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“You must dream, Chim, everyone dreams,” his best friend insists. “You just have trouble remembering them.”
“Maybe,” Jimin relents, but he doesn’t know why Taehyung cares so much. He accepted the fact that he has no soulmate a long time ago. It’s fine—he has good friends, a decent job, a comfortable home. A soulmate isn’t a necessity to a good life. And so many people waste so much of their lifetime trying to find their soulmate—there are billions of people on the planet, and people are willing to travel far, or spend countless hours online, just to find that one familiar face they dream about. Jimin had the luxury of not worrying over it.
It’s like any other weekend when Jimin meets him. Taehyung told Jimin about a new tea shop that opened downtown, so the two go to check it out. They barely walk into the store’s front before the guy working at the counter meets Jimin’s eyes, gaping at him for a second before a huge smile overcomes his face, and Jimin is…confused. Suddenly the guy is walking around the counter, hurrying over to him.
“It’s you! Oh my god, it’s really you,” he says, his voice warm and filled with joy as he wraps his arms around Jimin in a hug. “I never thought I’d find you, certainly not like this.”
Jimin is still too confused to hug this stranger back, and when blonde pulls back, he scrunches up his face (and okay, Jimin admits, this guy is cute, whatever).
“Don’t you recognize me?” the guy says, a nervous laugh escaping his lips.
Find him? Recognize the guy? …Oh. Well, this has never happened before. Jimin’s cheeks flush as he delicately grabs the guy’s arms, bringing them off his shoulders.
“Oh, I—I think you’re mistaken,” Jimin says softly, only for the guy to tilt his head in further confusion (damn, did he have to be so cute?). “I, umm, well I don’t have dreams. So, you see, I’m pretty sure I don’t have a soulmate. I must just look similar to yours. S-sorry.”
Jimin expects him to look disappointed, maybe even a little devastated. But instead, the guy decidedly shakes his head and holds Jimin’s hands in his own.
“No, it’s you. I—I know what my soulmate looks like, and it’s not similar to you. It is you.”
Jimin feels his cheeks flush further, and he’s not sure whether it’s over the stranger’s words, his intense, attentive gaze, or the way Jimin’s hands feel so small in the other’s. But none of this matter. This poor guy’s confused, Jimin doesn’t have a soulmate. He shakes his head again, but Tae speaks up before he can. And of course, he’s living for this, smiling like crazy.
“See, Jimin? I told you, you must dream! He never remembers his dreams,” Taehyung says, the last part more to the guy than Jimin.
“Tae, you’re not helping! I don’t dream, I—I don’t have a soulmate, this is…this is a mistake!” Jimin exclaims, feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and just—he never expected this to happen, why is this happening?
He pulls his hands out of the guy’s grip, stepping away from him and Taehyung, hiding his face in his hands.
Peeking out between his fingertips, he watches the guy glance between him and Taehyung before taking a small step towards him.
“J-Jimin? My name is Yoongi. Ah, look, I’m sorry for being too forward. It’s just…” the guy seems like he’s about to say something more, but then shakes his head and gives a small smile. “Actually, we don’t have to worry about it right now, okay? You and your friend came here for tea, why don’t you sit down and I’ll take your orders.”
Jimin brings his hands down, his shoulders relaxing a little. He looks at Tae, who shrugs, and then follows suit when Jimin goes to sit at the counter. Yoongi simply smiles at him as he sorts through containers of tea.
The tea shop is quiet, and after Yoongi gives them their drinks, he casually talks with the two. It turns out he just moved to the city, and he owns this tea shop. He had picked the location for his shop to be near the university, which Jimin and Tae go to, and they talk about their majors and classes and such. Yoongi doesn’t bring up the soulmates thing again, which Jimin is grateful for, and when he stops thinking about that, he finds that he greatly enjoys conversation with Yoongi. He feels comfortable with him, and every time the blonde smiles at him, his insides flutter and his cheeks grow warm.
When it’s time for the two to leave, Yoongi walks around the counter again as they start towards the door. “Jimin…”
Jimin stops, turning to face Yoongi, not before noticing that Tae goes to wait outside. He fiddles with his sleeves as Yoongi approaches, only braving quick glances at the older, knowing what he is about to bring up.
“Jimin,” he says his name softly, delicately in a way that almost has Jimin wishing he could dream. “Listen, I—I’m not sure how to convince you that it is you I see in my dreams, but I wish I could. And more that than—” he adds quickly when Jimin’s about to protest, “I really enjoyed talking with you. I’m glad you came to my shop, and I’d really like to see you again. Is there any chance you’d let me take you out sometime?”
Damn, if this guy isn’t charming. Jimin doesn’t know how he’s supposed to feel towards a soulmate. He can’t imagine what it’s like to come face to face with someone you’ve dreamt of your entire life, but whatever this is…it doesn’t feel half bad. He still isn’t convinced Yoongi is his soulmate, and part of him feels like it’s wrong to agree, because he could be leading Yoongi astray from finding the true face he’s been seeing, but…Jimin /does/ really want to see him again. Besides, his real soulmate could be across the world, some look alike of Jimin in a different country, speaking a different language or something—could one date really hurt?
~
One date leads to two. Two leads to three. Three ends in a kiss that leaves Jimin absolutely weak in the knees.
