[ chapter 46 ]
date nights

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

PURPLE. The room is flooded with it. from the curtains, that pool across lavender carpet, to the silk swept over glass tables and the tissues tucked around cutlery.

he looks to his side where jeongguk stands, pale skin cast with a lilac glow that darkens across his cheekbones and brings out the black of his eyes.

"this way," he's saying and there's a hand slipping to the small of his back and taehyung's being led past tables brimmed with plum wine and dainty tablecloths.

"this is really fancy," he muses once their seated and jeongguk's waving a waiter down.

" is that a good thing or bad thing?" he grins at him.

"good, but we're definitely splitting the bill."

jeongguk rolls his eyes, "i'm paying silver, i took you out tonight."

"still," taehyung protests, "it's only fair."

before he can reply a waiter is already making his way towards them, fingers slipping into his breast pocket and drawing out a purple notepad and pen.

"good evening," he says once he reaches their table tucked into the corner and the two of them smile and greet him back.

"have you decided what you want tonight sir?"

jeongguk smiles sheepishly, reaching forward to pull the closed menu book towards him, "no, not yet sorry. could you give us a few minutes?"

"of course sir."

and their left to their own devices, a comforting silence blanketing their shoulders, the hum of chatter buzzing behind them.

taehyung too flips open the menu, glancing briefly at the starter options and moving onto the main meals when he's swallowed by brief bewilderment about what all this was.

"i don't know what any of this is." he mumbles, eyebrows drawing, and he adds in amusement, "haven't tasted rich before huh?"

jeongguk scoffs, and for a moment taehyung wonders if he'd said the wrong thing but the younger smiles and replies scornfully, "it doesn't make it worth it. i'd have cup noodles over some of this shit."

he laughs, fingering the leather ear of his menu book, "any recommendations then?"

"uhh," he frowns, "yeah, i mean their oysters aren't too bad. when joon, jin and i went out they said their stakes are to die for."

"you came here with them?"

"yeah," he says and then his lips draw back and his eyes flash, "i was in a bad way then and i guess jin thought a full stomach would work it out."

a brief silence settles over them and it occurs to taehyung how little he knew of jin, namjoon's and jeongguk's relationship; how long they'd been together to retell the shapes of their mountains.

"trust jin to say that." he grins, and he's thankful when jeongguk smiles back, a strange sense of accomplishment settles in his bones.

a few minutes pass and they've both ordered their meals - taehyung's careful to keep his in the lower range -, a glass of lemonade before them.

"tell me about your past," jeongguk says, his cheeks filling briefly, "you've heard so much of mine."

it's a weak conversation starter but taehyung cements the brick nonetheless, shrugging as his fingers fiddle with a paper crane that he'd managed to fold into life with the purple tissue in front of him.

"uh, there's really not much to it. not nearly as interesting as yours." he snorts.

jeongguk rolls his eyes but his lips twitch, "dramatic you mean. but c'mon, i know about your siblings, what about your parents? what do they do?"

the question stamps across his chest and for a moment he's tempted to ignore it and play an 'uncomfortable' card - which wasn't entirely false anyway - but the younger's watching him with those big, doe eyes, fingers folded neatly beneath his chin - taehyung can't say no.

"my mum's a doctor and my dad's an engineer," he says cooly.

it's not a lie. those are their occupations.

jeongguk didn't need to know anything more about them.

he grins, "ah, no wonder you're so intelligent, it's those genes. do they live in busan as well?"

his lips twitch but he doesn't add to the compliment.

"no, they live in daegu. i grew up there."

"oh that's cool! so you take a train every winter to visit them? that'd be fun."

he's going to say no, that he doesn't even take the train and even if he did he'd never visit them out of all people, but instead he smiles tightly and bites back the truth.

it seems as if though jeongguk were excepting more for the silence lengthens and he's still staring expectantly at him, so taehyung opens his mouth to conjure up some scenery of rolling hills and budding fruit on watered farms when he spots the waiter behind and says curtly, "oh, our food is here."

taehyung's thankful when the younger drops the subjects, apparently too consumed in pouring them more lemonade and setting the waiter off for another jug.

"mhm." he moans, spearing a chunk of meat onto his fork and dropping it on jeongguk's plate, paying no mind to the way the younger laughs at his antics, "try some of this."

jeongguk grins but nonetheless he dutifully wraps his lips around the offered piece of stake, his eyes widening and taehyung thrusts a finger forward shrieking in accomplishment.

"i told you!" he shouts and then quieten downs when the old couple near them shoots him a pointed glare - to which jeongguk responds with even more vigour but he doesn't see that -.

"you're right," jeongguk beams, "it's really good."

"right, thank God i followed jin's footsteps. you could never go wrong."

he laughs and agrees, and that's how the night goes on. talking about their life, which is something taehyung's marvels they hadn't, they knew very little about each other than what he'd thought.

in fact, he found out that jeongguk had an unhealthy relationship with banana milk and he'd called down a waiter and set him off with the promise of just this to see for himself.

"you're so embarrassing," jeongguk whines when they spot the tell-tale silhouette of their waiter for the night, a confused expression across his face and a small carton of banana milk in hand.

"your banana milk sir."

he mumbles a quick "thank you" and shoots taehyung a playful glare when he spots the elder's red face, lips screwing back the laughter that bubbles there.

