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The windowed alcove was the only real source of light in the shop. There were floating glass encapsulated candles here and there, but the glass was opaque and only allowed a weak glow. Taehyung had been surprised to find sunlight after several minutes of wandering through dark shelves.
A variety of plants faced the window. Most were intimidating, with dark foliage and forked leaves with sharp edges. On a low enough shelf for Taehyung to reach, and stashed between two of the grim-looking plants, was a large glass jar. The sunlight hit the objects within the jar in such a way that a multitude of miniature rainbows were reflected off of the gems and onto the leaves keeping them hidden.
Taehyung ducked down, only mildly fearful that one of the plants would move to snap at his fingers. He noticed the jar was full with clear and rectangular gems. It wasn’t until he spotted the jar’s label, Mood Rings, that he further noticed the silver in which the gems were encased and the thick silver bands that shaped the different rings.
“I should’ve checked this corner first. You’re like a sunflower, always following after the sun.”
He hadn’t expected Yoongi to follow after him. After all, it had been Yoongi he had been trying to get away from.
“Did you already get a grimoire then?”
“We’re not in a hurry. I thought it would be less fun if you weren’t helping me pick.”
When Taehyung crouched, Yoongi joined him. It was likely that he was trying to see what Taehyung saw. Taehyung sighed softly. Yoongi leaving to train on his magical abilities before Taehyung had been bound to happen. They could be as thick as thieves, bound by a friendship complete with even a secret light signal system to communicate with through their bedroom windows, it still couldn’t bridge the gap between their birthdays.
Maybe if Taehyung really, really, really tried, maybe he could awaken his magical abilities a year earlier than expected. Maybe they would only have to go one school year separated.
“This shop is weird,” he whispered. He was afraid that some of the shop’s items would overhear him and then curse his soul for eternity.
The shop mostly contained items that had lost their owners. Items that had been used before, harvested for their powers, and set aside to wait for their next users.
“It can’t be helped. It’s family tradition.”
Right, the tradition of purchasing another witch’s grimoire, and wiping the pages clean to start it over. Taehyung only knew what Yoongi had shared. No one in his family owned a grimoire, and he doubted his magic would require one.
“I hope that in my next life, I can use your grimoire. That way we will be connected in that life, too.”
“I’m sure you’d find the most unusual way to fill up its pages.”
Taehyung wondered how many pages Yoongi could fill in a year. Would he be allowed to show Taehyung? Maybe if he did, it could help jump-start his magical awakening.
Without thinking too much, Taehyung darted a hand out and pulled out the jar. As he had feared, the surrounding plants let out unpleasant hissing noises, looking quite disgruntled by Taehyung’s action and stretching out towards him threateningly.
He ignored them in favour of climbing onto the alcove’s seat. He put the jar in between both of them just as Yoongi climbed up.
“This one time, my non-magic cousin brought this ring over to ask my mom if it was magic. The ring would turn different colours and each colour meant a specific mood. But, my mom said it was a hoax. It changed colours depending on body heat.” Taehyung fished a ring out of the jar. “Do you think these are actual magic?”
“They’d be in trouble if they sold hoaxes here.” Yoongi followed Taehyung’s lead, picking another ring out of the jar.
Taehyung slipped his on, glaring at the transparent stone as if this would incite it to shift colours. To his delight, a blue mist started filling out the shape of the gem until it was rendered a glossy midnight blue. He looked up excitedly to see that Yoongi’s ring had done the same.
“Oh! Look! We’re in the same mood! I’m pretty sure my cousin had said that dark blue was happiness.”
“Is that so? And here I was thinking you were in a poor mood because winter is coming to an end.”
His favourite season. Full with both of their birthdays and their school vacation. Only, this time, they wouldn’t finish the season together, and Yoongi would be celebrating his own birthday while away for his magical studies.
