Chapter Text

Summer went by faster than he cared to admit. Yoongi spent the remainder of the month frolicking in his own room or going out with his band of friends. He managed to make some beat during the weeks and recorded something worthy enough to be heard with Namjoon. Being productive certainly made him feel better about himself. At dusk they would certainly play basketball together at the court near their leader’s house and Yoongi would simply watch from the side, leaning his back against a makeshift pillow of bags with his notebook on his lap.

He thought that they would simply stop playing after they’d lost, but it turned out that basketball had indeed become a habit they couldn’t let go. One evening they decided that they got to increase Namjoon’s level of skill in basketball though their leader winced in return, telling them that such action was unnecessary considering there was no point in it already. They tortured the man again, of course, and Namjoon just loved them too much he finally gave in and agreed to do the impossible task in return of Seokjin’s homemade cooking for an entire week. The scene turned out to be so funny and of course would be something that Yoongi wouldn’t be able to forget for his entire life.

They forced Namjoon to do a slam dunk, Hoseok and Taehyung even went as far as giving the man a lift. Their leader jumped, holding the basketball in hand and aimed for the ring. The ball did get through, though, and practically he did manage to dunk, but not before he gripped the ring, hanging from it with limbs dangling in the air, and it broke. Yes, the ring broke as Namjoon dangled from it, he fell on the ground on his with the said metal ring still around his grip.

What happened next was all of them bursting into laughter. ‘God of Destruction’ was definitely going to be their life-long inside joke.

Days went by and he was happy, Yoongi could say that. His legs were troublesome but it didn’t hinder him from having fun. Just as they had planned it, they decided to go to Gangneung somewhere along the middle of August and that explained how he was sitting by the Auraji train station with a packed bag, waiting for his friends. For once he was early and he cursed under his breath, realizing that indeed he was. He didn’t really tell his friends about it but he had secretly been looking forward for this trip.

One by one his friends came into view, Hoseok coming first with Taehyung, giving a piggyback to the latter. Jungkook came next before Namjoon and Seokjin followed afterwards, their eldest dragging an exceptionally heavy-looking bag (which he assumed would be food and stuff). Taehyung being Taehyung of course brought the minimum amount of clothes and Seokjin being the mother he was just shook his head upon noticing that the younger didn’t even bring a decent amount of underwear.

Jimin came last and he watched as Taehyung ran and dived towards him. The two wrestled together and it took Jungkook teasing Jimin that he was wearing insoles and Hoseok pinching the boy’s cheek before the train came and they all boarded it with such a ruckus. Namjoon sat by the window and slept with an earphone on his ear while the kids ransacked Yoongi’s crutches again, playing with it (this time it was a reenactment of Star Wars) and made one hell of a commotion in the carriage (which thankfully was practically empty) whilst Seokjin taking a video of them.

Gangneung is a coastal town at the east of South Korea and definitely smaller than Busan ever was. Summer wouldn’t be summer if it wasn’t for a trip to the beach and the seven of them had decided that they would go to Gyeongpo Beach, a place famous enough (and cheap enough, that was the most important part of it all) for a bunch of high school teenagers to spend their summer in.

Seokjin and Namjoon had taken care of the housing, they ended up in a small guesthouse around fifteen minute walk from Gyeongpo Beach. It was far from a five hotel luxury, that was for sure, but at least air conditioning in the summer heat was already everything that Yoongi could ever hope for.

Upon arriving they all quickly headed to the beach, Taehyung and Jungkook practically raced towards it, eager to feel the sand underneath their toes and forgetting the fact that one of them was having a broken leg. Still Yoongi didn’t complain, smiling sheepishly and dragged his feet with both crutches tugged between his legs leisurely before of course, Jimin and Hoseok exchanged a smile that meant mischief and scooped Yoongi up from the ground, carrying him all the way to the beach with the two of them running and the one being hauled up from the ground screaming.

