❧ The Right to be Wronged ❧

Breakfast was unsurprisingly tense, to say the very least. Taehyung felt some buzz in the air, a buzz that made him uncomfortable as he ate his couple slices of toast and drank the glass of mango juice— fresh fruits a courtesy of leftovers from the diner.

He couldn't really stomach much, which was why he kept his food light. Not having been able to sleep all night and being emotionally drained after the day before didn't help in the slightest.

Taehyung honestly felt miserable and the energy present at the dining table made him feel nauseous.

"Storm's coming in a few days from now." Hoseok said, cutting into the clatter of silverware. Taehyung nearly jumped at the human voice among metal clinks, but he sunk in his seat at the words. After reliving his worst nightmare all night, Taehyung didn't think he wanted to see rain hit the coast for a while. "Probably another sweeping in some time from now."

Great.

He looked up at Jimin, who sat adjacent to him. The guy was having a smoothie bowl, jaw still disgustingly bruised and it was clearly still painful for him to open and close his mouth to chew.

A foot tapped against his under the table and Taehyung jerked his head to see Hoseok staring at him.

What? He mouthed in confusion.

Tell them, Hoseok silently said back. Taehyung tensed at the request, though, because he knew that they had their suspicions. And Hoseok had told him last night itself that he wasn't going to be given much time before an explanation was needed.

No, he frowned in return, Hoseok sighed deeply and Taehyung rubbed his forehead. He couldn't do this. He didn't think he had any energy left inside him for that conversation.

He didn't think he had it in him yesterday either, but he had one hell of a conversation with Jeongguk.

Thinking about the biker hurt. Everything pinched his chest just wrong when Taehyung's thoughts brought forth his name. It was a pain that remained thick in his throat, a clump unmoving and impossible to rid. Gulped back to dull, but it remained obvious every time he thought about speaking.

So many things could— and should— have been said differently the night before, but he felt no guilt in being angry with the younger.

"Hey, Hyung," he finally said to Jin, an encouraging look sketching itself onto Hoseok's face— though, it was crushed just as quickly. "How was that call? Sounded important."

Hoseok sighed in defeat, returning to his meal.

"Oh, that?" Jin cocked his head, stabbing a peach slice with his fork and putting it in his mouth. "Went well. They want me to intern there again after I take my LSAT this fall. Hopefully, I can land a part time in that firm while I move on to law school."

"And how's studying for the LSAT?" Jimin's voice was slightly muffled through his swollen mouth.

"A literal hate crime on my braincells." Jin snorted, Taehyung cracking a small smile as Hoseok chuckled across from him. "It's nice working on it out here, though. More peaceful and I don't get to surf in my breaks back home."

Taehyung couldn't imagine Jin's stress. All he knew was that it was the equivalent of medical student's MCAT exam and he'd heard the worst of horror stories from that. It made him wonder if his struggle between his parents and art was even comparable to Jin's pressure when it felt like the worst of it was already over.

"Nothing like Legally Blonde, huh?" Hoseok shook his head with a grin.

"One could dream." Jin shrugged, more relaxed and Taehyung let out a small breath as the prior tension eased off from the casual talk. "You guys don't worry about, though. I hardly need another voice thinking about it besides the one in my head."

They all slipped out small laughs at that and Taehyung had to give Jin the biggest credit for knowing what to say when none of them knew what to do.

"How's the jaw?" His brother turned the attention to Jimin, who raised a hand and rocked it back in forward to signal an okay.

"That's more assuring than 'fucking hell.'" Hoseok, who was eating cereal, buried a spoonful of flakes in his mouth. "Glad it's somewhat better, Minie."

"Me, too." Taehyung added, like his input was necessary. It was rushed and abrupt, though, causing the room to quiet and look at him with an odd sense of worry. "What?"

Hoseok, of course, didn't have much to say, so he sat and watched the other two look at each other and then back at him. Taehyung's stomach swooped seeing their actions, hands suddenly clammy like they were going to ask him instead of the explanation happening on his terms.

"Tae—" Jin huffed, setting his fork down and the sound was startling in itself. "If you don't want to talk about it right now, I get it, but... it's about yesterday."

