-', ❝(008: 𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁) ꒱ ↷👽🛸❞

"여덟"

Taehyung holding Aspen to keep her warm had somehow become a habit and neither of them were exactly sure how it happened. After that first day, it just kept happening. Aspen would come and curl up beside him, hoping to keep herself warm while they watched TV.

And the Taehyung found himself lowering the temperature more often, just so that he got the chances to hold Aspen again. To be honest, he thought that he was possessed by another entity, something was making him do this. He's never craved touch before. Intimacy before being mated was strictly forbidden on his planet.

Taehyung was awoken one night to a heavy weight falling upon him. When he opened his eyes, just a crack, he saw that it was Aspen, curled up against him. She was shivering, cold. Taehyung feared that maybe he had turned down the thermostat too much.

It was becoming colder outside as winter rolled in and with the addition of the thermostat being turned down, it was becoming extremely cold inside the house. Taehyung felt bad.

He shuffled to the side so that she lay beside him and circled his arms around her to pull her close. His body curled around hers. He tried his best to keep her warm and after a few long minutes, she stopped shivering. She was okay.

Taehyung settled down and was able to fall back to sleep with his arms around her. It was strange, he never felt tired before, the need to "fall asleep" wasn't something he felt. It just...happened because what would he do for 8 hours while Aspen slept? It was a surprise that the two of them even managed to remain on the couch together. Taehyung's grip was iron clad and he was the only reason she wasn't on the floor.

Otherwise, they slept rather peacefully, pressed together on the narrow couch until morning came.

Aspen was the first to wake up, enveloped in warmth. She felt the soft, hot skin of Taehyung pressed against her and the tender breeze of his warm breath against her neck. She didn't know when she came downstairs, how she managed to get tangled up with Taehyung. Or how she even managed to stay on the couch.

Aspen tried to wiggle her way out of his hold, but it took a lot more effort than she had initially thought and the moment she managed to free herself, she fell to the floor. The noise made of her body hitting the floor was enough to wake Taehyung.

He peaked over the edge of the couch. "Are you okay? I did not mean to drop you." Aspen couldn't look him in the eyes. What was wrong with her? She shouldn't be sleeping with him. It's only been mere days since she broke up with Ben. She should be mourning, not sleeping on couches with random men.

"Taehyung, how did I get down here?"

His brows furrowed. "You do not remember? I came downstairs on your own accord and laid on top of me. I presumed you were cold." He said it like it was obvious, but Aspen had no recollection of waking up to come downstairs. Maybe she was so tired she hadn't woken up fully.

Either way, it was embarrassing.

"We need to stop doing this. I need to buy a better heater. Or a stronger fan for you." Aspen had failed to set proper boundaries between them. It was her fault this was happening, truly. She had no one to blame for this but herself for letting it come this far.

Taehyung could tell she was upset. He didn't want her to be upset. "My apologies. I did not mean to make you upset." He was always so concerned with making her mad, angry, sad. Human emotions could be easily swayed. Fragile, feeble beings.

Aspen got up off the floor. "I'm not upset at you. There's no reason for you to apologize." Though her tone didn't convey as much. Taehyung watched her walk away, quickly getting up to follow her. "Are you sure? I can clean the house again if you want me to."

Asoen started up her coffee machine. "No, Taehyung. It's okay." She waved him off, but he only drew closer, reaching out to the Keurig. "I can make your coffee for yo-"

"I said it's fine!" She snapped at him. Her voice turned sharp like a knife tearing through his chest. Taehyung retracted his hand and backed away from her. He looked disheartened, distraught even. He lowered his head. "My apologies." Just as quickly as he came and followed her, Taehyung left the room. "I will not bother you any further...I should go see if I can salvage anything from my ship."

Aspen's eyes softened. It wasn't his fault. Why was she lashing out in him? Stress. That's why. She was entirely too stressed. But that was no reason to dump it on him, even if he was the source of her stress.

Taehyung stood in the cluttered garage, staring at the giant metal ball. The only remnant of home he had here on Earth. It was deactivated, most likely broken all together. The outer shell was dented, seared from being burned in the Earth's atmosphere, parts and scraps of it were torn away from the shell.

He found the ship a good distance away, in the middle of the woods behind Aspens house. It had broken through trees and crashed into the ground just as he had, only damaging the ship more. After ejecting himself from it, it flew out of his sights, but he knew it landed close. He brought it back and put it in her garage for later.

Now, was later.

He put his hand on one of the panels in attempt to activate the vessel. The lights beneath the panels glowed and slowly, it rose in the air. For a minute, he thought it would work. And then it crashed back to the ground, probably damaging it even more. The lights flickered and then disappeared entirely.

Taehyung knew he had his work cut out for him. It was unlikely that he'd be able to get this think off the ground. Earth didn't have the tools needed to fix it, but maybe with a little handiwork, he could fix the communication device inside so he could contact his home planet. He had to fix it quickly. He fears the consequences of staying here for too long.

He could turn human. His body was already beginning to adapt to this environment. He got tired. That was unusual. The longer he stayed here, the more human he would become physically. And that would leave him susceptible to human diseases, emotions, etc.

Taehyung wasn't used to independence. He, and all other people in his planet were created to serve. They know their purpose in life from the moment they're born. It's all they'd ever know their entire lives.

He was made to please, to be subservient.

Taehyung pried open the door to the ship and climbed inside, settling down in the chair in front of the main console. He pressed certain buttons, most worked, but others didn't. It wasn't like he could try all of them, there was a button that could completely level Aspen's house and anything in a 100 foot radius.

He tried the radio, but nothing happened. It had been damaged during the crash.

