...With lifeless and slow moves, he opened the door but didn't dare to make eye contact with him. He kept his head bowed, his hair covering his flooded with tears eyes just a bit.

Jeongguk's heart ached at the sight...

"What the hell happened?" Jeongguk whispered in alarm, enclosing him into a tight hug, and Taehyung's dolorous cries only waxed as he latched onto him right away. "It's okay, don't—fuck, don't cry." He rubbed placatory circles on his back in his attempt to silence his broken sobs.

They stood there for several minutes until Jeongguk led him to the couch without letting him go at all. He sat down and pulled him in his lap, clasping him tightly.

Taehyung tucked his face into the crook of his neck as tears still trickled down his cheeks.

Jeongguk felt an immense wave of relief rip through him once his sobs quieted and his body stopped shaking. He carried on caressing his back nonetheless and planted a stream of soft kisses on the side of his head. "You wanna talk about it?"

Taehyung tamely rubbed his puffy eyes and sniffled as he nestled his chin against his shoulder. "She told me I'm not even good at my job," he said, voice croaky and hardly audible. "That I won a few cases because I was lucky. She basically called me a f-failure and the disgrace of our family. And that it's better that I mess around with b-boys and can't h-have kids because they already have me to disappoint them, t-they don't n-need my kids t-too."

Jeongguk's whole body went rigid with shock at his last remark. He found himself thinking what kind of mother would say that to her own child? Fury simmered in his gut blended with frustration because he didn't know how to help the once again crying boy in his arms.

"Hey, hey, Tae." He held his face in delicate palms, trying to meet his gaze in vain since the older kept his eyes lowered. "Look at me please." He ducked his head a fraction, but Taehyung closed his eyes, tears flowing down his cheeks again. "Please don't believe her words. You know you are good at your job. You helped so many people and you continue to help more. You fight for them, and even if you lose sometimes, the point is that you fight for them." He swiped his thumbs over his cheeks, collecting his tears, and drew a soothing kiss on his forehead.

"I'll n-never be anything that's w-worth it. I'm a f-failure, I—I can n-never do anything right. I even like b-boys and I can never h-have a normal family because of t-that."

"Who the fuck says that? Your mother? Fuck her, seriously. What the hell does she know? If she's treating her son this way, it means she never spent a moment to talk to him and get to know him. She doesn't know you, Taehyung. You're worth so much more than you think. And just because you like boys doesn't mean you can't have a normal family.

"What even is normal? Having a kid who's related to you by blood? Sometimes the ones who are related to us by blood are the biggest shits ever. I think you know that already with that piece of shit of a mother you have. Just because you share the same blood with someone doesn't make you a family. All that matters is if you'll give all your love to the kid you'll adopt if you plan on doing that sometime in the future.

"Please fuck what she thinks, fuck her beliefs, fuck her opinion. If you're happy with your job, be happy with your job. If you wanna mess around with boys, mess around with boys. If you wanna have sex with one of your clients, you can only have sex with me." He didn't intend to be playful at the end, but he couldn't help it. Thankfully, he managed to steal a small, choked laugh from him, his tears gradually stopping.

"Okay, sorry about that. My point is, you are 26 years old, you can live by your money only since you're good at your job, you have your own house, you have your friends who love you, and you have a hot guy who wants to pleasure you anytime you want. You don't have to think about making a family from now. You're young! You're beautiful, successful, funny, adorable, you brighten everyone's day in a heartbeat, and you are my happy place. If my happy place is sad, who's gonna make me happy?"

Jeongguk spotted a frail smile stretching over his lips once he finished talking. "That's it, baby, you should only smile," he said in a gentle tone as he peppered tender kisses on his cheeks. "You are the best man I have ever met, Tae. The best and the most beautiful. The most beautiful and the most adorable. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise."

Feeling utterly soft inside by his heart-melting words, Taehyung captured his lips in a longing kiss. The younger inhaled sharply from his nose as he was caught off guard, but yielded into the kiss, exploring every inch of his mouth with his tongue.

It was a few minutes later when they broke the kiss, both gasping for air as they rested their foreheads against each other. "Thank you, Jeongguk."

The said boy's lips curled into a smile as he caressed his cheeks. "I only stated facts. Please tell me you won't believe her words anymore."

