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~Year 2157~
They managed to find a secluded spot in the station garden – a lush place with enough shutter from curious eyes. A brief moment away from the endless grind, getting ready for the journey to come and whatever may come after. The yellow lights overhead cast a warm glow on their surroundings. Yoongi looks beautiful in this light, Jungkook thinks. Artificial as it may be, it has no effect on his beauty whatsoever.
“Are you nervous?” Yoongi asks, playing with Jungkook’s hand in his lap.
“For cryo?” He takes a deep breath, smells the green of the plants they’re surrounded by. Part of him is afraid of waking up in the future to find that it’s all gone. Everything they worked for. But Yoongi knows those fears. Many nights were shared together, talking about it. Comforting each other; sometimes with words, sometimes with something entirely different. “I won’t feel anything, right?”
“No, it will be like falling asleep.”
“Then I’ll be okay. Knowing you’ll be there – it makes it okay.”
Yoongi pulls him closer, corners of his mouth turned upwards. From this close, Jungkook can only look into his eyes. There’s happiness in them. It feels warm.
“I love you,” Yoongi tells him. Jungkook closes the gap and kisses him, because he loves him back.
Before they start their journey into space, separated and cold, they take their time to feel all the warmth. To love before it’s put on hold.
~Year unknown~
Headache.
Cold.
These are the first things Jungkook registers. Sensation slowly seems to come back to him. It feels unpleasant. He’s on a hard surface. A steady beeping noise to the side. Sharp smells that are hard to identify. He tries to contract his hand, feels it shake. Weak.
Opening his eyes is a difficult task but he manages. He squints up at his bright environment, blinking repeatedly until the blurry shapes start to take proper form.
Another noise joins the array of sounds that surround him. This time a voice.
“-re awake. Don’t try to move just yet. Let me warm you up properly first.”
Jungkook can see a shape from the corner of his eye. As he’s told, he doesn’t move. Although he isn’t sure if he even could. He’s cold and tired. Then, warmth starts spreading through his hand, his arm and the rest of his body.
He’s unsure how much time has passed, but Jungkook is finally able to form a thought beyond how he’s feeling.
Yoongi.
Suddenly he has the urge to get up and moving. He doesn’t just want to lie here. There is somebody he needs to see. He moves his lips, but no sound comes out.
“You’re okay, the waking takes a while. I will get you some water soon,” the unfamiliar man says. Jungkook now registers that the voice is warm, deep. The man sounds kind.
Jungkook doesn’t know how much time passes, but eventually he’s able to move his limbs. Not that he gets up. He’s waiting for instructions first.
He wets his lips, meaning to ask a question. “I-“ it comes out as a soft wheeze, and he coughs.
The man is back then, this time hovering over him. He has a handsome and kind face, smile causing his cheeks to dimple. “Are you ready? Let’s get you sitting up.”
It’s still excruciating. Jungkook feels woozy, but he is alive. A miracle, it feels like. The man introduces himself as Namjoon. His calm demeanor somehow manages to instill some patience in Jungkook. He can’t very well go see Yoongi like this.
A while later he is finally able to stand. His voice is woken up more after confirming personal data and answering questions. He has questions of his own, though.
“When will I be able to visit others?”
Namjoon pauses putting in information on his pad. Something flickers across his face. Jungkook doesn’t like it. “That depends. If the people you’re looking for have awakened.”
“Oh, he should have.” Jungkook rubs his arms, feeling chills spread through him despite the warm clothes he’s wearing. “He is part of a scientist team. That makes him important, right?”
Namjoon doesn’t meet his eyes. It’s unsettling. “You’re right. Do you have a name? I can look.”
“Yoongi Min,” Jungkook tells him. It feels good to say his name, good to feel the rush of butterflies spread through him. Part of him was afraid his feelings would get lost in cryo. That it would no longer feel the same.
“Right.” Namjoon sounds tired almost. Jungkook doesn’t know what to make of it. “Maybe you should sit down?”
Well, that can’t be a good sign. Jungkook tentatively takes a seat again, heart hammering in his chest. What is he going to say is he dead is he dead is he dead-
“I should probably tell you what year it is.” Namjoon finally meets his eyes. His dimples have gone with his smile, expression now serious. “It is currently 2239.”
“What.” Something went wrong? “But our estimated time of arrival was years ago.” Jungkook feels panic claw up through his chest, leaving needles in its wake. “What happened?” his voice cracks, breath stuck in his chest.
“Hey, your Yoongi is okay,” Namjoon tells him, tone soothing. “Take deep breaths, alright?” With his help, Jungkook manages to regulate his breathing, but his heart is still hiccupping in his chest.
“My – you said my Yoongi.” He’s okay, Jungkook tells himself. Why does he still feel like there’s a catch? “Do you know him?”
“Ah, yes.” Namjoon rolls a desk chair towards him so he can take a seat in front of him. “We’ve become friends. In a strange way it feels like you’re my friend, too. He always talks about you. Jungkookie this, Jungkookie that.”
Jungkook casts his gaze towards his own hands as he feels his ears becoming red. He can’t blame Yoongi for talking about him, though. Because he would do the same thing. “You weren’t friends before.” It’s a statement. Jungkook knows everything about Yoongi. Or knew, it seems. He’s alive, he tells himself. That’s all that matters.
“Yes.” The air becomes heavy again. “We were amongst the first few batches to be taken out of cryo.”
Of course, Jungkook thinks. Yoongi is an environmental scientist. He always knew they were going to need him, first. Jungkook is just a regular primary school teacher. The plan was always to wake the children last. Which means Jungkook comes just before that.