Taehyung’s mood soured easily with yet another reminder of Yoongi’s departure. He glanced down at the ring, but it gave no indication of shifting colours. He considered that the rings must have been charmed to adjust their fit to the wearer. They’d both chosen their right ring finger, but neither ring looked loose. He wouldn’t admit it to Yoongi’s face, but he knew that their appearance — size and all — gave away their age difference.
“Do you promise never to take it off? It’ll show everyone that we’re best friends. And we can learn the colours and it’ll be like a secret code between us!”
“So, I take it my father will be buying these for you?”
Taehyung had already left Yoongi behind, kneeling by the shelf as he pushed the jar back into place. He actively ignored the way the leaves of the surrounding plants puffed up menacingly.
“My mom sent me with money for lunch, so I’ve got it!”
“So, my father’s paying for your lunch?”
Part of him wanted to argue back. However, the jar wasn’t labeled with any price, and he wasn’t so sure he had enough money in his pocket to buy them in the first place. Furthermore, there was another part of him that unexplainably felt at ease and fond of their exchange. It felt natural to fall into step with Yoongi as they returned near the front of the shop.
Yoongi spoke of different types of paper and binding and leather designs for his grimoire, and the whole concept felt more exciting to Taehyung than it previously had. The rings stayed dark blue.
Taehyung had spent a better part of his free hour standing by the graduating class’ summoning lesson. The pixies hiding in his chrysanthemum bouquet had grown lethargic and drowsy by now.
Taehyung felt a new surge of energy as he saw one of Yoongi’s classmates walk out through the room’s open door. He leaned in close to the bouquet.
“Alright, lovelies. I went in before charming the plovers and opened a window near the ceiling. It’s so high, I don’t think anyone would have noticed a draft and closed it. Once again, the plan is… I ask my hyung out, then you can do some kind of airshow and ride the plovers out of the classroom. Still sounds good?”
There was a general hum of assent from the bouquet. Taehyung caught one low and shimmering voice from a purple flower.
“I heard it was his sixth attempt?”
“Ah, no it’s not.” Taehyung replied slowly, noticing a few more students leaving the room. He was used to visiting Yoongi during breaks though, and knew the other was always hard at work during pauses, unless Taehyung showed up at his desk. “It’s actually my seventh attempt. But he’s graduating in a few weeks. I’ll still be here for another school year, so I have to make my feelings clear before then.”
An orchestra of tiny “you can do it!” rose from the bouquet.
He allowed himself a moment of sentimentality. Both his mentor and several upperclassmen had been clear that cementing a friendship with a single pixie was an impressive feat for any magical user. He hardly felt worthy of befriending an entire neighbourhood of pixies.
It was worth it to make his newest declaration as beautiful as possible. He was bound to get it right eventually.
Momentarily, he pressed his and Yoongi’s friendship ring to his lips for courage. The ring had remained a steady inky blue throughout their entire magical education, never varying in shade nor colour. Yet, Yoongi had never taken his off. And so, Taehyung followed lead and thought of the rings as an everlasting symbol of their close friendship. It hadn’t been what he’d expected at the tender age of nine, but that didn’t make it any worse. And at the age of fifteen, he could appreciate the elegance in their chosen matching accessory.
A few of Yoongi’s classmates greeted him as he made his way inside. Taehyung found some comfort in the fact that, despite his continued and failed public attempts at wooing Yoongi, no other student ever looked at him pityingly or judgementally. It was as if his awkward displays of commitment were expected.
The bulk of the classroom featured a patchwork-like flooring, with every panel of a different material and just large enough for a single summoning circle. Off the top of his head, Taehyung could recognize and cite the properties of the jade and the obsidian panels. His interest though was always on the wooden floor along the edges of the room, where a few lone desks were set up. Yoongi was the sole student busy scribbling notes away during the break, as he tended to be whenever Taehyung paid this classroom a visit. Yoongi had countless notebooks that Taehyung knew were filled with corrections and adjustments that Yoongi reviewed before going to bed at night.