So maybe Jimin starts coming to the tea shop after his classes to study while Yoongi makes customers’ teas, and the two exchange quick glances and smiles at one another throughout the hours spent there. And maybe many of those evenings after Yoongi closes up the shop, Jimin walks with him, hand in hand, down the street to his studio apartment. And maybe more often than not, Jimin ends up staying the night with him. Maybe Jimin feels more strongly for Yoongi than he ever expected to feel towards anyone.
And he feels incredibly guilty for it. He’s being selfish, taking advantage of the fact that Yoongi’s convinced he sees his face in dreams, when Jimin knows it can’t be the case. He still doesn’t dream, he still knows that Yoongi is not his soulmate, and he knows it’s just a matter of time before Yoongi realizes it and leaves.
“Statistically speaking, there are seven people in the world who look just like me,” Jimin says one day. He’s sitting in the window sill of Yoongi’s apartment, the morning sunlight streaming through and casting across the wooden floor. He glances over to the older, who’s buttoning up a dress shirt, getting ready to go open the tea shop. “I bet one of them is your soulmate.”
Rolling the sleeves up to his forearms, Yoongi sniffs a soft laugh as he walks over to the window sill, sitting on its edge and facing Jimin.
“No, because my soulmate is right here,” Yoongi says calmly, reaching over and grabbing Jimin’s hands to hold in his own.
Yoongi is nothing if not a patient man. They have been dating for about a month now, and this isn’t exactly an infrequent conversation of theirs. Anytime the guilt eats at Jimin, he mentions this, reminds Yoongi that there is a good chance he’s mistaken, and that his real soulmate is still out there. But Yoongi doesn’t get mad, he doesn’t argue with Jimin about it. He just gives a sweet smile, or pulls Jimin into a cuddle, and finds the words to convince Jimin that they are happy, and that’s what matters.
Usually Yoongi avoids insisting that Jimin is his soulmate, so his words today surprise Jimin.
“Y-you don’t know for su—”
“Yes I do, baby,” Yoongi interrupts, his voice still calm and soft. He looks down at their hands sitting between their laps, and he gives Jimin’s a small squeeze before looking back up to meet his eyes. “Listen to hyung for a minute, okay?”
Jimin parts his lips, but rather than speaking just closes his mouth and gives a nod.
“Would someone who looks like you have your exact little crooked tooth? Would they have one eye slightly puffier than the other? Would someone who is similar to you have the exact same birthmarks, like the one on your neck,” Yoongi lifts his hand to thumb over the mark on Jimin’s neck and then leans in to kiss it when Jimin smiles, “Or the one on your collarbone,” he murmurs against Jimin’s skin, moving to kiss that one as well.
Jimin giggles at the affection, and Yoongi pulls away, resting his hands back with Jimin’s. “Would they giggle the same way too? Would they wear a bunch of rings like you do, or pout their pretty, full lips whenever they’re upset? Jimin, unless you have an identical twin, it’s you. You’re my soulmate.”
Jimin chewed on his bottom lip, his eyes downcast, watching their hands as he played with Yoongi’s fingers. “That’s it, I must have been separated from my identical twin at birth. I need to call my mother,” he mutters.
Yoongi sniffs at laugh at the younger’s joke before he moves a hand to tuck under his chin. “Jimin.”
Jimin meets Yoongi’s eyes, but then he lets out a whine. “Okay, hyung, but like, what if you’re just describing those things now because you see me, what if they’re not in your dreams and you’re just projecting?”
“Minnie, that’s not how it works, honey,” Yoongi says. He leans back against the window sill, looking out for a moment before back to Jimin. “I’ve been seeing your face for years. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but when you dream, when you’re thrown in this world where everything is blurry, you feel lost and confused, but then you see this…this beautiful person, in perfect detail, over and over again…” Yoongi’s voice trails off for a moment, and then he’s leaning close to Jimin again, bringing his hands up to cup the younger’s face. “I know the intricate details of your face because of those dreams. I learned them over the years because I knew they were the map to finding you.”
Jimin feels his eyes go wide. He feels himself take in a shaky breath, and then he feels tears stream down his face. Through blurred vision, he sees Yoongi’s surprised expression, he feels the older thumb at the tears on his cheeks, but he blinks again for more to fall.
“T-then…h-how come I didn’t get a map to find you?” Jimin says between his choked sobs.
Jimin thinks about what it would’ve been like. If he had seen Yoongi’s pretty face in his sleep, his adorable gummy smile and his warm, cat-like eyes. For years, if instead of nothing, he got wake up with the memory of the older’s smile or laugh, with the hope of one day meeting him. He thinks about how differently it would’ve been that day when he first walked into the tea shop. He can’t even imagine the amount of pure joy and excitement they could’ve shared. But instead he robbed that experience from Yoongi. Instead he had to hear him whine and deny everything he had ever hoped and looked forward to from his dreams. Instead getting a soulmate to bond over seeing, meeting each other after a lifetime of dreams, Yoongi was stuck with him.
“I—I’m broken, Y-yoongi, there’s something wr-wrong with me,” Jimin cries, hiccupping before he gasps, looking at Yoongi wide-eyed with worry. “What if this means something, what if I’m your soulmate but…but I’m going to just end up hurting you.”
Jimin becomes reduced to tears, and Yoongi is quick to pull him into his arms, holding his small, shaking frame and rubbing his back. “Honey, it’s okay, shh…you’re not broken, beautiful…”
~
Yoongi is wiping off the counter when the front door’s bell clangs, and he looks up to see Taehyung walking into the shop.
