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It's raining outside the classroom. The sound of the raindrops hitting the windows make the teacher's voice almost inaudible for Yoongi who's sitting on the last row of chairs at the end of the classroom. It's the last period so everyone is already impatient accounting the minutes left for the class to finish.
The teacher knows nobody is paying attention at this point, so he ends the class 5 minutes before the marked hour.
Everybody hurries to grab their things and leave the room. Yoongi takes his own things and leaves the classroom, walking to the opposite side of the school's front door.
The place is already empty, everybody is gone, everybody except for one pink haired tiny boy who is still on his chair. He walks into the room and stands in front of aside the boy's desk. He can see people though the classroom's windows, exciting the school grabbing their colorful umbrellas so they won't get wet.
Then, after admiring the scene of all those different patterns and colors he sits down on the chair next to pink haired boy. Then he rests his head on his crossed arms over the seat's palette.
He's looking at the person in front of him, his childhood friend, Park Jimin. Yoongi could guess that Jimin had felt asleep a while ago, probably almost right after the last class started, because Jimin's last period on friday was math, and Jimin hated math.
His eyes were closed, and his lips slightly separated. He looked so ethereal, submerged in such a deep peace, Yoongi wondered what he could be seeing on his dreams, and suddenly Jimin's pinky finger caught the older's attention.
He sees Jimin's red string and it's like time stops, and then it comes back to when both of them were little children.
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There is this story every kid is been told by their parents when they're old enough to realize the red string tied to their pinky fingers and wonder why is it there and why they can't untie it or cut it off. In Yoongi's case it happened when he was 7 years old.
Yoongi was sitting under a big tree on the backyard with Jimin. The younger resting his head on Yoongi's shoulder, silent, his eyes closed, when Yoongi's sudden question made him open his eyes and look at his hyung.
-Have you ever wondered why do we have this red string in our fingers Jimin-ah?
-Hmm?
-Yesterday I tried to untie it, I even tried to cut it but it wouldn't work
-Why would you do that?
- I... I dunno, it just doesn't feel completely right
Later that day Yoongi asked his mother about it.
-Yoongi-ah, when you first come to this word, you're a lonely soul, A lonely body, the half part of an entire soul, of an entire body. Some months after you are born, this red string appears on your pinky finger, but it is not just tied to you, you can only see a part of it, but this string is a lot more longer than you can see... The other extreme it's tied to someone else's pinky, that person is your soulmate, the person that's meant to be for you, the person the destiny has chosen for you. Maybe that person is living here in the same country, or maybe he is on the opposite side of the world, but when you meet them Yoongi, you will feel it. When you know your soul mate you will realize, you are going to know just by looking into their eyes. And There, at the end of the string is where you happiness waits.
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Yoongi sighs at the memory and then he whispers for himself.
"But what if my happiness is already here"
The next moment he sees jimin's eyes opening.
-Hyung?
Yoongi smiles at Jimin, as they both rise their heads up. Jimin yawns and Yoongi thinks he's the cutest thing he's ever seen.
-You felt asleep, I didn't want to wake you up
-Why did you wait for me though? It's kinda late
-Well... it was raining and I...
-You didn't bring an umbrella...
Yoongi looks at him, but he's not surprised, they have known each other since forever, and Jimin knows how forgetful Yoongi can be.
- Well the rain seems to had stopped anyways, so, shall we?
Yoongi's gaze goes through the window to the exterior, Jimin is right, the rain has stopped, he was so lost on his own thoughts that he didn't notice that fact.
They grab their things and leave the classroom.
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While they walk home, Yoongi is looking down straight to the floor. He can see mis own black school shoes, and every now and then he also catches his reflection in the puddles.
In a normal day him and Jimin would be talking about a lot of things, maybe about how boring the last period always is, or how Mrs. Lee decided to change her hair color and she looks funny as fuck, they could also talk about how nice the weather is after the rain. But today they're not doing any of that, they're just walking, with a weird silence growing between them, waiting for the moment it burst, and, it takes more than Yoongi actually expected.
-Hyung, what's with you today? Did something happened?
Yoongi lifts his head and watches Jimin, he has a straight face, he looks concerned. Yoongi sights and shakes his head on a useless try to throw his thoughts away.
-No Minie, I'm fine, I'm just... tired
Jimin looks at him, suspiciously, and Yoongi smiles. Jimin smiles back and Yoongi thinks he won, Jimin bought it.
They keep walking, Yoongi's head still down, he finds another puddle and then his reflection is erased by a violent movement from Jimin, who jumps into the water making it splash.
