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－－－☆
“Taehyung-ah,” Yoongi mumbles, phone propped between his shoulder and ear. “Remind me how to pop these balloons?”
“Yes hello, hyung. I am doing well. Thank you for asking.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes, mashing buttons on his controller as he frowns at the screen in front of him. “Tae, come on, do I just...wiggle this long stick thing?”
Taehyung sighs loudly. “That’s your vaulting pole, hyung. Use the slingshot. I can’t believe you’re still playing Animal Crossing, you don’t even like video games.”
“I like them just fine,” he huffs, ignoring Taehyung’s snort. “It’s very relaxing to fish and plant flowers and…”
“Sure, Jan,” Taehyung interrupts. “Why don’t you just ask Kook on a real date?”
Yoongi watches his screen as his tiny character hits the balloon with the slingshot and a present falls down. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he deadpans.
“What time are you supposed to go to his island tonight?”
Yoongi hesitates before responding, tonguing the inside of his cheek. “Eight.”
Taehyung hums and Yoongi can hear Jimin giggling in the background and then some shuffling before Jimin’s voice replaces Taehyung’s on the phone, “Why don’t you invite him over to your island, Yoongi hyung? You could set a custom DODO code L-O-V-E-U.”
Yoongi drops his Switch and ends the call, scowling at his phone screen.
He huffs as he picks his console up again and makes his way into his house to choose an outfit. He feels a little ridiculous as he scrolls through his little closet, trying to choose the perfect shirt. This is a game, a game where he is a tiny man living on an island with anthropomorphic animals, and he is agonizing over which plaid shirt to wear to visit Jungkook on his island for their not-date. Because it’s not a date, it’s two friends fishing for sharks and catching fireflies and wishing on shooting stars together - and okay this does sound like a date but it most certainly is not.
Taehyung is right, he doesn’t even particularly like the game. But Jungkook does, he loves designing his island and growing fancy flowers, loves showing off his cute villagers and the pretty sweaters he designs. So Yoongi plays. He plays so he has another excuse to talk to Jungkook, something to connect them. Yoongi spends hours collecting bugs and digging up fossils and maybe he reset his island three times to get a starting fruit that Jungkook didn’t have. But it’s not a big deal. They’re just friends, bros.
Apart from the fact that Yoongi is hopelessly in love with him. He has been for years, since college probably, when Jungkook, with his big doe-eyes and nervous hands, had spilled his entire backpack in the front row of the class Yoongi was the teaching assistant for. It was instinct to jump from his chair and sink to his knees, helping him pick up his items as the professor dismissed the class. And Jungkook had smiled at him, large front teeth sticking out and nose scrunching adorably as he thanked him. And from then on, he had a shadow, a new dongsaeng following him around and hyung can I or hyung do you was constantly in his ears, Jungkook tugging at his sleeve. So it was only natural, Yoongi thinks, that he would fall for someone as sweet and beautiful as Jungkook. He wishes he could take him on a real date, not something through a screen, but he knows Jungkook doesn’t feel the same way. And he’s not about to ruin their friendship over a crush.
Yoongi finally settles on an outfit and glances at the time, it’s nearly eight already. He heads down to his airport to wait for Jungkook’s code. This is their fourth meteor shower together, the fourth night Jungkook has invited him over to watch the stars and make wishes. Jungkook insisted they talk on the phone during them, saying that the game chat is too clunky and he wants to be able to chat while they play. Yoongi normally hates talking on the phone, but he couldn’t say no to him.
Yoongi jumps, startled, when his phone rings, but he glances down and smiles immediately. Jungkook’s name on his phone screen has his heart lurching in his chest. He swipes to answer, pressing the speaker phone button as he settles against his headboard and holds his console propped on his knees.
“Hey, Kook-ah,” he greets as the line connects.
－－－☆
“Hyung,” Jungkook begins, after some time spent playing. His character does a cheer on screen as Yoongi reels in an eel. “Did you know that most of the stars we can see are actually bigger and brighter than the sun?”
Yoongi hums, smiling dopily as he listens. “I didn’t know that, Kook.”
“Yeah!” Jungkook’s voice is excited, a little breathy. “The sun is just the closest to us so that’s why it seems so big.”
Yoongi fumbles with his buttons to cheer for Jungkook as he pulls in a giant nurse shark. They’re up at the top of the beach on Jungkook’s island, fishing between shooting stars. Yoongi had complimented Jungkook’s outfit, a full astronaut suit, and the other man had giggled and thanked him profusely. Yoongi had to bite his lip to keep from cooing. And now Jungkook was telling him star facts, which he’s been doing ever since they started having these meteor shower nights. Yoongi wonders how he knows so many; if he asks Namjoon or maybe looks them up beforehand.
