chapter fifty-nine ;; epilogue
third person
°☆.。.:*・°☆

Taehyung slowly woke up, eyes groggy and voice raspy. He was older now. He already moved out of his old home and finished with college, but the twenty-four year old male couldn't help but sigh once seeing that the spot next to him was in fact empty. It was like this almost every morning, waking up to a new bed all by himself.

He slowly sat up, bones cracking and skin paler. Taehyung blamed it on his job, how he'd sit for hours on end but at the same time work his ass off; he was a football coach. His parents hadn't really helped money wise. Taehyung announced the wish to be independent and not use his family's large amounts of money years ago..

The sound of heavy footsteps filled the living quarters, a large hand running through hair now only black. Taehyung would always miss his combination of green and brown, the reminder of the past and what used to be, but there was a desperate need to change everything after what had happened.

The now man walks around leisurely and strains to hear a familiar tune playing through the apartment, looking at family portraits over the walls and mantels, feeling his morning vibes go down more and more with each passing second. Taehyung was no doubt sad today, even after all this time. Those vivid memories of the past could never leave his mind, no matter how many years past. They stayed strong like a technicolor film, like a tattoo on the back of his eyelids. Everything still felt like it was only yesterday, and he had to shake his head to rid of the petrifying thoughts.

Footsteps continued, looking at a certain photo perched to the side, a photo from a little more than six years ago. A pale and small boy sat with brightly shining eyes and a beautiful smile conjured in only the rawest of jubilance, next to a boy only a year older, green running through brown bangs. Taehyung could hear his lover's past cheers of joy once Taehyung had won yet another game.

He went along after a few stretched out moments until stopping at the back room. The beautiful sounds of a piano melody played through the slightly cracked door, and Taehyung's heart instantly warmed, opening the wood painted white even more to showcase the back of a head. Brown locks of hair tousled in front of Taehyung, and the elder male continued to watch the latter happily play piano in a soft entrance.

"Hey." Taehyung speaks once the music had stopped. A tan face showed at the familiar voice.

"You scared me." His voice was low and smooth, almost anything beyond imagination. Taehyung only let out a soft chuckle and went further into the room to sit next to the latter, "Are you going in for work today?"

Taehyung shakes his head, "You know I don't go to work today," he speaks matter-of-factly, causing the latter to shrug, "and I know you find it somewhat stupid, but it just means a lot to me, baby." Taehyung's eyes find a new sparkle in an excited gleam, "Speaking of baby, where's Jisu and Sungmin?"

As if on cue, two small children come running into the room with bright smiles, although Jisu falls on her poor face. She gets up nonetheless as if nothing happened and trots over to the piano stool. Without any help needed, the two year old climbs up and onto the smooth seat, sitting next to the one who had already been playing, and on the other hand, Sungnim had took a comfortable place on Taehyung's lap, smiling brightly and giggling once Taehyung began to bounce one of his knees up and down.

"Daddy, daddy!" Jisu squeaks, "I wanna play with you!"

"Alright, what song would you like to play?"

Jisu sits for a moment, thinking, "The one you first met Daddy with!" She proudly smiles, eyes turning into crescents. Jimin would always joke as if he attributed to the prominent and adorable trait. Taehyung smiles over at the small girl.

"Do you know the words?"

"Yes, yes, I do! I really do! You sing it to me and Sung every night." Her excitement wasn't contained very well. Jisu was one to be a wild and excitable spirit.

"Okay, then let's start. You put your finger here," The tanner male, who was known as Daddy #2, moved Jisu's single tiny finger to a certain key, "and I want you to hit that every second. Do you know how long that is."

"Uh-huh, it's like this." She explains, but her tapping rings furious on the poor white key with her tongue sticking out.

Daddy #2 chuckles, "No, no, like this," he says and shows Jisu what to do. She nods in understanding, mimicking the motion, "that's really good!" The two year old girl squeals at the praise.

"Let's go, let's go!" She chants in a mantra.

"Daddy, can I play next?" Sungnim asks from Taehyung's lap that was no longer bouncing.

"Yes you can, Sung, and you can also play with Jisu while Daddy and I talk for a little, okay?" Sungnim happily nods as a response, "Okay, Jisu, three, two, one-," He steals a glance from Taehyung and inhales slowly to increased butterflies growning in his stomach to the beginning chords, "...I am tired of this place, I hope people change. I need time to replace what I gave away, and my hopes, they are high. I must keep them small..." Taehyung blocked out the familiar song and only focused in on Jeongguk's rather shaky tone and glossy eyes look at Jisu happily hitting her one key over and over again while singing along.

----

What used to be pale skin was now a beautiful tan, a somewhat high pitched voice now turned low, a height growing immensely into a strong build with filled shoulders. Jeongguk's whole self seemed to change after what had happened. Hell, the boy had practically been brought back from the dead.