His chewing slowed to a stop, swallowing his food and trying to keep it down before speaking.

"I don't know if I want to talk about it." His eyes pinched shut, words truthful as a hand slipping into his lap to grip the slack in his shorts. "I'm sorry, I just—"

"Tae," Hoseok cut in and he snapped his gaze up. "You'll have to eventually."

He knew Hoseok didn't mean ill. It was more like ripping the bandaid off instead of letting it loom overhead until he did. Honestly, he'd never do it on his own, so he was somewhat grateful Hoseok was pushing him.

"I-I know— I just—" Jin reached for his arm, rubbing the skin comfortingly. "M'sorry."

"Didn't ask for an apology." His brother shook his head, the words awfully similar to how Hoseok had spoken to him the night before. "Just wanted you to explain why you helped them. It's not like you to get involved like that."

The words sent a pang in his chest. A deep jolt of regret hitting him. He really shouldn't have. He couldn't stop thinking about how differently— how much better— things would have ensued had he not done anything and stayed put in that booth.

A constant spin and reminder sat right beside him, cheek splattered with unnatural colors, healing, but painful to touch all the same. Jimin shouldn't be hurting and that was his fault.

"It's complicated." Taehyung mumbled, breaking off the crumbly crust of his toast to distract himself. "And, um, yeah, I don't really know where to start... do you guys remember when we came across the bikers at the bar?"

"Oh, yeah." Jimin nodded. "We left early."

"Mhm," Taehyung pursed his lips, tucking his hands under his legs and leaning forward. "Jeongguk, well, he actually helped us get out of there before the fight broke out."

"What?" Even Hoseok was confused by the confession. "But you two were just arguing."

"He hinted at some trouble coming around." He smiled painfully. "Not really for anyone to catch onto, but the two of us."

"Hints, huh? So, you two are buddies or something?"

Taehyung froze in his seat, eyes shooting over to Jin's nonchalant comment, not even sparing him a glance as his brother picked at a piece of fruit on his plate. He closed his eyes and sighed, the lump in his throat growing. "Kinda, yeah."

Jin stilled all together, as if he hadn't expected there to be a lack of denial to his mindless question. Jimin gasped quietly on his other side, bug-eyed in surprise.

His older brother's gaze lifted to meet his and Taehyung nearly shot his attention away to something else. "You're friends with Jeongguk or was helping them yesterday in the diner returning a favor, Taehyung?"

In hindsight, the questions made explaining easier. He had some direction, despite how intimidating it was to be put on the spot, from the table's curiosity.

"Both." He murmured. "Well, we were friends."

Hoseok's brows furrowed at his answer.

"Wait," Jimin suddenly splayed a hand out on the wood table, food forgotten as he gaped, wincing a moment later when he stretched the bruised skin on his cheek. Though, that didn't seem to be enough to halt his words. "That one morning you smelled like smoke. Tuan's diner my ass— that was fucking motorcycle exhaust!"

"Minie, don't talk so much," Hoseok grimaced, moving in time to settle their friend down. "You'll hurt yourself."

Jin reached over to touch his arm as Jimin sat back in his seat. "I guess I can't say I didn't have any suspicions."

And suddenly the lump in his throat disappeared and left his throat empty and dry. Taehyung pulled his arm away from Jin's touch and blinked. "What? Hyung, what do you mean?"

"Well, when Jimin got hurt yesterday," Jin explained, shrugging briefly. "I don't know... your reaction was weird."

"Weird?" Hoseok voiced for him. "What does that mean?"

"Like— I mean, it's normal to be upset with the bikers that they hurt Jimin, but, Tae, you looked shaken. Disturbed, even. That kind of reaction takes a different presumption of what was supposed to happen." Jin frowned as a shiver ran up Taehyung's spine. "You looked like you'd been betrayed, Tae."

"I was betrayed." He whispered, the room chilling— either in his head or for everyone else, too, Taehyung wasn't entirely sure. "The reason I even hung out with him from the start was because he promised not to hurt anyone. He's not a fan of it— well, wasn't. I mean, I don't know what's going to happen with his habits after that, but... yeah. Jeongguk wasn't supposed to hurt Jimin and—"

"— then he did." His best friend finished, bewildered by Taehyung's confession. "When did you even make the time to hang out with him?"

