Chapter Text
Yoongi had a particular schedule that he followed during the week. His mom always told him that following a schedule made everyday more fun. Yoongi had to attend his kindergarten afternoon classes every day of the week. At first, it was hard for him to get used to, but after a while he started to enjoy going to see his friends. Yoongi wasn’t the most vocal or flamboyant with his mannerisms, but he still had a group of three friends that he loved to play with.
In his opinion, getting to collaborate and make up stories to tell the class was his favorite part of going to school. His teacher always allowed her students to tell stories if they were able to write one word on the board from their story. Somehow, Yoongi always ended up writing the word ‘bugs’ on the board; his stories centering around bugs being as tall as him, helping him learn how to get better at playing soccer.
Eating lunch with his classmates was fun too, especially because Yoongi was known by everyone as the person in the class with the coolest snacks. He and his mom spent every morning making breakfast together and preparing lunch for Yoongi to bring to school. He was allowed to pick anything from their pantry or refrigerator to bring with him, but he was always dead set on having the same snack everyday.
Ants on a log was Yoongi’s choice snack. If he had the choice, he would eat it everyday for every meal and snack time during the day. He usually asked for peanut butter on his, but sometimes if he felt particularly hungry that morning, Yoongi will ask for his mom to mix peanut butter and cream cheese together for him.
Once Yoongi was finished with school, his mother would pick him up, and they would walk home. The school he attended was down the block from his home, with a park in between them. If Yoongi enjoyed ants on a log, walking past the empty grass fields and trees was as if he was given unlimited ants on a log for every meal for the rest of his life.
Playing at the park was something that happened every other day, and was Yoongi’s favorite place to go after his long and productive day at school. Unlike most children, Yoongi prided himself for being one of the only six year olds he knew that could entertain themselves without anyone else being around. His imagination made up for lack of other people around him.
If left alone, Yoongi would create intricate stories of dragons and tree fairies, lurking just far enough into the park’s brush that his parents couldn’t see them. Yoongi loved rolling around on the grass and making friends with the clouds in the sky. They didn’t need to resemble shapes for Yoongi to reach out and talk to them. His mind would focus on following them as the Earth rotated instead of trying to find the bunny-shaped cloud he refused to believe actually existed.
Yoongi loved the idea of sports. He had always liked watching his older cousins play basketball when his extended family would come together for holidays. Soccer was fun too. At school, his classmates and him would play a game that mimicked soccer, passing a ball around by kicking it. Whoever the ball went to had to sing part of their favorite song, or tell the class what their favorite animal was. Maybe once Yoongi was a little older, he could join a soccer or basketball team.
Needless to say, Yoongi had a very vivid imagination. Both of his parents agreed that his overactive ability to create a whole day’s fun based on one empty plastic water bottle was something special. Yoongi’s brain didn’t stop there though-- he very actively would pretend to have the adult jobs he sees around him. He would mimic his family, overexaggerating what he thinks their jobs entail on a daily basis. It was charming and also very interesting for his parents to watch.
Yoongi’s favorite cousin had just secured a job at the local police station. Yoongi thought she was so cool, especially because of how protective the police are over all of the people in his community and the world. The idea of having the job of making sure everyone is happy in the world was a dream to Yoongi, making him want to be a police officer too.
His brain would switch into police officer mode each time he saw a bee fly near where his mother was sitting at one of the picnic tables near the playground. She always brought papers to go over for her job, giving Yoongi all the time to play that he wanted [or until dinner time].
Chasing the bee, Yoongi would constantly ask it to fly somewhere else, because a bee sting would not be good for anyone in this situation. His mom would get hurt, and if the bee stung her, it would ultimately die. As the best police officer the park had ever seen, Yoongi was dedicated to patrolling the air around where it was flying.
Yoongi would also look around him and find ways to become a master chef with earthy ingredients like pebbles, grass, flowers and twigs. He loved creating concoctions and pretending to eat them in front of his mom, self-grading his choice of spices. Yoongi’s cooking skills got better each time he was able to use more and more ingredients from the park’s waiting ingredients. Yoongi loved cooking in the park.
He loved helping his mother cook in the mornings, helping when it was something to prepare without use of the hot stove or pointy knives. In his head, Yoongi’s mother was the best chef in the entire world. It only made sense that her son be the second greatest. Not long after his start, his culinary artistry in the park had reached an all time high -- his mother had started bringing different sized bowls for Yoongi to play with at his own accord.
