Chapter Text

The doctor took off Yoongi’s cast a week after Gangneung and practically thanked all the walking he did and the stupid shenanigans that his friends pulled, he had to live with a slightly crooked leg for the rest of his life. Seokjin pointed out that at least he still got to play basketball and he just joked how he was thankful that Namjoon wasn’t the one taking care of him for he honestly believed it would only mess his legs up even more (he even joked that Namjoon would kill him with just a mere touch).

They played Basketball again and Yoongi joined in for the first time after getting the cast off of his leg, triumphing over the sensation of running with his own two feet again. Summer break was about to end and the seven of them tried their best to make up for the remaining time, going places, even spending a night at the Auraji train tunnel once again (and it was certainly a bad idea considering they all walked back the next morning with mosquito bite all over their skin).

Just like they had promised before, they spent one day with the girl from the Minju group, this time going to Chuncheon. Living in a small town with the mountain on view for the entire time, they definitely didn’t fancy places such as the Seoraksan or the Odaesan National Park, that were packed with tourist coming from the city on summer vacation. Quite the contrary, they ended up visiting towns, losing themselves in the midst of bustling city and crowded traffic. Yoongi could even admit that there was something dramatic about the dust hanging in the air and the sound of blaring siren that his ear could catch. Chuncheon could barely even offer that longing he'd been searching for, therefor convincing him that indeed his long-lost soul mate that awaited him would definitely be the beautiful capital of Seoul.

Getting to Chuncheon by train, he was grateful that he didn’t have to see the sight of his ridiculous friends playing makeshift swordplay with his crutches. That and with the existence of the girls, they pretty much contained most of their craziness inside, conversing with the girls instead, such thing as shame finally noticeable to them after a long period of craziness and pure idiocracy. Travelling with the girls turned out to be fun, since they packed more food than Seokjin could ever bring (and Yoongi would never refuse the offer of free food). Yujin gave him another bento box and they spent the train ride talking with each other, practically making fun of Seokjin and Minju who purposely sat a few rows ahead of them to do god knows what.

Seokjin practically glowed when they reached the Chuncheon Myeongdong Street; they had to drag him away from almost every food stall. The girls shopped and Namjoon shopped and Yoongi ended up telling the latter over and over again that all the clothes that he tried on were okay (Yujin joked that Namjoon was his girlfriend and he answered it with a scowl). They went to Namiseom after that, an island thirty minutes away from Chuncheon, looking up at the neatly lined trees. This time Yoongi had brought his camera along, taking pictures of the surroundings. He found himself more comfortable behind the lens than in front, not like Namjoon who this time enslaved Jimin to take a perfect picture of him and his new attire. Yujin asked him to take a picture of her and he gladly did so.

“Look at Seokjin-oppa and Minju-eonni,” she said, whispering at him once she asked to see her pictures.

Glancing towards the direction she pointed, sure enough he saw the two of them walking far ahead of them, though the linking hands were the one that caught his attention even more.

“Bet they’re going official by the start of school term,” Yoongi said, scoffing.

“Really? That long?” she teased.

“What? You’re thinking otherwise?”

“Tell you what Min Yoongi, I bet five thousand won that they would be official by tomorrow.”

He got to say that that was something about Yujin that he liked. He didn’t say that he like the girl in particular, but a girl confident enough to bet on something with him surely caught his attention. That or simply Yujin was the only other girl from Minju's group who seemed to be willing to talk with him more than the other.

“Make that ten thousand won and believe me, Seokjin-hyung wouldn’t have the courage to ask her out,” he said again, smirking.

Yujin answered him with a teasing wink before Namjoon called out his name again, supposedly being unsatisfied with the byproduct of the impromptu photographer Park Jimin who he claimed always missed the perfect frame by 5 centimeters to the right'.

The sun set as they rode the train back to Yeoryang-myeon, Yoongi spending it gazing at the orange sky like always, wondering how the wind outside would gently welcome him. Everyone was tired but they sure did have a good time, Namjoon satisfied with the amount of future pictures he would be able to post, Jungkook and Suji bonded closer than they had ever been, and Yuna shying under Namjoon’s compliment of her red converse that she chose to wear that day. Hoseok and Taehyung pulled out their disgusting act of lovers like always, not wanting to be left alone as even Jaein tried to start a conversation with the timid Jimin.

It wasn’t until they finally got off the train that the night had completely fallen and the road of their town was empty, did Namjoon finally make a cough and elbowed Taehyung, who in return yelled at Seokjin instead.

