chapter eighteen [unedited]

taehyung decided that he liked waking up with jeongguk's arms wrapped around his torso— no he loved it. it made him forget about the worst of things, watching the boy's face as it scrunched and changed slightly during his slumber. taehyung was never one to fall asleep fast, and the small noises would always prevent his sleep. he stared longingly at the boy he was holding oh so tightly against his bare chest, and knew he was in the safest place he could be.

  taehyung watched the windows as light slowly rose, changing its color too. it went from a dark, somber black-blue to a jovial orange. taehyung decided he would awake earlier, only getting a few hours of sleep, not more than jeongguk did. taehyung slid away from jeongguk, watching as he so eagerly stirred— looking for his missing warmth with a stray hand, patting around the mattress aimlessly, still half-asleep. taehyung stumbled blindly towards the bathroom, he really needed to relieve himself.

  and after doing so, he was greeted with a bed-headed jeongguk. his hair was sticking up all messily, a yawn escaping his parting his thin lips. taehyung smirked adoringly. their relationship was so pure and delicate, like thin glass underneath a heavy hammer, swung back and ready to smash down and shatter the glass to millions of pieces. "you're so cute." taehyung observed, leaving jeongguk a faint red. jeongguk advanced towards the bathroom, nudging taehyung out of the way.

  that's when it hit taehyung— school.

  taehyung looked around the room, he lifted a clean, white sweater from a small pile of clothes, along with some light blue jeans. he decided this would do for the day. not like he much cared about what people thought of him at school. taehyung wondered what his face looked like, if it were any better, and if he could manage to hide it in makeup again. the scars along his legs and arms were covered, which is the only thing he truly wanted, not so much caring for the free view of his mangled face.

  jeongguk was showering, taehyung could hear the stream of water hitting the bottom of the tub. taehyung decided, in the meantime he should think of a way to sneak into his own room and get his backpack. there was no way he would survive a day in school without his backpack. until then, he gathered a few things from jeongguk's pack, like paper and one pencil. he figured he would not need much more. taehyung wandered into the living room, and immediately saw jeongguk's brother, yugyeom. yugyeom was getting ready for work, it seemed. he was brushing a comb through his hair, which looked slicked back by some kind of gel.

   "good morning." yugyeom greeted, although taehyung could instantly tell that he was putting on a fake smile for jeongguk's sake. taehyung knew he didn't want him anywhere near his family members. taehyung wished he felt like that about any of his family.

  "i'm sorry for intruding, but thank you for helping me." taehyung mumbled weakly. yugyeom's face softened in the slightest way. he knew taehyung was just a misguided kid— if only he knew what taehyung had done for jeongguk, he would be falling and bowing at taehyung's feet. "i really like your brother, and i promise i'll keep him safe."

yugyeom gave the boy a small smile, "thank you. jeongguk's never mentioned a boyfriend?"

"we aren't— we're not dating." taehyung shook his head, letting out a nervous laugh. "but i plan to get to know him better, and i hope you are okay with that." taehyung decided to rather just tell yugyeom right away then for him to find out on his own. which was seemingly the correct decision, since it left yugyeom in smiles.

-

school was mediocre for taehyung. he dodged every encounter possible with his parent's drug dealer children, and tried to enjoy his day. he aimlessly watched as the teacher paced the room back and forth, hovering over children like a predator with it's prey while they took their tests. taehyung surprisingly studied this time, jeongguk had helped the night before. he was, for once— done with his test early.

  taehyung just let his mind wander like a child's. taehyung wished he could relive the memories of his childhood, most of them. he remembered one time fondly—

  "come on buddy, we are almost there." his mother pushed him forward. taehyung didn't know why exactly his mother was rushing him away from the house, or why his mother was bloody-faced, but he listened. he checked both ways, and then crossed the street. this house was not too familiar. he had remembered driving by this house before, but he never actually went inside of it. until now apparently.

  "these are nice people, you will like them, taehyungie." nice. taehyung knew his mother was nice, he knew his father could be nice— sometimes. he knew that sweet little boy who came over sometimes was nice, but he never really knew what being nice meant, or what the difference between nice and mean was. his mother gripped his hand as they stepped up the porch steps. she let go of him to knock on the door.

  a sweet lady opened the door. at least she looked sweet. she had on a pretty pink dress with flowers on it. they looked like daisies. taehyung loved to pick daisies in his yard. well, until his father ripped them from the ground one night, calling them weeds, and claiming that they shouldn't grow, that they would mess up the garden. taehyung was saddened by that, but he knew his father was most likely right— maybe they weren't daisies. maybe they were weeds, taehyung would never know.

  the lady let them in right away. taehyung found himself wandering into the house as soon as he stepped foot in it. he saw another boy— it wasn't the dark haired boy from earlier, not the one with the pretty face. this boy's face was still pretty, but it wasn't catching taehyung's eye like the other boy's face did. taehyung went up to him, giving him a bright boxy smile.

  "i'm taehyung." taehyung said, hearing the boy make a small muffled noise. one of fear or one of excitement, taehyung couldn't decipher between the two.

  "i'm hoseok."  he said shyly back, taehyung cooed as two patches of red appeared on his cheeks. his mother was right, these people were nice.