With his new tools, he would create new dishes for his mom and him to examine and perfect. Yoongi didn’t miss a beat in writing down the recipes on the back of his hand. He had found an abandoned pen in the pebbles at the park. He knew what a pen did, and he also knew that he wasn’t supposed to be writing on his skin. His father told him recently while they laid down for bed that writing on his skin with pens would cause Yoongi to get sick with something called ink poisoning. He didn’t fully understand how a pen could poison him, but he didn’t really want to find out.
His secret handwritten recipes would be transferred from the back of his hand to his hidden diary as soon as he got home from the park. Each time he created a new one, he would do his best to memorize all of the ingredients and know how to properly spell them for later. This trend kept for months, until the day he voluntarily got himself caught to ask why on Earth a ghost was trying to change his recipe without asking for his permission first.
Namjoon lived a very normal life, for a child genius that is. His parents were very involved in trying to get Namjoon out of the house. All he wanted to do was sit inside and read or practice his spelling and vocabulary.
Namjoon also loved drawing inventions and then trying to make them with items around his house. This month, Namjoon was enamored with the idea of making something that could move items from one place to the other. He wanted to find a way to bring his books downstairs into the living room without having to carry them down the stairs.
The result of his extensive attempts at drawing blueprints, he finally settled with one of his earliest ideas. Namjoon convinced his father that if he could spell the three hardest words his father could think of, his father would have to do him a favor, no questions asked.
With persuade, suspicious and decision spelt correctly, Namjoon politely asked his father to take down part of his wood swing set. Namjoon’s father couldn’t understand his son’s motives until a small voice put him in his place.
“I persuaded you to help me with my newest invention. I am going to use the wood from my swing set to make a book mover on our stairs.”
Namjoon’s father didn’t know if he was more surprised at his son’s quirky use of his vocabulary word, or the fact that Namjoon didn’t realize that slides and conveyor belts were already invented. Laughing to himself, he didn’t have the heart to break his son’s inspired mood, so he took down the pieces of the swing set Namjoon wanted him to.
Two hours later, Namjoon’s book mover was in full operation thanks to help from his father’s power tools.
When his mother arrived home from work later that evening, she excitedly spoke to Namjoon about why there was a wooden mess now attached to her beautiful stairwell. After hearing her son’s endearing explanation of how his new books on sea life and the benefits of recycling were too heavy for him to carry, she smiled to herself. As they sat at the dinner table, still talking about the new invention, Namjoon’s mother asked the most important question of the night.
“Namjoon love, how are you going to get the books back upstairs?”
Hearing her words, Namjoon’s face seemed to pale slightly. How could he forget such an important part of his new invention? Sighing to himself, Namjoon made his way toward his blueprints, and silently brought them to the garbage can. Both of his parents giggled behind him, as their dramatic yet determined son slowly made his way back to the table, asking if he can have an extra serving of noodles for his troubles.
Namjoon was enrolled in the school that was twenty five minutes away from his home. He had skipped a year and was in kindergarden.
Going to school meant that Namjoon had to bring lunch and snack with him everyday. You would think the child was a little too well behaved and self disciplined. Every morning, he would sit and eat breakfast with his parents. His mom would make his lunch while he sat there, giving input for what he wanted to eat later that day. Namjoon always used spelling quizzes to decide his snacks. He even made up a little game to pair with his vocabulary.
If Namjoon could correctly spell three of the five words one of his parents gave him, he was able to have a yummy snack that day. Any day where he didn’t manage to spell three words correctly, he thought that he should be given a snack he didn’t particularly enjoy. He wanted to remind himself how grateful he was to have options with a lot of the things he did everyday, so using this gaming system was good [or so he says].
Days where Namjoon was stuck with eating snap peas for snack were the absolute worst. He didn’t mind the taste of them, but the aftertaste made him want to sneeze. Each month, there are fewer and fewer days where Namjoon eats snap peas for snack.
Namjoon didn’t mind going to school and learning, especially since he loved to learn. He wished that he was able to ask a few more questions during every lesson, but his parents had informed him how important it was to share time with his class.