"Time wasn't an issue." Taehyung rolled his eyes, slightly frustrated that the heartbreaking person was the topic of the table. "But we met at night."

"Night?" Jin picked up. "Isn't that when you work on getting in the water?"

Taehyung heard Hoseok cough something out under his breath, vaguely understood by the youngest as 'and when he gets his lips busy,' only to glare at the dancer and be glad the other two missed it.

"No..." His best friend pieced together. "He helped you with your fear?"

"Yeah." His voice was almost inaudible, the swirling feeling of nausea rising again as images flashed through his mind, nearly hallucinating such that the glass before him caved into a wave like it had a few days ago.

The whole incident was the last thing Taehyung wanted to talk about. Especially when his savior wished for the worst, deep down.

Hoseok was watching him intently, and Taehyung knew the older was questioning why he wasn't adding on and telling them what he'd been told. Taehyung hadn't been able to converse the order of the arguement with Jeongguk to Hoseok, rather prioritizing being able to breathe and calm down over words.

Hoseok didn't even know what Jeongguk had said to him. None of them did.

"Tae, what's wrong?" Jin asked, pouring a glass of water and sliding it in front of him. "You went really pale."

"Huh? O-Oh, fine— I'm fine." He downed the water and shuddered at the feeling, blinking until the morning light subdued stormy skies in his head. "I just— I need to go."

He stood abruptly, stumbling away and pausing by Hoseok for a moment. He gave the elder a look of help and hurried to get upstairs with a rush of apologies spewing with his chaotic movement.

Hoseok called after him. Taehyung didn't really hear it past the blood rampaging through his eardrums, heart lodged in his throat such that breathing was hard again.

"What the hell...?" Jin muttered, eyeing Taehyung's empty seat and then the staircase where he'd disappeared. "Seok, is he okay?"

"He, um, not really." Hoseok admitted, on the verge of just dropping the conversation and catching up to Taehyung. But the younger probably needed time alone. Something to focus on that wasn't explaining the situation to two of his close friends.

"You've known all this time," Jin turned the direction of the conversation and the dancer sighed, rubbing his eyes because he knew that his friend would bring that up.

"I have known for a few days."

"You didn't try to... I don't know, reason with Taehyung?" Jimin blatantly stated. "You couldn't have thought this would end well."

"I trusted his choice." Hoseok defended his actions. "His relationship with Jeongguk isn't what you guys think it is."

The eldest stared on pointedly, expression near incredulous as he pointed at Jimin. "He was friends with the same guy who did that?"

"Why do you think he was so hurt, Hyung? Jeongguk has more than just helped him with his fear and then he reversed it all in a split second of anger."

"More than his fear...?" Jimin frowned. "What?"

Hoseok cracked his fingers, running them through his hair to release some of the nerves bound up within. He knew Taehyung wanted him to help with the explaining— to do some of it for him.

"Jeongguk saved him that day, guys." He finally said. "He got Taehyung out of the water and back to us."

"What?!"

He winced at the loud outburst from both of the other two surfers at the table, scratching the bounce in his leg as he pursed his lips. "You heard me."

"No, no," Jimin scoffed, injury forgotten. "There's no way! Jeongguk saved him from drowning? What?"

"Believe me, it was hard to believe it, but Taehyung has proof."

"Proof?" Jin perked up, unintentional and merely out of habit. "Why would he need proof?"

"You think he'd believe a biker's word for it without knowing with his own eyes? Jeongguk had a tattoo and Taehyung remembered it from the day he drowned. He saw it on Jeongguk's back and... well, the rest is history."

Hoseok suddenly gulped back his thoughts in worry of over sharing. He was only expressing things Taehyung had told him, which had to mean it was fair for the other two to know. And Taehyung wanted him to help with the explaining. He wouldn't have left in the middle and given him that look if he didn't.

"Goddamnit," Jin breathed out, Jimin groaning into his hands as the fact that things were far messier than they'd ever realized.

