it do be that chapter hype it up sweethearts 💕
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;;
it was around noon that
they had left the lister's house.

jeongguk was certain he'd achieved
everything he needed in life. he had treasured anne's
words with respect, had locked them away
in a closeted area of his heart, safe and secure.

they were there for when he would need
them, when times would get difficult.
as unimaginable as it seemed to be, jeongguk
could feel the strength they held and the comfort
they would soon give him.

and although he had prepared for the inevitability
of saying goodbye, it was still the hardest part.

the look of pure joy
on the older woman's face as jeongguk had
shared his sketchbook with her was enough
to bring tears to his eyes.

the way her fragile hands
turned the pages and the soft smiles
she mustered as she appreciated his
efforts, it was overwhelming. jeongguk didn't
know how else to be thankful of her presence.

he'd stay with her forever if he could,
but it was painful, the way she reminded
him of his grandfather.

but conceivably, jeongguk was happy,
even about that fact in itself.
it was possibly the last time he would
meet someone with such a similar personality
to him, so focused on the things he adored.
someone so focused on spreading that joy
to those around them.

there was one other who held that same hope.

taehyung.

that was the something else that jeongguk would never
fail to understand. it was how complacently
taehyung sat, watching him with a silence.

the older had purposefully stepped back
and let him have his moment with the woman.

the teen had failed to notice it before,
but as soon as he had shut the door to anne's
room, it had dawned upon him how silent
he was. how he hadn't spoken a single word
past the goodbye's they had shared with her.

was something wrong?

had jeongguk done something wrong?

it didn't matter. it was time to move on.

with taehyung at his side.

with gratitude, they had said their
goodbyes to the jovial family.
elizabeth had packed them
sandwiches for lunch, fussing that
they stay for dinner but taehyung
had insisted that they should leave.

jeongguk didn't quite know why,
they had no other business here,
or anywhere else for that matter.
and lily, in all her glorious confidence,
had waddled inside after gifting
them both a soft peck on the
cheek and a hug for taehyung and
sliding an envelope into his hand.
jeongguk didn't mind that he didn't get one,
he was far too happy to care.

far too happy to think of anything
really.

for jeongguk had accomplished something
stupendous. something indisputable and proud.

the little steps he took forward
down the stairs he had just climbed so
not long ago were so slow compared to the
racing of his heart, the pounding of it against
his ribcage.

a sweet chill had settled upon their
shoulders, it lingered as an invisible fog
in the blaring summer's sun. coldness
tinged with the warmth of triumph.
a raven's wings, not so far away, cleaved that
very breeze, had shifted it to caress
the hair on his forehead.
jeongguk had basked in the honied scent
of accomplishment, he felt in in the rays that
kissed his cheeks, in the heat that tickled his
lashes.

he felt it in taehyung's stare that grazed the
side of his chin.

he turned.

"you never told me that it
was your birthday tomorrow."
jeongguk spoke, trying to muster up
a conversation. how lily had known
before him was truly baffling.

he wondered if a change of environment
would stir taehyung.

taehyung watched him silently,
he tilted his head to the ground,
his full crimson lips tilted into a half moon smile
that had jeongguk's breath hitching.
he regarded him with a silent nod, nonchalantly
burying a hand in his trouser pocket as his feet came to
a sudden stop.

jeongguk's heart did too.

in his other hand was an envelope
with a child's writing scribbled upon it.
it read 'happy birthday tete' in scribbled letters.

"that's what you're so worried about?"
taheyung's voice was like a wave, a cave, echoing
and eternal. when he spoke, he felt the roar of the
breeze. he could listen to him talk forever.

yes.

well, there were other things as well,
but would it be appropriate to bring that up?

and besides, jeongguk didn't know if he'd have time
to get him a present.

would that even be fitting?
too sentimental? to close of him?

surely, he'd appreciate it.
this was taehyung.

"obviously." he said as a matter of fact.
he stared at the envelope.

"such a thing seems a little insignificant,
don't you think?" taehyung chuckled deeply,
his golden skin at war with the excellent sun.
his image was truly blinding.
jeongguk squinted against them both.

"why would you think that?" he pried,
furrowing his brows at the mere thought
of taehyung thinking that anything about himself
would ever be deemed trivial in jeongguk's eyes.
he'd pay a penny to know the absurdness of his current
judgements.

to know what he thought of
lily's little present he held between his fingertips.
would he treasure jeongguk's in the same way?

