Chapter Text

It was Yoongi's favorite time of the day, the sun setting on the horizon with the orange filling the sky with a wondrous glow. The setting sun looked even more beautiful from the hill as the sun disappeared under the chain of hills that surrounded Yeoryang-myeon. Down there he could see the first hints of lights being lit, signaling the end of the day as the moon taking the sun's throne, reigning the people underneath, cradling them in their sleep after hours of work under her parting lover. He had said once how the lights from the town in the middle of darkness was comparable to that of fireflies. They didn't have fireflies in Yeoryang-myeon, sadly, but Yoongi had made peace with that fact, letting the town's light replacing them instead. At least both of them made him feel the same way, providing him with a flickering beacon of hope just like a star did.

If they could wish upon a dying star hundred of galaxies away, why couldn't they wish upon a tiny flying insects whose existence was a mere grasp away? Both of them were scattered in the midst of darkness. Both of them lighted up the night. Then why did the stars be the only thing capable of granting one's wish? Why couldn't something that flew with light as beautiful as its flicker do the same thing?

“You're okay?” Yoongi whispered.

Jimin was seated right next to him on the ground, the boy hugging his feet with chin on top of his knees. His eyes were fixed on the horizon just like he did. He answered him with nothing but a nod and Yoongi decided not to push him more than that.

Jimin hadn't spoken another word to him since. The two of them were back in the boy's house just hours ago, Yoongi standing in the living room of the Park house in front of Jimin's parents while the younger crying his eyes out, both of them losing the ability to speak altogether. It was Jimin's grandmother who stopped their stupid staring contest, breaking the ice and explaining to them that Yoongi was just concerned, how Jimin's friends were waiting for him outside as well (which was a lie fabricated by her to ease out the situation) and how Yoongi would come back later when Jimin was finished with their discussion.

It was the Old Park as well who guided Yoongi to Jimin's bedroom instead of the front door, telling him to wait for his grandson there. She explained how Jimin's parents just drove all the way to Seoul to discuss something important with Jimin pertaining his future. In the midst of his confusion Yoongi managed to blurt out an apology for being impolite, pushing her away and barged into the room. Jimin's grandmother was certainly the best person in the world for she just smiled that trademark two-missing-front-teeth-smile of hers and said not to worry about it.

“I know you're really concern about Jiminie. You're a really good friend, Yoongi,” that was what she had said as she left Yoongi alone in Jimin's room to wait for him.

The so-called discussion ended two hours later or so and Yoongi witnessed as Jimin's parents car left the house. He should have realized the foreign-looking car parked not so far away on the road as he frantically ran all the way from school. It wasn't long before he heard footsteps on the staircase and the bedroom door was opened, revealing Jimin who was standing there, looking at Yoongi with the same gaze, as if the elder was a ghost and he just simply couldn't believe what he had been seeing.

The next thing that Jimin said was how he wished the elder would accompany him to the hill and Yoongi just nodded. He followed the younger as the both of them walked silently side by side without uttering another word.

Yoongi was the one who had to come up with an explanation or at least something to say. Jimin had said everything that he needed to, yet he felt as if he was the one waiting here.

“I broke my promise,” Jimin finally said, his words sounded more like a whisper. The boy's eyes were still on the horizon, witnessing with each passing second how the sun disappeared from view, its warmth replaced by the cold howling wind and the creeping darkness.

He remembered how he just witnessed the boy crying yet again. Jimin had tried his best to hold back his tears, even when he confessed his love back then on Thursday in the middle of the rain. All it took was just Yoongi looking for him like a desperate man to have him cried uncontrollably.

“It's okay,” Yoongi answered softly.

“Aren't you going to hurt me like you said you would, hyung?” the boy said again, the words sounded like sarcasm of some sort.

“No,” the elder simply answered.

It was yet another silence but Yoongi had grown accustomed to it. They had spent hours with it, walking down the road each day without the two of them needing to say anything. Comfortable silence was the third party in their relationship.

(Considering such thing as relationship was even there to begin with)

They were friends, that was what Yoongi thought. That was possibly the only thing that he viewed them as. Min Yoongi was famous for a brute. He stuck his nose in Jimin's business even when it wasn't his own. He threatened the boy and scolded him for crying, even when that was any person's right to do. His words sounded like an insult most of the time. He was far from a good friend and at the same time he had hurt Jimin without himself realizing it.

