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“I just don’t get what he sees in all of these guys,” Jeongguk huffs, crossing his arms and jutting out his bottom lip, eyebrows furrowing together.
Jimin chuckles and reaches his hand down to brush the hair off of Jeongguk’s forehead. Taehyung shakes his head from where he’s seated at the edge of the bed, nail polish in hand and Jeongguk’s feet in his lap.
“Kookie, you know what your problem is?” Taehyung says, causing the younger to lift his head off of Jimin’s lap to give him a confused look.
“Well, first off, you don’t quit moving ,” He says sternly, pointing the nail polish brush at Jeongguk and giving him a pointed look.
Jimin chuckles fondly at the pair, shaking his head as he softly flicks the maknae’s forehead. Jeongguk’s face twists into a slightly pained yet offended look.
“ OW! ”
Jimin just shrugs and continues to play with Jeongguk’s hair, braiding it in some places and twirling it in others. Taehyung taps the top of his foot lightly before dipping the brush in the paint again and applying the color to Jeongguk’s nails.
“Your actual problem is that you don’t make a move,” Jimin chimes in, tugging lightly on Jeongguk’s hair.
Jeongguk whines, a small ‘ hyung ’ escaping his lips.
“It’s not that easy,” the younger begins, huffing frustratedly before continuing, “Yoongi hyung is beyond fucking dense.” He has a prominent pout on his lips that causes both older boys to roll their eyes fondly.
This happens every time their hyung is out on a date: Jeongguk pouts, calls the pair over to hangout, rants about all the useless guys that are undeserving of Yoongi’s time, pouts a bit more, the pair listens, put in their two cents, Yoongi texts that he’s on his way home ( ‘omw , get the ice cream ready’ ), the couple leaves, Jeongguk waits for his hyung to get home, comforts him after yet another bad date, and so on so forth.
It’s been like that for so long now, Jimin and Taehyung don’t even need Jeongguk to call them over. One look at their hyung’s text in the groupchat saying ‘ got a date tonight!’ is more than enough for them to show up at Jeongguk’s doorstep with far too many snacks in hand, ready to spend the night listening to the younger go on about how he is the perfect man for Min Yoongi and everyone else is, well, not .
Taehyung blows lightly on Jeongguk’s toes, causing him to wiggle his toes as he lets out a high pitched giggle. Jimin laughs loudly, watching adoringly as his boyfriend nearly wrestles Jeongguk to keep him still, the younger giggling breathlessly. Jeongguk has his foot in the air nearing Taehyung’s face when his phone goes off, the ringtone giving away who the text is from.
“Well, Taehyungie,” Jimin says. “That's our queue!”
Taehyung glares at Jeongguk, then shares a look with his boyfriend. Seconds later, Jeongguk finds himself being smothered by the couple, Taehyung’s body thrown over his own, hugging him tightly, as Jimin leaves numerous wet kisses all over his face.
“Hyungs! Hyungs!” Jeongguk giggles, heart full of nothing but love for his friends.
They finally pull away and Jeongguk is left out of breath as the two boys grab their belongings and head towards the front door. Jeongguk walks them out, and as they bid their goodbyes, Jimin grabs him by the shoulders and looks at him pointedly.
“It’ll be okay, Kookie. Making a move is hard already, and making a move on someone as dense as hyung is damn near impossible. But hyung would be an idiot to not love you back, so give it a go, alright? Something tells me it may go better than you’d expect.” Jeongguk smiles softly and pulls Jimin into a hug, blindly reaching out for Taehyung to join them.
After they pull away, the couple give their maknae one final smile and head off. Jeongguk walks back into his apartment feeling lighter and beyond lucky to have such great hyungs. Without them, he would definitely not be handling this whole Yoongi dating situation as well as he is.
Jeongguk doesn’t know when he’ll “make a move” or if he’ll ever, but he decides to save that internal crisis for later. For now, he gets the couch ready, piling pillows, plushies, and blankets on it, making it as cozy as possible for when his hyung gets home. He makes his way to his room and changes quickly, pulling on the fleece pajama pants he knows Yoongi loves– he says the fuzzy material feels nice on his legs when they cuddle, sue him.
Once everything is ready, Jeongguk decides to lay on the couch as he waits for Yoongi to come home. He thinks about his hyung and his pretty pink fingertips, hands big and rough around the edges, yet gentle when they hold him. He thinks of cat-like eyes that hold their own galaxy, endless stars that Jeongguk wishes shone for him. He thinks of this hyung who he has loved since he was eighteen– the one who’s held his heart in the palm of his hands unknowingly.
Jeongguk grew up next door to Yoongi, admired him for years before he had fallen in love with him. They spent nearly their whole lives together, meeting when Yoongi moved into the neighborhood at twelve years old, an eight year old Jeongguk immediately befriending the older and sticking to his side like glue. Wherever Yoongi went, Jeongguk wasn’t too far behind him– Yoongi never minded it though.
