He left that airport with Jimin's hand in his own.

Fingers intertwined, as they should have been a long time ago. But he said nothing. There were too many noises, too many people around and Yoongi wanted it to be just the two of them.

So without telling him where they were headed, Yoongi led Jimin to a park located about half a mile from the airport.

It was getting dark, but he didn't care. That didn't matter right now. Nothing else mattered right now. At this hour, the park was empty. And that's what Yoongi wanted.

Still hand in hand he guided Jimin over to a bench which sat in front of a small playground. Then, after carefully setting down Jimin's suitcase and carry-on bag, Yoongi sat down. And so did Jimin.

And the latter of the two caved in again, crying, shifting his position so that he could bury his head into Yoongi's chest.

"Yoongi..."

His voice. Quiet, fragile. Yoongi wrapped his arms around Jimin and hugged him tight.

"I missed you so much, Yoongi."

"I know." He rested his chin on the boy's head. "I know, Jimin...I did, too."

"I'm so sorry I doubted you, I...I just didn't know what to think since you never wrote back, and I guessed you w-"

"I read them all."

The sobbing stopped. For a moment. A long, silent and painful moment. Jimin's eyes grew wide but shut again once they became flooded with tears. "T-...then why-" His throat tightened. "Why did you never write back?"

A soft-spoken, heart-shattering question. Jimin had pulled back to look at him now.

"I only discovered them a few days ago," Yoongi admitted. It tore at his own heart to make eye-contact with Jimin, but he refused to turn away from him now. "I'm sorry, Jimin...about everything. If I had gotten your letter last February, I would have written back right away. I swear I would have. But you were never what my mother had planned for me. And you know what? That's bull crap, and irrelevant, and so is she."

Jimin pursed his lips. "Yoongi, don't...don't say that-"

"She hid your letters from me, Jimin. For an entire year."

At this, Jimin's eyes began to tremble, struggling to hold himself together, then giving up before too long. All the emotions, the realization that Yoongi was telling the truth, that his mother had essentially been the reason for Jimin's mental suffering and believing that something could have happened to Yoongi, that there was a terrible reason the boy never wrote to him.

"All of them, Jimin..." His own stability wavering, Yoongi reached out to take the boy's hand. They were both quivering at this point. And this cold bench didn't help much. "I read every last one. And I'm sorry, Jimin...for not being able to walk into school with you, for...for every day you spent wondering how I was doing, and if it means anything I wondered how you were doing, too. Because I didn't understand why you never wrote. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to stand guard against every dog that crossed your path, or those despicable people you went to school with. And-..."

"How did you handle the thunderstorms?"

Memories triggered by the word. Yoongi recalled those traumatizing nights, crouched in the corner of his room, striving to block out the screams of the pouring rain and exploding noises of the sky. Those nights had been the first ones in years that Jimin wasn't there to hold him through the storms.

Jimin could see that flash of fear and remembrance in the boy's eyes and it almost drove him to tears again.

"I thought of you with every time it rained, Yoongi."

"You thought of me with everything," Yoongi said softly. He narrowed his gaze at the ground almost in guilt.

"That's true..."

A breath of cold wind swept by the park bench, and Yoongi shivered quite noticeably, because he didn't dress sufficiently for the biting weather February could bring. He spent most of the day in the airport, which was rather warm, so he stopped bringing heavy coats with him. But now that he was outside, he regretted it just a little.

"Yoongi, why aren't you wearing a coat?"

Of course he would ask that. Of course he would.

"Yoongi, you should never leave the house in the winter time without at least some sort of jacket on."

He's the same Jimin.

"Yoongi, I-...I don't want you getting sick, we should-"

"Jimin, stop, please."

He hadn't meant to speak so aggressively. But it built up. Once again, his overwhelmed heart had full control. He tore his gaze from the ground and stared deeply into Jimin's eyes.

"Every letter, Jimin. I read every. Letter."

The way he emphasized those last few words. It took a moment, but Jimin soon realized what point Yoongi was trying to convey.

"I don't have a girlfriend, Jimin, finding one never even crossed my mind." He let out a shaky breath which seemed to freeze in mid-air. "I never even took an interest in anyone. It wasn't a concern of mine, one of my only concerns was if you were okay, why you had never written to me like you promised you would..."

His eyes began to well. As if they hadn't enough.

"I never kissed anyone..."

