Chapter Text
The weather was freezing rain. Despite the usual quick pour in October, it was falling in a steady drizzle, windshield wipers sliding back and forth. Even the Trans-Canada Highway was quiet this time of night; since Yoongi was driving just past Lake Louise, Alberta, his crappy phone read about 4:30am, but to him it was only 3:30, since he lived on pacific standard time, just outside of Revelstoke. The time on his phone changed a minute or two after he passed back into BC.
A car was coming towards him, an eighteen-wheeler behind it; Yoongi reached to switch off his high beam as his mouth stretched involuntarily with a huge yawn.
He was tired as hell. On his commute back from Calgary every Tuesday (rather, early Wednesday morning), a drive which was four and a half hours if he was lucky, Yoongi occasionally spent the night at a motel outside of Calgary. But on this particular night, after his three-hour radio show at the CBC, he hadn’t been feeling tired (he was, after all, a night person). But now that the music coming from his 2005 iPod had switched over to Atmosphere’s softer albums, and with the night rain pouring down, even the watered-down iced Americano in his cupholder wasn’t doing the job.
But Yoongi wasn’t about to stop in a hotel anywhere near Lake Louise. Anywhere close to Banff the prices were inflated 200% and he could hold out.
It ended up being another hour until Yoongi got to Golden, the first relatively inexpensive stop on his trip home. It was less than two hours back to his place, but he pulled in anyway, eyelids heavy as all hell. He recognized the woman at the front desk, having been to the Swiss Village Inn two occasions prior.
“Hi, do you have a single?” he asked, as soon as he walked in. The woman smiled at him.
“Yes, I do, it’s sixty-five. And the check out time is at noon…” she trailed off, eyeing the clock. It was four fourty-three in the morning.
Yoongi smiled. “Yeah, no problem.” He fished his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out four twenties, handing them over gently.
She gave him a friendly once-over. “Get some sleep,” She handed him his change and a room key. “Room sixteen, lower level. Just take a left once you’re out of the door.”
“Thank you,” Yoongi said. As soon as he got in the room, he washed his face and then collapsed on the bed.
Yoongi woke up at 10-ish, just before his alarm rang anyway, the hotel smell and the light through the too-thin curtains calling out. He rolled over with bleary eyes and picked up his phone. There was a text from Namjoon. Yoongi blinked curiously.
Hey, when you have a moment can u call me? Got smt to run by you
It was sent just after seven, but Namjoon knew Yoongi didn’t wake up til noon usually. He could wait.
After checking out, Yoongi took his truck down to the Starbucks in Golden, and ordered an iced Americano. It was surprisingly busy. He sat on a barstool and pulled out his phone.
Namjoon lived in Vancouver. These days he was doing TA work at UBC while finishing his PhD in something-or-other. They had met in school, but Namjoon always enjoyed it far more than Yoongi did. It was three days since they’d last texted, Namjoon having sent picture of Jungkook doing something stupid with a bunch of heart emojis (gross). The heart emoji looked really stupid on Yoongi’s old phone, anyway. Yoongi called Namjoon, who picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, hyung!” Namjoon said, the sound of shuffling in the background as he put down some papers. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. I’m in Golden. What about you?”
“Great, busy as heck but you know,”
“What did you want to talk about?” Yoongi asked, not one for small talk.
“Right,” Namjoon said, a little bit of a laugh. “How do you feel about one of Jungkook’s friends coming to stay with you?”
“What,” Yoongi said, at the same time the barista butchered his name. He stood up to get his drink, mouthing a thank you, while Namjoon pontificated on the other end.
“It’s one of Kook’s friends, his name is Kim Taehyung? He’s the one who acted in his term film last semester, remember that? He’s a photographer, not professional, but he’s really good. Kinda going through the motions these days, so I suggested—”
“You suggested that he come stay with me? I’m a recluse for a reason, Joon,” Yoongi said, smiling as he said this.
“No, I know,” Namjoon said, and he sighed. “It’s just— how do I word this, I think. I don’t know, I think it’d be good for him.”
“What about me, huh? I’m gonna go crazy. I go crazy when I’m around Jungkook, let alone his friends.”
Namjoon laughed proudly. “No, no, Tae is nothing like Jungkook. He’s kind of quiet, gets a bit serious sometimes. Really nice though.” Joon said something else on the other end that Yoongi couldn’t hear.
“Why does he want to come?” Yoongi wasn’t even considering this, not really.
“Take pictures of the Rockies for a portfolio. I told you he’s a really good photographer. He was gonna stay some place near the Columbia ice fields, but he doesn’t drive and Jungkook and I both don’t have enough time to take him out there. He was gonna fly into Calgary, take a bus or two, but where would he stay? And then I remembered you’ve got that pretty lake near your place, all the mountains and trails, and the hot springs…”
“So you won’t visit me, but you want to send some city boy out here? I’m not a good host you know, and my place is tiny…” Yoongi swung open the door to his truck and climbed in, juggling his phone and his coffee. He was starting to realize Namjoon was serious.
“I told you,” Namjoon sighed. “We’ll both visit you sometime in February. You’re coming down for the holidays remember?”
