Flight 862: Los Angeles, U.S. --> Seoul, S.K.

9:30 PM

Two hours into the thirteen hour flight, and the boys were already bored. Jimin had exhausted his 7/11 horror stories from the three hours he and Taehyung had gotten separated—something both swore not to tell the hyungs about until they were on their death beds—ten minutes ago. And Taehyung had even recounted his own Wal-Mart trials. Sighing, Jimin lolled his head back against his seat, slouching and stretching his legs as much as he could manage. Jimin cowered when he accidentally kicked the seat of the man in front of them for the sixth time, causing the other to turn and glare at the duo, much to Taehyung's amusement.

"You know, with you being so short you'd think you would be able stretch your legs out all the way." Taehyung snickered at the narrowed-eye glare the other sent his way.

"Two hours in and you start insulting me, is there no justice in this world? No love for the pure, radiant, lovely—"

"Ok Mr. Pure and Radiant, tell that to the man in seat 6C who looks like he wants to fillet you and feed you to the wolves." Taehyung elbowed Jimin, effectively cutting him off and earning a snort from a stranger behind them. "See? She agrees with me." Taehyung smirked at his friend, satisfied at the others embarrassed spluttering. "Now," Taehyung lifted himself up, procuring a deck of cards from his back pocket, "Wanna play go fish?"

************************************************************

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean

2:00 AM

There were only two hours left until they reached Seoul, and the boys were becoming increasingly restless.

"You know," Taehyung started, scooting towards Jimin "It's like ten in the morning in L.A. Jet lag is going to ruin our lives." Jimin tilted his head, snorting before replying.

"I don't think it will Tae, seen as how you wouldn't let us sleep for more than five hours so we wouldn't be sleeping at 1 PM when we got home." Jimin groaned quietly "I really hate you, I'm so tired."

"Oh yeah. I forgot." Taehyung scratched the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, and conversation lulled again.

Ten minutes passed in silence, Jimin staring glassy eyed at the ceiling of the cabin, Taehyung looking out the window. Then Taehyung started to do his favorite thing yet again—think.

I want to tell him, but what about the others? Do I tell them all at once? No, Jimin is half asleep; he probably won't remember anything I tell him now. I need to tell somebody, I need to tell him, it's been too long. He doesn't have expectations of me and who I am, Jimin is still new. I'm going to, I'm going to I'm—

"Jimin, can, ah, can we talk about something?" Taehyung cleared his throat awkwardly, nerves starting to bubble in his throat. Maybe this was a bad idea, I regret this no—

"Yeah, Tae? You know you can tell me anything." Jimin shot the other a sunny smile.

.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you? Wait, no, I haven't been lying or anything just—withholding information, yeah that sounds better." Taehyung paused, looking at the seat and swallowing harshly. "Uh, well the thing is I've been holding this secret for years. And I don't really, uh, understand completely why I want to tell you first out of everybody—not that there's something wrong with you! It's just I have only known you a few months and—"

"Hey, hey, Tae. It's fine, I won't get angry with you or judge you, ok? Sometimes you just need to tell people who don't know you inside and out things because there isn't as much risk of pain if they leave you for it, and I get that. But I promise I won't leave ok? It'll all be fine-- I promise." Jimin nudged Taehyung with his elbow, smiling reassuringly to cover up his own twisting gut and to keep Taehyung calm.

"Ok, well," Taehyung took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before continuing, finally looking at Jimin's face. "Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning. I have a sister—had one, really—and a few years ago, she went through SSI. She was so great Jimin, she was someone who would always cheer me up no matter how down I felt, she loved to point out cute dogs whenever we went for walks, and she loved to sing loudly in the car even if she knew she didn't sound good. She never cared, was always so happy and alive, you could see the spark in her eyes! But that, that day I said goodbye to her at the airport was the last time I saw that light."

Jimin brought his arm up, hand tentatively grabbing onto the other boys in silent encouragement.