"with everything that has just happened,
i'd say it's the last thing on my mind." he whispered.

what had happened?
had jeongguk missed something vital?

he hated that he seemed to be the
last person that was aware of this fact.
but then again, it wasn't exactly taehyung's
obligation to tell him his life story or his birthday
for that matter.

did birthdays even matter when you were older?

jeongguk's didn't feel that special.

the only thing special he felt about his
birthday was the people he spent it with.

taehyung would be spending his birthday with
jeongguk.

did taehyung believe jeongguk to be
special?

'my special someone.'

jeongguk, you fool.

but what did he even like? what would he even
get him? he didn't even know if he had
enough money in his tiny purse.

in true fact, he knew very little about him to
gift him something worthwhile, something
memorable. and he certainly wasn't going to
make a fool of himself.

no, he'd tire himself with that matter later.
he brushed the problem aside like he brushed the wind of
his shoulders.

"then what's on your mind?"
he gulped, cringing at the squeakiness of his voice.

taehyung's thick brows knitted
together incredulously, as though
jeongguk had said something rather scandalous.
a soft chuckle left his lips.
"you tell me."

how could he?

"telepathy is not my forte, nor do
i excel in the art of guesstimating so, please
enlighten me." he piped, doe eyes
twinkling as he rocked back and forth on
the balls of his feet. where the fuck was this
confidence coming from?

"we both know you're smarter than that."
a flash of his pearl white teeth.

did jeongguk know?
he wasn't too sure.

he tilted his head with curiosity,
pondering over the matter.
"the future?"

it was something that jeongguk was
certainly thinking about.

but the fire like flicker that milled about in
taehyung's eyes said otherwise.

"the present." taehyung deadpanned.

it took a few seconds for jeongguk
to understand what he was saying,
what he was so surely referring to.

but before he could open his mouth,
before he could even blush at the matter
at hand, taehyung was nearing him.

jeongguk stood.

the older removed his hand from his pocket
and in the blink of an eye,
his face was inches from his own
and that very hand was dangerously close to
his cheek. it lingered tentatively there,
as though it was contemplating
what harm it could do were he to touch him.

jeongguk would certainly let him.

he'd let him do anything he pleased.

it was his knuckles that drifted tenderly
across his cheekbone, that traced the softness
of the curved marking of his developing jawline,
his fingertips that crept across his brows, his forehead,
his button nose.

his mouth.

joengguk drank him in he did so.

he stared at the creases in his
full lips and the levelness of his skin
and his mismatched, hooded lids,
his smile lines that had indented themselves
as branching tributaries that met at the
confluence of his mouth, he drank in the
chocolate taste of his eyes and the dusky
glimmer of his iris, the inky night had settled in them,
darkness battling with the blinding twinkle
of his pupil.

he stared at the bleakness of the gap between his lips
and craved the thought of kissing him.
kissing him till he was breathless, and his head was
dizzy with lack of air, of anything vital. because nothing
was vital but taehyung, being with him, needing him,
sinking into his presence. he thought
of reaching up on his tip toes and hooking a hand behind his neck
and pulling him down and letting him claim him.

that was all it would take, surely. a signal, a sign.

anything.

yet his hands remained clutched around his backpack straps
like his life depended on it.
confidence seemed to have drifted away with taehyung so close.
his lashes fluttered gently.

"do you know how incredible you are?"
taehyung breathed.
it sounded like a statement more than a question,
he wouldn't take no for an answer.

jeongguk did not reply. he didn't know how to.

"how long had you had that letter, jeongguk?"
he felt a large hand wrap around his own.

"since i was ten." the boy said.

a laugh.

"since you were ten," he repeated,
shaking his head with amused disbelief.
he bit his lip. the lip that jeongguk wanted
between his teeth.
"of course you did." he whispered.

jeongguk didn't quite know what
was so funny. his eyes flickered
across his broad shoulders.

"and what were you planning to
do with it?" he asked, entertained.

the teen shrugged.
"keep it till i found her." he admitted.

"what use would it be for you?"

"it'd give me something to be pleased of."

"i think you have rather a lot
to be pleased of darling."
taehyung's face softened, he rested his
palm against the dip of the boy's neck.
it felt heavy. such like the weight of his
worries that had drifted away.

he rested his forehead
against the teen's own. jeongguk had
to take a step back to stop his knees from
giving in.

"but what if you never found her?"
the older mumbled in the air that separated their
lips.

