SOPE | Memory

No

"Psst, Yoongi hyung," Jimin poked his head into Yoongi's room. Yoongi looked up from his book, smiling.

"Yeah?" he asked, putting his book down.

"Eomma invited our new neighbors to come eat lunch with us! Barbeque!" Jimin said excitedly, hopping into Yoongi's room.

Yoongi stiffened, stifling a choking noise.

"Aren't you excited?" Jimin asked, bouncing around on Yoongi's bed.

"Uh, yeah! I'm super excited! Why don't you go ask eomma if you can get chips and I'll just quickly finish some stuff!" Yoongi said hurriedly, picking Jimin up and carrying him out of the room.

Jimin squealed and kicked, unaware of Yoongi's frown.

"Let me go! Hey! I'll get chips! Wait, what stuff?" the twelve-year-old asked, squirming in Yoongi's strong grip.

"Basketball stuff!" Yoongi said, trying to sound cheery. He gently dropped Jimin at the top of the stairs.

"'Kay, I'll go ask eomma, hurry up with your stuff! I can't wait for you to meet Hoseok hyung, he looked super cool and nice! And his hair is red and it's so cool, I want to dye my hair red too!" Jimin said, walking down the stairs to find their mom.

Yoongi walked back to his room and flopped onto his bed, groaning. He did not want to deal with Hoseok already. He couldn't even deal with the fact that by some miniscule coincidence, he'd found Yoongi, and that he was living right across the street from him.

"Yoongi! Can you take Jimin to get chips?" their dad asked loudly from downstairs. "What does coach need you to do?"

Yoongi groaned again, wishing he'd told Jimin something more plausible.

"I, um, I need to review some plays! And I need to practice, can I go to the gym today and just, um," Yoongi called back, trying to think of a logical reason to miss lunch.

"No, the neighbors are coming for lunch! Take Jimin, you can review the stuff later!" came the reply.

Yoongi pulled at his mint hair, cursing.

"Yoongi, can you take Jimin or not?"

"Okay, I'll take him!" he called, sighing.

"Okay, hurry, they're coming in about an hour."

Jimin's light footsteps came thudding softly up the stairs.

"Yay, hyung, are you taking me?" he asked, waving a few dollar bills in the air.

"Yup, champ," Yoongi said, standing up. "Let's go!"

On the way to the store, Jimin said hi to seven other kids, three adults, and five dogs. Yoongi just smiled and nodded politely, keeping quiet and not feeling like socializing. Dread began to build in his stomach, ready to take over when lunch came. 

When they got to the store, Jimin tugged Yoongi to the snack aisle.

"This one?" he asked, holding up a bag. Yoongi shrugged.

"Sure, why not? How about Sprite too, Sprite's good," he said, then realized what he'd said and blinked hard as memories tried to fill his mind. Sprite... Hos-- Yoongi broke off his thought quickly. 

"Yeah Sprite!" Jimin cheered. "Um, hyung, why are you blinking so fast?"

"Nothing," Yoongi said quickly, slowing down his blinks.

Jimin looked up suspiciously.

"Were you trying not to cry? Why were you gonna cry?" he asked, peering at Yoongi's face.

"I wasn't crying, it was just something that got in my eye," Yoongi said. Jimin still didn't look convinced, but he shrugged.

"Okay, let's get Sprite!" Jimin pulled Yoongi to the drink aisle, not noticing the mint-haired boy quickly swiping a hand over his eye.

Yoongi looked at his hand and saw a smudge of water on it.

I haven't cried in years, and now suddenly one boy who I might not even know makes me cry when I'm almost an adult? Yoongi thought, scolding himself.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Jimin announced.

Yoongi grabbed his hand, looking around.

"Jimin! You don't need to announce that, somebody might have heard! That would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?" he said sternly.

"Oops, sorry," Jimin said sheepishly.

Yoongi let go and let him go to the bathroom near the back of the store.

He leaned against a wall, sulking and waiting for Jimin. He heard someone laughing and looked up to see a young woman laughing into her phone.

"Kay, Hoseokie, see you later!" she said, then took the phone away from her ear. Yoongi stiffened and let out a cough.

The girl looked up and Yoongi stiffened even more, seeing a painfully familiar young face and big eyes. Her eyes widened.

Yoongi quickly turned away, awkwardly leaning onto the wall with his shoulder. He knew it was rude, but he didn't need to embarrass himself in front of a stranger. Stranger?

"Y-Y-Yoongi?" the girl asked cautiously, sounding stunned. Yoongi didn't respond. "Yoongi, I know it's you. Your face doesn't change that much in a few years"

He sighed and turned around, looking straight into the girl's eyes.

"Nice to see you again, Dawon noona. I'm sorry, okay? I'm not going to hurt him again, just stay away from me and keep him away too," he said flatly.

The girl looked surprised and still a little bit shocked.

"Hurt him? When have you ever hurt Hoseokie? He loved you so much, he doesn't remember anything, I, you--" she stuttered.

Yoongi shook his head.

"I know he doesn't remember anything. But the sound of him crying still brings pain--" Yoongi's sentence was broken off when Jimin walked out of the bathroom.

"Hi hyung! I'm done, let's go check out!" he said, not noticing Dawon.

"I'm not going to hurt him again," Yoongi said in a low voice to Dawon, then quickly picked Jimin up and carried the squealing twelve-year-old to the next aisle. He put him down and they walked to the checkout line together, Jimin laughing.

"Yoongi!" Dawon called, hastily following the two boys. Jimin was talking happily with a friend from school in the cereal aisle. Yoongi was tapping his foot, wanting to leave. When Dawon walked into the aisle, Yoongi shook his head.

"Why--" the young woman began.

"No," Yoongi mouthed. Jimin was still chattering with his friend.

Dawon frowned.

"That's disrespectful, isn't it? You shouldn't interrupt an elder's words," she said slyly. She knew Yoongi's weaknesses.

Yoongi sighed, then mouthed his phone number to Dawon. She quickly copied it into her phone, then held up her fingers to form the numbers. Yoongi nodded, screaming at himself inside.

"Come on, Jiminie, we need to go home soon," he said gently. Jimin nodded and gave his friend a hug, then waved and walked with Yoongi to the checkout lines.

Yoongi left Dawon standing there, confused and sad.

"You never hurt him..." she said softly. 

Fangirling section: 

Ik it doesn't exactly fit in with the mood rn 

But 

YOONGIIIII'S FACEEEEEUU IS SOOO PERFECTTT OOOOMILORDDD