“And there are different types of stars,” he continues, “but the most common is the red dwarf star. Which, coincidentally,” Jungkook giggles, “is what I called Jimin hyung when he dyed his hair red.”
Yoongi snorts, shaking his head at Jungkook’s words. “I’m sure Jimin loved that.”
“He has a surprisingly strong punch,” Jungkook quips.
They’re quiet for a few moments then, Yoongi takes out his net to catch a firefly as Jungkook runs through a few cute emotes. Yoongi watches as one of Jungkook’s villagers, Cookie the dog, wanders toward them and plops into a lounge chair that was set up on the beach.
“Oh, hyung!” Jungkook’s voice draws Yoongi back to their phone call. “Look, it’s starting again!”
Yoongi puts away his net and runs up beside Jungkook, pressing A as a star streaks across the sky. He hears the chime of it, and even though it’s just a game, closes his eyes just as his character does. Yoongi scrunches his face in concentration as he wishes with all of his heart that maybe, just maybe, Jungkook could like him back.
－－－☆
“How was your date last night?” Seokjin asks, reaching across the cafe table to break a piece off Yoongi’s muffin.
Yoongi frowns and swats at his hand. “It wasn’t a date,” he insists.
“Sounds like something someone who went on a date would say,” Hoseok chirps from beside Seokjin.
Yoongi scowls at them both. “No it doesn’t, that doesn’t even make sense.” He pauses to sip his iced coffee. “Anyway, our hangout was fun, Kook says he has another meteor shower tomorrow and invited me over again.”
“Wow,” Hoseok says, leaning back in his chair, “he sure has a lot of meteor showers.”
“Yeah,” Yoongi agrees, “he must be really lucky or something, I’ve only had one on my island.”
Hoseok snorts. “That’s not really how it works.”
“He must be time travelling a lot just to find meteor showers to spend with you,” Seokjin adds.
Yoongi blinks, glancing between them. “Time what now?”
“Oh you sweet summer child,” Seokjin replies with a sigh, slumping in his chair.
Yoongi’s frown deepens. “My birthday is in March?”
“Just forget it, hyung.” Hoseok soothes Seokjin, patting his arm as he levels Yoongi with a glare. “He’s hopeless.”
－－－☆
“I really like your black flowers, Kook.” Yoongi pauses at a corner of Jungkook’s neatly designed paths to admire a patch of black roses. “I’ve only managed to grow pink and purple.”
“I’ve tried really hard to organize them well so I get the right combos.” Yoongi can hear the pleased smile in Jungkook’s voice. “You can dig some up later if you want.”
Yoongi smiles and follows Jungkook’s character along the path as he starts moving again. “Thanks, Kookie, that would be cool.”
They make their way to the top of Jungkook’s island this time, high on the clifftop where he’s designed a garden with a heart shaped pond. It’s cute, pink and red flowers and little heart stepping stones ringing the water. Yoongi wants to tell him how cute it is. He stays quiet instead, moving to the edge of the cliff and tilting his screen to look for stars.
“Hyung,” Jungkook’s voice is soft and Yoongi can hear a shift of blankets on the other end of the line, as if Jungkook is moving around in bed or on his couch. “There are more than 300 billion stars in the galaxy. Isn’t that crazy?”
“Very crazy,” Yoongi agrees easily. He props his console on his knees to reach for his end table, taking a sip from his mug of tea.
Jungkook’s character runs around him in a circle. “Most of them are over 4.2 lightyears away, can you believe that?”
Yoongi hums, turning his character in a circle to follow Jungkook’s path. “That doesn’t seem very far away.”
“Hyung,” Jungkook chastises, voice weary, as if he’s explained this a million times, “that means that just the light from the star takes that many years, at least, to reach us. The star might not really even be there anymore! It would take more than seventy thousand years for us to even reach it in a spaceship!”
“Okay,” Yoongi admits, “you win, that is very far.”
They chat idly for a few minutes, Jungkook asking Yoongi how work is going until they lapse into quiet and Jungkook, voice bright through the phone, speaks up with another fact. “Yoongi hyung, did you know black holes don’t really suck?”
Yoongi bites his lip to stop himself from making a dirty joke.
“It’s just a gravitational force that attracts things to it!”
Yoongi wonders if Jungkook is like a black hole, if that’s what this is. Jungkook has his own special kind of gravitational force that attracts Yoongi, pulling him in. Yoongi is stuck orbiting him, unable to get just that bit closer lest he fall even further.
“Where do you learn all these facts, Kook-ah?” Yoongi asks.
“Oh,” Jungkook responds, voice a little unsure, a bit too high. “I just, um, know them?”
