Collision

Chapter 29

Humming happily, Jeongguk tugged lightly at his hand. Yoongi followed obediently, unconsciously tightening his hand over Jeongguk's as they stepped under the dark canopy of trees.

"Yoongi, I won't let you go," Jeongguk promised softly. Yoongi cut his eyes towards him, nodding his head once in understanding. Jeongguk squeezed his hand once before they slowly begin to walk forwards.

Sweat beaded down his back, eyes flickering from tree to tree, desperately looking for something defining, and Jeongguk didn't stop him. He allowed him to look and when his breathing became too shallow, he would squeeze his hand.

Soon, Yoongi's tension leaked from his frame. His muscles ached from where they had remained locked tight, and his legs trembled, but he kept going. Bright hues of reds and orange leaves brightened his vision, mixing beautifully with the dark brown of the bark of trees.

The air was bitter cold. It cut and bit at his exposed flesh, but it smelled of nothing except soil and glacier water. Sunlight weaseled its way through breaks in the canopy, casting light amongst the lush forest floor of fallen leaves, grasses, and pine needles.

It was beautiful, vibrant in ways he had never noticed before. The cold had long seeped into his jacket, arms littered with goosebumps and cheeks numb as his nose from the biting winds.

"It's beautiful," Yoongi murmured, eyes locked above where he could see nothing but swaying reds and oranges from the lingering leaves that have yet to fall.

Jeongguk glanced over. "Autumn was always my favorite season. The way the leaves change on our mountain was... it seemed almost magical," he says softly, a faint smile on his lips. "When I was pup, Mini, Tae, and I would play hide and seek in the leaves. Jimin was always really good at it."

Yoongi smiled, imagining Jeongguk as a little black pup clambering in a pile of fallen leaves. The earlier tension from his job seemed distant, too focused on the forest around them.

"I have never liked the cold, so winter has always been a least favorite season of mine," Yoongi admitted, bundling himself further into his hoodie.

"Yeah, well, you're also like a mountain cat. You hate getting wet, you hate the cold, and you feign indifference to attention yet subtly seek it out," Jeongguk remarks teasingly. Yoongi swats playfully at his arm. "Therefore, it doesn't count, but if you did have to choose a season, what would it be?"

"Spring."

The answer came unbidden, unwarranted, because a single glance at Jeongguk was like watching flowers bloom. A single smile felt as if all the snow had melted around his heart, around his mind from where it had been frozen under winter's cold claws.

Jeongguk seemed thoughtful a moment, eyes shifting towards the skyline. "Spring... it suits you."

"Suits me?" Yoongi shorts, amused.

"Suits you," he repeated, though he didn't care to elaborate, not that Yoongi really expected him too.

They fell back in companionable silence until Jeongguk paused, glancing ahead of him.

Yoongi followed his eyes, brows raised as he saw what appeared to be a small open meadow. The trees thinned out, and flowers long wilted for the upcoming winter.

Jeongguk tugged him faster. "Come on!"

Yoongi was about to protest, grumbling about hating running too, but Jeongguk was already yanking him out of the tree line and into the pure sunlight that lit the surrounding field.

Warmth returned to the tip of his skin. Jeongguk paused, looking back towards Yoongi's face as it tilts towards the sky. His eyes fluttered closed, letting the heat lick at his chilled skin.