Chapter Text
The fairy ball comes up faster than Jimin has time to prepare for. It's on the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, and is apparently going to be in the fairy realm.
“How do you get into the fairy realm?” Jimin asks Yoongi in awe when he tells him. The blonde smiles fondly at him and chucks his chin.
“We’ll take a fairy portal,” Yoongi says, chuckling when Jimin gapes at him.
“A what?”
“A fairy portal. The fairy queen erects them all over the world for easy access. It's basically instant teleportation.”
Jimin knows his mouth is hanging open but he can't bring himself to care. “That's so cool!” He finally exclaims, snapping out of his stupor.
Yoongi smiles at him and goes back to arranging a preordered funeral bouquet. Jimin leans over his shoulder and watches Yoongi's long, slim fingers deftly working the stems of various flowers.
“Oh,” Jimin stands up, remembering a question he'd been meaning to ask. “What should I wear to the ball?”
Yoongi pauses in sliding a white lily into the arrangement and purses his lips out in thought. “Remember what you wore that time you came to get a bouquet for your friend?" Jimin nods and Yoongi continues. “Something like that would probably be good, but maybe lighter colors.”
Jimin hums in understanding, mind already abuzz with all the options in his closet.
That night after Yoongi walks him home, hand-in-hand as usual, which has quickly become their thing, Jimin tries on every single thing in his closet. His room looks like a fucking tornado blew through it by the end, but he finally finds an outfit he thinks is perfect for the upcoming occasion.
The next week passes by excruciatingly slow as his excitement for the ball mounts, and he keeps pestering Yoongi about it until the blonde finally has to actually clamp a hand over his mouth to stop his flow of questions.
“Jimin, please, for the love of god, stop talking,”
“What?” Jimin complains, voice muffled by Yoongi's hand. “I just want to know if the other fairies will be bringing human dates too.”
Yoongi blushes a little at the word ‘date’ and finally removes his hand. He shrugs and pointedly turns away from Jimin. “I don't really know,” he says quietly.
Jimin has to hold back a coo at Yoongi's reaction. “Will I be the only human there?”
Yoongi sighs, long-suffering, and shoves a bundle of peonies in Jimin’s face. “I don't know, now will you help me sort through these?”
The morning of the fairy ball dawns bright and clear. Jimin is up with the sun, buzzing with excitement and unable to sleep in. He texts Taehyung a dozen times about how excited he is, since his best friend had been the first to know about the event. Taehyung replies with lots of smiley faces and thumbs up emojis, most likely sick of hearing about it.
He's supposed to meet Yoongi at the shop in the evening, and the hours roll by with excruciating slowness. Finally, he deems it time to get ready.
Jimin styles his hair on his cowlick and adorns each finger with a silver ring. For a blouse, he slips on a flowy, white silk peasant blouse that falls down his body perfectly. The chest is a deep V and the sleeves mostly engulf his hands. Around his neck he wears a long, loose white silk tie edged in gold sequins.
Jimin has on a pair of black slacks that molds to his legs perfectly and shows of the contours of his muscles. He carefully ties up his nicest dress shoes, a pair of gleaming black Oxfords.
Fully dressed and now with nothing to do, Jimin slumps onto his couch and crosses his arms in a pout. He keeps glancing at the clock over the stove, and on his fourth time looking over, his gaze alights on the pot of buttercups sitting in the kitchen windowsill. They are still as fresh and brand new as the day Yoongi made them bloom, which Jimin suspects Yoongi has something to do with.
A sudden idea striking him, Jimin shoots up from the couch and runs over to snatch the pot up. He sits down at the kitchen table and carefully begins plucking all of the small, bright flowers, hoping that Yoongi can’t sense it or something.
Once he has all the loose blooms, Jimin begins weaving the stems together. It takes a few tries, but finally has the beginnings of a flower crown. Giddy with excitement, Jimin keeps adding and weaving and twisting until finally he is holding in his hands a brilliant yellow flower crown, delicate and dainty and perfect. It’s beautiful and he can’t wait for Yoongi to see it.
Making the flower crown took long than he thought, and Jimin realizes it's time to meet Yoongi at the shop. Heart beating in his chest, Jimin positions the woven flowers on his head and adjusts it until he’s satisfied.