“I've hurt you enough,” he said.

It wasn't just shoving Jimin to the ground that Thursday. He could still see the faint cut on the boy's face from which it met the ground. How he hurt Jimin was something more than just that. He was hurting him from just standing there under the pouring rain.

“Are you disgusted by me?” Jimin asked.

Because Jimin loved him? Because Jimin liked men? If it wasn't Jimin maybe he would. He would sneer and try his best to distance himself from the said person. But this was Park Jimin, his best friend who had spent almost half a year together with him. They had done more than just hugged one another after winning a game. They had spent nights on sleepover together and it wouldn't be a problem. Would it change anything if he knew that his best friend was gay?

(Would it change anything if he knew that his best friend was gay and in love with him all this time?)

“My parents are,” Jimin said again. His voice didn't shake. The words escaped his lips just like that and Yoongi found how weird that was, as if the boy was already numb to the fact that used to drive him to tears each time he mentioned it. Time had really passed indeed. The first few months in this town, Jimin would probably crack under the mention of Seoul alone. Now he uttered the word as easy as that. Yoongi didn't know whether he had to feel happy or sad about it.

“They were disgusted by me. That's why they sent me to Yeoryang-myeon to live with my grandmother in the first place,” he said.

Yoongi didn't have to ask about that anymore. He knew it right away now. His parents realized about their only son's uality and felt ashamed by it. They practically threw Jimin out. That was why he said how everything was sad back at Seoul. Horrible was how Yoongi could understand what Jimin's parents had done. As cruel as they were, everyone could understand why they did it.

Then again, he was right from the very first day all along. No one in their right mind would leave Seoul for a place like this willingly.

“And now that you know everything, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't want to see me anymore, hyung,” he said.

Right in front of them, the sky was getting darker. The sun was completely engulfed by the hills, its afterglow being the only thing visible to their eyes. The darkness crept all around them and even more lights were lit down there on the town. Eyes were closed only to have another opened.

“But I did, didn't I?” Yoongi said, turning his head towards Jimin. “I came to see you.”

His words got Jimin slowly turning his head towards him. There were sadness in his eyes like always, the same expression that Jimin had whenever he talked about Seoul. It was the same eyes looking back at his right underneath the rain on Thursday.

“Why?” Jimin asked.

And deep down he actually knew. Deep down Yoongi knew what Jimin was hoping for him to say. He knew the words that Jimin was waiting to hear.

“Because you're my best friend,” he said. That was what they were. They were friends. Arms slinging across each other shoulders, laughters traded during game of basketball and dreams shared underneath the starry sky. It was pinky promises, playful insult and innocent smile.

He had said once that Park Jimin was the best thing that had happened to Yeoryang-myeon. If that was even the slightest bit of true, then Min Yoongi would certainly be a fool to let that best thing even slip away from his finger.

“And I just couldn't lose you.”

Jimin had said everything and he had said his. At least he wasn't running away anymore, neither was he just standing there, watching as Park Jimin walked away from him. He had done it twice, he would be a fool to make it into the third time. He knew exactly what Jimin wanted to hear, but he could only hope that what he had to say was good enough.

At that point the sky was already dark, the sun completely drowned under the horizon, yet Yoongi could swear that it was as bright as day, as Jimin curved his mouth and smiled. For what felt like years, the sky was right again.

(And for now, everything was good enough for Jimin)

The brat and I, we are friends.

+.-.+

It didn't start with a handshake or a hug, followed by an apology and another promise. They only avoided each other for a few weeks, but somehow it already felt like years for Yoongi. It felt like years had passed as he walked into the classroom on Wednesday, smirking at the sight of a boy who waited for him, seated right where he was supposed to be, right behind him. It certainly felt like years for their friends as well as Taehyung burst into made up tears upon seeing the two of them talking to each other.

“Because this meant I could stop sitting with Ikje,” he said, burying Jimin in a hug. “Of course I love my Chimchim better than him.”

Everything was all right again or so Yoongi thought. Namjoon was kind enough to bring Yoongi's bag and belongings which he had left when he ran to Jimin's house the earlier day quite unexpectedly.