Yoongi's face is wet now, and he can hear Jimin's sweet laugh not so far from where he is standing, eyes still closed.
-Hyung? Are you mad? I'm sorry, really
But he doesn't mean it, Yoongi can tell by the way he tries to hold his laughter while speaking but fails every time.
Then Yoongi opens his eyes and waits for Jimin to her closer to him.
-Hyung, c'mon you can't just stay here forever
When Jimin is close enough the older lifts his face and gives Jimin an evil smirk. The pink haired boy realizes what he's got into and starts running at top speed.
-I'm gonna kill you Park Jiminie!!!
Yoongi follows Jimin for a while and they end up in front of Jimin's house. They open the small backyard's door and throw themselves under the shadow of the big tree.
Jimin looks at Yoongi and smiles proudly. Something that Yoongi has noticed before is that Jimin smiles a lot, he smiles 99% of the time and with the 99% of the people, but, for some reason, even if he gets to see Jimin smile a hundred times per day, he will always feel the same sweet pain on his chest.
-Why are you smiling like that? You brat
-You said you were okay but I knew you weren't, you seemed down and I made you laugh all the way home
Yoongi hits Jimin's shoulder and then drags him into his arms, hugging him tightly.
-Thank you Jiminssi
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Yoongi is laying on his bed, looking to the ceiling, his mind has gone wild by now, thinking in a thousand ways to change his situation, but he ends up thinking about Jimin's hands, and eyes, and lips, and smile; every goddamn time.
He sits straight on the edge of the bed, his elbows are resting on his knees and his head is bend down, hands covering his face.
Yoongi's phone buzzes and comes out from Yoongi's jacket pocket, falling into the ground and ending under the bed.
Yoongi squats and moves his hand under the bed to get his phone, but he touches something bigger, it feels like a box, a wooden box...
His eyes open wide to the realization of what it is and he hurries to get it out of there, completely forgetting about his phone.
He puts the box on the bed and looks at it for a few minutes, wondering if it's okay to open it now that he is so confused, now that the only thing he wants to do is disappear so he doesn't have to think anymore. He eventually comes go the conclusion that maybe the answer is inside that box, and he opens it eagerly.
Inside the box Yoongi can see some sheets of paper, and he instantly knows what those are. He gets them out and analyses them one by one. He looks at the drawings between his hands. Jimin had given those for him when he was 5 or something. He smiles at the sight of him and Jimin standing one in fron of the other, Jimin had drawn Yoongi wearing a red cape and a blade on his hand, standing in front of Jimin with his arms widely open, and Jimin waiting behind him with a big smile. On the corner of the sheet you could read "Hyung always protects me" and "Hyung is my favorite hero" with a 5 year's old cute handwriting.
Then he takes out a white envelope, he opens it and there are a bunch of pictures of him and Jimin. Both of them as babies, being hugged by their mothers, Yoongi walking with Jimin on the younger's first day of kindergarten, both of them sleeping next to the Christmas tree waiting for Santa Claus, and a special one...
Yoongi looks separates this picture and puts the rest down. On the pic he sees his 8 years old self. He looks at it carefully, watching every single detail on it. He can't believe he had forgotten this day... but now, looking at this old picture he remembers. In the picture Yoongi is holding Jimin's small hand, his own knees are scraped but he looks just fine, on the other hand, Jimin is crying, trying to wipe away his tears with his free hand.
---------------------------------------------------
Yoongi and Jimin had played all morning and they were still bored. They played hide and seek, they pretended to be pirates, they pretended to be piloce officers, they played video games and it seemed like there was nothing else to do until Yoongi had a great idea.
-An adventure huh? I don't know Yoongi-ah... it can be dangerous if you're alone
Yoongi's mom looked at him with a worried face.
-I promise we'll be careful
His mom is about to talk again when Jimin's mom appears behind her and speaks.
-Let them go, I'm sure Yoongi will be a good hyung and will take care of Jimin... right Yoongissi?
Yoongi's mom hesitates for a minute but then she gives up and smiles.
-Okay, okay, but be back for dinner
Yoongi and Jimin packed indispensable explorer stuff on their backpacks and began their journey into the mountains.
They walked for some minutes until they found a big willow tree next to a small creek where they sat down to eat cookies together.
-This place is nice, isn't it Minnie?
Jimin looked at Yoongi with his mouth full of cookies and nodded. Yoongi giggled. He had always thought that Jimin was really cute.
Yoongi looks up and he comes up with another excellent idea.