“Hi hyung. I thought Jimin would be here with you,” Tae says, glancing around to find only a few groups of strangers at the couches and tables of the shop.
“He’s still back at my place, taking a nap,” Yoongi says. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Green tea, thanks. Is he sick?”
Yoongi makes his way around the counter, shaking his head. “No, umm…I convinced him that he is my soulmate.”
“Isn’t that good news?” Tae asks as he takes a seat.
Yoongi focuses on the tea leaves, scooping them up into a strainer to place in the mug. “Well, now he feels like there’s something wrong with him. I think he’s afraid that it’s unrequited or something, like he’s my soulmate but I’m not his or something…anyway, I comforted him as much as I could, but then I had to get to work so I just left him with a cup of tea and to rest in my bed.”
“Ah, Chim…I’ve told him so many times, he probably just doesn’t remember the dreams. I wish he’d believe me.”
Yoongi gives a weak smile. “Me too.”
Yoongi wishes that Jimin wasn’t so haunted by his lack of dreams. Sure, when Yoongi used to picture meeting his soulmate, he never expected the lackluster, confused reaction he initially received, but ultimately that didn’t matter to him. Jimin, the sweet boy of his dreams, is now his boyfriend, and he’s more beautiful and kind and fun to be around than Yoongi’s dreams ever could have alluded. If Yoongi ever used to have doubting moments about whether meeting your soulmate was really all people hyped it up to be, those doubts flew out the window the moment he first held Jimin’s hand. And Yoongi is pretty certain that Jimin has the exact same feelings towards him, but lets his fears and insecurities get the best of him.
Yoongi considers Tae’s words. As much as he has insisted to Jimin that it doesn’t matter to him that he doesn’t dream, he thinks about how it would put Jimin’s mind at ease, if Tae was right. If only there was some way he could remember a dream.
~
Yoongi gets back to his apartment that evening after closing up the shop with takeout for him and Jimin. He opens the door to his apartment, and finds Jimin in his bed, sitting up against the headboard, reading a book. The boy is in one of his oversized hoodies, and he looks up and smiles at Yoongi.
“You feeling alright, sweetheart?” Yoongi asks, setting the bag of food on the table before walking over to sit on the edge of the bed, facing the younger.
Jimin gives a small nod as he sets the book he was reading on the nightstand, then makes grabby hands at Yoongi that tell him to properly get into bed. He obliges, settling in next to Jimin against the headboard, wrapping an arm around the younger as he lays his head onto his chest.
“Yoongi hyung?” Jimin breathes against his shirt.
“Mm?” Yoongi places a kiss in the boy’s hair, running his hand between his shoulder blades.
“When—when did you first start having dreams about me?” Jimin whispers. “And what are they like?”
“Oh.”
Jimin’s never asked Yoongi about the dreams before, the only time they’re ever brought up is about how Jimin doesn’t have them. They’ve never talked about his though.
“Well, as far as I remember it, the first time I saw you in a dream, I think I was like, five years old,” Yoongi says, his gaze staring off across the apartment as he continues to rub Jimin’s back. “In the dream, I was…I was on a sailboat, in a massive, black body of water…it was grey and dark, and the waves were choppy, and I remember I was scared of falling into the water…and then you were there. You were a kid too then, of course, and you offered me a hand. And that was it. I woke up, I think because seeing you startled me awake.”
“Why?” Jimin asks, and Yoongi glances down to see Jimin lifting his head, his brow furrowed with the question.
Yoongi gives a small smile and shrug before looking across the room again. “Because in dreams, everything was blurry, like my eyes couldn’t focus right. And that one in particular was dark, and scary, but…when you were there, the sun came out. And I saw the very strands of your hair blowing in the wind across your face. I had never seen like that in a dream before.”
Yoongi watches as the younger chews on his bottom lip before asking another question.
“And then…I was in all your dreams after that?”
The older gives a soft chuckle, reaching up to pet Jimin’s hair. “No, not every dream. Plenty were still just random blurs. But you certainly started making appearances often.”
Yoongi pauses for a moment before giving another soft laugh. “One of my favorites, I’ll never forget…I was in high school, and I had had a really shit day, so when I got home I just crashed in my bed, wanting to forget everything to sleep…and I dreamt of a field. It was golden and there was an oak tree on a hill. There was swing on the tree, and you were there, on it. You smiled at me as I walked up the hill to you, and you giggled as you swung back and forth. I leaned against the tree trunk and just watched you swing, until you slow down and got off. You walked over to me, leaned against the tree trunk too, and you smiled at me, in that smirky way you do sometimes, like when you know you’re gonna get what you want.”
Yoongi smiles down at Jimin for a moment, taking in a deep breath before continuing. “Waking up from that dream was…conflicting. I felt so comforted, so warm and so much better than I did when I had gone to bed, but…with the dream over, I was sad. It was like, I missed you. And I didn’t even know you yet. That’s what meeting you for the first time felt like. It was like…I didn’t have to miss you anymore.”
Jimin brings his hand to Yoongi’s nape, his fingers threading through his hair, and he tugs at Yoongi as he lifts his own face up to meet him in a kiss. They linger in it, Jimin lying down and Yoongi leaning over him as he holds the younger’s cheek, savors the softness of his lips.