Yoongi being Yoongi decided to sit underneath the shade of an umbrella afterwards, watching as Seokjin taking a video of them all in his cam recorder, Namjoon trying to catch a crab (Yoongi didn’t really understand why the man kept on insisting about catching a crab even when they were still planning on where to go) with Hoseok beside him aiding, while Jimin, Jungkook and Taehyung were farther behind playing with the waves. With a broken leg all that he could do was to sit and watch, but he was content with just that. In fact he was indeed loving the moment.

It had been years since Yoongi last went to a beach and he got to say that he felt serene the moment he set foot on Gyeongpo beach, feeling the warm breeze that was definitely different than the usual chill of the mountain air in Yeoryang-myeon. Even the blue of the sky was different. He got that weird sensation that the sky hung higher and the shade of blue was deeper. It was the same blue nonetheless but the feeling was definitely different, all with the warm sand under his toes and the echoes of his friends’ laughter ringing on his ear.

He could take a photograph of this, capturing the moment on a piece of paper as a life-long reminiscence, but even that wouldn’t be enough. Because a photograph wouldn’t be able to capture the color of the sky like he was seeing it right now, or the wind against his cheek or the sound of wave crushing against the sand. All he wanted to do was to take all of this sensation into one certain object, framing it and hung it on his bedroom wall to be reminded at how happy he once was, how happy they were all.

“Hey Yoongi don’t just sulk there!” Seokjin said, yelling for him. “Come on, have some fun.”

He protested at how he was really having fun, watching them all from underneath the umbrella, but of course his friends weren’t convinced. They all ended up running towards him and of course he knew where this was heading. He threatened Taehyung at first who was biting his lips in excitement, minds filled with idea about throwing him into the sea, he bet, before he said that he couldn’t get his cast wet at all cost, or even having sands on them because he knew it would be a torture for the itching skin underneath. It wasn’t until Jimin who proposed the idea of burying him in the sand did everybody exchanged a mischievous look and Yoongi repeated a “No” that started from a hoarse whisper until it turned into a scream.

“Oh come on, hyung. At least you don’t have to move, just like you love it!” Jimin said, giggling.

(And sure enough there was a pic of Yoongi buried in the sand with only his head and left leg that was wrapped in cast, sticking out from the ground in Seokjin’s camera)

((The behind the scene footage of the pic was filled with Yoongi’s curses, of course))

+.-.+

One of the most famous tourist attractions of Gangneung was the Gyeongpo Lake and Beach. The city was considered special for the access to both, especially the Gyeongpodae – a pavilion overlooking the Gyeongpo Lake – which was packed with tourist most of the time. They stayed on the beach for hours, Yoongi made sure that he hadn’t missed the sun setting on the horizon, seeing her usual scarlet-faced and orange-smiled paramore greeted him like always, peppering him with warm kisses of goodbye and promise of another that would follow as the stars took her place and they were parted once again.

“You know, it is said that ‘one can see the moon five times when at Gyeongpodae’,” Seokjin read from this tiny travel guide that he’d bought as they walked down the road, trying to find a place to have dinner in before heading back to the guesthouse.

“Too bad the Gyeongpodae is packed with tourist these days,” Jungkook said, pointing at the said pavilion that stood at the distance. They could see the hint of the red building with its old-styled roof and carving, standing by the edge of the beach. Even from the road they could see the lines of tourists as they walked towards the steps of the pavilion.

They decided to eat in one of the Gyeongpodae beach restaurant, spending extra money on meat before deciding to reduce to fast-food stuff on the next day as compensation. It was upon meat after meant and a couple of soju bottle did Taehyung ask again what the five moons were.

“’Once sees the moon once in the sky’,” Seokjin explained, repeating something that sounded more like a stanza from his small travel guide book.

“Of course it would be on the sky. How else could you see a moon anyway?” Namjoon interrupted.

(Yoongi could hear Taehyung whispered ‘you could see one on Namjoon’s ’ at Hoseok from next to him)

“’Once reflected in the lake, once reflected in the sea’.”

“Okay, that was fair enough. Of course it would be a reflection,” this time Taehyung added.

“What’s the fourth?” Hoseok asked.

