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∞

"Something that disappears when touched...

It's just like snow, isn't it?"

- Hotaru Takegawa, Hotarubi no Mori e

∞

Taehyung awaits this day every year.

He doesn't have to check a calendar or his phone to see the date, it's as if the switching of seasons and the sun's orbits are engraved in his skin. He woke up this morning with a huge grin on his face. And then it dawned on him: this year is a rather special one.

So he changed fast, and now, after eating and flinging a bag over his shoulder, he kisses his mother goodbye.

"Have you got everything? Suncream?"

Taehyung nods. "Yeah, I remember it every year, Ma. Trust me. Goodbye!"

He waves once and shuts the door behind himself with a grin. The heat here in the city is sweltering, an almost choking heat that Taehyung hates. There's no wind, no breeze, here, and he can't wait to get away. Down the bottom of the hill ahead of him is the bus stop where he's very much used to standing at after eighteen years of using it. He's lived here, in the centre of Daegu, since he was born and yet...

...it isn't home.

Carefully, he plugs in his earphones and sets off down the hill, soaking in the last of this humidity before he ventures somewhere else where a colourful wind seems to always pass through the branches.

This year is the ninth year like this. The ninth year in which Taehyung will catch a train from here in Daegu's city centre to the outskirts where his grandfather lives, buried away between magical forests and surrounded by tall mountains. A small village, maybe two hundred people at most. This is where Taehyung has gone every year since he was nine years old.

And now, aged eighteen, this summer marks the ninth year knowing Min Yoongi.

∞

Nine years ago, Taehyung was a little reluctant to hop on a train to his grandfather's house. But it had to be done - the summer had come around and his parents couldn't afford to stay off of work and look after him, nor could they afford daycare. The only option was if he stayed with his grandfather in his village house.

Taehyung had never been before, despite his grandfather having visited their house in the city, and so he wasn't really sure what to expect. He was nervous too, especially considering he was nine and getting a train alone at such a young age was rather frightening. Thankfully the staff at the station guided him through the process and soon enough he was seated beside a window, gazing out as the post-modern urban jungle he knew well shifted into greens and blues.

He waited for nearly an hour until the train stilled at a station named exactly what his mother had said. The last stop. Taehyung was smart, for a nine year old. He hopped off the train and looked out for his grandfather in the crowd. Much after that is distant memory, up until he met Yoongi. Spending time with his grandfather was sweet but the village was sweeter, outcast from the rest of Daegu, so surrounded by beautiful forests that Taehyung had all the time in the world to explore.

His grandfather explained that the forest beside his village was a rather special one, named The Forest of the Mountain God, where it was said many forest spirits and guardians wandered during the day and night, nurturing and protecting the trees. It was just a myth, his grandfather said, but the village liked to believe it.

On the second day there, his grandfather gave him permission to explore some of the forest so long as he stayed near to the house, and so Taehyung set out. He fastened his booties tightly so they wouldn't fall off, and pulled his hat down. On his back was a small Pingu backpack which his mother had bought him for getting all his spellings right in school. He had a sheet of paper in his hand on which he had drawn a map, however it was merely scribbles of crayon. He was quite content in wandering aimlessly however, map discarded somewhere on the ground, singing along to the Pororo theme tune with his eyes pulled tightly shut. He picked a bundle of flowers that he decided were the prettiest, and tucked them into his pocket. Soon, he had flowers in his hair, tucked into his waistband and his pockets, slipped behind his ears.

He remembers spotting a butterfly on the bark of a tree, and it was at that point that he met Min Yoongi.

"A chestnut tiger butterfly!" He shrieked and ran towards the tree instantly. "Ma's favourite! Come here--oh, no! Don't fly away just yet!"

The butterfly spread its wings and flew further away from Taehyung, but it wasn't so sad. Taehyung decided to chase after it, running as fast as his feet could take him, arms in the hair and face held up to the blue ink seeping through the greens of the treetops. The breeze felt wonderful. He hadn't felt this good in his life ever before--there was something magical about the forest.

It was, well, great until he caught his foot on the elevated root of a tree. Almost as fast as the expansion of the butterfly's wings, Taehyung’s shoe got wedged beneath the branch and he fell face forward down against the ground. Most of his body landed on the soft grass however his forehead landed upon the branch of a root much alike the one he had tripped over.

The pain shot across his head fast, a sort of aching shooting whining pain that he didn't like at all. Back then, at aged nine, he wasn't so good at dealing with pain. His eyes welled up with tears and he choked out a loud sob. The pain kept throbbing and he wanted his Ma there to kiss it better.

"Grand...f-f-" He could barely speak as his back hitched, throat dry from crying. He looked up only to see the blue of the sky turning pink and he realised if he didn't get home soon night would appear. He was lost.

He must have sat there loudly crying for nearly twenty minutes, no longer out of pain but out of fear and loneliness, until a deep voice shot through the trees, brushing against his hair and making him jump.

"Hey, flowerboy!" The voice called, and Taehyung snapped his head back to see whom it belonged to. His eyes blurred and then suddenly...

...he appeared before him.

Taehyung paused, and brought his hands to his eyes.

There, maybe ten metres away, stood a man much taller than Taehyung was, yet still young--perhaps in his late teens. He was stood half behind a tree and half where Taehyung could see, onyx hair falling in tufts against his paler skin. He looked as though the bright sun of Daegu hadn't yet reached him. He was dressed in a red t-shirt and light grey trousers, a sort of outfit you'd wear in spring rather than summer. However his feet were clad in black sandals, not at all muddy but almost brand new. But the most striking thing about the man's appearance was his face, which was unseen to Taehyung, for he had covered it with a mask.

A white mask, hiding the entire of his face, with two big eyes pained on and a small pouted cat-mouth beneath the nose. And, just above the eyes, two white ears shaped out above his hair.

"Why are you crying?"

Taehyung flinched again, but no longer was there fear in his body. He wanted to clap his palms against each other and pray, because finally he wasn't alone, and this man might help him out of the forest and back to his grandfather's house. Suddenly, Taehyung sprung up from the ground and flung out his arms before him. His feet once again ran and before he knew it he was going at full speed towards the stranger, ready to dive into his arms.

"It's a person! I'm saved!" Taehyung cried.

But right as his palms were a mere few inches from the stranger, he moved away, leaving Taehyung with nothing before him but air, and once again falling against the ground. This time, thankfully, there were no branches. He landed with a soft oh. Taehyung lifted his head with a pout set on his lips, and turned once more to the man. He was frozen in place, looking down at Taehyung with an expression the younger couldn't see due to his mask.

"S-Sorry, you're a human child, right?" Taehyung, still on the ground, tilted his head in confusion. "If a human touches me, I'll disappear."

"If a human..." Taehyung hesitated. "You're not a human?"

Taehyung, intrigued, sat up, crossing his legs like he did at school when his teacher spoke to him. The man still hadn't taken off his mask, but he was looking down at Taehyung and judging by his posture the face beneath his mask was soft.

"I'm...something that lives in this forest." The man said, offering no extra information.

"Then," Taehyung paused and looked at the grass in a moment as he thought, "then you're a spirit!" He clasped his hands together excitedly. "But what do you mean by disappear?"

When the man didn't respond, Taehyung's childish curiosity took over and in an instant he reached out for the man. Just when he thought he'd grab him, the man jumped away again. But Taehyung was determined. He stood up, stilled, then ran forward towards the stranger again just like before though slower to avoid tripping. The man moved once more, and his palms landed against a tree.

The game continued. Taehyung must have ran towards the man nearly ten times, giggling as the man choked out panicked noises, until suddenly a large branch landed against his forehead where he had previously hurt. Taehyung screeched, dropping to his knees, before realising that the man had tapped him with the branch to prevent him from touching him. He'd just tapped a little too hard.

Taehyung let out a string of pained noises. "Y-You're really not human after all! N-No human would hit a child like that!" His eyes were, once again wet with tears. He clutched his head and buried his face in the grass, sobbing until the man apologised. He never did.

"To disappear means to be obliterated." The man was stood with his face held up to the sky, eyes averted to the treetops where a pomegranate sky now seeped through, flushed with gold. "That's the spell the mountain God placed upon me. If I get touched by a human...that's the end."

The younger boy's shoulders dropped, and he sat up properly, bowing to the spirit. Suddenly he felt a little sad for this man, wondering if he was even able to hug his parents or his friends.

"I-I'm sorry." His eyes slid shut. Then, like a wind, a brush of air wafted gently at his cheek and he opened his eyes to find a thick branch of wood held out before him by non other than the forest spirit.

