Yoongi tilted his head as he stared out the window, listening to the teacher ramble on with half an ear. The classroom felt suffocating and to know he still had an hour left of the class added the air of being trapped. It was only half way into the school year, and Yoongi was already exhausted from classes, his grades were starting to drop and no matter how much his parents yelled at him, he couldn’t bring himself to put effort into his school work. Instead, he spent most of his class time staring out the window, watching leaves fall from the trees or scribbling half thought out lyrics into his notebooks. Today was a stare out the window without even pretending to listen kind of day.

 Thirty minutes passed and Yoongi pulled his gaze from the window to the clock, groaning silently to himself when he discovered he still had awhile left of class left. He turned his attention back to the window and blinked in surprise when he saw that two students were now standing right in his sight. Their uniforms suggested that they were younger than Yoongi. The two boys shoved at each other good naturedly and chatted happily. While they were both handsome, Yoongi couldn’t help but be drawn to the shorter boy with black, fluffy hair and chubby cheeks. His brown haired friend with a rectangular grin said something and he threw his head back and laughed.

Yoongi stared at them in fascination, he was curious as to what they were talking about. He wanted to be out there with them, he wanted to know what made the chubby cheeked boy laugh. He wanted to make him laugh.

“Yoongi!” A voice called from the front of the class.

Yoongi turned his attention to the teacher and blinked when he was asked a question, he shrugged and giggles rippled through the class. The teacher fumed and began to rant at him, but he ignored it, turning his gaze back out the window. A sinking feeling found its way to his chest when he saw that the two boys were gone.

-

A week passed and the two boys never showed back up outside the class room window, and although Yoongi tried to ignore the disappointment that swelled up into his throat, he couldn’t help but feel it every time they weren’t there. When the boy with black hair and chubby cheeks wasn’t there.

Yoongi tried to forget about them, about him. He found it stupid that he was so invested in this boy who he had only seen one for a brief moment. But his thoughts were consumed, he wanted to know who he was. The questions plagued him, keeping him up at night and making him space out more often than usual. Eventually he had enough and decided to forget about him the best he could, so he went to a dumb high school party with his best friend Namjoon. Yoongi hated high school parties.  They were loud, obnoxious and sloppy.  But they were good distractions and that was all Yoongi was looking for.

Half way through the party, he was leaning against a wall in the kitchen, staying close to the punch bowl that held the alcohol so he could refill easily. Not to mention that the kitchen was quieter, not so many people shoving each other and moving their bodies in a strange fashion that they thought passed as dancing to a song with too much remixing and not enough notes.  

Namjoon was standing in front of him, chatting on about something that Yoongi had no interest in. He stared past the taller man’s shoulder, he could see the living room, and watched people fill into the area from outside, the door propped open.

“Yoongi, are you listening?” Namjoon asked.

Yoongi shrugged. “Not really.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes. “No surprise there.” He mumbled. “I was talking about this kid. You should totally meet him, he seems like your type.”

Yoongi made a face and took another sip of god knows what. “I don’t really trust your taste.”

“Dude, seriously, hes short and cute, hes got bright red hair-“

“No thanks.” Yoongi replied. “I’m going home, I’m done here.” He pushed past Namjoon and tossed his now empty, plastic cup onto the floor along with the rest of the accumulating trash.

He stepped out into the living room, making for the door, but as he did, he bumped into someone.

“Ah .” Yoongi grumbled under his breath.

“Sorry!” A voice said.

Yoongi glanced down and got an eyeful of newly dyed red hair. He sighed. “Forget about it.” He mumbled and disappeared out the door and into the night. Not bothering to get a proper look at the chubby cheeked boy that he’d ran into.

-

It’d been a month since the party, and Yoongi was standing in the store that was a block away from his house. He stared at the bread, trying to figure out which kind his mother wanted him to get, but after a minute of trying to remember, he sighed and grabbed a cheap brand and headed into the next isle.

