JJG

Jeongguk woke up first. His eyes opened slowly then shut them quickly. He took in a deep breath before trying again. Light spilled through all the windows, making Jeongguk squint. It took a while to realize the hand that was tangled with his.

They somehow managed to get their hands linked and keep them together in their slumber. Jeongguk carefully pulled away his arm, trying to not wake Taehyung up. He lifted his body and sat up straight. There was still an hour before they would land.

Jeongguk dragged his hands down his face and then stretched out his body a little. He heard Taehyung groan and stir, turning to the other side before resting still. Jeongguk raked a hand through this hair, grabbed his pocket tooth brush and paste set and went to a stall to brush his teeth.

When he returned, he saw that Taehyung was out of his seat. Jeongguk set the bed back up so that it was a chair-seat again. A stewardess came and gave Jeongguk the different options for breakfast that he picked one for himself and Taehyung. Taehyung finally returned with a small towed over his shoulder.

"Morning," Taehyung said, setting his bed back up as well.

"Morning," Jeongguk replied, not being able to meet the older's eyes. "I got you pancakes," Jeongguk said.

Taehyung smiled. "Thanks."

They ate their breakfast in silence. Jeongguk decided to put on a movie and plugged in his earphones so he'd have an excuse to not talk to Taehyung, but he couldn't focus on the movie at all. He noticed all the glances from Taehyung, but he pretended not to.

When Jeongguk finished eating, he turned off the movie and cleaned up a little. There was about twenty minutes left before landing. Jeongguk pulled out the tablet and decided to look through the schedule for the day again.

They would check in to the hotel first before Taehyung had a meeting with the chairman of the board with other directors, then the rest of the day was to be spent however they please. Jeongguk just planned to stay in  the hotel and practice his English as there was an event planned for the next evening at a banquet to celebrate the ninth anniversary of Lee's. He knew he wouldn't have to interact with others too too much but there still might be some light conversation. Plus, he wanted to be able to communicate with someone in case of emergencies.

"Hey, um, do you have any plans for the day? Meeting anyone?" Taehyung asked, sounding a little hesitant.

Jeongguk shook head. "Uh, no. I don't really know anyone or really anything here," he answered.

"Well, I could show you around," Taehyung offered.

Jeongguk wondered what would the nicest way to turn him down, but then thought about how he has been trying to put the past behind them. This would be the perfect opportunity for the two to tie up the loose threads. Especially after his outburst the previous day, Taehyung deserved that much.

"Really? That'd be great," Jeongguk replied, finally looking at Taehyung and he regrets it a little bit. Taehyung's face instantly lit up and had the most adorable smile that he tried to hide by nodding.

"Cool," Taehyung said.

They buckled up and finally landed in Philadelphia. After collecting all their luggage, they found the car their company had booked for them. Taehyung talked enthusiastically about all the places in Pennsylvania that he wanted to visit again and Jeongguk could tell that Taehyung loved this place very much. He was glad he didn't hold him back in Korea all those years ago.

"Oh, I used to go to that bookstore a lot. It was really comfortable and much more quiet than my dorm room," Taehyung said pointing out the window.

"I think I saw it during one of our calls," Jeongguk recalled one of their silent video chats were they would just sit and study and just enjoy one another's presence.

Taehyung nodded. "Yeah... I remember I used to get distracted a lot."

"Oh, sorry," Jeongguk quickly said.

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that. When I'd take small study breaks. It was just hard not to stare at you." Taehyung shut up after that and Jeongguk didn't say anything more.

They arrived at the hotel and Jeongguk jaw was literally on the ground. The place looked quite expensive and Jeongguk had never seen such a grand building. The interior was even more extravagant. Jeongguk looked around and followed Taehyung as they went to the front desk to check in. They each got a key card and went up to where their two room suite was.

"Which room do you want?" Taehyung asked as they entered the suite.

"Um, I don't really care," Jeongguk replied. There was a living room kind of space and a kitchen then a little hallway that led to the two rooms with bathrooms. The area was big and definitely bigger than Jeongguk's apartment.