“I'm glad you've made up with Jimin,” Namjoon said as Hoseok and Jungkook was making an impersonation of a girl group's dance or something. Yoongi and Namjoon were the only one sitting at the top steps of the staircase just by the door at their usual spot. The others were gathered a bit further away, thus making them able to carry out a conversation without having to trouble themselves with the others' idiocy.

Yoongi just nodded slightly, eyes still focused on the laughing Jimin, who decided to join their stupidity whilst dragging Taehyung with him.

“So what is it about actually?” Namjoon asked.

That got him turning his attention towards the man.

“What do you mean?”

“What were you two fighting about?” their leader asked again.

Something churned in his stomach. 'Jimin was in love with me all along and that was what drove us into madness'. That was the sentence that was forming in his head. But then again, how could he blurt those words out to Namjoon?

This time Seokjin decided to join gang stupid as he did his trademark dance which purpose and point Yoongi always failed to understand up until now.

“No, it's nothing,“ he said. “We've made up, that's what important,” Yoongi said in a low tone.

Namjoon curved his eyebrow, definitely looking suspicious and curious about it before Yoongi's tone made him realize that it was something that he shouldn't be sticking his nose into. As much as a snoop that best friend of his was, Namjoon at least knew when he needed to be serious or playful, something that the likes of Taehyung probably couldn't differentiate.

“It's good, then,” said Namjoon for the last time before their leader decided to yell at Seokjin and hurried down the staircase, joining the freakshow that was unveiling before his eyes.

It was September already with the summer slowly passing. That day the wind blew warmly through the opened door at the staircase, the blue sky promising all of them a beautiful day under the sun. That day Yoongi sat on top of the staircase, watching his band of stupid friends making a shame out of themselves before they tried to drag him with them, wondering whether he would ever miss their stupid shenanigans, every recess spent at their favorite spot, and the last breath of summer blowing through the door.

+.-.+

Yoongi brought his bike with him to school that day, giving his knees a break for all the pressure he had put them into for the last few days. Ever since he broke his leg it didn't feel quite the same anymore and for the weeks spent with walking around carelessly with a cast on it, he wouldn't be surprised if the injury remained permanent for the rest of his life.

He went to his bike when the last bell rang, with the sky shining brightly above his head, everyone had seemingly the same idea of spending the rest of the day outside under what could be the last sunshine of summer. It was when he got to his bike did Yujin call out to him, the girl smiling like always.

“What happened yesterday? You just bolted like that in the middle of the lesson,” she said, reminding Yoongi about the stupid antic that he just pulled. “Mrs. Oh was furious afterwards, you know,” she added, grinning.

Yoongi felt like he wanted to facepalm himself. From all the time in this world that could be, he had to have an epiphany in the middle of history, or as everybody in the class already knew it, that lesson whose teacher was notorious for having such great dislike for the one and only Min Yoongi. He couldn't help himself though. Every important thing in his life just had to happen during history.

“I'll probably get another detention,” Yoongi said, sighing. He wasn't a stranger to it already, by this time Mrs. Oh would already be hating him for the crime of being him alone.

“But is everything okay with you? You seemed really troubled yesterday,” she said, sounding concerned. Yujin had always been like that, concerned for every little thing that he did, asking him just as much as his own friends did. More than that, maybe.

The two of them were walking together towards the school gate with Yoongi bringing his bike on his side. The other students were scrambling out of the building alongside them as well. “Yeah, it's okay,” he answered, knowing that it would simply be impossible to tell her about Jimin's feelings for him as much as it was to Namjoon.

“You could always tell me when there's something bothering you,” she said, looking at him sincerely.

Somehow Yoongi ended up feeling guilty. He certainly couldn't tell her what just happened. There wasn't a soul that he could talk about it with and Yoongi was happy to keep it that way. After all, everything was already okay. Yujin just wanted to help. She already did. If it weren't for her words he wouldn't run after Jimin.

Then again, Jimin wouldn't drive himself to confess as well if it weren’t for her. Jimin was simply-,

“Hyung?”

Yoongi turned his head from Yujin only to find the said boy in his mind, standing by the school gate. He was certainly waiting for him. He was waiting for him to go back home together, just like how they used to do back then.

