Chapter Text
.
three months later.
.
yoongi's just leaving the animal shelter, shaking the dog fur out of his jacket sleeves and squinting in the afternoon sunlight. he runs his hand through his now mint hair, pulling his arm back to see a few snapped strands laying on his palm. damnit, the bleach is getting to his hair. yoongi swears he's going to be bald by 30. if he lives that long anyway.
it's now early march, and yoongi chuckles at the thought of namjoon and hoseok scrambling for strange volunteer jobs at odd times in the day while he's already finished all of his required hours. he told those idiots that they needed to find a fucking job. it's not like yoongi loves seeing them suffer (well, he kind of does)—it's just karma for clowning yoongi for completing his mandatory volunteer work at the animal shelter.
(he may still be volunteering at the shelter after all of his required hours are filled, but really, that's nobody's business. those kittens need him, dammit.)
he's just heading home, hands in his pockets and mind somewhere pondering the latest track he's been working on, when—
he slams into a fucking wall.
somehow, this wall is literally harder than normal walls, and yoongi skids back a few feet before losing his balance and landing bottom-first on the concrete. his back gives out next, causing him to flop like a fish onto the pavement. his vision is strangely dark and blurry at the edges, and he blinks a few times to calibrate his eyes to their sudden drastic state.
he's suddenly hit by a sense of deja vu.
and this feeling only intensifies when the face of an angel comes into view.
"dear god, did i fucking kill you—oh my god, i'm going to have a breakdown right now, this is horrible—"
"we've gotta stop doing this," yoongi finally croaks out, lips automatically curving into a smile upon hearing that usually steady, soothing voice fill with such panic. yoongi blinks slowly at jungkook's face in front of him, and he can finally make out the angel boy's shining bunny smile. but before yoongi can do anything, jungkook swats at yoongi's chest—hard.
yoongi immediately curls into fetal position after the impact, mourning his now probably broken ribs—dammit, this kid can hit really fucking hard—and groans loudly. he feels jungkook grab onto his arm frantically from beside him and has to suppress a grin.
"oh my god, i just wanted you to stop joking—i didn't mean to actually kill you, oh my god, hyung, don't die i need you—"
"'m fine, jungkook-ah," yoongi finally laughs out from the ground. fuck, it hurts to laugh. jungkook really did a fucking number on his ribs. "just—please, never hit me again. like, ever."
he hears jungkook's breathy laugh from behind him and rolls over on the concrete to see the most radiant smile yoongi's ever seen. the sun shines from behind jungkook, lighting up his dyed brown hair and accentuating his golden skin. "for the biggest bad boy in school, you're really fragile, you know that, hyung?"
yoongi puts on his best scandalized impression, and jungkook throws his head back laughing. yoongi can think of a thousand different melodies to go with that laugh. "fucking excuse me, jeon jungkook, i'll have you know i just came from the animal shelter, the baddest fucking place there is—fucking dangerous—the cats—the allergies—"
jungkook's laughing so hard he's on the verge of tears, and yoongi finally looks around to see that the street is fairly busy—and people are definitely staring at the big buff kid laughing hysterically next to a body that looks kind of like a corpse. he hoists himself up on his elbows and holds his hands out to jungkook, who immediately stands and pulls yoongi up from the ground effortlessly. yoongi dusts himself off from his fall and turns back to jungkook, who's just smiling at him.
"what?" yoongi points to himself. "do i have—like—cat fur in my mouth or something?"
jungkook shakes his head and giggles—oh my god, the cutest—reaching over to fix yoongi's messy mint hair. "no, hyung, just thought i'd killed my boyfriend, like, again."
"you really need to stop putting me in situations that involve physical harm. my knee bone still cracks weird sometimes from the first time you knocked me over," yoongi replies easily, knowing jungkook hates talking about their first meeting where he, quote, "almost thought you died, hyung."
yoongi cuts off jungkook's "are you sure that's not just cause you're old" with a shove, making jungkook laugh breathlessly. yoongi just can't help the smile that comes to his face, and if any of their other friends could see him right now, they'd scream whipped—but honestly, yoongi doesn't care.
yoongi and jungkook set off for home, fingers entwined and laughter flowing easily like the wind.
