17 : Photograph

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Brooke was confused as hell.

Yoongi's lashes feathered over her cheeks when pulling away, daring to meet hers as he was afraid of the reaction. However, what he was met with were eyes full of wonder.

Her mouth opened and closed, eventually pouting her lips as she was speechless.

Yoongi just sighed, releasing his hold and throwing his cap off. A hand reached up to scratch his scalp. "There, see? You asked for an answer, there's your answer."

Brooke's fingertips reached up to brush over her lips, a smile threatening to spread to her face before realization struck her. "Duh, uh— what kind of shitty reason is that? Wouldn't you want to see me?"

His eyes screwed shut while turning back to face her. "It's complicated—"

"Don't act like what just happened doesn't deserve an explanation," Brooke crossed her arms, taking a stomp towards him. "We kissed."

"And I'm regretting it now," Yoongi admitted quickly, eyes meeting hers with a frustrated tone in his voice. "I'm just not ready for that Brooke, I'm sorry."

"Why are you fussing? You're the one who did it!" She threw her hands into the air. "And my beers suffered because of it!"

Yoongi placed his hands on his cheeks while dropping his jaw. "Oof, not the beer!" His voice changed it's pitch to mock hers before going back to normal. "You know, we don't have to crack a cold one every time we see each other, is that all you see me as?"

"No," she drew, placing her hands on the hips. "Obviously it kept us close, so I kept it up." Brooke was beside herself, placing a hand on her forehead while groaning loudly. "Fuck, I didn't want our first kiss to turn out like..." Her hands waved in the air. "This!"

Yoongi decided now was a bad time to pointed out how that rhymed. "Didn't your parents ever teach you that life is unexpected? Even if we have visions of the future, sometimes they never come?"

"You're pessimistic as hell," Brooke scoffed. "At least I didn't believe we'd actually end up together."

"Brooke, trust me, I know," he shook his head, taking his cap off and running a hand through his hair.

"You didn't believe that either?"

Yoongi corrected her, "No, I know not to hold expectations anymore." He took a step towards her and leaned down once again, capturing her lips with his.

Brooke was stunned. She couldn't bring herself to push him away, his kiss being more intoxicating than the wine she indulged in.

He pulled away with a soft smack of the lips. "...Like that, see? Did you expect me to do that again after all this?"

Brooke's blush had already given her response away. "N-no." Her eyebrows came together, crossing her arms. "You're a strange boy."

Yoongi shrugged. His mouth went lopsided while looking down at the girl. The same girl he felt oddly connected with over the past two months, more than that. She had too many flaws to count, but she'd been the only one there for him.

"Still, still," Brooke dragged out, copying his stance by folding her arms. "...Doesn't explain these last few weeks."

Shit, I thought I was in the clear, Yoongi thought to himself. He wasn't at all prepared for what his mind was tempted on making him think, planning on doing.

But Yoongi was honest, and Brooke wasn't an exception. In fact, it was inevitable that the lack of communication in the last couple of weeks would haunt his conscious.

"Come 'mere," he cleared his throat, walking over to the steps just a few feet away. Before he sat down, his hand reached into his back pocket, pulling out the photo.

Yoongi scratched his nose, sniffing while opening the photo after taking a seat on one of the steps. Brooke sat quietly beside him, keeping somewhat of a distance.

The photograph had white folds in it from creasing, slightly faded, but still capturing a moment in life for Yoongi. "This— is Kimmie."

His thumb rested under the picture of a girl, red hair with freckles that could be barely seen on the photo, but he adored every one of them. She was sat on the seat of a large motorcycle, Yoongi the only other one in the photo. His arm hung over the girl's shoulders, eyes practically squeezed shut from the smile that decorated his face.

Her smile held the same joy as his but was quite different, showing off the small gap in her two front teeth.

"Excluding Ma, she was the only other woman that mattered in my life," he spoke steadily, quickly glancing to Brooke.

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose before silently looking up at him. Her face held an expression that was attentive, but slightly surprised. It was decided to be best to hold off on questions for later.

"You know, she mattered so much that I almost called myself batshit crazy for wanting to marry her," he snorted, smiling fondly down at the picture. "I thought I was content on my own."

Brooke's eyebrows slowly came together, unsure where this was going.

"But, she told me. 'Yoongi, I can't bring myself to marry a person who's already dedicated to a damned substance'."

His eyes trailed away from the picture to the far wall, placing his elbows on his knees with a deep sigh through his nose. "So, with my buds keeping me accountable, I was able to do what I determined. Become sober, for Kimmie."

Even though Brooke was calm on the outside, inside she was saying Fuck fuck fuck, what have I been feeding.

"Fast forward three hundred sixty five days, I was gonna ask her to marry my drunk ass," he continued, folding the picture slowly. "Until I found out she wrecked the damn thing." Yoongi looked to Brooke, however not meeting her gaze. "I never saw her again."

A chilling silence settled in the stairwell, Brooke's lips parting as she watched the boy be seemingly emotionless. What he appeared to be held a thousand words, but she couldn't find one in her vocabulary to describe the vibe that was felt between them.

Yoongi cleared his throat roughly before looking down at his hands, playing with a black ring found on one of them. "Just recently I was reminded of the same reason I accomplished something I never found possible. I never thought the day would come where a bottle of rum wasn't calling my name."

He looked up, peering through his bangs that needed to be cut, finding a puddle on the floor from the paper bag earlier. "Thank God those didn't survive."

Brooke was still speechless, but followed his glance.

He looked back over to Brooke. "You made me think twice about the only two women I ever cared about. Maybe you're the next thing to hold me accountable."

-

A/N

Fuuuuck I hope that made sense lmao

Yet still there's mORE I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

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