[ why does it look like tae's saying "i told you!" lmao. ]

[ CHAPTER 28 ]
brighter

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

THEY settle at the furthest ends of the lavish fawn couch, propped in the very centre of jeongguk's vast living room, a saucer tucked meticulously beneath their lips as they sip past the budding tension shrivelling across the silenced room.

despite being the one to bring up the issue, taehyung now sits, timidly shy as he keeps his gaze strictly on the pattern of the carpet beneath his feet than the ebony-haired man opposite him.

"so.." jeongguk begins, setting his cup of coffee down upon a mug rag as he leans back, a knee thrown over another as he raises an eyebrow, "what'd you want to talk about?"

lip caught tight beneath his upper teeth, taehyung sighs irritatedly as he runs a quivering hand across his hair, "you know.."

but jeongguk seems to no nothing of what taehyung heavily implies, eyes raised and hands jutting forward in harsh jabs to exaggerate his arguably evident point.

"you need to be more specific tae," he sighs, watching as the elder rings himself tight with frustration, cheeks now a light shade of rose.

swallowing thickly at the nickname, taehyung scowls, eyebrow knitting close as he strains, "that night."

"there's like three-hundred and sixty-five nights - "

a vexed growl ripples at the back of the throat, fingers tightening against the ear of the pillow pressed at his back before he propels it rather harshly at the smirking man, "jeon jeongguk, you know what i mean."

easily curling his fingers around the pillow, jeongguk snickers, pressing it as his lap, "okay sorry, i know. but what about it?"

jaw slacking and eyes bulging, taehyung gapes at the younger male before his expression pinches and he lobs yet another one of the embroidered pillows beside him.

"you jerk! what do you mean 'what about it'?!"

jeongguk's eyes widen at the unseen assault, ducking just as it sweeps across the hair of his neck and plummets across the polished tiles of his abode before he whips his head to the ashen-haired male, lips turned in a scowl, "it was just one night!"

"uh-no. this was the second night!"

"same difference!" he retorts.

as if the statement was incredulous enough, taehyung's eyes widen comically as he straightens in his seat, bristling, "there's a difference when i end up on your lap!"

at this there's a brief silence, terse and prickling at the hair of his skin, ears burning with shame at the double-meaning layered behind his words, wallowing in self-pity of what he was sure to come. and truthfully to his words, jeongguk's lips curl into a jeering smirk, eyebrow raised suggestively.

"you seem pretty flustered silver," he grins, inwardly smirking at the subtle squirm the elder fails to hide in his seat, "you didn't enjoy it did you?"

"no!...kinda-no!no! that's beside the point!"

by now, taehyung's cheeks were a bright hue of crimson, bloodied streams curling across his jaw and slick against the skin of his neck.

"t-this is what i mean!" he hurries, internally moaning at the stammer in his words, "friends don't act like this!"

"hey, upgrade!" jeongguk cheers.

scowling, he attempts to bite down a smile at the man's rare appearance of his signature bunny-like grin and childish behaviour, "i mean it. what are we jeongguk?"

maybe it was the use of his full name, without agitation laced across its vowels but pure civilised solemnity that sobers his amused mind, his legs planted straight on the floor as he surveys the elder with speculating eyes.

"what do you mean?"

teeth tugging at his lower lip, taehyung sighs, reaching up to slip his hair past his eyes, "i mean, this isn't normal...we've kissed a-and did some stuff together...doesn't that mean something?"

now taehyung wasn't necessarily a newborn calf to the neoned world of dating, he'd had his fair share of relationships which had consisted of mutual admiration for one another and brief pecks, but nothing had ever stepped over the line of making out or intimate caresses.

yet, he and jeongguk weren't in any solid relationship and he'd made it further than all his past relationships combined, with him. so yes, perhaps he shone a tad brighter than other rusted options, and yes, his sudden leap in moves terrified him, but even he could not lie and claim that the young ceo did not incite him in the slightest. by the brief period of time, since they'd known each other, jeongguk had treated him fairly well, nursing him whenever he was ill from careless drinking and held him tenderly despite the sultry words falling from his lips. now, he hadn't forgotten the hiccups of insistent annoyance or appalling behaviour but there was no denying that he harboured the slightest of romantic feelings towards him.