"i found you." jeongguk said,
as though it had answered all their
questions.

in fact, that's exactly what it was.

the answer.

taehyung was the answer.

taehyung's fingers tucked a stray
lock behind the boy's ear.
"i found you." he corrected.
as though that made all the difference
in the world.

perhaps it did.

joengguk wouldn't know. couldn't
think. couldn't move. taehyung wasn't
helping exactly, he was the reason he was so stiff,
so unable to shift himself. his body stood rigid
with a fear that if their lips met, he wouldn't ever
stop kissing him.

and perhaps he liked that idea.

"i could kiss you." taehyung muttered.
it was refreshing to know they were on the
same wavelength.

"then why don't you?"
he replied.

"sometimes i fail to register that i have
that joy. wouldn't want to lose it so
soon now would i?"

"well that's exactly why you should make the
most out of that privilege."

"do you know how difficult it was
for me to sit there and watch you talk like that,
sweet?" taehyung's lashes fluttered shut,
jeongguk's did the same.
"to listen to you and remember to
listen to what you were about to say next because
every word that left your mouth, i felt myself sinking
into them.
i felt myself craving what you said,
thinking that you're as beautiful as those
very words, jeongguk, you know that don't you?" his
voice was pained, laced with a hope that the boy
before him would realise.

maybe one day he would, but his thoughts
clouded him, he couldn't dwell on it, not
on himself.

other than taehyung,
there was only one other person he could think
of in this moment.

"do you think grandpa would have
been happy with me?" he asked quietly.

a small, broken laugh tumbled from the man's lips.

"i think, he would have been tremendously
proud of you, love."

"are you proud of me?" jeongguk hated that
he needed such pathetic reassurance.

hated that his grandfather wasn't here to
give it to him, hated that he was seeking it
from someone else because of that matter.

with his shut eyes, he felt the wind race through
his hair, he felt the warmth of taehyung's
skin pressed against his own,

felt a pair of lips brush his temple, fond and careful.

"if there was a word that was superior to
'proudness', i'd use it a thousand times over to tell
you what i'm feeling right now. but sometimes
words just aren't enough now, are they?" he murmured
against him, hand cradling him like he was fragile,
like he would break.

maybe one day he would.

but with taehyung by his side, it seemed impossible.

jeongguk smiled.

—————

the ravenette had somehow managed to
scurry into a nearby souvenir shop
to hastily buy taehyung a present.

it had taken a little bit of reconnaissance
from his end and suspicious looks from the older,
but with the fool proof lie that he had bought,
with the few euros he had left, 'a gift for his mother',
jeongguk had successfully shoved the tiny bag into
his backpack for later.

they continued down the cobbled streets
of ypres, chatting quietly to themselves.
jeongguk mostly just staring back at taehyung
and then talking and staring and then more
talking; but mostly staring and
wondering whether he was real
or a simple fragment of his imagination.
in fact, he even tried to poke him, which granted
him a sceptical look from the older male.

yep, definitely real.

perhaps if taheyung had been a little less
angelic looking, that fact would have been a little easier to
process. his brain still seemed to be refusing to
accept it. he stared long and hard at the shining
emerald pendant against the man's chest.

"are you alright?"

"yes! what- i- um" jeongguk exclaimed,
jumping back to reality.

"you look a little red." he teased,
a smirk playing on his lush lips.

but there was nothing new there
to argue.

"when am i not." the boy mumbled under his breath,
not really expecting taehyung to hear.

"true."

jeongguk blushed harder.
he fiddled with the hem of
his hoodie, staring nervously at the
pavement. his eyes bore into the stones
beneath his feet, or perhaps that was his way
of trying to cover up the ruby redness that
had settled in his hot cheeks.

taehyung eyed him from the side
with a knowing smile on his face,
black locks drifting merrily in the midnight
breeze.

"taehyung, do you think..."
the teen paused in sudden contemplation.
he didn't quite know what he was going to ask.
"do you think i told anne everything i wanted to
say?"

the older blinked with surprise.

"i certainly think you told her
everything that you needed to say."
the man raised his brows.

jeongguk nodded with agreement.

but those were two different issues at hand.
something was still gnawing at his chest, but he didn't
quite know what.
if he himself had no idea, how on earth was
taehyung supposed to know?

"and i think," the older continued quietly.
he was about to point out something vital,
jeongguk felt it so.
"that you certainly have more than
enough to write about on your essay on, darling."

jeongguk had nearly misheard him.

had he not had the obligation to reply to
what taehyung had said, it would have gone
through one ear and out of the other.

that word echoed through his head like
a siren.

what did he mean-?

jeongguk stopped dead in his track.