“Hey hyung, Namjoon-hyung is wondering why are you holding hand with Minju-noona!” he screamed loud enough for all of them to hear, making sure that they actually did.

All of them were actually just waiting for someone to point that out directly, with Yujin making an incoherent cough, Jungkook echoing her with a sneeze, Yuna giggling and elbowing Jaein next to her and Namjoon smacking Taehyung on the head for bringing his name in. Seokjin’s ear turned red right in that moment but he didn’t take Minju’s fingers off of his, instead he gripped them even tighter. Their eldest stuttered, face looking like a tomato, trying to make a coherent sentence before Minju smiled instead next to him and said, “What Seokjin’s trying to say is that we’re official.”

There was three seconds of silence (three seconds exactly because Yoongi counted in his heart) before they all erupted into words of congratulation, patting Seokjin’s back and like crazy. They were making loud noises indeed, screaming in the middle of the empty road of Yeoryang-myeon, all the guys punching him on the shoulder.

“We never thought that you’d have the guts to ask her out!” Hoseok commented.

“For your information it was me who coaxed it out of him,” Minju added, sticking out her tongue.

“Well it's indeed about time because you two are so obvious,” said Namjoon. “We've grown sick of seeing you two being disgusting for each other.”

“Oh please, we're not being disgusting. Hoseok and Taehyung are the one being disgusting,” Minju said, sticking out her tongue before casually grabbing Seokjin's hand once again.

“We are disgusting and even though there's one official couple right now, we're still the most disgusting,” Taehyung said before making another repulsive act with Hoseok, Yoongi wished that he didn't even have something called eyes.

“Minju-noona and Seokjin-hyung are always obvious, actually. It was only just a matter of time,” Jungkook commented.

They were indeed. Minju visiting her little cousin Jungkook during basketball practice is just a made-up excuse. The two of them certainly suited one another. Their banter didn't stop, even as they walked down towards the road, all of them decided to have dinner at Seokjin's place like usual (or as Namjoon teased it, Seokjin couldn't wait to introduce his wife-to-be to his mother as soon as possible).

“But you know what, I'm not the only one being obvious,” chanted Minju.

It was complete silence for the boy but the girls just giggled, making incoherent noises and elbowing one another.

“Wait, what?” Namjoon said, realizing the hidden message behind Minju's sly smile.

“I'm just saying that we won't be the only couple here,” she teased.

Yoongi wasn't interested in who liked who. Namjoon was, especially, because he found such petty and childish thing like that interesting. But it was what Minju said next who intrigued him, with the girl turning around to face him exactly and added an, “Am I right, Yoongi?”

All eyes were turned towards him and he curved his eyebrows, wondering why Minju had to ask him out of all the people there.

“What? Of course you’re not,” he answered casually. “I mean we already got Taehyung and Hoseok here,” he added, shrugging.

Minju laughed at his answer and gave him one last sly smile that made him wonder what the girl could be hiding.

“Of course. Taehyung and Hoseok,” she added, though that smile certainly meant something more, something that Yoongi couldn't really tell.

+.-.+

Seokjin's mother was probably one of the best people that Yoongi ever knew, all because she was willing to feed six hungry stomachs for almost the entire week for free. She was always smiling and Seokjin had simply inherited that kindness. With the girls amongst them, they were indeed being way louder than usual and Seokjin's mother was even more than happy to welcome all of them.

Seokjin and Minju sat side by side and instead of an ordinary dinner, Yuna joked that this one felt like a wedding instead. They ate until they were full, conversation flowing out as easy as that and all in all Yoongi could say that they were having a great time.

It was somewhere between Jungkook telling them a ghost story to frighten Hoseok for dear life that Yujin who sat right next to him said that Yoongi owed her 10,000 won right now.

“You're definitely robbing me,” Yoongi joked.

“Well, I've offered you 5,000 won. You're the one who made it into 10,000,” she said.

“You're being too confident. You said that they were going to be official by tomorrow. Of course it would be impossible.”

“But I was right, wasn't I?”

And that was when Yoongi curved his eyebrow.

“You knew, didn't you?” he said.

Yujin's wide smile and her giggle was answer enough.

“You're cheating!”

“Minju told me about the news and I thought I was only going to rob 5,000 won from you, not 10,000,” she said in defense.

“Congratulation then, thief, you've managed to rob me of my money,” he said, smiling.