Yoongi’s lips quirk in a smile. “Is that a question or a statement?”
“Statement,” Jungkook insists, “I’ve seen a lot of documentaries.” He pauses. “And I watched that American kids’ show with Namjoon hyung, Magic School Bus, they had an episode about stars.”
Yoongi’s smile stretches, cheeks lifting as he grins down at his console. He wishes they weren’t separated right now, that he could hear Jungkook saying these things while he sits next to him, not through a phone. Their characters in Animal Crossing are so close together but Yoongi feels like they’re separated by lightyears in reality.
“Namjoon hyung did tell me a little though,” Jungkook admits.
Yoongi smiles at the honesty. “Oh? What did Joon tell you?”
“Well,” Jungkook sounds a little more sure now, more confident, “he said there are nearly thirty different meteor showers every year that are visible to us here on earth. Isn’t that cool?”
“Very cool,” Yoongi agrees.
Jungkook hums quietly, Yoongi can hear the shift of blankets again. “I’d love to see one in real life.”
“Me too, Kook, that would be out of this world.”
“Hyung!” Jungkook shrieks, his high laughter bubbling through Yoongi’s tinny phone speaker, “You’ve been hanging out with Jin hyung too much, I can’t believe you just said that!”
Yoongi smiles to himself, pleased with his joke. Stars streak the sky and he and Jungkook press A on their controllers to make a wish. Yoongi squeezes his eyes closed, wishing for the courage to ask Jungkook out on a real date.
－－－☆
Yoongi knocks on the door of Namjoon’s studio the next morning, balancing two iced coffees in his other hand. Namjoon opens the door and smiles, dimples popping as he waves him in.
“Hey, hyung,” he greets, taking one of the coffees and gesturing toward the couch. “I haven’t quite finished that beat yet if you’re here to check.”
Yoongi rubs the back of his neck, shifting on the leather couch. “It’s uh,” he pauses to clear his throat, “it’s not that.”
“Oh?” Namjoon asks, tilting his head to the side. “Is everything okay?” Yoongi crosses one leg over the other, uncrosses his legs, recrosses them. Namjoon narrows his eyes. “You’re freaking me out.”
Yoongi sighs and sets his coffee on the table in front of him. “Okay, look, you know about stars and shit, right?”
Namjoon blinks at him. “Stars and shit?” he mumbles, squinting at Yoongi suspiciously.
“Stop being difficult,” Yoongi hisses, crossing his arms.
“Out of the two of us,” Namjoon says easily, “I do not think I’m the one being difficult.”
Yoongi slumps. “Okay, fine,” he huffs, “Jungkook told me you know about meteor showers.” Namjoon’s eyes light up and a smirk curls his lips. Yoongi holds up a hand before he can interrupt. “When is the next one?”
“You, my sad pining friend, are in luck,” Namjoon chirps, turning to face his computer. He studiously ignores the glower Yoongi is shooting at him. He taps at his keyboard and then turns the screen so Yoongi can see. “The Perseids meteor shower is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday night.”
“So soon, really?” Yoongi is taken aback, shocked that there’s one so soon. But maybe this is all those wishes coming true, all his hopes on those little pixelated stars. This is his opportunity.
Namjoon swivels in his chair again, facing him. “There’s a great spot where I usually go to stargaze, just outside the city. I’ll text you the location.”
“Why would I need the location?” Yoongi says with a frown, but he’s already pulling his phone from his pocket as Namjoon texts him the address.
“Bring a blanket,” Namjoon suggests as he hits send. “It can be chilly, even in the summer.”
Yoongi shoves himself to his feet, grabbing his coffee and heading back to his own studio. “Whatever.” He pauses at the door and turns to look over his shoulder. “This conversation never happened.”
Namjoon’s laughter chases him down the hall until the door slams shut.
Safely back in his own studio, he pulls out his phone and dials Jungkook’s number. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t just text him, but this seems right.
“Hyung? Is everything okay?” Jungkook’s tone is worried. Yoongi never calls randomly, especially not in the middle of a workday.
He leans back in his chair, tapping the fingers of his free hand on his desk. “Everything’s fine, Kook. I wanted to ask you,” he pauses and takes a shaky breath. “There’s a meteor shower this weekend, want to watch it with me?”
“On your island?”
“No.” Yoongi bites his lip. “Outside the game, in the real world.”
“Oh.” Jungkook sounds shocked, but not in a bad way. Hopefully. “Yeah,” he says finally, voice breathy, “I’d love to.”