“’Once reflected in the drinking glass’,” Seokjin continued reading.

Yoongi scoffed. “That was too cliché. So you’re saying we have to bring a wine glass and see the moon reflected on it or something?”

Namjoon was about to take his guess on the fifth when his elbow accidentally knocked on Hoseok’s glass and it fell to the floor with a loud crashing noise. Everybody was silent, all eyes gazing upon Namjoon before they broke into a fit of laughter.

“Oh my god!” Yoongi screamed. “Even a basketball ing deflated when it touched your hand.”

God of Destruction indeed, all of them said, even as one of the waitresses came towards them to complain and their poor leader had to stutter an apology and fished out more notes from his wallet to repay for the damage.

They didn’t drink that much but Seokjin had definitely passed out from mere drops soon after and Taehyung had started dancing on every pole that he found, recreating a Bollywood scene with Hoseok and disgustingly acted as if they were Romeo and Juliet or something after that. Dragging them all to the guesthouse, they decided to call it a night, the seven of them was more than ready to slip underneath their blanket and slept, regaining the energy they spent for the whole day frolicking under the sun.

In fact of course, Yoongi ended up having his eyes wide open in annoyance, sleep didn’t come so easily to him. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t written anything in his journal that night, it had become a habit each night he couldn’t sleep soundly without doing it, or the fact that Namjoon’s snore was deafening he honestly believed he thought about getting a knife and slicing the man’s throat. Groaning, he dragged his legs and stumbled towards his bag, taking out his notebook that he always brought with him everywhere and slipped behind the door, walking outside to get some air.

He walked passed the room and hallways until he found himself standing outside of the guesthouse on the verandah, the nightly sky greeted him. Smiling to himself he decided to sit on the bench, his notebook sprawled on his thigh when the door he just exited slid open again and a certain voice called out his name.

“Hyung, what are you doing?”

Turning his head around, he saw Jimin just by the door, peeking from inside.

“Can’t sleep.”

“It’s almost 2 in the morning,” the boy said.

“Yeah, I know. Can’t sleep. How you all could under Namjoon’s snore is beyond me,” he said.

“Well, Seokjin-hyung is out, Jungkook is a deep sleeper, and Taehyung had reminded me to bring earplugs.”

Yoongi cursed under his breath. Right. Earplugs. He should have remembered.

“Yah, just go to sleep already. I’ll go back when I’m finished,” he said, taking out the pen and focusing on his journal this time, thinking about a certain beautiful sunset and the ghost of fleeting summer.

Jimin didn’t answer and he decided to write something about ‘there are five moons reflecting on my eyes’ when he heard the door shifted, the boy had probably gone back inside. But no, Jimin walked out and stood in front of him instead, clearing his throat as if wanting to say something.

“What?” Yoongi said, raising his brows without taking his eyes off of his journal or even stop writing.

“Uhm, do you want to go-,” and he finally raised his head because what the boy was trying to say intrigue him. “-out instead?”

“Out?”

Jimin looked flushed.

“To Gyeongpodae, maybe? I mean it’s always packed with tourists during the day and evening. Maybe it’s empty right now?”

“Jimin, I think people don’t go to places like that in freaking 2 am in the morning for a reason,” he said.

“Well, we always go out at night in Yeoryang-myeon. And beside I think it’ll be fun,” Jimin said.

He couldn’t help but to think that the boy was harboring another sort of plan underneath all of this.

“This is not Yeoryang-myeon, Jimin,” he added, though he got to say that the idea seemed interesting enough for him. Maybe then he would have some inspiration for lyrics to write. Imagine that, sitting on the steps of Gyeongpodae, watching the night sky and the sound of crashing wave on his ear. On second thought, it was actually a great idea.

“Especially because this isn’t Yeoryang-myeon,” Jimin said, smiling at him.

He looked up at Jimin’s smile and he oddly remembered that night they raced down Jimin’s window and went stargazing on the school field out of his weird impulse. This was all too familiar already.

+.-.+

“See, hyung? This is indeed a great idea,” Jimin said.