“You should come here that time,” Yoongi laughed. He never learnt western holiday customs, but Namjoon did. He bought real trees for Christmas every year.
“Focus on the question hyung,” Namjoon said, “please consider this? He won’t be a bother. He’s really kind.”
“You’re actually asking me this?”
“Yes. Please?”
Yoongi sat in the drivers seat and pressed his fingers into his eyes. Namjoon was one person Yoongi was very bad at saying no to. There were reasons he didn’t live in the city. It’s not entirely that he wanted to avoid people, but that was a significant part.
“Uh,” Yoongi sighed, “how long for?”
“He was thinking like two weeks.”
Yoongi imagined two weeks with an annoying person snapping photos of everything, and he couldn’t even complain because it was his best friend’s boyfriend’s best friend. He swallowed. “When?”
“Uh… Namjoon trailed off. “Next week sometime?”
“N-What?!” Yoongi choked on his coffee. Namjoon laughed.
“Okay, hyung please!? That’s when he was able to get time off work!!”
“You have to be kidding me, Joon. Am I hotel?!”
“No, if you were a hotel we’d be paying you.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes so far back that a woman passing by his truck gave him a look.
“Though,” Namjoon said, seriously. “I would be willing to transfer you money. You don’t have to do much for him. He can use your pullout sofa, and he’s capable of living on instant noodles and cereal. Just drive him places a few times.”
“Joon—”
“Come on hyung, you don’t even do anything out there!”
“I have a job you know. I have a dog too.”
“How much do you want?”
“I don’t want money, Namjoon,” Yoongi sighed. “Can I— I mean can I at least talk to him first?”
“Of course! I’ll give him your number.”
“I’m going to sue Jungkook for putting you up to this. You were nicer before you met that little brat,” Yoongi joked, knowing Namjoon would relay this to the brat himself and he would be absolutely gleeful. “What,” Yoongi sighed. “What’s his name again?”
“Kim Taehyung. He’s 24. He moved here last year.”
“Okay. I’m not guaranteeing you anything,” Yoongi said, sharply. “I just woke up. I have no decision-making capacities.”
“Thanks hyung,” Namjoon said, as though Yoongi had already agreed.
“Joon.”
“I gotta go, hyung. Take care. Tell Holly I said hi,” and then he hung up.
Yoongi placed his head back on the headrest and sighed.
Yoongi was working later that night, finally back home, when he got a phone call from a number he didn’t know. Immediately he remembered Taehyung, as Namjoon texted him earlier saying “he’s gonna get in touch soon!” But Namjoon should have told the poor kid that Yoongi didn’t talk on the phone. It wasn’t something he did, except with like 5 people. Which was weird, because Yoongi spent so much of his life on air, and even more so putting his voice into a microphone. But phone calls always made him nervous. Yoongi picked it up, jitters of anxiety inside his chest, looking at the number.
On the last ring he finally picked up. “H—” he cleared his throat. “Hello?” His voice came out all squeaky. He realized he answered in Korean, which would be awkward if the caller was an English speaker.
“Hello…” a voice on the other end said (luckily, in Korean). “Is this Min Yoongi?”
“Yes, hello,” Yoongi answered.
“Hi, my name is Kim Taehyung… I got your number from my friend Jungkook…?” His voice was even deeper than Yoongi’s and he sounded equally as nervous.
“Yes,” Yoongi said, this awkward phone call grating on him already. “Uh, yeah, Namjoon told me. Namj— Jungkook’s boyfriend. ”
“Oh yeah, uh, well, I was wondering if I could stay with you for a bit?”
Yoongi hadn’t made any decisions so he stayed quiet for a bit too long. “Oh, well,” he started. “Uh, when did you want to come here?”
“Well I was hoping next Thursday. The 24th.”
“Okay, I see. Um,” Yoongi cleared his throat again. “I need some time to… yeah. Sorry, I’m. Not very good with phone calls.”
“Oh,” Taehyung said, and then he laughed lightly. “Yeah, I’m not either. Jungkook said to give you a call. Then I guess I’ll text you…?”
“Oh, yeah,” Yoongi said. “That’s better, sure.”
“Okay. Also it’s okay if uh… If I can’t. Jungkook said you said yes but he lies. I’m just wondering.”
Yoongi felt himself laugh. “Yeah, he does. Okay, uh, I’ll text you.”
“Okay,” Taehyung said, and then immediately hung up. Yoongi blinked. He placed his phone down carefully and looked back at his computer.
There was a song he was co-writing for a little duo out of Yellowknife sitting on his computer. It was due next Monday and he had plenty of time for it. And now, that phone call fresh in his mind, he wasn’t sure he could focus. He saved and closed the document and opened up his word-processing instead, pulling open a file of a piece he was writing for the magazine out of University of Alberta. It was only a few minutes later when Taehyung texted back. Yoongi looked at it and laughed. It was so formal.
