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taehyung’s not a heavy sleeper, so he’s easily roused from his dream by the sound outside his window, and when he blinks blearily he catches a pebble being thrown at the glass, rattling down the windowpane. swinging his legs out of bed and into his slippers, taehyung stumbles to the window and pushes them open, narrowly missing a stone whizzing past his ear. he glares down at his garden, at the small figure half hidden in the bushes, recognisable by the red of his scarf.
“park jimin, you nearly made me lose an eye!” taehyung whisper yells, although there isn’t a need too. his parents are heavy sleepers, and their room is on the other side of the house.
jimin pokes his head out, grinning wide. his hair is already a mess of leaves and dirt, and he looks just like how taehyung met him when they were kids, in the dirt and under the sun of the school playground. he waves two hands covered in mittens eagerly. “come on, taehyung! we’ve gotta go, or we’re gonna miss it!”
“miss what? the only thing i’m missing is prime counting sheep time,” taehyung grumbles, crossing his arms and leaning them on the windowsill.
“the weather said it’ll snow tonight. tae, it’s the first snow of the year, we have to see it,” jimin whines.
“i can see it perfectly in the warmth and comfort of my bedroom.”
“wouldn’t you risk being cold seeing it with your best friend?” jimin suggests, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “i found the best place to watch it happen, and it’s only a few minutes away. please? pretty please? with extra marshmallows on top shaped like teddy bears?”
jimin clasps his hands together and pouts, eyes wide and adoring. adorable, taehyung thinks, then shakes his head, stomach fluttering. he lets out a long sigh, sticking his tongue out. “fine. give me a minute, i need to find my coat.”
“you probably chucked it at the bottom of your wardrobe again,” jimin points out with a wink, and taehyung doesn’t reply, mostly because he’s right, it is at the bottom under his schoolbag, and also because whenever jimin winks he always finds himself tripping on his tongue.
he takes the stairs slowly, careful for the places that creak. he’s familiar with them, the amount of times jimin coaxes him out at night or when he’s supposed to be doing his homework hard to count. the first time they met they had escaped the sand pit where the rest of the kids were to climb the nearby trees, jimin’s cheeks chubby and pink, bunched into rosy apples from his mischievous smile. he’s not as chubby now, leaning against his bike outside taehyung’s back door, but that smile is still there, turning his eyes into crescents, making taehyung feel that fuzzy and golden glow he’s always felt when jimin smiles like that.
“your chariot, good sir,” jimin says, bowing deeply and gesturing flourishingly at his bike. taehyung has his own, but his dad is fixing the gears at the moment, so jimin lent him a backseat for the week. he doesn’t mind how he nearly falls off each time, if it means he can wrap his arms around jimin’s waist and snuggle into his back as jimin cycles slowly, or clutch his shoulders and scream in his ear as they wind down a hill.
“come on, where is this perfect place then?” taehyung huffs, settling at the back of jimin’s bike. jimin jumps as taehyung’s hands clasp at his front, and taehyung wonders if his fingers are shaking too much.
“close,” jimin nods, kicking off precariously and pedalling out of taehyung’s garden. “i didn’t think it was gonna snow so early. apparently it’s gonna be heavy, maybe even 20cm. isn’t that cool?”
taehyung hums, cheek pressed against jimin’s back. jimin’s always been a little obsessed with snow; for a science fair once in middle school he built a snow machine, and his locker is decorated with snowflakes. last year, it didn’t snow, and jimin was so upset his dad surprised him one evening with fake snow in his room, chucking it everywhere with taehyung and the rest of jimin’s family. taehyung never told jimin it was actually him who suggested it, always forgetting when he remembers how wide jimin smiled, how hard it made his heart squeeze.
“it’s so quiet,” taehyung muses, as head down the street. jimin slows, and they peer at the christmas lights blinking in the night, the buzz of electricity one of the only sounds, save for the spin of the bicycle tyres against concrete, and the occasional dog barking. “it feels like we’re the only ones awake.”
“maybe we are. i mean, it is half two in the night. the only other person awake is probably yoongi hyung,” jimin adds, and taehyung scoffs a laugh in agreement. yoongi is a senior at their high school, the president of the av club taehyung and jimin are in, and spends most nights making music, and the days sleeping on a desk or on his boyfriend hoseok’s shoulder. “we’re the only ones outside, though. it’s like we have the whole town just for us at night, isn’t it?”
taehyung hums, and tries not to fall asleep, even if jimin is warm against him, and he smells like butterscotch and the sun. it’s taehyung’s favourite smell, and perhaps one of the reasons he steals jimin’s sweaters, just to fall asleep and imagining jimin is right there next to him, cradling him into sleep.
he’s shaken from his thoughts when jimin halts jerkily, and taehyung yawns, staring upwards. “the sledding hill?” it’s not really called that, the large mount that sits a few streets down taehyung’s house, on his way to school, but everyone names it that as it’s the best place to go sledding in winter, steep and smooth enough for a fun ride. “you’re really making me do exercise in the middle of the night?”
“it’s not exercise,” jimin scoffs, rolling his eyes as he ties his bike to a lamppost. taehyung notices how the light makes jimin’s hair turn an eerie gold, and without thinking he reaches forward to ruffle it. jimin looks up, and taehyung blushes as jimin takes his hand in his, tugging it gently. “come on. we’re going even if i have to carry you.”