.
"hyung, you fucking idiot—"
"watch your goddamn language, you little bitch—"
"what the fuck—"
"taehyungie, please put the banner up on the back wall!" jimin cuts in quickly, voice overtaking the room and separating the surely catastrophic fight between hoseok and seokjin. seokjin and hoseok are both stubborn assholes, and when pitted against each other, world war three could actually be plausible.
it's the day before yoongi's birthday, and the entire gang (minus yoongi, of course) is stirring up a huge party to surprise him for his birthday. namjoon and hoseok made sure yoongi was in the studio until about 10:00 at night, when he'd come home and they'd surprise him. namjoon had told them the week before to act natural, but also trick yoongi into thinking we don't care about him—which is kind of impossible since yoongi is jungkook's fucking boyfriend, but whatever. jungkook bites his lip and subconsciously checks his pocket for the small, personal gift he wanted to give yoongi before the night was over, but his reverie is interrupted when taehyung's screams of his name draw him back to reality.
"jungkookie, you're the artsy one, help me do the streamers!"
for the next hour, the entire group works nonstop to bring the party to life, even if it's just for the seven of them. jungkook sees the way namjoon, hoseok and taehyung move around the apartment with such ease and joy, and he remembers how celebrating yoongi's birthday has already been a yearly thing for all of them. hell, taehyung's been doing it since he was five. he expects to feel a pang of jealousy in his chest, but surprisingly, all he feels is an overwhelming elation that they were there for the one jungkook loves the most when jungkook wasn't there to take care of him. his heart suddenly fills with love once again for the five boys around him, and of course, min yoongi.
jungkook's always been a bit of a perfectionist, so he doesn't take anything less than stellar on his boyfriend's party decorations—he orders jimin, taehyung and hoseok around on decoration duty (namjoon was supposed to help too, but he broke two different stools and has now been confined to the couch) while seokjin whips up all kinds of food and pastries in the kitchen. seokjin calls jungkook to ice the cake since he holds the title of best artist in the group, and jungkook carefully draws dog paws and flowers and writes happy birthday yoongi in big red loopy letters, all while holly curls around his feet. seokjin finally consents to feeding holly one bite of beef from the stew he's making, and holly barks happily.
by the time the table is all set and jungkook deems the decorations sufficient, it's about 10:00. they all scurry to hide behind the couch, coffee table, and dining table as hoseok quickly runs to turn off the lights. once the lights are off, hoseok dashes over to slide into place next to jungkook behind the sofa facing the door. jungkook can hear taehyung and jimin writhing and giggling under the coffee table, and he sees namjoon and seokjin curling in on each other underneath the dining table, faces lighting up with smiles. holly pads up to jungkook, nudging his way under jungkook's arm as hoseok silently coos.
about three minutes later, the key jingles in the lock. taehyung and jimin go silent. jungkook can hear hoseok take a big breath in from beside him.
the door swings open, light from the hallway flooding into the dark apartment. it's yoongi—jungkook can hear him breathing. suddenly, yoongi takes a deep, suspicious breath in—dammit, the smell of seokjin's cooking is still in the air. suddenly, he sees namjoon from below the dining table slowly mouth a one... two... three...
jungkook and hoseok spring up at the same time, jungkook grabbing holly and hoisting the dog up in his arms. jungkook watches on in slight horror as taehyung and jimin slither out from under the coffee table like that girl from the exorcist, and namjoon hits his head on one of the dining table chairs while trying to get up.
but the look on yoongi's face when they yell "surprise!" is something jungkook will definitely keep forever.
yoongi looks lost, very confused, and maybe a little scared, but the slow smile that blooms across his face is something jungkook's hands immediately itch to paint. he looks around, seeing all of his friends, the presents on the coffee table, the food and the streamers and the big banner in the back—
"what the fuck," he breathes, and the entire group bursts into chaos.