"Here, flowerboy." He said, face still turned away. "Grab the other end. You're lost, aren't you? I'll lead you out of the forest."

In an instant, Taehyung grinned--a smile that ached in the apples of his cheeks. So bright and genuine and thankful. He cried out a thank you! and gripped the end of the branch, tugging it to pull himself up.

They didn't talk much for the next few minutes, only Taehyung hummed silently and the spirit listened to every incoherent tune. The sounds of the nature surrounded them, flooding their ears and acting like music. There was no need for conversation just yet, not with the mellow tweeting of the birds high in the trees, the subtle song of the cicadas, the tender trickling of water down a stream beside them, coursing through the roots and bushes dotted around this network of nature.

They didn't talk until they reached a path. A long, bricked walkway where every twenty metres stood beautiful grey holy arches, and where beside the path were hundreds of statues like guiding arrows leading them the right way. Taehyung swung the branch between him and the man, back and forth, and grinned, it was like holding hands. "It's like a date!" He laughed.

The spirit laughed with him, and looked down at him shaking his head. "Not a very romantic one, kid."

Taehyung's feet ached from walking and he was starting to sneeze from all the flowers tucked behind his ears and threaded into his hair. He really was a flowerboy, but a rather sneezy one.

"You aren't..." The spirit began, looking upwards at the sky, "...afraid?"

Taehyung pouted and looked up at him. "Of what?"

"Never mind." The spirit shook his head. They came to a stop at the final arch where before them were a few steps. "Go straight ahead following this last bit of path and you'll get back to the village. Bye."

Taehyung smiled at him and walked down the small set of stairs before turning back. "Are you always going to be here? If I come back can we meet again?"

"This is the forest where the mountain God and spirits live. Set foot back in here, and you'll lose your way forever. You shouldn't come here. That's what the villagers say, right?"

A loose wind brushed through the air, shifting the spirit's hair in a way that looked somewhat...human. Behind him was a canvas of pinks and oranges. Flushed rose was the sky with blooming petals of vermillion scattered across its expanse. The world seemed to glow like the most gentle of fires and the spirit looked ever so beautiful stood before it.

The wind reached Taehyung, and he smiled softly.

"I'm Kim Taehyung." He said. "You?"

The wind grew stronger and the sky seemed to ink into a deeper pink, a sort of dark pink that seemed too unimaginable in the sky. It rose like a wave above the teal mountains in the distance and the muted greens of the trees. The man didn't reply. Taehyung stepped back, ready to leave.

"A-Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow...with a thank-you-present! Bye!"

He turned fast, and began to run against the wind, arms stretching farther, body against the current, so free. And then, sharply, like a star shooting through the darkness of space, the man said:

"It's Yoongi."

So Taehyung twisted back, almost stumbling, to look at the man once more. But he was gone. All that remained was the breathtaking skies and the path they had just walked together.

Taehyung sighed and turned back. He picked up a branch and set foot back to the village, humming a happy tune the entire way now that he felt safer and somehow not alone. The forest around him was filled with spirits like...Yoongi, and they'd never let him get lost again.

After a short while of walking, he spotted the distant figure of his grandfather, whose face looked panicked at Taehyung's lonesome state. He ranted at the boy for not long, just a few sharp words informing Taehyung to not get lost like that again. But Taehyung was so glad to be back with his grandfather he ended up bursting into tears. Grandfather Kim took Taehyung's hand and helped him the rest of the way home.

"Grandpa, is it true...that there are spirits in the forest?"

The old man chuckled to himself and replied, "Spirits? Who knows. That's what they say. When I was little my friends and I wanted to see the spirits so we entered the forest. I didn't get to meet any, but all the time it felt like I saw them out of the corner of my eye. On summer nights sounds from the river could be heard from deep within the forest, and now that I think about it my friend said she once stumbled across a festival beside it. But there's no way villagers would have held a festival in the forest. So I wonder, whose festival could it have been? It started a crazy story that she must have snuck into a festival for the spirits."

The old man laughed nostalgically, and partially mockingly at the story like his friend had made the story up, however Taehyung believed it very much.

He looked back towards the forest once more and thought: there was no way that Yoongi wasn't a spirit. He had come and gone as a flash of light against a dark sky, like magic, so sudden.

There was no way a man as fleeting as snow didn't behold magic under his fingertips.

∞

That night Taehyung fell asleep to the memory of Yoongi's voice saying, this is the forest where the mountain God and spirits live. Set foot back in here, and you'll lose your way forever, and prayed that it was true. Somehow, deep down, he wondered if wandering into that forest and getting lost amongst the spirits for eternity was such a bad idea.

He shut his eyes and pictured Yoongi sat by a pond, wind brushing through his hair, looking down into the water at the way the surface reflected a perfect image of the night's sky above, midnight black but glittered with an infinity of stars. He imagined the spirit lifting up a small stone and letting it skip across the water, sending ripples through the once-perfect galaxy.

∞

"You came." Yoongi said, monotone, as if Taehyung's presence wasn't obvious and as if he was at all surprised. "I didn't think you'd actually come back."

Taehyung's eyes were wide open as he looked at the spirit, casually perched on that staircase where they parted a day prior. This time, Taehyung was dressed in his favourite yellow shirt and his dungaree shorts in hope that Yoongi would like his outfit. He had a plastic bag dangling between his hands, ready to hand to the spirit.

"You..." Taehyung began, throat wavering as his eyes watered, "you waited for me!"

Instinctively he ran forward towards the spirit, arms stretched out like yesterday ready for a hug, until a harsh bang of a branch at his head halted his movements and he once again fell to the floor with a whine.

"You never learn, do you flowerboy?" Yoongi said, sighing.

Taehyung, despite himself, laughed. "I'm sorry, I was so excited I couldn't help myself."

Yoongi didn't respond. Instead he hopped up and turned to the forest behind him. "It's a bit hot here. Why don't we go somewhere cooler? Don't worry though, I'll help you find your way home again."

Soon enough, the two boys wandered far into the forest, ice lollies in hand, strolling through the open fields where the air was much less humid and a breeze rolled across the tall grass. They crossed over a beautiful bridge, Taehyung having to pause in amazement just to look down at the koi swimming elegantly down the river. Next they walked to a more shadowy area in the woods offering a wonderful decrease in temperature that Taehyung had craved since May. But he began to feel a strange presence in this part of the woods, like the shadows seemed to move, or the grass rustled when he walked by. He felt a little unnerved and so kept behind Yoongi rather than beside him. And then, just as Taehyung had worried, a shadow floated out from the tall grass and crept up behind the tree trunks. It was a hideous thing, gooey and splodged, and when it turned Taehyung saw its one large eye look directly at him.

"Yoongi." The spirit churned with a wavering tone. "Is that a human child?" Taehyung shivered. "Can I eat it?"

Taehyung shrieked and hid closer behind Yoongi, careful not to touch his skin, and the older man slid out his arm to cover the younger. "No. He's my friend."

"Is that so?" The spirit responded. "Human child, don't you touch Yoongi's skin. If you do, I'll eat you!"

At this, Taehyung screamed and covered his face, only finding himself feeling safe again at the sound of Yoongi shooing him back into the depths of the forest. Taehyung peeled his eyes open to watch as the shadowy spirit suddenly shifted into a form much different to what he had just been.

"Oh!" Taehyung said, surprised at its bushy tail. "Is that a fox?"

Yoongi nodded and explained that the fox was just another one of the forest spirits. "Don't worry, he's all bark and no bite. He sounds scary but he won't hurt you, flowerboy."

Taehyung couldn't help but jump up and down excitedly at this news. "Awesome! So spirits really do exist? So cool!"

"What did you think I was..." Muttered Yoongi as the two made their way through the forest once more, Taehyung tracing his eyes along the floor to avoid tripping over any roots like yesterday. The ground was a patchwork of green, dotted with beautiful and vibrant flowers. Eventually the young boy ended up with flowers all over himself just like he'd done before.

"Are you a No Face or something, Yoongi?" Taehyung asked curiously, looking up at the older boy's mask in amazement . "Why do you wear the mask?"

"Never mind me. Tell me about yourself, kid."

Taehyung looked up at his new friend and grinned, over the moon that the man wanted to know about him. He thought Yoongi might be a little annoyed at his presence for he was a lot younger than Yoongi, and usually older boys don't enjoy spending time with younger boys. But Yoongi was rather like a brother, back then anyway.

"Are you curious?" Taehyung asked teasingly, skipping over to another flower that sprouted from the earth. He picked it and handed it to Yoongi. "A Korean starwort! It's like a daisy, but purple...did you know daisies mean 'joy'?"