He opens his backpack and takes out some hemp cord.
-Jimin, let's build a mobile!
Jimin and Yoongi separate to search for beautiful thinks they can attach to their mobile.
Yoongi ties the hemp cord to a couple of small branches, and they fill these with more hanging cords, accompanied with leaves, feathers and flowers. It looks beautiful, but as Yoongi and Jimin look at each other they agree that there's something missing. Then, the sunlight caresses the small creek's water and the shining reflection hits Yoongi's face. He smiles and takes off his shoes.
-Hyung? What are you doing?
-I'm going into the water
Yoongi says as he rolls his pants up and puts his feet inside the water.
He starts walking through the water, perking for something, he doesn't exactly know what, but it's gotta be special.
Then something catches his attention. A beautiful white heart-shaped rock. Yoongi smiles and takes it out of the water. Yoongi comes out of the water too and ties the thin and sharp rock to the mobile, right in the center of it.
-It's perfect
Jimin is smiling widely and Yoongi loves it.
-Do you want to hang it to the tree Jiminie?
-Really?
Yoongi hands the mobile to the small kid next to him and squats making a gesture with his head for Jimin to go up his shoulders. Jimin does so and hangs the mobile in the nearest branch he can reach.
Then a feather touches the tip of his nose and makes him sneeze. Both of them loose their equilibrium and Yoongi collides abruptly against the ground with Jimin in top of him. He hurries himself to check on Jimin.
-Jiminie, are you Okay? Are you hurt?
He looks at the younger and he doesn't look hurt so he sighs in relief.
-Hyung you're bleeding!
Jimin points to Yoongi's legs and he can see his knees bleeding. It burns but Yoongi can bare it.
Yoongi looks back at Jimin and the second starts to cry.
-No, no, Minie, don't cry please, hyung is okay
-H-hyung i-is h-hurt
Jimin keeps sobbing and Yoongi starts panicking, he hates watching Jimin cry.
-It's okay Jimin, don't cry
Yoongi holds Jimin's hand and kisses his forehead.
-Look how beautiful out mobile turned out to be
In that moment Jimin and Yoongi look up and the white rock seems to shine.
Yoongi grabs both of their backpacks with one hand, and intertwines the other hand's fingers with Jimin's.
-Let's go home
When they arrived home Yoongi's mother ran to them and asked Jimin why he was crying.
-Jimin-ah why are you crying? Did you get hurt?
-No mom, it was me who got hurt, Jimin is fine, he's just... worried
Yoongi's mom gestures Jimin's mom to bring the camera.
-Oh... It's okay Jimin, Yoongi is going to be fine
She smiles and soon after the sound of a camera reaches yoongis ears.
-Thanks for bringing him safe Yoongi-ah, you're a good hyung
-------------------------------------------
Yoongi smiles at the memory and wonders about that old mobile... it's been so long... its been 10 years, so he's pretty sure the mobile is far gone, the sunlight and rain had surely destroyed, but even after that, he was so curious, he wanted to come back there... maybe it's not a terrible idea...
Jiminssi, let's go on an adventure tomorrow, I'll pick you up at 10 am
Sent 5:32 pm
An adventure? Okay Hyung! See you tomorrow ~
Received 5:35 pm
Yoongi spent the entire afternoon thinking of it, and the entire night remembering his childhood, digging up old memories from a wooden small box.
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Yoongi wakes up to the sensation of a slight warmth on his cheek. His eyes open slowly, trying to get used to the sunlight sneaking through his window.
He looks around, still sleepy, just to find out that last night he spent so much time remembering and in some point his body gave up.
The silver haired boy is still wearing his clothes from yesterday. The bed is still made. His phone next to where he is laying and all the secrets from the wooden box are all over the floor.
Yoongi reaches out for his phone and checks the hour, 9:30 am. He closes his eyes tightly and groans in laziness but manages to get out of the bed, take a shower and pack snacks in a backpack, everything in only 20 minutes.
Yoongi sees his mother standing in front of the stove at the kitchen, her hands holding a white porcelain cup. He enters the room and gives his mom a kiss on the cheek.
-Good morning mom
The woman looks at Yoongi in a lovable way, and smiles kindly.
-Good morning sweetie
Yoongi's mom turns off the stove and takes the teapot to the kitchen table as she asks him if they will have breakfast together.
-I'm sorry mom I will go out with Jimin
She looks at him and Yoongi feels as if she knew all that he's been thinking last night.
-Oh, and what are you planning to do?