six different young adult males collectively bull-rush yoongi, and jungkook's impressed by the fact that yoongi manages to simultaneously shut the door and catch a flailing taehyung in his arms all while not falling over. jimin quickly shoves a party hat on yoongi's head while seokjin lifts a finger covered in icing and swipes it on yoongi's nose. taehyung is still doing a strange flail-y dance in yoongi's arms, and hoseok hugs yoongi from the side while namjoon gives him a hearty clap on the back. yoongi looks at them each, a fondness in his eyes that makes jungkook want to cry.
and then, finally—
he looks at jungkook.
jungkook's not prepared for all the love and happiness he sees in yoongi's eyes once they directly meet his, and he's thrown off for a second before returning yoongi's grin full-force.
he says nothing. i love you. we love you. your family. your home.
yoongi says nothing back. i love you too. i love you all. my family, my home, my everything—
(the rest of jungkook's night is spent with yoongi at his side—eating food until they all can barely move; a mini food fight that yoongi grumbles about, but participates heartily in nonetheless; opening presents, which yoongi loves all of them; a few board games that all end with either jungkook or yoongi winning, except for monopoly because namjoon's a fucking genius; and the night finally ends with a movie—some american comedy jungkook doesn't care to watch as yoongi slowly falls asleep against his side. by now, it's already 1:00 in the morning on yoongi's birthday, and jungkook sneaks away to slip his private present and note on a sleeping yoongi's dresser.
the next day, yoongi wears the promise ring their entire trip to the amusement park. when hoseok asks where he got it, yoongi doesn't answer, but jungkook is very sure hoseok knows anyway.)
.
"whoooooo!"
hoseok's scream echoes through seokjin's parents' cafe, his arm slung around yoongi and namjoon's shoulders. they're in dark suits and dress shoes, their hair done (for the first time in forever), and jungkook can't help but notice how different they look from the way they usually do. yoongi's piercings are all gone except for one silver earring on his right earlobe jungkook's pretty sure he borrowed from taehyung. his all-black suit is sharp and fits well, and his shoulders and torso are clearly defined in the black coat he has thrown over his dress shirt. his hair is now black, and jungkook's never seen yoongi with his actual natural hair color before, but he looks good. insanely good.
yoongi rolls his eyes and looks with distaste upon hoseok's arm on his shoulder, but he makes no move to push it off and jungkook can see the veiled fondness in his eyes. suddenly, hoseok thrusts his sloshing cup of iced mocha forward in something that resembles a toast. "to graduation!" he yells, and jungkook's grateful the coffee shop is empty this early in the morning, or else seokjin's parents would probably kick them out.
laughs and cheers resonate around the table, and everyone raises their respective drinks towards the center of the table. yoongi raises a cup of iced coffee that's darker than his suit and jungkook silently shudders at the thought of the taste, clenching on tighter to his sugar-stuffed caramel latte. he looks around the room at all the faces surrounding him—the faces of his closest friends, of his family.
jungkook feels yoongi's warm fingers wrap around his underneath the table, and jungkook's suddenly hit with an epiphany that maybe—more than maybe—he'd give up his whole life just to stay with these people a little longer.
it's early in the morning, about an hour before the graduation ceremony begins, and all seven boys stuff into one mini suv, courtesy of seokjin's parents. seokjin's the assigned driver since he's the only trustworthy one with a driver's license (hoseok brakes for birds, yoongi threatens to drive them off a cliff every time someone mildly annoys him, and namjoon is just disaster personified). they arrive at the school and all tumble out of the car, yoongi, hoseok and namjoon heading off in the opposite direction to get their caps and gowns and line up with the rest of the graduating seniors for the ceremony. jungkook's reluctant to let go of yoongi's hand, but yoongi gives him a tiny peck before he goes, so jungkook figures it's not completely unbearable. seokjin leads the sophomores out to the field where the ceremony is taking place.
the field really is huge, and the entire place is covered in chairs and decorations. all jungkook can see is purple, white, and gold—their school colors. balloons and ribbons are everywhere, and jungkook can see the stage where the seniors will receive their diplomas. he tugs at his purple sweater as seokjin leads them to seats only a few rows from the seats for the seniors.