Jimin pulls away just slightly, his breath still on Yoongi’s lips as he speaks. “You’ll never have to miss me again.”
Yoongi all but melts, hums as he leans in to kiss Jimin again.
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you sooner,” Jimin says between their kisses, “You are my soulmate.”
An indescribable warmth and relief wash over Yoongi.
“I love you,” he finds himself saying as he keeps kissing the boy, now more fully on top of him, “I love you so much, Jimin.”
“I love you too,” Jimin responds in a breathy voice as Yoongi places kisses down his jaw and neck, hands running over each other, neither with the intention to stop anytime soon.
~
A few days have passed, and Jimin is happy. He’s not sure that he’ll ever be completely okay with the fact that he doesn’t have dreams (or can’t remember them—he’s still not sure which he believes is the case), but equally, he recognizes there’s little he can do about it. All he knows is that the love he feels towards Yoongi can only be described as that of soulmates, so he figures it’s best to work towards accepting his lack of dreaming.
He’s back at his own apartment for the night rather than staying at Yoongi’s—as much as he’d like to be with his boyfriend, he has a paper to write for class and knows he’d become to distracted and neglect it if he were at the older’s place.
He stays up relatively late to get the essay done, and completely crashes in bed once he finishes it, barely having the energy to turn off his desk lamp and crawl into bed before he’s out.
The next conscious thought he has is one of annoyance, scrunching up his face and lifting his head off the pillow as his brain registers that the obnoxiously loud banging noise is coming from the door to his apartment. Groaning at having to get out of bed, Jimin notes that the clock reads 3 am, and he quickens his pace to the door, wanting to end the relentless pounding before whoever it is gets them both in trouble with a noise complaint. Not bothering to throw on any like he normally would, Jimin is greeted with the cold winter air in his thin white tshirt and boxers.
But he’s not faced with the cold for too long, because as soon as he swings the door open, he’s engulfed in a hug, the door swinging shut behind him.
Still half asleep, it takes Jimin a moment to recognize the person in the puffy black coat as Yoongi.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Yoongi says, his face buried in Jimin’s neck.
“Wh—I…it’s on silent. Hyung, oh my god, are you crying? What happened?” he manages to push Yoongi away from his neck in order to look at him, cupping the older’s face to wipe away his tears.
Yoongi sniffles, bringing his own hand up to rub at his face, looking away from Jimin for a moment as he catches his breath and tries to compose himself. Jimin waits, trying to remain calm for his hyung’s sake, slipping the big coat off of him and tossing it on the couch so he can then better wrap an arm around his shoulders to comfort him.
“I…I had a nightmare, Jimin,” Yoongi says finally. He gives a quick nervous laugh, shaking his head and bringing the back of his hand across his face again. “I realize now it sounds stupid, but I had a dream and y-you were in it and—and you were in danger,” fresh tears start falling from Yoongi’s face, his words become more choked. “And I—I couldn’t get to you, and…and it felt so real, and then you weren’t answering your phone, and I panicked, and—”
Jimin immediately pulls Yoongi into his hold, a hand resting on his nape as the other buries his face into the crook of Jimin’s neck, giving up on trying to suppress his sobs. Jimin holds Yoongi tightly, keeps him as close as possible, and he softly speaks into his ear, trying to ignore the fact that his own voice is somewhat shaky.
“I’m okay, hyung, I’m right here…it was just a dream, yeah? Everything’s fine…”
It takes several minutes for Yoongi to calm down, and Jimin is able to coax him to come settle in the bed together. Yoongi rests his head on Jimin’s chest, and the two are quiet as Jimin continues stroking his fingers gently through Yoongi’s hair.
“I’m sorry,” Yoongi breaks the silence, his voice still thick sounding after crying. “For waking you up and freaking out in the middle of the night and all.”
Jimin scoots down to where he’s lying on his side, facing Yoongi and he kisses the older’s nose. “Don’t apologize, hyung. You were scared. It’s okay.”
Yoongi clears his throat, sitting up, and Jimin sits up too.
“It’s just,” he says, taking in a deep breath and looking down at his hands, “I—I hardly ever have nightmares. And I’ve never had one with you in it. It’s always warm and nice when you’re in my dreams, not…not like that. Never like that.”
Jimin’s hand trails up his back, finding perch on his nape. He’s not sure what to think of his chest growing tight and his heart starting to race. “What…do you think it means something?”
Yoongi shrugs, but then looks at Jimin, reaching out to brush a strand of hair out of his eyes. “No, baby, I don’t. I know how your mind works, this doesn’t mean whatever you think it does. It was just a bad dream.”
Jimin finds himself pouting, because damn, Yoongi knows him well. But Jimin can’t help finding it jarring, that just as he’s trying to convince himself he’s not broken, his soulmate has a nightmare about him for the first time.
Yoongi’s hand falls to his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Jimin-ah.”
Jimin realizes he was staring off, and when he meets his hyung’s eyes again, he gives a smile. He’s the one who should be comforting Yoongi, not the other way around, so he pushes his concerns to the back of his mind. Yoongi is probably right anyway—he is probably overthinking it all.
“I trust you, hyung. Just a bad dream.”
Yoongi gives a small smile in return before leaning over and placing a quick kiss to Jimin’s lips, and the two settle back into the bed to fall asleep in one another’s arms.