"ugh, i bet he's telling all his colleagues that one of the most renowned ceo's in korea ordered banana milk for dinner."

this time taehyung can't hold back his snort, and he claps a hand over his mouth, skin hot when jeongguk laughs at him.

"how very influential."

if it weren't for the fact that that voice had scorched itself into the very depths of his mind, jeongguk would've thought taehyung had said this since he's staring down at his plate, midsts bisecting a steamed potato.

his neck hurts from how fast he throws his head up and if it weren't for the fact that the situation was far from humours, jeongguk might've made a joke about whiplash.

"well good evening to you too."

he wants to say something, pry open his lips that feel the driest they ever been and move his tongue that weighs much more than he knows it should.

before him stands the man who'd threaded the strings that held him up, chosen only the toughest and exquisite of fibres and strung him up from it with until it dug into the soft skin of his armpits and bled scars that still remain.

"why aren't you quiet today." the man flashes his blinding teeth, a dark eyebrow propping itself up, "is it the food? i suppose so, i didn't think you out of all people would pick a place so... inferior."

he flinches at the berating scorn that drowns his father's words, a wave down memory lane. the man's smirk widens.

"excuse me," taehyung interrupts and for a moment jeongguk can see clearly, past his bleary sight and up at the halo of silver that's brighter than any star he'd ever seen, "you're making him uncomfortable, please leave."

it appears as if the words only add more kindling to the fire, for the man's lips rise even further to the point he looks almost psychotic.

he extends a hand, his teeth flashing with something odd and he says, "i don't think we've met. i'm jeon jooheon, founder of jeon inc and jeongguk's father."

taehyung purses his lips and his gaze drops to his date's who's are currently on his meal, motionless and unresponsive.

"kim taehyung, nice to meet you." he smiles tightly, retreating his hand once their clasp carries on a beat too long.

jeongguk wants to reach forward and rip their fingers apart, shout that his father should never, never touch someone so good, someone, he was far from worthy. wants to spit in his face and tell him to rightly fuck off because for once jeongguk's doing something he wants in his life and there's no way in hell that he's going to let this old man burn this down.

"boy," jooheon calls to a waiter who walks just by them, "draw me an extra chair will you?"

gazing slipping from the plate he so precariously keeps upright to the man's face, the waiter's eyes flood with recognition and at once he's dumping the food on a table and stumbling for a chair.

"o-of course sir!"

sparing the boy no further glance once he's seated, jooheon raises a speculative eyebrow up at his son.

"so i'm presuming this is a date?"

jeongguk grits his teeth, "and you're not invited."

but jooheon appears rather unperturbed and he grins, "well more the merrier am i right? besides, i'm sure taehyung doesn't mind."

and he stares expectantly down at taehyung who threads a polite smile to his lips.

"so!" he claps his hands and jeongguk sees the ceo, papers in hand and numbers in his eyes, "tell me about yourself taehyung, what do you work as?"

"i'm a veterinarian."

his lips curl, "you're parents were fine with this?"

"of course." taehyung says but jeongguk can see the frown that works his lips down.

"they didn't push you to be a doctor?"

"no." he says firmly.

jooheon hums and jeongguk imagines he's dotting the information down somewhere in his big head, awaiting the right time to draw his red card.

"tell me about your parents then. do you have a good relationship with them?"

maybe if it had been a different situation, taehyung would've laughed at the resemblance of the man's question, terribly alike to his son's who sat before him.

"yes." taehyung nods, but his eyes harden and from the way jooheon's smirk twitches, he notices.

"that's good." he smiles and reaches over to clap jeongguk on his shoulder, "jeongguk and i haven't always seen eye to eye but at the end of the day he is the heir to my work."

jeongguk scoffs internally, of course. at the end of the day his entire purpose of existence revolves around keeping his father's company rooted. he knows that deep down, somewhere dark beneath the many transactions and phone calls his father did love him but some days it hard to tell himself this.

taehyung seems to catch onto his growing discomfort because the schooled expression on his features drops and his eyebrows pinch.

"i'm really sorry mr.jeon but we left both our dogs over at my apartment and well you know, you can't really trust two puppies to not trash an unsupervised place."

"oh!" jooheon laughs but there's a noticeable trace of irritation laced in his tone, "that's alright! although i didn't know jeongguk got a dog!"

"i got her a couple of months back." he mutters.

jooheon's eyes flash, "well that's an improvement. i'm glad to hear your steering away from that...drama."

he winces, head ducking to shield his eyes, the action not going unnoticed by both the men near him.

"we really must go." taehyung snaps, rising to his feet and offering the older ceo a pursed smile, "it was nice meeting you."

grinning, jooheon waves his hand and agrees, "all the same to you. it was nice meeting my son's new boyfriend."

then turning to face jeongguk he says, "i'll see you on monday then jeongguk."

"monday." he nods, briefly bowing his head.

and then taehyung's palms are slipping into his own and his body is flooded with warmth, can finally breathe as they stand. he's whisked past tables and rotating doors, past smiling couples and bowing waiters. all is the same as when they arrived, plum curtains flooding against mauve rugs, lilac table cloths beneath plates adorned with folded purple tissues.

everything is just as it had been.

the same.

but he can't help but notice that the purple of it all is a shade darker.

~

[a/n]

double update again. i think i've been updating with doubles all the time lmao to make up for my periodic deaths.