"I'm not going back, anyway. It hurts, but I can't handle it anymore. Her words really hit me hard tonight."

"You should forget them, angel," he said against his lips and pressed a kiss there. "Whatever she said doesn't matter because she doesn't know you. Your friends know you. I can say that I know you as well. And believe me when I say that beyond doubt you're not a failure."

"Oh? You can say that you know me?"

"Yes. I know a lot of things about you."

"Like?"

"Should I say them all?"

"Are they a lot?" Taehyung questioned with a frown of surprise.

"Yeah, kind of."

"Fine, just start and we'll see."

"Hmm, I know your favorite drink is soju and you don't like beer but the last few days you've been drinking beers with me. You're not fond of eating in general and even if you eat once a day you won't care, although you shouldn't do that. You only put one and a half teaspoon of sugar in your coffee. I know you invest a lot of time in your cases even if you don't have to.

"You wake up at six thirty in the morning. On Sundays, you don't go to your office, although you still work from home. I know you don't easily ask what you want because you're afraid of rejection or simply about the other's answer. You like it when I take care of you even if you don't admit it. You like cuddles even if you don't ever ask for them.

"You always have to have something to hug so you can sleep better, that's why every time we wake up, you somehow are still clutched onto me which is something I find really cute." He had his head bowed the whole time, smiling to himself. "I know you think little about yourself, and you really shouldn't do that. I know your mother doesn't accept you for you, and you really should just not give a shit about what she says. Anyway, I have a lot more things to say, but I won't. The point is I can say that I know you."

Taehyung was left all out astonished and a bit terrified by now. "You—You remember everything from the game we played?"

Hearing how shocked he was, the younger's smile was replaced by an uneasy expression. "Yeah, I mean, it's not a big deal."

"Can you stop fucking saying that? Of course it is."

"Hey, don't freak out. I just happen to remember a few things. What's wrong with that?"

"You just happen to remember?"

"Yes. It doesn't mean anything, Tae. Still haven't fallen for you, don't worry." A titter flew off his mouth at last as he glanced away.

"Good." Taehyung forced out a light chuckle. A tense silence enveloped them then, and without knowing what else to do, he draped his arms over him and rested his chin on his shoulder.

Still haven't fallen for you. Jeongguk repeated his own words in his head unintentionally. You haven't fallen for him. You don't even do relationships. There's no way you've fallen for him. You just care a bit about him, that's all. You were so worried because you just care a tiny bit. And you want to cuddle him because... His thoughts halted as he didn't have an answer to that. And you want to kiss him and take care of him because... Shit, what the fuck is happening to me?

"I'm sorry we won't have sex tonight. I'm just really tired with everything—"

"What the fuck, Tae? Why are you even mentioning this?"

"Because that's what we do," Taehyung uttered, hesitant, brows bumping together. "We were supposed to have sex, but I really don't have any strength."

"I wouldn't ask you to have sex and please don't say sorry about that. You're not obligated to have sex with me."

"I know I'm not, it's just... I don't feel okay for canceling it."

Jeongguk's scowl disappeared straightaway once he saw his endearing, pouty face. Without wanting to, a fond chuckle slipped past his lips as he dropped his head. "Please don't look at me like that."

"Are you laughing at me?" His pout turned into a deeper frown, his tone whiny.

"No! No, you're just adorable and I can't—" Jeongguk swallowed his words with a sigh as he cupped his cheeks.

"You can't?"

"I can't handle it. It's too cute for me."

Taehyung beamed and pecked his lips, his grip tightening around him. "It feels weird every time you say things like that."

"Good weird?"

The wide smile hardened on his face as the answer was unclear for him too. "I'm not sure about that."

Deep down, Jeongguk could understand what he meant, and so he copied his smile and joined their lips into a short, sugary kiss. "It's okay. Don't think about it."

They cuddled and shared a few more kisses, chatting vaguely in between until it was time to go to sleep. They lay in the bed, holding each other as usual and enjoying every moment of it. They forced their unexplainable thoughts out of their minds and gradually fell asleep, focusing solely on each other's heartbeat.

Maybe they were scared to admit it or they simply didn't want to, but it was definitely not just about sex anymore.
  
 

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