It’s starting to get dark out when Jimin reaches What’s Up, Buttercup after having stopped at a hotdog stand on the way and scarfing down his dinner. He uses the key Yoongi gave him to push his way inside, since Yoongi had closed the shop early today and it’s locked.
Yoongi is standing behind the front counter spritzing a cactus with a water bottle when Jimin walks in. He looks up when the bell dings and his eyes widen when he sees Jimin, pausing mid-spray.
“Wow,” Yoongi breathes, just loud enough for Jimin to hear. He looks a little dazed, and Jimin blushes furiously.
Yoongi is wearing ripped jeans and a black hoodie, and Jimin frowns. “I feel a little overdressed,” is the first thing he says, and it seems to snap Yoongi out of his stupor.
He grins at Jimin and walks around the counter towards him. He holds out both of his hands as he gets close, and Jimin reaches out to grab them, heart hammering. “Once we enter the fairy realm my appearance will change,” Yoongi tells him, squeezing Jimin’s small hands in his own. His gaze lifts up to Jimin’s head and his face goes a little awed. “Are those buttercups?”
Jimin smiles shyly and looks down at his shoes. Yoongi’s thumbs stroke over Jimin’s knuckles for a moment before he tugs on Jimin gently. “Come on, it’s time to go.”
Body filling with adrenaline, Jimin allows Yoongi to leads him from the shop and lock up behind them. They walk hand-in-hand down the street until they turn down an alley between two apartment buildings. There’s an overflowing dumpster to the right and a pile of soggy trash on the left. Jimin wrinkles his nose and side-eyes Yoongi.
“This is the entrance to the fairy realm?” He asks incredulously. Yoongi smirks at him and leads him further into the alley.
He turns them to face the wet brick wall on the right and extends a hand. The moment Yoongi’s fingertips touch the cold stone the world seems to melt away.
The next thing he knows, Jimin is standing in a wide green field under an endless starry sky. Wildflowers dot the long grass around his feet, swaying in the breeze that smells of summer. Ahead of him in the distance is what looks like a castle made of pure quartz crystal, rising up towards the full moon and glinting like a jewel in the night. Fireflies flicker in the air around him, and Jimin lets out a breathless little laugh.
The excited words die in his throats when he turns and sees Yoongi. Instead of a human in a wrinkled hoodie and worn combat boots, stands a fairy.
Gone are Yoongi's typical clothes. Instead he's wearing a soft yellow tailcoat suit over a white satin vest. His pants are white and gleaming satin too, and his dress shoes look like they're made of some sort of bark, which are endearing and oddly fashionable.
What really catches Jimin’s attention are the pair of huge, gleaming wings fluttering softly behind Yoongi's back. They are as thin and delicate as gossamer and are a pale, opalescent color that reminds Jimin of a dragonfly. They are paper thin and look as if one touch could rip them.
“Hyung,” Jimin breathes, stepping closer and staring at Yoongi's wings in awe. Yoongi begins blushing furiously but doesn't move when Jimin slowly lifts his hand. “Can I…”
Yoongi nods shyly and lets Jimin touch the tip of his left wing. It's a odd feeling; incredibly smooth but also strangely rough and textured. They catch the moonlight and gleam beautifully under Jimin's touch.
Jimin opens his mouth to say something, his gaze moving to Yoongi’s face as he does, and his words once again get stuck in his throat.
Because up this close, Jimin can see that peppered across Yoongi's cute button nose and his cheekbones are a smattering of what looks like super light yellow freckles. Looking closer, Jimin realizes that it's pollen. Yoongi has goddamn yellow pollen freckles and it's the cutest fucking thing he's ever seen.
And his ears. His ears are now elongated and pointed at the tips, making his already sharp features even more defined and elfin. Even the tips are dusted in pollen freckles, and before Jimin can stop himself, he's gently stroking one of them between his fingers. A violent shudder rolls through Yoongi's body and his eyes droop closed a little bit as he leans into Jimin's touch.
“Now who's the pretty one?” Jimin says quietly, staring at Yoongi in awe. A smile curves Yoongi's lips but he still doesn't look up.
“Still you,” he replies, voice a quiet, deep rumble.
Jimin's face heats up and he bites his lip to keep from smiling. His eyes sweep over the rest of Yoongi's form; the tattoos on his throat and hands are still there, though they look strangely blurred and fuzzy. There’s a strange luminance to his skin that wasn't there before, as if something is glowing just under the surface. In his front pocket is a cluster of buttercups, which perfectly match the color of his tailcoat.