Both of them were walking down the empty path of the road, the night sky hanging above their head. Yoongi lifted his head but found no stars scattered upon the black canvass like it always did in Yeoryang-myeon and found himself a bit disappointed. At least not as much or as beautiful as it was back in his small town. They walked slowly under the headlights, Jimin walking right next to him, mimicking his action with his head raised.

Just like Jimin had said it, Gyeongpodae was indeed empty, because certainly no tourist would ever venture to such place at two in the morning beside a couple of stupid teenagers like them. Jimin helped Yoongi got on the series of steps that led to the pavilion with his broken leg and all. The pavilion was dark with minimum light inside, not the best place to write, he realized, but outside of it just by the steps, he found that the night sky had given him enough illumination to write.

Frolicking inside of the pavilion until they had gotten bored of the place, the two of them sat by the steps just outside of the building. On their right they could see the ocean, stretching far behind, melting with the darkness. On their left was the Gyeongpo Lake, its water calm, a total contrast of the raging waves on their right.

Up there on the sky, the moon hung with its warm glow, its light shy compared to the sun. Sometimes the wind would blow and the cloud would warp itself around it, hiding it from view once again, as if a girl playing hide and seek, her smile rare but beautiful nonetheless. Just like hide and seek, she was hiding from the sun, the twinkling stars become her trails she left for her lover to follow until dawn came and he would finally find her once again, both lover briefly touched before they resumed their game once again.

He was back again, writing lyrical nonsense and rhyming words, his minds raging between the sky and the moon before Jimin called out his name again.

“Hey, hyung, look what I’ve found!” The boy had circled the pavilion and practically just checking the place out when he came back, sitting next to Yoongi with a bottle of water in his hand.

“It must have been someone else’s. Throw them away,” he said, stealing a glance before focusing back on his notebook, wondering why the boy took an already opened water bottle that should be discarded.

“No, it’s not that, hyung. Remember what Seokjin told us about the five moons?” Jimin said.

You could see five moons when you were in Gyeongpodae, he remembered Seokjin said.

“It’s just a myth. Something that they came up with to attract tourists,” he sneered.

Jimin puffed his cheek before placing the forgotten water bottle that boy had found god knows where and sat beside him in silence.

He was enjoying the moment, just like he always did when he was in Yeoryang-myeon when Jimin once again whispered.

“What’s the fifth?”

“What fifth?” he said, still jolting up words upon the paper.

“The moons. Seokjin-hyung said we could see five, but I’ve only seen four,” he said.

Yoongi lifted his head from his notebook and remembered Seokjin’s words, echoing in his head like a chant.

‘It is said that one can see the moon five times when at Gyeongpodae. One sees the moon once in the sky’

He raised his head and sure enough, there was the moon. They came at the perfect time of the month, the pregnant moon glowing brightly above their head, becoming more prominent upon the night sky.

‘Once reflected in the lake’

He turned his head towards the lake on his left and he could see it clearly, its light mirrored on the calm surface of the lake.

‘Once reflected in the sea’

On his right the sea was a bit different, the light a bit harder to catch from his eyes with the raging sea on top of it.

‘Once reflected in the drinking glass’

By that point he couldn’t really see the moon reflection on the puny imitation of a drinking glass that was the water bottle, but at least he could pretend that it was.

“What’s the fifth one again?” he asked to Jimin.

The boy shrugged. “I don’t know, Seokjin-hyung didn’t finish it.”

Yoongi scoffed. “I bet it’s some sappy stuff. Or maybe instead of a drinking glass we should bring a whole bucket of water for the fifth one.”

“I don’t know, I like the idea of the fifth moon being a door that leads to something.”

“You’ve definitely read too much science fiction.”

“What? I can’t imagine a Han Dynasty’s treasure hidden somewhere around the pavilion and could only be shown by the moonlight at certain time of certain year?”

Yoongi chuckled. “That’s national treasure kind of , .”

