Work Text:
one.
Seokjin shudders as he lands in a small, tidy forest of a familiar park. Time travel was always nauseating business, but he ignores the turmoil in his stomach and sets off to a familiar address.
As he strides through the city, he checks his watch to make sure he can catch Yoongi as he's coming back from his bone-weary, low-paying furniture moving job. A tired Yoongi is a Yoongi who's more succeptible to coaxing, but Seokjin himself isn't even sure if Yoongi would listen to a ‘stranger.’
8:13 pm - the time Yoongi arrives back at his shabby apartment of a seedy part of Daegu. A scraggly dog barks at Seokjin, who ignores it in favor of the young man who's plodding towards the entrance of the old apartment building, hands clutching grocery bags Seokjin knows is filled with cheap ramen and even cheaper soju. How Yoongi can even stomach the bitter alcohol is beyond Seokjin, even to this day.
"Hey," Seokjin calls out, voice low. Yoongi halts and turns, eyes narrowed suspiciously. His fingers grip the bags tighter as if afraid Seokjin would yank his precious, yet meager amount of, food away from him.
"Who's asking?" grits out the young man, gaze flicking up and down Seokjin. There isn't a hint of recognition in his eyes, and Seokjin should be thankful for that but his heart still aches at the raw distrust in Yoongi's stare. He exhales slightly behind his face mask and tugs his cap lower down his eyes.
"You should stop trying to produce an album." Yoongi flinches, recoiling in shock and confusion. "I hear you playing your damn music every night." And, god, I love your passion; forgive me for lying. "And trust me, no one is going to listen to your music, it's never going to sell so just stop it. Go find a stable career instead."
Yoongi's mouth is agape in confusion, but only for a moment. His jaw clicks shut and he straightens, and Seokjin's heart twinges at the skinny Daegu male who's in a jacket that's too large and hangs off his too thin frame. Seokjin remembers a time, far later in the future, where the suit they dressed him in was just a size too big and Seokjin couldn't understand why, why they didn’t give him a suit that fit.
It was the last suit he was going to wear anyways.
Cold determination fills Yoongi's eyes as he stares down Seokjin and scoffs loudly. "Whatever, dude," he snaps, hefting his bags. "I don't care what some crazy stranger has to say. What do you know?" And with that, Yoongi storms off, yanking open the rickity door and letting it bang shut behind him. Seokjin sighs and turns, heading back to the forest to time travel back to his present. There, he will walk to the music hall of fame and there, on display, will be Yoongi's CD that skyrocketed him to fame. Seokjin scowls at the innocuous grays and blacks and sliver of his face which makes up cover art of the CD case, and turns away from the title.
'The Last by Agust D'
===
two.
Seokjin walks back to the familiar apartment building. It's completely bright outside, a sunny afternoon filled with the consonance of the city. He knows Yoongi is out at his job, and that his muse is also at work at a cafe within the nicer part of Daegu, so the apartment is empty. Seokjin gingerly opens the noisy door and sneaks up three flights of stairs to the ninth apartment on the left side of the hall. Standing outside the peeling wooden door, Seokjin turns the envelope in his hands.
A full ride scholarship to Seoul University as an accountant. If he mailed in his application within the next month, he'll get a bonus 1,200,000 won. He knows Yoongi is always tight on cash, and the money will be tempting. Yoongi always said he made music because of love and passion, but the ache for money was also there. In a world like theirs, money was a necessity and 1,200,000 won was an opportunity that could tempt Yoongi to finally leave his music and perhaps create a stable life for him and his muse. Seokjin wouldn't know this, but Yoongi would sit in his apartment with his muse, turning the envelope between his hands. He'd be torn, he'd be tempted, and the muse would whisper words of encouragement. Yoongi would clutch at the papers, temptation biting at his heels.
But it wasn't tempting enough, and Seokjin has an urge to knock aside the glass barrier protecting the album, the cover art now white with red lettering, and snap the disc in half.