"essay?" the teen asked, heart
beating like thunder

"your essay." taehyung repeated.
but his face betrayed no emotion.

"i don't know what you mean." he mumbled softly.

what could he possibly be on about?

jeongguk, for a start, did not write-

in fact, if he was going to write an
essay in his life, the only one that would
ever matter to him would be-

it was a few seconds of anticipated
silence that passed between them
that had his eyes shooting open.

and all of a sudden...

jeongguk could not breath.

could not think.

could not speak.

everything dawned on him.
what he had done and why he had
done it and his reasoning.

he knew it, but could not understand
why he would go to such an extent.

"for your extended project." he shrugged
his shoulders. "if the university doesn't take you now,
they're missing out on something
valuable." he said it so carefree.

as though what he had said hadn't
meant the world to jeongguk.

the boy cupped his mouth with his
hands.

he didn't.

he did not-

"taehyung." jeongguk croaked.
there was a sudden sting behind his eyes,
the welling of water.

he couldn't believe it. refused to believe it.
refused to believe anything, but the
reality of it all struck him.

he was here, with him, by his side.

he did this for jeongguk.

"taehyung... you did this for me?" he
choked on his words.

taehyung did not reply.

his silence was an answer in itself.

he didn't think he'd be able to
appreciate him anymore than he had.

but in this moment, his kindness was
indisputable.

how he would ever repay it,
jeongguk did not know.

——————
twilight hit when they had left town.
the sun had dived down
into an gorge of darkness and a faint
cerulean-teal blue tinged the melancholy sky with
a hundred shades of calamitous blood red vermillion,
fashioned together into a vast ocean of bleeding water colour.
stars splattered the canvas like rips in tainted paper,
light exploited through the minuscule cracks in the ceiling
above. the moon hung as a pale and faceless as ever,
watching with a silence that not even the natural din of
night could rip apart.

they had settled in a park
on the outskirts of town.
it was small and isolated
from the rest of the world.

sometimes jeongguk felt the same.

but with taehyung at his side,
that feeling was unthinkable.

they lay shoulder to
shoulder and gazing up at the
infinite night. their bodies rested
against a grass hill, still and calm.

thick foliage surrounded them, shielding
them from the outside.
it cocooned them into a solitude
that made jeongguk feel detached from
anything else that seemed to matter.

jeongguk wished to hear taehyung's heart,
wished to know whether it beat the
way his own did, temporal and terribly mundane.
he wanted to take his hand and put it on his chest
and let him feel it beneath the thin cotton of his
hoodie.

it was a while before either of them spoke.

"i have come to a sensible conclusion actually."
jeongguk murmured.

he'd thought long and hard about it and had settled on
something rather obvious.

he felt the smile in taehyung's voice.

"oh, and what might that be, sweet?"
he asked deeply.

"that it was terribly pretentious of me to
speak out and exhibit the impression that i am
knowledgeable regarding a topic of which i am shockingly
underqualified to have an opinion upon." he chewed his lip
trying to hold back a grin.
"and embarrassingly undereducated."

jeongguk didn't have to clarify with him exactly
what he was talking about. taehyung already knew.
he loved that he did.

he loved that be understood him
without question.

"there's nothing embarrassing about knowing everything
that surrounds a certain something." taehyung scoffed,
shifting his hands behind his head. but it was rather a
bold thing to say about jeongguk's terrible space philosophy.
"certainty is often questionable.
and boring." he added pointedly.

jeongguk considered it,
he'd tasted the bittersweetness
of certainty throughout his life.
he'd always wondered what he'd do next with it, with those
foregone conclusions? how would he grow? how would he question
himself and challenge himself and his perceptions?
how would anyone else? or would they even bother?

"but what i say is so vivid, like vagueness is foreign
to me. it diminishes my own measly understanding." he frowned.
"wouldn't ambiguity be fun, taehyung? instead of talking
in black and white? sometimes i feel like what i need to say
in comparison to what i want to say isn't enough, it doesn't
illustrate who i am." he muttered.

that was definitely the matter.

taehyung watched the boy curiously.

"before me, do you say what you want to say
or what you need to say?"

"what i want. always what i've wanted." that
seemed to be the only certain thing he was
pleased about.

"well," taehyung considered.
"if someone were to tell you that the earth revolved around
the sun, what would you say?"