Yoongi was the kind of person to be extremely studious, but who never missed a chance to comfort Taehyung over his own lack of studiousness. There is no correct way of learning, he would tell Taehyung when the latter would be scolded over his way of approaching course material. At the end of the day, these grades are meaningless, he would add whenever Taehyung felt disappointed about his evaluations. He was the kind of person who truly believed those words, despite doing so well academically himself.
That thought alone was enough to incite a deep sense of affection within Taehyung as he made his way over.
Yoongi looked up sharply, as if he had sensed Taehyung coming closer. Taehyung only slightly raised his bouquet, fighting down the silly urge to hide behind it once stopped before the desk.
“Hyung.” Now or never. He would keep his words simple, difficult to misunderstand. He would let the care and attention he’d put into his spellmanship do the talking for him. He couldn’t think of a better way to express his love than through magic. “I really like you. I think we should give it a go.”
He rustled the bouquet only slightly, prompting the wild chrysanthemums to shift back into birds. He had charmed each plover into an unusual colour, which would bleed out of their feathers later under the sunlight. The golden plover charmed an actual vivid gold to match its name, the caspian plover a vibrant turquoise, the grey plover now a bright canary yellow, the kentish plover an alluring sky blue. There were around a dozen, all coloured brightly, and now all steered and directed by the pixies, who rode the small birds as if second nature.
Taehyung grasped the stems left in his hands tightly as he watched the birds flutter around Yoongi. His stunt was drawing more interest now, a few students encircling them to watch the colourful birds rise higher and higher into the class. Yoongi watched too, eyes shiny and smile wide.
From the last bird — a sand plover made a spring green — a pixie that was hard to recognize from so far shouted out, “Bye Min Yoongi-ssi!”
The whole ordeal had only lasted a minute or so, but the surrounding students applauded Taehyung regardless. With a certain level of embarrassment, he noted that even the professor who had been busy wiping off any remaining summoning circles from the first half of the class period had joined the applause.
For how ephemeral the show had been, he felt grateful that Yoongi was quick to pick up on small details.
“Did you make tiny saddles for the pixies to ride the birds?”
“Yeah. I’ve never had to work with such small pieces of leather. It dawned on me that I could have magicked the leather to be larger while I was working on it, but… the pixies said they prefer things that require manual labour, rather than magical.”
“I didn’t think it was easy to ask favours from pixies. And you caught those birds, too, didn’t you? Something tells me you convinced them to help rather than capture them.”
“Yeah.”
“Your magic is always getting more and more beautiful, Taehyung. You should be very happy.”
Yoongi’s smile was sincere, too. As if he saw nothing wrong in how cleanly he avoided acknowledging Taehyung’s confession.
Taehyung tugged at the bow keeping the stems together, nervously glancing around him. Once more, no one seemed heartbroken for him that Yoongi had ignored his declaration again. Rather, they were still eager to talk about the charmwork Taehyung had put into this latest declaration. A few were even discussing Taehyung’s genius, as if they were unaware that Taehyung could hear them. As if he couldn’t overhear how shocked they were that Taehyung had one of the lowest grade rankings in his year, but could create such beautiful things, on top of having such a gift for speaking to magical and non-magical creatures alike.
No one looked like they had just witnessed a rejection.
And Taehyung wondered if maybe that hadn’t been clear either. If, perhaps, he was the problem and wasn’t able to properly express his romantic desires.
This was the seventh attempt though. He was running out of ways to express himself.
The more moments passed, the more a feeling grew within his chest. An unexplainable desire to confess something, to come clean. He was gripped with a sense of déjà-vu, just as he exclaimed, “Hyung, I have something to confess!”
Because it was a familiar feeling. Something that often overtook him after a failed attempt. A deep and powerful conviction that there was something he’d been hiding from Yoongi.
But, there wasn’t. He knew that Yoongi knew that, too. Because he gave him the same pained expression he had the previous times Taehyung had blurted out something of the sorts.