"Yeah." Hoseok whispered. "Damnit is right."

"You're telling me, that this whole month, Tae has been through so much shit and we didn't even know?"

His nose scrunched at Jimin's words, trying to figure out what he could say. "I don't think it was all shit. Clearly, Jeongguk helped him."

"Yeah, I guess." Jin begrudgingly agreed. "Hurts all the same."

"I know." Hoseok nodded. Because he understood why Jin meant without any clarification. They all wished that Taehyung had come to them first. Or at least asked them for help when he needed it.

They all wish they'd seen it, too. They wanted Taehyung do go about his life, but hiding his worst moments from him hurt them all.

And, at the same time, Hoseok understood Taehyung. None of them would understand his and Jeongguk's connection. Not as a surfer and biker— but as a dying man and his savior.

When someone gets treated like a monster for long enough, they become one.

Hoseok never forgot those words from the mint haired man.

You can be told you're capable of good and believe that, too.

Nor had he forgotten his response.

Taehyung had always been the one to see the most good in someone throughout all their years of friendship. Something within him reached to initiate trust when others may proceed with caution.

And maybe, probably, Taehyung treating Jeongguk like he was capable of good had helped the biker, too.

But it hadn't been enough.

"He only ever saw good in Jeongguk and Jeongguk was good to him." He raised a brow. "For the most part."

"Is that a bad thing?" Jimin asked the obvious.

Jin shrugged. "In a way. He's hurting now because it feels like a lie."

"I wonder what good Taehyung did see in him." Jimin muttered under his breath and Hoseok couldn't help but agree. There was plenty more to the biker than aggression and pain, something that compelled Taehyung to trust him with that much. To trust him with his life.

His heart ached in his chest, though, remembering how Taehyung had crumbled in his arms the prior night. Not like a wave wearing down a rock into sand, but a tsunami destroying an entire city, a rush so painful and sudden that there wasn't any time to escape when he was stuck at the shore.

Hoseok's heart hurt for the younger and he didn't even know about what they'd said to one another. He felt guilty himself knowing he'd been the one to tell Taehyung to talk to Jeongguk. Would things have been different if Taehyung had waited it out?

No. At least, not a good different. Hoseok couldn't see how giving Jeongguk a chance to diminish the weight of his actions was a good thing. He'd always wanted the bikers to take ownership for the misery they caused.

And yet, he wished it wasn't at the expense of Taehyung's happiness.

"Yoongi knows." He said, glancing at the two before his shied his gaze to the table. "He found out around the same time as me and he's been taking it out on Taehyung. That started Taehyung's and Jeongguk's tension."

"Just when I thought it couldn't get worse." Jimin rubbed his jaw, trying to ease the pain so much verbal action was causing. "Now, I'm glad I landed a good hit on his shoulder."

"You need to stop talking and give your poor jaw a break." Hoseok cut in and Jin nodded along, Jimin dismissing the comment anyway. "You're physically injured, Minie."

"This is too much." Jin shook his head, standing to clean off the table. "And now they're stuck in legal problems. Namjoon's getting bailed, Taehyung mentioned?"

"Mhm." Jimin confirmed. "Sometime today."

"Let's just hope they lay low. Which they will if they've got any braincells." Hoseok pinched his skin, watching the skin go white and then rush with blood, turning the surface red.

"Think they'll come running to you if they need help?" Jimin asked Jin, joke clear with his rolling eyes.

"I'm not certified to do shit, yet." Jin scoffed and placed the plates in the sink, running them down with water. "Besides, I don't think I'd help them even if I could."

~•४•~

Taehyung swiped away sweat along his hairline as he pushed into the diner's front door, pulling it shut behind him and absorbing the abundance of customers chattering.

He fixed the open sign when the door shut, noticing it was slightly lopsided, and shrugged his bag off his shoulder and into his hand to graze the floor with every step. Taehyung smiled and nodded at a family seated near the door as he passed by, a small child waving enthusiastically seeing him.

Taehyung cooed and waved back before turning to the counter.

