Silently Yoongi followed in the nurse's footsteps till they arrived at the room where Jimin was staying. With permission, he entered the room while keeping in mind that it would be best to stay as quiet as possible. Jimin probably had a splitting headache after the accident.

Lowering himself to the foldable chair beside the boy's bed, Yoongi peered at Jimin's face - honestly, in better condition than Jungkook's. Most of Jimin's injuries were from the shoulder on down. His face fortunately hadn't taken much of a beating.

"You conscious?"

He had some doubts the boy would be up for talking even if he were conscious. So Yoongi was a bit surprised when Jimin replied almost immediately.

"Did Taetae get hurt?"

"Taetae did not get hurt," Yoongi said, mimicking the nickname. "I sent him back to the apartment with Jungkook. If Tae stayed any longer he'd probably have puked or passed out from stress."

"Mm."

"...you feelin' nauseous at all?"

"Not...really."

"Does it hurt to talk? I'll stop asking so many questions if it does."

"It's fine," Jimin insisted. His voice was soft, delicate, but not too strained. "It doesn't hurt."

"Nurse said you fractured a rib." Yoongi gestured then at the cast on the blond's left arm. "And a sprain. Considering you got hit by a car, could be a lot worse, ya know? You could've died."

Jimin didn't respond this time. Not a word, not a grunt, not even a sigh. Instead, Yoongi found the boy staring at him with inscrutable eyes.

"...something on my face?"

He meant it as a joke, not expecting Jimin to begin staring even more intently at him. He started second-guessing.

"Wait, is there actually something? I didn't eat breakfast, it can't be food. A bug? I hope not. I hate insects, they make me uncomfortable. Well, except butterflies and...what're they called again..."

"Lightning bugs."

"Yeah, lightning bugs. For some reason I'm okay with-..."

He rested an uncertain gaze on Jimin.

"...them."

The room fell silent again - silent, of course, save the murmur of voices and noises outside Jimin's hospital room.

"Funny, that's kind of a random piece of information for you to know," Yoongi said, forcing a somewhat uneasy smile. "Are you the same way?"

"No," Jimin answered tenderly, "but I don't forget things easy."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You don't remember much of your childhood, do you?"

"Not really," he said skeptically. "That's not an odd thing. People lose a lot of memories from when they were younger once they grow up. Certain things stick with you, but not everything."

"But your middle and high school years."

"I remember senior year quite clearly."

"That's it, isn't it?"

He felt he was being accused, but rightfully so, which only made Yoongi all the more unsettled. He shifted his position in the foldable chair, unable to feel comfort anymore.

"Jimin, if you say another word I'm probably going to get a headache." Though his tone was reprimanding, his thoughts contradicted his words. "There's no way you should know these things, there's no way you should have those photos, it doesn't make sense. I've never met you..."

He spoke with feigned conviction that tricked him till the moment he looked deeply into Jimin's eyes.

And his chest throbbed.

He threw a hand over it and clutched his shirt, drawing a sharp intake of breath through clenched teeth as he arched his back.

"It hurts, what the hell..."

Not just his chest, though. His head as well. Just briefly, but it left him breathless and panting even after it had passed.

And it was the most bizarre sensation. Inside his head, a little, persistent scratching feeling, that similar feeling he recalled from his early days of learning to cook, and even in school, when he knew there was something that he should remember, but couldn't, not for the life of him. It was frustrating.

This was exponentially more so.

It hurt. To think, to look at the boy lying helpless in bed.

"Why do you look so familiar, Jimin? Why do you-..."

Yoongi froze as he suddenly registered something rolling down his cheek. In a confused panic, his hand shot up to rub his eyes.

"No, no, I'm not crying, what??"

"It's okay-"

"No, no, Jimin, this isn't okay."

Overwhelmed and distraught without a full understanding as to why, Yoongi cursed himself as a soft whimper escaped his mouth.

He was crying. And that wasn't something Yoongi did in front of strangers.

But he couldn't stop. In his heart, underneath that strange ache that had come from nowhere, Yoongi felt an even stranger urge to take Jimin's hand and not let go of it.

"I still have that bracelet you gave me."

"Bracelet?" Sniffling, Yoongi raised his heavy head enough to make eye contact again. "What bracelet?"

"It's at my apartment," Jimin said. "I slipped it off my wrist after letting you inside, because I was afraid...of you seeing it. That, along with..."