“Thank you for the flowers, Taehyung. If there’s something more you need to tell me, I’m happy to listen.”
Taehyung shook his head wildly. Yoongi looked as unsurprised as Taehyung would have expected.
“That’s all for now. I’ll see you at dinner.”
It took Taehyung a certain amount of time to shake off any lingering sadness. He hated it, because he couldn’t reason why he felt so sad. Sure, it was frustrating that Yoongi wouldn’t accept, notice, or return his advances. Nonetheless, Yoongi was kind and supportive, and was never angry. He was Taehyung’s best friend first and foremost. Taehyung didn’t want or see a reason to be sad, but he simply was.
Contrary to all of Taehyung’s expectations. He stayed sad.
It was the type of sadness that weighed and kept him from actually planning out and executing any further declarations. A feeling that was like a metallic band wrapped around his torso, constricting his air bit by bit. Like a manifestation of all of his current life pressures.
Only, he didn’t know why he would feel pressured. Just as he continued to maintain that there wasn’t much of a reason to be sad. If this was all Yoongi’s way of turning him down, he was fine with it. There was nothing crushing about it. Except that he felt crushed.
The feeling persisted for an entire week. The most aggravating circumstance being that Yoongi had become quite elusive over that time. Always busy with his studies. Normally, this wasn’t much of a barrier for Taehyung, who would seek his friend out regardless of his study schedule. However, the weight of his unwelcome feelings kept him somewhat passive. He just wanted to stay in bed. There was little he could find within himself to muster energy to craft complicated spells or go out to meet magical creatures. He just wanted to exist without being.
That was the state in which Kim Namjoon found him. Taehyung with his cheek pressed to the desk and a vacant look in his eyes.
“Class is over, Taehyung.”
Taehyung looked up before losing focus again. He let out a small sigh. It seemed he hadn’t listened at all, because he could only confirm that it had been his class on Magical Artefacts through History because it was the only class he shared with Namjoon.
Taehyung liked Namjoon. Despite being consistently ranked the top of their grade, he never hesitated to engage Taehyung in in-depth conversations on the interplay of different philosophical theories and the use of magic. In short, Taehyung felt treated like his intellectual match, despite being as far as could be from one another on the academic ranking.
Along with Hoseok, who treated every student with infinite kindness, Namjoon was Taehyung’s favourite person in his grade. Despite that, he couldn’t find enough feeling to greet Namjoon with a smile.
“Is there anyone else using the room next? Do you think they would even notice me?”
Namjoon pulled out the chair of the neighbouring desk, set his elbow over it and gave Taehyung a prolongated look.
“I see that you’re going through something —”
“I feel like something is up with Yoongi!” Taehyung let out, feeling instantly more energized to be sharing with someone. He sat up on his chair properly and gave Namjoon a brief but apologetic smile before continuing. “Maybe there’s nothing. But we haven’t talked in like a week. I’m pretty sure that, if nothing were up, he would’ve checked in on me by now.”
“Right, Min Yoongi.” Taehyung nodded enthusiastically, relieved that Namjoon knew him well enough to know he could only be referring to the Yoongi in the graduating class. “Well, I mean this is a little awkward, but… Shouldn’t you just feel what’s up with him?”
Taehyung had expected a little more explanation. Thus, when none came, he prompted Namjoon for more.
“Yes, go on.”
Namjoon looked a little uneasy, but answered all the same.
“You know, because of your rings.”
“Our mood rings?” A nod of confirmation from Namjoon. “But, they don’t work. How am I supposed to know what’s up with him by looking at his ring, it’s always blue!”
Many expressions passed over Namjoon’s face, but none seemed particularly recognizable to Taehyung. He put his head back down onto the desk as he waited for Namjoon to process. He wasn’t really sure what there was to process. Surely, if Namjoon had noticed their rings, he would have noticed they were always the same dark blue.