Hello, my name is Kim Taehyung. I am a photographer and I’m studying General Arts at Langara College with Jungkook. I was hoping I could come stay at your place near Revelstoke because I want to take pictures around the area. I want to get out of the city. I am hoping I can stay there from October 24th to November 6th. I will need help getting from Kelowna airport to your house, and back, but otherwise I will stay out of your way. Thank you for your cosideration, Taehyung.
Yoongi leaned back in his desk chair, his old phone in his hand. The cell service wasn’t great this far up the mountain, but when the weather was okay it was reasonable. He looked out the window. The freezing rain was still dripping, but it was gentler.
Yoongi stood up and padded over to his kitchen in knit socks. His cabin had a mere three rooms: a bedroom, which was used almost exclusively for sleeping and storing things; a bathroom; and everything else; the kitchen along one wall where the entrance was, and a small table in front of it where Yoongi ate the things he made to eat. Across that was his studio set up, three mismatched desks organized with music-making equipment (when he occasionally needed to record non-demo vocals, he would drive into Kelowna). He also had a couch and a small TV in front of the furnace — no cable, just a DVD player. There was also a rug in one corner, where Yoongi would make little things and build puzzles when he was bored and it was too gross outside to woodwork (another passion).
He looked out his front window, seeing a bat or something or other flying past it. Yoongi brought his phone up and went to go reply to Taehyung, leaning on the sink.
Yes, you can stay in my place.
He found himself saying this, a sigh leaving his lips. It didn’t sound that bad. Honestly Namjoon and Jungkook wouldn’t send anyone Yoongi’s way if that person was annoying. He would just have to survive. It was only two weeks anyway… he was convincing himself.
I’m a half hour drive from Revelstoke. I can pick you up at the airport in Kelowna on the 24th. Just tell me when your flight lands.
There is a lake only about five minute walk from my property, and you can find many trails within 10 or 15 minute walk. My area is very beautiful.
This was the truth. Yoongi would never deny it. He was in one of the most naturally beautiful areas he’d ever experienced. It was probably the biggest reason he lived where he did — breathtakingly beautiful, from peaceful birds, chinooks and wildflowers and the bluest lakes to fierce winds, the deep negatives and suffocating storms and snowfall. It was disgustingly full of inspiration, though the nature and weather in the Rockies was not very forgiving.
You should bring hiking boots and warm clothing. I am in the mountains.
And we can get groceries that you want when we are in Kelowna.
Yoongi cooked in the daytime usually, enough for the nights — he spent most of his nights working and didn’t like taking large breaks except to let Holly out and have a cigarette or two. He was hoping Taehyung wouldn’t be the type to linger. Yoongi didn’t like that. Namjoon always did it, especially if he had something to say, and it used to drive Yoongi up the wall when they lived together.
My house is pretty small. You can stay in my bedroom, and I will sleep in the big room. I hope you will be comfortable. I’m not a great host but I think you will enjoy your time anyway because it’s very nice here.
Also, I have a small dog.
Yoongi finished with the mention of Holly and turned back to look at his little ball of fluff curled in his bed. Holly looked up as Yoongi looked over, and then he quickly got up and bounded towards Yoongi, as if knowing he was going to get let out.
Yoongi took him out — his cabin had a fenced off part in the front of his property, one of the first things Yoongi put in, to avoid Holly running off and getting eaten by a bear. It was still raining, and Holly was for all intents and purposes a spoilt city dog. He looked up in disgust as he stepped out, and Yoongi shrugged at him.
“I can’t control the weather,” he said to Holly, who turned his nose up and quickly found a spot to pee.
Taehyung messaged back as soon as Holly was in and Yoongi turned inside, squeezing his already damp hair out over his small entry mat and closing the door to the pattering of the rain.
Thank you so much, I look forward to spending time in the mountains there! Also, I love dogs! I also have a dog. He is a Pomeranian!
You don’t need to give me your bedroom, I am okay taking any spot or on the couch. I’m not a bother!
What will the temperature be like?
Yoongi texted back as he went to go slump on the couch.
It’s usually around five or ten degrees in the day and maybe freezing or minus five in the night.
It changes very quickly here haha
It may also rain a lot or even snow a bit
It’s beautiful anyway, though
Also, I prefer to sleep in the living room, because I sleep very late and that’s where I keep my desk with my music equipment. I work from home. So if you don’t mind I would like to give you my bedroom
Taehyung answered:
Okay, of course! No problem!
Did you know rainy day makes some of the most beautiful pictures?
I’m excited. I will book the flight on Friday, so if your mind changes, please tell me before then!
Yoongi squinted. He might not have been sure about having a stranger in his house, but he sure wouldn’t cancel on the poor guy like that. This was happening, whether Yoongi liked it or not.
He pocketed his phone and padded right back over to his desk, sitting down and staring at the wood of the wall, sounds of the furnace crackling in the back. It would be weird, having human contact for more than five hours. He wasn’t used to it anymore. His little cabin was lonely, but it was safe; he didn’t have to think about things, he didn’t have to use his brain. His friends always said it was some side effect of something or other, but Yoongi figured that he was just like that.
But before he could regret agreeing to this weird arrangement, he scooched his chair into the desk, cracked his knuckles, and got back to work.