"Yes I'm curious." Yoongi said, looking off into the distance where the forest seemed to stop. "After all, that's why I waited."

Ahead of them was an open field so budding with flowers that the sight nearly brought a tear to Taehyung's eye. It was beautiful. He wondered if he could pick them all and thread them through all of his pockets and locks of hair, but perhaps that would be too much.

Then he wondered, a little sentimentally, if Yoongi hated the way Taehyung picked the flowers in his forest. But even if he did hate it, he seemed to enjoy the sight of Taehyung, daisies knotted across his frame, much more than he did the sight of the flowers on the field ahead.

∞

The next day, and for many days after that, Taehyung went in the forest to see the spirit who he now called his friend. In those summer days, he ran and played all throughout the forest, knowing the criss-cross network of roots below him like the palm of his hand. He wasn't scared of tripping any longer. And the whole while, his good friend and older brother Yoongi was there, holding out a branch if ever Taehyung wanted to hold it.

There were times that they'd just sit by the river, sending off little hand-crafted leaf boats, watching as they sailed far away or crashed against the rocks. Other times, Taehyung would sprint around mindlessly, and Yoongi would just watch him and laugh, especially when he fell face-first into the grass. Back then, the grass reached taller than Taehyung, making for an excellent hiding place when he wanted to jump out and scare the older.

On the windy days, Taehyung wore his cap, and Yoongi laughed animatedly each time it flew away and got caught in a tree. Though he always reached up for it, placing it back on Taehyung's head without a word. Even though it was silly, it was so much fun. And each time he went to see the spirit, he realised...

...Yoongi was lonely.

One day, in their first summer together, Taehyung picked Yoongi a bouquet of flowers and innocently brought them to the man with a grin. The older boy had lay down on the grass, staring up at the sky for a long time. He was sleeping. A short breeze blew past and Taehyung sat his small body down beside the man, he watched his black hair rustle against the breeze.

It's alright if I touch his mask, isn't it?

Taehyung's thought was daring, but he did it anyway. He placed his tiny hands onto the plastic mask and held them there for a moment cautiously, hard beating with nerves. And then, even braver, he lifted the mask up, just slightly, revealing the face of the man Taehyung had not yet seen.

There he was, beneath the shadow of the mask that hovered above his face, a sleeping beauty. His pouted lips were closed in sleep, with an almost imperceptible gap between his upper and lower lip where his muscles relaxed in slumber. His eyes were shut, but beautiful nevertheless, eyelashes thick and dark against his lighter skin. And his nose was like a button, so sweet that if Taehyung didn't know the consequences he'd have reached out and bopped it. Yoongi was the prettiest flower on the field, Taehyung thought.

But Yoongi woke up, eyes sliding open to reveal a wonderful brown. In panic, Taehyung slammed the mask back down on his face and the man wriggled at the pain.

"Ouch!" He shouted, overdramatically. "Attacking me in my sleep, you sure are a scary little kid, flowerboy."

"You looked normal." Said Taehyung, ignoring Yoongi. "Why do you wear a mask?"

A cloud flew by above them, shadowing the field where they were sat. It didn't turn dark or cold however, for there was warmth in the forest that never really faded.

"If I don't wear the mask, I don't really look like a spirit, do I?" 

∞

Later that day, they walked back down that stony pathway with the pretty stone arches once more, but this time Taehyung was sad. He trailed a metre behind Yoongi, not really wanting to make eye contact with him. Near the end of the path, Taehyung sniffled and decided it was time to speak.

"I can't come here tomorrow. I have to go home. I don't live here, Yoongi."

Taehyung expected some kind of sad response on Yoongi's behalf, considering they were like friends or brothers at that point. It was sad, especially with him being only nine, to Taehyung that Yoongi didn't seem at all as bothered as he was. He pouted behind the older man, sure that he wouldn't see. But then Yoongi's walking slowed. He turned back to the younger.

"Will you come back next year?" Yoongi asked, voice softer than usual.

Taehyung thought for a moment, about Yoongi in the months between then and when they'd next see each other, a year later. Yoongi would spend his time all by himself, unable to joyfully play in the tall grass, or set leaf boats off on the river. He'd be all by himself, and despite Taehyung being much younger, he was Yoongi's first friend. That was all that mattered.

There was no way Taehyung could say no if he knew Yoongi would be isolated for eternity until he returned.

"Yes!" Cried Taehyung, excitedly, his words sounding out a silent promise that they would meet once more.

The sun glistened, and that was when summer became something Taehyung looked forward to.

∞

Yoongi waited for their promised summer patiently, and everything fell so right and natural the next year when Taehyung returned to see him. There weren't any hugs of happiness like humans often did upon seeing each other after a long time apart, because Taehyung would never have let Yoongi obliterate. He was the most magnificent thing in the forest.

"It's cold!" Taehyung cried, a couple of days after returning, dipping his foot in the cold water of the pond. It was one of their favourite places, perched on the bank, gazing out at the lily pads. Taehyung wondered if he could swim out and pick one of the water lilies to wear in his hair.

"You're a weirdo, flowerboy." Yoongi rolled his eyes. "Of course it's cold."

Sometimes, the other spirits of the forest would reach out to Yoongi warningly, hesitant at the sight of Taehyung beside him. One time, that second summer, a branch of a tree reshaped and reached out scarily towards the older boy. Taehyung jumped back in fear, as a huge hand made out of branches wrapped around Yoongi. He took a moment to realise that the tree was another spirit in form of something natural.

"It's dangerous, Yoongi." Said the tree. "If that little boy touches you, you'll die."

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Taehyung wouldn't touch me." Yoongi informed the spirit, and the branches let him go.

They began walking again, but all the while spirits or supernatural things seemed to appear in the distance, intertwined with the trees. They could be things from umbrellas or eddies of mist, bicycles or wildcats, tall flowers or statues. No matter what they posed as, they all were spirits, and each amazed Taehyung. Each warned Yoongi, be careful.

Taehyung was sad that it had to be this way. When they played tig, they had to use twigs or branches, they couldn't high-five each other, nor could they hug. There was no fun in not being about to touch his friend. And he felt a little bitter that the spirits could yet he couldn't.

Deep down he wished that he were a spirit, so every summer when he returned to the outskirts of Daegu to see his friend, they could hug tightly and afterwards Yoongi would still be OK.

∞

Two summers passed, then three.

In the third summer, it was much like the second. Mindless playing around in the fields. Though, by this point Taehyung was eleven, so he was much more mature than when he was nine, however nothing alike Yoongi. Taehyung didn't know how old Yoongi was. He guessed the boy was between seventeen and twenty.

One day, Taehyung climbed up into a high branch of a tree, and watched as Yoongi worriedly searched for him. "Taehyung? Where are you?" He called, and the younger had to stop himself from giggling.

When Yoongi strolled beneath the tree, Taehyung screeched and caused him to jump. "I got you! You jumped so high you nearly touched the sky!"

Yoongi hissed and looked up at the younger with furrowed brows. "What the Hell are you doing up there?"

"I wanted to scare you!" Taehyung replied, and then said, "Hey, while I'm here, you should take your mask off sometimes."

Yoongi tilted his head a little. "I mean, sure, I can take it off, but why?"

"No reason." Taehyung smiled, and Yoongi brought his hand to his mask, pulling it off just far enough that Taehyung saw those pretty features he hadn't seen since the last summer. But then, all of a sudden, the branch beneath him twitched.

Taehyung saw Yoongi's eyes widen in panic, mirroring Taehyung's own face of surprise. The older then slammed his mask back on. Taehyung let out a small gasp, gulped, and looked down. Oh, the drop was about four or five metres, surely it couldn't be more. He had a feeling the drop maybe was more. Taehyung met Yoongi's eyes despite his mask, and the older seemingly inched forward as if ready to catch the younger, but Taehyung shook his head. No way was Yoongi touching him.

The branch twitched again and a sharp crack vibrated through the wood. A sharp breath of air left Taehyung's mouth and the branch split some more. He knew that if he tried to climb back down the branch would snap before he could make it. In the end, he just held on tightly until the final crack sounded and the sensation of plummeting towards the ground shot through his nerves. He landed with a heavy smack against a hard patch of soil, feet tangled in a bush beside him.

Unsurprisingly, he began to cry. Yoongi rushed over to him. "Taehyung, I'm so sorry, I-"

"Thank goodness." Taehyung muttered, breath hitching. "Hey, Yoongi? No matter what...

...don't ever touch me, OK?"