Yujin smiled to him and continued about how it wasn't his money that she wanted to steal. Her sentence was cut off by Hoseok's loud shriek like usual and all of them erupted in laughter. Yoongi was right. That day was wonderful. They all were having such a nice time. Seokjin ended up with Minju after years of being disgusting and obvious, Namjoon finally being content with the zillions of photos he got to take that day, and most of all, they were all laughing and conversing.

Or at least that was what Yoongi thought.

Because there was indeed one of them who didn't, who tried his best to stick a smile on his face, even though the rest of the day ended up being a torture more than he could ever expect it to be.

And of course, just like the initial smile, Yoongi missed this one as well.

(Because Yoongi never missed Jimin's cry. And if crying was everything about tears rolling down the cheek, then this was indeed far from it.

Though of course for Jimin, crying was the only thing that his heart could ever do, if a certain Min Yoongi was involved in it)

+.-.+

It was Sunday, which meant that the next day would be the exact translation of hell. Hell awaited him as the sun rose the next day, reminding him that school was indeed once again a vital part of his life. All that Yoongi wanted to do was to spend this last particular Sunday excluding anything about the verb moving. He would gladly hide himself under his pillow and blanket, dozing off for the entire day until his head hurt and hunger forced him to make a trip to the kitchen, grabbing anything edible that he could find to relieve himself of his suffering.

It was Sunday and Min ing Yoongi deserved to have the sleep he'd been deprived of, all thanks to the stupid shenanigans that his friends had signed him up for. It was Sunday and instead, what woke him up was the knock on his door (for once it was a knock on his door, not a rock thrown towards his window).

Grumbling, Yoongi decided to act as if the persistent knocking was nothing but a mere dream, but alas whoever was standing behind the door was persistent enough to keep on banging his knuckles against the wood. Yoongi hoped that he could stand that knocking until the said person developed such thing as bruised knuckles.

“Yoongi, please. I need your help. This is your favorite hyung speaking,” the voice behind the door said.

Groaning, Yoongi dragged himself off his bed only to find Seokjin of all people, standing in front of his door with clothes too nice as if he was going out for a date or something.

“First of all, no, you're not my favorite hyung. Just because you're the only person old enough between our groups of friends doesn't make you my favorite hyung. Two, what are you doing here,” he said, ruffling the bird nest atop his head.

“I need your help, Yoongi. Can you please accompany me? Minju and I are going to go to Jeongseon to watch a movie today. Can you please, please, please come?”

Yoongi thought that he was indeed daydreaming because nothing that Seokjin said to him made any sense.

“What? Why do you need me to accompany you? You two can go alone.”

“Yeah we could, but this time I need you, Yoongi. I need a wingman.”

“That doesn't make any sense. You're already a couple anyway,” Yoongi said, turning around, closing the door in the process and practically rejecting Seokjin's ridiculous plea.

But of course Seokjin had to be completely ridiculous today for he stopped the door with his hand and once again begged Yoongi to go. There was indeed a reason why Min Yoongi was single, for he couldn't understand the mind of such people whose brain clouded with the thought of love. Normal people would want to go alone with their significant others but Kim Seokjin here was asking for his presence (that little voice in his head said that if he were the dirty-minded Namjoon, he would be suspicious that this so-called 'three person date' would turn into a instead).

“Please, Yoongi. Just this time, okay. I need you.”

“No, hyung. Now go, I want to sleep,” he said with a scowl.

“Please. I'll cook you something for dinner.”

“No. Just go hyung, I-,”

“A week. I'll bring you a bento to school every day.”

“No one can stand the amount of sesame oil in your food, hyung.”

“A month! I'll cook you for an entire month!”

“You can't bribe me with food, hyung. I'm-,”

“Beef menu three days per week!”

+.-.+

If he were Superman, food would probably be his kryptonite. He ended up saying yes to Seokjin's offer, though he really didn't understand why the elder needed him for this so-called date. They ended up sitting on the train station, waiting for Minju to show up. He certainly didn't understand anything about this day, even as Seokjin bossed him around as he walked out of his room with a plain t-shirt and jeans, saying something about (you have to dress better). Yoongi was a person with zero fashion sense. Sometimes he hoped he could be as simple as Jungkook who just combined any colorful T-Shirt that he had with jeans.