"i'd tell them that they were right."
he said it as though it were the most
obvious thing in the world.

he could feel taehyung nod beside him.

"and what if i asked you the same thing?"

oh.

he saw what he was doing.

jeongguk shifted to sit up, tucking his legs to his chest.

"then i would tell you the same thing." jeongguk bit his lip,
trying to look fool proof. or perhaps it was his way of trying
not to smile. but taehyung knew better than to believe him.
"and..." he continued with a sigh.

he looked up at the inconstant moon, and the
prevalent stars, wondering to god if he'd ever find a
way to voice something unspeakable to anyone other than the male at his side.

but maybe telling taehyung was home.

maybe talking to taehyung was home.

maybe taehyung was home.

"and i'd tell you that you were the earth. and the sun was your agenda."
he looked back at him, watching the ferocious fire of his gaze.

"and what is that agenda, sweetheart?" the older mused.

"secret," jeongguk smiled up at the watching
stars, wondering if they knew. wondering if
they would have looked at him the same way
if he was bold enough to say what he desired.
"something private; your agenda doesn't concern
me in the slightest because mine is so different." he proclaimed.

taehyung hummed.

"alright, and what if i told you that the moon
revolved around the earth?" taehyung raised his brows.

such like that inconstant moon,
jeongguk waned around the older.

"i'd tell you that i was your moon." the teen whispered.
"i'd tell you that you were the earth, and i revolved
around you."

"i am your agenda?" he asked quietly.

jeongguk nodded softly.

"and i'd tell you that the only thing in this universe
that is stopping us from achieving our agendas is
the feebleness of gravity."

taehyung stared at him.

"and what if i said that gravity was infinitely
strong?" his voice lowered an octave, laced with contemplation.

here, there was only one answer.

"then you'd be wishing for calamity, taehyung."
jeongguk craned his neck back at the jet-black sky.
he looked at it and wished for an impossible perfection.
taehyung would be wishing for sin. pure and divine. "what would we
even live for if we were to achieve everything we'd set
ourselves out to do? if we wielded gravity as our
weapon and our weakness, we'd be
inseparable and terribly happy, you know that don't you?"
he turned to him, watched the seconds play out
before them, watched taehyung watch his lips.

watched him sit up and lean forward.

watched time slow till he was so close, so
near that he could
feel the warmth of his breath fan across his neck.

"and what if that's exactly what i wanted?" his voice
was nothing but a soft whisper against the roaring wind,
the roaring of his pulse.

had jeongguk not been listening, he'd have missed it,
he'd have missed the way those words made his heart swell
with pride. he'd have missed the way it had made his cheeks
burn, his hands clammy with sweat, his breath short and laboured.

he'd have missed the pressure of taehyung's lips against his cheek.

they remained there for one long second, long enough for
jeongguk to memorise the outline of them, the texture,
the gravity of his bliss.
he curled his fist, digging his nails into the palm of his hand,
wanting his lips on his own. but as quickly as he had placed
them there, they had gone.

and when taehyung understood that jeongguk was not
bold enough to answer his question,
he continued,

"see? there is nothing constrictive about
your thought process ggukie, and as a stranger to
that wonderous mind of yours, i can confirm that you
illustrate yourself to be purely exquisite." he nuzzled his neck.
"the fault is just in who you choose to tell."

jeongguk licked his lips and gulped.

"but what then, when someone i do not trust comes along
and challenges my perception?"

taehyung paused.

"then you let their viewpoints influence your own
and you will learn from them. in fact, that's what
an opinion is, jeongguk. embracing what you do know
and voicing your thoughts on the matter at hand until
someone with more knowledge than you regarding the
subject shadows your own understanding and from it
you can enhance your acknowledgment and continue on
with your philosophical rendezvous." taehyung nonchalantly
replied, as though he hadn't made the younger horribly
flustered just a few seconds ago.

"but that's the point." the younger cried.
"i'm not a philosopher or an aspiring astrophysicist.
nor am i einstein to come up with his theory of relativity."
he mumbled, feeling insignificant and small.

surely your profession would make a difference
to all of this. jeongguk hadn't even started his first job yet,
barely knew anything about everything he was
supposed to know. hypothetically, should he have
had a better vantage point on the topic, he'd have excelled.
wouldn't everyone?

"you say that like you don't possess the
capability to achieve something similar."