"He was considering being an accountant, y'know?" a young woman says to Seokjin, and he looks over at her as she stares reverently at the album. A fan of Yoongi's, no doubt - in love with the music and the idea of the man he once was. "Can you believe that? Agust D, an accountant? How funny!"
Seokjin suspects the glares thrown at her from a passing group of people were by some nettled accountants.
'To The SKY by Agust D'
===
three.
Seokjin hires Kim Taehyung, a handsome young man also from Daegu, to seduce Yoongi's muse. He's tall and sturdy in ways that Yoongi isn't. He smiles whereas Yoongi scowls, and Seokjin isn't surprised to see how quickly Yoongi's muse becomes enamored with Taehyung's boyish charms and endless grins.
They're at a quaint restaurant, Seokjin seated a few tables away from the couple. His gaze drifts to Yoongi's muse - he's classically handsome with a timeless face. His jawline is sharp but curves to soft cheeks and even softer, fuller pink lips. His dark hair is styled away from his face, and he's dressed in tight jeans and a loose blue sweater that exposes his sharp collarbones whenever he shifts in his seat. His eyes are crinkled in laughter at another joke from Taehyung, and Seokjin beckons over a waiter to send the couple the finest bottle of wine they have. The muse looks delighted at the gift, and Seokjin knows Taehyung is taking the credit for buying the wine.
One empty bottle of wine and half of a second one, Seokjin watches as Taehyung rests one large hand on the muse's thigh, fingers splayed out suggestively. The muse giggles, pink painting high on his cheeks and Seokjin knows the muse is sold.
Seokjin isn't a voyeur, but he lingers in the hallway of the floor of the muse's second story apartment building. If he strains his ears, he can hear the muse's breathy moans in time with Taehyung's low growls. There's rhythmic thudding, muffled by the walls. Seokjin turns towards the elevators, the sound of sex lingering in the air.
Surely... Surely...?
Surely not and to Seokjin's dismay, the album is still there behind the infuriating glass case, now a soft gradient of blues and yellows and oranges representing a sunrise.
'I Forgive You by Agust D'
===
four.
Seokjin heads back to the apartment, jiggles the lock that never actually locks, opens the door and sneaks into the apartment.
Seokjin steals Yoongi's only prized possession - his beat up laptop - and escapes without anyone noticing.
Seokjin takes a bus to the Geumho River, walks to the bank, clutches the laptop in his hands, turns, and flings the electronic into the water. It splashes, sinks, and disappears.
Seokjin returns to the future, heads to the museum, and nearly screams when he sees the album sitting there, pastel pink with vague shapes resembling flower petals or butterflies. Except now, according to the shiny plaque, it's a mini album since Min Yoongi's laptop was stolen and he had to recreate all his tracks anew and with a different sound.
'Part One by Agust D' never actually made it to a part two.
===
five.
Seokjin bombs the apartment.
He makes sure no one is home, and tricks the surrounding residents to leave so there's no casualties. If Yoongi doesn't have a place to go, and all his possessions are ruined, he is sure to lose all hope. The album will never come into fruition now.
Except Seokjin is wrong yet again, and he stares bleakly at the album, dark gray and gold. It's torn at the edges, and there's a tour guide now rattling on about how Min Yoongi's apartment was blown up because of a gas leak (Seokjin snorts), and losing all his possession left the musician in grief, his sanity snapping at the realization that years and years of hard work and independence were gone, just like that. He missed getting killed by two minutes, returning home early to grab his forgotten phone during his lunch break.
"There's even a story," says the tour guide in a theatric whisper. "That Min Yoongi recorded a track with backing vocals that was just him vomiting in the toilet from drinking too much. His boyfriend deleted it, however."
There's a collective 'aww' from the tourists, and Seokjin wrinkles his nose.
'2 late 4 death by Agust D'
===
six.