It wasn't until a certain voice calling Seokjin out that Yoongi saw two certain figures closing in. It wasn't just Minju. Yujin was following her slowly from behind and Yoongi furrowed his brows. He didn't know that Yujin was going to come though it wouldn't make much difference anyway.

This time Seokjin and Minju acted like newlyweds instead of their regular disgusting self, leaving him alone with Yujin, all the while making him question why Seokjin needed him in the first place.

“You really came,” Yujin said next to him, seemingly beaming with happiness.

“No, I didn't come. You're not talking with Min Yoongi right now,” he joked.

“Very funny,” she answered as sarcasm.“Well, what can I say?” he shrugged. “Seokjin made an offer I can't refuse.”

"So you came here only for the food?" she .

"Yeah of course. Why do you think I’m here anyway?" he said with a sly smile across his face.

There was cautiousness in Yujin's eyes, or at least it was something close to that. It flashed just so in her eyes but it turned into a smile instead afterwards, warm and gentle.

"I'm still glad you came," she said softly.

The rest of the day went out pretty much normal for him. The four of them ended up watching some movie and ate somewhere a bit fancy (his wallet definitely cried). With Seokjin acting like a husband for Minju he certainly questioned his role as (and he quoted once again) 'something that Seokjin needed'. Either way because of that he ended up talking with Yujin most of the time and the girl was looking happier than any other thing that entire day.

That strange day went just fine and by the time they arrived back at Yeoryang-myeon, Yoongi couldn't wait to faint on top of his bed. Minju and Seokjin took forever to say their goodbyes on the train station and Yoongi just tapped his feet in impatiently, saying how he was going to go alone if Seokjin didn't hurry his a bit.

Night had fallen and they went their separate ways, not before Minju waved at him and said how it was a nice 'double date' and how they should do it again next time. Finding himself being all alone after Seokjin waved him another goodbye, he sighed and raised his head up like always. The night sky awaited him like usual, being the only constant thing in his life that would never change. Everything could happen; he could have a ty day or even a beautiful one, yet the sky would remain the same for him. A reassurance that tomorrow would always come, just like the stars up there would always be greeting him in this small town that he hated and loved.

He thought about writing all of it down on his notebook the moment he went home, contemplating as well how tomorrow school would start once again. He couldn't believe that half a year had passed already. Half a year of third grade, half a year of living in Yeoryang-myeon, half a year of the last part of his life. Half a year of being a child. Another half awaited him before he had to be a grown up. Another half a year walking home with the stars above his head, another half a year of basketball every Thursday, another half a year of laughter and idiocy, another half a year of-,

"Jimin?"

Yoongi was walking along the road like usual and the scene that awaited him right in front of his house was that of a Park Jimin, sitting on his curbs with face looking half asleep.

"What are you doing here?"

Jimin blinked before a smile spread across his face.

"I want to invite you to dinner. Halmeoni cooked more and she said it would be nice for me to invite you over," he said, getting up. "But you weren’t home the entire day."
Yoongi shrugged. Staying home for the entire day was exactly his initial plan before a certain Kim Seokjin and his ridiculous request ruined it.

"Where were you, hyung? I thought that you were going to be sleeping all day in your room," Jimin said whilst smiling. "I thought about annoying you. Maybe we could go watch the stars again tonight."

Jimin's smile. It's the kind of smile that he loved. The moment when the boy's eyes disappeared and everything about him just spoke happiness. It's the total opposite of his cries, for which Yoongi had been a witness for way too many times.

"Yeah, i wanted to at first, but i ended up going to town with Seokjin and Minju."

Jimin raised his eyebrow. "With Seokjin and Minju?"

"Yeah, Yujin was there as well," he answered nonchalantly.

Yoongi always liked Jimin's smile. That was maybe one of the reason why he hated seeing Jimin cried, simply because he looked so pathetic when he did so. Jimin smiling was entirely a different thing. A few seconds ago he was sporting that grin, that bright smile that reminded him of that particular summer day along the Auraji train track.
Yet it’s as if what he'd been seeing was something close to the blue sky of summer, this time it felt as if a storm just striked.

"Ah."

That was the only thing that Jimin said afterwards.

It was weird to define a smile, actually. It would only be the mouth forming a curve. Jimin's mouth was still doing the said thing, yet the smile had disappeared from it completely, eyes looking at Yoongi with hidden words the elder couldn't even understand.

"So it's a double date, then?" Jimin said again slowly, voice sounding cautious.

Yoongi curved his eyebrow.

