400 Minutes

Chapter 11

(High School)

Jimin had to tell Yoongi about his mother's unexpected decision after school that day. He requested they meet outside the school gates, refusing to say anything until he was positive everyone had left the premises. He told him, after many minutes of stalling and stuttering, the words were said. It was worse, saying it out loud rather than running it through in your head, it made it official that way.

The silence that surrounded the two young boys was deafening, even though no words were spoken Yoongi could feel his ears throbbing. His tongue was lodged at the back of his mouth, he was unable to speak. He looked down at his hands, watching as they shook without his control.

"Yoongi?" Jimin was pleading now, it had been numerous minutes (that felt like lengthy hours) since Jimin had spoken, and Yoongi was yet to say a word, "Yoongi, please say something."

If he would if he could, but that was his problem. His mind couldn't put a sentence together that actually made sense, his brain filled with so many thoughts that anything he could spurt out his mouth would just be jibberish.

"I-I-I," He looked at Jimin in such a way that made him want to scream, the look of pure hurt. Jimin wanted to run over and hug him, but he thought that would only make things worse. He was right.

Yoongi knew his lips were were quivering and he probably resembled a pitiful dog, but that fact was at the bottom of his priority list. He couldn't even stand close to Jimin, his very essence suddenly suffocating and overwhelming. Of course every couple expected bumps in their relationship, but Yoongi could've never foreseen this. It was too much to process, too much to merely accept as it was just to make life easy, he was more stubborn than that, Jimin was letting go of him that easily.

"So you're leaving?" Yoongi sounded almost sick and twisted, an unnerving smile of disbelief on his otherwise sad face. He was shaking his head in refusal, unknowingly kicking the floor with the toe cap of his shoe, probably bruising his toes with the sheer force that was enhanced by his frustration, "That's it?"

Jimin was nibbling on his bottom lip, his eye line catching just about anywhere but Yoongi. He pulled on the hems of his oversized sweater, his currently annoying cute hands sticking out. Yoongi wasn't in the mood for admiration.

"I don't want that to just be it," Jimin pried on, unsure of how to ask so much of Yoongi. It was selfish of him to request that he didn't let go of what they had, even if they were on opposite sides of the world. But he wanted to be selfish, even if his brain was against it, his heart certainly wasn't. He still wanted to be connected to Yoongi, even if it wasn't possible physically.

"I don't either," Yoongi heaved, letting out tension within himself that he had gathered for the past few minutes, "I don't want to lose what we have."

"Then you'll wait for me? You'll text me everyday? We'll skype when we are free? I'll try fly down for holidays, you can come up with excuses to see relatives in Korea? We won't give up on each other?" Jimin was babbling now, his words becoming less coherent as the sentence progressed, his voice beginning to wobble like crazy, "Right?"

Yoongi didn't speak. He just took Jimin into his arms and held him more tightly than anything he had ever held before. He breathed into Jimin's jumper, embracing Jimin's warmth, because he knew deep down that in a matter of time he would never get to do that again.

"Right."

---

(Present Day)

"What?" Yoongi didn't expect the word to come out to upset, so weak, so small. He hated the idea of not living in the same room with Jimin, he had grown so used to his habits by then. He liked seeing his outline in his blankets when he woke up every morning. He liked how he could hear him singing to himself over the noise of the shower, and he wasn't half bad. He liked how sometimes he insisted they eat at the table together like a family, he was weird. He liked to have Jimin around, he was used to it, it became what he knew. He knew it was their only excuse for seeing each other, and without that, would they even be friends?