The last thing Taehyung remembers about that summer is crying for a long while after being so frightened by the thought of Yoongi disappearing because of him. He shed many tears, and Yoongi just watched...speechless. The sky faded to darkness as Taehyung choked out for the last time:

Never, ever, Yoongi. Never, no matter what. 

∞

The next summer, and the summer after that, Taehyung visited the Forest of the Mountain God.

This time, Taehyung had something very exciting to show his friend. He was twelve years old, which meant he had started middle school back in May. And, to make the older proud, he had brought his uniform ready to show him. He changed in his room at his grandfather's house, shrugging on his green and white sailor uniform which reminded him of the trees and the white clouds, then fastened his yellow bow, the colour of buttercups.

He ran out of his room, fast past his Grandfather, shouting, "I'm leaving!" and just missing the old man's confused face as he jogged away. By this point, Taehyung knew the way to the forest well, so much so that he didn't need Yoongi to guide him home--though he always did. Yoongi was waiting for him at their usual meeting spot on the stairs, beside the old abandoned house built in the Joseon era, which was amazing as a huge oak tree sprouted through the roof forming a magnificent umbrella above.

Yoongi jumped as Taehyung sprinted into his sight with a grin upon his face.

"Ta-da!" He shouted. "I'm a fifth grader!"

Yoongi chuckled quietly, Taehyung loved the way he laughed. "Somehow...you're starting to look like a young man."

"I am a young man!"

Yoongi ignored him and ushered him to follow. Once again, they set off along the jagged footpaths of the forest where flowers grew from the cracks between the stones. Taehyung didn't want to pick those; they made the mossy grey walkway a lot more colourful that it was. However he did pick flowers from the forest floor like usual, happy to spruce up his uniform with the colours of summer he loved the most.

Taehyung chatted on to the older man about how middle school didn't feel so different as many of his friends remained in his class as they all lived in the same area. It felt very much the same. Although, he had made many other friends ("But none are like you, Yoongi."). Taehyung chatted to Yoongi for hours, and the older man just listened. He loved listening to Taehyung, learning what the human world was like.

Though there were thoughts running in circles throughout Taehyung's brain, thoughts he couldn't erase yet wouldn't say out loud, even if there weren't any consequences stopping him. Thought's like...

...our ages are gradually getting closer.

Yoongi aged much more slowly than humans. What was a year in human years, to Yoongi was a day. They would catch up eventually, and maybe one day in the future Yoongi would be the kid and Taehyung would be the adult. Age didn't stop them being friends however.

Taehyung taught Yoongi many things about humans. He taught him about celebrations, school, family and friends. He taught him some of the things he learned in class, especially English and History which Yoongi seemed to prefer much more than the other subjects. Sometimes, Taehyung would sing songs from the radio and Yoongi would pick them up rather fast. Taehyung promised to bring his mp3 the next time he visited, to show Yoongi what instruments sounded like. Taehyung liked that summer because there were two weeks of wind, fleeting in the grand scheme of things, but it was refreshing when the heat got too much. He made a kite out of paper and string, and explained to Yoongi how to fly it. Games like that didn't involve contact, and so Yoongi never faded away.

As the days went by, Taehyung's appearance changed. He matured, he was close to hitting puberty, he lost that fat he had as a small child and his features seemed to even out. He was turning into a handsome young man. Despite all this change, when time never seemed to pause, Yoongi remained the same. And although Taehyung couldn't see his features, they would be just as they were on the two occasions he had seen them.

∞

One day that summer, the sky became a painting once more.

The sky reached down with a purple-blue hue that Taehyung only ever saw in bluebells that scattered the forest floor. Yet, like the clouds were a solid feature, a rosy pink painted at the lower wisps of cloud that reached downwards. The further Taehyung looked, the more orange that pink turned, and where the teal mountains stood the sky was a magnificent yellow.

Yoongi stood before it all, face held up to the sky. And a butterfly, Taehyung's favourite kind - a chestnut tiger butterfly, landed upon the nose of Yoongi's mask. Out in that clearing where the trees weren't herding them into a claustrophobic area, Yoongi was the most beautiful thing Taehyung had ever seen.

As if the sight couldn't get any more perfect, Yoongi slid a small hand from his pocket and cupped a cheek of his mask, lifting it off of his face so slowly. Taehyung let out a shaken breath. The butterfly gently fluttered away, but Yoongi's eyes, well...

...Yoongi's eyes were a canvas of magenta under those breathtaking skies.

His eyelids fluttered shut and his skin absorbed the colour like paper held floods of ink. He was so stunning, so magic...Taehyung had to blink away his tears. He must have stood there, gazing up at the sky like that for minutes and minutes before placing his mask back at his face.

And all the while, Taehyung's heart swelled and he felt so eager for their years apart to narrow even more.

∞

Taehyung found himself lying on his grandfather's floor one late afternoon when he'd had to return home for the heat was too much for him. He had a beautiful fan that had belonged to his grandmother in one hand, and the other hand was splayed out on the floor. The sliding wooden doors beside him were narrowly opened, letting in only air and little heat. The cold floor at his back felt wonderful.

On the ceiling were swells of cold where the sun shone against varnished wood through the crack in the door, and he traced the shapes for a very long time.

One day...he'd be older than Yoongi. What would happen then?

"Hey, Taehyung?" His grandfather interrupted, walking through the crack in the door. "I cut up some watermelon, you should come and eat some."

"OK!" Taehyung replied, standing and patting down his summer shorts. His vest top clung a little tight to his frame, not offering a chance for him to cool. He ran out under the veranda and sat beside his grandfather, sitting to let his feet dangle off the edge of the wood. He took a slice of watermelon and sighed happily as the cold temperature flooded his tongue. "How's Ma back home?"

"She's working hard, enjoying the quiet. You should call her while you're here." The old man replied. "What time are you catching the train home tomorrow?"

"The late afternoon. I want to visit the forest again in the morning." Taehyung replied, knowing he had to say his goodbyes to his spirit friend.

"The watermelons are sweet. The weather's been very warm, that's why." His grandfather chattered mindlessly. "If it continues this way, the winter will be freezing."

This caught Taehyung's attention. "Is it really like that?"

His grandfather nodded. "Yep. 'Cos the ocean's far away, and we're squished up between mountains...winter is freezing. The temperature between summer and winter is huge. A cold winter is always followed by a hot summer. After a blazing summer like this, the weather gets so cold I wouldn't be surprised if even the mountain God froze!"

Taehyung gasped. He imagined a hard snowfall tumbling from the sky, and that was enough to trigger his next question. "Hey, grandfather?"

∞

"A scarf?" Yoongi asked, taking the wrapped up woollen scarf from Taehyung, making sure to avoid touching his hand in the process.

"Of course, winter will be very cold!" Taehyung explained, hurriedly knowing he needed to catch his train. "Please wear it. Bye, Yoongi, see you next year!"

Yoongi jumped as Taehyung walked away, waving back at the older man. "OK! Bye!" The man shouted, but Taehyung was gone, trailing off into the distance. Yoongi, once again, was left alone.

Taehyung didn't sleep on the train home; he never could after leaving Yoongi behind. Instead he watched the trees and mountains he loved the most shift into bricks and buildings, a forest of concrete where he never felt at home.

∞

Life outside summer was strange.

Each year, Taehyung visited Yoongi, but those months before and after still existed.

During late autumn, in the days coming up to winter, Taehyung found himself gazing out of the window even after class had finished. The sky was dark already, yet it was only five o' clock. He missed the skies of summer where, at this time, the sun was far away from sinking behind the mountains. Outside, the trees were oranges and yellows; many had lost all of their leaves. The floor wasn't covered in bright flowers, but browns and maroons of decaying plants that once were held up by the branches, flushed a brilliant green.

"Kim!" Park Jimin, a boy in his class called, and he turned around to face him. "Shouldn't you be heading home now? Class finished minutes ago."

Taehyung gulped and looked around, noticing the empty desks swamping around him. He forced a smile and laughed. "You're right! Everyone has left!"

"I'll see you later." Jimin responded, leaving the classroom and Taehyung all to himself again.

Taehyung walked home that night by himself, face turned up to the sky even if there was nothing to find up there in the darkness. Not even stars. Where Yoongi was, he'd look up and see amazing structures in the sky, scatters of blinding lights where the city's pollution hadn't fogged up the atmosphere.

∞

I want to...see Yoongi.

 ∞

A year or so later it was late December, inching closer to Taehyung's fourteenth birthday. The city had snowed overnight and so every pathway was laden with black ice and slip hazards. But Taehyung didn't care. He walked to school alone as usual and found himself wondering what the forest looked like in winter.