The husbands sat next to one another at a small table set up in the piano room, trying to hold a strong conversation over the cutely obnoxious sound of two young children banging on a toy piano that had been bought for them to play with. There was no way in hell Jeongguk was gonna allow his kids to beat the shit out of his prize possession.

"You know what day it is, right?" Taehyung softly asks when taking a sip of coffee from a mustard colored mug. Jeongguk looks down at his own mug for a second before back up into familiar brown eyes. The younger slowly nodded, and he doesn't really trust his words which still continued to slip so easily, "It's been six years, Guk, six years since-"

"Since I almost died, I know." He slowly speaks. He knows these words already. Taehyung said a similar sentence almost every year, as a way to properly announce today was in fact that day. The elder calls it the day his heart froze over, something that made Jeongguk choke up sometimes because he still remembers how he was, how he screamed to be dead.

"It just reminds me how grateful I am to still have you." Jeongguk smiles at Taehyung's sweet words.

"You do know that I didn't really want to die then, right? When- When I felt my heart act up, I wanted to shout for you to stay in the room, but my whole self just...blacked out." This was farther than they've ever gone discussing the matter. The two had decided not to touch on it too much, noting at how terrible they both always felt afterwards, but today felt like a different type of day.

"You don't really have to tell me. I already knew that you didn't mean your words, your eyes said it all." Jeongguk rests his head of dark brown hair on Taehyung's shoulder, sighing slightly and taking another careful sip of coffee.

"I don't want you to think of me when I blacked out like that. I don't want this day every year to be something dreadful." Jeongguk nuzzles further into Taehyung's nape and sniffs softly, "That just wasn't me. Look at it as something hopeful- s-something good. I wouldn't be the man I am now without it. I wouldn't of had found that will to change and finally move on from my past when in that short coma, Taetae." A cry slips rosy lips, and Jeongguk grips his mug tighter when his husband lets out a soft shush and draws his hand up and down a firm arm, "You're able to think a lot when you're in that headspace, y-y'know?"

"I know, baby, I know." Taehyung whispers into the side of Jeongguk's face and brings him impossibly closer, "We can make this day be however you wish to have it."

"I love you." Jeongguk kisses Taehyung softly and thumbs at the elder's earlobe affectionately when holding the side of his neck, looking at both their wedding bands, the same rings that've been on their hands since proposal.

"I love you too, Gukkie."

Jeongguk pulls away to look at two small toddlers, "But I gotta say," he begins, sits back up and quickly stands, meeting Jisu's quick 'sprint' of small legs. She instantly jumped into his now strong arms, smiling brightly at one another, "I love these to munchkins even more." He picks up Sungnim with his other arm, "Isn't that right?"

"Daddy loves us more!" Jisu and Sungnim cheer in unison, causing Taehyung to loudly laugh and stand up himself.

"Now that isn't quite nice, is it?" Taehyung asks with his hands on his hips, looking down at the two children Jeongguk had just placed back on the floor, "I think that Daddy's gonna have to bring Monster out."

"No, Daddy, please!" Jisu screams, "I'll end up shitting myself!"

"Kim Jisu." Jeongguk and Taehyung both scold at the same time, and they're both absolutely clueless to where their daughter heard the word. The men were strong on keeping appropriate language on while around their kids.

"I heard Uncle Yoongi say it once." She explains, confused as to why her dads were mad.

"Don't say it again, okay?" Jeongguk firmly says and points his finger at Jisu who slowly nodded her head with a slight pout.

"Yes, Mommy." And Taehyung laughed out so loud as Jeongguk attacked his daughter with light tickles.

"Hey, Babe," Taehyung says. Jeongguk tickles through the elder's words, "Everyone's coming over today, even Namjoon's new girlfriend and Hoseok's new boyfriend."

Jeongguk nods, smiling widely once hearing Jisu squeal. Pulling her older brother's leg and causing him to fall, Jisu laughs when Sungmin whines against his undeserved tickle punishment. Now the two of them were receiving heaps of tickles and laughs, "Seokjin still hasn't found anyone?"

"He says he's been dating this one girl, but not enough to bring over." Taehyung explains and twists to grab for his coffee again.

"It's a shame Namjoon and Seokjin didn't work out." Sighing, Jeongguk takes a break from messing with his kids and allowing them to crawl up onto his shoulders and around his torso.

Taehyung shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee, "Some couples just don't work out."

"At least we worked out."

"And that's all that really matters to me, pretty boy."

Jeongguk laughs the squeaky kind when his cheeks plump up and die eyes crinkle, the two husbands sending loving smiles with the same eyes that have seen one another almost every day for the best six years and a half.

----

the end.

i'm so happy that i was able to create a special book like pretty boy. it's held closely to my heart, and i am so undeniably grateful for all support given and received. it's honestly sad to let these characters go, but their stories have been told and personalities have developed to the best of their ability.

i just wanna give a special thanks to my beloved nelly guccicarat who has been here since literally almost day one.

-jordan