chapter forty-seven ;; bathtub
third person
°☆.。.:*・°☆

Taehyung woke up with a smile on his face, wrapping his arm tightly around a bare waist and drawing a small body close. Except the tanned arm was only met with an empty side, bedsheets that were fluffed up being pushed down. Lazy eyes instantly opened in confusion, not understanding why the bed would be empty. There would always be another body to wake up next to, but now it was simply air, and, for some reason, that made the almost nineteen year old terrified.

Cold air smacked into Taehyung's naked body, but that wasn't a current problem. Goosebumps hatched across the smooth skin of his whole physique, while pace quick. It was a mission to find Jeongguk. Breakdowns would always happen when the boy was by himself, left to think for long periods of time in complete silence. He wasn't meant to be alone. The sad thoughts had been there since the beginning, getting so much better recently but soon to crash.

Loud cries and muffled sobs erupted from a fancy bathroom, causing Taehyung's steps to stop with his heart. A large hand, one that could fit over a pale thigh, lifted up to the white painted door. It was pushed open with a weak force. The small boy was sitting on the toilet seat, body hunched over and head in clothed hands. He was wearing a thick, wool sweater and boy shorts. Heavy material muffled his cries as well as keeping his face warmed.

"Gukkie, what's wrong?" Taehyung whispers, trying desperately to not have a cracked voice. Coarse hands slowly reached up, latching onto thin wrists and trying desperately to pull them away from a hidden face. Reluctantly, Jeongguk allows his hands to fall down, clutching tightly onto Taehyung's, but dark brown orbs remained squeezed shut, "Look at me, please." The younger boy didn't listen, vigorously shaking his head. Fingertips brushed against damp cheeks in an attempt to calm, "Shh, shh, calm down and breathe."

"I-I c-c-can't st-st-o-p-" A loud sob ended the weak sentence.

"I know," Taehyung coos, "I know you can't stop crying, but please, just try and breathe." Another hand slowly drew up and down the small of a back. Loud hiccups and jolting shoulders drew up and out after that, sending shivers down spines. Jeongguk was slowly but surely calming down, taking in deep and slow breaths, which would be cut off by loud hiccups.

"I'm sc-scared, T-Tae." Jeongguk wails between hiccups, shoulders bouncing up and down and body lurching. Snot was falling from his noes, causing Taehyung to calmly and quietly roll up toilet paper before wiping his smooth skin that was now covered in wrinkles from scrunching up.

"Why're you so scared all of a sudden, baby?" The task was hard, trying not to tear up at the mangy sight in front of him. Wool material was pulled back, fingernails aggressively and somewhat ferociously scratching the entirety of skin placed onto the back of an arm.

"Th-The bum-ps they- they won't g-go away!" Jeongguk shouts as he continues to scratch and scratch in an attempt to hopefully peal back layers of skin in order to erase red bumps that littered.

Taehyung urgently grabbed onto thin wrists again, pulling fingernails from now reddened flesh surely stinging, "Stop." He firmly speaks. The younger's eyes looked so afraid, "Calm down and breathe, now. You can't start acting like this, Guk. I know you're scared, but you've had these bumps since the day I made you mine. Don't let them get to you now."

The raven haired boy attempts to swallow down the lump in his throat while blinking rapidly. He currently wanted to erase the cracked look on his face, just as he wanted to erase the red bumps, "I-It's just...they're so much deadlier now."

Jeongguk had the right to think this way. Having red bumps across your skin was a sign showing Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and for so long, the young boy blindly saw them to be some sort of skin condition with no real affect. They never itched, they never burned, they just stood there as small hills across a smooth surface in patches, but now Jeongguk understood their importance in all of this, and waking up to find new ones spreading only made his little heart crack.

"I know..." Taehyung whispers, already doing research to understand his lover's condition better in order to help more. He lightly smiles up at the younger who still had a pout on his face, "Come back to bed, I'll go and ask Oda to make us breakfast, okay? I just want to spend today cuddling with you."