That was how Namjoon ended up spending his recess time inside with his teacher. He always asked her to quiz him on new vocabulary and if he could sneak off to the small library section of the classroom to read a new book. Namjoon was fully able to read and write, so he always tried his hardest to squeeze as much knowledge out of his teacher as he could.
He sometimes referred to himself as a knowledge sponge. He loved learning and regurgitating any information he learned to his parents at the dinner table later that night. He also knew that it was good that he loved learning so much, especially because it means that his teacher can know how much she’s appreciated.
Namjoon loved comparing himself to a sponge. Sea sponges, which are slowly becoming his favorite animal, are extremely important to their environments in the ocean. They are in charge of eating bacteria and they make sure the nutrient cycle of coral reefs are happy and healthy. Namjoon’s favorite part about sponges is that they are always there, and always doing their jobs. They absorb good and bad bacteria and then use it to produce ingredients needed for the coral reef systems to stay healthy.
He views himself the same way; always there with his teacher, begging for extra lessons and opportunities to grow his knowledge. Namjoon would be the best sea sponge in the whole ocean if he had anything to do with it.
On the weekends when he didn’t have school, Namjoon always insisted that his family should visit the zoo or the aquarium. For his young age, Namjoon believed strongly in wildlife conservation and wanting animals to be treated correctly. Each time they visited one of the two wonderful places, Namjoon would ask about a new species, learning about what efforts are being done to help it and how it adapts to a rehabilitation environment.
Usually, finding out more about a species almost guarantees that Namjoon’s book collection will grow in size. His parents didn’t mind at all though. They would feed into his discoveries and fund his quest in the giftshop book section. After all, who else would have introduced the importance of animals and treating them with respect other than his own parents?
This open minded attitude followed through every aspect of Namjoon’s life. For a five year old, he made a lot of his own decisions and got to give input on things that pertained to him. His parents believe that anything that affects him should be an open conversation, within reason. That is how Namjoon first found out about why a random stranger’s messy handwriting kept appearing on the back of his hand.
☁ ☁ ☁ ☁
The Kim family was at the dinner table when Namjoon’s mother noticed something strange on her son’s hand. Should she ask about it? The likeliness of the apparent pen writing being the first traces of Namjoon’s soulmate were very high. Her chest felt warm at the idea of Namjoon finally getting to learn about something he had no idea even existed. She knew that her son would be more excited than he would be confused.
“Joonie? What did you write on your hand?”
Namjoon stopped eating to look down at his hand. His glance was too casual for his parent’s nerves, causing them to look at each other in confusion.
“My handwriting isn’t this awful. And why would I draw on myself with a pen? That is bad for your skin.” Namjoon’s response seemed too casual. Was he not curious at all about why there was something on his hand that wasn’t at his own accord?
“Who wrote it then?” Namjoon’s dad asked his son, anxiously awaiting his answer.
“Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t think of that yet. I’ve had other things on my mind.”
“Sweetie, do you want to know about it then?”
Namjoon’s mom wanted to face palm at the casual nature of her son’s responses. For someone who keeps his nose permanently in a book at the age of five, it’s odd that he isn’t interested in knowing more.
“It’s a ghost isn’t it?” Namjoon asked, a serious look on his face. He then continued, “We are going to have to amazon prime a book about ghosts immediately.”
“It isn’t a ghost my sweet boy. You make a convincing argument to amazon prime a book though. What about we get one on soulmates instead?”
“What is a soulmate, mom?”
“They can be anything you want them to be. There isn’t a set meaning to what they are, other than that your souls are compatible together. You could be each other’s best friends, or even perfect enemies. Some people get to meet their soulmates, and some people stick to communication through their bond.”
“Their bond? Do you mean our skin?”
“Exactly. You and your soulmate have a bond through your skin. Basically, if either of you write on your skin, it also shows up on the other person’s skin.”
Namjoon’s eyes lit with curiosity as he tried to digest the new information he was hearing. He had so many questions to ask, but maybe more of them were for the owner of the awful handwriting on his hand.
“I have a lot of questions.”
Namjoon’s parents laughed at his response, no longer having traces of doubt or nervousness from earlier. He was taking the news of soulmates exceptionally well, and he was being, well like normal.
“Does it only work with ink? Like if I get a bruise from holding too many of my books, will my soulmate also have a bruise? I don’t want them to be hurt.”
“It’s just ink. Your book bruises can stay yours.”
