dream, reality- agust d

You were completely and utterly exhausted by the time you made it home from Yoongi's competition. You and Yoongi were at the venue till nearly one am, as there were eleven other performers to go after Yoongi.

"Are you tired? I can take you home now if you want," Yoongi offered as he finally pulled away from hugging you, still barely having caught his breath.

"No, let's stay," you replied. The winners of the competition wouldn't be announced until they were put online the following day, meaning that it wasn't necessary for you and Yoongi to stay until the end of the competition. But, you could tell how much Yoongi was enjoying himself being there, and you were honestly having fun as well.

So, they two of you stayed until the very end, listening and cheering and swaying along with the rest of the crowd. There was something about the way the energy radiated off of people, the way that people vibed off of one another that made you feel incredibly content. You had never experienced being in a crowd and feeling all of that heavy passion at the same time. It was such an elating feeling that you could see yourself likely yearning for it later on in the future. The way you felt that night and the moments that you shared with Yoongi were once in a lifetime, and you knew that.

The way Yoongi was right there beside you, drawing the same emotions from the music that you were made you feel connected to him in a way that you had never been connected to another person. When he would look down and smile at you every once in a while, you could acknowledge how blatantly right the whole situation felt.

You were explicitly happy that night.

Yoongi walked you home, offering his hoodie since you were cold and he was still trying desperately to cool down.

"It might be kind of sweaty, but you can use it if you need to," he offered, chuckling a little bit. You accepted the jacket, figuring that Yoongi's sweat was already all over you anyway; you didn't want to be shivering for the remainder of the 5 block walk back to your dorm.

"Thanks again for coming tonight," Yoongi sighed out contentment, looking up at the stars in the sky as he walked alongside you on the deserted sidewalk.

"I'm glad I came. I've never been to anything like that before," You said as you pull his hoodie on. It was far too big for you, but you still found it comforting. It smelled like his cologne; some soothing cross between lavender and chamomile.

"Did you have fun?" he glanced over at you.

"To be honest, that's the most fun I've had in a while. And I really loved seeing you on stage," you admitted, somehow not feeling shy to throw out that compliment. Perhaps your new found honesty and bravery blossomed because Yoongi had been brave earlier. He was searching for you the moment he stumbled off that stage, taking you in his arms as soon as he found you. You couldn't help but wonder about that moment.

Why had he done that? Was it all because of all the adrenaline? Was it because he felt about the awkward interaction earlier that day? Or was it merely because he was proud of himself, wanted some physical contact, and you were there? Those questions bounced all over your mind, but you didn't want to ask him. In some strange way, you were almost comfortable with there being some mystery there. Either way, no matter what the real truth was, you just knew that you liked that he had done it.

"That makes me happy," Yoongi murmured simply, and nothing else was said all the way home. You and Yoongi walked shoulder to shoulder in comfortable silence as you had done many nights before.

You didn't even realize until you were already in your dorm room that he hadn't asked for his hoodie back.

You slept in it that night.

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Thursday, the day following the competition, you found yourself constantly checking your phone, anxious for Yoongi to forward you the results of the competition. You felt that he had outperformed several of the other rappers there, but you had to remind yourself that your opinion was rather biased.

All day, from the time you woke up, to the middle of your classes, to the walk to Youth & Impulse, and even minutes before Yoongi was supposed to show up for work, you were checking to see if you had a text from him. But, a text never came. You figured that he just hadn't received the results yet, and that's why he wasn't reaching out.

He arrived later than usual, only about ten minutes before his shift rather than the full thirty. He only nodded as he came in, not initiating any kind of conversation as he hung up his coat. After seeing how wild and different he appeared on stage, it was almost funny to you to see him back in his formal attire.

You had just started making his drink as you typically did, when he walked past the counter on his way to the piano mumbling, "No latte today." You frowned, setting down the coffee mug, watching as he sat down on the piano bench, his facial expression unreadable.

In all of the time you'd spent around Yoongi, you'd never once seen him like this. And it worried you. What had happened between one o'clock last night and 6 pm today? What had changed? He was practically floating and glowing last night he was so happy. But now, he looked detached and irritable.

You tried to shake off your bad feelings, despite the fact you were bothered about how you'd barely even gotten a chance to talk to him before the shift began. As people promptly flooded in, you did your best to maintain a friendly customer service attitude, even while you were sneaking sly glances at Yoongi.

You noticed a few small slip-ups towards the front of his performance; nothing major, just a few wrong keys pressed that he managed to recover quickly. But, as time wore on, he was messing up more and more frequently. His eyes were open, reading the sheet music this time. You had never seen him actually use the sheet music; he was usually too busy feeling and getting into the music. You had never heard him mess up like that either. You began to feel sick to your stomach, wondering what was wrong with him.

Even Stevens noticed that something was up, poking his head out from the kitchen to ask, "Is everything okay with Yoongi?"

You and Stevens gave it a little more time, but as his mistakes persisted and his entire body language was stiff and frustrated, Stevens eventually decided to step in. He approached Yoongi at the piano, whispering something in his ear. Yoongi stopped playing then as Stevens turned back to the crowd of tables.