"Then I'll take this one," Taehyung said going into one of the rooms.

Jeongguk walked over and took a peak at both the rooms. Taehyung picked the smaller room with the double bed leaving Jeongguk with the more spacious one and king size bed. It'd be weird to insist Taehyung to take the bigger room now so Jeongguk just went in. He set his bags down and opened the closet to hang in all his clothes.

He grabbed his towel and headed for the showers. There was a bathroom in his room stocked with shampoo bottles and about 10 fresh white towels. Jeongguk kind of loved it, wishing he could live in a hotel forever, calling up room service when he needed it and ut would be like he was on vacation all day everyday.

He took a quick shower, went out and changed into his usual business attire. Jeongguk opened his door but was stopped as he heard a voice singing. Taehyung's room door right across his was wide open, and the bathroom for him was in view as well.

Jeongguk smiled as he heard Taehyung singing the song he so terribly sang all those years ago during karaoke. Suddenly, the doors opened to reveal Taehyung drying his hair in nothing but one of those white towels wrapped around his hips.

Jeongguk let a gasp slip grabbing Taehyung's attention. Both their eyes widened before Jeongguk stumbled his way to the living room quickly. Jeongguk bit down on his lips, cursing at himself for reacting like a school kid. He felt his cheeks heat up as the image of half-naked Taehyung came back.

Taehyung looked good. Like really good. If Jeongguk thought 18 year old Taehyung was a Greek god, there were no words to describe Taehyung now. It made sense that Taehyung maintained a fit body for his modelling career but damn. His frame had become a lot bigger, with his tanned body, wide shoulders, pretty waist, cute butt, and deep voice, Taehyung real had it all.

Jeongguk gulped when he thought about what else might've gotten bigger. He shut his eyes and shook his head, forcing his mind to stop thinking of such things.

"Ready to go?" Taehyung asked coming behind him. Jeongguk whipped around quickly, realizing how weird he must've looked for just standing in the middle of the room.

"Mhm," Jeongguk managed to squeak out. He really wanted to slap himself or maybe ram into a wall. Alright, only four more days of this.

•—•—•

"You alright?" Taehyung asked, buckling himself in the driver's seat. They returned to the hotel after the meeting had ended and changed into some more casual outfits. Taehyung wore loose beige pants with a striped shirt. It was so simple yet it fit him so well.

"Yeah," the other replied. Jeongguk decided to stick with a good old pair of jeans and kept his black and white button-up on.

"What are you feeling for lunch? I'm starving," Taehyung asked. They hadn't had time to eat lunch before the meeting so both were definitely looking to fill their stomachs first.

"Well you're the guide, you can give me anything right now and I'll eat it," Jeongguk said.

"Then I know just the place," Taehyung said and began to drive. They arrived at a restaurant under an apartment. It was little and cramped but gave off a very homey vibe.

"This was all I could afford when I was a broke college student. I've tried all kinds of five star meals but nothing has beat this place's pizza," Taehyung explained. Jeongguk nodded, taking in the strong aroma that had him on his toes.

"Taehyung! Good to see you again, buddy!" the man from behind the counter greeted.

"Good to see you too, Gino," Taehyung replied walking over, Jeongguk following closely.

"Oh, I thought I heard your name. There's my favourite model!" a woman came from the back, probably the man's daughter.

"Oh don't lie to me Gab, your favourite's still Francisco Lachowski," Taehyung said.

"Yikes, got me there. You know I gotta stay loyal to my man," Gab said and added wink before returning back inside.

"That was Gabriella, and this is her father and owner, Gino Ricci. Gino, this is my good friend, Jeongguk," Taehyung introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Jeongguk said, putting to use one of the few English phrases he knew.

"Nice to meet you too, Jeongguk. A friend of Taehyung's is a friend of mine. Take a seat boys, I'll send someone over," Gino said with a big smile. The two nodded and went to a seat against the brick wall. A server came and handed each a menu.