“Do you think that ring shows your mood based on the stone’s colour?” Namjoon asked carefully.
“Well, yeah. It’s a mood ring. Besides, it was transparent before I put it on. It’s blue now.” He put his hand up, wiggling his fingers for emphasis.
Taehyung saw how Namjoon pushed his tongue against his cheek, nodding his head slowly as if coming to terms with something.
“So, these rings only work in matched pairs. The colour of the stone reflects the bond between the two wearers. Remember in first year, we had our mandatory Colour Theory in Magic class?”
Of course he remembered. Taehyung routinely thought of colour symbolism when crafting his spells. For a moment though, the knowledge of the dark blue symbolism and the actual ring on his finger weren’t quite working together.
“Yeah… So, what? Is this a bond-assessing ring? Not a mood ring?”
“The primary function of the ring is to share feelings with the other wearer.”
“What? Like… He feels everything I feel and I feel everything he feels?”
“That’s the general idea. You really didn’t know?”
Taehyung supposed it was a rhetorical question. He moved to stand up, but dropped back onto the seat. He felt something like shellshocked.
“I guess I do now…”
“You do know that to everyone else they look like couple rings because —”
“Because this shade of blue should symbolize the bond of soulmates,” Taehyung completed sombrely.
“I guess now you know why no one asks you out or confesses to you,” Namjoon said with a somewhat teasing tone.
Taehyung’s face did not shift. He, in fact, had never thought of that. And it certainly wasn’t at the top of his list of concerns now.
“Alright. Thank you for telling me. I guess I should go find Yoongi and update him, too… Let’s do something together over winter break?”
Taehyung didn’t wait for an answer, just gave the other student a short wave as he scrambled out of the room. Hopefully it conveyed gratefulness. Because Taehyung was still stuck on the part where, apparently, Yoongi was his soulmate. And he’d shared all of his feelings with Yoongi for years, without ever noticing.
Emerging outside, traversing the courtyard to the dormitory building, and climbing the stairs towards the more senior students’ dormitories happened without a thought. He had to stop and inhale deeply though when he made it to his floor, stopped in the massive spiralling staircase and wondering if he really should head up to Yoongi’s room.
As if his distress had summoned him — and Taehyung wondered if that might have actually been the case — Yoongi appeared at the top of the staircase, and rushed down until he was a step above him.
Aside from sensations of discomfort, urgency and concern — and now Taehyung was fairly sure he really was feeling what Yoongi felt — Taehyung just generally had a bad feeling about this. He thought of taking a step back and then stilled when he remembered he too was in the staircase.
“Taehyung, what’s going on?”
More concern.
Taehyung put his right hand up, palm towards himself.
“It’s a mood sharing ring. Like, I feel what you feel, and you feel what I feel.”
Either Yoongi’s face had looked guilty, or Taehyung had sensed the feeling of guilt thanks to the ring. Either way, it didn’t take long for Taehyung to understand that Yoongi had already known. Had been rushing down the stairs because he’d felt weird feelings from Taehyung. Had asked him what was wrong because of precisely that.
It seemed likely that Yoongi, in turn, had either noticed the look of betrayal, or had felt it, too; because he was the first to acknowledge his prior knowledge of it.
“I didn’t know at first.”
Taehyung nodded, because he hadn’t supposed that Yoongi had known all along. Maybe he’d learned of it recently, too. Maybe that was why Taehyung had felt like something was off. Maybe… maybe he had noticed how all of his classmates had looked at Taehyung’s declarations of love as if those had been the normal course of business. Maybe that had inspired him to look into why everyone would have considered that normal and had come to the revelation that the rings weren’t quite what they had been supposed to be.
“Since when then?”
“Maybe a few weeks later? Right before leaving for school.”
Taehyung nearly lost his breath.
“We’ve been wearing these for six years.”