"Well anyway, it was only a few months before she was due home when it happened. The police told us what had happened mostly, so did her friends that were there. She had seen her soul-mate, across the road at some market overseas. God, Jimin it's so, so stupid—she was in a trance really, trapped staring at her soul-mate, she watched as her "destiny" was hit, smashed along the ground by a speeding car and she just kept looking. When she came back home I was so terrified, my sister was gone and this zombie was in her place-- had stolen her skin. She became mindless, mumbling nonsense about her soul-mate, looking at me with her dull, dead eyes and I can't take it. Mom couldn't either, she became sort of crazed about it, pretends everything is fine when it's not. And when the hyungs asked and begged me to help get a sponsorship I couldn't say no, they were all so hopeful just like she had been. And I was ashamed, I was so ashamed that I couldn't tell them about her because I'm selfish and she scares me. So I did it, but I never tried looking for any "destined lover" because it's all pointless. God when I say it out loud I feel so damn selfish, because as much as I love my sister I can't be like her, I just—I can't risk that ever." Taehyung stopped, taking several shaky breaths. "That felt so good, you don't even know. But now I have to tell the hyungs don't I? I—I feel horrible but I don't know if I'm ready."

Jimin bit his lip, unsure of what exactly to say after the huge divulge of information. "You don't have to tell the hyungs yet, you know? It's nothing to feel bad about. And, and I'm happy you told me, it's definitely a huge secret to keep for so long. I'm definitely not going to leave and I don't think of you any different—and hey, I didn't find a soul-mate either so how cool can they be, huh?" Jimin tickled his friend's sides lightly, trying to bring the mood up a bit.

Taehyung giggled lightly before looking right into Jimins eyes. "Thank you Jimin, really you don't know how much this meant to me," Taehyung smiled slightly "I think you earned yourself the right to sleep the rest of the flight."

"Hell yeah!" Jimin over-reacted in joy to keep the mood up before pulling on Taehyung's arm. "Come on, let's both rest, I think you deserve it more than me anyway."

************************************************************

Seoul Incheon International Airport

4:40 A.M.

"It's kind of messed up that none of the hyungs came to get us, not even Minseok hyung! Leaving us here to fend for ourselves and get a ride on the Airport Railroad Express at five in the morning, it's inhumane!" Jimin complained as the duo walked their way to the train, bags heavy in their tired arms.

"Well the AREX is the fastest way to the city, so get ready for a lovely 45 minute ride with questionable strangers." Taehyung said over his shoulder, teasing Jimin who only groaned loudly in reply. "At least the trains are clean, right?" Taehyung laughed as Jimin only groaned again before speed walking away.

************************************************************

Taehyung's Apartment, Seoul

5:30 A.M.

"Finally!" Taehyung wheezed as he unlocked his apartment door, glancing at an equally out of breath Jimin over his shoulder as he pushed the door open. "Honestly, why did the elevators have to break today of all day—"

"Surprise!"

"Holy !" Jimin screeched into Taehyung's ear, latching onto the other at the sound of nine men yelling in their direction.

"Hey, there's no need to speak like that." Minseok jokingly scolded Jimin as he walked towards the two figures still stuck in the door way. "Come on in, I know we didn't pick you up but I thought this would be a better alternative."

Jimin slid his way inside, shouting something about needing to go to the bathroom before disappearing into the apartment.

"I didn't even tell him where the bathroom is..." Taehyung lamented sadly before turning to Minseok and the others. "So, how did you get into my house?"

"It was pretty easy," Hakyeon started

"Minseok hyung has a spare set of everybody's house keys so we just took those." Jaehwan finished brightly, smiling widely at the annoyed looks both Hakyeon and Minseok shot him.

"O-K." Taehyung said slowly, raising an eyebrow at Minseok "Anyway, how did you get everybody here? I thought Hakyeon hyung was going to stay with Wonshik hyung in New York for a while? And Kris hung was going to be in China with Chicke—Tao hyung." Taehyung cleared his throat loudly, glancing at Tao who looked a bit confused at the slip up.

"Yes, well, I got everybody down here to celebrate your return—"

"With bribery" Hakyeon cut in, snorting when Minseok shot him a dirty look.

"Ok, however they want to put it, they're here and that's all that matters! Now if I'm not mistaken we have a little catching up to do." Minseok put his arm around Taehyung's shoulders, leading him to the couch and pushing him down next to Yoongi.

Taehyung turned to the left a bit to face Yoongi, but before he could get a proper greeting out he blurted "Hyung why do you still have different colored eyes."

