❧ The Story Behind ❧

Taehyung had imagined the encounter with his savior plenty of times— every time he wasn't shriveled up and cowering from the ocean, in fact.

He imaged a mental ray of color washing over his currently dull life. They would be standing there, and not only would his chance to express gratitude exist, but also the chance to ask for help. Help him out of the chaos he was drowning in.

They would be like an angel and grant him his wish, help him overcome his fear and he would befriend someone new and old, his savior and his ocean.

Of course, life never went as planned.

Not for Taehyung at least.

Because instead of his confusion clearing, it increased tenfold.

He was trying to deny the hard cold facts before him.

Because a biker, a trouble causing, legally rebelling, handsome mess of a man, was someone he knew he shouldn't get deep with. Or that what he had been led to think by how they showcased themselves. The bikers didn't let people in deeper than the surface, and that was perfectly fine with the surfers.

Except Taehyung had promised himself to take a step forward when he found his person.

Why? Why Jeongguk? His life would have been so much easier with some stranger being his cause of survival.

It made so much sense, though, no matter the size of his denial.

Jeongguk's sudden seriousness when he brought up the novel terror of waves, his sly comments that he should have pieces together long before the obvious factor of the tattoo.

That beautiful tattoo.

Why on his back?

"Hey, so I know we hate each other, but thanks for saving my life. No, I won't repeat that so I hope you heard it the first time. You, uh, risked your life to save me so thanks—"

Taehyung let his head fall against the bathroom mirror, a loud groan filling the hollow space. His fingers clenched the counter's edge as he pulled away and stared into the torn eyes watching him.

"Now that's just rambling." He scolded himself. "Just keep it short and simple. Thanks for saving my life, Jeongguk. That's it, then walk away."

How likely was it that he would follow said plan?

Very low.

Even Taehyung knew that.

"Goddammit." He grumbled, incredibly sour rather than grateful.

Walking away after a short apology wouldn't get him anywhere.

But did he even want to go somewhere with a biker?

"Risks. You take risks. You don't play it safe." Taehyung reminded the reflection, finger pointed at the glass. "Forget he's a biker for a moment and he's the only one who you'd even consider asking for help— consider asking to give up their summer to help you."

But Jeongguk was a biker. He couldn't just exclude that point.

Taehyung didn't even think the guy had a reason to save him except for the fact that he had been dying. It was probably pointless bringing up the topic of helping a surfer more when that someone sported leather.

"There's a rivalry. He's dangerous." Taehyung scowled at the porcelain top, gaze looping over the sink faucet absentmindedly. "He damages property and wrecks things for fun, Taehyung."

There could be more to him than you know. Maybe that's why Mr.Tuan treats them well.

"Oh, don't get curious." He complained, pouting in frustration as everything just made his head hurt in confusion.

Confusion and denial.

It was not what he had hoped for at all in the time after finding his person.

There had to be more to someone than just leather jackets and motorcycles. Even Taehyung was so much more than a surfer.

"Why do you care?" He snapped at the reflection.

Because Jeongguk cared enough to save your life. He cared enough to drop you home after that when he could have left you to eat sand. He cared enough to consider your fear when you didn't want to go in the water.

There had to be something deeper than the arrogant smirk plastered on his lips, something deeper in that ink digging into his skin.

The meaning of it.

He was an artist, he longed to know the purpose of something so beautiful.

People chose tattoos for a reason. Jeongguk must have had ink permanently engraved into a part of him for some secret Taehyung yearned to know.

Call him nosy, but it was an artist's mindset.

Paintings weren't complete without their inspiration, their story that wove some wondrous portrait alive.

Perhaps that was why artists were usually recognized after their deaths. After the fact, their story becomes a puzzle people loved to decipher. To solve the riddle and unknown parts of their life hidden in every feather and wave they painted for the world to see.

The surfer did it himself, too. In art studies and explorations, constant analyses were a part of his schedule such that he began to do it with everything.

Because while overthinking hurt him in real life, it helped him understand a fellow artist's intentions.

Jeongguk may have not sketched that work onto his skin's canvas, but he endured that pain for something. He chose that image, bird growing from a brittle feather, a sign of strength for something.

Taehyung was set on the belief that there was something more to that biker. Because of that tattoo, because of his motifs, because of their relationship being so odd.

Jeongguk was a biker, so Taehyung knew such a story may never even come to light with a surfer as a recipient.

Yet, a part of him wondered if the other would be willing to put rivalry aside. Help him with his fear, while Taehyung could get to know him.

Of course it would not be a smooth path, but he wouldn't know unless he tried.

