chapter twenty two

unedited

  surely, slowly— but surely they climbed the fence up and over and onto some kind of concrete slab. the slab of concrete.. jeongguk realized, was the top of the outdoor restroom. "just leap down." taehyung instructed, there was an edge of excitement to his voice that jeongguk could pinpoint with ease. he took a second to admire how beautiful taehyung looked with the setting sun behind him, his body a shadowy silhouette. jeongguk nodded, his messy hair flopping about as he leapt from the concrete and onto even more concrete.

  this concrete was lower, though— and it hollowed into a pit. jeongguk guessed the pit was about eight feet deep on it's farthest end. he heard a thump! and taehyung was beside him. "isn't it cool— i think they lock it at night, so nobody will come here." he said, pointing towards the hot tub. "we could go into the hot tub, since it's pretty cold out."

  jeongguk nodded, to which taehyung smiled the sweetest smile. god— he was so in love with jeongguk.. he just didn't know how to express it further. he was never good with words, and weirdly jeongguk was amazing with them. "you know... taciturnity— it's not a bad thing." he rambled as he made his way over to the control panel. he opened the little covering and pressed the hot tub button.

  steam blasted from the smaller hollowed out pit. jeongguk knew the hot tub would take a while to bubble, of course. so until then he stayed clothed and watched the water swirl. he thought about what taehyung had said. being quiet wasn't all that bad, he supposed. if only he chose to be quiet on his own... then perhaps that statement would make sense. he didn't dwell too much on it, since taehyung was only trying to be nice about his situation.

  jeongguk couldn't think too long because arms wrapped around him like a coiled snake. jeongguk smiled, bringing a hand up to touch taehyung's. "are you ready? the hot tub's starting to bubble." jeongguk felt taehyung's cold hands run underneath his shirt. jeongguk made a sort of— squeaking noise. 'this is alright, he has seen you like this before..' "i think it's better if we undress. that way we still have dry clothes to wear on the way out."

skinny dipping? jeongguk signs, to which taehyung laughs. the red haired boy removed his own shirt instead. "yeah, like skinny dipping." he concluded this statement by discarding of his pants, which happened to be one of his favorite pair. jeongguk watched as even his underwear came off— and he was relocated to the hot tub. taehyung let out a satisfied sigh, his arms coming up to rest at the hot tub's side.

jeongguk felt his skin flush. here taehyung was, exposed and submerged in water and he was standing there like an idiot. he removed his shirt and watched it fall to the ground, and repeated with his pants and anything under that. jeongguk sunk into the warm water beside taehyung. it wasn't awkward, but there weren't any words said. the rippling of the bubbling water was such a serene noise that they deemed talking unnecessary.. until,

"are you comfortable?" taehyung asked, feeling an unconscious arm wrap around jeongguk like his own personal belt. "i can move over if you want—" jeongguk shook his head no, scooting closer even. taehyung blushed at that, feeling a cool breeze flutter by his head.

"i want to tell you something. if you are willing to listen." he said, and jeongguk felt excitement run along his veins. taehyung hardly shared experiences or life stories. this was a perfect moment to share such experiences too, quiet, alone time in a hot tub... seemed right. "after you left my house the— well the last time you did.. my father grew mad. i think growing up around him made me obtain some of his anger issues. i remember one time my english teacher took away a small amount of points because i didn't elaborate clearly—"

jeongguk stirred. anger issues? it wasn't like he could find it unattractive. he had dealt with anger issues for his whole life, so taehyung didn't have flaws when it came to that. in jeongguk's opinion, but also jeongguk saw taehyung like some god that he wasn't worthy for, so his judgement might have been flawed itself. "i threw my pencil across the room, and it flew so far it hit the window. if i went to that exact classroom now, i'm sure the glass would still be chipped." that's when jeongguk remembered something...

"can i go?" jeongguk asked like the annoying little sibling that he was. yugyeom shook his head, like the older sibling should react to such a request. "why not?"

"you wouldn't get it, besides it's just some lame assignment thing. you shouldn't care too much about it. you can stay here with dad and maybe you two can go shopping or something." yugyeom turned around, staring at the door. the knob twisted, and his mother came in with a bright smile. she took yugyeom's hand and gave a kiss to jeongguk's cheek, mumbling something along the lines of, "love you baby, see you tonight."

jeongguk nodded dumbly, and the two vanished behind the door. jeongguk didn't know that would be the last time he saw his mother, and shit, he would have told her that he loved her back.. if he had known. his dad then entered the room, "now that they are gone.. daddy has some business he has to take care of. since your mother isn't here, you have to come with me."

if only jeongguk had gone with his brother to the dumb school thing.

  jeongguk knew his mother was lying about going to a 'school thing', and that they were just escaping his father's abuse. before he knew it.. he was crying. how embarrassing. taehyung didn't find it embarrassing. he pulled jeongguk closer and kissed his head. "what's wrong, baby?"

  jeongguk felt his eyes water even more. he didn't deserve taehyung! he stared up with shaky lips and watery pupils. he raised a hand, exactly in front of taehyung's eyes so he made sure he saw him when he signed this.

  i love you, taehyung.

  fuck... taehyung was crying too.

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