Young Writers Society

The tip of his nose bumped the chilled pane of the window as he watched sparrows flit about the sidewalk.  His eyes were still heavy from sleep, lashes brushing his cheeks as he struggled to keep them open.  The warmth inside the apartment was lulling him back to sleep and he sat up straighter, positioning himself so that the heat from the vent wasn’t blowing up his pant leg.

It was still mostly dark out, the sky an inky blue.  In the distance, he could see tinges of blushing pinks and purples as if someone had taken a paintbrush to the horizon.  Streetlamps, their glow slightly dulled by the dawn’s light, illuminated sidewalks and the graffitied walls of apartment buildings.  Occasionally, a passerby or two, some drunk and stumbling and some looking tired and drawn, would pass into the streetlights.  But none of them were Jimin and Taehyung could feel his chest deflate every time he realized this.

Where are you?

Long fingers tapped impatiently on his thigh.  His position on the wood floor was growing uncomfortable, an ache settling into his tailbone.  His eyes flicked to the digital clock on the TV: 5:00am.

Where are you Jiminnie?

His friend was usually here by now, a black silhouette against the backdrop of the rising sun.  He’d just be coming back from a night of dancing at the studio, black hair mussed and dark smudges under his eyes.  But then he would see Taehyung and he would smile, eyes turning to small crescents.  It was a smile brighter than the gleaming August sun and Taehyung would smile back, jumping up to greet him on the front step.  He’d have brought the jumbo sized candy bag from the convenience store a few blocks from Taehyung’s apartment and they would spend the whole morning eating it and watching the sun rise—

He flinched at the sound of Soonshim’s barking, his reverie fading away as he peered out the window beside the dog.

A silhouette was approaching the apartment.Someone small with tousled, dyed-blonde hair.  The sun had crept up from behind the tall buildings and was at his back, casting his profile in a golden glow.  His face was hidden by shadows but Taehyung didn’t need to see his face to know who it was.

“Jimin!” he said on an exhale of air.  Soonshim’s nails scratched at the window and from his parent’s bedroom Taehyung could hear his dad yelling to shut that dog up but he didn’t notice.  He flung the door open, watery sunshine and stuffy summer air hitting his face.

“I’ve been waiting for you since four o’clock this morning!  Do you know how much my ass hurts right now?  Huh?” he yelled, voice echoing through the empty streets.

Under the rioting reds and oranges of the rising sun, a temporary hush falling over the city, it was almost as if they were the only two people in the world.  Just him and Jimin and the morning light, drenching everything in golden honey.  God, he missed these mornings, missed them all summer while Jimin had been away in Busan.  And he knew that Jimin was homesick, he was always homesick since moving to Seoul, but he was homesick too, dammit.  Homesick for Jiminnie and the way he always seemed to smell like the ocean and fresh air.

He saw a glint of white; that bright smile, and then running footfalls until Jimin collided with Taehyung’s taller frame.  “Just wanted to see if you would wait for me.” he said, voice muffled by the fabric of Taehyung’s pajamas.

His satoori was more prominent than Taehyung had remembered but he was still decidedly Jimin.  He was still soft and small in his arms, the smells of Busan still clinging to his clothes and hair.

I missed you is what he wanted to say but instead, he tugged on Jimin’s sleeve and they climbed the firescape to watch the rest of the sunrise as if nothing had changed.