"I have no clue what any of these say," Jeongguk said scanning through all of them. He set down the menu and looked at Taehyung. "You order."

Taehyung chuckled. "Alright."

The same server came back and Taehyung began listing what they wanted. Jeongguk just felt a little mesmerized hearing Taehyung speak in English. His voice sounded deeper and just something about hearing the man speak in a foreign language made Jeongguk's breath run short.

The food arrived shortly and all of Jeongguk's senses were excited. He eagerly took a bite of a slice Taehyung cut from him.

"Jesus fuck," was all Jeongguk could say after swallowing, his eyes wide and lips in a tight line.

"Is it not good?" Taehyung asked, his shoulder slumping.

"Are you kidding me? Why hasn't he opened more branches worldwide?" Jeongguk praised and Taehyung's smile returned.

"I know right," Taehyung said and took a bite of his own.

"What does your friend think, Tae?" Gino yelled over.

"He loves it, Gino! Has there ever been someone who's tried your food and not?" Taehyung replied and the man laughed happily.

Taehyung turned back to see Jeongguk already at the end of his slice. He grabbed the pizza cutter and cut another piece.

"You seem to know each other well," Jeongguk noted.

"He's my college roommate, Isaac's, uncle. He took me here once and I was hooked. Came so often I became a regular," Taehyung explained and talked a bit more about some of the fun memories he had in the place. After a while, they were joking with each other like old times and even playing silly games.

"You did not do that!" Jeongguk said shaking his head.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe I was a part of a street race?" Taehyung asked.

"Because you'd never break the law, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes," Jeongguk said and crossed his arm.

"Fine, you're right. It's the lie. Your turn," Taehyung said, grabbing his coke can to finish the last bit.

"Okay. I ran away from home when I was twelve because my dad accidentally killed my pet fish, my favourite flowers are daisies, and my nickname in college was Muscle Pig."

Taehyung hummed while thinking about it. "Daisies are definitely your favourite. I think you've mentioned your fish story. So, the Muscle Pig one?"

Jeongguk chuckled and shook his head with a proud smile. "Nope, I ran away when I was eleven."

"That's cheating!" Taehyung called out, but couldn't help but laugh.

"Sore loser," Jeongguk replied with a shrug.

"Anyways. We've been here for a while. I wanted to show you some places," Taehyung said, beginning to gather all their trash and Jeongguk helped.

They paid, Jeongguk made sure they split the bill even though Taehyung insisted he'd pay, and thanked Gino before leaving. The two got into the car rented by the company and Taehyung continued to drive as he was the one with the map in his head.

Taehyung parked their car in a street amongst the other dozens of cars and they were on foot from there. They went to little stores, selling everything from old dusty books to cool trinkets. Then they came to the place Taehyung was really excited for - Philadelphia's Magic Gardens. Taehyung bought two tickets and the two entered right in.

"Woah," Jeongguk sounded in one of his many sound effects seeing all the mosaics and art work.

"I know. It was like a 15 minute bus ride from school so I used to come a lot. I thought you'd like it," Taehyung said, happy the other seemed to love the place as much as he does. It might've been that Taehyung had already been there a million times but his attention was all on Jeongguk. Jeongguk noticed and yet again pretended not to.

"This is amazing," Jeongguk said, his eyes trained particularly on some of the bicycle tires.

"These building weren't always like this. Isn't it incredible how someone had this vision, on such a big scale, made it come to life and was able to turn something from its state to something so magical?"

"Yeah..." Jeongguk said and he could tell that this was a special place for Taehyung.

"It gave me hope for better days," Taehyung said as a final word. Jeongguk looked at Taehyung but the man was staring right ahead, a little lost in his own thoughts.

They finished the path and decided to call it a day. Both tired from the day's walking and the time zone change. Taehyung and Jeongguk immediately landed on their beds as soon as they arrived back at the hotel. Jeongguk changed into more comfortable clothing and took a nap. When he woke up, he felt too lazy to get out so just grabbed his phone and watched random videos.