She intertwines her fingers, expecting Yoongi to give her an answer that maybe she already knows.
-We are going to the mountain
-Why?
She keeps trying to make Yoongi confess and he wrongly thinks he can just fool her, or not telling her the entire truth.
-I just found some pictures and felt kinda nostalgic
He smiles unconsciously but in brief his eyes are locked to the floor and his smile seems a little sad.
-Hmmm... you look conflicted baby, Why?
Yoongi's mom takes her son's face into her hands and lifts it, making him look at her directly in the eye.
-I... it's nothing... I'm just confused...
-Is it because you're in love with Jimin-ah?
Yoongi's eyes are wide open, his jaw dropping and it all feels just awkward now.
-How...
-God Yoongi, I'm your mother, you can't hide it from me, I can see the way you look at him, how caring you are with him, how happy you are when you two are together
She is smiling like she is mocking him, but it also is like something else... He looks into her eyes and he can see it... yes, pride.
-Look Yoongi-ah, I know what I told you when you were a kid, I know what everybody says and what the rules are... but the way you smile when you look at Jimin it's worth more than that stupid string tied to your finger
Yoongi knows, but he can't fool himself, the red string is something unbreakable, something unchangeable, he gets what his mom is trying to say, at the end she only wants him to be happy, but even when she's said all of that, deep down she knows, just as good as Yoongi, that they can't be together.
Yoongi smiles, being endlessly thankful to his mom who know him so well, who accepts him just like he is, who encourages him to reach out his dreams even when she knows they are impossible, who always gives him hope.
Yoongi hugs her and right after that he leaves the house. His mind full of destructive thoughts, negative shit that he couldn't get rid of.
As he walks by the quiet streets on his way to Jimin's house he considers all the options, all the possible ways and results to the situation he feel like he's drowning into. Even after everything his mom said, he can't pinpoint the exact reason why, but he keeps repeating one thing in his mind...
"It's a curse"
Every time he thinks of a way to tell Jimin what he feels, the result is always the same, even if the younger feels the same (which isn't really probable), they are already condemned. Yoongi never thought of love as a curse. Before his own dad passed away he used to look into his eyes while the older Min looked at his wife, and Yoongi himself could feel all the love overflowing his chest. Yoongi always dreamed about that, finding his soulmate, finding the person on the other side of the string, and falling in love with that person.
He had found his solmate, and felt in love with him, but that person wasn't the one that fate had chosen for him, and to be honest, it sucked. It was an entire curse, a tragedy, an unfair thing. Why couldn't he be happy with the person he loved the most? Why, if the connection to the other person with a red string was meant to be, was it wrong? Was it some kind of karma for something that Yoongi had done before? Falling in love with Park Jimin was the most beautiful, yet, most painful thing he had ever done.
Before he knows it, he is in front of Jimin's house, knocking at the door. Then, Jimin shows up as if he's been waiting, sitting on the floor, behind the door.
-Morning hyung!
Yoongi finally lifts his head up and looks at Jimin, bright as always, happy, enthusiastic, just like he was shining.
-Hi, Jimin, are you ready?
Jimin looks at Jimin a little bit confused, it's been ages since Yoongi called him just Jimin.
The younger shouts to the inside of the house that he's leaving and then closes the door behind him. They walk in silence at least until they're in the middle of the trip.
-So... why did you decided to come here hyung?
Yoongi turns back to Jimin who is walking slower than him.
-I wanted to figure out something...
Jimin looks intrigued and when he runs to catch Yoongi's steeps the older than hear his heavy breathing.
-Jimin, are you okay? We can stop if you want...
They both stop for a second. Jimin looks at Yoongi like he's collecting courage to ask for something, and then he spits it out.
-Hyung... could you... give me a piggyback ride?
Yoongi's face starts to feel warmer than before and his cheeks start getting reddish. Jimin loos at him and smiles to the sight of Yoongi being shy and then uses his secret weapon. He puts that puppy face in which his eyes become a little bit bigger and his lips are pouting.
The moment Yoongi sees Jimin's face he knows he lost, he squats and waits for Jimin to get on his back. Jimin rests his head on Yoongi's shoulder, gives him a kiss on the cheek and whispers on Yoong's ear "Thank you hyung".
_________________________________________________
They climb for not so long until they arrive to the place. It hasn't really changed. The small rivulet has gotten a little bit bigger, and the willow tree just a little bit taller.