~
The problem is that it turns out not to be just one bad dream. They become frequent, a common, almost nightly, occurrence, and it leaves Yoongi in a raw, anxious state. Every nightmare involves Jimin in danger, and because of that, each one Yoongi sees in perfect detail and feels all too real. It only takes a couple before Jimin decides to sleep over at Yoongi’s every night, and he spends many late hours of the night waking up to a crying and trembling Yoongi, waking him up and comforting him, holding him and reminding him that they are safe and that it was just a dream.
Yoongi sits at his kitchen table, a mug of English breakfast tea in his hands. He had a nightmare in the early hours of the morning, and decided to just wake up rather than attempt falling asleep again—he’s supposed to open the shop in a couple hours anyway. After being comforted, he left Jimin in the bed so the boy could sleep more before his classes, but he looks up from his tea to see him crawling out of bed, feet padding as he walked over to the kitchen, a yellow blanket shrugged over his shoulders.
Jimin stops at the chair across the table and blinks at him with his pretty, doe-like eyes. Yoongi takes in the sight for a moment—his boyfriend, beautiful right in front of him, warm and perfectly safe—and he’s able to relax a little more. A smile twitches at the corner of his lips.
“Want some tea, love?” Yoongi offers, about to stand up when Jimin walks over to him.
“In a minute,” the boy mumbles, wrapping his arms (and partially the blanket) around Yoongi’s shoulders. He sleepily lays his head against Yoongi’s and lets out a sigh. The older wraps his arm around Jimin’s waist, bringing him onto his lap, and Jimin nuzzles his neck once he’s sitting on Yoongi’s thigh.
Managing to pull back enough to catch a glimpse of Jimin’s half asleep face, Yoongi rubs the younger’s back and says, “I think you should spend a few nights on your own at your place.”
Jimin lifts up his head to look at him. “Hyung, no.”
“You need sleep, baby, especially with your finals coming up,” Yoongi insists. “I can handle a few nights on my own.”
Jimin pouts, but Yoongi isn’t about to cave—he feels bad enough already that Jimin has spent as many nights as he has waking up and dealing with him. Yoongi wishes that he could just become used to the dreams, calm himself down on his own, but he can’t seem to. They’re completely jarring, and sometimes it really does take physically seeing that Jimin is okay to stop panicking. But he can’t allow Jimin to sacrifice sleep anymore, not when it could affect his grades.
He sighs, bringing a hand up to Jimin’s cheek, lightly thumbing at his pouty lip. “Would it make you feel better if I crashed at my friends’ place or something? So I’m not alone?”
Jimin bites his lip for a moment to consider, and then nods, perhaps seeing Yoongi’s resolve in the decision.
~
“Thanks for letting me crash here, Seok-ah,” Yoongi says as he tosses his dufflebag on the floor next to the couch. “I really hope I don’t end up disturbing you guys.”
“Don’t worry about it, hyung,” Hoseok says, setting pillows and a blanket on the end of the couch. “You’re welcome anytime. And Joon snores, so it’s not like I’m not used to getting woken up by loud noises,” he adds with a laugh.
Yoongi sniffs a laugh too. He became friends with Hoseok when he ended up being his best friend’s soulmate. One day, several years ago, Namjoon approached Yoongi with his phone in hand, frantically pulling up a video of a guy freestyle dancing.
“That’s him,” Joon had said. “That’s my soulmate.”
Luckily for Namjoon, it turned out that Hoseok, a dancer with an impressive YouTube following, had his Twitter dms open. All it took was a selfie and friendly greeting of “Hi, umm, I think I’m your soulmate?” and the rest was history. They lived on opposite sides of the world, but it only took a couple months of long distance before Hoseok moved to live with Namjoon, and Yoongi met him for the first time. Perhaps a bit nervous at first (and maybe a little jealous that Joon had found his soulmate already), Yoongi shouldn’t have been surprised that his best friend’s soulmate quickly turned into another best friend for him. He knows he can rely on the two for anything, and they have been there for him ever since the first confusing day he met Jimin.
“Yeah, well…I still hope I don’t wake you up. It’d be nice to get a full night’s sleep for once,” Yoongi says, rubbing the back of his neck as he sits down.
Hoseok sits down next to him, giving a sympathetic smile. The two hear a key in the front door, and turn to see Namjoon walking into the apartment.
“So Jimin still doesn’t have dreams? Even though you guys have been together awhile?” Hoseok asks after Namjoon has greeted and sat down with them, his arm resting around Hoseok’s waist.
“No. Why would that change?” Yoongi asks, noting the way his friend’s brow furrows with thought.
“Hyung, do you not know? Once you’re with your soulmate, you start sharing dreams,” Hoseok says.
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah,” Joon agrees, “Happened for us a couple months in, right around when Seok moved here. Makes for good conversations—it’s interesting to see how we each perceive the dream.”
“Oh.” Yoongi’s not sure how he didn’t know about this. Is it common knowledge that he somehow missed out on? Or maybe it’s not discussed as much, since so many people are more focused on the actual finding of the soulmate part—no one’s as concerned about what happens after that.
“You realize what this means though, hyung,” Joon says.
Yoongi scrunches his nose. “No?”
“Well, I think it confirms that Jimin does dream, but just doesn’t remember it. Because if he never had his own dreams, he’d just start having yours. But he still doesn’t, you know?”