“And they’ve always served me well. Especially that first year. I knew when you felt the saddest, and so knew when to come home on weekends.” Taehyung knew that that had been intended to sound altruistic, but his feelings didn’t lessen or change. “To be fair, I thought you would notice sooner rather than later.”
“Well I didn’t. At all. Someone had to explain it to me.” The thought of Namjoon’s explanation reminded him of the other, equally as important, piece of the puzzle. “You know what this bond colour means, right?”
He brought his hand back up, urging Yoongi to look at the stone once again, but he seemed at a loss.
“Bond colour?”
Then, another thought came to Taehyung. His recurring strong urge and conviction that he had to confess to Yoongi, but then coming up short. “You have something to confess to me?” He was further hit by the timing of that feeling. “And it’s related to me asking you out?”
Yoongi nodded gravely.
Taehyung could imagine dozens of confessions. None of them were good ones.
Thus, it wasn’t all that shocking when Yoongi said, “I hate it when you do stuff like that.”
Taehyung looked down, feeling shamed by Yoongi’s direct words. He gripped the staircase’s railing for balance, worried that the conversation could become even worse.
“You could have just turned me down.”
Yoongi pushed a hand through his hair, looking a little aggravated now. Taehyung wondered if Yoongi would expect him to understand all of his feelings without any verbal communication. He wasn’t sure he could pull that off. Not yet, and maybe not ever.
“I’m pretty sure it’s obvious now that I don’t want to turn you down. I’m also sure you can see how much it sucks for you to do stuff like that when you don’t have those kinds of feelings for me.”
Taehyung drew his hand back from the railing, drew his thumb beneath his forefinger and middle finger to rub at the ring.
“I keep telling you that I like you so much. What other feelings am I supposed to wait for?”
Yoongi crossed his arms. Taehyung was reminded of a brief period of time, when they had been younger, when Yoongi had been particularly obnoxious about reminding and emphasizing that Taehyung was two years his junior. Not just a year, as Taehyung’s grade would have suggested. Maybe that feeling was amplified now by having Yoongi a step higher in the staircase and appearing markedly taller.
“I’ve had some time to practice differentiating your feelings from mine. So, I actually do know that you aren’t attracted to me, and don’t have any romantic feelings for me.”
When Taehyung looked down this time, he didn’t find the courage to look back up. The staircase felt imperceptibly colder after those words. Taehyung thought of the hours he’d spent this year, concocting plans and pouring love into his spells.
“Do you know how I knew you wanted to confess something to me? I didn’t have a weird premonition that that was how you felt. I felt like I had something to confess to you. Even though there was never anything when I tried to.”
“What are you saying?”
But, Taehyung didn’t think he needed to elaborate more. He could understand now how Yoongi had been able to dissect their feelings before. The same way that Taehyung had felt sad all week without reason and without intent. Because it had been Yoongi who had felt morose, not Taehyung. But, if Yoongi had ever felt attracted to Taehyung, Taehyung understood that he would have simply felt attracted without direction through the magical properties of the ring. He wouldn’t have felt attracted to himself specifically. He might have redirected those feelings of attraction to Yoongi, because he had been the person he’d longed after for so long.
Taehyung moved out of the staircase. Felt lucky that no one had needed to come up to their floors during their talk. He couldn’t quite manage to look at Yoongi still. He was afraid of showing the feelings of hurt that he knew Yoongi could already feel.
“I’m saying that I tried telling you that I love you through my magic. And I was telling myself that it was my fault, that I couldn’t express myself well enough in front of you. But, in reality, you just weren’t listening to me.”
Yoongi must have felt that Taehyung wanted to be alone because he didn’t chase after him afterwards.
The fireberries were early to blossom this year. Customarily, they would bloom on the coldest night of winter. Taehyung, however, was still wearing his fall coat. Yet, the leaves above him were a blazing red.
