jungkook really doesn't know what it is that he expects in response to what he says. maybe some more of the soft smiles that he's come to associate with yoongi now, more of those butterflies, more of that soft ache that's settled itself inside of him and made a home over the last few months. maybe yoongi will simply agree. maybe they'll keep up this easy, comfortable back and forth, still hand in hand, until they have to make their way to the train station. until he has to see yoongi off, until they're back to simple text messages back and forth, the same way it's been for so long now. funny how it suddenly feels impossible, feels like somehow he's known yoongi for years, just like this, not like it's still their first time meeting face to face.

he's still a little lost in his thoughts by the time that yoongi starts to respond, cutting his own words off at first. it's unusual enough to catch jungkook's attention, bringing it back fully just in time for him to catch the full sentence. just in time for him to feel like his heart might have stopped, skipped a beat. it speeds up, suddenly pounding hard and fast as his mind scrambles and races to catch up to what it thinks it just heard, heart jumping up into his throat, because of all of the things that he could have expected, something like that was never even anywhere on the list. not at all. it leaves jungkook staring for a few seconds too long, and he knows that much, at least. feels it, the way that his eyes widen, how his expression freezes. feels the way his fingers still in their gentle back and forth, still grasping yoongi's between them. "i..." his face is flushed bright red, voice catching and stuttering over syllables, and he has absolutely no idea what to say. what ends up coming out in the end is "i.. h-hyung... you want to... what?"