sorry about the wait :(

honestly i looked back at some of what i'd written and.. i kinda hate it. i think my writing sounds dumb and the story honestly isn't that good, especially after (during the past few months, when i had already finished planning the rest of the story) i found another story on wattpad that basically is the same as mine but better ;-; (only the part where one of the characters gets grounded and the other character sneaks in to see them through a tree that leads to their bedroom window)

so now i pretty much just want to finish this story for the sake of finishing it.

i still love sorah and chul tho 😌

~~

   It was quiet in the room, almost silent. 

   Early morning light fell in through uncovered windows, mixing with the glow of the television and painting the skin of the two sleeping boys with pale blues. 

   On low volume, the credits of a Ghibli movie played out, covering up the sound of Jeongguk's muffled, soft snores. The blanket that had been covering them had been pushed almost to their feet by now, but they were warm enough just with the heat shared between them, because they were tangled up and pressed together wherever they could be. 

   It was all peaceful as they slept, hour by hour, lying lifeless on the carpet, because neither of them were awake to worry about whether Taehyung's parents would realize he was gone, or whether they'd actually wake up for school. 

   And then it got to be about six o' clock and the front door opened with a quiet creak and that was all it took to wake Taehyung up. Drowsily, he drew his head out of Jeongguk's neck. The sleepiness melted away from him as footsteps thudded out in the next room; he was almost immediately alert and feeling his worries flood in, and Jeongguk was just stirring and mumbling lightly in his sleep. 

   Taehyung shook him, almost violently, until he finally woke and looked up at him with heavy eyelids, but by then, whoever had come into the house was about to step into the room they laid in. It might've been dumb, but Taehyung had literally woken up seconds ago and his first reaction was to panic, because they were about to be caught. Maybe there was no need to worry, because it wasn't Taehyung's house and the footsteps approaching wouldn't have been Taehyung's parents- 

   It wouldn't have been, right? There was no way- 

   He had been expecting Jeongguk to do something, but the boy was still just getting to rubbing his bleary eyes. Taehyung shrunk; laid down and stayed still while he waited for whatever was to happen. It was probably going to be fine. He was just being paranoid. 

   A face Taehyung had never seen before appeared, bathed in the same blue glow, looking strikingly familiar. Jeongguk shot up, untangling his legs from Taehyung's. 

   "I called it!" He looked like Jeongguk- a little older, with a sharper nose and no pretty moles to be found- but there was no thick sweetness in his voice. "Man, I was just joking when I told Mom and Dad you were gay, but I was right!" The latter half of his sentence had already started to dissolve into nothing more than teasing snickers. 

   "I-" Jeongguk glanced back, wide-eyed, at Taehyung. "We're not dating!" 

    Something about that hurt a little bit. 

    Wouldn't Taehyung have said the same thing, in his position? 

   It was true. Why did it sting, to hear Jeongguk be so quick to insist they weren't boyfriends; to imply there was nothing between them?

   "...What are you doing here?" Jeongguk asked, after a long pause, after he got absolutely sick of staring at his brother's smug grin. 

   "Just trying to be a good brother. I'm here for your graduation, squirt." 

   "Oh."  Jeongguk sat quietly and rubbed his eyes once more, then looked at the clock. His brother was headed off toward the stairs, mumbling something about not wanting to watch his little brother be gay right in front of his eyes. And then, he finally looked back at Taehyung, for a long silent moment. "Sorry. I didn't know he was gonna come back. I shouldn't have-" 

   "It's not your fault,"  Taehyung cut him off. 

   "I just.." Jeongguk couldn't finish the sentence. He clearly wasn't ready to deal with this, not so early in the morning. "We should get ready for school. You have to get back, right?" 

   "..Yeah." 

   They stood, and Taehyung folded the discarded blanket while Jeongguk turned off the television. Then, there was nothing left to do but go. 

   Suddenly there was tension between them. Taehyung hated that. 

  "Tae," Jeongguk said, quietly. Taehyung nodded. "Thanks for watching movies with me." 

   That made Taehyung smile a little. Maybe he didn't regret everything.