;;

ypres was incredible.

yes,
a solemn dread came
with the sound of the small town
itself and it's treacherous,
historically momentous past...
but it's vintage architecture
was pristine and respected and
admired by the town folk and
tourists alike.

school children walked about
in huddled flocks with
cameras in their
hands, photographing the
towering
steeple of the churches
and dusty buildings before
them, the duo had wandered
past them too,
taken them in, taken in the divine
presence that lived there,
mourning the countless
lives lost in the grace of the
once ghost town.
it was a battlefield beyond any other.
the townfolk knew this all too well
but the smiles on their faces showed
nothing but pure glee. they'd embraced
this fact, their fallen men.

had moved on from it long ago,
but never forgotten.

"where are we?" jeongguk asked,
gaze trained upon the gothic looking
building before him, it stretched
for metres along side them, ornate,
carved details accentuating it's
beauty and rather ominous
presence.

"cloth hall, jeongguk."
the older male replied.

they'd visited a few memorials
before this, small ones dotted
about town. taehyung hadn't
seen anyone so interested in
it's history before, just when he
thought he couldn't admire the
boy even more than he already had.

"it looks over market square."
taehyung told him, placing a
hand on his shoulder as he too
stared up at the magnificent building.

"what's so special about it?"

"well, it's the political and
economic heart of ypres.
it was destroyed during the
great war and was built
shortly after it had ended
was used as a covered
market hall for the famous
cloth of ypres. it's mostly
what the towns economy is
based on."

"it's pretty."

taehyung hummed in
response, staring at the younger
from his peripheral vision.

"certainly is."

jeongguk tightened his backpack
and turned to him.

"can we visit the market?"

"of course," taehyung took out
his phone to check the time.
"it gets a little busy
during noon though."

"i don't mind, just wanna see
it." jeongguk stared at the busy
square, bustling with people in the
warm spring air. flower pots and
hanging baskets swung from wooden
posts of temporary make-shift stalls
that were unfolded in the broad
daylight. arrays of spices, cheeses, jams
and clothes were displayed, dotted
across the road that had been
closed off for the afternoon. people
milled about between them, killing
time as they stuck their noses into the
blossoming businesses and held
fresh produce in their hands imported
from the local farms that they had
passed on the short car journey here.
jeongguk loved being away
from home.

"hoseok said there was a famous
chocolate and ice-cream shop here,
can we get some?" he asked,
excitement in his tone. his soft ebony
eyes lit up as he asked the older.

taehyung let out a low chuckle
beside him.

"of course, sweetheart."

taehyung wasn't quite sure when
this would end.

this happiness.

this warmth he felt with jeongguk
at his side— he prayed never,
that he'd die before things turned
around and everything that he
was doing now, everything that he
was feeling and experiencing this
moment in time would be nothing
but a distant memory.

that jeongguk would fade away
into oblivion.

like how water fell
so unfathomably past the cracks
between his fingers, he feared the
worst, that he'd slip before he could
grasp him, despite how elated he was.
taehyung didn't want
to lose him.

he couldn't.

he wouldn't.

_________

"i like hoseok."
jeongguk giggled, licking
his blue bubblegum flavoured
ice-cream that was dripping
in soft trickles
down past the cone and onto
his small pale hands.

an hour or so had passed
and they were sat on a bench
outside the store, resting their
legs after hurrying about the
market place. well, it was more
so jeongguk getting excited and
scurrying between the stalls
and taehyung trying to keep up
behind him but they were there
together in the end.

courtesy of
taehyung's brilliant idea.

he'd held his hand.

mind you, there was no
other intention behind it than
to tame the excited kid, he kept
running about and he was so sure
that he'd lose him if he'd have
continued on like that. there was
little option left than to tell him
to slow down but he hadn't
listened to that either.

so, in a heartbeat, taehyung had
laced their fingers together.

jeongguk's hand was small
and clammy, soft and dainty in
his own. everything he'd expected
really. he payed no heed to the
way the teen stopped dead in his
tracks and stared at their
interlaced fingers, at his tan wrist,
at his wristwatch that glistened
in the sunlight trying to comprehend
whatever the hell taehyung had done.

he wasn't a fool.

he saw the soft blush on his cheeks,
he saw the way his doe eyes lit up
as he looked up at him with that
hope flickering in his iris that he'd
never get tired of looking at, watching
him.

he saw the way he smiled.

"bubblegum shouldn't be
a flavour." taehyung exhaled.

