~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure I’m allowed in the palace?” Jimin asks, as the young prince guides him through the empty halls and eerie chambers.

“My father is visiting a neighboring state, so he won’t be back until later” The young prince reassures the fairy boy.

It was Park Jimin’s seventh visit to the Yang Dimension in Kim Taehyung’s timeline, but the young prince has already grown attached to bubbly fairy boy and the new found company of his first ever friend.

Taehyung looked forward to seeing Jimin, every year. Planning out everything he wanted to do with the boy during his short visits, and even making trips deep into the forest every day of the year to look for Jimin, despite the latter telling him he can only travel through the portal once a year on that specific day. But Taehyung never stopped thinking that just in case Jimin is able to come back more than once a year, he wouldn’t miss a single opportunity to see his only friend, even if it meant extra severe beatings from his father for leaving the palace, more cuts from the thorny bushes in the forest, and the fatigue, due to physical exertion, that would constantly wash over his frail body.

Their time together never felt like it was enough, because even when Jimin was there, Taehyung still missed him, and he would always cry himself to sleep at night every time the pink-haired boy left to go back to the Yin Dimension. He knew there was nothing either of them could do about it, but he learned to cherish every second he was fortunate enough to have with Park Jimin. To him, the fairy-boy’s yearly visits were the only thing worth waiting and living for, like the perfect rainbow after a destructive thunderstorm or the irreplaceable stable comfort of a home that never existed.

“Will you come back?” The prince had never failed to ask the same question every year. Never getting tired of hearing the same answer, the only answer he ever wants to hear.

“Yes, you’ll see me again next year.” The reassuring musical voice of Jimin would calm him, ever so slightly, but it was fleeting and just like his visits, it never lasted long enough.

“Please don’t leave me.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

This was the first time Taehyung had brought Jimin to the palace. They spend a day playing in Taehyung’s bedroom, laughing and chatting until the yellow-orange glow of the sunset filled the room.

“Jimin?”

“Hmmm?”

“Can I kiss you?”

The fairy boy is startled by the young prince’s sudden request, lavender eyes a dazzling contrast against the warm toned world, flawless pale skin almost translucent under the sunlight, but without answering he smoothly leans in and kisses Kim Taehyung on the lips. Their soft skin melding into one as cool meets warm in a perfect fusion of atomic particles from opposing dimensions.

The emotion swelling in their chests is like nothing either of them has ever felt before, but as quickly as the moment had escalated, it ended just as abruptly. The sound of the door to Taehyung’s bedroom banging against the wall as it is kicked open by a guard is loud enough to shatter the glass windows.

“Remove that filthy animal!” The King’s voice is deep and disgusted as he walks up behind the group of guards that have just barged into the prince’s room.

“Jimin, run!” Taehyung yells desperately, as he stares wide eyed as his father whose face is full of fury. The alarm in his mind is ringing, causing him to feel a sharp pain in his head.

“GO!!”

Jimin dashes out of the room, agile feet allowing him to dodge the guards. He turns his head one last time, only to see the King land a forceful punch on the prince’s beautiful face. The scene almost causes him to stop in his tracks, but Taehyung’s scream for Jimin to keep running prevents him from turning back.

As he hops down the steps and out of the palace, the image of Taehyung’s bloody lips and bruised eyes has manifested into physical pain for Jimin. He clutches his chest as he sprints into the forest, blinking away the tears that are blurring his vision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s Jungkook and Y/N” Taehyung says when he puts his earphones in, hastily dials Jimin’s, and hears the voice on the other end. He sitting in rush hour traffic now, with rain beating down on the window shield of his car as the windshield wiper desperately tries to swipe the buckets of water away. The obnoxious honks of the cars stuck in a their lanes is irritating, but Taehyung has more important things on his mind.

“What’s with them?” Jimin’s voice on the receiving end sounds muffled due to the bad signal.

“They’re from the first parallel universe we met in” Taehyung can feel his heartbeat quicken as the words leave his mouth. He had been having this sort of hunch for a while now, but only recently was it confirmed.

“The Yin and Yang dimensions?” Jimin’s voice is louder now, but Taehyung can still hear the sounds of sizzling vegetables being stir-fried in the background. Jimin was cooking dinner.

“Yes.”

“What? Are you saying we finally found another pair? How do you know?”

“The surgery. When she woke up, she was able to recall memories her brain had previously neglected. The ones that manifested in her dreams.”

“So Dr. Jeon just successfully redefined dreams and memory in consciousness? Wait, what happens now?” Jimin is trying to steady his rushed thoughts, but all of his questions are just tumbling out of his mouth.

“Are you ever going to stop drooling over the guy?” Taehyung’s voice comes out slightly irritated due to traces of jealously he won’t ever admit to. He narrows his eyes, even though Jimin can’t see him.

“Hey, I’m just interested in his research” The latter defends.

“Whatever, the point is, I think she’ll figure it out soon, if she hasn’t already.”

“But Dr. Jeon doesn’t know, does he?”

“Why do you keep referring to him so formally?”

