fic excerpt: [before the vanity]
[ working ]!verse ( suga/jimin )
it’s on a whim that yoongi asks jimin to teach him how to put on make-up.
“i’m ugly,” yoongi explains, jokingly yet not at all. he’s long learned to live with the truth. “you have an unfair advantage.”
jimin’s head emerges from the sweatshirt he’s changing into and swivels to face yoongi, comfortable on jimin’s bed.
jimin cocks his hip against the cluttered vanity and folds his arms, contemplative. “should i be sharing all my secrets with you?”
“if not, then never mind.” yoongi rises to his feet. “i’ll ask someone else.”
“but,” jimin frowns, “i’m the best at it.”
yoongi steps towards the door. “then i’ll teach myself.”
“hyung!” in a matter of moments, jimin is at his side and latched onto his elbow. “wait, i was just joking. don’t leave.”
over the last few weeks of knowing him, yoongi has noticed jimin is rather clingy. the practical presence in the back of yoongi’s mind warns him to be careful, but before yoongi can listen, jimin plants his hands firmly on either side of yoongi’s waist and guides him before the vanity to sit on the creaky foldable stool.
“i’ll teach you the basics, okay?” he cracks open a drawer filled with tubes upon tubes of cosmetics. “we both have monolids so it shouldn’t be that hard.”
“do you actually know what you’re doing?”
“haha – of course.” jimin pauses his search and shoves one of the miscellaneous bottles towards yoongi. “use a little bit of this first for the base. you know what bb cream is, right?”
“sure,” yoongi hedges. “i’m not that old.”
“uh huh.”
smaller products from various drawers begin to spread in a neat line over the sliver of empty space on the tabletop. "i’m not sure how much i need for you. did you want to try everything?
yoongi grimaces from the sticky texture on his face. “what’s everything?”
“i guess not...” they make eye contact in the mirror and jimin trails to halt. “wait, stop. oh my gosh.”
“what?”
“you’re paler than me, i forgot! i’m sorry, here,” jimin shoves yet another bottle at him, along with some cotton pads, “wipe that off.” he giggles and it’s a pure sound. “you look funny now.”
“i knew it,” yoongi sighs, dutifully wiping. “you don’t know what you’re doing.”
thoroughly embarrassed, jimin only laughs some more.
yoongi slips out of his state of meditation as the brush smudges whatever’s on his eyelid for the hundredth time.
“why is this taking so long?”
“patience, hyung,” jimin huffs, close enough that yoongi can physically sense every syllable. “perfection takes time.”
“it better be perfect.”
jimin decidedly ignores the threat. “man, your eyelashes are so long. they’re cute.”
he had inherited them from his mom.
“i wish i had mascara,” jimin continues, his voice airy and soothing. “it would probably look good on you.”
“isn’t that too much?”
“not if it looks good. okay. um. you can open your eyes now.” a weight settles on yoongi’s shoulder and shakes him lightly.
yoongi studies his reflection. he tilts his head left and right.
“how is it?” jimin asks hesitantly.
“i look like my second aunt.” yoongi squints. “it’s... okay, i guess.”
“not bad, huh? i’m the best at it,” jimin reminds him, smug.
“the data’s inconclusive. i’ll let you know after i try everyone else.” it feels easy talking with jimin, yoongi thinks – and just like that, he folds back into reality.
careful, the presence whispers in his ear, jaded, self-preserving. don’t forget.
from “today the moon shines brighter”