Silence.

"I never kissed anyone, so I don't know what I'm doing, but if it would make you as happy as you said it would, I'll try."

Teary eyes, red-stained cheeks, and quivering lips. Jimin couldn't process what was going on at first.

"But just for you," came his tiny whisper, "just for you, Jimin, because I can't live without you and I hate that it took me this long to realize that. I hate that it took me this long to realize...you're not just a friend to me."

He met Jimin's gaze once more.

"It's not just unrequited."

It sounded almost as an echo, striking through the bitter air and bouncing around the inside of Jimin's ears like a cry uttered in the depths of a cave.

It's not just unrequited. Synonymous to those four words Jimin thought he'd hear Yoongi say.

I love you, too.

He wanted to cry again, but as Yoongi placed a gentle hand on his neck, he felt comforted.

"For you, Jimin, this is just...for you..."

He could see Yoongi shaking, sense the boy's nerves holding his courage hostage as he moved closer to Jimin. Gradual. Each movement. His eyes flicked towards the boy's lips, and his own lips twitched, a deeper blush taking root. And it seemed it would take forever, but soon enough, Jimin felt the softest mouth brush against his own.

Yoongi's lips.

He could feel them tremble in shyness, uncertainty. Not a shred of confidence present. But Yoongi kept his lips touching Jimin's for a few seconds, delicate, warm.

He pulled away.

And Jimin opened his eyes to find Yoongi's cheeks tainted with a deep red hue that led a trail up to the tips of his ears and even dusted his nose. He couldn't look at Jimin.

"I-...I'm sorry, that..." Yoongi took a deep, unsteady breath. "...that was...probably not what you were hoping for, I just-...don't really know...I-I'm sorry, Jimin-"

"Don't apologize."

Yoongi tensed at these words.

"It was nice."

"...it was hardly a kiss."

"But it was nice."

He struggled to face Jimin, but it was a battle he was determined to win. Looking into those eyes, meeting those eyes. Yoongi found them trained on him, partially closed, pouring out fondness that only piqued Yoongi's shyness.

"Was it?"

"Mhm."

His heart hammered against his chest. Jimin felt the same effects.

"Yoongi?"

"What?"

"I love you."

To hear them in person. To hear them from Jimin, face to face, just once, overpowered the hundred times written in those letters. Not that they didn't mean anything in written from - they were just as genuine and Yoongi knew that - but now they felt all the more real.

Jimin's small hands reached out to touch Yoongi's face.

And he pulled him close again to kiss. More than just a gentle grazing of lips, although that had been sweet all the same, this time, he really kissed him. Still gentle, but deep enough that he could taste it, Yoongi's soft, warm lips, which had never been kissed before. Jimin moved one hand down to grip the collar of Yoongi's shirt and pulled him closer till their chests were pressed together. And Yoongi, though his body still shook a little from both the cold and his timidity, placed his arms around Jimin.

It felt right. As embarrassed and shy as he was about it, kissing Jimin felt right - deep down, beneath that layer of consciousness that still couldn't get over the fact that this was the same boy he grew up with, who he always just accepted was a best friend and nothing more.

No, he knew now. Jimin was so much more.

A lover. A soulmate. Someone Yoongi didn't want to spend another day without.

A good kisser...

Yoongi hummed against Jimin's mouth, and Jimin parted their lips for just a moment to whisper, "Do you like it?"

It was embarrassing to hear, but Yoongi nodded in response. "Mm."

Jimin smiled.

He smiled.

It triggered the mist in Yoongi's eyes to spill out again, along with a smile of his own. "Boy, did I miss that."

"You're telling me..."

A gentle laugh. Yoongi swallowed his breath.

"Quite a night this has been." He glanced at Jimin, who nodded. "When's the last time you've eaten, Jimin?"

"Earlier today," the boy answered honestly. "Tae made sure I ate something before I left."

The mention of the name sparked something in Yoongi.

"Taehyung..."

Jimin watched another smile slip onto his face.

"Can I borrow your phone?"

Jimin didn't respond at first - not because he was hesitant to let Yoongi borrow his phone, but because a part of him had forgotten so quickly that Yoongi knew who Taehyung was. Because he had read the letters. All of them...

"Of course you can."

So he dug into his pocket and took out the device, then held it out to Yoongi, who accepted it gratefully.

"......hello? Taehyung, it's Yoongi."