chapter twenty six
unedited

the air grew too quiet, perhaps it was the taking in of what was happening before him, or it was the tears cascading down the soft, fleshy hills of his face. taehyung released some sort of battle cry, lunging forward and tackling the shy boy into a hug. jeongguk flinched hard at this, but nonetheless, he returned the hug without haste. taehyung produced another weird noise before babbling into jeongguk's ear like an excited child.

"oh my god... you spoke!" taehyung nuzzled his nose into the crook of jeongguk's neck. "can you do it again? did it hurt? how did you do that? is your throat okay? how—"

i took those classes while you were not here. by the end of the class yesterday, i was taught how to say a few words that would not hurt too much. i did not particularly learn 'of course', but it didn't take too much extra to say anyways. i need to rest.. i can not exceed anything comfortable, so yelling or something of that sort. i could undo progress..

taehyung was already one step ahead of him, of course.

"well i'll make you some tea, and then you can sit down on the couch. we can put on a movie.. after i shower. it was raining outside." taehyung starts mumbling to himself as he relocates to the kitchen. he opens the cabinet and gets out a mug so he can make some tea for jeongguk.

"t—tae?" jeongguk croaks out, and the boy called for spins around so quickly.

"yes?"

where were you?

"seeing my mom." taehyung answered gloomily following with a prolonged sigh. jeongguk smiled gently at the mention of his mother, yet it confused him dearly as to why taehyung was not cheerful when talking of her as he usually is. jeongguk rubbed his arm, wondering if he was missing something about taehyung's mother. granted.. he had never seen her. he too noticed that there were a lot of missing parts to taehyung. yet he only grew excited to learn them all— since he knew taehyung would be delighted to share more of himself. he was never one to hide away his feelings and experiences if asked about an experience. jeongguk believed a bad relationship could sprout from hiding things. good relationships are supposed to be open and accepting. jeongguk was proudly accepting of taehyung. and the same for taehyung of jeongguk.

  how did that go?

"same old, same old. i went over to her and then i set my flowers down and left." jeongguk's demeanor changed completely. perhaps taehyung had not told him about the death of his mother. but, could you blame him? he was finally happy for once in his life, he didn't want to think about something that made him cry for months on end. taehyung came out of the kitchen with a mug full of green tea and a heated up breakfast sandwich, which he gave to jeongguk.

   "don't worry about it." taehyung said, beginning to cut up the sandwich so jeongguk could eat it easier. it was easier for jeongguk to eat things in smaller pieces. it was less strenuous for his throat. "she's been dead for practically my whole life. i didn't tell you because it didn't involve you. and i was finally finding my own happiness and i didn't want to upset you. which clearly hearing about it made you upset."

  jeongguk just shook his head, pulling taehyung into a hug and rubbing his back. when they pulled away, taehyung reached for the remote like an instinct. he flipped on the news channel, eyes narrowing at the box in front of him. jeongguk started to carefully— slowly eat the sandwich. the news channel wasn't too eventful, well until the news reporter came out and reported a certain story.

"there has been countless findings of drugs in neighborhoods along the edge of the city. police teams are being sent to go in and confiscate the illegal substances. people found guilty of handling illegal drugs will be taken to prison, the sentence depending on how big the amount of illegal substance they have smuggled—"

jeongguk dropped a piece of his sandwich, eyes growing big in worry, in fear, in uncertainty. taehyung stared too, stared at the television like he would stare down the barrel of a gun. he knew this was a sign. all of his sparkling happiness crashing down in a frenzy of flames only caused by a lousy reporter's words. he knew this day would happen. it was nearing the end of the week, wasn't it? wasn't it his time to leave this apartment anyways? well, surely if he stayed jeongguk would get involved in his legal situation. hell, a policeman had found him in an alleyway, why was he there? they knew not. but they would if they asked around. someone would come forward and expose his handling in drugs. he was almost an adult.. he might even get a full sentence.

"t—tae.." he rasped, to which taehyung hushed him ever so gently. he arose from the couch to near the door of the apartment. jeongguk watched with wide eyes. he'd stand along with him, feet scampering across the wooden floor as he gripped onto taehyung's shoulders desperately. "d—don't g—go." jeongguk croaked out, his throat in flames.

"i have to. if im here and they find me with you, they will take you too." taehyung paused, mind floating back to whenever he took jeongguk to his own house. what if they traced him there? he knew what he had to do.

what are you going to do? jeongguk signed sloppily, his right hand still gripping tightly, clinging.

"burn my house down." taehyung stated, the confidence in his voice never found, never located. jeongguk stared in horror.

are you crazy?

taehyung gave out a long chuckle, leaning in and kissing jeongguk long and slow before pulling apart with a wicked grin. he spun out of the apartment, eyes sparked with excitement.

"i'm insane." he concluded, dashing down the dark hallway, and jeongguk watched him disappear into the shadows. his eyes longing for him to come back, and tears started to trickle down his face.

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