"kim, jung, and min, so they'll all be up there at different times—taehyung, will you film them for me, honey?" seokjin looks slightly frazzled, and jungkook's strangely reminded of an overbearing mom watching her child's graduation. he figures all of them are kind of seokjin's children in a way, which both comforts and terrifies him.
suddenly, a voice booms over the speakers scattered around the school. "hello, parents, family, friends, and welcome to the graduation ceremony for the senior class of 2018!" jimin and taehyung start whooping and cheering like they're at a fucking rock concert, and jungkook hides his face in his hands as middle aged women from behind them stare openly at the chaos.
the principal rattles off a few more things jungkook doesn't bother to listen to, and soon, students have gone up to start receiving their diplomas. "ahn daniel... choi seungcheol... dong sicheng..." jungkook barely catches any of the names, and all the white noise buzzing in his ears distracts him from the stage.
suddenly, he hears "jung hoseok" ring out from the speakers, and jimin, taehyung and seokjin immediately launch up and start screaming. they're yelling and waving their arms and shit, and jungkook's pretty sure jimin brought a fucking banner. dammit. he decides his reputation's already destroyed from sitting with these lunatics, so he gets up and starts cheering too. he's way more reserved than seokjin though, who jungkook's pretty sure just yelled "that's my son" as they announced hoseok's accomplishments and that he would be going to seoul university, the most prestigious university in the nation, for dance. hoseok gives them a radiant smile and waves his diploma at them excitedly before bowing with the rest of the students on stage. the audience breaks into applause.
jungkook sits down and listens to jimin and taehyung's whispered conversation until "kim namjoon" is called. the group immediately launches up again in raucous cheers to the chagrin of the middle aged parents around them, but honestly, jungkook doesn't give a fuck. seokjin sends a thousand flying hearts towards the stage, which namjoon pretends to catch in his fist before bowing and receiving his diploma from the principal, as well as blushing at his recognition as valedictorian among other accomplishments. the principal announces namjoon will be going to seoul university for astrophysics, which what the fuck how—and namjoon takes a big bow with the other students on stage before marching off. jungkook settles back down in his seat and waits for the last member of the graduating class that matters to be announced.
he's counting down the seconds, and when "min yoongi" is called, jungkook's the first one out of his seat and the loudest out of all of them, which is really fucking surprising considering he's never yelled at anybody in his life. the cardio's really coming in handy for his lung capacity. he screams and waves and even yells "that's my baby", which gets a small smile out of yoongi as he walks onto the stage. the smile on yoongi's face as the lights shine down on him make him look like an angel—it suits him, jungkook thinks as he claps and cheers, waving his hands in the air. yoongi takes the diploma from the principal, bows, and walks into a line with the other students as the principal reads off his accomplishments and announces he'll be going to seoul university for music production. he bows once again with the other students before floating off stage like a fairy. jungkook stares until he can't see yoongi's back anymore.
jungkook's hit with the overwhelming urge to cry as he realizes how far they've come—how far yoongi's come, and how far they'll go together.
and in that moment, as yoongi's blue-clad back retreats into the distance, jungkook swears he'll marry yoongi someday.
someday.
i love you i love you i love you—
.
they're finally leaving. they're walking out to the car, yoongi's diploma is still in his hand, and the entire group is laughing and shoving and happy. yoongi can feel namjoon's hand on his back, hoseok's arm around his shoulder, taehyung's face in his hair, seokjin's palm on the side of his neck, jimin's fingers gripping at his gown, and jungkook's fingers wrapped in his. yoongi thinks this may be the happiest he's ever been—he's done with fucking high school, he's had his goddamn coffee, and he's surrounded with people he loves more than his own life. if yoongi dies in this moment, he knows he'd be content.
suddenly, something breaks him out of his excited daze.
"min yoongi?"
they're in the middle of the parking lot, and yoongi almost trips on the asphalt as he spins around and the entire group of limbs and laughter is thrown sideways. yoongi slowly regains his balance, grabbing onto jungkook for support, and looks up—he knows that voice—
a man is standing there.
the man is a few centimeters taller than yoongi and slightly bigger—about namjoon's size. he's buff and stocky, and his hair is in an army cut shaved close to his head. he has a bouquet of daisies clutched tightly in his right hand. yoongi takes a small step forward.
yoongi sees... himself. it's yoongi, but it's not—
oh my god.
it's him.