Yoongi took Jeongguk under his wing with zero hesitation. He was instantly fond of the younger boy, his big round eyes and bunny teeth were enough for Yoongi to befriend the younger and keep him in his pocket. The four year age difference was barely ever felt, the pair getting along so well they were able to easily adapt to each other’s personalities and tend to one another properly when needed.
Yoongi was everything and more to Jeongguk. He was the person who listened to him and comforted him when he needed to. The person who held his hand while his mom cleaned the gash on his leg after he fell off his bike. The one who held him as the tears fell, his heart aching over a boy who he thought loved him. The person who let him find a home in his apartment after he decided to leave home in pursuit of a life for himself.
Yoongi was the hyung whose approval meant the most to him. The first person he came running to whenever he had something to share.
“ Did you see that hyung? I ran so fast!” “I did, Jeongguk-ah! Hyung’s so proud!”
“Hyung, I passed my exam with the highest grade in my class!” “That’s my smart dongsaeng!”
“Hyung, I met this couple in class today, they’re sooo nice! I think we’re gonna be good friends.” “I’m happy for you, Jeonggukie, just don't forget about your hyung!” “Never!”
To say that Yoongi and Jeongguk had been through everything together is rather accurate, maybe even an understatement if you ask them. Yoongi and Jeongguk were each other’s person in more ways than one, but never in the way Jeongguk wished. It’s okay, though, because Jeongguk would rather have Yoongi as his best friend than not at all. It’s enough– it always will be.
Jeongguk hadn’t even noticed he dozed off until he felt a weight on top of him.
“Hyung?” he mumbled, sleep heavy in his voice.
“Mhm, I’m home,” Yoongi’s words were muffled, his face pressed into Jeongguk’s neck.
Jeongguk rubs the sleep out of his eyes and wipes the drool off his chin using the back of his hand. He looks down at Yoongi, and smiles softly, arms immediately coming up to hug him. They both sigh contentedly, reveling in the familiar warmth of being in each other’s arms.
“How was the date?”
“ Ugh! Don’t even get me started,” The older man groaned, pushing himself up from where he was laying on Jeongguk.
“That bad?” Jeongguk questions, eyebrows raised and lips slightly downturned into a frown.
Yoongi stands up then, nodding quickly before running into his room, coming back out in gym shorts and one of Jeongguk’s hoodies. That’s better he mumbles to himself before sitting across from Jeongguk.
“It was actually record breaking bad, if i’m being honest,” Yoongi says, face twisting into a sour expression.
Jeongguk gets comfortable then, his legs stretching across the couch onto Yoongi’s lap, the older one complimenting the pretty color on his toes. Yoongi shifts too, sitting crisscrossed in front of Jeongguk as he begins recalling the events of the night.
Yoongi walks Jeongguk through the night, tells him about how his date was nearly an hour late, showed up in an obnoxiously loud car, spoke only about himself, chewed with his mouth open, and to top it all off, tried to make Yoongi pay for the entire bill. Granted, Yoongi’s meal only accounted for less than half the bill.
“It was ridiculous, like, how could someone act this way and actually not see a problem with it?” Yoongi says in disbelief.
Jeongguk blows air out of his mouth, eyebrows raising comically as he digests everything Yoongi just told him. “How the fuck did you even meet this guy?” He asks.
Yoongi groans, hands coming up to rub at his face. He slumps into the couch and turns his head to face Jeongguk.
“The same way as usual– dating apps.”
Jeongguk shakes his head at his hyung, mouth opening as he prepares to give his hyung a speech about how most dating sites are bullshit and how he shouldn’t just go on a date with anybody. But before he could do that, Yoongi starts whining loudly, crawling over Jeongguk to make him stop before he says whatever he’s about to say.
“Please, don’t say ittt! I know I know!” Yoongi whines, shoving his face into the younger’s chest and hiding away from whatever words were about to come out of Jeongguk’s mouth.
“Okay, I won’t say it this time, but you already know what I’m thinking. So, please, think about that next time you agree to go on a date with some self-centered asshole who probably doesn’t even know his own name,” Jeongguk says sternly, arms coming up to rub at Yoongi’s back.
Yoongi simply nods, a small sigh escaping his lips as he buries his face deeper into Jeongguk’s chest. They stay like that for a while, Yoongi laying on top of Jeongguk as the latter rubs his back soothingly. It’s warm, familiar.
A few more minutes pass before Jeongguk breaks the silence that had fallen over them.
“Hyung, what’s on your mind? I can hear you thinking, y’know.”
Jeongguk feels Yoongi shrink at that moment, making himself smaller in his arms. Jeongguk tightens his grip around him.