He froze in his tracks, the bag in his hand thumping onto the smooth floors, when he saw a familiar figure washing off some smoothie glasses. His back was to Taehyung, but Taehyung had seen the man's figure, appreciated it too many times to not know who it was in a heartbeat.

His tongue felt dry on the roof of his mouth, crouching to pick up his bag and a great deal of anger dipping into his nerves.

The kitchen door swung open, Mr.Tuan walking out with a tray of food and Taehyung's emotions were stifled when the elder greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, son. Glad you're in." Mr.Tuan called over his shoulder as he placed plates of food before a waiting family. Taehyung's gaping mouth clamped shut, brow twitching as he scowled at the man behind the counter— who's back was still to him, oblivious. "Oh, don't just stand there. You're taking the counter over."

His eyes widened as the current worker dried his hands off and turned to the side, recognizable figure becoming a hated face. "Sir, what the hell is he doing here?"

Mr.Tuan tucked the small black tray under his arm and raised a brow. "Working. Like you. Now come on, you're taking over his shift."

"What?" He didn't mean to cause a scene before the customers, but he was more than baffled at the diner owner's lack of sympathy. "Are you kidding me? After all the shit he said and did, you just—"

"Hey," Mr.Tuan's face grew stern, lips frowning with narrowed eyes, and Taehyung felt like he'd been slapped in the face. "Not the time and place for this. And watch your language, Taehyung." His face softened, voice swooping, and he reached out to touch his arm, though Taehyung flinched ever so slightly. "I know, okay? But this isn't a place to drag personal issues to. Please don't make a big deal of it in front of so many people."

"Yeah." Taehyung choked out, pulling his arm away and glancing at the counter just in time to see Jeongguk grabbing a backpack from under the counter and rushing around for the exit. "Yeah, fuck this."

Mr.Tuan sighed and left his side to speak to the biker before he bolted out the door, Taehyung tingling with frustration as he curved the bar and opened the same cabinet Jeongguk had opened earlier. He dumped his bag inside and closed the door with just a bit more force than necessary.

His anger was transmitting from Jeongguk to Mr.Tuan without any help, simply taken aback by the casualness of the older man's generosity after Jeongguk had caused nothing but pain in the last twenty four hours.

His aggression transmitted into his work, punching buttons with more rigor and chopping fruits with harsher, quicker motions.

Taehyung didn't even try to hide how upset he was. He wanted everyone in the room to know. He wanted them to see and wonder what had happened. He wanted Jeongguk to see how much of a toll his actions could take.

Taehyung hadn't really cared to take in Jeongguk's reaction as he and Mr.Tuan talked by the door, instead hellbent on blocking everything but himself out. The front door's bells jingled and with Jeongguk's swift exit, did his body slump, breath leaving his chest in a long rush that made his eyes tear for the nth time that day. Taehyung dropped the knife and fruit in his hand on the cutting board and dug his forehead into the heels of his palms, trembling as his elbows rested on the counter and his face curled into his chest.

"Taehyung," the gentle voice came and he shook his head.

"Just don't." He whispered, not even bothering to look at the diner owner as he pushed himself up and turned away from the dining floor. Away from curious eyes so his pain-stricken face was hidden. "Please don't make it hurt more."

"I'm not trying to hurt you, son." Mr.Tuan murmured. "This place is another home for the both of you."

"God, why?" Taehyung's tone turned desperate, hushed begging apparent in every syllable. "Why do you excuse all his behavior? You just— no, Mr.Tuan. You just let him. Hide him. You probably don't even know what he did or said—"

"I do know." The man cut in and Taehyung breathed deeply at the admission. "I was the first person he talked to about it."

"Great," he bit out sourly. "Wouldn't be surprised to hear some twisted truths that have you convinced he was wronged."

"I'm aware he did wrong."

Taehyung snorted, wringing his hands together and sniffing momentarily, heat clinging to him all the more through his frustrations. "Then, why was he here? Why do you still treat him with such kindness?"

"I'm not answering you when you're in such a state, Taehyung." Mr.Tuan shook his head and Taehyung finally snapped his gaze up to meet his eyes. The man looked tired, but determined, with his focused eyes and weary state. He raked his eyes down to the arm braved against the counter, weight leaning against it, and then back up to the older man's eyes.

