Work Text:
1
“Mr. Min!” Jungkook yells, nearly tackling his exhausted frame. It feels like ages since he’s seen his Yoongi-hyung. Even though he’s beaten and battered blue, he still feels the adrenaline pumping hotly through his veins.
Min Yoongi was the one who introduced him to this team. To this family. This family he would never trade for anything in the universe.
But he halts before he has a chance to jump on him, taking a moment to examine the damage done to the older boy. The unfixable wounds. He shakes when he sees his mentor so lifeless, gauntlet still fused to his arm like a sick joke. “Mr. Min…”
Yoongi lolls his head to the side, resting his head on his battered suit. The younger falls to his knees and envelops him in a hug, careful of his state. It feels like he’ll crumble even with the lightest of touches. Jungkook tries to remember all their times together; tries to hold for as long as he can. “Mr. Min, you did it. You saved us all—please, don’t leave now. You defeated him.”
The brunette’s tears fall down unstoppably. He sniffles too, trying not to ruin the moment by dripping snot all over Yoongi’s shoulder plate. His precious teacher can only manage a weak grumble, eyes blinking slowly. “Hyung… c’mon. We did it. It’s over.”
“Hyung,” Jungkook tries again, desperately searching his face for any response. The desperation seeps in his voice without him even realising it. “Hyung,” He chokes out.
He’s pulled away gently by Hoseok, who’s all careful touches and soft words despite the soreness and pain of the whole ordeal. His own suit of armor is dented and worn, but it doesn’t have even half of the damage of Yoongi’s body.
The ravenette cautiously leans down, thumbing at the dried blood on his lover’s face. “Hey babe.” The older boy peers up to his personal angel. He’s got the brightest eyes in the whole universe. Every time he looks into his eyes he’s reminded of why he fell so hard in the first place.
“I, Min Yoongi, take Jung Hoseok to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.”
Hoseok cries softly into his sleeve, unable to withhold the smile creeping up his face. He quietly mouths “I love you too” to him.
Hoseok kisses down Yoongi’s face, taking care to carefully ghost his lips over his bruises and burns; over his cuts and over the blood, not repulsed even by the nastiest patches of filth all over his body.
“You did well.” He smiles, the dimples Yoongi likes so much popping out in the corners of his mouth. He hates that it seems too much like a goodbye; like he’ll never get to his husband ever again. Like he’ll be gone for good this time. And maybe, it’ll be like that. It doesn’t hurt as much as he thought to hope. To take a risk and jump in the deep end.
Fires rage behind them, and their base is destroyed, but Yoongi can only focus on the sight in front of him. He’ll rebuild it later. Maybe.
Yoongi bites his lip, looking at the diagram of the mobius strip behind him. He’s actually done it. Done the impossible and found a solution to the stupid time travel thing Taehyung had proposed. He taps his fingers on the table, carefully watching the hologram. Some dark and ugly part of him wants to keep it to himself; stay in this reality he’s achieved. A reality where Min Hana exists, and he’s happy with Hoseok. One where his physical family is okay.
But the largest part of him—the good one—the Avengers one, wants to talk to Namjoon.
“Hi daddy.”
“Shit!” He startles, quickly turning around to face his sneaky little daughter. He has a feeling she’ll grow up like him. Hoseok always said that he’s a good person, but he’s not entirely convinced.
His daughter giggles on the stairsteps, her unicorn onesie’s hood pulled up over head. “Shit,” she repeats, imitating him.
Yoongi glances back over his shoulder, and quickly licks his lips. He lowers his voice and scolds her lightly. “Min Hana, don’t say that.”
Hana sticks her tongue out at him teasingly. “Shit, shit, shit, shit—”
“Okay, okay sweetie. Don’t say that around Papa or he’ll murder me.” He laughs, pulling her arms up and hoisting her around his torso with a huff. He’s getting old. She cuddles him with her tiny 5-year-old arms, long black hair swishing out her hood. Min Hana is his little devil.
“What’re you doing daddy?”
He presses a kiss to her forehead, arranging her messy bangs. “What’re you doing, baby? Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”
She pouts cutely at him, snuggling her head against his chest. Yoongi feels a warmth bloom in his chest, making his heart swell to a size he never thought he’d reach. “Don’t wanna.”
“Don’t wanna? Since when did I ask if you wanna?” He laughs, adjusting her position as he scrolls through the data on the hologram. He really did find a way. “Let’s go to sleep, okay baby?”
“Okay,” She giggles, pulling on tufts of Yoongi’s black hair just to watch the silly faces he makes. Yoongi arches back dramatically in pain, putting on a fake scowl just for her. “I love you 3000, daddy.”
The elder blinks away his tears, shakily trying to lift his hand up to touch Hoseok’s beautiful skin again. His armor is so heavy and constricting on his limp frame, but he tries his best anyways.
“Stop teaching her swear words, Yoongi.” Hoseok tries to act indifferent, but there’s a smile on his face as he says it. He closes his book and watches his husband from the couch, interest piqued.
Yoongi huffs and plops down beside him, immediately reaching out to entangle their fingers. Even though he doesn’t say it, the elder is secretly a softie for PDA. “Not to brag, but Hana said she loves me 3000. That’s like, I don’t know, triple the amount she loves you.”
The younger rolls his eyes and leans his head against his lover’s shoulder. “Oh yeah?” He squeezes their hands together, watching the way they fit so perfectly. Watching the way their matching metal bands glint under the light of the fireplace.
“I love you 3000, Yoongi.”
Drops of salt catch on his eyelashes. The elder said to himself he wouldn’t cry, but he can’t help it. It’s hard to be strong sometimes. But he doesn’t regret choosing this ending—1 in 1,000,000,000 or however small of a chance they had. Seokjin better be proud of him.
“You’re gonna tell them right?” Hoseok asks, because he somehow always knows everything. He’s some sort of omnipresent god in Yoongi’s universe.
He shifts on the couch, leaning his head against Hoseok’s. “I kinda of don’t want to.”
“But you still will.”
“I still will. Sadly.”
The younger boy chuckles, giving Yoongi a chaste kiss on his temple. “Stop acting like you don’t care, Yoongi. Because I know you do, and eventually, they will too. Don’t worry about me and Hana, you baby.”
His husband grumbles in his arms, shutting his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. “Your baby.”
“My baby.” Hoseok smiles.
Yoongi’s eyes are bloodshot and cloudy, but Hoseok can still feel all the love and warmth in them. He’ll always feel and know it somehow, like how he knows for sure that the stars still hang up in the sky, and that the universe expands.
They kiss for what seems like an eternity. Hoseok laughs at his perpetually chapped lips, holding his hand against his face as close as possible.
This is it.
“I love you 3000, baby.” Yoongi sighs. His husband tangles their fingers together and squeezes. He rasps out his last words, hoping to at least say that before turning into dust or whatever happens to him now. Maybe he’ll see that fucker Thanos again in some astral plane and kick his ass again. “I love you 3000, Min Hoseok.”
His arc reactor flickers off so quietly, blue light fading away. The comforting sound of his heartbeat stops the same time his hand falls, leaving nothing but a smudge of dirt on the younger’s face. Jungkook stops another sob—tries to hold back his vomit and his tears, afraid of breaking the silence.
Hoseok holds him close to his chest, brushing his long bangs away from his face. “You did so well, Yoongi.”
He presses a kiss to his lover’s forehead, blinking his crystalline tears away.