Seokjin waits for Yoongi to finish his album this time, waits for the first physical copy to be born into existence before snatching it away from the apartment as the young man is out at work. He takes the laptop again for good measure and fishes out the spare USBs he knows Yoongi hides in various places in the apartment.
He runs over the laptop with a rented car, throws the USBs into a fire, and snaps the CD in half with his bare hands. He gazes at the broken pieces of plastic and music and as he turns the halves, he catches his haggard expression in the reflective surface.
Seokjin doesn't even look like himself - his hair is sticking up in disarray, his face is covered in a fine five o'clock shadow, and his eyes are wild with desperation. Desperation for Yoongi.
He leaves the broken halves in the dirt of the forest, and travels back to his present.
There, in one solid piece, is the album. This time the CD is outside its case (a gray cover with white lettering and with something circled in bright red). Seokjin blinks at the CD, taking in the decorative break running down the entirety of it.
"Agust D discovered his broken album in a forest," says a young man as Seokjin glares at the disc, willing it to burst into flames. "Snapped in half and discarded in the dirt! Whoever did that must have really had grudge against him, but it inspired him to start again and he designed his CD to spite the guy who destroyed his first copy."
"Is that so," mutters Seokjin.
The young man nods. "Apparently he and his muse were walking in the forest to help cheer him up from his losses. Someone stole his laptop and USBs too! They were really hell bent to make sure Agust D wouldn't succeed, but they failed big time."
"They sure did..."
Seokjin knows what he has to do now.
'Cypher: Killer by Agust D'
===
seven.
Seokjin sits in a hole-in-the-wall noodle place that the muse loves to eat at. Presently, the muse is scarfing down a bowl of udon, a plate of tempura in front of the bowl and a glass of water next to his hand. The muse takes another huge bite of noodles, cheeks bulging but not unattractively. Seokjin can't fathom how the muse does it.
The muse checks his phone, and his shirt collar shifts. Seokjin can see a bite mark nestled against the base of his throat. Yoongi was always a biter, and Seokjin touches his own throat absentmindedly.
Soup shines on the muse's plush, thick lips as he nibbles on his tempura while scrolling through his phone. His hair is soft, probably still damp from the shower he took that morning at Yoongi's apartment. His crooked fingers reach for his glass and he takes a long sip before setting it back down. A smile crosses his handsome face and Seokjin knows he's reading a text from Yoongi.
Seokjin stands up, taking a vial from his pocket. As he walks towards the muse, he knocks over a tray of silverware on a nearby trolley. It lands with a noisy clatter that effectively draws everyone's attention, including the muse's. Seokjin empties the vial into the water as he passes by the table as people try to figure out what happened. The vial’s content is flavorless, colorless and poisonous.
Seokjin leaves the restaurant just as the muse takes a large gulp of water.
Seokjin doesn't hear the water glass crash to the floor nor see the muse's body slumping forward onto the table.
===
Seokjin returns to his present and he already feels a little weightless.
He checks the museum, and his shoulders slump in relief. Instead of Agust D, a '1-Verse by J-Hope' rests in its place. Its cover reminds Seokjin of Yoongi, but it's not Yoongi and he is so relieved. His heart feels lighter already.
He heads to a nearby library to use a computer. A Google search of Min Yoongi brings up a small biographical blurb on an accounting company's website. He resides in Seoul, alive, as a top name accountant. He lives with his longtime partner, a pretty male name Park Jimin. Seokjin looks at the accompanying picture: Yoongi is smiling a demure smile, his hair naturally black and no longer bleached blonde as Seokjin remembers. Jimin is shorter than Yoongi, with full lips and pretty eyes that curve into crescents. Seokjin smiles fondly at the picture - he's happy for Yoongi.
Seokjin doesn't vanish in smoke, he doesn't pixelate like the monitor screen as he closes the program, he doesn't collapse, his clothes doesn’t fall empty to the floor.
He's smiling, and then he's not.