"hyung?" he whispers shakily, hand unconsciously reaching out towards him.
"yoongi-ah," he replies, voice deep and filled with a daegu accent that makes yoongi's own stir around in his mouth. yoongi knows him—he's spent his whole life knowing him—but for some reason, this person still feels like a stranger. yoongi steps forward slowly, and he feels seokjin, namjoon, and jimin's arms slowly slip away. taehyung's palm still rests on his back, hoseok still grips his shoulder, and jungkook still grasps his hand tightly. he shakes them off in a daze and takes another step towards geumjae.
"i watched your graduation," geumjae says conversationally, which almost infuriates yoongi—they haven't spoken in fucking years, and this asshole wants to start with that—but he stays quiet as geumjae continues. "seoul university, music production. top one percent. wow. i always knew you could make it, yoon-ah."
yoongi isn't sure what sets him off—the nickname he hasn't heard in years, the fact that he's talking so normally, or maybe even the fact that he's even here at all—but yoongi snaps.
"you didn't know shit, geumjae," yoongi says, trying to keep his voice level—he fails, and his voice gets louder and deeper anyway, the kind of voice he uses to scare people away when they're not fucking welcome. "you didn't know shit. we haven't talked in fucking years, even you got back from the army fucking forever ago—what makes you think you could come, huh? what made you think you were fucking invited?" yoongi's yelling now, his voice harsh and unbearable even to his own ears.
he suddenly feels jungkook's hesitant fingers wrap around his hand, pulling him back to reality. yoongi stands still, but he feels jungkook come up beside him. it's okay, jungkook doesn't say, but yoongi can feel it anyway. we're right here. yoongi squeezes jungkook's hand, taking deep breaths and closing his eyes. like this is all a dream.
"i'm sorry," geumjae whispers, his daegu accent slurring his clumsy speech, and yoongi sighs.
"i know," he whispers back. "i know."
"just thought you'd hate me—i don't know—and i thought i'd give it time between you and dad, but then you left, and i had to sign up for the army—and when i came back, i thought you didn't want to see me, and i was just a coward, i'm sorry—"
yoongi finally faces geumjae, his past, his family, everything. he blinks back the tears in his eyes, the stinging at the edges of his eyelids grounding him to reality.
"i don't forgive you."
geumjae flinches, and yoongi's heart aches.
"but... i will. i know i will. just—just not now," yoongi breathes, his chest loosening in a place he hadn't felt in a long time.
geumjae gives him a shaky smile. "thank you, yoongi. it's—it's more than i deserve."
"i know, asshole."
geumjae laughs slightly at that, passing the bouquet of daisies to yoongi, who accepts them. he looks behind yoongi slightly and spots taehyung. a small grin comes to his face. "hey, taehyung-ah. almost didn't recognize you." geumjae gives taehyung a look up and down. "you really grew up, didn't you? you're almost as tall as me now. i remember when you used to follow yoongi around like a tiny puppy."
"i'm this close to fucking annihilating you, asshole," taehyung mutters darkly from behind yoongi, and yoongi smiles slightly as taehyung continues. "you hurt yoongi-hyung, you bitchass—you can't just come back in—i'll fucking fight you—" yoongi laughs. whether he'll admit it or not, taehyung's really the best friend he could ever wish for.
he feels jungkook's arm slowly wrap around his waist, and he leans into the touch. geumjae seems to notice, because he looks down at yoongi in jungkook's big arms and smiles. "yoongi-ah, who's this?"
yoongi looks up at geumjae, glaring at him warningly while burying himself deeper into jungkook's arms. geumjae's shit-eating grin only widens.
"his boyfriend," taehyung yells from behind him, and yoongi mutters a taehyung i'll fucking kill you as jungkook's head lowers, embarrassed. jungkook sticks out one of his hands for geumjae to shake, which geumjae takes enthusiastically.
"uhm, i—i'm jeon jungkook," yoongi hears jungkook stutter out. "it's nice to meet you. i'm min geumjae," geumjae replies, and he gives yoongi another knowing smile before checking the time on his watch.