“well…”
“i’m not carrying you when you have two functioning legs, kim taehyung,” jimin cuts in haughtily, eyes narrowed, and taehyung grins sheepishly, squeezing their hands together.
they walk in comfortable silence, taehyung sneaking glances at their linked hands, at jimin singing under his breath, lips and cheeks pink from the biting cold. he pulls jimin closer so that their shoulders bump, and jimin looks up, smile tugging his lips upwards. he does frown though, brows creasing slightly. “you’re not mad, that i woke you up and dragged you out in the cold?”
“never,” taehyung reassures him, thumb rubbing circles against jimin’s wrist. “i read the contract, i know what being your bestest friend in the entire cosmos entails.”
jimin laughs, bumping his shoulder purposefully, and taehyung smiles back, happy he made jimin laugh, happy he didn’t say, i’d follow you anywhere jimin, do anything for you. he’s only sixteen, seventeen in a month, and he thinks he’s too young to say things like that, feel things like that for his best friend.
“we’re nearly there,” jimin sighs, and taehyung pretends to be reluctant and tired just so jimin links their arms and tugs him along, giggling until they reach the peak. taehyung exhales, leaning against the trunk of a tree, watching as jimin spins in place, eyes bright and lips parted in awe. “i forgot you could see the whole town from here. it’s beautiful.”
“it is,” taehyung says, joining his side and looking down at the lights blinking back at them, rows of little houses broken by the river that cuts through their town, the waters inky black from up here. “why did we have to come all the way up here though?”
“it’s the closest place to the sky, therefore the closest when it snows. we’ll be the first people under the first snow,” jimin gushes, brown sparkling in his irises. he tilts his head to the sky, indigo clouds strewn across its dark expanse, hiding the stars from view, eyes squinting upwards. jimin turns, blinking surprise at taehyung watching him, but taehyung doesn’t mind getting caught, not with the shy smile that traces jimin’s lips, cheeks a dark pink. “hey, kim taehyung?”
“yes, jimin-ah?”
“do you wanna know the reason why i brought you here?”
“first snow, duh.”
“the other reason.”
“cause i’m the only one stupid enough to get out of bed at half two in the morning for you,” taehyung grumbles, but he’s grinning, even when jimin jabs his side with his elbow.
“okay, the other other reason,” jimin huffs, chewing his bottom lip.
“what is it, jimin-ah?”
“well…” jimin runs a gloved hand through his hair, tugging the ends of his ears, and that’s when taehyung knows he should be paying more attention to his best friend, because that’s jimin’s trait when he’s nervous. he turns to face him, frowning as jimin closes his eyes and inhales sharply. “youknowhowpeoplesayyoushouldspendthefirstsnowwithyourfirstloveright?”
taehyung blinks, jimin flushing red in the cold next to him, only a breath apart. oh.
“oh,” taehyung says, and despite his pounding heart, despite his head spinning in cartwheels above him, he smiles. “okay, jimin-ah.”
“ok—” jimin frowns with a pout, his classic frustrated expression. “what do you mean ‘okay’? that’s it? that’s all you have to say?”
taehyung nods. “i guess. why else would i have came all the way up here with you?”
“you gue—” jimin stops, eyes widening, lips falling open. “you—you came up here because—”
taehyung leans forward and presses a kiss on jimin’s lips, cold and trembling, but still soft, smiling wide as jimin squeaks under him. when he pulls away he takes jimin’s hand, brushing his hair out of his face, rubbing his cheekbones as jimin stares at him dazedly. he brushes something off jimin’s shoulder, only for it to be replaced again, and taehyung blinks, eyes wide. “jimin-ah, it’s snowing—”
jimin kisses him this time, clutching the collar of taehyung’s coat. taehyung can taste him this time, sweet and soft in his mouth, and he’d lose his balance if his hands weren’t around jimin’s neck, pulling him flush against him. he’s trembling, either from the cold or the butterflies in his stomach, but he feels warmer from jimin’s lips on his, his hands curling over taehyung’s chest. they pull apart, letting out breathy laughs, and taehyung watches snowflakes swirl around them, collecting on jimin’s eyelashes and his hair. one lands on his cheek, and taehyung licks it off, jimin’s nose scrunching as he presses kisses down his jaw.
“gross,” jimin mumbles, but he doesn’t pull away, hands circling taehyung’s waist. taehyung laughs again, pulling jimin close, turning to watch snow fall around them, snowflakes gathering in clumps before drifting to settle against the grass. jimin snuggles into taehyung’s chest, rubbing his cheek against the front of taehyung’s coat, humming as taehyung tucks his chin on top of jimin’s head.
“is it too early to think of a first date idea?” taehyung asks timidly, looking down at jimin.
“duh. ice skating and hot chocolate after. i already bought the tickets,” jimin tuts, leaning close to rub their noses together. taehyung tries not to show how endeared he is.
“wow. you predicted a 100 percent success rate with your confession, huh?”
“of course. i’m just too darn adorable.”
taehyung scoffs, but he kisses the tip of jimin’s nose, smiling broadly. “you definitely are. your my snow flower, park jimin.”
jimin frowns. “cheesy.” he kisses taehyung again, tasting of snow and sunshine. “but i love it.”