Summer, somewhere.

Bubblegum Shots

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A self-fulfilling prophecy is an assumption about the future that brings about its own fulfillment. The agent's belief in this assumption plays a substantial role. Driven by the belief, he - for the most part completely unconsciously - behaves in a way that makes the expected scenario come true even though it could have been avoided.

Scene 1: Today

Yoongi's hand shifts a little on the steering wheel. The light of the setting sun reflects in the golden signet ring on his index finger as he reaches for the volume control. For a couple of seconds, he considers turning down the music all the way. Then, he turns it up. It's this 80's song. The Boys of Summer . Released in 1984, but the name of the singer either slipped his mind or he never knew it in the first place. It's not like it matters; The song itself is enough. So is the persistence with which it always creeps back into Yoongi's life just to tell him that right now it's one of these moments again. But, he most likely would have known anyway at this point. He adjusts his Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses and reaches for the pack of cigarettes on the dash, fumbles for a fag with his free hand and then drops the pack on the empty passenger seat. The lights turn red and he rests the hand with the unlit cigarette on the gearshift while the song slowly unfurls. It starts with single Hi-Hat beats modified by some sort of delay unit. Cool and flat sounding, typical for the 80s. It's essentially just a rhythmical hissing noise. But then the guitar sounds come in and they sound like someone was painting an ornate frame around a black-and-white movie still. Oh, how he hates that song.

The fact that he hates it doesn't make it less of his favorite song, though. That one favorite song you can't listen to without the memories hitting you like some sort of bulldozer. You know pretty damn well how much it means to you and still you habitually skip it when it pops up in your playlist. Precisely because it means this much to you. But the song as well seems to have grown quite fond of Yoongi. The love-hate relationship is mutual. It uses every opportunity to take revenge for all the times Yoongi turned down the volume or skipped it all together. For the countless occasions on which he fled a store at a shopping mall in which it suddenly started playing. It insists on the place it has in Yoongi's heart. In secret understanding - secret in Yoongi's case, the song is melodious as always - they agree that he will listen to it patiently now. The fact that it comes on the radio now that he takes a turn on Sunset Boulevard somehow can be considered a rather perfidious strike of destiny. But if Yoongi was to be honest with himself, he might have turned on the radio to challenge that very destiny. The Boys of Summer starting to play now is as much of a miracle as it is absolutely nothing special. It's the soundtrack to Min Yoongi's life. Nothing more and nothing less.

He puts the cigarette between his lips and feels for the lighter in both of the outside pockets of his jacket before he eventually finds it in the inside breast pocket. His breath stumbles as the back of his hand accidentally brushes against the shoulder holster hidden under the jacket. He doesn't want to think about all that yet.

It turns green when he flicks the lighter, but he takes his time. His 93 Mercedes E60 already had 400PS the year it was built. Meanwhile the ride is tuned to a point where it allows him to go from 0 to 60 mph in just one blink. There's no need to prove to either himself or the world that he'd be able to outspeed anyone at a streetlight. It won't be long until the 90's set of wheels will pass as an oldtimer; Yoongi has been keeping it for nostalgic reasons. Back in 2013, he had deemed it pretty funny to get the epitome of a mafia meat wagon as his very first car. When the used car dealer in Downtown had presented him with the rather impressive bill, Yoongi's only response had been whether he'd also have to pay for the dead body in the trunk. Back then, it had been one hell of a discretionary purchase. A little boy that had finally made it into a gang and managed to strike oil. Who found it incredibly cool to cruise around LA in a 90's memorial on wheels and pretend he was in Pulp Fiction. What could the cops do about it? Precisely because Yoongi's ride looks obnoxiously suspicious, they always tend to immerse themselves in their donuts rather than focus on their surroundings when he drives by. He could have swapped the car for three A-class models of the same brand by now. New cars, that is. But ever since 2017 it's decided that he'll be driving this one until it falls apart. Well, after all it might not come to this. But until this very day, he successfully ditched every opportunity to buy a new one. If there's one thing that keeps you from moving on in life, it's nostalgia.