Yoongi nods—the logic makes sense. He thinks about telling Jimin about this—clearly the younger didn’t know about this dream sharing either—and he wonders if it would bring any comfort to the boy. Hoseok speaks up before he can speak his thoughts.
“Joon-ah, you don’t think…these nightmares are Jimin’s?”
“Sorry, what?” Yoongi exclaims, turning to see Namjoon nod in agreement.
“It makes sense, hyung, think about it. You’ve said yourself, you never have nightmares,” Joon says, “They’re not characteristic of your own dreams, and you’re with your soulmate, who you should be sharing dreams with.”
“Maybe that’s why Jimin doesn’t remember them,” Hoseok adds. “If he’s always had them, maybe that’s how his brain like…copes with it all.”
Yoongi takes a minute to consider this. He thinks about the dreams, shrouded in darkness, with sudden, sharp screeches, growls of a threating, mysterious monster. They always feel damp and cold, eery to say the least. When he catches sight of Jimin, he can see the fear strewn on the boy’s face, as he looks around, darting, falling over himself as he tries to find the source of danger so he can get away, but it shifts, it changes, and he can never escape. Yoongi calls out to him but sometimes his voice doesn’t work, other times it seems like Jimin just can’t hear him. Yoongi never gets a good sight of what is plaguing Jimin—often it goes dark before he can reach the boy, sometimes he just hears loud crashes or screams, and that’s when he startles awake, if Jimin hasn’t woken him up first.
The dreams are terrible, and that’s coming from the perspective of an observer in them. If Joon and Hoseok are right, and these nightmares are Jimin’s, then the boy has experienced the brunt end of this darkness—it would be no wonder that his conscious mind would block them out.
Yoongi blinks, trying to process it all. “I need to talk to Jimin.”
~
It’s still the early hours of the night, so Yoongi doesn’t feel too guilty for texting Jimin, asking him to meet at the tea shop.
“I thought you said you could handle a few nights apart, hyung. Miss me that much already?” Jimin greets him with a teasing smile as the two meet each other at the shop’s front door.
Jimin places a kiss on Yoongi’s lips before the older turns to unlock the door so they could go sit inside.
“This shouldn’t take long, beautiful, you’ll still get plenty of sleep on your own,” Yoongi reassures, holding the door open for him.
Jimin settles down in one of the arm chairs, and maybe out of habit, Yoongi finds himself going behind the counter, searching for a nice chamomile tea to make them. As Yoongi makes their drinks, he tells Jimin about his conversation with Namjoon and Hoseok, explaining their theory about Jimin’s lack of dreams and these nightmares.
Jimin stays quiet as he listens, and as Yoongi talks, he notices the way the boy’s eyes become downcast, and how his lips form their natural pout.
“What do you think, baby?” Yoongi says once he’s done explaining, walking over to him and offering up a to-go cup of the tea. He sits in the arm chair next to him, setting his own cup on the table in front of them as he watches Jimin focus on the cup now in his hands, running his thumb over the lid.
“I—I dunno, hyung,” he says after a moment. “I mean…even if I started blocking them out, wouldn’t I remember any of them, or at least that I had them?”
Yoongi gives shrug. “Maybe you’ve blocked the memory too, I think that’s something that can happen, isn’t it?”
Jimin pouts, his eyes still on the cup. “I suppose so. Maybe I really do need to call my mom,” he gives a soft, somewhat defeated laugh.
Yoongi smiles too, reaching over and placing his hand on Jimin’s wrist, prompting the younger to look at him. “Should I have saved this for another time? I didn’t mean to upset you, baby.”
Jimin’s hand leaves the to-go cup to curl around and grab Yoongi’s, giving it a squeeze. “You didn’t, hyung. I’m just…thinking.”
Yoongi’s thumb ran softly over Jimin’s skin. “Yeah?”
The younger nods, his eyes now focused on their hands. “I mean, if this is true, hyung…it’s not good news, is it? I mean, it just means that I’m making you suffer my bad dreams while I don’t have to. I—I’m just hurting you after all.”
“Whoa, Jimin, hey,” Yoongi says, gently taking the cup and setting it on the table so he can take both of Jimin’s hands. He moves off the chair he was sitting in, getting on his knees in front of the younger, who’s hanging his head down and still avoiding eye contact. “I love you, baby. These are just dreams, they don’t hurt me. /You/ don’t hurt me, okay?”
He doesn’t say anything, and still doesn’t look at him, but Yoongi feels Jimin’s fingers shift in his hands, moving to grip the sides of his palms, perhaps to ground himself. Yoongi gives them a gentle squeeze to affirm that he’s here.
“Besides, I have an idea,” Yoongi says, and this is when Jimin finally looks up to meet his eyes. With confidence, he says, “You’re not alone in those dreams anymore. I’m going to save you in them.”
~
Yoongi begins reading up on lucid dreaming, working to learn how to control dreams, or have full control of himself within one. He wants to learn fast, and some sources say that it is possible to get the hang of it within a few weeks, a large factor being how much you truly believe in it working. And Yoongi believes in it. He has to.
He also insists that Jimin keep sleeping apart from him. For one, he doesn’t want to be woken up from the dream as he learns to will himself in it, and secondly, he realized that if Jimin wakes up, that’s likely when the dreams go black for him—he can no longer see the boy because he is no longer in the dream. And often his struggling in bed during the dream would wake up Jimin, prompting the younger to wake him up too.