“Oh thank gosh. I don’t want to share my bruises. They hurt too much and I don’t want anyone else to feel them.”
The family finished dinner with Namjoon’s questions still coming in a steady stream.
“So my soulmate can be anyone? I wonder what they’re like. I hope they’ll want to be my friend.”
“I’m sure they would want to, my baby. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with you?”
“They keep writing what seems like reminders for eating? Or cooking? I’m not sure. The last thing they wrote was to add flour. What does flour even do?”
After a bath and nighttime story, Namjoon fell asleep wondering what his soulmate would write on his hand next.
The next day, more writing didn’t show up until the afternoon when Namjoon was finished with school. He was forced to go outside and play with something other than his study materials. Namjoon settled with writing on the sidewalk with chalk. He started to draw pictures of his favorite animals from memory, making sure to include all the most important details.
Namjoon was so entranced with his seafloor organism diagram that he didn’t register the writing that was now on the back of his tiny hand. It took several minutes of his hand being in his peripheral vision for him to register that something new was written on it. He stared at the words on his hand, horror filling his features.
“Eat ants”
How could anybody do such a horrible thing? Namjoon was upset, and mad at the same time. Maybe his soulmate was somebody that he wouldn’t get along with if they thought that it was okay to eat such an important part of the ecosystem.
Before he could think his decision through, his tiny body was running into the house toward the kitchen. There was a drawer designated especially for writing utensils and scissors. Namjoon grabbed a black pen from the drawer, and with his cute, small handwriting, added one word to his hand.
“Don’t Eat ants”
Chest soaring with pride for his contribution to his soulmate’s reminder, he started walking back outside to continue drawing with chalk. Namjoon couldn’t keep his thoughts on his art for long, because before he knew it, the word he previously wrote down had disappeared from his hand. He didn’t wash his hands or even touch the writing, so it had to be his soulmate’s doing.
His tiny body was briskly walking back into the house, chalk forgotten as he searches again for a pen in the writing drawer. He had to rewrite on his skin so his soulmate would know that they shouldn’t eat ants. It was mean, and not necessary if they had other things to eat, like crackers.
Within minutes, the word disappeared again, causing chaos in Namjoon’s mind. The only course of action for the five year old was to continue writing as the don’t got erased.
His efforts were futile after the eighth time writing on his hand, only to have it disappear within seconds now. Giving up, Namjoon lays back on his bed, wanting to momentarily forget about his ant fight with his soulmate. Who even ate ants? Namjoon wanted to meet this person and demand an answer. Once his mom got home from work, Namjoon would ask about if he can write a message to his soulmate asking if they wanted to have a playdate.
Dinner that night was nothing short of entertainment television. Namjoon animatedly told his parents about his ambushed battle with his soulmate. He even went as far as to criticize their life choices for several minutes.
“Who eats ants? Can we bring my soulmate food so they can eat something else instead? I’m worried about the soil now. If they eat too many ants, the ants won’t do their job in the ecosystem and the soil won’t have enough water and air in it for the plants to grow strong.” Namjoon almost overwhelmed himself to tears. He had worked himself up talking about the possibility of soil depletion. Through quiet smiles and the ghost of laughter in their eyes, Namjoon’s parents did their best to calm their passionate son down
“I think asking them if they want to meet is a great idea!” Namjoon’s dad explained to his wife and son, smiling wide. His dimples, that Namjoon also had, were bright on his face, encouraging Namjoon himself to smile too.
“What do you want it to say?”
“Hmm.. give me two mintues to think about it, dad.”
Namjoon knew exactly what to say. Later that night, before bath time, Namjoon’s mother wrote down a note for her son’s soulmate to see.
“Hi, my name is Namjoon, and I am really curious about your eating. Here is my house phone number. Have your mom call so we can have a playdate.”
Yoongi was playing at the park as usual when it happened. He had finally found a new recipe, and he didn’t know why he didn’t think of it before today. He was trying to recreate his favorite snack, but he was missing the raisins for the dish. Sighing to himself, Yoongi thought to remind himself that he needed one more ingredient for the next time he came to play.
An “eat ants” was sufficient for him, his cryptic message easy for him to remember. He wanted to make his favorite snack so badly, so the fact that he didn’t have all of the necessary ingredients really made Yoongi sad. The pout wouldn't leave his lips as he abandoned the contents of the largest mixing bowl back into the park’s grass.
