The nurse appeared to let them know it was time for his grandmother's rest and that they were welcome to return anytime. Yoongi felt his chest tighten at that. Of course. He'd be back everyday if he were allowed.

"Oh Yoongs, you're welcome anytime, but you need to go collect Songhi's gifts from the shop!" She fluttered her hands at them, "Taehyung will be very helpful. Make sure you visit me again soon!"

Yoongi bent to hug her tightly and Taehyung bowed carefully, but Seung ah hugged him as well. "Don't be so distant, we're practically family."

Yoongi felt red to the tips of his fingers, but he took Taehyung's hand in his as he lead the way out of the complex, he made sure to leave his contact information with the front desk in case they needed other ways to reach him and he drove them back to his apartment.

8

"I'd like to see your garden," Tae smiled later that evening, picking up spicy japchae noodles with his chopsticks.

"It's my grandmother's, I just went there a lot when I was little."

"So when are we going to see it?"

Yoongi bit the skin on the inside of his cheek. In reality he was bursting with impatience. The pendant that Taehyung wore around his neck, the promise of answers at his grandmothers home. He wanted to be on his way. But he was an adult with responsibilities. He had a job, which is what he was currently occupied with. If he finished this article, he could send it to Jin and leave right away.

"Saturday." He decided, "We'll go Saturday."

8

Yoongi had crammed in almost a week's work of rough drafts and sent them off with little editing. He stuffed 2 bags with weekend clothes and essentials for himself and Taehyung and set off to Jin's with Taehyung in tow.

"Why must we return to this place?" Tae frowned, not excited at the prospect of another elevator ride.

"Jin purchased our train tickets for us and we have to get them so we can leave. We'll go straight from here." Yoongi promised, "I thought you didn't mind him so much anymore."

"Seokjin has a sense of pride I respect and yet there is a startling familiarity between himself and one I used to be familiar with. Its remembering they are not the same that I struggle with."

Yoongi scratched his head, not completely understanding and tugged Taehyung into the elevator.

"No! Yoongi I would not-"  Taehyung began, struggling to pull his arm from Yoongi's grasp.

And the door closed behind them.

"What?" Yoongi pressed the button to get them to Jin's floor and dipped his head to catch Tae's eye.

Tae backed himself into the corner and slid down the wall, hugging his knees to his chest and swallowing hard as the box dipped.

"Tae?"

"I don't like this box." He mumbled.

Yoongi breathed out, feeling guilty as he suddenly remembered Taehyung's apprehension at riding the elevator the first time. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

He put his hand on Taehyung's hair, stroking it gently as they waited for the doors to open. Once they did Taehyung got to his feet and stepped out, stuffing his hands into his pockets. The shaking of his hands was not lost on Yoongi though, but he didn't say anything.

Jin opened the door and let them inside. Their tickets in an envelope on the table. He gave them a small lunch bag with sandwiches for their trip before he sent them off.

"Let us know when you're there safe, kay?"

Yoongi promised easily and followed the signs in the hallway to the stairwell.

"Where are we going? Isn't the box back there?"

"I thought we could take the stairs this time."

They took the stairs in silence. Honestly, it was a lot of stairs, Jin lived on the eighth floor of the complex and Yoongi was very appreciative of the elevator. But Taehyung seemed very happy about the stairs, taking them in long steady strides and looking over his shoulder every now and then to make sure Yoongi was behind him. Yoongi would give him a small smile and hurry his steps in a poor attempt to catch up.

He thanked their cab driver for waiting and told him the elevator had been out of order.

At the station, Taehyung grabbed their bags from the trunk while Yoongi paid the driver for his trouble. They made their way through the station and waited the last 15 minutes for their train to arrive with vending machine candy shared between them. There was only one remaining pack of cookies and they both liked that kind the best.

The pair found their seats in a quiet car near the back of train, there were only 5 other passengers in the car with them.

"It's going to be a long ride, so you should try sleeping. I also brought a few books along." Yoongi offered.

Taehyung took the books and chose one on Korea's dynastic histories. (I made that up idk Korean history topics very well, we studied Japanese history more than Korean) Taehyung really enjoyed history books. He said they were easier to handle than the tv, but he always had a pencil to mark up things he didn't think were correct. Who was Yoongi to tell him he was wrong?

He pulled out his laptop and fiddled with some of his drafts, nothing work related, just short stories and poems.

At some point, he looked up, recognizing the farm landscape that had replaced that of the city and the suburbs. Taehyung was doodling in the margins of the pages, the context having lost his attention, and was chewing on a corner of one of Jin's sandwiches.  Yoongi dug around in his bag, handing him a notebook instead.

"You should try doodling in empty books, not ones with words," he smiled.

Taehyung accepted the notebook, in turn handing Yoongi a half of his sandwich. "Do you think I'll ever understand everything that's changed in your time?"

Yoongi nodded. "I think you're too smart not too."