He imagined icicles hanging down jaggedly from the branches, frosted snow that crunched as Yoongi stepped on it. He imagined the treetops dusted with white and the branches of the trees bare of any green. The pond and the river would be frozen over--it would be amazing to go skating on there, he thought. The mountains would be stunning, as sharp as usual, but thick with a coating of porcelain.

"Kim?" A voice called beside him, but he was too lost in thought to notice or care. "Kim...Kim...Taehyung?"

Taehyung flinched and looked beside him to find Jimin there, matching uniform to his own except Jimin wore a bright red coat as oppose to Taehyung's boring navy one. "Oh, good morning." Taehyung greeted his classmate.

"Be careful. There's black ice in front of you. You'll slip." Jimin said, his cheeks were brushed with a slight rose hue.

"T-Thanks," Taehyung responded, and paused to look cautiously at the path before him. There was a sort of...sheen to it, he supposed.

"Here." Jimin said, and held out his hand to Taehyung. "Take my hand."

Taehyung gulped, because he'd never held anyone's hand before. Not Yoongi's obviously, nor anyone else's. Yet he took the other boy's small hand and continued walking. There was an awkwardness in the situation, where despite their hands being locked, there was a distance between them. Taehyung didn't really want to move closer because it didn't feel quite right.

"It's cold today." Jimin began, not making eye contact with Taehyung whatsoever. "Haven't you been a little...out of it, lately? Actually, you've always been that way, but..."

Taehyung zoned out on Jimin's words. The sky began to release snow and his hand felt cold despite Jimin. He wanted to see Yoongi. He wanted to see Yoongi wrapped up in that scarf, warm. No, he wanted to hold hands with Yoongi. That was the reason why holding Jimin's hand felt wrong.

Yoongi was his home. After all, the home is where your heart is. 

∞

I want to hear Yoongi's voice.

∞

And moving on, to very late winter, when Taehyung was fifteen and December had passed slowly. It was early February when his hormones began going crazy. It seemed that everything anyone at school, be it students or teachers, or his parents did seemed to annoy him. Piss him off. He couldn't help it. It wasn't only emotional stress that had appeared within him, but along with puberty came other embarrassing things especially in terms with arousal and sexuality. He tried dating or simply having sex a few times over the course of the months without Yoongi, but never enjoyed them. He found relationships with boys much easier than with girls, though they were rarer for not many fifteen-year-old Korean boys were open about their sexuality. Many of the boys Taehyung did things with were too scared and turned back to girls, the only boy he found relatively open about himself was Jimin.

One night he finished all of his food much faster than everyone else, but he hadn't eaten it all. He didn't feel good, and the temperature was very cold.

"You're finished already?" His mother said. "Have you been snacking after school? Taehyung, if you snack you'll get too fat."

"God, Ma, shut up. I haven't been snacking and I'm not getting fat. I'm going for a bath." He lifted himself from the table and huffed as he walked up the stairs. During his bath, he erased all of his thoughts. He cleansed thoroughly, relaxed and touched himself just a little.

Later that night he slid into bed but his brain was clouded. All he could think about was Yoongi, alone in the coldness of that forest. And as car lights reflected at his ceiling, he could only picture one solemn image.

Yoongi sat alone on that rock, that years-old scarf knotted at his neck, mouth tucked into it for warmth. Beside him was a dying fire, slowly burning out as the ashes choked for heat. He would occasionally lift off his mouth to breath out, clouds of breath puffing from his lips and eddying away. The stars above him would be too far away, but they never offered him much warmth anyway. It was Taehyung's distance from him that caused him the most coldness. There was no warmth in the forest without the laughs and smiles of that younger boy.

Taehyung fell asleep holding the palm of his own hand, tracing the lines like they were the paths of the forest, and squeezing his own fingers. Dreaming of what it might feel like if it were Yoongi's hand he was holding.

 ∞

I want to touch Yoongi.

 ∞

Skip a few summers and Taehyung returned to the outskirts of Daegu now sixteen and many months old. Again, he brought his uniform for now he was in High School. He knew Yoongi would be shocked to see him because he looked a lot more matured, puberty had hit him well--or so he had been told. His jaw was structured and the balance between his muscles and fat had settled. He had a slim waist with just the right amount of plumpness to his stomach, and wonderfully broad shoulders. His favourite part of his body was his thighs, they were thick and muscular yet soft at the same time.

And Yoongi was shocked by him. Taehyung showed up, calmer this year, with a sweet smile and bowed as he greeted him. "Hey, Yoongi. Good to see you again."

"Jeez, Tae." Yoongi laughed almost nervously, a loud gulp in his voice. "You've shot up in height and you're s-so..."

Yoongi never finished his sentence. They set off together down the regular path, but Taehyung wasn't as hyperactive as he had been in previous years. He did however continue to pick the flowers from the path sides and thread them through his own hair, which was now longer and cut nicely to shape his face.

"So flowerboy, how's High School?" Yoongi asked. "Time sure flies."

"High school is fine. But you know I hate anywhere but here, nothing feels right when I'm away from this forest. Maybe the spirits put some magic spell on me." They both laughed at this and continued in silence.

But the forest was never silent. The forest was alive with music that Taehyung had loved since the very first summer. The hum of the cicadas, the twinkling of water and the rustling of the trees. It was a song unlike any other, and when Yoongi's voice cut into the mix Taehyung nearly fell into tears. They settled beside their favourite pond and Taehyung gazed out sentimentally at the lily pads. They looked vibrant this year, like each one was a firework just as it explodes. The two boys lay back in the grass and looked up at the plain blue sky, cloudless and vast. Soon they got bored of the sight and turned towards each other.

"You don't come running at me like you used to. How come?"

"I've learned my lesson." Taehyung rolled his eyes. "I know that if I touch you...you'll...d-d-"

"I know. You were smart when you were a kid, you knew even then. I was joking. I can't believe you're a young man now." Yoongi sniffled beneath his mask. Taehyung's cheeks flushed a little.

"Take off your mask. Please." Taehyung whispered, and Yoongi did as he said, removing his mask and placing it on the grass beside them. "Beautiful."

Yoongi's lips were so pretty it was unbelievable. They were a wonderful shade of pink, the same colour as a patch of flowers that grew beside the older boy.

"Your skin on your cheeks is so smooth, just like your hands..." Taehyung couldn't help but mutter. Yoongi's skin was wonderful. He wasn't so pale like the media often made celebrities and such out to be, but he was paler than Taehyung. A lovely shade of lighter beige that Taehyung thought was fated for colours, like paint splashed against his cheek, or eye shadow applied delicately onto his eyelids.

"Stay still." Yoongi said suddenly, and he lifted his right arm out towards Taehyung's hair. His fingertips brushed so close to Taehyung's skin that the younger shuddered in both fear and also pleasure. Instead of touching Taehyung's skin or hair, Yoongi touched a flower that was threaded into his tresses. "A Korean daisy. Your favourite. Hey Taehyung, I-"

"I want to touch you." Taehyung interrupted, and Yoongi's eyes widened. "I want to hold your hand...I want to know what your skin feels like, what it's like to hug you, Yoongi. I can't explain how much I want that. I'd give up forever to touch you but..."

"...but you wouldn't give up my life, would you?" Taehyung shook his head. "I want to touch you Taehyung. When you were a kid, I wanted to high five you or play tag, because you were young and I could see you wanted to play those kinds of games. You were like a younger brother then. But now, Tae, you're older and mature...barely younger than me at all, and I...I want to feel your cheek, your hands and your lips. I do, Taehyung, but if we touch I'll disappear, and you'll be left all alone."

"No. This isn't about leaving me alone. This is about you and how I don't want you to die." Taehyung said, eyes gazed down to the grass. "You'll live forever, Yoongi. You know, in two years when I graduate, I'm going to look for a job here. So I can be with you more. In autumn...winter...spring..."

"...always." Yoongi finished. "Taehyung, let me tell you about myself."

Taehyung's smile faded suddenly and his lips parted open. He realised he really knew nothing about Yoongi. He knew about this forest and how it worked, each sound and colour was general knowledge to him. But he didn't know Yoongi. Who he was or what he was. His past.

"I'm not a spirit." Yoongi began, and his words made Taehyung gasp a little. "But I'm not a human. Though I once was, as a baby. I was abandoned in this forest. I should have died...but the spirits helped me. They gave me this mask which, when I wore it, stopped me from crying. Still, I should've died, but the mountain God cast a spell on me that helped me continue living. So that I never move on...I'm like a ghost. I matured like a normal boy until I turned nineteen, and now I don't age at all. I'll be like this forever. Taehyung, It's OK if you forget about me one day. A body that survives on magic is very weak. If I touch a real human...the spell will break and I will just disappear. My body is so fragile."