While starting on making another grass-filled dish, Yoongi noticed something weird about his little reminder on his hand. In small yet neat letters was a “don’t” in front of his handwriting. How on earth did that get there?
Confusion filled Yoongi’s senses as he used his thumb and spit to wipe off the ink. Maybe he was just making it up and he needed to take a nap. Thinking about it, Yoongi did feel more tired than normal. He must have imagined the word on his hand.
Yoongi convinced himself of the gimmick and went back to working on his cooking, a pout still on his lips. He wished he had more ants on a log to eat, but he ate all of them during snack time earlier that day.
All was well once again, until Yoongi’s hand had the same word newly written on it. A small gasp escaped his lips as he hurried to wipe off the word for a second time. Not understanding what was happening, Yoongi started to get worked up about the writing.
It didn’t help that soon after the second wipe, the don’ts kept being written quicker and quicker. What was happening? Yoongi started to get more overwhelmed each time he had to erase it off of his skin. By the eighth time, Yoongi was in tears, lip wobbling as he ran to his mother.
“Mommy! Why is a ghost changing my recipes on my hand without asking me first? I just wrote this down so I could remember it for my diary later. They’re being so mean!” At this point, Yoongi was choking on sobs, emotions ridiculously heightened.
“Oh baby. We will talk about where you got a pen from later. For right now, come sit down okay?”
Yoongi nodded and followed his mother’s instructions, sitting extremely close to her, resting his head on her arm.
“Have you ever heard of the term soulmate?”
Yoongi shook his head in response, looking up at his mother as she began explaining what a soulmate was, and why they could write on Yoongi’s skin.
“So there is someone in the world who can see my recipes? I hope they don’t steal them from me. I worked hard on them.”
Yoongi’s mom laughed loudly, kissing the top of her son’s head. His innocence was adorable, especially the way he nodded along to every word she told him. The idea of soulmates was interesting to the six year old. He wasn’t so sure of what it really meant, but he assumed that this person, not a ghost, would become his new best friend.
Yoongi thought that he and Namjoon’s minds must have been in sync because later that night, when Yoongi was getting ready for bed, he saw the written note on his hand. Screaming for his parents excitedly, Yoongi exclaimed about writing down Namjoon’s house number so they could call him tomorrow morning.
Yoongi couldn’t fall asleep that night due to how excited he was to have a soulmate. He was going to be able to have a playdate with them and be best friends. Yoongi couldn’t wait to share all of his recipes in real life with them, and ask why they thought they could change his recipe without asking first.
☁ ☁ ☁ ☁
It turned out that the Min and Kim families only lived an hour away from each other, making it relatively easy for them to set up a playdate for the two boys the following weekend.
Their mother’s talked on the phone mostly, asking each other about their child and where they were located. Luckily for the two boys, they would be able to meet each other, both mothers happy at the thought of their sons getting to meet their soulmates so early in their lives. Hushed whispers of the prospect of their sons becoming best friends and taking cute photos together made the moms bond. After a lengthy introduction, the two mothers insisted that Namjoon and Yoongi talk to each other at least for a minute or two. They briefly spoke on the phone, introducing each other in the most awkward phone call in the history of the telephone.
“Um.. hello?” A small voice entered Yoongi’s ears from the other side of the phone. Ahh, Namjoon sounded young too. Yoongi wondered if he was younger or older than himself.
“Hi Namjoonie.” Yoongi said into the phone, not knowing what else to say.
“Hi.”
“Hey.”
“How are you?”
“Good.”
“That’s good.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m five.”
“Oh nice.” Yoongi wanted to hang up the phone. Why wasn’t he able to speak properly? Just minutes ago, he had been so excited to talk to Namjoon, his soulmate. They were supposed to be best friends. What a lack luster first interaction.
“See you next weekend.”
“See you.”
Hearing Yoongi conclude the call, Namjoon hung up and handed the phone back to his mother, cheeks red in embarrassment. What was that phone call?
“Mom I only spoke fourteen words to him. I probably sounded like an idiot! You need to call back Mrs. Min and cancel next weekend so I can hide until I turn fifty.”
Rolling her eyes at her son’s dramatism, Namjoon’s mom reassured him that the two boys were probably just nervous interacting for the first time and that it would be different when they met.
