chapter twenty one

unedited

  the two boys made it to jeongguk's apartment late that night. yugyeom was already in bed, and the air in the house was absolutely silent. jeongguk had already curled up on his bed and fallen asleep, leaving taehyung to be left awake again. taehyung faced away from jeongguk, his back turned towards the boy. his head was pounding, why was he so nervous? everything was over with now, and it would all go back to normal— right?

  he felt jeongguk's arm close over his middle. jeongguk was so warm, and he was so cold. taehyung gave into it, letting the anxious thoughts flee from his brain. jeongguk even said it himself— he reminded himself as he turned and soaked in jeongguk's body heat.

i want you.

-

  jeongguk sighed, deciding it was finally time for him to confront yeona about her past behavior towards taehyung. now that taehyung had become someone who made him so vulnerable and made him feel so safe— something that yeona could never replicate, he had to make sure she didn't drive taehyung away. even if it meant losing his friendship with her. yeona was always like a possessive girlfriend, she wanted jeongguk to only be friends with her and no one else.

he walked up to her with straight posture, trying his absolute best to show that he wasn't nervous. "oh, hey jeongguk. you didn't show up at lunch, why was that? you weren't hanging out with that drug dealer were you? i swear if you were i'm about to go beat his a—"

jeongguk put a hand over her mouth, since of course he couldn't physically communicate, well not yet. we need to talk, it's serious too. just hear me out... i love and appreciate everything you've done for me yeona. you deserve only the best, but we can't be friends anymore.

her words were mumbled, "it's that fucking druggie you're hanging out with! did he give you something that made you lose your mind? i told you not to hang out with him so much." yeona started fuming, and jeongguk could imagine all of the things she might try to do to taehyung. although he knew that taehyung could take care of himself. "come on jeongguk, we have to go." yeona grabbed jeongguk's arm. she yanked him forward, but he was obviously not cooperating. jeongguk got away from her grip, only for her to look hurt.

"i said, come. on." her eyes seemed to darken as she lunged forward and gripped at his arm again, this time someone stopped it. it was minseo, the girl that led jeongguk straight to taehyung when he had been beaten up by his drug dealer. minseo pushed yeona away, who backed away with her hands up like she had done nothing wrong.

yeona left immediately, turning her shoulder and running. minseo almost growled under her breath, "bitch—" she paused and turned to jeongguk, "you okay? i've known yeona for a while and i know how toxic she is." jeongguk just lifted a hand and shook her off, but she seemed persistent. "i'll take you to the nurse if you want, so you can go home or something.. and i have a question, actually."

jeongguk's eyes widened, he brushed his wrinkled shirt down, furrowing his eyebrows and tilting his head. "how's the guy? y'know the one i found on the floor all bloody and beaten? i've been wondering about him, since i never really see him anywhere except for with you." she paused, staring at jeongguk's face a moment before cracking a smile.

  then she got it, "oh— you two are dating! that's why!" minseo laughed hard, gripping tight onto the sweater she wore and felt her insides ache. jeongguk felt his cheeks burn, dating? nobody had ever used that term to describe the relationship between him and taehyung.. they could not be dating. there had been no boundaries set, no official statement, no nothing. jeongguk didn't even know if he wanted to date taehyung. he didn't want the pure relationship they had now turning into bits and pieces because of a label.

jeongguk shook his head no, and minseo shut her mouth after that. she hung out with jeongguk for the rest of the day— until jeongguk knew he had to leave. he met up with taehyung in the parking lot. taehyung gave him a hug, his voice coming out all cool-like, "so i heard from yugyeom that you are going to speech classes?"

jeongguk nodded, which only accelerated taehyung's curiosity. "have you learned to say any words yet?" to that jeongguk shook his head no, "oh that's lame, but when you do learn things, you should learn to say my name." taehyung has dreams of what jeongguk's voice would sound like. he pictured it all, deep and dreamy— but he was probably far off. given that jeongguk has not spoken in years, meant that his voice wouldn't sound like it was supposed to for a while.

that's what i plan to say first. taehyung smiles softly at that, his cheeks going red. "that's— very sweet."

"i want to take you somewhere. would you like that?" taehyung asked, his eyes darting to jeongguk's to see if he really wanted to go. if he didn't, he would not let the boy lie. taehyung would always abide by what jeongguk wanted, not what he pretended to what just for taehyung's wild imagination. jeongguk, however, nodded, intertwining his hand with taehyung's.

taehyung squeezed his hand, taking him off from the school sidewalk and down another, longer sidewalk. the sidewalk bended down a hill and through a thick patch of forest that jeongguk swore to himself he would never enter at night alone. but hell, he wasn't alone now. taehyung took a sharp turn— and suddenly they were in the back of an apartment complex.

"i used to come here all the time." taehyung said, taking jeongguk along with him. jeongguk listened to the children laughing and the parents sitting aside them, laughing too. he watched with interest as taehyung lead him straight to the enclosed pool. and then he wondered, was that fence too high to jump?