Chapter Text
Time heals all wounds. Or does it? Sometimes, time doesn’t heal them, but eventually makes them more bearable. Wounds are, in the end, the not so gentle reminder of both your past mistakes and your past feelings
It was a nice day to go out.
The sun was shining bright, finally providing a warm feeling after a good streak of really cold weeks. The trees hadn’t bloomed quite yet, just some shy buds threatening to blossom in any second. The sunlight was making an appearance in between the branches, melting the trace of frost still lingering in the air. The air felt fresh against his skin, cold enough to wear a sweater, the sun gentle enough to make his back warm. It felt nice.
It felt nice, nice enough to walk alone on the streets, nice day to have a meal by himself sitting next to the river. Nice enough to have a beer, watch a movie. Nice to spend his day outside before he had to go to his night time job.
It felt nice, until he felt his phone ring in his pocket.
from: Jimin [10:36]
S.O.S
to: Jimin [10:36]
you know when u text sos i wont actually go get you, right?
from: Jimin [10:37]
JUST SAVE ME OKAY?
Yoongi chuckled. Not so long ago, Jimin’s prediction had been right: Yoongi had been able to return the “love doctor, counseling” favor. Though, according to Jimin, Yoongi’s advice was “cheap, full of shit and no way near as good as his own advice was”, and he felt “cheated on”. Okay.
to: Jimin [10:37]:
ok ok ok, what happened?
from: Jimin [10:38]:
It’s Taehyung :(
to: Jimin [10:38]:
what now?
Taehyung was friends with both Jimin and Jungkook. College classmates with Jimin, met Jungkook through him, the three of them are goofballs, you can guess the rest of the story. Sooner than later they became pretty much best friends, spending pretty much all of their free time together. As far as Yoongi knew (with the extremely detailed and one sided story told by Jimin), Taehyung was either straight (Yoongi had scratched this option since day one) or he had a crush on Jungkook. Both options meant an internal (also eternal, apparently) crisis for Jimin.
”He’s just so cute! And I tell him! But he doesn’t get it the way I mean to say it. He’s like ‘thanks bro”. But when Jungkook says it? Ugh. I’m just-”
Of course, Yoongi tried to give him advice whenever Jimin needed it, but it wasn’t easy with this Taehyung guy being such a blind idiot. Or maybe Jimin’s side of the story made him seem like he was.
from: Jimin [10:39]:
He texted me a selfie and I replied “Looking good!” and he said
from: Jimin [10:39]:
’I always look good. Just like you” and I died?
from: Jimin [10:39]:
And I was so happy but then he texted
from: Jimin [10:40]:
HE SAID ‘NO HOMO’, YOONGI, HE SAID THAT
Yoongi sighed. Poor Jimin. His guess was that both of them were pining over each other, assuming the other one didn’t have a gigantic crush on them. Assuming it was completely and painfully one sided. Yoongi’s guess was that Taehyung was too scared to admit any feelings for Jimin, since they were friends. He probably thought being friends was ‘enough’, as long as Jimin is not interested. But Jimin is interested. At this point, it was probably easier to just push their heads and make them kiss than to make them believe their crushes were, actually, requited.
Yoongi wrote a short, calming (yet quite aggressive) text, telling him not to panic. Putting his phone back he kept walking along the river.
A little bit more than three months had passed since the day Yoongi asked Namjoon to stay over at his place. So many things had happened since then. First of all, Yoongi had started a one year long sound engineering course in a cyber university. Given this, he could aim for a promotion at the radio station, probably taking the original sound technician’s job for good. Namjoon still had the same DJ position, and one of his dreams became reality: he had his own corner called RMusic. There, he would post either his own songs, demos, or the songs he’d been working on with Yoongi. For now the corner was still at trial and it was quite short (mostly because of lack of material), but everyone seemed to like it, and this only motivated Namjoon further into making music. Yoongi, as well, was really happy for Namjoon, but also for himself: his music was already out there for people to listen. He, honestly, never thought this could happen.
A week after the argument, Yoongi and Hoseok decided to break up. They both realized those seven days apart had been hard, but at the same time they felt good. Yoongi said he felt that if they stayed together as a couple, their whole relationship could turn into negative feelings, and Hoseok agreed, saying he’d rather have Yoongi as a friend than as nothing at all.