Yoongi sat up and put his mask back on his face. He looked out at the water. Taehyung realised that maybe the mask was doing exactly what it did when Yoongi was a baby: stopping him from crying.

"Something that disappears when touched...you're just like snow, aren't you?" Taehyung replied. "Yoongi, I thought of you during autumn, spring and winter. Don't forget about me, Yoongi. Don't forget. Time may separate us some day, but until then...let's stay together."

∞

A year later, time had yet influenced the two of them. They still remained together, and they planned to keep it that way for the few years to come. Taehyung was seventeen and many months old by this point, Yoongi was nineteen. It felt like the younger had finally caught up. One more thing was sure: Taehyung loved Yoongi. So much, in a friend way and also something more. However he didn't want to ponder that, knowing it would only cause him pain.

Imagine not being able to touch your loved one.

Imagine that if you did, they would die, and you'd have to live with it for the rest of your life.

On their eighth summer together, Taehyung and Yoongi sat perched atop the rocks in the middle of the pond, bamboo fishing rods in their hands. The water surrounding them was tranquil, an incandescent teal as the sky's blue looked down on the surface, and the plants beneath looked up. Taehyung looked down into the water, eyes tracing the koi that circled his rock. All the while he tried not to blush knowing Yoongi was watching him intently.

"You should pick a water lily. It would look pretty on you, flowerboy." Yoongi said quietly and Taehyung couldn't stop the flush that spread across his cheeks.

Taehyung nodded and tried to hook a water lily using the end of his fishing rod, but it didn't work. He knew he'd have to pick it with his hands. So he settled the bamboo rod on the rock and leaned over the edge, stretching out until he grabbed the stem of the nearest flower, and pulled. What he didn't expect was to fall forward as he tugged, tumbling down into the water instantly. He plunged under the water for no longer than three seconds before surfacing back up. The only problem was, his feet couldn't quite touch the bottom and Taehyung had no idea how to swim.

"Fuck!" He shouted, taking one panicked look at the older boy before sliding back down beneath the surface. It was much darker where he was. He could barely see. But, more than fear of drowning, he was terrified that Yoongi would dive in and rescue him. When he surfaced back to the top, arms flailing along with his legs, he noticed that Yoongi was no longer sat on his rock.

Don't you dare touch me.

Taehyung fell under once more, and suddenly a sharp stick of wood pricked at his chest, not hard enough to hurt however, and out of instinct and panic he grabbed it. Squeezing his lips together, he tugged on the stick, dragging himself upwards with it until his head emerged again. "Fuh...fucking...Yoongi, fuck..." He panted, blinking the water from his eyes and continuing to keep himself balanced using the stick. "Yoongi, fuck, where are you?"

Has he maybe-

"Taehyung, God, hold onto the rod and kick your legs slowly." Yoongi's voice sounded and Taehyung almost sobbed happy tears knowing Yoongi hadn't touched him. He'd held out the fishing rod for Taehyung to use as safety. "The rock is right next to you, if you grab it with one hand you can climb back up. Be brave, flowerboy."

Taehyung gulped, nodded, and gripped a ridge on the side of the rock, heaving himself up with his two shaking arms. He managed, with struggle, to lift his body onto the rock, and choke out any pond water that made it into his mouths. He had barely been underwater for long so he was OK, however his body trembled from being so scared.

"I'm sorry, Tae, I really am. If I could have, I'd have dived in and pulled you out but-"

"Yoongi. Remember what I said when I was eleven, when I fell out of that tree?" Taehyung muttered, cheek pressed against the rock. His throat was dry and his chest rose and fell as he panted. "No matter what...don't ever touch me, OK?"

Yoongi didn't respond. Taehyung knew him well enough to know that this wasn't ignorance; it was Yoongi's way of replying. There was no need for responses sometimes, not when they were always on the same wavelength. Taehyung itched under his wet shirt and finally shuffled himself upright enough to pull off his shirt entirely. The sun would dry him off in an instant anyway, so what did it matter?

Taehyung watched calmly as Yoongi floated in the warm water of the pond, not fearing it like Taehyung did, but almost embracing it...pooling himself in the clarity. The sky filled with fluffy white clouds reflected perfectly onto the surface and it looked like he was flying. Taehyung could see his own reflection clearly, and he reached out his arm so it looked like his reflection, at least, was able to touch the older boy.

Yoongi eventually stood back up and picked the lily that Taehyung had tried to grab, and swam over to the rock where Taehyung was. The younger smiled and took it carefully from his pretty hands. He tucked the thick stem behind his ear and let the flower rest by his temple.

"Taehyung," Yoongi whispered, "you're so fucking beautiful."

Taehyung's fingertips twitched at his words, desperate to take the older boy's hands in his own. It was becoming like an itch. Taehyung's only desire was to feel Yoongi's delicate skin, kiss him, hold him. He'd do anything as long as it meant they could just feel each other.

"Taehyung, do you want to come to a festival with me tonight?" Yoongi asked suddenly as he climbed onto the rock beside Taehyung's.

"Festival?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, a festival for the spirits. We have one late at night every summer in this forest." Taehyung gasped a little, remembering the story his grandfather told him about a friends who snuck into a festival one night in the middle of the forest. So...it really had been a spirit festival, and humans often snuck into them without realising? "I've wanted to invite you for a long time, but you were always so young and it was late, also I thought you might be scared...but now..."

"I'm nearly as old as you." Replied the younger, smiling. "Of course I'll come, I'd love to. What should I wear?"

"Traditional clothing, perhaps?" Yoongi suggested. "The spirits here come from many places, but mostly China and Japan, so spirits will wear traditional clothing from those countries too."

"I think I saw a yukata in my grandmother's wardrobe actually, though it is a girl's yukata. But it's covered in flowers so I don't care, I can wear that."

The two boys finished with their fishing for the afternoon and walked back down the path to the entrance of the forest. Yoongi seemed a bit strange, his hands kept twitching and it seemed he wanted to say something but was hesitating from doing so. Taehyung nearly questioned him however decided against it. It was very hard getting Yoongi to open up. They parted at the end of the staircase promising to meet there again at eight. Taehyung ran home excitedly and bathed especially, wanting to look his very best for the night's activities.

∞

Taehyung arrived at the meeting spot fifteen minutes early with a racing heart and flushed cheeks. He was dressed in his grandmother's yukata which she had owned for reasons Taehyung did not really know. However, it was beautiful. At the neck it started out a sky blue, the colour above the forest during early mornings, and the blue gradually darkened until the hem that brushed his ankles. White branches were sewn intricately up the length of the yukata, and as the branches reached his hip, wonderful pink cherry blossoms bloomed from the white, petals flying off and scattering across the expanse of the blue. His yukata was tied together with a pale pink obi.

Yoongi arrived ten minutes early, and at the sight of Taehyung his cheeks turned a pretty shade of red. Yoongi was dressed in a yukata surprisingly, and the only reason for this that Taehyung could think of was that the older wanted to match. Though his yukata was a bluish green colour, one that Taehyung thought complemented his skin and reflected the shades surrounding them too. His obi was a plain white, like the clouds. He looked amazing.

"Good evening, Yoongi." Taehyung said, looking at the ground and furrowing his eyebrows. How could he be shy only now? They'd known each other for years! "Y-You look...b-breathtaking."

Yoongi's face reddened and he turned away, his throat shifting as he gulped. Taehyung could see he was just flustered. The older took a moment to compose himself, and he turned back to Taehyung with only a soft pink at his cheeks. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long thin piece of fabric, rather like a scarf.

"T-Tie one end of this around your wrist. I'll tie the other around mine." He said calmly, throwing one end of the fabric to Taehyung. "I don't wanna lose you in the festival, it's pretty busy."

Taehyung grinned at the idea. "It's like we're holding hands!" He tied it loosely around his thin wrists as Yoongi knotted his own, and then they began walking, Taehyung swinging the material between them. "It's like a date."

"You said that when you were nine, you know. Back then I found it pretty funny 'cos you were a kid, but now..." Yoongi's voice zoned out for a minute or so. "This is a date, Tae. Our first date. We're only a year apart now."

"Y-Yeah. I don't see you as a brother anymore." Taehyung responded, skipping forward and dragging the older along with him. He turned back with a boxy smile. "I see you as someone I like like...a lot."

