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2020. kth - 23. jjk - 18.

A week has passed since Jeongguk had left. Taehyung found himself at the top of the hill, which they had previously biked together to, looking out in the horizon as the intense sunlight warmed his skin. 

He had spent the entire week thinking. Reflecting. 

Seokjin dropped the charges against Jeongguk, meaning that the bail was paid back. The money that was given to his mother was enough money to return the amount of cash that Jeongguk had stolen from the cafe. 

When Taehyung found out about Jeongguk's confrontation with his mother, he had raced over to the house next door, only to be met with Yoonbin who said that the ravenette had left town. Yoonbin looked bitter, he had shoved past Taehyung by bumping him with his shoulder, while storming out the house. 

Though the brunette didn't care much for him, instead he felt how his heart had dropped down to the pit of his stomach, a gaping hole forming in his chest that felt like an empty void. 

He's been trying to fill that void by spending time with his old friends, rekindling old relationships and meeting people from high school by attending reunions. 

But at the end of the day, he found himself aimlessly biking around until he reached the top of the hill, watching the sun disappear behind the horizon before returning back home. 

He didn't speak much with his parents, and he was terribly behind on all his work. But there was no way he could concentrate. Every time he attempted to focus on his computer screen, his sight would become corrupted by the vision of two ebony irises that would glimmer with uncertainty when looking at him. 

The hole in his chest would only stretch and spread as he would recall every moment that him and Jeongguk had spent together, and he almost felt his entire being beginning to consume him. 

Apparently, this happens often. Whenever Jeongguk feels cornered, he disappears for a few weeks until showing up again like nothing had happened. No one knows what he does on his trips, they all just assume that he's partying it up somewhere else. 

Taehyung didn't know what to think. He only continued to feel the tight squeeze around his shallow heart, and how all the surrounding sounds would be drowned out by a deafening silence. 

He started to think of the past. There was a time where Jeongguk was like his younger brother, but when he looks back at it, he recalls all the moments when the younger's affection was so painfully obvious. Yet Taehyung failed to realise it. 

It must have been painful for him to suppress those feelings. Every time Taehyung was with someone else, every time he treated him like a little kid, those moments must've all been painful. 

It's almost ironic how the tables had turned. 

Despite the longing for Jeongguk that he carried within, he just wanted the younger to be happy.  He just didn't know if Jeongguk's happiness included him. 

⛓️ ⛓️ ⛓️

It's been several hours since Taehyung had started digging around the garage for his old camera. At the hill, he had suddenly remembered the box which was filled to the brim with old printed photos that captured Jeongguk growing up over the years. The urge to find it had been tugging at his mind since. 

However, he ended finding everything except the box that he had been searching for. His childhood toys, his parents' wedding photos, old brittle books, and a box of his sister's belongings. 

Although when he opened that last box, he felt that familiar heavy sense of loss the clawed at his throat. He carefully pulled out the framed picture of his baby sister, recalling how small she was at birth. the ends of his lips curved into a small warm smile before setting the photo back down. 

His eyes caught onto a letter that was in the box, but his movements halted when he saw the words scribbled on it. 

It was addressed to him.

...From Jeongguk.

hi taehyung, 

i wish i could tell you that i hope you're having fun in university... and that you should continue to study hard.

but... can't you come back? i just don't know what to do. mom is always drinking, there's never food at home and strange people keep knocking on our door and asking weird questions.

i dont know what to do. everything is just happening so fast.

dad just died and now i feel like the world is moving around me but im just stuck in the same place. 

i've been telling everyone that everything is fine, but mom honestly scares me. sometimes she just sits outside and stares into nothing. it's like she's not even here. 

she keeps saying all these weird things too, then she starts... screaming. i dont know what's wrong with her. 

she says she misses dad. 

i dont think i can go to school anymore, because sometimes she does these things, she hurts herself. 

she tells me she's going to work but then always comes home wasted, is she even working? i can't even find any money to buy groceries. 

i just dont understand how this all happened. i was just sad that you had left, my head wasn't in the game during the match, then i got injured, then dad just died and now mom...

please hyung, i dont know what to do. can you please come back? i need you. i can't do this alone. i miss you.

your jeongguk.

"How could you keep this from me?!" Taehyung slammed the letter down on the kitchen counter, making his parents turn towards him. His mother's eyes narrowed down at the white paper, her throat visibly gulping before carefully raising her head towards her son. 

Taehyung's chest was heaving, his muscles ached with betrayal and utter confusion. He just couldn't comprehend the situation—or what he had just read. 

The painful words of the fifteen-year-old Jeongguk. It was clear of what had been written between the lines, it was a cry for help. This was his last hope, this letter.

Taehyung was his last hope. And he failed him. 

Mrs Kim looked off sideways in shame, her fists clenching at her sides. 

"I had no choice. I knew that you would be on the first plane back, if you would have seen it." Her voice was stern, and didn't sound a bit regretful. Taehyung let out a bitter chuckle as a hand rubbed at his forehead in complete disbelief. "You had spent so many years taking care of him, it was time to focus on yourself. I wouldn't let you throw your education away for him!"

"He was old enough to live without you! I just... I had no idea that his mother..." Tears sprung into her eyes as she looked towards the ceiling to stop them from spilling down. Her husband wrapped into a warm embrace before looking up at the brunette. 

"We did what we thought was best for you. There was no way for us to have known that he was going to lose his mother too." Mr Kim spoke calmly. "You are our son." Taehyung's response was only to grit his teeth as he listened to his mother sob.

He had been selfishly partying away at university while Jeongguk lost everything while patiently waiting for him to return. 

"They trusted you. They trusted you with their son." His voice came out in a snarl, the words spitting out in distaste. "Imagine if they did this to me." No response. 

"I hope you guys are real fucking proud of yourselves."

He stormed out of the house, not being able to stand being in their presence any longer. 

Not knowing where else to go, he grabbed his bike and began pedalling to the only place he could find peace of mind lately. 

The cold air nipped at his eyes, causing a steady buildup of tears before they started flying off the sides of his cheeks. His calfs ached as he pushed the bicycle forwards, already suffering from the burn from having made the same journey earlier this morning.

His lungs rose and collapsed with how desperate he choked out for air, his vision was blurry but he followed the path that he had already burned into his memory. 

When he reached the top, the bike fell down by his knees as he staggered out to his viewpoint. He collapsed down onto he soft grass, feeling the way his body sunk down as he shut his eyelids. 

He felt how the world finally stopped. Everything around him became numb as he detached himself from his body. 

He wondered if this was the feeling that Jeongguk chased after through his drug use, because it was addicting. And popping a pill was much quicker than exerting every muscle in your body whenever your falling apart. 

It felt like flying, but he was still grounded. 

"Hyung?"

His eyes shot open, his body jerking in reaction of having his name called out. But a strong hand that lay in the middle of his chest prohibited him from sitting all the way up, forcing him to lean back onto his elbows. Taehyung's eyes followed the trail of black ink that decorated the ivory skin, they disappeared beneath a leather sleeve, before reappearing at the side of the male's neck. 

And when he reached the beautiful set of doe eyes, he couldn't stop himself.

Their gazes remained locked as he wrapped his fingers around the wrist of the raventte's hand that was still attached to his chest, and carefully cupping the other's cheek while his thumb traced the face tattoo. 

Not being able to hold himself back, Taehyung tugged at Jeongguk's wrist and pulled him down.

And then he kissed him.

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pied piper supremacy 😔✊