Taehyung shook his head with a dry smile, lacking genuineness and hard to return. "I can't believe this. I really can't. Fine, whatever. I'll just work and get out of here in a few hours."

Mr.Tuan didn't say much more, just watched him with calculating eyes as Taehyung nudged into the space of the register to check the order log and the money in the tray, eager to find some mistake in the biker's work. Something to add gas to the fuel of hatred within him. Anything.

Nothing.

And soon, the elder man left his side to attend to his diner in other forms. Taehyung sunk when the man disappeared into the kitchen, mood plummeting that he really couldn't find himself important in Tuan's eyes over Jeongguk. Jeongguk seemed to take precedence and it fucking hurt.

Taehyung didn't even consider any other option to the ordeal but favoritism.

He couldn't believe his day was continuing on in the dumps, when he'd hoped to get out of the surfers' home to get away from his problems, only to find himself stuck in the same slump.

He got a more exciting visit in the form of a childhood friend when Mark Tuan visited the diner only an hour later. He was off for the rest of the day and Taehyung found his arms comforting when they hurried to hug him.

"How are you?" Mark asked quietly, heading to the sink to wash his hands and give some help. "How's Jimin?"

"Managing. Both of us." He shrugged, suddenly grateful to hear himself put first. Like he wasn't crazy for hating everything connected to the biker. "How're you?"

"Hm, fine, I guess. I've been trying to get out early all day to come check on you guys. I stopped by your place first actually," Mark huffed despite Taehyung's small smile. "They said you were working so I came here next."

"I really appreciate that, Hyung." And he meant it. It was so lifting to hear the words, to know Mark cared when the elder didn't and he nudged the older's shoulder when Mark came to his side. "I'm feeling better now that you're here."

"Yeah?" The other laughed and Taehyung somehow managed to smile for the first time in a while. It almost ached on his lips, but it was refreshing, a rush of warmth making him lean against the counter and relieve tension within himself. "You should get out of this place for some time. So much shit and I can't imagine how bad the constant reminders take a toll."

"Might just take you up on that offer to visit the studio," he agreed, slipping away from the real world for a moment and it was a rush of nostalgia taking its place. When the shore truly felt like an escape. All his childhood, escaping. Taehyung really hadn't realized that needing to get away from everything that hurt also meant the shore.

Mark elbowed his side to draw out a small gasp from the artist, both of them laughing. "The offer never left the table. I've been asking for ages."

"I know, I know." Taehyung pouted, suddenly feeling bad. Then angry again. Angry because he'd spent so much time between Jeongguk and his paintings that he hadn't even taken a valuable opportunity that was actually worth it. "M'sorry. I'll come soon."

"Come down tomorrow." Mark shifted away when a customer walked up the the counter and asked for another smoothie. They worked in tandem as Taehyung rung them up and Mark began to blend the ingredients together.

"Tomorrow?" He repeated as the man handed the smoothie over to the woman and they both acknowledged her gratitude.

"No?"

"Well, yeah, sure." Taehyung bit back a smile. "Can I meet Jackson Hyung?"

"Oh, yeah!" Mark nodded enthusiastically and it made Taehyung feel content that the older was happy. At least one of them was. "He's teaching with me tomorrow."

He clapped his hands together and rolled his shoulders back. "Thanks, Hyung."

"Don't thank me." Mark waved him off, chuckling as he patted Taehyung's back. "Although, you can thank me with taking one of our classes. You can learn to dance."

"If I had any interest in that," Taehyung teased, "I would have asked Hoseok Hyung ages ago."

"Mhm," the older grinned. "It's fun, though."

"The only dancing I want to do is couple-y shit, Hyung." the surfer mocked and Mark rolled his eyes.

"Always the romantic."

"You know it." Taehyung sighed as the silence settled in. He felt jittery with the newfound distraction and swayed in his spot. "I'll make a round on the floor. See if anyone needs anything."

"Sure," Mark shooed him away. "Check the patio, too."