"You're doing it." Taehyung settled with the man staring back at him, a replica of himself, looking more confident than he felt. "You're shoving that ego down for a moment and thanking him for saving your life."

"Taehyung? Are you alright in there?"

The youngest surfer nearly tripped on the bathroom mat as he stumbled, hitting the cold tile by the wall on his ass and hissing in pain.

"Tae?"

"I'm good!" He quickly replied, low curses leaving his mouth as he rubbed the aching spot and stood. Giving himself one more look in the mirror, he grabbed the doorknob and ripped the door open.

"Hey, Hyung." Taehyung sighed, shoulders deflating with ease.

"You okay?" Jin asked again, frowning. "I heard a thud."

"Just my ass deciding to high five the floor, don't worry." The younger shrugged, Jin barking out a small laugh. Taehyung grinned and stepped out of the bathroom, shutting the door and stretching. "What's up?"

"We didn't want to start the movie without you," Jin chuckled as the two skipped down the steps, Taehyung feeling the smooth railing slide under his palm as he trailed down. "So they sent me on a manhunt."

"Which movie did you guys decide on?" The two brothers curved around the corner, greeting the open space that walking directly into the living room. "Jimin, what the hell are you doing?"

The boy froze from his spot standing on the sofa, a spatula in his hand, smacking the ceiling fan.

"Oh! Tae! Hey, there's a web and I'm trying to destroy it." Jimin grunted with another swat of the spatula on the fan, making it shake and spin slightly.

"Is that my spatula?!" Jin shrieked. "On a cobweb? Jimin!"

"Uh, Hobi?" Taehyung turned to the elder just watching from afar.

"I don't wanna deal with spiders." The dancer threw his hands up defensively. "I did enough helping today, anyway, I get an excuse!"

Hoseok had done more than the rest with the surfing competition. It wasn't exhausting by any means, not when they usually surged for hours, but he was off his feet.

"Give me my spatula!" Jin exclaimed, a hand reaching for it.

Jimin scoffed and waved it around for him, little strings of spiders' woven creations floating off of it. The eldest's jaw fell as he ripped it out of Jimin's hand and ran to the sink.

"How did you find a web up there...?" Taehyung fell on the couch and gazed at the television, description for 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' glowing vividly.

Jin must have picked it.

"I threw a piece of popcorn up and it got stuck on the fan blade, so I went to go get it and— right there! A gross spider web." Jimin was vibrant with his hand gestures, arms flailing as Jin grumbled from somewhere in the kitchen.

"Is this movie actually good?" Hoseok yelled out to the eldest. "You've never mentioned it."

"A hidden gem I found recently." Jin smiled. "It's a cooking one, but like you'll enjoy, too!"

"If it's like Ratatouille level of culinary amazing," Jimin jumped down to sit beside his best friend. "I'm down."

"No hair pulling and rats." Jin sighed, voice dramatically apologetic.

Jimin pouted and Hoseok laughed as he grabbed the remote to press the play button.

It was awfully chaotic.

The way Taehyung had left the comfort of the bathroom, guiding himself, to the three different topics bouncing around the main floor, his hyungs engrossed in too many things at once.

The movie played. Cultural adjusting, raging values, and distaste for change. The previously standing French restaurant 'Le Saule Pleureur' met with their match one hundred feet away on the other side of the road.

There was a scene in which a chef of 'Le Saule Pleureur,' Jean-Pierre, roared violence by lighting fires within the property of their culinary rivals, 'Maison Mumbai.'

Taehyung felt like that. The chaos of his hyungs, of the bikers, the rivalry— although jokes were thrown around, the hatred still separated danger from safety. But also the violence of the ocean, the violence of his nightmares lighting fires and burning him out of his love for the ocean.

He wished there was a fire extinguisher for his heart.

He wished that it wasn't chaos he was standing outside of, but rather becoming a part of to actually enjoy. That's what usually happened, but things were currently so miserable in his head.

Hassan, the protagonist, was later an elite chef in Paris, broken and craving for home at 'Maison Mumbai,' for the food and flavors that brought life to his dishes. He was alone and empty in the deadly cold of France's modern culinary, regretting his choices.

Taehyung, too, found a place in that scene. He craved the warmth and comfort he found in the ocean, a feeling that was wrongfully twisted into everything but. He craved for the feeling of home the beach usually brought him, torn with the sudden reminder of death it brought instead.

Taehyung felt mentally gone by the time the movie ended, head in only one place far from that living room.

Fix things.

You can't be afraid forever. Take the risks to try fixing it, with that biker's help.

Jin flicked the lights on and Hoseok jolted awake from his dozing state. Jimin had latched onto Taheyung, cuddling into his side like the two usually did on movie nights.