Jimin is back in the floor when he watches the scene, and he can't help but think how much they've grown. He takes Yoongi's hand and runs under the tree, passing a long and dense curtain the leaves of the tree create. Once inside Yoongi starts looking for the mobile, and it feels just like magic when he finally finds it, being caresed by a small ray of sunshine. The rain and wind through the years must had removed all the leaves and flowers, but not the heart shaped rock, it was just as thing, sharpened and white as always, it was just ethereal, and his chest starts beating fast.
-Look Jiminssi! Do you remember it?
Jimin looks at it and smiles in a nostalgic way.
-Of course, how could I forget... We should take it down and bring it back with us!
Yoongi looks at Jimin and just like 10 years ago he lifts his dongsaeng on his shoulders to reach for the mobile.
-You got it?
-Yeah...
In that moment a bee crosses in front of Jimin's face and when he tries to scare it away both of them loose the equilibrium. Just like when they where 8 and 6 years old, Yoongi's knees are scratched (it was a bad idea to wear his ripped jeans for a trip in the mountain) and Jimin lies on top of him.
-Hyung! I'm sorry! Are you okay?
-Yeah, don't worry Jimin-ah
-Hyung! your knees are bleeding...
Yoongi looks at them and he giggles at the sudden realization of the déjà vu they just experimented.
But this time Jimin isn't crying, no, this time is different. Right now, Jimin is facing Yoongi, tacking some bandages of of his backpack, and Yoongi thiks he's lucky that Jimin is so caring, and that e's always prepared for this kind of things, he would never come to the mountains with some ripped jeans or go to school on a cloudy day without an umbrella, he was the very opposite of what Yoongi was, and that was exactly what Yoongi needed.
Jimin starts cleaning Yoongi's scratched knees and then he puts the bandages carefully on the damaged areas.
Yoongi looks at him and their eyes meet.
"He is so beautiful"
-There you are hyung
"If I could just..."
-It's not that bad so you'll be fine
"Make him mine for just a second..."
-Can you walk prop...
Yoongi takes Jimin's jaw with his hand and brings him closer until their lips meet.
Jimin's lips are so smooth, so fleshy, and they taste like peach.
Yoongi feels like floating, as if he could stay like this forever.
"My lovely Jiminie..."
And then reality hits him just like a truck.
"Oh... right. He's not mine"
Yoongi pushes Jimin away abruptly and Jimin looks more than confused.
-I-I'm sorry Jimin, I do- I don't know why I did that
-Hyung...
Yoongi's eyes are filled up with tears and his chest starts aching, it is burning up inside, like his hear it's about to explode.
-I'm sorry, this was a mistake
Yoongi looks at Jimin and stands up, he can't stand it. The look on Jimin's eyes... he's not just confused, he looks... hurt? Yoongi starts running down the hill at top speed, branches colliding against his forearms which are covering his face. He stops for a minute, his hands resting on his aching knees, trying to catch his breath, trying to slow his mind down, trying to think of what he has done, of ho he has fucked up everything he had built until now.
After a few minutes his body straightens. He is about to start running again when he feels Jimin's grip on his own wrist and the thin red string tied to his pinky is pulled and put back at it place in matter of seconds.
Yoongi's eyes open widely in amazement. He turns to see Jimin who looks exhausted, tears running through his cheeks, and despite of this, he looks down at their hands and smiles. Yoongi inverts the position of their hands and now it's him who is tightly holding onto Jimin's wrist. He looks at Jimin, suddenly worried, and sad. He is so afraid to find out what Jimin has done, and yet, he lifts Jimins hand to find the pink haired boy's string cut, his own string in the same state and the white sharped rock wrapped on Jimin's hand.
-What have you done...
Jimin lets go of Yoongi's hand and starts tying bot of the incomplete red strings together.
Once he's done he lift his hand again, looks at Yoongi and smiles.
-It is not a mistake
Yoongi's cheeks start feeling wet, and in an instant he finds himself lifting his own hand too, crying and smiling.
Jimin puts his hands on Jimini's neck and kisses him slowly, like time wasn't running, like life isn't ending, like it was just the two of them, eternally, holding onto each other.
___________________________
They say red strings are unbreakable, that there's nothing as perfect and irrefutable as fate, that those things are meant to be for a reason, there is no mistake, and no way to change it.
Until one day, under the shade of a leafy willow, when two kids played innocently, a promise was made and wrought in the form of a heart shaped rock. A new road was built, to the purest feeling of those who find happiness on each other.
They say red strings are unbreakable.
They say that there's nothing that compares to fate.
But they forgot that there's something that's even more perfect than fate, something more powerful, something more noble and meaningful than that...
Love.