Jimin laughed and the boy glanced at the moon on the sky, seemingly thinking before he looked back at Yoongi. “But I don’t know, I want to believe that the fifth moon is something that’s actually there in front of my eyes already.”

In front of their eyes, hidden from anyone’s view but their own, all this time stood to the eye yet they just didn’t grasp it-, or yet they hadn’t.

They ended up talking about series of stupid possibilities about the fifth moon. They must have sat for a long time because of course they lost track of time again much like that day they ended up talking in front of Yoongi’s house until the sun rose. But this time it wasn’t the sun rising that got them going back. It was actually one of the place’s attendant, an old man that was supposedly tasked at guarding the place, realizing a figure of two teenagers frolicking around the tourist spot at an ungodly hour of a night. Of course the said man shooed them away, threatening to call the police on them if they were indeed vandalizing the place like the man suspected them to do. In the end Jimin laughed at that and dragged him away, giving him another piggyback while the two of them running away from the said old man, flailing his broom in the air to scare them away.

They reached the guesthouse not long after that and slept for a mere two hours before their friends woke up and dragged them this time to Ojukheon Museum in the morning, seeing old Korean houses and the Confucius School. Both Jimin and him walked like a corpse that day, Yoongi fell asleep when they decided to camp out near the lake on the evening, resting his head on Jimin’s lap. Night came and considering it would be the last night they spent before going back to Yeoryang-myeon, the seven of them went to Jeongdongjin Beach this time, a few kilometers outside of Gangneung to light up some fireworks. Yoongi watched as the kids played with it, drawing light figures on the night sky, flailing them around happily like toddlers. They all laughed upon Hoseok’s scream whenever the firecracker blew, the man covering his ear and jerking back in fear and shock each time.

They went back to the guesthouse, sleeping only for a few hours before this time Seokjin woke them up to see the rising sun. Most of them groaned but in the end they all woke up, dragging their tired feet and sleepy eyes to the beach right when the light was slowly seeping into the sky. And Yoongi witnessed the sun rising, lighting up the beach in such a wonderful way. There came the sun and both lover was finally in touch once again, kissing and hugging each other in their warm before the moon parted again from its embrace, the light of stars vanishing, shying away from the sun’s greater light. At that moment Yoongi’s heart oddly felt full as if he was ready to burst. He felt like everything was enough and the feeling itself was too peculiar to be described.

“It’s sad to think that this is our last year together,” Seokjin suddenly said.

That was the thing that the seven of them was trying to deny. This was indeed their last year together and after this no one knew what would happen. Their last summer before they all went their separate ways. They all went in silence, none of them reacting to Seokjin’s words. Yoongi just looked at the sky and thought about it all, about his uncertain future and that one dream of Seoul, somehow feeling farther and farther away from his reach. The other didn’t say another word but he bet that that sniff he heard was Hoseok’s.

“We have to go back one day,” their leader whispered as the seven of them sat upon the warm sand. “After everything, every five years, we have to make a promise and come back.”

There was some murmur and Jungkook raised his voice.

“To Gangneung again? Why not Jeju instead, hyung?” he joked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Seokjin said again. “Whether it be Yeoryang-myeon, or Gangneung, or Jeju, or Seoul, we had to find each other again after five years, and every five years after that and every five years after that.”

That was some melancholic , Yoongi wanted to say. He hated such thing the most, sappy things that got people tearing up. Jimin would undoubtedly be doing that, he thought, and he remembered how the boy had cried in happiness during his stupid initiation night by the hills. He turned his head towards the Park who was sitting right next to him and he didn’t see him crying. He was smiling warmly instead.

“It’s a promise then, hyung,” Taehyung said.

Hoseok snorted and answered with voice broken that he would never forget them all, that they would all be friends forever. Jungkook even said how he would miss them all after they graduated, and he lowly whispered how he was actually scared this whole time, realizing that he would be left alone. The sky was getting brighter and brighter as Taehyung pat Jungkook’s back and said how of course they wouldn’t forget about Jungkook, the elder promising that he wouldn’t leave Yeoryang-myeon before Jungkook graduated, and that got their youngest cracking into tears for the first time.