He knows there is a question he needs to ask. Although he isn’t sure if he is ready for the answer yet. Namjoon seems to think the same, because he is patiently waiting. Not forcing any information on him.
“He always bugged me about taking you out of cryo early, you know.” Namjoon chuckles to himself. “Screw the consequences, he’d say.”
Junkook looks at Namjoon then. Really looks at him. There are crow’s feet at his eyes. A hint of fine lines across his face. No grey hairs, yet. Somewhere in his early thirties, maybe? The way he talks about Yoongi makes it seem like – like he can’t be much older. But what if? What if?
“Just tell me. How long has it been?” Jungkook asks, even though he doesn’t really want to hear. Has the urge to put his fingers in his ears and pretend he’s having a funny dream. Childish, he knows.
“Seven years. We were taken out of cryo seven years ago.”
Not as bad as I thought, Jungkook thinks. But that makes Yoongi – he does the mental math – thirty-six. “Fuck.” That’s a long time. A long time for Yoongi without him. And why? “What went wrong?”
“Something in the automated systems,” Namjoon tells him. “We’re only a year away from our destination, now. We felt it too risky to return back to cryo, so decided to travel the last leg of the journey manually.”
“Nobody got hurt?”
Namjoon sighs and looks up at the ceiling. “Luckily, no. We nearly lost the green life, though. The regulations went all wonky. Yoongi was on the team that saved them.” His gaze seems somewhere far away, as he seems to be remembering more. “Something good to come out of all this is that we managed to get more close-range scans of the planet. It looks good. Yoongi’s even able to slowly acclimatize the green life. We might be able to plant them on the new planet sooner than expected.”
Jungkook feels a swell of pride, then. He always admired Yoongi for more than just the person he was; his smarts, his dedication. The passion he has for their future. Nothing is impossible, as long as you work diligently. The face Jungkook sees in his mind is still a vibrant and young Yoongi. He wonders what he looks like now.
“Is the garden still there?” he asks. The garden where they said their goodbyes. Their ‘see you when I wake up’.
“Oh, yes! Interesting, that one.” Namjoon shrugs at Jungkook’s confused expression. “Yoongi fought hard to keep it unchanged. Keep the original atmosphere. Never told any of us why, but he goes there often.”
“Can I go there?” Jungkook asks.
Namjoon seems surprised at first, but slowly understanding seems to dawn on him. “You can. I’ll do some final check-ups and then you can go.”
Before leaving the cryo bay, Jungkook is given a small bag with some of his belongings. The key to his studio apartment on the station, a booklet with post-cryo procedures, and his communication device. Humanity never changed the design of those devices, much. Nostalgia, perhaps. Jungkook puts his thumb on the scanner and watches the screen flicker to life.
The hallways are calm, empty. He doesn’t know what time it is, but he’s glad to be alone for this. Finally the device fully loads. Jungkook stills.
999+ unread messages. All sent by Yoongi. Jungkook opens the most recent one with trembling hands, eyesight getting blurry with tears.
Need to think again.
-1 hour ago
It’s completely out of context, but somehow, some part of Jungkook knows what it means. So he runs.
He runs.
His footsteps echo through the hallways. Loud footfalls in tandem with the beat of his heart echoing in his chest, Yoongi’s name echoing in his head. The garden comes into sight, then. He can see it through the large windows, still as lush and green as he remembers. There’s a bench in the center of the garden, he knows, which can’t be seen from here. The trees are bigger, the bushes have grown, the flowers are in full bloom.
Jungkook wipes the sweat from his brow as he enters through the sliding doors. They close behind him. The smell from the green life is almost dizzying. Sweet and bright. The path to the center is still the same. Soon, it comes into view.
Someone is sitting on the bench. Jungkook knows who it is. He can only see their back, but it’s a familiar posture. Black hair, longer than what he remembered, reaching into their nape now. They’re wearing a white coat, shoulders slumped, head facing down.
With shaking hands, Jungkook takes his device. Can’t find his voice, so decides to do the next best thing.
I’m here.
A chime can be heard from the bench. For a few beats, there’s no movement. Then, a voice. “Jungkook?” It’s gravelly, but still as warm and wonderful as Jungkook remembers.
Yoongi turns around and stands up.
Eyes wide with shock, he approaches Jungkook, who is still standing in the same spot absolutely frozen. With each step, Jungkook can see more of him. More of what isn’t him. Or is, now. He’s older. But he’s still Yoongi. What does it mean what does this mean what do I mean? Jungkook’s thoughts go in a loop, panic rising up.
“Jungkookie.” Voice soft this time. The same intonation Yoongi always used when he felt stressed, when he needed to be comforted. Yoongi was always able to tell just from looking at him.
Without thinking, Jungkook reaches up his hand towards Yoongi’s face. His trembling fingers find the fine lines along his forehead, his eyes, near his mouth. A single tear escapes, and Jungkook catches it with his index finger. Still, he thinks. Still so beautiful. Still, he loves.
“Yoongi,” he says with a smile. Almost reverent. His hand cups Yoongi’s cheek, who turns his face towards it.
“I’ve been waiting,” Yoongi tells him. Their eyes meet. Yoongi’s hand comes to rest on top of his. “I hope you don’t mind?”
Jungkook knows the unspoken question, I hope you can love me like this, and Jungkook can find no reason not to.
So he closes the gap, finally kissing Yoongi.
And Yoongi kisses him back, because he loves him.
He loves him.