Thank god that Namjoon’s mom was absolutely correct.
The two families planned to meet at a park that was pretty much equal distance away for both of them. The Min family would be bringing lunch and the Kim family would be bringing their best blanket and some of Namjoon’s toys to play with. Unfortunately, his parents informed Namjoon that books don’t count as toys, making the young boy pout cutely.
The drive to the park was excruciatingly long for Yoongi. He couldn’t stop himself from asking whether or not they had arrived every two minutes, causing his parents to laugh at him from the front seat. Yoongi swung his legs as he looked out the window, trying to think of all the possibilities of what Namjoon would be like.
As if he knew Namjoon was thinking about him, Yoongi looked down to the back of his hand, a gummy smile immediately gracing his cute face. He hadn’t noticed the neat handwriting on his hand until now, a warm feeling entering his chest. He was so excited to meet his new friend.
“We are on our way! I am excited.” read Yoongi’s hand. It wasn’t many words, but Yoongi felt the exact same way. He wondered to himself if Namjoon was as excited as he was.
His thoughts were answered when they arrived at the park. Sitting close to the playground was a family of three on a large red checkered picnic basket. The young boy seemed to be frantically searching around, until his eyes landed on Yoongi. Namjoon knew just from the sight of the other boy that this was Yoongi, his soulmate. Happiness bubbled inside of him, as he quickly got up and started to run over to Yoongi.
Before either boy could say anything, Namjoon forcefully hit into Yoongi, hugging him tightly. The force of his small body caused both of them to fall to the grass, giggles escaping their lips. The two boys hugged each other, rolling slightly in the grass as Namjoon’s parents walked over to them, greeting Yoongi’s parents.
“Hi Yoongi!”
“You can call me hyung. I’m a year older than you!”
“Okay hyungie!! It’s so nice to meet you.”
The two boys excitedly talked to each other, still on the grass. They slowly detangled themselves from each other, and proceeded to go toward the picnic blanket where their parents went together. Yoongi grabbed Namjoon’s hand, pulling him to walk faster toward the food being taken out and put on the blanket.
The boys were told that if they both ate all of their vegetables they could play together for as long as they wanted. Both of their eyes sparked at the mention of unlimited play time. Namjoon and Yoongi dug into their lunches, digging into the meat and vegetables given to them.
“Hyung if you can’t finish your carrots I’ll take one for the team and eat them if you finish my meat. I prefer eating vegetables to a lot of meat. Plus you’re older than me so you should eat more meat so you can grow strong.” Namjoon said to Yoongi, already using his chopstick to delegate the older boy some of the meat on his plate.
Yoongi beamed at Namjoon, thankfully accepting the meat and trading the younger for the carrots. The two were in their own bubble, only stopping their rapid fire conversation to safely chew and drink their juice boxes.
“When did you find out about soulmates?” Yoongi asked, curious to see how their situations differed. Namjoon cutely swallowed the big bite he took, a small smile on his face making his dimples pop out. Yoongi couldn’t help but giggle at how cute the other boy looked with his dimples and tiny hands holding his meal.
“Not that long ago. The day before I wrote on you. We need to talk about that by the way! What is wrong with you?” Namjoon exclaimed, making the group of parents look at him curiously.
Yoongi just stared back at the younger, prompting him to continue talking.
“Do you know how important ants are to the ecosystem, hyung? Why would you go around eating them? I was really scared for the ants when I saw what you wrote and I wanted you to eat other food instead. I even told my mother that I’d buy you crackers myself!” Yoongi couldn’t cover his mouth in time for his giggles to be hidden.
He was outwardly laughing at Namjoon’s small rant, enjoying the attention that his younger friend was giving him. How could he think Yoongi was actually eating ants?
Yoongi tried to take a sip of his juice, but another fit of giggles plagued him. Somehow between the liquid in his mouth and his laughter, juice began dripping from his nose, making Namjoon start giggling too, eyes lighting up in glee.
Despite the slight burning in Yoongi’s nose, he was happy to make Namjoon laugh so hard. He loved the feeling of having a friend to laugh and eat with. Even though he had friends at school, being with Namjoon was way more fun. The small amount of time they had spent together so far already outweighed the friends he spent five days a week with.
“I don’t eat ants!” Yoongi finally stated once his nose was juice free and he could breathe properly.
Namjoon made a face, looking like he didn’t believe a word the older boy said.