Taehyung smiled before trailing along the dining floor, weaving between tables and checking in with guests. His mood was lighter, face relaxed without the tense jaw and strained eyes. The charisma in his service returned with the late afternoon sun, golden as it washed into the diner and less blinding than that of noon's.

It hugged him.

Stepping out onto the patio helped him breath, the breeze giving him salty oxygen to smell and inhale. Taehyung found a small moment of peace within himself as he finished attending to the patio seating, pausing by the wooden railing to let the wind catch his hair and whisk it around with the ocean reflecting in his eyes.

His gaze narrowed in on a figure, seated on their board in deeper waters.

The blur of dark peeking through the drenched white fabric was unmistakable to him and Taehyung felt his peace crumble like the world turned every card against him. To build him up with only the purpose to tear him down into shreds again.

He blinked once. Twice. Hoping his mind was the sick one imagining beautiful ink on a stranger's back.

It remained. The figure straddling a board, beautiful ink muddle behind white, against the dark blue water as the sun hung over his head.

Taehyung shook his head, glancing down at his fingers clenching the railing and then turning away, pushing himself through the open back doors and back to the bar counter.

"All good?" Mark asked.

"Yeah," he feigned a small smile before it fell and accompanied his blank expression. Mark busied himself with whatever he could, eager to help take some work off Taehyung's hands, but the younger's mind was preoccupied— against his own will, surely.

What was Jeongguk doing in the water? Surfing? Where did he even get a board— probably Tuan, Taehyung realized.

Why was Jeongguk suddenly everywhere when he didn't want him anywhere?

Taehyung knew his impulsive actions had done nothing good for him recently, but such willpower was clouded over with the urge to question. To get answers when Jeongguk had somehow gotten an honest old man to justify his every wrong action.

Maybe he didn't even want to ask, though. He just wanted to throw his anger anywhere and the present room consisted of innocent souls that deserved to be spared. So, he was pushing away from the register, eyes fixated on the ocean through the diner's open back. Too far to make out the beach's guests trickling throughout the water— Jeongguk one of them.

"Hyung," he said suddenly, voice airy like a lost thought. "I'm going to go on a walk, is that okay?"

"Huh? A walk...? Sure, I can handle it over here." Mark stopped him before he could slip away. "Do you need company?"

He smiled and shook his head. "I'll be alright. Not planning to go too far."

"Alright."

And he was off, siding by the diner wall to get out the front door, skip down the steps and trudge past the lot and line of plants, sand burying into his shoes within seconds as he took his time getting to the shore.

The moment he was at the high tide line, the water not quite reaching it in the shift away from low waters, Taehyung staggered to a stop.

What was he doing?

Why was he approaching the biker when all he'd wanted was to never see him again?

Right. He was there out of spite. For Jeongguk invading his nightly shore, for invading his deviation from fear behind the diner counter and now overtaking his name with a surfboard instead of his leather jacket.

He stood, cowering from the water slightly as his arms crossed over his chest. Being mad at Jeongguk provided sufficient distraction from his nightmares residing feet in front of him, wading up and away with every push and pull of the moon rising from the opposite horizon.

Jeongguk was still just sitting. He let his hands dig into the surface of the water to keep himself from moving back and forth with each tide. His body shifted up and down with the seat of his board— not his board, Taehyung reminded himself.

There were only a few other families around, a couple sitting on the diner's small dock in the golden sun and Taehyung saw them take a picture together. His eyes wandering to the patio of the diner, filled with customers eating and not giving him any attention. Why would they? Their world was hardly intermixed with his.

But the man far in the water was apart of too much in his life. Too much and Taehyung hated it. It made his chest burn, eyes sting and skin chill all at once.

Jeongguk's shoulders caved in, his back sloping and morphing the ink bound to his skin. Taehyung watched without a deep enough breath to keep his heart calm as Jeongguk swooped his hand up, fisted around water than leaked through the gaps of his hand, slipping through the cracks and crevices in his fingers. His hand splayed open, salty waters trickling down from his palm like rain from clouds.

Taehyung watched him do it again, with more brokenness in his motion, hesitant and then he was hugging his hands to his chest, hidden as his backside faced the surfer.