Everybody had their worries, he realized, with Jungkook afraid of being left alone, with Namjoon saying next how he wanted to go to Seoul but scared of his own decision, even to Seokjin who said that he had decided to stay in their small town after graduating but afraid of not feeling satisfied with it.

“I thought that I’m going to hate Yeoryang-myeon when I first came,” Jimin said next, his voice low at first. “After Seoul, I thought that my life is ruined. I nuh-never thought I would meet such nice fuh-friends like you guys,” he said, his voice slowly cracking at the end of the sentence. He was about to cry, Yoongi thought. He would cry once again.

But Jimin gulped after that, turning his face and looked at him in the eye before he smiled again, his eyes wet yet not a single tear ran down his cheek. At that moment he somehow knew and remembered what he had said back then in the classroom on the last day of school. That one look that Jimin gave him said, ‘I’m keeping my promise, hyung’. It said, ‘I’m not going to cry again’. He smiled at Jimin before grabbing him by the shoulder, pulling him closer.

It was another comfortable silence, the seven of them had their eyes fixed on the sun that was now higher above the horizon already by now, or at least that was what Yoongi thought them to be doing, because soon enough he realized that they were all looking at him instead, as if waiting for Yoongi to say another sappy word once again, completing their heart to heart confession.

“What?” he protested.

“Come on Yoongi. This isn’t complete without you,” Namjoon said, chuckling.

“You want me to say another sappy thing, aren’t you? No way, thanks. Min Yoongi doesn’t do feelings,” he said, sticking his tongue out.

The six of them whined, even Jimin giving him a small punch on his shoulder. Seokjin threatened him about telling the kids to throw him into the water if he didn’t and finally he gave up.

“All right, all right. You guys are the best thing that had ever happened to me. I love each one of you guys. There, I said it.”

“God, Yoongi. That’s so lame!” Namjoon protested.

“What? That’s the best I can do. You want me to shed a tear? Don’t even dream about it.”

“At least give him some credit on that. At least hyung got to say that he loved us when half the time I thought that he loathed us,” Jungkook said, joking.

“Well, don’t make me take my words,” he said.

“Awh, Min Yoongi confessing his love. You love me right, hyung?” Hoseok said, going up to him and wrapping his hand around his neck from behind. He wanted to say no, beat the man and took his earlier words because truthfully he was simply awful at feelings, but at least this time he could live it all for the sake of his friends.

“Yeah, yeah, I love you Jung Hoseok,” he said, tone sounding unamused, prying himself off of the man’s touch.

“Even me?” this time it was Taehyung’s voice, beaming with excitement. “Even Namjoon-hyung who’s practically responsible for our defeat in basketball?” (Namjoon yelled a ‘hey’ at that like always)

“Yeah, even you, Taehyung and especially even Namjoon.”

“What about me, hyung?” this time it was Jimin, still sitting next to him with his fingers raised, pointing at himself. There was a small pause and he didn’t know why he didn’t answer it straight away, why he spent a few moment thinking about the sky once again and the night they spent alone in Gyeongpodae. He didn’t know why he remembered that conversation, about seeing the five moons. “Do you love me?” the boy asked.

He blinked because for a second he swore to god he was seeing something else in front of him, not just a figure of Park Jimin smiling. For a second he thought that he was seeing the moon, and that was completely bizarre, considering that it was morning already and he wasn’t glancing up at the sky. He was simply looking at Park Jimin’s eyes, the boy seated on the beach with their friends around them, laughing and conversing. Yet for that tiniest fracture of a moment he thought about the moon and he saw it right in front of his eyes, reflecting itself on that brown iris that was looking right back at him.

“Yeah, I love you too Park Jimin.”

'It is said that one can see the moon five times when at Gyeongpodae.

One sees the moon once in the sky,

once reflected in the lake,

once reflected in the sea,

once reflected in the drinking glass,

and once more in the eyes of a lover.'

We made a promise of seeing each other every five years

And about promises-, the brat kept his.