In fact, upon feeling it, Jimin realizes the tailcoat is literally made of buttercup petals. It's soft and smooth and alive, and Jimin’s mouth drops open. Yoongi watches him fondly while Jimin simply keeps running his fingers up and down the soft expanse of the sleeve.
“Where's your acorn cap?” He finally asks, eyes lifting to meet Yoongi's.
Yoongi smiles and takes Jimin's hand in his own. “It didn't fit the occasion. Come on, we’re gonna be late.”
As they begin walking, there's a loud pop about a dozen feet ahead of them, and two forms appear out of nowhere. They're both dressed similar to Yoongi, the male in a light purple suit, and the woman in a beautiful gown of orange. Two pairs of brilliant wings sprout from each of their backs.
Upon spotting Yoongi, they both raise their hands in a wave, which Yoongi copies with a smile. Jimin waits until the pair begin walking up to the castle before he turns to Yoongi.
“Who are they?”
They begin following the two fairies at a distance. “That's Ines, the marigold fairy, and Alastair, the lavender fairy,” Yoongi tells him. Jimin stares ahead at the two fairies in awe and almost stumbles over a rock because he’s not paying attention.
As they walk, Jimin quickly realizes that the fireflies are lighting the way up to the castle. They buzz around the two of them like a thousand blinking Christmas lights, and Jimin grins around him in amazement. Unaware that Yoongi is staring at him with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape, Jimin reaches out his hand and giggles when the fireflies part briefly to avoid it.
Eventually the ground begins to slope up, and the castle comes into better view. The walkway leading up to it looks to be made of rose quartz cobblestone and Jimin giggles at the sound Yoongi's bark shoes make clicking across it.
Incredible beds of flowers line each side of the path, brilliant unlike Jimin has ever seen before. He suspects that every kind of flower in the world has a place in the gardens, which would only make sense. Jimin tries to spot a little yellow buttercup in the midst of color and texture, but there's just too much to see clearly.
As they get closer, the crowd of fairies moving towards the doors grows thicker. There’s men and women dressed in every color imaginable milling around, and the low hum of chatter grows louder until Jimin and Yoongi are engulfed in the middle of it. Yoongi keeps returning the friendly greetings that are sent his way as he leads Jimin through the crowd. They all look at Jimin curiously as he passes, and the human ducks his head to avoid their gaze, cheeks heating up at the unwanted attention.
Finally Jimin and Yoongi pass through the great grand doors, and it's like stepping inside a geode. The milky white quartz of the walls reflects some sort of inner glowing light, much like Yoongi’s skin. The ceiling seems to go on forever, and a stunning candle chandelier hangs down over the hall. The metal is an aged gold with ivy woven through it, and Jimin suspects it's hundreds of years old. It casts a warm glow over the grand hall, and for additional light, cast iron candelabra have been placed on every possible surface. The air even flickers with light from a thousand more fireflies, and the effect is so magical Jimin gasps. A flute and violin combo is playing from somewhere, filling the space with eerily beautiful music.
Directly in front of the grand entrance on the other side of the cracked quartz floor sits a magnificent throne made of diamonds and gold. In it sits a delicate looking woman in a gown of pure white that shimmers with thousands of tiny crystals. Small blossoms and blooms of different flowers are woven into her wild red hair, which tumbles over her shoulders and down to her waist. Two pointy ears peak out of her hair, and the wings that spread from her back are so stunning Jimin can’t look directly at them. On her head sits a brilliant tiara that looks like it’s made of a thousand stars.
“Is that…” Jimin begins, motioning towards the woman. Yoongi follows his gaze and nods when he sees who Jimin is indicating.
“The fairy queen,” Yoongi finishes for him as he leads Jimin over to claim a table before it gets too crowded.
Jimin watches in fascination as the hall slowly begins filling with more and more fairies, asking Yoongi under his breath who each fairy is when he sees them. Eventually they are joined at their table by the cyprus, lemongrass, foxglove, bluebonnet, and cherry blossom fairies. Yoongi introduces Jimin to them all, and though surprised at Jimin being a human, they greet him warmly and begin asking him curious questions.
“A dancer?” Irina, the cherry blossom fairy, asks him in excitement when Jimin tells them what he does. “Ah, I love to dance!”