It was the only one of its kind on the school property, and Taehyung’s favourite spot to make efforts to study. Today, he had put up no pretence of such an attempt. He hadn’t brought any of his textbooks. In fact, he’d come to the spot to avoid the atmosphere within the main school building. The last weeks of school; evaluations were in full swing. Taehyung still wondered why evaluations would be the last moment of their school year. It very much felt like they were supposed to leave a terrifying taste in their mouths as they tried to enjoy their winter break.
This year, Taehyung had felt more stressed than ever before. Things had ended on a bad note with Yoongi, and they hadn’t seen each other since — over a week already. Taehyung must have been spending too much time trying to detangle their feelings from one another. Heightened with the stressors of their first actual fight and Yoongi’s looming future after graduation, Taehyung was nearly pulling his hair out to keep himself from throwing the ring away.
It gleamed a dark blue. Meaning that Yoongi hadn’t taken his off. So, Taehyung had to persevere.
He didn’t know how long he kept his eyes on the red, like a decoupage set on the greyish blue of the sky, illuminated from behind by the early afternoon’s sun. But, he managed to feel quite calm by the time someone found him there.
It was none other than Yoongi. He was much more bundled up than Taehyung was, a thick scarf wrapped around his neck, and shielding half his face away. Taehyung distracted himself from the red of Yoongi’s cheeks by looking at the potted plant he held.
The flowers of the plant were a night sky blue. While the colour reminded him instantly of the ring around his finger, the shape of the petals felt familiar; like a flower that had bloomed within another. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Yoongi called his name and Taehyung braced himself. He was afraid of any apology, knowing he would cave in immediately and brush the whole argument between them aside to make Yoongi happy. Even though he didn’t want to. Even though he was still trying to swallow down the hurt of what had transpired.
“I understood one thing, but I could have understood correctly had I heard you out properly. Hyung is really sorry.”
Taehyung shrugged. Just as it had been last time, Yoongi felt much taller than him. Taehyung could have stood up to face him at his full height, but he didn’t really feel like it. He twisted his ring around his finger nervously.
“It’s alright.”
Taehyung’s eyebrows raised when Yoongi sat down next to him. Even on summer days, Yoongi would stand by him when he sat in this spot. Something about keeping his clothes clean because his cleansing spells didn’t really work on fabric.
“These are for you. I know you’ve been stressed in the nighttime a lot, I thought it might help with sleep. And because they’re always in bloom, if it helps, it can help a long time.”
Taehyung blinked once, reached out to receive the pot, and then blinked again. He remembered the shape now. A soothing flower that never ceased blooming. The smeraldo, Taehyung’s favourite magical plant. Taehyung had had a phase where he’d been obsessed with its mythology and had talked Yoongi’s ear off with different origin theories. He hadn’t recognized its petals, which were normally a crystalline blue, with edges as if dipped in a soft lilac watercolour. The plant in his hands had a solid dark blue appearance.
“The colour…” he prompted Yoongi unsurely.
Yoongi hummed, looking up to the reds of the fireberry’s foliage.
“I enlisted Hoseok’s help in the greenhouses. I didn’t want to come see you empty-handed, but the dyeing process was a little slow because the plant is so delicate.”
Taehyung laughed, slightly amused. Though he was happy with the present, he thought it silly that Yoongi had waited around until it was ready to come see him.
“You didn’t have to buy my forgiveness, you know?”
Yoongi scrunched up his nose, and rather than seeing it, Taehyung felt the swell of frustration.
“It’s not about that. You always confessed with these grand gestures. And my magic isn’t… I don’t create a lot with my magic. I just know lots of stuff. Though clearly I don’t hang on to what I know, either. What with how I had no memory of my colour theory class…”
Taehyung swallowed nervously, busying himself with brushing his fingers against the curved edges of the flowers. He assumed Yoongi had gone to dig around, and had found out the truth about the dark blue. He wondered if the dyed petals were a message that Yoongi wasn’t upset with the nature of their bond. He wasn’t sure.
“So you know? About us…?”
Yoongi nodded.