It was hard: they both cried, reluctant to leave. It felt official once Yoongi started packing his bags, his equipment. Hoseok was smiling, but his eyes were not as bright as they usually were. He looked tired, exhausted, his eyes puffy, even his skin looked dull and far from lively. But Yoongi had no way of showing his concern without being invasive. Everything had to be gone soon, since him and Hoseok had agreed to stay away from each other while it still hurt. While they still missed each other’s company. After that, they both admitted they wanted to stay as friends, to keep talking. They loved each other, after all. Still did, no matter if it was as a couple or not. Yoongi still thought of Hoseok fondly, maybe even a little apologetically.
Like Jimin had said once, romantic love is not the only love there is.
After that happened, Yoongi started looking for an apartment for himself, he couldn’t crash at Namjoon’s forever anyway. Sooner than later he found a suitable apartment, and he moved as soon as he could. Despite the place being tiny, he still had little to no furniture to fill it with, which made the place look cold, everything but cozy. Still, he would often invite Namjoon over to work on music. They would order pizza and eat it sitting on the floor, probably laying on their stomachs to scoop over their laptops and create more stuff. In March, for his birthday, Jimin appeared on his doorstep out of nowhere, a huge box in front of him. Before Yoongi could shoot him a ‘we’re not even that close’ look, Jimin whined a loud ‘I have nothing to do with this, ugh, why do I get dragged along, don’t blame me’.
When Jimin left and he was alone again, he saw the note on top of the box.
“I heard you got a new place. This is the least I could do. Hope to hear from you soon” -HS.
The present was a desk, perfect for him to settle both his laptop and his equipment. It also suited the living room perfectly. That day, Yoongi texted Hoseok for the first time in months and they had a normal conversation, mostly catching up on big recent events, showing that they cared. Ever since that day they occasionally texted, not quite at the friends stage yet. Still, Yoongi thought, it was way better than nothing. And it hurt way less than before.
Yoongi asked Jimin about Hoseok often, trading information for meals or help writing college assignments. Everything had his price, Yoongi guessed. Apparently, and as far as social media told him, Jungkook and Hoseok were going out often. Were they a couple? Were they just friends? Yoongi honestly didn’t know, and he didn’t really want to look into it. All he knew was that Hoseok looked happy, he finally smiled brightly as usual and he would go out to eat full meals more often than not. He didn’t have anything to worry about.
Jin? Yoongi never heard about him again. The day he deleted his phone number he had let go of every possible way to contact him. Well, technically, he knew he could always ask Namjoon to put them in touch with each other. He never once did it.
He had to deal with his heart skipping a beat whenever he saw anyone who’s back looked remotely as Jin’s, he had to deal with picturing him whenever he had a smoke, whenever he had sweet potatoes. At least for now, it was enough.
Once Yoongi got to a main street he went into a cafe. Since it was past breakfast time the place was nearly empty, despite a few people. He ordered his regular coffee and waited, looking around.
His heart skipped a bit. His thighs felt warm. Could it be…?
No, Yoongi, not every person with his body shape is necessarily him. What an idiot.
Still, he looked too much like him. At least his back did. Yoongi decided to take a chance.
Once he got his coffee, he got closer to the guy. He was wearing a too big for his size, pale pink hoodie, and his drink of choice was the Spring Special Cherry Blossom latte. Of course it was. Yoongi sat next to him, the bar stool facing the street outside of the café.
The guy turned around, a little bit offended that someone was sitting next to him despite the whole café being empty. He turned around, fast.
“Excuse me, do I know…?”. He couldn’t finish the sentence.
Yoongi smiled. “No, I don’t think we’ve met”. He offered him his hand. “Hi, I’m Min Yoongi. And you are…?”
He smiled, his cheeks pinks. “Nice to meet you, Min Yoongi. I’m Kim Seokjin. Lawyer” he said, shooting Yoongi a cheeky, proud smile.
“You’re a lawyer already? Ah, and you look so young” Yoongi said, sighing sarcastically, and Jin laughed, maybe a little bit too hard.
“Yah, stop this” Jin said, too flustered. “But yes, I passed the bar examination. And also..” he said, looking into Yoongi’s eyes with both mischief and complicity. “I quit the company. Found another job. After I passed the examination I got two job offers” he said, pouting proudly.