Yoongi shifted uncomfortably, turning to look at the others in the room who were obviously well informed on the topic. Jaehwan looked like he was going to burst—never one to hold a secret well—but was remaining quiet like the others. It also helped that Taekwoon had a hand covering his mouth.

"Tae," Yoongi started, and Taehyung looked over to him again "So as you can tell I don't have a soul-mate. I'm sorry I lied but I don't regret it. I can give you every excuse under the sun but the truth was I got nervous, I wasn't ready to find my soul-mate all those months ago, and when I ducked into that shop I found a good escape. The man at the counter, Seungcheol, must have seen my panic and then you called and he kind of just went with it. We're still friend, we meet up sometimes but that's beside the point—what I'm trying to say is. I'm sorry for not telling you before and I hope you understand."

Taehyung sat in shock for a moment, a feeling of companionship washing over him because he knows exactly what Yoongi meant and how he felt—and someday soon, Yoongi would know that too. But for now, all Taehyung did was pull the other into a hug.

"Aww, hyung! All you had to do was tell me you were nervous, I would have understood." Taehyung singsonged, taking the opportunity to annoy his hyung and make the others in the room burst into laughter.

When the boys giggling died down after a moment, it seemed Taekwoon's hand could no longer stop Jaehwan.

"I'm so glad that's over with! It was so hard keeping that secret, and I almost spilled it that one time you called—I didn't really drink seven coffees fyi."

Taehyung snorted at his hyung, and then tilted his head in thought.

"Actually, wait. I remember someone called Taekwoon hyung Leo during that conversation, did that have anything to do with this?"

Taekwoon blushed lightly but remained quiet, allowing for Jaehwan to answer for him.

"It's a nickname, or stage name really, my little Taekwoonie used to perform at his school as Leo." Jaehwan looked more than happy to simultaneously tell Taehyung about is soul-mate and embarrass Taekwoon at the same time.

"Hey," Taehyung started up slowly "At least he didn't DJ in nightclubs as 'Ravi'" Taehyung smiled innocently, happy that he was back at home and that their group dynamic was still the same, even with all the changes that occurred over the months abroad.

Unfortunately Hakyeon didn't seem to share the sentiment.

"Ok 'V', at least Wonshik can dance! What kind of dance crew has one member and a one letter name anyway?"

Taehyung faked a gasp, acting affronted, but then Tao chimed in.

"Yifan likes to be called Kris because he thinks it has more swag—he wanted to be a rapped when he was younger."

"Tao!" Kris squeaked after the other stopped talking, but that started an all out call-out war between the men.

Taehyung just watched in amusement for a while, until he suddenly remembered that Jimin hadn't come out of the bathroom. He stood silently up as to not be noticed as yells of "yeah, sure, ok suga" and "whatever you say, xiumin" bounced around the living room.

Stepping quietly into the hallway, Taehyung tentatively called out to Jimin, slowly moving past the bathroom when he saw the door open and light off. Pushing the door to his room open, Taehyung rolled his eyes at the sight of Jimin passed out in the middle of his bed, spread out like a starfish.

"That's enough of that" Taehyung whispered under his breath, then all but pounced onto the bed. "It's time to wake up sleeping beauty! Come see the hyungs! Wakey-wakey!" Taehyung yelled as he jumped around Jimins body.

The other boy whined as he swatted at Taehyung's legs, sighing in defeat after several failed attempts to stop the other.

"Ok! I'm up, just give me a sec to freshen up will ya'?" Jimin rolled off the bed and began shuffling towards the mirror that hung on Taehyung's closet door. Taehyung observed his friend for a minute before grabbing his elbow and all but pulling Jimin out of the room.

"You look stunning, now let's go!"

Taehyung kept a firm hold on Jimin until they reached the living room, where he placed Jimin in the center of the room before letting go.

"Guys Jimin is here," Taehyung said as he stepped back towards the couch. "Do with him what you will."

The people Jimin had already met came first, showering him with hugs and greetings, until there was only Yoongi left to greet.

Jimin walked towards the couch, just as Yoongi stood to greet the other, and the whole room stilled.

"Holy ." Jimin breathed.

Minseok didn't even scold him that time, as both Yoongi and Jimin were watching the others eye slowly swirl and change color in tandem.

"Holy is right"

The others in the room could only watch and agree in silence.