jeongguk, however, was far from rusted, crippled even, arms loaded with stray garments and skin tattooed with crimson plaques. but even he stood beneath a stool, for he'd never dated someone of his gender before nor had he even fathomed the idea. he was as straight a pole, furnished in the perfect complimentary angle. yes, he wasn't entirely sure whether to take responsibility for his actions and yes, he wasn't eager to pursue any relationship with the elder. but no, he was not gay, far from it and taehyung didn't interest him at all. period.

although...he supposed the ashen-haired male was rather beautiful, brighter than any fling he'd ever accounted but that was all. visuals and nothing else.
and maybe he was fairly adorable and fun to poke fingers at. no, that was all.

so he merely purses his lips and stones his features, snipping quietly, "should it?"

he's playing safe, bolted with layers and layers of impenetrable armour. he's not frightened, no, that wasn't it. more uneasy to change, to a stable relationship again.

flushing an even darker shade of maroon, taehyung scowls, "yeah kinda! people don't do this!"

jeongguk shrugs indifferently, lips quirking, "they do though. like 'friends with benefits'?"

"we're not doing that!" taehyung exclaims, beet red.

"what do you want us to be then?"

"i don't know jeongguk, you tell me!"

he sighs, pressing a tired finger at the skin between his eyebrows, "it doesn't matter. it's not like we like each other anyway, so whatever we could be wouldn't work."

jeongguk doesn't like me. he swallows thickly at this, dismissing the sickening churn of his stomach at the thought. as a friend or romantic partner?

his brief silence isn't ignored by jeongguk, who's eyebrows pinch close to one another as he lowers his voice carefully, "wait, you don't like me right?"

"no!" taehyung denies, heart thumping wildly in his ears, "of course not!"

a cool grin breaking across his lips, jeongguk nods as he leans back against the seat, snorting, "thank God, cuz i don't like you. you're far from my type, too annoying and loud."

his words lay bitter at the skin of his ears, plunging deep across his chest to carve at the hollow pit his battered heart lays, ripping it from its abode to the salted, lemon of the air outside. his throat seems to lather with spit, pressed uncomfortably at the back of his mouth as his stomach swells with the pitted scars of a hundred waves.

"g-good." taehyung snaps, blinking rapidly as he feigns an undid shoelace, his eyes firm upon the floor, "you're hormonal mood swings are too dramatic for me anyway, jerk."

"ouch okay."

eyes moist with the heavy blemish of rejection, he huffs, rising to his feet and jerking his head from the other's vision.

"i forgot, i still need to go pick up yeontan's furbo from the post office this afternoon and jimin said he'll be coming over for a movie so i'm gonna leave now," he mutters, already making his way to the room where the two dogs play, fingers curled right across his pet's leash.

"wait, now?!" taehyung hears jeongguk exclaims behind him, the distant sound of shoes clapping across tiles resonating against the furnished walls.

"yep," he says, clipping the leash to yeontan's colour as he shifts the dog to his chest, briefly ruffling misun's head, "say bye to misun-ah baby."

leaning down to plant a fleeting kiss to the retriever's forehead, taehyung blinks back the tears that threaten to spill across his cheeks as yeontan cocks his head and nuzzles his snout at the crook of his neck.

"i'm sorry tannie," taehyung murmurs, striding to the front door where jeongguk stands, a bemused expression across his features, "i'll take you to play with bomi next week to make it up bub."

"silver!" jeongguk exclaims, fingers curling across the elder's bicep before he's given a chance to step past the threshold, "what's wrong? why are you in such a rush?"

keeping his head lowered, taehyung presses hard at his lips, jerking his body far from the man's reach as he shakes his head, "i'll talk to you later jeongguk."

"huh?" he hears jeongguk shout, but the younger man makes no move to follow him down the cobbled pathway of his front garden, "taehyung!"

and with the bitter cold of the caving wind paving across his cheeks and whipping at the tears in his eyes, his foot presses at the accelerator, snow a whisk of the trace behind him.

~

[a/n]

i'm really not satisfied with this chapter so i'm so sorry if you didn't enjoy this, it feels so rushed and below my standard. once again, i'm really sorry. :((

but i watched 'life' (2017) and the ending was just uGh. i need to know what happened. 😤 but '47 metres down' was probably the most stressful movie i've watched oml. what's the most stressful movie you've watched?

i have more comments than i have votes, i can't lmao-