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Yoongi sat cross-legged on the ground, facing out into a night sky scattered with stars. He wiped at his face quickly, then let his head fall back so he could gaze at the small bright lights above him more fully.
“Is it okay if I come sit with you?” asked Jungkook hesitantly from behind him, not wanting to invade his hyung’s privacy uninvited.
Yoongi lowered his head and nodded, turning back to look at the younger man with a slight smile. “I was just thinking.”
Jungkook smiled back and gestured up at the sky. “They’re like ARMY bombs in a really large stadium, aren’t they?” He patted Yoongi’s shoulder softly, then sat beside him, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around them. “I wish we could be out on tour.”
“Yeah,” Yoongi replied in a low voice. He wasn’t looking at the sky anymore, gazing down to re-tie one of his shoelaces that didn’t need re-tying.
Jungkook was quiet for a long time, just sitting by his hyung’s side and staring with fascination at the beautiful night surrounding them, enjoying the stillness and calm that Yoongi’s presence always brought at times like this. The older man made him feel safe, which was probably ridiculous, since Jungkook was taller and stronger now, no longer the skinny little boy he had once been, no longer in awe of the swaggering rapper he wished he could be like.
They were equals now, in a way. Jungkook would always be the youngest, but the members had helped him learn how to be a man and had encouraged him to grow even as they protected him and gave him room to learn how to be his own person.
“Thank you, hyung,” Jungkook said into the night.
Yoongi turned to look at him, his brows knit with confusion. “For what?”
Jungkook shrugged self-consciously. “For helping me be me?” he answered, his voice tilting up at the end in uncertainty. He sometimes felt like Yoongi didn’t understand him, despite how long they’d lived so closely together. They were very different people, even if all his hyungs had contributed to the man he was today.
“You were always yourself,” Yoongi said. “You just didn’t know it yet.”
Jungkook laughed softly. “What does that mean?”
Yoongi looked up at the sky again. “You just needed the time to grow into it, into Jungkook the man instead of little boy Jungkook. They’re the same, but different. You’re the same, but different. You’re stronger now.”
“Because of you and the other members,” Jungkook replied. “You helped me.”
“They helped you, too,” Yoongi said quietly, pointing up at the stars in the dark sky above him.
Jungkook nodded. “ARMY. I wish we could be on tour. It’s not the same. I can barely remember a time when I didn’t have them, you know? They’ve been there for me since I was in high school. Always. Some people have a large family, but I’ve had the largest. I don’t know who I am without them.” He laid his head down to rest his cheek on his knees.
“You’re still the same Jungkookie,” Yoongi assured him. “And they’re still there. Like the stars in the sky. They’re here with us, even if they’re far away.”
Jungkook nodded, not saying anything. He gazed down at the ground for a long time. Silence settled around them, the two of them in the dark. Eventually, Yoongi leaned over slightly to bump Jungkook’s shoulder with his own. Jungkook raised his head to look at Yoongi, who said, “They raised me, too, you know. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I hadn’t gone to that audition, if I hadn’t decided to join Bangtan instead of going it alone, if I hadn’t known you and all of them. I think I wouldn't be as happy. You all taught me how to be the man I am now. None of us seven are the same people we were when we started this journey. But I think maybe we're better for it.” He was quiet for several minutes as they both remained lost in thought. “I like the person I am now,” Yoongi concluded with a nod. “The person I am with the members, the person I am with ARMY, the person I am in my own heart. I like that man.” He turned to look at Jungkook. “Do you like the man you are?”
Looking back up at the sky, Jungkook said softly, “I don’t know how to be me without them.”
Yoongi leaned over to bump Jungkook’s shoulder again. “They’re always out there. They always will be. Even when you’re old and gray, they’ll be out there. They’ll remember little Jungkookie in his yellow school uniform with his big round eyes.” They laughed quietly in the darkness. “You’ll be hunched over with a cane, walking to the shop, and someone will stop you on the street and ask, ‘Do you know BTS?’” They both laughed more loudly, then covered their mouths, not wanting to wake the other members sleeping nearby. “You know who you are,” Yoongi assured Jungkook firmly. “You’re the man Jeon Jungkook. They may have raised you, but you’re your own person. I wish we could be on tour, too, but we have to be strong. For them and for ourselves. We have to be ourselves first, and BTS second. You’re a strong man, Jungkookie.” Jungkook grinned at the nickname, then nodded.
“Okay,” he said. “When we don’t have ARMY, we still have the stars, like thousands of ARMY bombs. We’ll always have that. Always.”
“And you’ll always have ARMY, even when you don’t see them. Even when you’re in the largest city and the sky is drowned out by all the other lights around, the stars are still there, shining down on you.” Yoongi looked out into the dark again. “We’ll always have ARMY. Thank you for reminding me of that, Jungkookie.”
Jungkook looked at Yoongi’s averted face in surprise. “I didn’t do anything.”
Yoongi nodded and said, “You came out to sit with me when I was feeling sad. You reminded me that I’m not alone.”
Jungkook wrapped his arms around Yoongi and squeezed, a little surprised when Yoongi didn’t struggle or pull away. “None of us is alone,” Jungkook said. “We have each other. Always. And we have the stars, like you said.”
They both looked up into the sky until finally Jungkook became sleepy and went back to his sleeping bag to fall asleep with thousands of ARMY bombs dancing behind his eyelids.
A few minutes later, Yoongi stood and walked to his bedroll, crawled inside, and fell into sleep with a quiet mind.