cherry blossoms || ot7 [#Wattys2017]

[let me know]

During dinner, Yoongi smiles brightly throughout the meal and the others look at him strangely. Once Jimin excuses himself from the table, Hoseok is the first to ask. "Yoongi, you've looked stupid this entire meal. Why're you smiling so much?"

Yoongi shakes his head and giggles a bit. "I heard Jimin laugh today."

Seokjin chokes on his tea. "Did I hear you right?"

He nods with excitement. "He laughed. I heard it with my own two ears. It was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. It's like I didn't know I needed to hear that until I did." He pauses and gazes at each person at the table. "I cried when I heard his laugh; that's how much I missed hearing it." Just thinking about earlier today makes Yoongi's eyes watery. The others don't really know that Yoongi can be like this. That there's this side of him, the soft side, the vulnerable side.

Namjoon folds his hands together and places them on the table. "How'd you do it? What'd you guys even do?"

"Nothing really. Just walked around Seoul, stopped at a coffee shop, people watched a bit, and walked back home." Yoongi shrugs. "Actually, I found out he really misses Taehyung."

Hoseok smacks Yoongi behind the head. "No shit Sherlock. All of us miss him and of course Jiminie misses Taehyung. That's his best friend!" He shakes his head. "Babo."

"You didn't let me finish. While we were people watching, he picked a mother with her two sons. He was telling a story as if he was the older brother while Taehyung was the younger one. Just hearing him describe the two, you can really hear the regret and the pain in his voice. This is the first time I've heard him speak about the incident and how he felt about it. I know a lot of the things I'm saying sound obvious, but I feel like...like Mochi is coming back."

Seokjin puts his cup down. "How do you know though?"

"I can just feel it. Believe me," Yoongi pleads.

Namjoon sighs. "Look, Yoongi... We know that Jimin's been acting different lately; I mean, we've all been a bit different lately whether we're aware of it or not. We let him act like this cause maybe that's how he can cope. Shit, it's been real hard for him. I couldn't imagine being in his shoes. But Yoongi," Namjoon connects his eyes with Yoongi's, "I don't think that Jimin can change in the span of a couple weeks. If anything, I don't think we'll ever get the old Jimin back."

In his peripheral vision, he can see Namjoon clenching his fists. Looking through his lashes, he notices Seokjin hyung biting his lip and Hoseok fidgeting with his thumbs. "But how will we know if we don't try?" He knows he's losing the argument, so he tries to find some grounds that'll give him a solid rebuttal. "Taehyung would've wanted us to try," he spits out.

Seokjin reaches out and pats Yoongi's hand. "We all know that Taehyung would want us to take care of Jimin. He means everything to Taehyung, but—"

"Mian haeyo, hyung, but we can't just let Jimin crumble like this. We need to try," Yoongi grits his teeth as he realizes right now is not the time to tell them. He'll have to keep it a secret for now. Keeping it in the back of his mind, he'll tell his friends as a last resort if they never believe him or if the time is right. "I hate seeing Jimin angry all the time. I hate seeing him lose hope. He just looks so defeated and I just want to take the pain away." He grips his thighs underneath the table. "None of us were as close to Taehyung as Jimin was,"—he grimaces as he notices that he's using the past tense—"but we can change that all. We can all get close to Jimin. Maybe he just needs support and friends to make him whole again. Just please...don't give up."

"Who said we were giving up?" Hoseok retorts. "Namjoon hyung just said that we might not get the old Jimin back. For all we know, Jimin might change for the better. We're never gonna be back to the way we were; that's physically impossible, but..."

"But we can change and grow as people," Namjoon concludes. "We all want Jimin to be happy; that's all we can ever ask for anyone and that's all we can try to give. Hell, I want him to believe that things will get better but right now, he's still grieving. We all are, but we've got different ways of coping."

"I know that hyung, but can we please try and do something to help Jimin?" Yoongi is begging at this point for his friends to help him out. "Besides, you know what's coming up?"

A pained smile flits across Namjoon's mouth. "Bangtan's birthday," he whispers loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"Exactly. We need to make it happy and memorable. Maybe if we can bring back happy memories, we can forget the events just for a day and we can be happy just for a little bit."

Tears fall onto Hoseok's lap as he looks up at Yoongi. "I swear, with each day that passes, you sound more and more like Taehyung. You make me miss that babo so much." He slams his hand on the table. "But you're right. We need just one day to be happy, so count me in."

Seokjin nods his head in agreeance and Namjoon speaks up. "For TaeTae."

Yoongi shakes his head. "For Mochi."

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