Yoongi smiled, his eyes turning into crescents. “I’m really glad to hear that. I didn’t expect less, actually” he said, and Jin pushed him softly, smiling.
“Anyways, what brings you here?” Jin asked.
Yoongi sighed dramatically. “Well, the usual, you know… I have a Tinder blind date”
Jin froze, his eyes opened wide. “Shit, are you serious?” he asked, looking around, scooping his neck up for a better view. “Are you for real? Like, again?!”
Yoongi burst into laughter. “Jin, I’m kidding. I was just passing by”
Jin stared right into Yoongi’s eyes, blinking slightly too hard. Yoongi caught a glimpse of Jin’s ears turning red, and he had forgotten how much he liked that. He missed it.
“Yah, are you kidding right now? Shit, I got so scared” Jin said in an offended, mocking tone of voice, shoving Yoongi hard. “Like really, no, not funny” he said, smiling and laughing too much for it not to be funny.
Yoongi smiled, gummy smile, and scratched the back of his ear. This was so weird, what was the chance of meeting Jin at a random café? What was the chance of them meeting again? Why did it feel so natural?
Jin smiled at Yoongi, fondly yet carefully. “How are you doing? Are things okay?”
“A lot has changed. But yeah… I could probably spend hours talking about everything”
Jin nodded. “How’s Namjoon? Hoseok…?”
Yoongi looked down. “Namjoon’s still as much as an ass as he was before” Jin let ouf a snort. “And Hoseok… I wouldn’t know” he just mumbled, and Jin looked into Yoongi’s eyes nodding slowly, understanding.
“I guess it has been a long time. Long enough for many things to happen, you know?” Jin said, thoughtfully. Yoongi nodded in approval, sitting a little bit closer to him.
“We could… you know, catch up. On everything” Yoongi shyly suggested, playing with his fingers and looking away. Jin tapped his fingers against the table.
“I mean… I have plans for today…” Yoongi looked down, embarrassed.
“Yeah, it’s ok, it’s stupid, I just-”
“But I could do some other day. We can… we can talk on the phone and. You know. See when we’re available. Both of us” he said again, his whole face deep red. Yoongi looked at him and couldn’t help but to smile.
“Yeah! Yes, that’d- that would be very nice. Can you…” Yoongi said, pointing at Jin’s phone, and Jin looked in that direction, jumping a bit.
“Of course! I’ll, I’ll add your contact. Give me your phone” he said, exchanging his with Yoongi’s. They added their own numbers, their hands brushing when they gave their respective phones back. Yoongi felt his cheeks warm up at this. Everything felt like a weird mix of awkward and cute. And exciting.
“I’ll… I’ll be looking forward to see you again. To catch up”
Jin side smiled. “Yeah. It sounds good” he said, sheepishly. “I’m glad I ran into you again… I really am”
Yoongi smiled. “I’ve been thinking about you, you know?”
Jin laughed, flustered, covering his face with his hands. “I was trying to keep myself from saying that, but you beat me to it. Damn”
Yoongi laughed, running his fingers through his hair. “Ok, I gotta go now. I’ll see you later then. It was nice seeing you”
Jin looked straight into Yoongi’s eyes, smiling fondly. “It really was. I hope to see you again soon”
Yoongi walked away, looking back twice before stepping out of the café. The second he got out he checked his phone, Jin’s contact there again. After walking a few blocks, he decided to make a move fast, he probably wouldn’t dare to do it later if he thought about it too much.
to: Jin [12:16]:
hey, its yoongi. im free next friday night, maybe going for drinks?
Yoongi locked his phone, as if staring at the text he just sent would make him combust or something. It probably could, though. It felt like that at least. Not even a minute later, his phone vibrated.
from: Jin [12:17]
hey! sounds great. i’ll be looking forward to it :)
Yoongi’s heart was beating fast, his whole body warm in excitement.
Yoongi didn’t know what was about to happen, he didn’t know what was bound to happen. He only knew he needed to find happiness by both enjoying the feelings he was going through at the moment, living them and understanding them, listening to himself and taking it slow. A slow pace was always wise, was always good, was always calm.