"not with what i know so far, certainly not."
jeongguk ridiculed.

taehyung didn't seem to find it very funny.
"i'm sure you know more about space than you think."

jeongguk gave him a quizzical look.
"everything i know about space is from this
one encyclopaedia my mum gave me when i was
eight."

taehyung's eyes flickered with passion.
"well it must have been a very powerful
encyclopaedia then."

this made jeongguk snort.

taehyung joined him, eyes
squinting into tiny crescents as their laughter
echoed through the barren park.
it was hearty, and warm. being
with him made him feel happy, ever so
happy.

and when it died down to a comfortable
silence, jeongguk realised that
they were very fortunate that the park was deserted.

anyone would have questioned their
proximity.

taehyung lowered his brows.
gazing at him softly.
"all i'm saying is, don't sway to a
predetermined disposition, jeongguk.
if the earth, in our lifetime, chooses never to cease its spin,
who are we to cease belief in ourselves?
just battle the present, sweetheart."

"they say that knowledge
is power." jeongguk dared to say.

taehyung inclined his head with
agreement.
"of course.
but you must also remember that
obliviousness is a terrific human trait
that we all have the challenge of overcoming.
some people choose to harness their rights
of self-determination, imagination, and exploration,
others not so much so.
either one is fine, but like i said, never
verbally or physically undermine your capability,
don't lie to yourself like that, love."

jeongguk fiddled with a stray strand on
the rip of his jeans, nodding.

"its funny actually." taehyung said.
there it was.
"are you aware that einstein was working as
a patent clerk around the time he came up with
his theory of relativity?"

jeongguk nodded again.
"mhm, and time dilation alongside it.
maybe his work had driven him to such boredom
that he felt time slow around him?" jeongguk suggested
playfully.

"maybe so, darling," taehyung purred, in awe.
in awe of what, jeongguk didn't know, but it made
him blush nonetheless.
taehyung's voice diminished to a quiet whisper.
"but do you what's even stranger?

the tiny boy shook his head nervously,
suddenly so self-conscious with the way
that taehyung's eyes were drinking him in, devouring
him whole.

the older leaned closer still,
close enough that his expensive perfume wafted
under his nose, till his nose brushed the curve of his ear,
his lips tickling his lobe.

the man left out a gentle chuckle, the teen
felt it rumble through his veins.
"i feel... time slow when i'm around you.
but sweetheart," he breathed.
"you'd be the last person in the world to
bore me, so why is it that i experience such
a thing?"

jeongguk barely heard him over the
loudness of his laboured breath.

the thumping of his fragile heart against
the cavern of his ribcage.

how could he expect him to give him
an explanation to such a thing?
to be so sure of it?
this was uncertainty he didn't take a liking to.

"some-some things don't have a
comprehensible answer, taehyung." he stammered.

"but this moment isn't one of those situations."
how could he be so definite about this?

his lashes fluttered softly in the wind.

"isn't it?"

taehyung shook his head.

well if it wasn't, then what was it.

what else could it possibly be?

what would jeongguk let it be?

"time slows, sweetheart."
he murmured.

and it was in
that moment that his eyes
cleared.

that he truly looked at
him like he looked at no one else
in the damn world.

"time slows, because to me,
you are the only one that's moving."

maybe jeongguk was the sun and the moon.

maybe he was taehyung's agenda and taehyung
was his own.

maybe they let one another revolve around
them as they pleased, or maybe it was something
that they could not control in its entirety.

and maybe words were a gravity, that
possessed the power of compulsion,
the power to bring together two unsuspecting
souls, to sway their hearts, their minds,
their lives.

maybe words were the
gravity that made you fall in love,
made you fall like an ending to an
eternal song, a calling, a timeless prayer.

love was the tumultuous force that ruled
this earth.

and now, it was ruling them.

perhaps those words would be the
end of him, but in that moment,
jeongguk didn't care.

he couldn't care.

he couldn't care about anything but
the way taehyung looked at him
like he wanted no one else, like he needed
no one else, like every breath he breathed
was for him, for jeongguk.

"you're the stars," he told him.

"the galaxies, the fucking nebulas and
moons and comets and constellations, jeon jeongguk."
he touched his hand, clutched it, held it tight with a
force that overcame the enormity of their parting,
the separation of their lips.

"you're infinity."
and with his lips, he kissed his knuckles,
gave him the belief that he could conquer the world.
"you have the universe in your hands."

and when those very lips met his own.
when the taste of his tongue, the taste of his life
consumed him...

jeongguk knew.

that they were each other's infinity.
_________
peace 😔💕