Chapter Text
‘So you’ve never ridden a bike?’
Yoongi can’t believe it when this kid -Seokjin, was it?- shakes his head no. Who has never been on a bike before? His own parents weren’t perfect but they sure gave him anything he needed to have a normal childhood. Granted, perhaps it had to do with the constant moving away from town to town that made them feel guilty about Yoongi not being able to experience what it was like to actually have a normal childhood with one school, one neighbourhood, and one group of friends.
Did other kids not normally have bicycles? Yoongi supposes he might be an outlier, but that can’t be possible, not with every single cartoon on TV showing kids constantly riding bikes. A sudden burst of fresh salty air swoops his hair and he breathes in.
‘Would you like to ride with me?’
Seokjin laughs, his eyes looking at Yoongi funny. Yoongi feels slightly offended, his offer had been well-meaning.
‘Weren’t you heading somewhere?’
Seokjin is still looking at him with a glint of amusement twirling in his eyes, behind his nerdy glasses. Yoongi’s face scrunches up. He can’t believe this guy. Who does he think he is, exposing Yoongi like that after he so kindly offered to give him this first-time kind of experience? Of course he didn’t have anywhere to go to, they were in mid-summer. And alright, Yoongi had been kind of obvious this past week going for a ride down to the seaside road, where the summer sea breeze brushed his hair away from his eyes and slowed him down just as he passed the same spot where every day a nerdy-looking kid sat on a bench looking like the happiest person in the world next to his growing seashell collection.
Yoongi’s stares must have been noticed, and he wants to kick himself in the butt.
He had thought it was a stupid way to spend the summer with, but as the days passed his curiosity peaked. The way the other boy’s face squeezed and glowed as he smiled proudly at his loot became endearing in an embarrassing way, and Yoongi eventually found himself placing his foot on his pedal each afternoon expecting to see that boy again.
That day, though, the boy wasn’t there. Yoongi might have gone out a tad sooner than other days, telling himself the end of summer would come soon and he had to make his bike rides worth it, while the back of his mind flashed with images of black straight hair tousling in the wind, an oversized decolored shirt, and the reflection of the sun on a pair of glasses. The same picture that was now zoomed in and standing in front of him, looking cheekily at Yoongi, after he had stopped his bike and looked around worriedly until he saw the boy arise from the beach.
The boy had commented on how cool his bike was, Yoongi had snorted and played it smooth, hoping his tan would hide the flush tainting his cheeks. He had rubbed the back of his neck non-chalantly, and tried to make conversation about bikes with his vast knowledge as a three-times owner. That was when the newly introduced Seokjin said he had never even touched a bike in his life.
And now he’s trying to get Yoongi to come clean about his intentions. The asshole.
‘I’m not- I mean, I don’t have anywhere to go to for a while.’ Yoongi says, non-commital. He curses himself for the slip at the beginning and hopes his save is good enough. A side-glance at Seokjin from under his bangs seemed to indicate it was; that, or Seokjin is a terrific actor who took pity on Yoongi.
Seokjin’s lips curl upwards, and Yoongi’s slightly do too as Seokjin says ‘Me neither. I’d like to try riding a bike. If you let me.’
It takes countless tries, but eventually Seokjin gets it and is capable of riding on his own for almost a whole block. Yoongi’s bike doesn’t have training wheels obviously, but Seokjin has a better sense of balance than anticipated. Apparently, his parents had given him skateboards and sandboards and surfboards and he is pretty much excellent at any sport that required a board. Yoongi finds it preposterous how someone’s parents deemed skateboarding a more suitable introduction to vehicled sports than a bicycle, but Seokjin only laughs at his offended pout. Seokjin does that a lot, he notices. Yoongi doesn’t consider himself an especially funny person, but Seokjin seems to be having a blast with him.
Perhaps Seokjin is just a cheerful guy. Yoongi catches his lips pulling up into grins too often as well.
They decide it would be better if Yoongi was the one driving the bike finally, despite several successful attempts by Seokjin at handling it on his own. Also, Yoongi is its owner anyway.
(He will never admit to anyone not even himself that the feeling that blooms inside his chest and makes his stomach tremble as his gaze lays on Seokjin enjoying himself while handling Yoongi’s bike is extremely nice.)
And he has seniority in terms of bike years. Learning that Seokjin is his hyung was a blow to his “cool” act, but it doesn’t seem to make Seokjin respect his words any less, nor his eyes shine any duller as he listens to Yoongi explain the mechanics of two people riding one bike.
So they mount up, Yoongi on the handles and Seokjin behind, hands secure on Yoongi’s shoulders. The extra weight makes the start slow but once the pace picks up, there are no hold backs. The wind is barely a breeze, and he hears from the back of his ears Seokjin breathe in a lungful and blow it out through his nose in a content hum, sending goosebumps all down Yoongi’s spine.