“Because he has just graced humanity with other worldly knowledge and made a groundbreaking discovery, I feel weird just calling him “Jungkook”, it seems so….informal”

Taehyung rolls his eyes, and inhales a long breath of air before exhaling and tightening his grip on the steering wheel as the vehicles lined up in front of his finally begin to inch forward.

“Whatever, the point is, no he doesn’t know yet, so it’s up to you to guide him.”

“Me?! Why is all the pressure suddenly on me?”

“Have you forgotten you’re his psychologist?” Taehyung closes his eyes and leans he head back against the head rest, thinking that maybe Jimin was so caught up with how “hot” Jungkook is, that he forgot why he was treating him in the first place.

“Oh, yeah….” Jimin swallows nervously, half struggling to register all this new information and half trying to connect it all back to whatever he previously knew.

“You said he had dreams right? From what I can tell, those dreams sound awfully similar to Y/N’s dreams, which means there’s still hope.”

“Yeah, hope…..”

...

A week after you had woken up from your procedure with Taehyung by your side, everything was starting to come together. You had explained to him that you were certain that you had met Jeon Jungkook in another universe, and somehow ended up in this one after both of you had decided to “jump”. At the time, you had look at the golden-haired psychologist, waiting for a confirming response, although you already knew that nothing he said then was going to change your mind about what you were already certain of. You even told him about the paintings in Jungkook’s apartment, and the fact that you know him and Jimin are from the same universe.

“Y/N, I think you should come on a little trip with Jimin and I” was Taehyung’s only response.

And so Taehyung and Jimin had decided to take you by the ocean, thinking that perhaps the atmosphere was suitable for the long story that they decided to orally narrate for you. Before the procedure, you would’ve waved everything they were saying off as if they were telling you some fictional fantasy only fit for teenagers, but everything you’ve been seeing in your sub-conscious dreams had already come together and you knew it was real, just like you had always wanted to believe that it was.

However, what happened to them after they jumped into the wormhole was still overwhelming and heart wrenching, and you tried to suppress the questions forming in your head as they talked because you didn’t want to interrupt the captivating tale. They spoke of different universes, where they met only to fall in love again, cycles of hard fought beginnings and inevitable endings, in search of a place where eternal love could exist.

“Maybe eternal love just doesn’t exist” You say, listening to the waves of the ocean crash against the rocky shores as Jimin finishes and falls silent.

“Contrary to popular belief, it actually does, but the catch is, sacrifices have to be made.” Jimin looks at you with an aged smile that transcends his physical youth and reflects the amount of hardships he’s gone through. Noticing that his philosophical thoughts have put you in a confused state, he proceeds to explain in more detail.

“Matter that forms the bond of love can only choose one or the other. Either the medium exists eternally or the bond of love exists eternally, but one has to be traded for the other. That’s what Taehyung and I have discovered over the years, throughout our travels to different dimensions and our struggles to finally find each other again. We’ve learned that this particular trade-off is the only constant in every dimensional universe.” Jimin explains, his eyes dreamy now as he looks towards the setting sun.

There’s a long silence and the only thing that can be heard is the ocean, waves growing stronger as the sun disappears below the horizon, signaling the pending rise of the moon from its slumber.

“You know why the people in both the Yin and Yang dimensions never get a taste of true love?” Jimin asks.

“Because they’d rather choose eternal life?”

“That and because they are literally missing their other half” He smiles, and you could see the moon’s glow reflecting off his clear skin and crescent shaped eyes.

“Do you think he’ll ever remember?” The procedure was the only way you were able to, and you know there’s no way Jungkook could ever operate on himself. But deep in your gut you’re also certain that even if he never does you’ll still wait for him up until the end of your days. Because even breathtakingly beautiful is an understatement for the memories you have of him, and as long as you had the power to, you would never that go.

“There were several universes where I had to wait for him and others where he had to wait for me. We were lucky we recognized each other at the same time in this one, because knowing and waiting really takes a toll. We know from experience.” Jimin reaches over and gently pats you on the shoulder. His touch loosening a bit of the tension you didn’t realize was there.

“We’ve been to many parallel universes, but we ultimately decided to stay in this one. It’s the only one we’ve come across that allows us to spend the entirety of our lives together, and that’s all we’ve ever wanted anyways.” Jimin says.

“So what made you guys choose this universe?”

“We realized that us escaping to different universes was still choosing physical matter over love. And after so much waiting and painful goodbyes, we eventually decided it was time to let go of the medium. To choose love as the thing we wanted to last eternally.”

He pauses and looks over at Taehyung in the distance, who has walked down to the beach to soak his feet in the foamy water. The tender look in his eyes speaks of solace and gratitude.

“Whether we remember it or not, our love will always be there long after our physical bodies cease to exist. It’ll make a home in the colorful swirl of the gravitational field of gaseous stars; the image of the full moon on a clear night sky, representing the feeling of longing between distanced lovers; the pastel colors of the sky slowly lighting up at dawn and the warm hues of sunset mixed with the cool toned reflection of water. It’ll manifest in the sound and smell of rain, the strong, continuous flow of waterfalls, and perhaps in the stories that are passed down from generation to generation.”

That’s when you realize Jimin was right. And at that moment, you finally understand why the legend of Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung is told to every kid in the Yin and Yang dimensions and why it’s such an unchanging tradition.

.......