“All fairies love to dance,” scoffs Finn, the lemongrass fairy. Irina huffs at him and proceeds to turn away and pout.
“So you and Yoongi are, how do you say...mates?” Kore, the cyprus fairy, asks innocently.
Jimin chokes on his tongue and Yoongi splutters on the mead he’d been sipping from a crystal flute glass. Jimin can feel his face turning red as a tomato, and Yoongi doesn’t look much better. His cheeks are blazing pink and the yellow freckles on his face burn even brighter. Even the tips of his pointy ears color.
Thankfully they’re both spared from replying by the low lighting dimming even more and a sudden hush falling over the hall. Jimin follows the turned heads and sees the fairy queen rising from her throne.
“My beloved ones,” she begins, her voice soft and high and commanding attention. “I welcome you and thank you for coming tonight. As always, it is my honor to host you all in my home, and I hope you all have a wonderful Winter Solstice. Please, enjoy yourselves. Eat, drink, and be merry.”
Fairy waiters dressed in tailcoats and little aprons sweep into the great hall with heaping platters of food as the fairy queen sits back down. Jimin’s mouth waters as he watches plate after plate being set down at their table. There’s a roast pig on a bed of vegetables and basted pea and mushroom rabbit and red grapes the size of golf balls. There’s buttered rosemary bread and stuffed oregano pheasant and baked potato kebabs. There’s basted watercress pigeon and brined sea salt and mushroom crab. There’s fire roasted carrots, peppered spring greens, and garlic and lime minestrone soup. There’s elderberry and red wine mooncakes, grapefruit and guava sorbet, strawberry rolls, peppermint buns, hazelnut and caramel cake, and gooseberry tarts.
Jimin drops back in his chair miserably as the other fairies at the table become serving themselves. Yoongi had warned Jimin that if he ate or drank anything while in the fairy realm, he’d be stuck there forever. Jimin had made sure to eat before coming, but now, as his stomach growls loudly, he wishes for than anything that he too was a fairy.
To soften the blow, Yoongi doesn’t eat anything either, telling Jimin that he’d eaten before as well when the younger reprimands him for it. Instead they lean close together while Jimin listens to Yoongi’s whispered stories of some of the fairies around the hall.
Sooner than he expected, dinner finishes and the empty plates are cleared away. As if on cue, everyone stands up and begin moving towards the center of the hall, hand-in-hand with their partners. The lilting violin music that had been playing in the background though dinner suddenly rises, making the hair on the back of Jimin’s neck stand up.
A lively yet slow melody begins playing, a flute, fiddle, and what sounds like a cello joining the violin. Yoongi turns to Jimin and holds out his hand, a shy smile on his face. Mouth suddenly dry and heart hammering in his throat, Jimin takes Yoongi’s hand and allows himself to be drawn into the crowd of colorful dresses and shimmering wings.
Yoongi places his hand on Jimin’s waist and pulls him close, and Jimin settles his hand on Yoongi’s shoulder, their joined hands held aloft. They begin a slow sort of waltz, and Jimin is surprised at Yoongi’s fluidity and confidence in his movements.
They dance like this for a while, gliding around the hall with all the other couples. Finally the song ends, and a new one, faster and with a livelier beat, begins. In the first few notes from the violin, Jimin pauses in the dance, causing Yoongi to stop as well. The melody is too familiar and Jimin is sure he’s hearing things.
“Is this...Toxic by Britney Spears?” He asks incredulously. Yoongi flashes his gummy smile and laughs.
“Fairies love Britney Spears,” Yoongi says, making Jimin blanch.
“Seriously? Does that mean you like her too?”
Yoongi shrugs and leads Jimin further on to the dance floor. “She’s not so bad.”
Jimin can only laugh and follow after Yoongi. The instrumental beat of Toxic is, well, intoxicating, and soon the music is flowing through Jimin’s body, taking him over. The other fairies seem to have a specific dance for the song, but Jimin lets his body take over. He turns around in Yoongi’s grip and rolls his body in one long, smooth motion, making sure his back is pressed flush to Yoongi’s front. Yoongi’s hands settle on his hips and there’s a little sharp inhale of breath from the older man that Jimin eats up. He places his own hands over Yoongi’s to anchor them there before rolling his hips in deep, fluid figure eights. Yoongi’s grip tightens almost painfully on his body, wrinkling the material of Jimin’s shirt.