A small hand takes lead first, latching onto a coarse and tan one before standing up, allowing the wool sweater to flow down his thighs. The material hanged with an unknown elegance and reached the same length as boy shorts. Once again, another soft smile from the elder formed, nuzzling kiss to the other's chubby cheek, "Tae..." Jeongguk quietly whispers as they both leave the large bathroom, ears turning pink.

"I like that sweater." He sweetly responds, letting Jeongguk comfortably lay back down onto the bed.

His dainty hands move to pull the duvet up more so it stopped right above the ever so small pudge for a stomach. After those actions were sought out and hands no longer intertwined, Taehyung slowly leans down, placing a sweet and lasting kiss onto cherry lips before pulling back. He sent one last loving smile before making a path towards the kitchen.

A sad sigh leaves, eyes drawing against eyes. His palms were clammy, trying not to let Jeongguk's breakdown get to him. Fingernails scratched the back of his neck, head shaking and expression anything but happy, "Hey, is everything okay?" Jimin asks once Taehyung enters the large kitchen. He had a glass of water in hand and a bottle of pills in the other. It made the elder's heart pang.

"Yeah..." He had to bite his lip and fret from saying anything. No one else knew about Jeongguk and his condition. There was a strong wish for it to be known, wanting some release from holding in something like this. The first sign was the first tear that silently fell, causing Jimin to worriedly watch as Taehyung tried to secretly wipe it away.

Yoongi walks in soon after, tired eyes instantly changing once the sight in front of him was seen, "It's Jeongguk, right?"

"How did you-"

Yoongi sighs, "I heard him crying this morning...He was saying a lot of things." The mint haired boy walks closer to his younger brother.

There's no point in lying now. Taehyung thought while staring down at the elder, trying to carve out the frown on his tanned face, only to loudly sigh in frustration.

"What did he say?" Taehyung slowly asked, words seeping with worry and depression. There was a known dark cloud drifted over bodies. Rain fell in complete silence. You could hear muffling air surging through molecules.

"That he had no future...that he'd never experience marriage or children, that he won't even attend to prom." Taehyung's eyes clenched shut at the heart wrenching words, knowing immediately if they were heard straight from the speaker, there'd be no chance for eyes to stay dry, "Tae...what's happening to him?"

Tanned hands wrap around a loose and grey shirt clinging to his older brother's small frame, letting out another sound of frustration and disapproval. Jimin silently watched the two from a breakfast bar chair. The only thing the orange haired boy currently understood was that tears wouldn't stop falling from his brown eyes, landing onto soddened cheeks. He was afraid for his best friend. Jimin was so entranced at how Yoongi's voice stayed calm, like nothing was truly happening.

"Guk's sick. He-...It's- I," Taehyung shakily inhales and clears his throat, "He has Leukemia...It's acute." Jimin couldn't take it anymore, letting out a loud sob as he hunched over the granite countertop.

Taehyung and Yoongi's eyes quickly averted towards the young boy, Yoongi sending an apologetic stare, saying that he'd talk to the latter with eye contact before walking towards his own lover, "Jimin..." Yoongi whispers, wrapping his arms around.

It was his cue to leave, slowly walking out of the room and noticeably cringing once hearing Jimin's words, the ones which busted through the whole mansion and made Taehyung only hurry his pace, booming down the hallway to see Jeongguk, "I don't want to loose my best friend!" Those were only followed by cries.

"Jeongguk...Gukkie..." Taehyung sadly calls once booming through his bedroom door, going to the small boy's side and running the back of his hand against the other's.

Jeongguk had fallen back asleep, eyes fluttered shut and snores ever so light. The soft sounds made his heart flutter, lips lightly parted and face free of stressed wrinkles. A thumb skims across smooth skin, eyes locked tightly to the beautiful face set before him and wondering just how Jeongguk had ended up in a position like this, unbelievably afraid of everything and tears forming almost daily. What a broken soul he was. Taehyung sighs while staring.

"I love you...more than you think. I-...I'm afraid of what will happen to you...to us. Maybe we should just- just pick things up a bit, yeah? Push some things along..." He lets out a small amused huff, smile slowly forming, "Mm, that sounds like a nice idea." Fingers reach up and run through raven black hair, causing the younger boy underneath the calmed feeling to let out a soft sound.