"excuse me?" jeongguk furrowed
his eyebrows with faux anger,
he placed a dramatic hand on his
heart as he turned to the older
who was sat so nonchalantly with
his arm draped over the side of the
bench as if he hadn't just
said something extremely offensive.

"it's so artificial. out of all
the possible flavours you chose
bubblegum-"

"i'm reminiscing, okay!"

"reminiscing what?" taehyung
laughed quietly.

"all those sweets i used to buy
from the corner shop next to school
that changed the colour of my
tongue when i was a kid!" the
teen exclaimed.

you're still a kid.

"the whole point of bubblegum
is that you chew it, not eat it."
a smile danced on his lips as
he tapped his fingertips on the
arm rest of the bench, gaze
trained on the cobbled pavement
before them.

"the whole point of ice-cream
is to lick it, not bite it." jeongguk
pointed out accusingly,
eyes wandering to taehyung's
lap where his empty
cornetto wrapper lay.

"hazelnut and chocolate is so
boring— is my tongue blue yet?"

jeongguk stuck out his tongue
past his glistening red lips for
taehyung. the older male just
stared at him stoically till he put
it back inside with a huff.

"i don't have sensitive teeth,
that's why i bite it." he smiled,
running a hand through his
hair as the cool afternoon
wind kissed his face.

"people that bite or
microwave ice-cream should
have their rights stripped away."

"well that's a bit prejudicial towards
people that practice the art of
biting their ice cream, sweetheart."

"yeah, and you're one of them."
jeongguk pouted and continued
licking away at his melting cone.
"besides, you just insulted this
bubblegum flavour so i have every
right to-"

"you're cute."

jeongguk dropped his ice-cream.

"fuck" he muttered, staring at the
melting mess in his lap.

taehyung rolled his eyes and
reached for a tissue from his
pocket, dabbing at the liquid
that had drenched the boys tight
black jeans in a blue puddle.

"wow it's cold." the small
boy gasped.

"hmm it's ice-cream darling."

"it's really cold, shit-"

"language."

"sorry."

he cleaned the last of it up
and crumpled up the tissue,
throwing it in the bin beside
the bench before sighing.

did taehyung really just
tell him that he was cute?

where did that even come from?

he hoped that jeongguk
wouldn't over think it.

a few moments of silence
passed between them, neither
really knowing what to say.
it wasn't an awkward silence, just
a peaceful quiet. tranquil. calm.

finally, the smaller spoke up.

"doesn't feel like i'm on
holiday." jeongguk whispered
tentatively.

"what do you mean?" taehyung
mused.

"when i'm abroad...
it feels like
i've left my old life behind."
he spoke quietly, barely audible.
he spoke more to himself than
taehyung. the latter simply
listened.

jeongguk looked across at the trees
and leaves and the flickering
light and the shadows on the
pavements, taking it all in,
his first and last time being
anywhere in this world.

"even though there's nothing
that's stopping me from fighting
for what i need, i just feel..."
he trailed off.

"you feel...?"

"liberated."

must be a good feeling.

"treasure it then, jeongguk."
taehyung smiled at him, he
wanted everything to be well
for him, for him to stay that
way, forever.

the teen turned to face him.

christ, he was so gorgeous.

"it won't last." the boy breathed
slowly. there was something else
in his tone.
"no matter how much i want
it to."

taehyung hesitated a second.

it was a sliver of doubt that he
held between his fingertips,
difficult to let go of depsite how
small it was.

he took jeongguk's hand
in his own.

staring at the way his hand fit so
perfectly in his grasp, he marveled
at the contrast of their
skin tones, the veins that ran down to
his knuckles and jeongguk's soft skin,
fragile beneath his own.

"if you live your life in fear of
the future, you'll never learn to
make the most of your present."
he breathed, gaze as absent as ever.
he was holding jeongguk, he had his
hand in his own, why did it feel so
right? so dire?
"don't let your past consume you if you
know it'll do nothing but deter you
from achieving your success.
embrace it and move forward with confidence in your fate."

disgusting. what was he even
saying? what right did he have to
tell him those things when he
couldn't listen to them himself?

the irony
of his own words
made him laugh.

how absurd it was,
the hypocrisy was unacceptable
coming from him. it drove
him mad the second the
words left his lips.

he couldn't listen to his
own advice.

but jeongguk didn't need
to know of that, of course.

he didn't need
to know of that at all.

all taehyung wanted for
him was his happiness.

despite how much he
knew that it'd crumble.

__________

that frisky business warning is swimming thru my head *cough cough* it's coming soon *cough*