“And if I’m going to be a proper soulmate, I need to put some effort in my confession back.”
Taehyung’s face was growing warmer now, his stomach clenching nervously.
“It’s alright. You don’t have to go through all this. I kind of got that you felt the same way the last time we talked.”
“Taehyung,” Yoongi cut in, tone undeniably serious. “Do you still want to give it a try with me? I know I made mistakes. But, I’m willing to learn how to do better with you by my side. What do you think?”
Taehyung wrapped his arms around the pot, allowed himself to momentarily show and feel sadness before meeting Yoongi’s eyes.
“Even though you’re graduating?”
That had been his biggest fear throughout his attempts. Even if Yoongi liked him back, would they even be able to build something together with Yoongi entering what Taehyung saw as the real adult world. Just as when they had been children, Taehyung was still trailing a year behind.
To Taehyung’s surprise, Yoongi scooted in closer. He didn’t look concerned or stressed.
“What’s a year when we’re this connected? We’ve done it once before, too.” He put a hand over Taehyung’s shoulder and squeezed warmly. “And thanks to you being a little prodigy, we’ve only had to do something like this for two years max, instead of four.”
Taehyung smiled, a little tearfully, a little shakily.
“And you’re not mad I didn’t realize I could feel you? All this time?”
Yoongi made a comically flummoxed expression.
“Aren’t you mad that I kept that from you?”
“I don’t think so?” Taehyung felt uncertain about that. He just knew that what had hurt the deepest was Yoongi going over his head to determine how Taehyung actually felt. “I mean, you said you would come home from school to see me when I felt sad? You did stuff like that? And I was clueless, so… It’s not like I properly gave back.”
“Oh, my Taehyung.” He let himself completely melt against Yoongi’s side when the other securely wrapped an arm around his waist. “You’re my best friend. You’ve always worked hard on our friendship and our communication. We really never needed these rings.” Yoongi paused then, and reprised a little bashfully. “But, Hoseok told me how everyone thought we were already an item, because of the colour. So, I guess, that was a nice bonus.”
“You didn’t mind that?”
“Of course not.”
Taehyung cuddled closer. A comfortable silence settled over the pair as Taehyung continued to observe the smeraldo, running his fingers along its leaves now.
Eventually, Yoongi nudged him upright.
“Should we head inside? I’ll help you review for your evaluation tomorrow.”
Taehyung heaved out a dramatic sigh, tried to imagine how Yoongi would force him to study for his final evaluations next year when he wouldn’t even be at school.
Yoongi had pulled his scarf down at some point. The way the scarf was wrapped around him, however, had the effect of puffing out both his cheeks and lips. Taehyung looked back to the blue flowers, feeling a little dazed.
“Do you want to…?” He paused, wondering if Yoongi could feel Taehyung’s urge to kiss his lips. He tried to clear his own mind to check if he could feel that urge amplified by Yoongi’s own desires. But, it was all a big tangled mess of feelings for Taehyung still.
Yoongi must have known however, because he turned to face Taehyung, and brought his gloved hands over Taehyung’s where they rested on the pot. He leaned in closer. His smile was knowing.
“What’s that, Tae?”
“Well. I like you. You like me. I know you like me. And you know I like you. Could we kiss? Please?”
Yoongi laughed hard enough that his eyes almost closed completely with mirth. Soon enough, that laughter was pressed against Taehyung’s lips. His fingers twitched underneath Yoongi’s. He had a passing thought for the rings that adorned those fingers. He smiled too as he pressed a second kiss to Yoongi’s mouth.
Everything felt warm, as bright and as colourful as the fireberry tree’s leaves. When they parted — maybe whole minutes later, or maybe seconds, Taehyung didn’t know — Yoongi had to physically pull Taehyung up to his feet to push him towards the building.
Taehyung wondered how boring it would be to kiss someone without feeling what they felt. Thankfully, he didn’t think he would need to experience it.