“How am I supposed to believe you? You wrote on your-- our hands to eat ants!” Namjoon stuck his tongue out at Yoongi, and Yoongi reciprocated it with an added small farting noise. The call and response actions reduced the boys to giggles once again.
Onlooking from a few feet away, the two sets of parents looked at each other sweetly, already being able to tell that from now on, their sons would be close. They would be seeing a lot of each other in the near future. Emotions were running high for the adults as they watched their young sons getting to know each other as soulmates -- platonic and pure. The innocence of the beginning of a friendship was something that could only be matched by the chorused sound of their son’s giggles.
“Fine. I guess I’ll explain why I wrote that on my hand. You sound like a TV commercial promoting how we need to save the bees.”
“We do need to save the bees!” Namjoon added before listening to Yoongi’s explanation of how he loves to make cooking recipes and then write them in his diary.
“I love spending time collecting ingredients in the park to make cooking recipes. I was trying to make my favorite snack until I realized I couldn’t find the main and best ingredient needed for it! I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t forget once I got home, so I wrote it on my hand.”
“What is your favorite snack? This still doesn’t explain ants.”
“Ants on a log! Have you ever had it before?”
Namjoon turned his head in wonder, not knowing what snack Yoongi hyung was talking about.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had that before. Mommy, have I?”
The little boy’s mother shook her head, a smile displayed on her face.
“I didn’t want to make it for you just in case you refused to eat it because of the name, Joonie bug.”
Yoongi’s mouth made an “o” shape in understanding. His new friend seemed very passionate about bugs and knowing all about how they live and how they do their part for the Earth. Yoongi wondered what other interests Namjoon had. He also wondered if he could join in calling him Joonie.
“Oh! I see. Hyungie, what kind of snack is it? I want to try it I think.”
Without answering, Yoongi stood up, and walked toward the basket his mother had prepared for today. He asked her to make a special batch of his favorite snack to celebrate he and Namjoon’s friendship starting.
Grabbing the snack, he returns to Namjoon and presents it for him. Taking one for himself, Yoongi starts to munch on the delicious peanut butter-cream cheese covered celery piece.
Namjoon’s eyes widened as he inspected the snack curiously. It didn’t look like any ants were contained in it, making him perk up. The celery stick was covered and had raisins on top. The raisins were supposed to be the ants. Everything started to make more sense to Namjoon, and he curiously took a bite of one of the pieces.
The consistency was not something he was familiar with. He didn’t like or hate the taste. It was yummy but the celery gave him the same feeling in his mouth that snap peas did. Wanting to make his awaiting hyung happy, he finished the piece and smiled at Yoongi.
“I can see why you like it so much! It looks cute too.”
“Sometimes I put different stuff on it to mix things up. It’s always fun to choose something new. I bring this to school every day!”
The mention of school made Namjoon excited, and he couldn’t wait to chime into the conversation.
“I love bringing snacks to school! I made a game to pick my snack everyday!”
Yoongi’s eyes slightly widened, mouth ajar, “That’s so cool! What do you have to do?”
“Mommy or daddy give me spelling words and if I get more than three correct, I get to pick a yummy snack. If I don't, I get snap peas for snack!”
“Woah! I don’t like doing my vocabulary words that much. I like learning them by playing and making up adventures in my head!”
Namjoon curiously looked at Yoongi, asking him about how he makes stuff up. Instead of answering the younger, Yoongi stands up, grabbing Namjoon’s hand.
“Why would I tell you when I could show you instead?”
The two boys run off, hand in hand as they start brainstorming fantasy worlds and superpowers they could share together. Their natural chemistry together displayed that they already were forming a strong bond. Sure, they were soulmates and their souls were destined to come together at one point or another, but a beautiful and organic friendship was blossoming; the thought of soulmates in the back of their minds.
“Okay what about chef pirates? We can protect the sea while also making yummy food.” Yoongi gave a thumbs up at Joonie’s words, encouraging the younger to continue talking.
“We could also use the sea for food! Have you ever made a recipe with fish in it?”
“No! I have only made dishes that I’ve made with my mom at our house. We usually only have fish in our kimbap because our family loves meat so much.” Namjoon made an interesting humming sound, trying to think of how they were going to come up with a recipe if neither of them had ever actually cooked fish before.
