actual, physical pain to someone who doesn’t know him. “what hyung wants is a bit of the respect that he deserves,” he reiterates with an air of insufferable pride, chin dragging up for the shortest moment, before he effectively deflates, not much of his heart in the act. “attention is just an acceptable side-effect,” he adds, a little quieter, words jumbling together in an almost comical manner.

if not for the fact that jeongguk has temporarily floated away from the pool’s edge, yoongi would with no doubt try to flick him again for all the teasing that’s being done--flick, or worse, although what worse he could do to him in his current state of utter laziness, yoongi is not sure. years upon years of watching the once shy and awkward boy, step by step discovering his jest and playful ways, becoming bolder and bolder while interacting with those around him, may have gotten yoongi used to how he sometimes behaved -- to his bratty ways and immeasurable playfulness that seemed to get turned on by some strange, hidden switch somewhere on his body at the oddest of times -- and he may have, secretly (or not secretly at all), enjoy it -- but, but there are still some lines that he doesn’t let him cross just like that. even if those lines are mostly made up of the purest form of playful defiance. 

jeongguk has always loved a challenge, after all -- and similarly, yoongi has a nearly perverse knack for making things harder on other people than necessary.

“funny story about cats--my great-aunt used to have one that loved the water. the taps at her place would never be fixed, always leaking, because he sat by the sink and watched it drip like a lunatic. and bathtubs? jumped right in,” the story is a short one, spoken with a carefully dosed mirth behind every other syllable, because at the end, there is a punchline, and yoongi leans the tiniest bit forward when he gets there. “wanna know what all cats actually do have in common? claws. and what are claws used for? scratching. may wanna rethink being bratty around one,” he chuckles lightly, words sounding like a threat -- but eyes telling a whole another story.

if yoongi could see himself, he’s probably be fairly surprised at how awake he actually looks, given the time of the night and how he has barely woke up from a nice, four-hours long nap.

the fact that jeongguk suddenly gets way too close and looks way too mischievous wakes him up probably even more, eyes squinting just the slightest as he keeps a steady gaze on the maknae. when he shuffles back on his non-pool destined slippers and in his now awkward, crouching position, it’s not nearly quick or far enough for him to feel entirely comfortable.

“i’m a strong, able and confident man who doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone--jeon jeongguk, there will be no midnight pool racing, i am not. and i repeat, not. getting wet for you right now,” yoongi says, voice raising an octave, as he finally, for once in this conversation, tries to sound at least mildly intimidating.

         it was their last few days in america and the maknae had decided to take a dip in the pool , to relax his muscles , and to get his mind off few things ; his new interest was swimming– the exhilaration of feeling the water slap against his palms when he pushed it away and his body practically soaring through the currents was something he craved since his stay in the hotels. jeongguk had a knack for watching videos of sports he had been interested in (interests that bloomed after watching a specific anime or a show that hyperfixated on said sport – it was enough to motivate him to learn it ) and thus , try it out for himself.

         a gasp ripped out from the back of his throat when he pushed out from the chlorine - filled water , gentle music filling the silence of the pool area. a hand pushed back his slicked and wet hair , the water causing him to bob a bit , a frustrated expression on his tanned features. no matter how many times he tried , he could never get the timing of the turn right –

         & just when he was about to give it another go , a familiar raspy - like voice boomed throughout the emptiness , clashing against the gentleness of the music rippling above them. jeongguk turned his head towards the entrance , eyes spotting the rapper taking steps towards him , a natural pout on his lips. the maknae laughed , a wet hand wiping the water off his face while he drifted close to the edge of the pool , toned arms crossing and resting against it , his chin gingerly resting against his forearms.

         ‘ i didn’t know you wanted to swim with me , hyung , ’ a teasing grin. ‘ but i didn’t want to bother you – everyone else is resting and all so i thought i’d come out here on my own. but … ’ carefully , the maknae drifted away from the edge ( for the sake of his own life ) , grin only growing. ‘ it’s kinda hard to forget because hyung’s so tiny , you know ? ’

when it comes to hotels, there are parts of it that yoongi frequents to quite regularly (his room, resting lounges, dining halls and, more because of duty than sheer will, the gym) and there are those that he’s entirely unfamiliar with -- just like the pool. he’s pretty confident he would not find his way around if it wasn’t for the signs and distant sound of water being splashed around, legs that still remember the not-long gone comfort of his bed sluggishly carrying him in the chosen direction.

he has no trunks, or towel, or will to actually swim, and while he’s sure that the hotel equipment would easily make up for his lack of preparation with the exception for the last point (unless there’s some very persistent trainer loitering around in the middle of the night, that is), he still walks right past the locker and changing room. soft slippers, sweatpants and a t-shirt, still crumpled from sleep, will have to do.

he walks into the pool hall with caution, first carefully looking around to see if nobody is there and then following the swimming body attentively, wanting to make sure that it is, indeed, their sports-obsessed maknae with a knack for unnecessarily tiring activities performed at the crack of midnight. only after confirming that his gut about seeing a sneaking form in the hallways just fifteen minutes earlier was right, yoongi walks in properly, lungs instantly filling with the warm, moist and chlorine-tinted air.

there’s something hypnotizing in watching the human body flow through the water so gracefully and move almost like it was made to live in there. it almost has yoongi’s own muscles relax, as if he’s the one in the water too, feeling light and free and like gravity is not a thing anymore.

and then--then it stops, the water splashes in less then graceful way, and the spell is broken. of course, it wouldn’t be jeon jeongguk if he didn’t strive for some kind of level of perfection in anything he does, swimming included. yoongi is clueless as to what his goal has been this time, but he can see just by a single look at the profile of his face, the furrow of his thick eyebrows, that he hasn’t quite reached it just yet.

“who says i wanna swim?” he asks, head tilted to the side slightly and a near perfect deadpan on his face, because, really, jeongguk should know better. “doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check on me and ask though,” he berates softly, but it’s with a glint of obvious amusement to his eye, the smallest curve of smile on his lips -- the kind of familiar, everyday banter that they’ve got going for the past years upon years.

he wouldn’t ever actually blame the younger (or anyone, for that matter) for supposedly forgetting about him -- truth to be told, yoongi’s life cycles tend to be a bit odd and he doesn’t expect anyone to follow them. with his energy drained in excessively quick manner, he’s usually the first one to fall asleep after schedules, so very often missing out on group activities, but then he also wakes up at odd times of the late evening, when everyone else is already coming down from the high of the day, ready to rest. it usually means he has some precious time for himself and most of the times, he doesn’t even bother looking for company. it doesn’t mean that, sometimes -- just sometimes -- a slow and quiet moment with company would be a nice thing. it’s the kind of luxury that they don’t get all that often, especially on tours.

yoongi crouches next to jeongguk, close to the edge of the pool, but just far enough to be safe from accidentally toppling over into the water. his elbow rest against his knees, and he lets out a huffy laugh at jeongguk’s words, eyes resting at his face that has drops of water running down from the strands of his hair.