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

Silence. For about thirty seconds.

"Hello?"

"...Yoongi?"

"Yeah."

"...like, Daegu Yoongi?"

For whatever reason, he chuckled at this. "Yeah, Daegu Yoongi. Is this Daegu Taehyung?"

"Well, it's Incheon Taehyung right now but hopefully not for too much longer."

"Yeah, hopefully."

More silence. Yoongi wondered for a moment if maybe the connection was just poor.

"...holy crap, I can't actually believe this is you I'm speaking to." Clear-cut shock blended with genuine relief. "Is Jimin with you? He is, right? Of course he is. How else would you have his phone? ....right?"

"He's with me, relax," Yoongi assured him, cracking a smile. "We're both alright."

"Oh, thank God." Taehyung breathed a tremendous sigh, and the faintest laugh spilled out. "I won't lie to you, I've been on edge like crazy. I mean, Jiminie told me he was scared to fly alone but told me not to worry 'cus he'd probably be too distracted by you to really think about it much. But still. And like, I was worried about you, too, whether or not you'd be there at the airport waiting for him, or if you'd moved, what he would do if you'd moved, and-"

"Taehyung."

He could hear the stress leaking out of the boy's voice.

"Taehyung, it's okay."

"Is it?"

If it were Jimin on the phone with Tae, Yoongi had a feeling Taehyung wouldn't be so open with his heart. Not that he would lie to Jimin, but even Yoongi knew by now that Taehyung had been doing all in his power to encourage his friend. But in reality, he had been anxious about all this, too.

"It's all okay," Yoongi said to him. "It wasn't for nothing."

It wasn't for nothing.

Those words struck from 244 kilometers away.

"It wasn't for nothing."

A forced laugh.

"So I did good, right?"

And for some reason he still needed the approval. Yoongi clutched the phone in his hand.

"You did the best, Tae."

He didn't want to cry. But inside he could sense Taehyung had already started to.

"Thank you for caring for the love of my life while I was away."

The connection was something indescribable. Solely from those letters, that intangible bond Taehyung had formed between them with his messages to Yoongi, and speaking with him now, as though they had been friends long before...

"244 kilometers," Tae said in a wavering voice. He chuckled, undoubtedly through tears. "Jimin mentioned that a lot."

"Well, you're the one who's 244 kilometers away now," Yoongi pointed out. Taehyung hummed in acknowledgment.

"I'm tired of being Incheon Taehyung. But I'll be back soon enough."

"You've got three people waiting for you here."

"Three?"

"Three," Yoongi repeated. "Me, Jimin, and some boy at this ice cream parlor who says he met you in middle school or something."

Again, the impact of his words. Maintaining a subtlety just obvious enough that Taehyung would know exactly what Yoongi was talking about.

"He can't remember me."

"Can, and does."

"I don't-..."

He heard Taehyung sniffle.

"You...asked him...?"

"I did."

There was another long pause following Yoongi's response. But the silence, in some way, spoke volumes.

"Do you wanna speak to Jimin now?"

"Wait, no, I was gonna-..." He sniffled again. "...yeah, ya know what, that's fine."

"Mm. I'll look forward to meeting you in person, Taehyung."

"Wait, Yoongi-"

He stopped to listen.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. It's the least I could do for you."

Yoongi uttered a gentle goodbye and handed the phone back to Jimin, who rubbed his eyes before accepting it with a smile. He then held it up to his own ear.

"Taetae? Hey, I-........what did I tell you about him, right? Mm....I know, Tae....I miss you already, too..."

*

*

a/n:
short and sweet.

next chapter will most likely be the last, but we'll see.