"Okay, I'm crashing." Hoseok announced first, already trudging down the hall to head upstairs. "Goodnight!"

"Night, Hobi!" They chorused back, Taehyung watching Jin leave the two younger ones for his bed as well. "Night, Hyung."

"You're not sleepy?" Jimin yawned on cue, stretching out onto the couch, half atop of Taehyung. "Night owl."

"Never used to be." Taehyung chuckled, nudging Jimin up. "Go rest. I'll be on the back porch for a bit before I join you."

"I can stay with you." The older offered, but his eyes were drooping, hand rubbing his chest and running through his hair. "I have... it in me."

"You'll fall before you even hit the wood deck." The artist shook his head with a smile. "Go sleep, Minie, I'm good."

"M'kay, whatever you say." The small man shuffled towards the stairs, almost drunk-like in the way he walked. "Tae?"

The youngest looked up at him, humming and raising his brown in confusion.

"You're thinking too much." The soft murmur floated down the narrow dark to the artist.

He was being told that too many times to count.

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow, then." He nodded, knowing that Jimin was so deep in grogginess that he wouldn't remember a thing he was saying.

Taehyung didn't plan on explaining anything.

Jimin smiled obliviously before disappearing to the second floor, the lonely male slumping into the couch. He was wide awake. Fueled by newfound motivation.

Grabbing a jacket, he lifted himself up and headed for the back door. The silence of night let the crashes of the waves slip into his ears, all the more haunting and all the more unwanted compared to his hyungs' loudness.

Taehyung didn't stay on the porch very long. But he also didn't go to bed.

He was up and treading to the front of the house, heading down the side path.

It was all a fever dream as to how he reached the diner's door. He hardly recalled passing the boutiques or stores, just found himself staring into the dark diner.

Dark. Great. Mr.Tuan had already left for the night.

Taehyung sighed and leaned against the wall beside the glass door, feeling the brick scratch rough against the back of his head.

All he could hear was the ocean and it was screaming in his head.

He probably should have just slept.

Taehyung pushed off the wall and gazed up at the moon peaking in the starry sky. It was beautiful. At least that part of the beach was still beautiful.

As he rocked back and forth on his feels, floorboards creaking with his movements like a ship swaying with the ocean not far from him, a glint of light hit his face.

The surfer flinched and shielded his eyes before gazing around into the parking lot for the source of the beam.

A motorcycle. The moonlight glistened on the exposed pipes and ware, encasing the two wheeler that braced against the kick stand at a slant with an eerie aura.

Taehyung let out a shaky breath, hugging his jacket close to his skin.

He knew who's bike that was.

His first encounter with Jeongguk relayed the knowledge that the biker, too, visited the shore at ungodly hours to cool off.

Maybe fate was good to him.

His chance was right there.

Jeongguk was right there.

Go. Go thank him, go ask him.

He'd wanted it all along so why was he scared? Maybe nervous was a better word. It wasn't going to go how he had planned a few days ago, and it certainly may crash and burn before he got a chance to fix things.

Rip off the bandaid and move on. Forget the rivalry.

He couldn't assure himself that Jeongguk would do the same.

Taehyung stepped down the wood steps and quietly headed around to the back.

The biker's figure was hard to make out. Especially when his leather was shimmering in the moonlight like the water ahead of him.

Jeongguk looked incredibly small sitting by the shore from where Taehyung stood. Insignificant among the lengthy shoreline stretching from one end of the beach to the other, ocean extending the view all the way to the horizon.

He could see the warmth of the diner's back porch string lights glow in the corner of his eye. He could feel the sand graze his exposed feet after slipping off his shoes, cool night blocked out by his jacket.

And unlike his fever dream traveling to the diner, he found his legs carry him down the shore with great heaviness.

Taehyung was surprised Jeongguk didn't notice his shadow growing and towering over his seated figure. That, or the biker chose to ignore any acknowledgment.

In the soft, brittle tension, Taehyung let his eyes flick the water and blink harshly; then, they returned to gaze at the back of the biker's head.

His rival bristled, and Taehyung knew he'd been caught. However, the man said nothing.

Simply let Taehyung take that first step he had been anticipating for days.

And he did.

"Hey, Jeongguk."

❧ ❧ ❧

this chapter was annoying to write the first time and stayed that way in the rewrite 😭😭 it's one of those that you need to include but it's just not action packed or super interesting.

watch "the hundred-foot journey" highly recommend!!

your guys' theories are so cool to see btw, they make me excited to reveal the choice i made :D

check out b&b's playlist on my spotify
(linked in my bio) i constantly add more
songs as i find them hehe ♡

✵ NEETO ✵