“I just–” Yoongi starts, cutting himself off with a defeated sigh. “I just don’t get why every single date just never works out for me. I feel like maybe I’m doing something wrong?”
Jeongguk pulls back slightly, one of his hands coming to tilt Yoongi’s face upwards towards his own.
“Hyung, do you know how lucky anybody would be to love you?” Jeongguk says, earnest.
Yoongi stares at him, a sad smile on his lips. Jeongguk starts speaking again before he can say anything.
“Y’know, you’re quite literally the best person I’ve ever known. Anybody, and i mean it, would be so fucking lucky to have the privilege to love you. To go on dates with you, to hold your hand and kiss you whenever they want to, just because they can . To be loved by you would be an even greater privilege. You love so passionately and so genuinely that whoever experiences that love will be the luckiest person in the entire galaxy… Hyung, loving you and being loved by you would be all they’d ever need because doing both would be like that first drop of water after a drought,” Jeongguk almost whispers the last few words, voice wavering slightly.
Let me do it. Let me love you.
Yoongi stares at Jeongguk, mouth hanging open slightly as his eyes shine beautifully, fairy lights reflecting in them and painting a galaxy of stars. He’s speechless, mind processing the words that had just spilled out of his best friend’s mouth.
Oh how easy would it be to love and be loved by you.
Yoongi’s eyes suddenly changed, a somber look now taking over his features as his eyes glazed over, storm clouds rolling in and making his world gray. Everything the younger said sounds so fucking great, but what good is it if it’s not the person you want it to be?
“Hyung?” Jeongguk says softly, a slightly worried look on his face.
“That… I want that. I do, so bad. But—” Yoongi stops himself, breathing deeply before climbing off of Jeongguk and standing up. He walks towards the other end of the living room. Jeongguk watches him carefully, hands trembling slightly as he pulls himself upright. The atmosphere is different, unreadable.
“What good is all of that if— if it’s not… you ,” Yoongi’s voice is quiet, yet firm. There’s slight frustration in his tone, a sense of longing and heartbreak that feels almost suffocating. What did he mean if it’s not him?
“Wha–” Jeongguk cuts off, choking on his own words. He stares at Yoongi who’s standing on the other side of the coffee table fiddling nervously with his fingers.
The older one looks up at him then, and when their eyes meet, the world stops for just a few seconds. Suddenly they’re eight and twelve, strangers who had just met but were sure they’d be inseparable for years to come. They’re fourteen and eighteen, best friends who had to say goodbye because it was time for one of them to go off to college, their hearts aching viciously. They’re eighteen and twenty-two, a boy who’d just entered the world with a heart full of love for the one who opened up his doors and let him build a home inside of his own.
They’re twenty-four and twenty-eight— two men who have loved each other for so long, but never found the words to say to each other. So there they stand, lightyears away, yet closer than ever to a cosmic collision.
Jeongguk could deny it, could drive himself crazy with thoughts that told him he had misheard Yoongi and that this was all just him imagining things, but he knew better than that. He knew when Yoongi was serious, he knew when he was joking, and he knew when he didn’t mean something. He knew Yoongi like he knew himself, had learned the ins and outs of his hyungs throughout the years of their friendship.
Composing himself, Jeongguk stands up and walks towards Yoongi. He stops in front of him, just a few inches away, and reaches a hand up to brush a strand of hair away from his face. He smiles softly, eyes sparkling with adoration. How silly could they have been to keep themselves from loving each other the way they were meant to?
“Can’t you see, hyung? I’ve known for years – since I was eighteen – what it feels like to love you. I’ve known what it is to fall in love with you from a close distance, and I've considered myself beyond lucky, because even if it wasn’t mutual, at least I could say I had the privilege of loving you in my own way and to the best of my abilities,” Jeongguk says, words escaping his lips so easily. Loving Yoongi is so easy.
Yoongi’s eyes fill to the brim with tears, a watery smile painting itself on his face.
“Jeongguk-ah,” Yoongi whispers. “I have so much yet so little to say. You’re just– you’re the sun and everything just gravitates around you. You’re so bright and you shine so beautifully, how could I not have fallen in love with you?” He finishes, a love so fierce in his eyes that it almost knocks the air out of Jeongguk’s lungs.
“Can we just talk later, hyung? I’m sorry but I just need to kiss you. Plea–” before Jeongguk could finish his sentence, Yoongi’s lips pressed against his own, and finally they collided.
Two galaxies merge to create an infinite number of stars that formed constellations that told the story of two young boys who grew up together and learned to love each other in more ways than one. They soared through this new and vast universe, their lips exploring one another as they began to learn what it meant to love each other in this way.
And for that, they could say they were both beyond lucky to be able to love and be loved by one another.
Fin.