Jimin's eyes turned from him towards Yujin. And there it was once again, the grey sky on Thursday flashing on Jimin's eyes. Yet somehow it was Yoongi who felt like his stomach just churned.

“Ah, it's okay,” Jimin said as the boy looked back at him, a smile painting his face. “I can go back on my own.” It was a smile yet Yoongi knew more than anyone that it wasn't the scattered stars nor the blue sky that he loved. He had seen the both of them to know when Jimin was lying. A smile was indeed hung on his face, but all he saw were grey clouds and torrential rain.

Just like that the boy turned his heels, ready to run away again from him.

“No,” he whispered. He didn't know whether it was him not being loud enough or his own words falling to deaf ear. Either way it made him clench his jaw, his own fingers tightened on the handle of his bike, he thought about throwing the thing towards Jimin only to have the boy stopping in his track if possible.

More than anything, Jimin was simply jealous.

“Don't you ing dare move, Park Jimin!” Yoongi yelled.

His raised tone had certainly startled Yujin, for Yoongi could see her changed expression from the corner of his eyes, the girl having her eyes cast respectively from him to Jimin who was having his back against them.

But Jimin did stop. He stood there dead in his track and Yoongi quickly went to his side, yanking the boy's wrist and placing it on the handle of his bike, non-verbally telling him to take it in his hand.

“I'm going home with you today no matter what and don't you dare go without me,” he said with something that sounded more like a threat.

He turned around once again to look at a confused Yujin before this time walking towards her, leaving his bike at Jimin who did hold it at the end.

“I'm sorry. I wish you could understand,” Yoongi said.

It felt oddly like a rejection. It felt as if Yujin just had somehow confessed to him and now he was rejecting her for Jimin instead. It wasn't certainly that, he knew. Yujin didn't say anything about liking him. She was just being a good friend. She was there when Jimin wasn't and he enjoyed her company, that much he could tell.

Oddly Yujin just smiled, genuine and sweet like always. She took out her arm and patted his shoulder as she nodded.

“It's okay, don't worry about it,” she said. She was nothing but a sweet and caring girl and sometimes he felt bad because he didn't deserve to have that. If she was as much as a friend as his group and Jimin ever was, Yoongi certainly hadn't been a good friend for them. “I'm glad that you're friends with Jimin again.”

She let her hand go and Yoongi nodded. It was him saying that he couldn't go home together with Yujin that day, but it felt like a goodbye instead. It wasn't like he would be leaving her. The two of them would still meet one another tomorrow at school either way. More than that, the three of them could actually just walk along the road together though he knew it wouldn't be as easy as that. It was a simple words of apology that they wouldn't be spending the next half hour or so walking down the road of their town, but it felt as if walking home with her wouldn't be an option anymore.

He turned his heels and went back towards Jimin, taking the bike and ordered the younger to ride behind him. And just like that the two of them took off with Yoongi, feeling like he just left something as important behind him.

+.-.+

“Why did you do that?” Jimin said softly behind his back a few minutes after they left the school. It were houses and shops lining next to them as Yoongi pedaled through the road with Jimin on his back. They were still in the heart of the town and even so there was very few cars passing through the main road on work day.

“Do what?”

“Not going home with Yujin,” the younger said.

“Because I want to go home with you,” he answered. 
They neared the Auraji Bridge and from there Yoongi could see the river glistened just underneath them. It was the sound of stream and his rattling bike that filled the air for a moment, followed by a certain car passing or another respective bike from the other direction. From there he could just take the road that led exactly to Seongcheon-gil, but instead he took another winding path that would lead them closer towards acres of rice field just at the outskirt of the city. Jimin didn't seem to mind because he just kept quite about it. After all, the weather was beautiful today he wouldn't mind spending some extra minutes outside.

“Don't you like her, hyung?” Jimin asked, his voice quite and soft.

He remembered the boy asking him such question. It was that day on summer vacation with him being held behind the boy's back due to his broken leg.

“What? I've answered your question before, haven't I?”

The road was completely empty by this point, the two of them being the only one going through it.

“You didn't say no,” Jimin whispered.

He felt like facepalming himself right there and then if he could.