－－－☆
Jungkook’s leg bounces against the floor of the car as Yoongi pulls into the parking lot of the park. They had driven for about forty-five minutes, leaving Seoul to get to the location Namjoon suggested, away from light pollution and busy crowds. The lot was deserted, which Yoongi was quietly thankful for. “You okay?” he asks as he unclips his seatbelt, turning to look at a wide-eyed Jungkook. They haven’t seen each other in person in a little while, just their in-game characters. Yoongi feels like he forgot just how pretty Jungkook is.
“Yeah,” Jungkook breathes, “just excited.” He flashes Yoongi a toothy grin and scrambles out of the car.
They climb the hill in front of them, Jungkook carrying the cooler of drinks and snacks while Yoongi carries the blankets. They spread a thick flannel blanket on the grass and lay down side by side, hands close, but not touching, on the fabric. Yoongi wants so badly to touch him, to link their hands.
“I’m really glad you asked me to come with you, Yoongi hyung,” Jungkook says quietly. “This is so much better than in Animal Crossing.”
“Yeah,” Yoongi agrees, staring up at the sky. The stars glitter above them, a sight they normally don’t see living in the city. It makes Yoongi feel small, but larger than life at the same time. Like he could do anything, surrounded by this infinity. And maybe he could, maybe he could ask Jungkook -
His words are cut off by Jungkook’s quiet voice. “I like those two stars,” Jungkook says, pointing above them and tracing a line between two bright blue stars. “Altair and Vega. They’re lovers separated by the Milky Way. It’s a beautiful story.”
Yoongi swallows hard. The distance between the two stars is vast. The distance between his hand and Jungkook’s feels just as expansive, unconquerable.
“They get to meet every year, nothing can keep them apart.” Not even a few centimeters of flannel blanket, Yoongi thinks to himself. Jungkook shivers and shuffles closer. “I’m cold, hyung.”
Yoongi sits up and reaches for another blanket, draping it over them. When he lays back down, his shoulder brushes Jungkook’s, their fingers touch. Yoongi goes to move his hand away but Jungkook doesn’t let him, curling his palm around Yoongi’s and intertwining their fingers between them.
“Did you know,” Jungkook’s voice is so quiet, “meteors hit the earth’s atmosphere at sixty kilometers per second?”
Roughly the same speed as Yoongi’s heartbeat as Jungkook’s thumb slides over his knuckles.
The first meteor streaks across the sky then. It’s just like in the game, but there’s no A button to press this time, no tiny characters on screen, no distance separating them. Yoongi closes his eyes. Wishes.
“Kook-ah,” Yoongi says softly, taking a deep breath. Jungkook makes a soft noise of acknowledgement and he continues. “I’m really happy we’re here.”
Jungkook giggles. “I already said that, hyung.”
“I know,” Yoongi mumbles. “But this...you...it makes me really happy.”
Jungkook shifts on the blanket, Yoongi can see him turning his head out of the corner of his eye, staring at the side of his face. “This makes me happy too.” He pauses. “Hyung?”
Yoongi swallows hard and turns his head, their eyes meet.
“Hyung,” Jungkook continues, breathless, “I really like you.”
Yoongi’s heart clenches in his chest and restarts, pounding a staccato rhythm behind his ribs. “I really like you too, Kookie,” he whispers. His voice is so quiet he wonders if Jungkook can even hear him.
But he can, he did, because his lips curl into a smile and his nose scrunches, eyes creasing into crescents.
“Jungkook.” Yoongi shuffles a little closer, turning on his side. He doesn’t unlink their hands. “Kook-ah, can I kiss you?”
Jungkook mirrors him, turning on his side and nodding. His eyes are wide, sparkling in the light from the moon and stars. Yoongi sees nebulas and galaxies, infinity and eternity in those depthless brown eyes. He leans in, feels breath soft, sweet, against his lips, and closes the distance.
Shooting stars burst and scatter behind his eyelids at the first brush of Jungkook’s lips against his own. Soft, plush and a little cold from the cool evening air. Jungkook’s fingers tighten around his hand as he leans back. Yoongi’s eyelids flutter open and their eyes meet again. Jungkook is smiling.
“Hyung,” he whispers, his breath fans across Yoongi’s face. “Did you know that the earliest recorded record of this meteor shower is from the year 36 AD?”
“I didn’t know that,” Yoongi responds, his eyes darting between Jungkook’s eyes and his pouty lips as he speaks.
Jungkook’s lips curl in another smile. “Yeah,” he scoots closer, tangling their legs beneath the blanket. “That seems like a long time.” He moves closer, their lips nearly brush. “But it feels like I’ve been in love with you for longer than that.”
Yoongi sighs, eyelids fluttering closed again, as Jungkook presses their lips back together. He loses himself in the feel of soft lips, the sound of quiet sighs, as the stars burst above them.