They continued walking in comfortable silence. The forest at night was unlike anything Taehyung had ever seen before. The sky was absolutely littered with stars, like a firework display of glowing rocks, crystal-like in the atmosphere. The buzz of cicadas remained, like in the day, but now it was much cooler. A wonderful warmth that didn't burn Taehyung's skin. The most beautiful part was, as they walked down the path, fireflies flew out of the bushes beside them and created a whole other galaxy surrounding them. Taehyung was like the sun. So stunning, so magnificent and bright. But Yoongi was, well...

...Yoongi was the moon. The most beautiful of all things in the galaxy. So perfect, so pearly and powerful it brought a tear to people's eye.

"I'm a little unnerved about going to a festival for spirits. I'm not familiar with nuances of human festivals. And the spirits around here are creepy."

"It's supposed to mock human festivals, so it's really not much different." Yoongi explained. "And I'll protect you."

Soon the distant buzz of nature changed to actual music, playing from some instruments that Taehyung couldn't quite figure out from where he was. They neared the sound until they reached a clearing, and suddenly the entire forest seemed lit up with lanterns and torches. There were lights string up everywhere, stands selling masks and lanterns burning on the bridges. Down the river and in the pond floated candles, light eddying away into the sky.

Taehyung saw hundreds of people walking around and socialising, all wearing masks like Yoongi. They seemed human. "Are they spirits?" He asked, and Yoongi nodded. Of course, it was a spirit festival. No humans were here apart from Taehyung or maybe a child from the village who may have snuck in. Though Taehyung saw tails and ears sprouting from some of the people, and he guessed that they were spirits whose magic hadn't quite disguised them well enough.

He and Yoongi went over to multiple food stands, all serving food for free. Hotteok, gyeranppang, kimbap, hotbar. Taehyung must have guzzled litres of shikhye in the first ten minutes there. He loved food, and here the food tasted brilliant. Much better than food cooked by humans anyway. It was like Namdaemun Market for spirits. The two boys did copious activities there mingled in with the other spirits, like goldfish scooping. Despite the years spent fishing or trying to catch fish in the river, neither managed to scoop up a fish without the paper scooper breaking.

"If I catch one, I'll take him home and bring him back each year to see you. And we can set him free when he's grown big." Taehyung had said, even if they didn't end up getting a goldfish anyway.

Despite the festival being so amazing and magical, the best part was being there with Yoongi so late at night on their date. Holding hands but not really touching, just theoretical. Taehyung loved it. He loved knowing that Yoongi wanted to touch him too, even if they would never be able to do so.

Age wasn't a boundary now. It was no longer a situation in which Taehyung was an innocent child who visited Yoongi, a figure rather like an older brother. Now it was something more. It was a feeling that sort of bloomed inside Taehyung's chest, explosive and dynamic. A feeling that took over his body, making each of his senses more hyperaware when it came to Yoongi.

"Yoongi, I thought of you during autumn, spring and winter. Don't forget about me, Yoongi. Don't forget. Time may separate us some day..."

It was true what Taehyung had said a year ago. Time would inevitably separate them. Taehyung would grow too old to love Yoongi. He would die and yet...Yoongi would remain alone in this forest forever and ever. Taehyung liked to think that whenever they parted, whatever the reason may be, Yoongi would meet a boy or girl just like Taehyung, but someone eternal. Someone who would live within the forest until the end of time, so Yoongi's fragile heart never had to feel so weak and alone again.

Taehyung felt guilty. He felt that in becoming friends, or whatever they were, with Yoongi there was an impending doom lay out for them in the future. Some kind of foreboding feeling writhed within him, looming low, that one day in years to come this would all have to end. Taehyung would leave Yoongi once more, but they'd never meet again.

A final summer.

Taehyung found love in those summer skies, but the sky always turned dark as winter came, and Taehyung had never been there for that. One day he would, in a metaphorical sense, when it would all be over.

"...but until then...let's stay together."

They found a small stage made of wood where a female spirit stood in a beautiful hanbok singing Arirang. She had blue smeared across her eyelids that reminded Taehyung of this forest. A perfect blue that meant clarity and happiness to him.

And Yoongi.

They stood around the stage with hundreds of other spirits and listened as she sang out unbelievable notes, singing no human could sing. Taehyung found himself with tears in his eyes when the song was over, and as the fireworks began to set off from the nearby field he began to really cry. Happily, at least. He wondered if underneath his mask Yoongi was crying too. The fireworks looked like electric sprays of paint against the blackness of the sky. Bright reds and oranges, greens and blues. They were magnificent, a flash of light and then a thundering boom cracking a second after. The crowd cheered as the display continued for a good fifteen minutes. The two boys watched, bewildered, until the very end.

When it was over, Yoongi asked, "Want to go look at some of the stalls?" And Taehyung simply nodded eagerly.

They walked, sort-of-hand-in-hand to a stall that sold little hand held wind-spinners. Taehyung leaned over to one and blew it, making it spin around in fantastic circles of colour. Yoongi laughed at him and even lifted his mask to pout his lips and blow one of the spinners too. The next stall was a candyfloss stall, and even though Taehyung was more than full at that point Yoongi got him some anyway and they shared it, making sure their fingers didn't brush as they passed the stick between them.

"You look pretty with your mask off." Taehyung told him as they sat down in front of the candyfloss stall. "But you've got candyfloss on your lips. I'd get it for you if I could."

"With your lips?" Yoongi responded with a smirk and Taehyung couldn't help but blush.

"M-My finger, I-I-" He made an embarrassment of himself, stuttering so foolishly.

"I want to kiss you." Yoongi said, and took off his mask. He placed it on Taehyung's face. The younger wondered if when Yoongi looked through these eye slits the world looked so much different to how Taehyung saw it. After all, Yoongi wasn't exactly human.

Taehyung looked up at him with reddened cheeks hidden beneath his mask. Yoongi inched forward, cupping the cheek of the mask with his delicate hands, and pressing a soft kiss at the mask's mouth. Taehyung leaned forward and kissed from the inside. All they had was a layer of plastic between their lips, but Taehyung could still feel him. More than ever before.

"I'd give up forever to touch you." Yoongi said, stroking the mask where Taehyung's lips were beneath. "I'd give up everything to feel your lips."

"Don't." Said Taehyung, and he pulled away to remove the mask. "The only thing that will separate us is time, and I want to be with you until that event comes along. Don't ever touch me."

The night burned out like the flames on the candles. They reached the end and slowly died out. But they'd be lit again, sometime soon. The last thing they did at the spirit festival was watch as a magnificent hay bonfire was set alight, and they stared until the flame's last breath, hands gripping the fabric between them with barely a centimetres distance.

Afterwards, Yoongi took Taehyung along the other side of the river to get home, a darker and more peaceful pathway where the fireflies floated as stars around them, and the moon painted a silver walkway along the surface of the water. Summer was ending, and Taehyung couldn't wait for more.

As scary as the future was, it was more exciting. Knowing Taehyung would move here and see Yoongi every day was all he really cared about.

"Hey, Yoongi. Stand by the river and let me take a photo of you." Taehyung ordered and Yoongi surprisingly agreed. He pulled off his mask and walked over to the riverside, those beautiful eyes of his reflecting all the galaxies above them, just as they had reflected the sunset many years ago.

He stood where the sun made a silver river across his black hair, face turned so slightly off towards the distance. Taehyung took only five photos, but they were more beautiful than any picture or painting he had ever seen before. Because Yoongi was in them. His lover, his best friend, his spirit and his summer. His autumn, his winter and his spring. His sunsets and sunrises, his galaxies and his moon. His rivers and ponds, trees and fields of flowers.

His life. Taehyung wanted him.

"Taehyung." Yoongi called, and the younger ran to him. "I can no longer wait until summer. When I'm away from you, even though I could never be around crowds, I want to come and see you."

Once again, Yoongi placed his mask at Taehyung's face. But he didn't kiss him. He pressed his face against Taehyung's, foreheads pushed against each other, and Taehyung watched Yoongi's eyelashes flutter until his eyes closed. Those beautiful, beautiful eyes of his.

Yoongi pulled away and smiled, he looked so gentle. "That mask. You can keep it." He said, eyes creasing as he gave the softest smile.

They walked again, in the saddest silence, as now that their hearts were finally connected, their future was only filled with such doom. And Taehyung couldn't help but think:

This summer...it's our last, isn't it?

The cicadas buzzed, and Taehyung hummed out a tune he seemed to sing every time he and Yoongi walked beside each other. A melody that didn't need explaining. It was just for them. Some more spirits ran past, but not many. Taehyung nearly grabbed Yoongi's hand.