Jimin grabs one of Yoongi’s hands and uses it to twirl in a circle before he presses himself chest-to-chest with Yoongi again. The blonde’s pupils are blown wide and his lips are parted slightly as he stares at Jimin in what he can only describe as hunger. Jimin shivers and savors it for a moment before pulling Yoongi into a fast, sensual dance that vaguely matches the other fairies around them. By the time the song ends on one last sharp violin note, they are both flushed and panting.
A new tune picks up, the cello and now a piano, slow and ethereal. Jimin and Yoongi begin sort of just swaying together, Jimin’s arms around Yoongi’s shoulders and Yoongi’s hands on Jimin’s hips. The music echoes through the grand hall as the fairies around them glide around in a preexisting dance. But Yoongi and Jimin stay mostly still in the middle of the dance floor, simply gazing at each other.
“Pretty,” Yoongi whispers softly, making Jimin’s heart beat against his chest and his cheeks flush. He can’t bring himself to look away though, not when Yoongi is so close and he’s looking at Jimin like he’s his entire world.
“Hyung,” Jimin breathes back, and the next thing he knows, Yoongi’s hand is on his jaw, guiding him into a kiss.
It’s so soft and gentle that Jimin almost doesn’t feel it. Yoongi pulls away a bit, gauging Jimin’s reaction, hand still cradling his jaw. Jimin closes the distance again and brings their lips together with more conviction. Their mouths slot together perfectly, gliding together the way the fairies around them are. It’s warm and perfect and sets off fireworks in Jimin’s body. His hands twist in Yoongi’s blonde hair, and Yoongi wraps his arms around Jimin’s back to pull him even closer.
They kiss for what seems like forever, oblivious and perfect in their own little bubble. Finally they have to break away in order to breath, but they don’t let each other go for a second. Yoongi inclines his head until their foreheads are resting together while they pant in the air between their faces. He rubs a hand up and down Jimin’s back slowly while they come back to reality.
“Park Jimin, I really like you,” Yoongi says quietly, and Jimin’s heart explodes and his stomach erupts in a thousand butterflies.
“I really like you too, hyung,” Jimin murmurs back, chest filling with warmth when a look of relief passes over Yoongi’s face, as if he’d been afraid of Jimin’s rejection.
Yoongi pulls back enough to press a kiss to Jimin’s forehead. “My pretty baby.” Jimin tries to hide his smile by nuzzling his face into Yoongi’s neck.
The rest of the night passes by in a haze of Yoongi, Yoongi, Yoongi.
He doesn’t remember how he got home, but when Jimin wakes up the next morning, there is a very naked Yoongi in his bed and Jimin’s sore in all the right places. It all comes rushing back to him and he can’t help the smile that breaks out across his face.
Jimin presses up close to Yoongi and wraps around him like a koala. Yoongi grunts a little and adjusts just enough to wrap an arm around Jimin’s waist. Jimin is content to let Yoongi sleep for a while longer, but after an hour goes by, he gets bored and begins trying to wake Yoongi up with kisses. He presses them over his bare chest and his wide shoulders up and his tattooed throat. Jimin kisses across Yoongi’s jaw and up his cheeks and down the bridge of his nose.
When Jimin is teasing the side of Yoongi’s mouth with featherlight touches, the blonde finally stirs. He cracks open a bleary eye and regards Jimin in disdain.
“You really know how to ruin a good sleep, don’t you?” He grumbles, voice low and gravelly with disuse.
Jimin bites back a smile and makes a show of getting up. “Fine. I guess I’ll leave you alone to rest then.”
Yoongi rolls his whole body on top of Jimin and pins him down onto the mattress, still half asleep. Jimin grunts, surprised by the sudden burst of strength. “Not so fast, Pretty.”
Jimin giggles and half heartedly tries to push Yoongi off of him. Yoongi is like a rock through, draped completely over Jimin’s body with his face nestled in the crook of the younger’s neck. Jimin gives up and begins running his fingers up and down Yoongi’s bare back.
“Thanks for last night, hyung,” Jimin says softly. A warm kiss is pressed to the side of his neck.
“Thank you,” Yoongi replies, voice muffled by Jimin’s neck.
As they lay there cuddling in the warmth of Jimin’s bed, he knows this is the start of forever.