Jimin wakes up early this morning. He scrolls through through their shared Twitter account. ARMYs have really gone crazy today. All he sees on his timeline is the tag #Hello_We_Are_Beardtan and BTS light stick accounts. K-armys are really organized in their pranking. He feels an odd sense of pride in that. But it is really fun seeing all the different edits people have made of them in beards. One of his favorite ones is the edit in which all of the members are black-haired together, sporting beards at BBMAs. ARMYs really are extra. He takes out his ARMY necklace from his dresser and looks at it fondly. He decides he is going to wear it today. He continues scrolling through Twitter. He remembers Taehyung showing him the edits someone had made of all of them in beards a few days ago. They had laughed a lot seeing it. He looks so weird in a beard. It had started with Taehyung’s fancafe post. Now that he thinks about it, this is all Taehyung’s fault. Jimin is going to get back at him and he has a perfect prank.

When Jimin walks into the living room he finds Taehyung already sitting at the table eating cereal. His hair is standing in all directions and his face is swollen. Jimin finds him really adorable. This makes him feel bad about what he is about to do. Taehyung looks up from his cereal when he hears Jimin come in.

“Good morning Chim”, Taehyung says with a gentle smile on his face. His voice still sounds a little hoarse.

“Oh, hey Tae”, Jimin says hesitantly. He is trying to put forward his best acting performance.

Taehyung seems to pick up on his best friends hesitant tone, just as Jimin had hoped. Taehyung furrows his eyebrows.

“Hey, is everything alright Jiminah?”, Taehyung asks, looking concerned for his best friend.

“Yeah...Tae...Can we talk?”, Jimin sounds honestly distressed. He is impressed by his own acting skills.

“Of course Jimin. What’s up?”

Taehyung gets up from his seat and moves next to Jimin on the couch.

“Tae, I’ve been meaning to tell you something for a while now. We’re best friends and we share everything. But...”, Jimin waits for Taehyung to signal him to continue.

“But I don’t know how to say this. We’ve been friends since we were teenagers. You’ve always been there for me. You’ve held me while I cried. You’ve made me laugh countless times”, Jimin lets a tear slip from his eyes. This bit is not a part of the performance. “Tae, all those memories with you, all those late night walks and long conversations are some of my favorite memories of my life”, he continues. Jimin isn’t acting anymore. All this is easy to say to Taehyung. It’s all true.

Tae is looking at Jimin intently. His eyes are unreadable. He is waiting for Jimin to finish.

Jimin almost backs out. Almost. Jimin takes a long breath and continues.

“Tae, I guess what I am trying to say is that I like you. Like, romantically. This may seem like the most cliched best friends-to-lover fanfic but it is what it is”, he releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Jimin is surprised by how this was the easiest thing to say. Maybe, this is true too. Maybe he has always been in love with Taehyung. But this is not the time for revelations or realization of feelings. This is supposed to be a prank. Jimin looks up at Taehyung.

Taehyung is frozen in place. His face is blank. Usually Jimin is able to read his best friend like an open book. But now he has no idea what Taehyung is thinking.

“Tae…?”

Taehyung finally looks back at Jimin. He is looking into Jimin’s eyes, searching for answers.

“What are you saying Chim?...Are you serious?”, Taehyung’s voice is soft, his words measured.

As easy it had been to say it the first time, Jimin finds it is really hard to repeat himself. The look in Taehyung’s eyes isn’t something he’s seen before. It scares Jimin. He decides it’s time to end the prank. Hopefully, a ‘gotcha’ will be able to alleviate some of the tension in the room. By tomorrow they will have moved past it, and neither of them will mention it again. Jimin gathers all his strength to give his best fake laugh.

“Hahaha. I got you good, Didn’t I? Happy April Fool’s Day Tae”.

Taehyung smiles back at Jimin with his signature box smile. It’s Taehyung’s famous smile. Everybody is in love with it. It is usually enough to light up a room. But this time it doesn’t reach his eyes. The room is still dimly lit.

“You got me Jiminah. Now if you will excuse me, I have to use the bathroom. I’ll see you later during practice Jimin”.

Taehyung gets up and turns away from Jimin to leave but not before Jimin spots tears shining in his best friend’s eyes. His eyes wander to the half eaten bowl of cereal abandoned on the table as he realizes he has fucked up.

They avoided each other the whole day today. Taehyung is not used to this. Sure, Jimin and Taehyung argued and bickered a lot, but they always talked it out by the end of the day. Taehyung doesn’t know how to even bring it up without breaking down in tears in front of his best friend. They aren’t even arguing or mad at each other. Taehyung is just heartbroken.

Taehyung realized he was in love with his best friend, and got his heart broken the same day.

Jimin had walked up to him in the living room this morning. He said he wanted to talk. Jimin had looked serious and Taehyung was concerned. Jimin had recounted all their years of friendship and Taehyung had listened intently. Jimin had even teared up while talking about those memories. All of that had Taehyung also think about their friendship and what it meant to him. He was lost in thought when Jimin had said the words that changed everything.

“Tae, I guess what I am saying is that I like you. Like, romantically”

It was probably at moment that Taehyung realized that he had the same feelings for his best friend too. He couldn’t believe though, that Jimin had said it so easily when Taehyung hadn’t even realized his own feelings. He had wanted to hear Jimin say that again. He wanted Jimin to confirm it. But Jimin broke his heart.

“Hahaha. I got you good, didn’t I? Happy April Fool’s Day, Tae”

Yes, Taehyung had been a fool. A fool to believe something like that could happen to him. Perhaps, he had wanted it to be true. Or maybe, it had been the sincerity in Jimin’s voice that had made him believe it.

Taehyung can’t sleep. He looks at the time on his phone.

3:35 am.

He throws away his covers and gets out of bed. He decides to take a walk to clear his mind. He quietly sneaks out through the front door. It’s quiet inside the gates of his apartment complex. He walks to the small park near their building. Their new home is in one of the most expensive residential complexes in Seoul. The park is nice, and it even has a few sets of swings. It’s not the park he was looking for though. No, that one is miles from their new home. He sighs. This one will have to do. He takes a seat at one of the swings.

Taehyung looks up at the sky. The stars are still shining. They are holding on a little more until the sun inevitably will outshine them, making them invisible to the world till the next night. The moon is still there too. The moon looks beautiful in the sky. It’s a full moon today. Taehyung likes to believe that the sun and the moon are lovers. They are destined to chase each other through the skies. Often, they miss each other by minutes, sometimes by seconds. However, there are times when the moon will hold back a little longer, hoping to catch a glimpse of its lover. They see each other sometimes. But never on full moon days. The sun never gets to see its lover's beauty completely. The beauty that has poets write poems, and musicians write ballads is unknown to the sun.

The sky turns red at the horizon. The moon moves towards the horizon and Taehyung holds his breath. A chilly morning breeze hits him. From the corner of his eyes he sees Jimin enter the park. He feels a blanket draped over his shoulders as Jimin quietly takes a seat on the swing next to him. He looks at his phone.

4:00 am.

They sit in silence watching the sky for who knows how long. The moon is still holding on. At the other end of the horizon, the sun peeks its head. The sky turns orange. Beautiful reds and pinks fade into the dark blue sky.

The sun rises up out of the horizon.

Jimin shuffles closer to Taehyung in his seat.

The moon starts disappearing.

Taehyung feels Jimin’s hand snake its way into his. Their fingers entwine. 

The sun sees the moon disappear beyond the horizon. 

Their fingers stay entwined.

In the distance, an unknown bird sings a song to its lover.