chapter twenty three

unedited

  "do you like puzzles?" hoseok asked through gritted teeth. taehyung took notice of how uneven and messy his hair looked. taehyung drew a hand through his hair— and he wondered if his looked as wild. he shook off the thought, knowing kids care less about physical appearance than adults.

  "i've never completed one. they always get too hard at the end." taehyung watched as hoseok shifted on the carpet, he grabbed a piece of the puzzle and stuck it in the corner. taehyung was fascinated, how could this young boy complete the puzzle so quickly? it never dawned on him that other people possessed skills he himself could never obtain. patience, a virtue he never perused.

  "to complete a puzzle, i usually start with the corners first, since they are the easier ones." he explained briefly, demonstrating that they had corners, which indicated that they only had one place to go, and followed it with, "and then i do the outside pieces, since they are second easiest." he did the same, until he was talking about the final, middle pieces. "those are the hardest, in my opinion. i save those for last, but by then the picture is clear and i can finish the puzzle easily."

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  the declaration of love between the two boys was vague, it wasn't set in stone, but surely it meant something. taehyung held the boy close to his warm chest and jeongguk took in the older's heartbeat. the crying had stopped, and they stepped out of the hot tub and dried up. they went home late, got a lecture from yugyeom, and curled into warm covers, absolutely satisfied with themselves. only then did taehyung remember what hoseok had told him years ago about a puzzle. he did the easiest parts first..

  which taehyung could clarify as an introduction to jeongguk. taehyung smiles drowsily as the moonlight dipped in from the outside and painted the room a dark blue. taehyung stared at the moon licked sky, a bird's shadow flying by only a mere distraction. he felt the arms around his middle stutter, and jeongguk lazily lifted his head— his hair a mess.

  taehyung concluded that the next part was the second easiest thing, the outside parts. the outside pieces could relate to learning jeongguk's personality. taehyung drew absentminded circles on jeongguk's back, a hand lifting up slowly to meet jeongguk's hair. he caressed the puff of black. jeongguk smiled in the sweetest way, and taehyung pecked his cheek.

  the middle pieces, as hoseok had described; the hardest piece of the puzzle. taehyung knew what that was, it was loving and accepting jeongguk for the person he was, flaws included. and there, staring at the boy with blurry eyes and a heavy heart, he knew his puzzle was complete.

  it was the hardest puzzle, but the most rewarding.

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  "i'm glad to report, jeongguk.. that your vocals are getting stronger each time you visit me. you've only been coming now for almost a month. i want to step it up from humming, since it seems you've mastered that." jiyeon clasped her hands together, her eyes scanning over a small report, "i want to see if you can try to sound out a few letters."

jeongguk nodded determinedly. taehyung's birthday was coming up, and their "friend" anniversary was also coming up. four months of learning the boy who would have taken a bullet for him, even more so now. "okay, can you try and sound out just, any letter you want?"

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taehyung wasn't a very exciting person, perhaps his quarrels set him out to be, but he never intended to live the dangerous life. he was occupied, standing to go and collect the coffee he had ordered, the money received by jeongguk in case he wanted to buy something of his own. the number of days at jeongguk's house were limited, dwindling down by the hour. it made his hands twitch and shake. he didn't want to go back to his home, not now, not ever.

taehyung— as said previously, failed to acquire the virtue of patience. whilst going through a vigorous worried state, the lack of manners he had seemed to go over his head. he snatched up the coffee and spun around on his heels. the barista rolled their eyes and returned to their duties, but taehyung did not seem so calm about it. he scampered from the cafe and into the streets of korea with no real destination.

he concluded, that he would not go home. yet as he tried to find some sort of distraction until jeongguk finished his vocal session, he spotted someone who he didn't really, want to see right then. his step-mother was stumbling down the sidewalk straight towards him. her arms were crossed as her speed increased. how the hell had she found him? and how had she stayed weed-sober long enough to search for him?

  he turned and ran, and so did she. taehyung knew these streets like his own house layout. he and yoongi used to scout out new friends, ones like themselves, all beaten and dirty and broken. taehyung never met anyone worth talking to, until he met jeongguk, of course. taehyung turned a sharp corner into one of those alleyways. a tall fence stood as an obstacle in the distance, and when he tried to get his feet placement correct and sling himself over, his pant leg tangled on the top.

  he cursed, pulling at his pant leg until the fabric made a ripping sound. taehyung lost his balance, falling from where he propped himself up on the fence, landing straight on his shoulder. he laid defenseless. a shadow soon loomed over him like a tall building.

  "your father was so worried about you, taehyung! you don't even know what we've been through these past few days. i'm just lucky i happened to find you out on the streets. you're coming home, right now." his step-mother instructed like a parrot. a parrot... taehyung guessed because she had heard that speech from his father and just repeated it.

  his step-mother hauled him up from the dirty ground and helped him untangle his pants. taehyung felt weird.. like someone had taken out the middle of his puzzle and mixed up all the pieces in the wrong place.

  uncomfortable and incomplete.

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