It’d been a month, and Namjoon never mentioned the boy with red hair again to him, which Yoongi was grateful for, he didn’t care to try to be set up with some random guy that Namjoon thought he’d be good with, he’d already done that one too many times and it had always ended horribly. Not to mention that not only was he terrible in social situations, but he couldn’t get the black haired boy with chubby cheeks out of his head, and it wouldn’t be fair to the red hair to go on a date with someone who was thinking of another person.

Yoongi continued his shopping, tossing a few more things into the basket he was carrying around before he got into the line, standing behind two other people. Yoongi glanced at the cashier, he was a short boy, he looked younger than Yoongi, his hair a bright red, his cheeks were chubby and there was something familiar about his smile, but Yoongi just couldn’t place it. After staring for what was probably way too long to be considered normal, he tore his gaze away and pulled his phone out of pocket to entertain himself while he waited.

When he finally got to the front of the line, Another man, who looked older than the red head but still younger than Yoongi, stepped up to the cash register, he grinned at the red head and informed him it was his break. The chubby cheeked boy smiled back and moved around the black haired man, so he could take his place. Yoongi watched him go, the feeling of seeing the red haired boy tugged at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t place him no matter how hard he tried, so instead, he just watched the red haired boy walk away and out of sight.

-

More time passed and by the time it was Yoongi graduating ceremony, he had resigned himself to the fact that he was never going to see the black haired boy with chubby cheeks ever again. It left him feeling melancholy, and no amount of calling himself stupid for becoming attached to the short boy would help him get rid of the feeling.

He stood on stage with the rest of the graduates, staring out into the sea of proud faces of family members. His thoughts drifted to the boy like they often did, he couldn’t seem to help himself. He wanted to know who he was so badly. Wanted to know what made him laugh, smile, wanted to know so much about him, and it made his heart sink into his stomach to know he wouldn’t be able to. He was graduating, all his chances to meet the boy were gone and while he tried to make peace with that fact, a part of him refused to, as if demanding that it wasn’t over. Yoongi resisted the urge to roll his eyes at himself. Of course it was over. Hell, it hadn’t even begun.

When the graduation ceremony finished Yoongi was the first one off the stage, his mother and father surrounding him and congratulating him, taking pictures and chatting excitedly. Yoongi interacting with them the best he could. He knew he was supposed to be happy, excited, proud, but something felt like it was missing, something felt wrong.

Yoongi glance away from his parents and over his father’s shoulder. His eyes widened when he caught sight of someone he thought he’d never see again. The black haired boy with chubby cheeks. Yoongi was already in motion before he realized he was even moving. His parents were calling his name, but he ignored them, he had to get to that boy, had to talk to him, had to meet him.

The boy was laughing with a group of his friends, they were walking out of the building, talking loudly with each other.

“I can’t believe you dyed it back.” A tall man with broad shoulders said, shaking his head.

The boy shrugged. “The red was fun for a bit, but-“

Yoongi couldn’t hear the end of the sentence, the music and chatter was drowning out their voices. Yoongi struggled to keep up with them, family members, teachers and graduated students getting in his way, blocking his path to the chubby cheeked boy, slowing him down and letting the boy get further away from him.

When he finally got out of the building, the black haired boy was nowhere in sight. Yoongi looked around the street, there was no way that he could’ve gotten away that quickly, he had to be somewhere around here. Yoongi was debating if he should go back inside and look for the boy when a car drove by, the windows rolled down. In the front seat sat the black haired, chubby cheeked boy.

Yoongi wanted to call out to the boy, he knew this was his last chance, if he didn’t talk to him now, if he didn’t meet him now then he would never meet him again. The boy would slip through his fingers. Yoongi opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out and the car drove past him and turned and Yoongi could only watch as the boy disappeared down the street and out of his life.

Yoongi wasn’t sure how long he stood there, watching the road, as if the boy would suddenly come back, but he didn’t. After what felt like an eternity, he turned around and headed back into the building that was full of proud parents and graduated students, back to the feeling of something being wrong, of something missing.

Only this time, Yoongi knew what was missing.