The sea is thriving. Waves crash and roar as they sweep past, wind wetting their cheeks with salty drops. But Yoongi’s heart is drumming a storm as the sun is beginning its departure. He doesn’t want Seokjin’s comments about the TV show they both watch to end. He doesn’t want to know what it will be like to stop feeling the strong grip of Seokjin on his shoulders, the soft giggles on his nape after telling Seokjin something good, or even listening to the bad puns that make him smile warmly despite every bit of sense inside Yoongi telling him to throw Seokjin off the bike.
But the day comes to an end and Seokjin has to go back home. He had secured his newly-acquired seashells -which Seokjin had told Yoongi were not interesting enough to talk about and Yoongi decided to let it go for now- in his backpack, and Yoongi dropped him off the closest to Seokjin’s house he got while riding uphill back into town.
Yoongi slowly walks back home.
His house is cold and quiet, and he helps with dinner preparations as any other day. At night in bed, he thinks up stuff he could talk to Seokjin about.
Summer is high and bright and Seokjin had told Yoongi to meet up at the same spot the next day.
Yoongi doesn’t know whether to be early or fashionably late to the –was it a date? No that didn’t sound right, they are only 11! They don’t do that yet-, and in his fretting he ends up going 2 hours too early. We he arrives Seokjin is obviously not there yet. He scans the beach with his eyes but it’d be impossible to find the other boy in the swarm of bodies occupying the beach right now at noon.
So Yoongi go gets himself an ice cream that melts on his hand before he even gets the chance to feel refreshened. He washes his hand on the shore, careful not to wet his shoes. Maybe he could park the bike closer to the water and go for a dive.
He decides to do so, but for some reason he still can’t shake away the heat that has settled under his skin since he stepped out of his house earlier. It’s not even a particularly hot day. He grumbles under his breath as his feet grow clammy in the water, and heads back to his stuff. His phone indicates there’s still too much time left before the arranged meet-up time, so Yoongi throws it on his crumpled up shirt in dismay.
A shadow envelops him and Yoongi looks ups just as a familiar voice says his name.
‘Yoongi?’
‘Seokjin? What are you doing here?’
Seokjin’s lips quirk up and he gestures to his handful of fresh seashells, ‘Just the usual. I have to come early to collect them, it takes time.’
Yoongi “oh”s and stares dumbfounded at the shells, for some odd reason not daring to look up at Seokjin. The other boy obviously doesn’t know he came earlier due to his embarrassing impatience, he could just come down to the beach like everyone else to have a splash and sunbathe. But a feeling of shame creeps up in his veins and he doesn’t know what to say anymore.
‘Can I leave these with you? While I go look for more?’
Seokjin does know what to say, though.
Yoongi smiles and nods, and Seokjin places his backpack next to Yoongi, careful to not let any shell touch the sand as he places them on his bag.
He runs off making a small wave at Yoongi and throwing a shy smile that makes Yoongi’s chest tighten. Yoongi doesn’t like sunbathing. He didn’t bring a hat or a long-sleeved shirt. He’s sure he will die of boredom. Did Seokjin’s gratefulness mean so much that he was willing to sacrifice precious summer time he could invest in more entertaining and fulfilling activities?
Seokjin is sun-flushed when he comes back, a tired but satisfied glow on his face. Yoongi thinks the waiting wasn’t so bad.
‘Next time we could go look for them together’ he says as they shrug on all their belongings.
‘Oh’ Seokjin stops, his gaze low. ‘I didn’t think you liked doing that. I’m sorry I should’ve asked. We can definitely go together tomorrow.’
Yoongi elbows him lightly ‘It’s alright. I haven’t done it in years. I just thought about it now since you look like you had fun.’ He starts going up the beach, back to the street without looking back at Seokjin, who pulls up almost immediately to his side, a jump to his step.
‘I think doing it with someone else would be fun.’ He looks at Yoongi smiling, any trace of shyness gone. Yoongi rolls his eyes, he really can’t believe his unabashed attitude.
‘So, today’s my turn, right?’ Seokjin says as he motions to grab the bike’s handles. Yoongi pulls them away from his reach.
‘Still my bike’ he says and cocks his eyebrows as he adjusts the bike and himself on it. Seokjin pouts but accepts his luck, settling behind Yoongi and grabbing his waist. Maybe Yoongi will let him ride it tomorrow.
‘Where should we go?’ Seokjin asks.
Yoongi hums in thought, as if he hadn’t already planned the whole day last night while he couldn’t sleep.
‘Let’s try up to the dock to that side, then we’ll see where else we can go by.’
‘Alright.’ Seokjin’s voice betrays a smile, and Yoongi can’t hold back his grin looking ahead. He sets off.
They spend most of the rest of the summer finding each other, going to the beach or wherever the bike can take them. It’s bittersweet to think about the summer ending, so Yoongi doesn’t think about it. They share so much, except Seokjin still won’t tell him about the seashells. Yoongi could never read Seokjin, but the one thing he knows is that Seokjin is always willing to go with Yoongi.
It all falls apart when Yoongi’s parents tell him they’re moving away again at the end of the summer, and Seokjin can’t follow him there.