“Maybe we can make fish next time we have a playdate?” Yoongi asked, hopeful that Namjoon will confirm them playing together again. Yoongi’s fondness for his new friend was enormous already.
“Yes! You should come over to my house. Maybe you can sleep over too! We eat a lot of fish in my house but I’ve never seen my dad make it. I am usually too busy reading! I love books. I can show you all of my books if you come over!”
All of Yoongi’s feelings were reciprocated in Namjoon’s words, slurring out too fast for the boy’s mouth to keep up. The crinkle of his hyung’s eye smile made him smile too, dimples exposed completely.
Hanging out with Yoongi hyung was so fun. Namjoon wished that they could live together and play everyday. He would also love to have his hyung come with him and his parents to the aquarium. He had to give up going this weekend to see Yoongi instead. Namjoon would give up going to zoos and aquariums permanently if it meant he could spend every weekend seeing his new favorite friend.
The two boys continued to play, yell and act together, not letting a minute of silence go by. Yoongi, who was used to and preferred playing by himself, and Namjoon, who would rather read a book than spend time with people his age, spent the entire day playing together. The sun was beginning to set when the two were tiredly laying on the picnic blanket, holding hands as they looked up at the sky.
Namjoon was moments away from falling asleep, comfortable with the friendly atmosphere around him. Yoongi could fall asleep too, but he was too busy enjoying the end to such a lovely day. He knew they would be going home soon, so he wanted to bask in Namjoon’s presence until they were separated.
Shortly after lying down, the boys were woken up from their lethargic haze, both sets of parents wanting to get home before it got completely dark outside. Both sleepy boys began to pout, not wanting to leave each other’s sides.
“Are you sure we can’t move in together?” Namjoon asked his mother, motioning grabby hands at her so he could be picked up. He had to let go of Yoongi’s hand for the first time in hours, making the little boy pout slightly.
“Joonie let’s see each other soon, yeah?” Yoongi says to him, finally sitting up on the blanket.
His parents were beginning to put away all of their belongings, as well as Namjoon’s father. In no time, all of the stuff they brought with them were secured back into their bags, and as a group, they all walked toward where they parked their cars.
Namjoon’s mother put him down so he and Yoongi could say their goodbyes to each other. Giving them a small amount of privacy, both sets of parents stepped a few feet away from the two little boys.
Namjoon clung to his hyung, getting sad that he had to part with him for the day. He knew that he would see Yoongi soon, but he was still sad.
“I don’t want to leave, hyung.” The tiredness seemed to be affecting Namjoon, making him oversensitive and almost in tears. Yoongi now could see that Namjoon was indeed younger than him, and therefore he needed to act like a good hyung.
“I will see you soon enough though, bug. If you want to talk to me you know exactly what you should do, right?”
“Yes. Even though writing on your skin with pen isn’t very healthy for you. You are worth it though, hyung.”
“I’ll get skin poisoning if it means we can talk everyday too.”
“Do you want to come over for a sleepover next weekend? We usually go to the zoo or aquarium on the weekends and I want to show you all of my favorite things.”
Before answering, Yoongi looked over to his parents, who agreed that he could sleep over the Kim household if Namjoon’s parents were alright with it. Their beaming smiles were enough to tell Yoongi that he had plans next weekend.
After one final hug, the two boys separated and entered their family cars. Once they were driving, Namjoon couldn’t help but ask his mother for a pen.
“Why do you need a pen?”
“Hyung told me to talk to him if I miss him and I already miss him.”
The young boys words were enough for his mother to search through her bag for a black pen. Handing it to Namjoon in the back seat, he immediately began to write something on the back of his hand.
“Eat ants”
Within minutes of writing the two words that brought the soulmates together, Namjoon had fallen asleep, dreaming of what fun the two friends would have in the weekend to come.
When Namjoon is gently shaken awake when they arrived back home, he smiled as he looked down at his hand and saw a new word added to it.
“Don’t”
Yoongi smiled down at his hand, still giggling that Joonie really thought that he ate ants. Did they even have nutritional value?
Yoongi’s thoughts were interrupted as he watched the words disappear and new words replace them.
“See you soon hyungie. Sweet dreams from your favorite bug.”
Yoongi and Namjoon both slept extremely well that night, waking up the next morning unable to stop talking about the other boy. This was just the start of their blossoming friendship.