"sorry, yoongi, but i have to catch a train back home—i, uh—i'll be back next weekend—"
"next weekend's great," yoongi cuts in, already overwhelmed enough for probably the next year. he debates hugging geumjae, but he can't bring himself to do it just yet, so he stays in jungkook's arm as geumjae slowly walks off, getting into a car and driving away.
"well, that was fucking weird," hoseok finally says. yoongi hears seokjin and jimin murmur in agreement.
"i can't believe that asshole, i'll beat him into the ground, i don't even care—fucking min geumjae—" taehyung mutters, and yoongi's full on laughing in jungkook's arms now. he turns to look at jungkook's face, and the concern and care and love in jungkook's eyes makes yoongi want to cry all over again.
"you're okay, right?" jungkook says, and yoongi hears a thousand i love yous in those three words.
"yeah, 'm good," yoongi replies. he kisses jungkook slowly on the lips, ignoring taehyung and jimin's coos and hoseok and namjoon's wolf whistles.
"love you," yoongi says slowly. jungkook smiles, and yoongi swears he'll marry jungkook someday.
someday.
—i love you i love you i love you.
.
four years later.
.
"what the fuck?"
jungkook's staring at the washing machine, which has (for the third time that month) exploded, spraying soap suds and water everywhere. the entire laundry room is covered in it—on the floors, on the walls, and the laundry's pushing its way out of the machine like a fucking sea monster.
"yoongi!"
"aish, what is it, brat?" yoongi wanders into the laundry room, and jungkook points and pouts at the washing machine.
"you're the only one that can fix the washing machine in this household, help me," jungkook whines, and yoongi rolls his eyes, but smiles nonetheless.
"get my stuff from the garage. and get taehyung in here to start mopping. i bet he tried to wash his fucking fur sweater again this time—that fucking monstrosity—" jungkook giggles and goes off to get yoongi's tools from the garage, yelling up the stairs on the way that taehyung needs to get off his ass and help wipe up the laundry room, the washing machine's gone to shit again. by the time he gets back from the garage, he can hear taehyung and yoongi's incessant banter from the laundry room. jungkook flounces in, hands yoongi his toolbox, and hoists himself up to perch on the dryer and watch taehyung wipe at the floor with their crappy mop that does literally fucking nothing.
"help me," taehyung whines at jungkook, and he grins and shakes his head, swinging his legs back and forth on the dryer as he watches yoongi work.
"stop staring at yoongi-hyung's ass," taehyung mutters, mopping angrily at the floor. jungkook squawks in indignance.
"this ass is his, so," yoongi replies, and jungkook watches as taehyung's face actually goes green. "please never say that ever again," taehyung says, looking like he's five seconds from keeling over. jungkook is greatly entertained.
"get out here, assholes, lunch is ready!"
taehyung immediately drops the broom and dashes out of the room—mealtimes are the literal "saved by the bell" of their household—and jungkook whines, not wanting to get off of the dryer and walk to the kitchen. sure, he can do two hours of intense cardio with only a small five minute break in between, but he just doesn't want to fucking move. he pouts at yoongi, who's slowly putting his tools back in the box. "it's fixed," he says monotonously. "and no, i won't carry you to the kitchen. you'd break my back. get the fuck up, jungkook."
"you're the worst boyfriend ever," jungkook mutters, swinging off the dryer and onto the floor. yoongi laces jungkook's fingers with his. "hell yeah i am," he replies, and jungkook doesn't even have the heart to retort because he knows it's a fat fucking lie.
by the time they get to the dining table, everyone's already seated. "took you long enough," hoseok yells, and seokjin huffs. "remember house rule number three, absolutely no fu—"
"just sit down," namjoon says desperately, cutting seokjin off mid-sentence. yoongi smirks and pulls jungkook's seat out for him, which makes seokjin coo.
"my sweet children," he sighs, and jungkook pushes down his gag reflex. yoongi sits down right beside him, and their hands automatically find each other under the table.
as everyone else digs in, jungkook looks over at yoongi to find that yoongi's already staring back at him. yoongi smiles at him.
jungkook smiles back.
my family.
my home.
.
end.
.