"Hey, I can call up room service for dinner or do you wanna go down to the hotel's restaurant?" Taehyung yelled over Jeongguk's closed door after some time.

"One second," Jeongguk answered and got off his bed. He opened the door and didn't expect for Taehyung to just be standing there.

"Can we do room service? You can go out if you want," Jeongguk said, not wanting to make Taehyung feel like he was chained to Jeongguk for the rest of the trip.

"Oh no, I'm so tired. And, yeah, for sure. Take a look at the menu, it's on the kitchen counter," Taehyung said. Jeongguk nodded and walked out as Taehyung went back to his room.

He saw the little book and flipped through the menu pages. He pulled out his phone and opened a translator app that translated live through camera.

"Did you decide?" Taehyung asked. Jeongguk turned around nodding. His eyes were fixed on Taehyung exposed collarbones from his oversized shirt for a second before they snapped to look at Taehyung.

"Mhm, the creamy shrimp pasta," Jeongguk said.

"Oh, good choice. Do you drink wine?" Taehyung asked picking up the landline. Jeongguk nodded again in response and Taehyung shot a thumbs up.

Jeongguk went and took a seat on the couch. He grabbed the remote that sat on the coffee table. He turned on the T.V. and put it on mute quickly not knowing how loud it'd be. He flipped through channels until he stopped on an English movie that he's watched so many times he didn't need subtitles. He waited for Taehyung to be done with the call to put the sound back on.

"Is that Titanic?" Taehyung asked, joining him on the couch, sitting at the other end.

"Yeah, it just started. I can change it," Jeongguk replied.

"No, I really like this movie."

Jeongguk nodded. Maybe watching a tragic love story that Jeongguk cried to every time with his ex wasn't such a good idea, but it was too late to change it now.

Room service came a little after and they quickly got to eating. Taehyung opened the bottle of wine and poured them both a glass.

"Thanks," Jeongguk said picking up his drink and pointing it towards Taehyung. Taehyung grabbed his own so that they could clink before taking a sip.

They watched the movie without making much comments, usually just something about the food. Slowly yet surely, it came to the part Jeongguk where his heart would just ache and was never able to hold back to. When Rose would jump off the lifeboat and run back to Jack.

"You're so stupid Rose. Why did you do that? Why?" Jack would say kissing the girl and Jeongguk eyes watered up.

"You jump, I jump. Right?" Rose would reply and that's it. Jeongguk was a whole sobbing mess. He covered his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater to hold back the cries.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," Taehyung said.

"Sorry," Jeongguk said, forcing a laugh through his cries. "It's just– she just threw away everything to be with him and– God, am I a crybaby." Jeongguk wiped his eyes aggressively.

"It's okay to cry," Taehyung said looking at him, his voice soft. "It's okay."

KTH

This would've been the the part where Taehyung would've got close and cuddled up next to Jeongguk, but of course that wasn't possibly.

They continued watching the movie and Taehyung couldn't help but think if he should've been like Rose and thrown everything behind him to be with Jeongguk. That's what love was, wasn't it?

Sacrifices. Sacrificing everything for the one you love, but that's what Taehyung thought he did. He sacrificed it all to let Jeongguk go so that Jeongguk could be happier without him.

No, maybe not. Maybe love's not all about sacrifices, at least not that kind. Taehyung thought of it all wrong. He should've endured through. Should've assured Jeongguk the pain he felt was all worth it because eventually they'd be together and that he wasn't alone. They'd be together in the end. That's all Jeongguk ever wanted, for them to be together, and Taehyung was too dumb to realize that.

Jeongguk was still crying. Fuck it, Taehyung thought.

He scooted closer and gently rubbed Jeongguk's back. Jeongguk looked at him confused yet didn't push him away. Taehyung hesitated but brought a hand up to wipe away Jeongguk's tears. Jeongguk didn't say anything and just turned his head back towards to movie.

—•
thank you qourld for the motivation, truly inspirational 😌

and ty all for being patient with meee, i love you guys sooo much!!
and HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO THIS CUTIE

Bye<3