He sighed.

Two young spirit boys with masks on and tails hanging out of their trousers ran towards them, and Taehyung smiled remembering what it was like to be their age, so young and free of worry. They neared, and the first boy passed Yoongi easily. However the second not so much. He tripped over a tree root like Taehyung had done in their first summer together, and began to fall. But Yoongi caught him, carefully gripping his wrist before he tumbled to the ground. Taehyung knew he'd never feel Yoongi's hand like that.

"Be careful." Yoongi said, pulling the boy up.

"Thanks!" The kid replied, running away after his friend.

"Goodbye!" Taehyung called after him, smiling, and then turned back to Yoongi. "I wonder if he-"

Taehyung froze.

Yoongi stood with his hand held in the air, eyes locked onto his fingertips, where a turquoise light burst like fireworks. All of a sudden, Yoongi's fingers began to fade away, feathering into bright blue petals that floated off into the sky before disappearing.

"Y-Yoongi?" Taehyung whispered, tears welling heavily in his ducts. "W-Was that boy a human!"

Yoongi's own eyes glistened with a wetness, and his other hand began to fade, a brilliant blue surrounding his body. He turned to Taehyung with wide eyes of panic, but smiled, and held out his arms widely. "Yoon-"

"Quick, Taehyung, come to me!" Yoongi cried, lips curving into a trembling smile. "I can finally touch you!"

Taehyung hesitated for less than a millisecond. His mask was thrown off as he ran towards Yoongi under the moonlight, ignoring the way Yoongi's hands were shattering into the most beautiful orbs of light floating into the sky.

He leapt into Yoongi's arms so fast, faster than wind, faster than time. He wrapped his arms so tightly around Yoongi's fading body, gripping the boy's wonderful slender frame. Oh, he felt so perfect, so crafted for Taehyung's arms. The younger buried his face into Yoongi's shoulder for barely three seconds before shifting upwards and pressing the deepest kiss into Yoongi's lips.

They were so soft and tender and wet with tears it felt like he was kissing snow. Yoongi's eyes locked with his, and their wet cheeks pressed so close until the wetness began to disappear. Yoongi pulled his lips away from Taehyung's and brought them to the younger's ear. "I love you. So much, flowerboy. You gave me life. I'll always love you. Forever, Taehyung, forever and ever."

"Yoongi!" Taehyung cried, sobbed even. "Yoongi, no, I l-love you...suh-so much, I love you so fucking-"

The solidness of Yoongi's body was no longer there. Where his eyes once were, Taehyung could only see stars. Where his skin was, Taehyung could only see the darkness of the sky. Still, Taehyung gripped the last of Yoongi in his fingertips, a hollow yukata with nothing but blue light inside, beaming from the sleeves. Taehyung looked up at Yoongi's face again to find the last shard of turquoise float away.

He fell forward to the ground, clutching the yukata in his arms, barely processing anything. "Y-Yoon...gi! Y-Y-Yuh...Yoon..." He pressed his face into the material of the clothing, sobbing into the ground. His back shuddered and trembled violently. "Duh-Don't l-leave me, I-I can't...what am I s-supposed t-to do...w-without you!"

This must have been how it felt for Yoongi all those years when he sat alone in this forest. Nothing but darkness and nature. No light. Yoongi was Taehyung's light, and now he had burned away like the flames on those candles.

Taehyung must have cried into Yoongi's clothing for hours until the darkness began lightening in the early hours of the morning. Around him, the fireflies glowed like they were trying to offer him comfort, but there was no good in this.

Yoongi had obliterated.

In less than a minute, the world Taehyung once met at aged nine had exploded into a sky of blue, and floated away into something he'd never be able to touch again. They were never meant to be. This was inevitable, but Taehyung couldn't help but weep for the man he had loved so, so much.

The world around him seemed to fade to white, and that's how his last summer with Min Yoongi ended, as he cried into the earth, with all the strength of his fingertips used in gripping the fabric they had held together on their first, last and only date.

∞

Deep green was the colour of the forest. The Forest of the Mountain God. As Taehyung walked home, after hours of crying, Yoongi's mask pressed tight against his chest, the spirits in the trees called for him.

Taehyung, thank you.

We wanted to be with Yoongi forever but...he wanted to touch a human.

He finally got to touch a human, like he always dreamt of.

Taehyung decided he probably wouldn't be able to look forward to summer for a very long time after that. He'd never feel the thrilling excitement he always felt knowing Yoongi waited for him, among the trees and the daisies. His chest would always hurt, and his tears would always overflow.

But the warmth in his heart and the memories of their endless summers would live on in his heart.

As Taehyung reached the stone stairs where they always met, beside that abandoned house from which an oak tree grew, he looked up into the sky, fastening the mask onto his face. He looked at the stars he had learned and memorised like every shade of brown in Yoongi's eyes. There was one extra star in the sky that night, bigger than all the others, and Taehyung could have sworn that as it bloomed into the darkness above him, Yoongi's breathtaking smile spread faintly across the galaxy, and the most beautiful turquoise glow shot imperceptibly from the shining star.

That was where Yoongi went, forever painted into the starry, starry night he knew as the shelter to his forest, the place he called his home.

∞

"Good morning!" Taehyung calls, stepping onto the train and spotting Jimin seated beside the window. "You're going to love the outskirts."

Jimin grins and pats the empty space next to him. "You sure? You look a little sad."

"Ah, I'm not sad." Taehyung explains, looking out at the city, which will soon shift into greens and blues. "I once had a lover who lived in the outskirts, that was a year or so ago now. That's all."

Jimin nods, and looked at the ground. Taehyung can tell he is remembering and piecing together the last September when Taehyung had returned to school more different than he'd ever been before. He was sadder. Lonely. Jimin became his friend and filled a fraction of the gap but...

...there is a huge hole in Taehyung's heart for Yoongi, and for Yoongi it always will be.

"Thank you for coming with me this year." Taehyung says to change topic. "I didn't want to come alone. You'll like it though, we can even visit a local festival."

Taehyung spend the journey not really noticing Jimin's presence, but rather looking out at the mountains and remembering the amazing times he had with Yoongi. Those memories are thousands of feet higher than the mountaintops in significance to him, millions of miles vaster than these farming fields they drive past on this train.

Taehyung lifts his bag onto his lap and pulls out the worn piece of fabric that still smells perfectly of Yoongi, and forests and flowers. He wraps it around his wrist. Comfort, he supposes, is what it offers him.

And so let's go, says Taehyung to Jimin as they hop off the train.

He pauses at the station's exit, looking up at the blue above him.

Yoongi is no longer a physical being, but was he ever? Yoongi was never physical to Taehyung, not until that minute they were able to touch.

A spirit lives forever, it is a part of a person that thrives onwards until the end of time, whether it is visible or not.

Taehyung steps foward to the side of the path where a small patch of Korean daisies shoot up from the earth. He threads the stem between his fingers and tugs gently, picking the flower and raising it to his lips.

Yoongi's spirit is in this forest. Yoongi lives in every tree and flower, every rock and every river. He lives in the sky and in the earth, in each and every star. In the vast expanse of clouds and blue, and even in the darkness and the moon. Yoongi lives.

Taehyung tucks the flower behind his ear and smiles, softly. A gust of wind flows past him, brushing at his skin and rustling his hair. In the wind he hears the faintest sound of Yoongi's voice whisper:

A Korean daisy. Your favourite, flowerboy. This summer is a warm one; the sun always makes your skin shine the prettiest shade of gold. 

I love you, my sweet Taehyung, I will love you forever.

"Hey, Taehyung?" Jimin calls from a few metres in front of him. "You OK?"

Taehyung grins. "Yeah! Just got lost in thought. Let's go."

Taehyung doesn't know if he'll visit the forest every year, but it is most likely that he will. This is his home, the forest of the Mountain God, the forest where Min Yoongi's heart beats with every shift in season.

Here, Taehyung finds his joy and his comfort, the feelings he knows only because of his spirit lover from a year ago.

He smiles, and unfastens the fabric from around his wrist, shovelling it back into his bag alongside Yoongi's mask. "Let's go!" he repeats.

He walks forward, back into that world of blue and green where he first fell in love.

This forest where his heart bloomed one summer's day as he met a spirit named Min Yoongi, a spirit who he'll love forever from this summer until the very last.

∞

And I'd give up forever to touch you,

'Cause I know that you feel me somehow.

You're the closest to Heaven that I'll ever be,

And I don't want to go home right now.

- Iris, Goo Goo Dolls 

∞