He didn't get long to think much of it, not when Jeongguk seemed to give up and lay on his stomach, turning the board and swimming back to the shore.

When their eyes met, Jeongguk was the first the cast them astray. Taehyung continued to stare with bemusement, though, as Jeongguk slipped off the board in the shallow waters and ripped off the ankle strap's velcro. He was pacing up the shore with heavy steps, body dripping water onto the sand from his waist down and Taehyung followed his steps with his eyes.

"You didn't swim diagonal to the shore."

His words, loud enough to grab the younger's attention as he walked by, but not enough to drag others in, were swift and emotionless.

"I wasn't trying to catch a wave." Jeongguk said plainly, like the intention of his actions was obvious. Taehyung chose to acknowledge the small tremble at the start of his words as a wisp of his own imagination, deeming such an emotion undeserving for the younger.

Instead, his lip curled on one edge, eyes casting ahead at the horizon instead as a mock grazed the tip of his tongue. "So you remember what I taught that day, huh."

"I remember everything you've said to me."

His sarcastic smile fell, a scowl biting its way to the front. "Well, that's one thing we share in common."

Jeongguk didn't respond, squeezing out the water in his shorts and shirt, digging the board into the sand with a solemn notion, and Taehyung huffed with a spike in his tone.

"You don't get to do that." Taehyung muttered, turning to face him. Jeongguk went rigid, rising slowly from his bent position of fixing the board.

"Do what?"

"To— to be sad," Taehyung said when all other words failed him. His heart was begging him to stop. To leave it be, but he just didn't listen. "You don't get to be the sad one."

"I'm just minding my own business." Jeongguk countered. "You want nothing to do with me, but here you are."

"You can't just work in the diner, start surfing and keep invading parts of my life!" Taehyung said hurriedly.

"I don't want to work in the diner. I'm not surfing, I'm sitting in the water," the voice didn't raise above a whisper, drained. Like the ocean had suddenly run dry of all water and left behind salty barren land. "And I'm trying to avoid you."

Taehyung pulled back, glancing at the diner, confused. "You don't want to work at the diner?"

"Why are you trying to make conversation with me?"

"I'm not. I'm trying to get answers." He grumbled.

"No," Jeongguk pulled his board out of the sand, tucking it under an arm. "You're just here to yell at me. So, if you'll excuse me, Namjoon's waiting for me to bail him out."

He was seething as the younger left, still pissed by the overwhelming fact that Jeongguk was upset and he felt that the younger didn't get to be. It wasn't fair. Jeongguk hadn't been told that he should be dead by the only reason he was alive. Taehyung hadn't brought violence into his own hands to hurt Jeongguk's friends.

Jeongguk hadn't even known of the shore two years ago. It had been Taehyung's second home for his entire life.

Taehyung was angry at everything, he realized. A buildup of the entire summer.

He was angry at the ocean for becoming something terrifying. When all he wanted was for it to be his friend again. He was angry at the diner for suddenly being a reminder of pain, seeing Jeongguk punch his friend in the lot, the diner a place for him to cower and drag through more boring days on land.

And Taehyung was angry at himself. For making bad choices after wanting that summer so desperately for the past two years, for thinking change to something perfect was good. For thinking ink and leather was a good change to his already perfect escape.

Taehyung wanted his life back. He would suddenly give anything to be surfing in the waters he watched deliriously, eating in the diner instead of working behind the counter, boating with his friends and painting like it was fun.

Because his project felt like a burden, too. To carry the message of inky birds and feathers, the pull against gravity when Taehyung felt like he was nothing but falling. Reversing any progress into a cage in his head.

It felt like a burden to try and carry what was supposed to be a message of freeing one's self into his paintings when Taehyung felt absolutely trapped in a place where the end of the world wasn't even visible in the horizon.

Taehyung felt wronged in the only place where life used to feel right.

❧ ❧ ❧

shorter chap but a lot of symbolism/hints (especially for jk) in this one :)
the next couple chaps should roll out sooooon!! i've been working on them simultaneously WOO

150K reads— this is crazy THANK YOU SO MUCH???💙💙

✵ NEETO ✵