"Nah, it's just Seokjin being a weirdo. He offered to cook for me for accompanying him today."

This time it was Jimin's expression that turned harsher somehow. The boy cast his eyes down once again, turning back to his long time lover, the ground.It irritated Yoongi somehow, because seconds ago he was looking at a smiling Park Jimin and right now he was looking back at that new brat Park Jimin who couldn't do anything in the first month of school but to look like such a depressed ball of tears.

"Hey, what's your problem?" he said, the annoyance in his tone being clear enough for Jimin.

He didn't know why he was angrier instead of sympathetic. Or at least he could ask Jimin like a normal person as to why he was sounding and looking so bothered right now for a reason he couldn't even understand.

"No, nothing," Jimin said, though his eyes were still glued to his own shoes.

"You're lying to me," he said, his mood turning sour easily and he didn't even bother to hide it.

And this time Jimin raised his head, looking straight into his eyes. He wasn't crying, wasn't even smiling. He just looked at him.

It was always on repeat, or at least it was always bordering that, something that was right at the tip of Jimin's tongue, something about Seoul that he was desperately trying to hide, though the boy certainly did one horrible of a job at that. Yoongi was simply there; still waiting for whatever it was, waiting until the said boy in front of him blew up at the end.

"I've always been lying to you," Jimin whispered.

Whether it was his to hear or not, Yoongi certainly didn't have any idea, though one thing was certain; he did hear it and it confused him even more. At the same time Jimin turned his heels, intending to run away from him, of course, and it made him angrier instead. Yoongi quickly grabbed Jimin's arm and held it tight before the boy got to react any further.

"Let me go!" Jimin yelled, though his face was looking at anything but Yoongi.

"And what? You're going to ing cry again? What the is wrong with you?!" he screamed.

"Everything about me is wrong!"

He thought that Jimin was going to pull his arm away but instead he reached out towards Yoongi and pushed him hard on the shoulder, sending him tumbling onto the ground. He lost his balance and his back met the surface of the hard ground.

"What the !" he screamed, his vision blurring for a split second from the shock with his newly repaired knees aching once again.

Jimin was still standing right in front of him, eyes looking at him with expression that spoke of sadness and frustration. He curled his fist so hard, his chest rising and falling slowly with each breath.

"I-,"

He was holding back his tears, Yoongi could tell. He was trying his best not to cry and he remembered the promise that the boy made instead. Jimin was trying to keep his promise, which was oddly the thing that crossed his mind.

"I hate you," Jimin said, his voice shaking.

"What?"

"Didn’t you hear what I said? I hate you, hyung," he said.

It didn't make sense. Everything with Jimin didn't make any sense at all.

"I hate how you spoke to me that day in the classroom. I hate how you keep on pestering me about why I cry. I hate how you were there when I was fighting with my parents."

None of it made any sense to Yoongi. Whether it was a lie or the truth, none of it served as an explanation as to why Jimin was now screaming right in front of him.

"I hate how I always went home with you right next to me. I hate riding the bicycles with you on my back. I hate sneaking out at the middle of the night to see the stars."

Half of his mind told him that it was a lie. Of course it was a lie.

(But which part of it, really?)

"I hate the way you always held your head up just to see the sky. I hate the way you always looked out for me."

Yet it could be everything about the truth, because it was indeed everything that he'd done. It was everything that he did out of impulse. It was everything that he did without any reason to it.

"I hate the way you laugh. I hate the way you smile. I hate the way you are always there right in front of me."

Jimin took a deep breath and he looked at him right in the eye, giving him silent words that he couldn't decipher, being forever as what he'd been feeling about Jimin. Jimin was simply everything that he couldn't understand.

"I really, really hate you, hyung."

And with that Jimin finally ran away, just minutes after he was doing nothing but smiling at him, inviting him to another night of random talk and starry sky. He ran away just like that, leaving a puzzled Yoongi who couldn't process anything but the fact that the Park Jimin whom he already knew for half a year really despised him for all this time. Yet at the same time, as he got up and walked back towards his bedroom with a confused mind and an oddly aching heart, there was something else that was being more clear to him than the hatred that Jimin had been harboring for him. Past the words that he uttered, the hatred that he claimed to harbor and the confusion that haunted him, Jimin was still keeping his promise.

Because at the end of the day Yoongi didn't see a single tear and that was oddly the single thing that haunted him through the night.

The brat said that he hated me. He said that he really, really hated me.