“It’ll just be easiest if we sleep apart,” Yoongi tells him, and Jimin reluctantly agrees.
With this new-found purpose in the dreams, Yoongi finds that he is able to handle them on his own, rather than having to permanently stay at Namjoon and Hoseok’s. When he wakes up from his failed attempts, rather than panic over Jimin’s true safety (although he does still wake up rattled, rid with sweat and tears, heart racing and breathing heavy), as he catches his breath, he instead finds himself assessing what happened, whether or not he has become closer to his goal.
He soon realizes that his goal is two-fold. First, he needs to get to Jimin. In the dreams, he can only ever see the boy as he runs in fear, he has yet to be able to get his attention or be able to reach him. Once that happens, only then can he save Jimin. He’s not sure what that will entail, but he imagines it’ll be either helping Jimin escape this dark place, or fighting off the ominous figure that threatens him. He figures that part he can worry over more once he actually gets to the boy.
Yoongi becomes enveloped by the task. Perhaps the timing of Jimin’s finals was helpful, because he doesn’t feel quite as guilty for having little time to see the boy in real life, spending all his time outside of the shop taking short, erratic naps (another benefit of Jimin’s college life—he too is a frequent napper between studying and test taking), waking with a start and calming down, reading over some information or attempting meditations before falling asleep to try again. It feels odd to go from dreading to welcoming the nightmares, but he’s determined.
~
It’s dark, and at first there’s only the sound of water dripping into a puddle. Quiet, eerily quiet. Yoongi shivers. He looks around, but all he can see are brick walls of the alley he’s in, the stone floor filled with puddles, everything so dark it’s all just shades of black. He takes a few steps, their sound echoing through the space, the corridor that seems to have no end, coming no closer to its end as he continues walking.
He turns around to see if he’s covered any distance, but when he faces back the way he’s walking, there’s suddenly a wall in the way, nearly walking into it. It’s then that it hits him.
/Okay/ he thinks, /This is a dream. Focus, this is a dream/
He takes a deep breath, but when he hears a scream, his heart starts racing. /Jimin/. He turns the way he can based on the new wall, hurrying down a new corridor, running to try to find the boy. As he runs, he hears the low rumbling, growling that’s now all too familiar. It still sends shivers down Yoongi’s spine, but he repeats over and over in his head, /It’s a dream. I’m in control. It’s just a dream/
He comes to a skidding halt, leaning against the rain covered bricks when he spots the boy around a corner. Almost as if a dull spotlight is shining on him, he can see Jimin in perfect view. The boy looks haunted, terrified, head shifting back and forth, eyes darting around, searching the darkness.
“L-leave me alone!” the boy shouts at one point, his eyes glistening with tears. He trips on the stones, catching himself as he runs around the corner when growls respond to his shouts. Yoongi follows him.
As much as Yoongi wants to go to him right away, he’s learned now that patience seems to be key to lucid dreaming. He watches Jimin, taking in the details and telling himself that each one is a part of a dream, that it’s a creation of his mind. He keeps watching.
He knows how this dream goes now. Jimin trips again, actually falls this time. /It’s just a dream/
The boy tries to get up, breathing heavily, suppressing his cries. /It’s just a dream/
Yoongi sees the monster come out of the darkness. It’s huge, spindly, it’s black skin slick and dripping like everything in this world. Its face is near indiscernible, and as it’s rearing up over Jimin, it’s claws become visible, gleaming sharp and impossibly large. /It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream/
Jimin turns around, falling down again as he’s face to face with the monster.
In this past, this is where things would go dark. This is where Yoongi couldn’t take it anymore, when he or Jimin would wake up, but not now. Now this is when Yoongi tries to act, and every time he fails, he witnesses Jimin’s horrible fate. He’s witnessed it too many times now.
The monster raises its claws up, readying to attack the boy. /It’s just a dream, I’m in control, it’s just a dream—now/
“Jimin!” Yoongi runs forward, shouting.
In his failed attempts, Jimin can’t hear him, or his voice or feet don’t work. In his failed attempts, he’s paralyzed, forced to watch harm come to Jimin, or wake up if he’s lucky. But this time, his feet move. Jimin turns his head, and the monster hesitates in confusion at this new person.
Yoongi reaches Jimin. /This is it. Oh my god, this is it. I’m in control. It’s just a dream, I’m in control/
Adrenaline kicking in, Yoongi wastes no time in tucking his arms under Jimin’s shoulders, pulling the boy to his feet. “Run! Come on, Jimin, run!”
Despite the boy’s startled, somewhat dazed, expression, he listens to Yoongi, who’s pulling him by the hand, and they run down the endless alleyway.
The monster lets out a bloodcurdling screech, and its footsteps pound against the stones as it chases after them.
They bound around a corner, allowing them to stop and catch their breath for a moment, even if it will be short-lived before the monster finds them. Yoongi keeps looking around, waiting for it to appear, but after a second, he realizes that Jimin is staring at him wide-eyed. He meets the boy’s eyes as Jimin reaches out, fingers lightly touching his cheek.
“Y-yoongi?” he says through heavy breaths.
Yoongi takes his hand, pressing it more confidently to his cheek and leaning into the touch, all the while still keeping a keen eye out for the monster. “I’m here, Minnie. This is a dream, I’m going to keep you safe.”