A significant pause lay between Jimin's last words and his next. A novel of unspoken thoughts seeming to hang in mid-aid above his head.

"...the promise ring."

And there it was. All tightly compacted into three words that took their time in settling within Yoongi's aching heart. But he couldn't find words of his own. Staring back at Jimin, whose eyes soon began to gather tears, Yoongi was at a complete loss.

"I missed you, Sugabear..."

He could have chosen to deny it, say that it was all an act, but Yoongi knew better. Moreover, he feared denying it would only worsen the pain.

"So we were dating, is that it?"

Jimin's lips quivered sadly as he gave a weak nod.

"And I gave you a bracelet?"

"And a promise ring."

"And...a promise ring."

To say it was a lot to take in would be a severe understatement. But Yoongi tried.

"...I must have loved you a lot, huh?"

Yoongi could see it. How hard Jimin was struggling not to break out into sobs, reducing his emotions to mere sniffling as tears spilled over. He nodded.

"You always apologized..." Jimin paused to catch his breath - and Yoongi couldn't help but think that crying probably wasn't the best thing for him right now. It could be putting pressure on his chest. "...you used to be so shy, you hardly said it in words, so you did things like this instead to show you cared..."

"Jimin, you need to calm down, you've got a broken rib," Yoongi warned in as tender a voice as he could manage. "You could start having trouble breathing. Just stop crying, okay?"

"I can't...Yoongi, I love you-"

"We'll talk more about this later, you need to stop crying."

"I thought I'd never see you again, I was too scared to anyway, but seeing you at my door all of a sudden yesterday, I thought it was some cruel dream, like I was being given another chance, but I knew I didn't deserve it so that's why I-...why..."

Frantic the boy's breathing would begin to falter, Yoongi extended his arm so that he could touch Jimin's right hand - it didn't appear injured so he dared to give it a brief squeeze. And it silenced him. This small, simple action silenced Jimin - a calming effect, like a crib mobile to a baby.

Yoongi watched in wonder as the tension in the boy's expression faded. Dissipated, withered away like dust. And peace took over.

"Don't go..."

A sleepy, barely audible whisper.

"If I fall asleep, you'll disappear, won't you?"

"I won't." Yoongi said to him. "I'll stay as long as I can. I've got nowhere to be."

"Promise you'll stay?"

"Promise."

"I'm sorry, Sugabear."

"Please don't call me that right now, it makes me feel like crying and I don't know why, so just go to sleep, okay?"

The boy hummed softly before closing his eyes. Delicate eyelids, shielding those mystifying eyes which, for a moment, Yoongi swore flashed from brown to a deep blue.

It wasn't long after that the door to Jimin's hospital room opened quietly, and the nurse from earlier entered.

"When's the soonest he can be discharged?" Yoongi asked without hesitation. The nurse almost appeared shocked at his eagerness.

"Well," she began, "if he doesn't wish to stay, it's not necessary now that his injuries are properly treated. But it is recommended."

"We don't want that." Yoongi shook his head firmly. His eyes threatened to spill again at the soft, weak feeling of Jimin squeezing his hand. "If he can leave, we'd rather the rest of the recovery be at home. Please."

With simultaneous concern and understanding, the nurse looked down at the clipboard she had brought with her and sighed. "You're certain...you don't want further testing?"

"Absolutely not. With all due respect, we don't need the doctors' help anymore." Yoongi could feel the hand Jimin held shaking now. "I appreciate all you did for him thus far but it's enough. Just let me take him away from this place."

In sympathy, she paused before speaking.

"If that's what he wants. I'll be right back then."

She left again.

And Yoongi turned again to Jimin - fast asleep, or close to it. Yoongi himself was starting to feel sleepy, physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from however long he had spent in this hospital. He really had no idea. He only knew that it had drained him. Talking with Jimin. Had utterly drained him.

But he had been convinced by now. That Jimin wasn't a stranger. He felt at the edge of his sanity, but it made sense.

The reason memories of his childhood were nearly void. The reason he couldn't remember for the life of him how he spent most of his carefree days of middle school and the majority of high school. The school days themselves were in tact, but no more. No glimpse of what he and Taehyung did after going home from school. It had always bothered him, but he learned to live with it.

That house he passed by one day on a casual walk through his neighborhood.

It had to be Jimin's.

*
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end of chapter twenty-five.