He continued to stir around a bit, body twisting ever so slightly but remaining in the same position he was in before, facing Taehyung with a droopy and sleepy smile. There was such a vibrant contrast from the Jeongguk now and the one witnessed earlier, "Hi..." The voice was soft and ever so rough, throat more than likely raw still from screaming earlier.

"Oda's still sleeping." Taehyung lies, "How about we both take a bath instead?" Jeongguk slowly nods to the words, allowing the elder to help him sit up, making sure to be careful and ultimately carrying a small body in the end.

Taehyung placed a feathery soft kiss onto Jeongguk's cheek, sitting him down on the bathtub's edge and reaching over, turning the water onto warm and letting it run, "I have a bath bomb." Jeongguk quietly says, rubbing his still somewhat reddened eye with a wool-covered hand.

The elder gets up from his squatted position and searches through a drawer. A sound of items being rustled around fills up the silent atmosphere, which was somewhat calming and peaceful. All Jeongguk wanted was silence while staring down at wrinkled hands, wishing to accumulate wrinkles like these on his face through age and happy smiles. Crinkled eyes and lined faces of happiness was what the young boy wanted the most, a future full of ambition and, hopefully, love. Oh how funny it was, an original anti-relationship person becoming such a romantic.

"Found it." Taehyung announces with a proud rectangle, holding onto a galaxy themed bomb before kneeling down over the growing water level, placing in the compact spear, with mixtures of powders upon glitter into clear liquid.

It dispersed in an instant, entrancing the two. Bright colors filled the tub as sweet scents filled the air, calming tense postures and letting shoulders loosen. Blue took over with swirling pinks and yellows, glitter overcasting and making the younger boy eager to let it touch skin. Before he could understand anything, Taehyung's pilling his oversized sweater off before sliding boy shorts down a slim pair of legs.

Jeongguk's cheeks went ablaze upon feeling soft lips kiss his upper thigh, and Taehyung beginning to take off his own clothes after. The elder gets in first, crouching down and resting into the galaxy, letting out a sound of contentment as warmth spreads all the way to his stomach, both legs completely covered in somewhat translucent and vibrant blue infused with glitter.

The younger one's the next to get in, putting one short leg in after the other. Taehyung intently stares, laughing once Jeongguk awkwardly stands, not knowing exactly how or where to sit. That problem was quickly taken care of once hands met hips to guide. He brought the boy down to his legs, which were pulled apart. Jeongguk comfortably sat back into a loving and tanned chest with arms wrapped around his own waist. The water level stopped at their mid stomachs, heads leaned back and a silence broken with the sound of water droplets from the turned off faucet.

"Yoongi and Jimin found out." Taehyung softly says after long moments of Jeongguk's arms aimlessly swaying in the bath. Glitter swirled around their idle bodies.

"Did you tell them?"

"They had to know...Yoongi heard you crying and saying too many things." Taehyung breathes in the sweet air, smelling strong vanilla and knowing just how smooth his usually coarse skin would feel after this.

Jeongguk only hums disappointedly and closes his eyes, leaning his heavy head further into Taehyung's toned chest. The brunette looks down at his lover, tilting his head ever so slightly while running his thumb along the soft and rosy lips. Eyes remained closed, allowing him to continue by placing his own lips onto the ones he traced, softly moving together. It seemed like a way to fill sadness that lingered. Taehyung draws away and smiles softly before placing his lips back where they truly belonged.

Jeongguk's ears embarrassingly turned a shade of pink, trying not to giggle once his lower lip began to be sucked on. It was nice to kiss upside down. When your mouths are facing different directions. Both of them pulled apart just to reattach lips, such innocence and love swept up and shared, Jeongguk's small hands leaving glittery water to only reach up and touch tan cheeks, "I love you..."

"I love you too." Taehyung lightly chuckles, running his fingers through a black fringe once again, "We're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

Jeongguk nods slowly, "I have a doctor's appointment next week."

"Would you like me to come with you?" Taehyung asks when grabbing onto the younger's hands under the water and intertwining them.

"Please?" Lips only calmly reattached.

----

lmaooo my endings suck but o well

@ world, choi youngjae is beginning to take over my life heLp i love him sm pls