“W-what? I—I don’t underst—”
The boy is interrupted by another screech from the monster, the two turning to see it at the end of the corridor, and they begin to run again. They keep running, Jimin sometimes stumbling and falling, Yoongi having to help him up, pulling him around corners, down alleyways that never seem to end.
“We can’t outrun it, hyung, we—we can’t escape it,” Jimin says.
Yoongi stops running, Jimin nearly bumping into him. “You’re right.”
/It’s just a dream. I’m in control/ He looks at the boy. “We can’t keep running.”
Jimin stares at him wide-eyed, but then, the monster appears right around the corner. Yoongi pushes Jimin behind him, shielding the boy as the monster slows in its approach, rearing up and showing its claws.
“Yoongi, no—”
“It’s not real,” Yoongi says, perhaps to Jimin, or maybe more to himself as his heart is racing and he’s trying to convince himself not to be terrified. “None of this is real.”
He looks at the monster, raising its claws, preparing to strike. Suddenly Yoongi feels powerful, suddenly, finally after saying it so many times, he feels in control.
“You’re not real!” Yoongi shouts. He steps forward, confronting the monster, and despite it being twice his size, he puts his hand to its center, pushes it away from himself and Jimin.
A sudden, violent gust of wind, and a blinding white light flash when he touches it, and Yoongi closes his eyes. All he can hear and feel for a long moment is the wind blowing at his face, and then as suddenly has it begun, it stops. And everything is quiet.
But it’s not cold anymore. It’s warm. Yoongi opens his eyes.
He’s in a field. The grasses are short, barely coming to his ankle, and there are dozens of various colored wildflowers scattered throughout. The sky is blue with thin, whispy clouds, and there’s a soft breeze.
He smiles, but then remembers. /Jimin/.
He turns around and finds the boy crouching, his face hidden, tucked into his knees that he hugs to his chest. Yoongi crouches down. “Jimin.”
He gently places his hand on the boy’s shoulder as the boy lifts his head up, looking around before finally staring back at Yoongi. The two hear a rustling, then a quiet whine, and Yoongi turns around, sitting down in the grass next to Jimin as their eyes fall on the source of the noise.
A few yards away from them, there’s a dog. It’s tall and lanky, its fur black and wiry, but it’s not intimidating. It looks at the two for a long moment, letting out another soft whine before lowering its head, turning and trotting away, down the hill of the field.
Still breathing heavy, Yoongi looks at Jimin, putting his arm around the boy. “See? You’re safe, Jimin.”
Jimin’s gaze shifts between where the dog ran off and back to Yoongi a couple times before he breathes a sigh of relief, a smile forming at his lips, and he leans his head against Yoongi’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful here, hyung…”
Jimin’s voice becomes distant, and the field slowly becomes blurry, fading to black…
Yoongi blinks, squinting his eyes at the ceiling. The large window of his studio apartment is open, letting in the last of the sun’s setting light. That’s right, he remembers now. He took a nap right when he got home from work. So this means—
“I did it,” he says in disbelief to the empty room. He feels himself smiling while catching his breath, lets out a laugh as he throws his arms up in triumph. “I fucking did it!” he shouts.
And then he nearly falls off the bed when his phone rings, basically giving him a heart attack. He registers that the screen reads Jimin as he swipes to answer the call.
“Yoongi,” Jimin’s voice sounds strained, like he’s crying, but something about his tone tells the older that he’s not hurt or in trouble. He hears the boy let out a shaky breath and sniffle before whispering, “You did it.”
A weird combination of tears and a smile form over Yoongi’s face, and he finds himself covering his mouth, tears falling as his smile only grows wider. “I-I did.”
“Come here,” Jimin says. “Come here, please.”
The last time Yoongi rushed to Jimin’s apartment, it was in fear because of the dreams. Now, when he reaches his place, it was in joy of one. The two don’t speak any words at first, but rather just rush into one another’s arms, holding each other, laughing and crying and smiling in relief.
“I could see you,” Jimin says finally, his lips brushing against Yoongi’s ear. “I could see you as clearly as I see you now.” He hugs Yoongi tighter. “My soulmate.”
~
Jimin’s head rests on Yoongi’s lap, the older’s fingers threading through his hair. He watches the waves of a beach, sees blurs of children splashing and playing in the shallows, their parents staying close by to make sure they don’t go out too far. Jimin squints, the sun bright, and it seems like his eyes are having trouble focusing. He sighs and turns from lying on his side onto his back, and when Yoongi smiles down at him, his eyes focus again. He sees his boyfriend flash a gummy smile at him, and he giggles as he closes his eyes.
When he turns onto his side again, he doesn’t feel the sand of the beach, but rather a soft fabric. He takes in a deep breath and opens his eyes again. He’s in Yoongi’s apartment, and he notes the bare back of his soulmate, lying in bed next to him. He reaches out, trailing his fingers over Yoongi’s skin, watching goosebumps form. He smiles when Yoongi turns around, sleepily blinking at him before a smile creeps on his face too.
“Were we at the beach?” Jimin asks.
Yoongi gives a soft laugh, reaching out and stroking the younger’s hair. “In a dream, sweetheart.”
Jimin sighs contentedly. “Right. Still getting used to those.”
Yoongi pulls the younger into his hold, pressing kisses into Jimin’s bare shoulder. “You like them, though?”
“Very much.”