“Oh my god, Park Jimin. No, I don't like Yujin. Happy now?” he said, feeling annoyed, just like he used to do back then when all that there was between the two of them was misunderstanding and Jimin's inability to differentiate sarcasm from a joke (or maybe it was Yoongi's inability to emphatize).

Yoongi sighed before he continued, not wanting to lead the boy into thinking that he hated him again. “I can go home with her any other time. After all, we haven't gone home together for a while.” It wasn't that long of a time but it surely did feel like it.

There was yet another silence, the rattling sound being the only thing that filled their surroundings other than the rustling leave and blowing wind.

“I'm sorry,” Jimin said.

“What for?”

“Everything,” the younger said. “For putting you into this.”

“You're not putting me into anything.”

“I am,” Jimin said before he gulped. “I've burdened you with my feeling.”

Truthfully he didn't think of it as a burden. Jimin being in love with him was just an information that he had to carry with him. It wouldn't make everything harder. They would just be friends like they did. They would go home together, talk together, watch the sky together. It wouldn't ever get in the way.

“It's okay,” Yoongi said. He wasn't that good in consoling other people. His words always sounded cold and wrong, but at least he could give it a try. “You're still my best friend.”

He remembered that time when Jimin cried again, that time when they made their promise. Jimin was afraid that Yoongi was going to hate him. Yoongi of all people, he had said.

“Nothing had to change,” he said.

That was what Jimin wanted, wasn't it? All of them being friends just like they were. The sky would be beautiful just like it always is. The blue would be replaced by purple and black each day. Red would soon be painted over green before white followed soon after. Season would change but they wouldn't have to.

It was yet another silence but Yoongi was happy. That much he could tell. The sky was beautiful and he had Jimin with him once again. He hadn't lost him. A smile was painted across his face and he knew that the same one was decorating the younger's lips as well.

They had passed the rows of rice fields, the road finally taking them into Seongcheon-gil, the river once again in view, snaking right under the bridge they crossed. It was then when Jimin whispered something unintelligible, soft and quite as if he didn't want Yoongi to hear it in the first place.

“Hm?” Yoongi simply hummed.

“Nothing,” Jimin quickly answered.

Yoongi just shrugged, focusing on the road. Falling down of the bike was the last thing he wanted to do after breaking his legs for doing so.

They were around fifteen minutes away from their house when Jimin cleared his throat, this time as if gathering his own courage to speak out his mind.

“Hyung?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

“Can I-,” Jimin stopped. Yoongi just waited, thinking that maybe the younger wouldn't finish his sentence altogether. Turned out he was wrong.

“Can I hug you from behind?”

It wasn't that it was surprising or anything. If it was the old Park Jimin, saying something as cheesy as that with voice shaking, being as shy as a teenage girl, Yoongi would probably laugh and make fun of him. If it was Taehyung he would definitely reward the boy with a fist to the face.

But this was Park Jimin. This was Park Jimin, his best friend who was in love with him.

“Oh my god, just forget it, hyung,” Jimin quickly said when Yoongi didn't answer him. His voice shook and Yoongi could bet that his face was turning red. “Just forget I ever said that.”

And his back itched even more, the silent that fell upon them this time felt awkward. Yoongi tightened his fingers against the handle.

“Hey,” Yoongi said softly. He didn't know why he said this. Maybe because he was glad that they were friends again. Maybe because he wanted to thank the universe for giving him a second chance to right his mistakes.

Or maybe because it was Park Jimin. His one and only Park Jimin and he simply didn't need any other reason behind it.

“I didn't say no, did I?”

The bike was still going, the fields all around them being a blur, the green of the horizon blending with the blue of the sky. Jimin didn't say anything to that, the two of them fell into the same awkward silence once again, with Yoongi not knowing what his words would lead the two of them into.

It felt like an eternity when he felt Jimin's warmth closing in on his back. Jimin moved very slowly, leaning his chest against Yoongi's back. He could feel Jimin's breath as he leaned his head against him. Even Jimin's hands moved really slowly, as if he was afraid that Yoongi would suddenly pull away when he didn't. It were two hands, circling around his waist with shaking fingers. Yoongi just stood still, the bike still going and everything felt as if summer would never end.

And when Jimin finally held him tight, Yoongi somehow hoped that his house was as far away as Seoul if possible, only to have this ride going as long as it could.

I started going home with the brat again today.