"Excuse me, Ladies and Gentlemen. We will be having a short interlude with our musical talent tonight. Please, enjoy some complimentary cinnamon twists that you can pick up at the front counter! They go great with all kinds of coffee and tea," Stevens smiled to the crowd, eliciting some grunts from the old ladies as they made a run (or as much of a run as they could manage) for the pastries that you were now busy handing out.

You managed to catch a glimpse of Yoongi, walking across the cafe and then exiting out the door. Your blood ran cold as you assumed the worst. Stevens had just made his way over, planning to help you out with the customers.

"Where did Yoongi go?! Did you just fire him?" You exclaimed under your breath as your back was to the customers for a short moment.

"Fire him? What are you talking about? I told him he seemed like he needed a break so I told him to grab some fresh air," Stevens replied, attending to the customers that you were practically ignoring.

"Something's wrong with him today..." You trailed off, biting your lip as you tried to see over the crowd and to the windows. It was already dark outside though, so you knew it was really no use.

"Did everything go okay last night?" Stevens asked.

"It was great, actually. We-" You began, but then paused as you remembered what he'd been expecting all day. The competition results.

"You what?" Stevens questioned as you had stopped talking mid-sentence.

"Stevens, I know we're slammed right now, but I would appreciate you forever if you would let me go out there and talk to him for a few minutes," you practically begged.

"Y/N," he started uneasily.

"Please," your eyes pleaded with his.

"Fine. Go," he sighed, and you thanked him quickly, running out from behind the counter and to the front door.

Upon making it outside, you found Yoongi sitting on the curb, a nearby street lamp glowing just enough for you to be able to make out his profile features.

"Yoongi?" You called out as you approached him. He looked up at you, but he didn't smile. Hesitantly, you sat down beside him on the curb, leaving a small gap between you and him.

"Are you okay?" you asked quietly, worry and fear continually rising in your chest. He was quiet for a few moments.

"I got the results back," he said finally, jaw clenching slightly. In the dim light, he almost looked mad. You waited silently, figuring it was best to just let him talk, rather than trying to pull the words out of him before he was ready.

"I placed 6th out of the 20," he sighed, head suddenly in his hands as he was rubbing his eyes.

"What's the problem them? You beat 14 people Yoongi, that's great," you said, unsure of why he seemed so down about it.

"'That's great'? 6th is not good enough. There were recruiters there, Y/N. You really think they're going to go for anybody past the top 3, top 5 maybe? I blew my chance," He said, clearly growing frustrated as he finally made eye contact with you.

"But Yoongi, you did your best, and it's so obvious that someone like you and with talent like yours belongs on a stage," you insisted, your eyebrows wrinkled up as you grew more and more confused as to why he was counting this a loss.

"Y/N, you're not listening to me. 6th is not good enough. I wasn't good enough." It wasn't until voice slightly cracked when he said "I wasn't good enough" that you realized he was beginning to tear up.

"Yoongi..." You said his name softly, heart hurting for him.

"I-I just really thought this was going to be it, you know? I thought that it was really my chance to finally make it big. And I just, I don't know, I guess I choked," he whispered, tears slowly beginning to leak out of his eyes. He swiped them away quickly, looking down as if he was embarrassed to be crying at all.

"You didn't choke, Yoongi. You did your best, and you beat 14 other very talented people. And all of those talent agency reps were there, watching you perform your heart out. After a performance like the one you gave last night, I doubt they'll be forgetting the name Min Yoongi anytime soon," you reassured him gently, a hand resting on his knee now.

"I don't know...I just feel like it's all ruined now," he sniffed, facing toward you. His tears were still flowing even though he was clearly trying to very hard to fight them. You hated seeing him like that. It made your heart twist and burn in a very uncomfortable way.

"It's okay to be disappointed," you told him, another surge of confidence and bravery coming over you. You reached out with slight hesitance, gently wiping the tears off of his face. You half expected him to push your hands away, or for him to jerk away as soon as you touched his face, but he didn't.

In fact, he actually let his eyes close for a short moment, being one hundred percent and completely vulnerable with you.

"It's okay to be disappointed, but your dream can still become reality. Don't give up, Min Yoongi," you whispered. He sniffled again, nodding and slowly opening his eyes.

"Thank you for building me up again," he managed as you carefully removed your hands from his face. "I feel like I've been telling you thank you a lot these days...I feel like I'm not giving enough back to you. Saying thank you just doesn't feel like enough..."

"Stop saying you aren't enough...You are," You murmured, a whirlwind of emotions filling you up.

Yoongi sighed, and in a split second, he had carefully taken the sides of your face in his hands, pulling your face slightly closer to his. With seemingly no hesitation at all, he pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead, causing your cheeks to heat up in flames.

"Thank you...again," he almost laughed as he pulled away, looking at you with an expression you couldn't read. You were both sitting there, just looking at each other. You wondered how long you would've stayed like that if it hadn't have been for Yoongi's cell phone going off. He reached for his phone, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at the screen.

"Who is it?" you asked, and he shrugged, accepting the call button.

"Yes. Speaking. Yes. Really? Of course! Thank you so much!" The entire conversation only lasted about twenty seconds, and by the end, Yoongi was grinning uncontrollably.

"Y/N, that was one of the talent agencies that were at the competition last night. BigHit Entertainment."