Time to get to work.

Aspen sat in the living room where Taehyung normally sits, a hot cup of coffee in hand, holding it close to keep her warm. Yeontan sat beside her, looking up at his owner with his fluffy tail wagging behind him and his little pink tongue peaking out from his mouth.

"Was I too hard on him?" She asked her dog as if he had the intellectual capacity to respond back to her. The small dog just stared at her with black eyes, his fluffy head tilted to the side. It was reminiscent of Taehyung's confused head tilt.

Aspen took that as a valid response. She sighed, taking a careful sip of her piping hit coffee before placing it down on the table. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Yeontan put his small paw on her leg, catching Aspen's attention as he stared at her.

"Yeah, I should apologise." Aspen stressed with the dogs non-existent words, getting up from the couch to go to the garage and apologize to the alien. She really didn't meant to snap at him.

When she went to the garage and saw the giant, silverish-white ball, her eyebrows furrowed. "What the fuck?" She murmured to herself, moving inside the garage even further. This wasn't there when she found Taehyung, but of course, he had to get here somehow.

Aspen decided not to question it. It wasn't like she'd understand it either way. She probably didn't want to know anyway. "Tae?" She called out. There was a bit of scrambling inside the ball before Taehyung peeked his head out of it with side, attentive eyes. "Yes, Human Aspen?" His voice was soft, not as energetic as it normally was. She had hurt him. Scared him.

Aspen felt guilty, rightfully so. "I'm sorry Taehyung. I shouldn't have snapped at you the way I did." She fidgited with her fingers, glancing sheepishly at him. She wasn't used to apologizing, most of the time she was in the right, but she could admit when she was wrong.

Taehyung fully came out of his vessel, hopping down from it to walk over to Aspen. He stood tall above her, looking down at Aspen. His face was still and expressionless, making him look kinda scary and intimidating. Aspen didn't know if she should tell him he had a resting bitch face. That would mean she would have to tell him what a bitch was.

A grin broke out across his lip, showing that cute, dorky, rectangular smile. "I accept your apology." He told her. "That is what humans say, correct? To forgive someone?" He wasn't sure. Aspen couldn't help but smile. As a show of good faith, out her arms around him and rested her head in his chest, hugging him tightly.

Taehyung looked down at her with confusion. Another human thing that he didn't understand. "Is this how humans accept apologies? By embracing other?"

"No, Tae. It's called a hug."

Taehyung hesitantly put his arms around her as well, embracing her without really knowing what he was doing. It reminded him of when he held her to keep her warm, so he just did that again, just standing up now.

It felt nice.

"You can go back to work now." Aspen cleared her throat and pulled away from Taehyung, looking down awkwardly as she found herself enjoying his hug a bit more than she should've. To be fair, she was in the coldest part of her house.

"I'm gonna go make breakfast." She turned, glancing up at Taehyung, who looked at her with sparkling, dark eyes. Aspen took a couple steps away from him before turning on her heels and quickly waddling away to the main part of the house before he could say anything.

She shut the door, placing her hand over her chest. Her heart was racing far too fast for comfort. Why was it going so fast? Why was she so flustered? It was a hug. She hugs her friends all the time.

Aspen shook it off, walking away into the kitchen to make some eggs and bacon for the two of them to eat. It would be a pleasant change from cereal, yet it didn't seem like Taehyung minded.

When she opened the door to the fridge, trying to find the eggs and bacon, she found that there was no more eggs and barely any bacon left. They were also out of a lot of other things. A trip to the store was much needed.

Aspen went back to the garage to go tell Taehyung that she would be leaving. "I've gotta go to the store to get more food. I'll be back soon."

"Wait, wait! Can I come?" He asked, stumbling back out of his vessel. "I promise I won't get into any trouble." He pleaded, begging to get out of the house and look around this human world, one that he was unfamiliar with.

Taehyung gave Aspen the widest, cutest puppy eyes he could muster up, trying to get her to let him come with her.

Aspen was hesitant. She feared that he'd draw attention to the two of them, or accidentally destroy something. Her house was fine so far, so she figured that if she kept a close eye on him, everything would be fine. "Fine. Hurry up and get some clothes and change in the bathroom." She moved out of the way to allow Taehyung to pass by her.

The man grinned wildly, finally being able to leave the house and go outside. He was interested in the human world, to see their architecture and societal norms. There was only so much he could learn within the confines of this house. He moved past her, sending a charming smile he'd way before going upstairs and into Aspen's room to collect come clothing to wear out.

By the time Aspen got to her room, Taehyung was already on his way out with clothes in his arms. She quickly walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Aspen went into her own room to get dressed. She wasn't looking to get herself all filled up. So sweatpants and a sweater it was. It wasn't like she was going to meet her soulmate in the middle of the dairy section.

When she came out of her room and went back into the living room, Taehyung was already waiting beside the door, hopping on the balls of his feet with excitement. He wore dark brown slacks and a light brown sweater to match. Aspen hadn't expected him to have a sense of fashion.

His eyes were bright and happy. "Come on, come on!" He said, motioning for Aspen to hurry up as he opened the door and rushed out of the house.

Aspen was nervous. Hopefully this wouldn't end too badly.

*.✧ Kᴀʏs Eɴᴅɪɴɢ Nᴏᴛᴇs

I made myself deviled eggs and can I just say that, there are certain things I can eat by the spoonful and deviled egg filling is one of them.

Thank you all for reading. I hope you guys enjoyed and I wish you all a wonderful day/night.

사랑해

~Kay ᕙ( : ˘ ∧ ˘ : )ᕗ