-', ❝(022: 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝘄𝗼) ꒱ ↷👽🛸❞

"스물 둘"

TAEHYUNG SAT BESIDE THE WINDOW, eyes staring at the little green plant sprouting from the clay pot, the first sign of life. He was amazed by this tiny little thing, so small and seemingly insignificant, but it meant the entire world to Taehyung.

In his hand, he held a plastic watering can that Aspen had bought him so that he could water and take care of his plants. She wanted him to have a hobby, something to do other than lying around, waiting for her to get done with work or errands. Sure, he cleaned the house, but that wasn't much fun.

He work diligently to keep his plants alive and growing. He loved them. To see life grow right before his eyes was...truly a beautiful sight. Now, he would sit there and stare at them, nearly all day long, watching as time passed and they got bigger.

Taehyung raised his arm with the black, plastic watering can and tipped it. The water sprayed over the plants, wetting their leaves and the soil that their roots were buried in.

Aspen soon came over with two cups of tea, handing one off to Taehyung as he out down the pot. She looked up at him, the fondness and wonder in his eyes as the sight of his creation.

Something like this seemed so little to her, but it meant the world to Taehyung. His world...was lifeless. Everything was artificial. Even the people who resided on it. It was too cold to have proper agriculture on it, the soil was frozen.

But this...this was life. It's amazing and great and beautiful.

And Taehyung fell in love with it. Fell in love with life and Earth.

He fell in love with Aspen.

"They're growing so fast." Taehyung whispered with wonder. Aspen chuckled as she sipped her tea. "Yeah, but you have to keep watering them or they'll die. Once a day." She had explained to him how to properly take care of plants. She wrote it down and everything for him.

Taehyung nodded. He loved life, but it was fragile. One mistake and it would wither away and die.

Humans were very similar. They were pack beings. They stayed together, they craved interaction and attention. You leave them alone with their feelings and themselves. They'd crumble.

Some humans even take their own lives.

Taehyung had to be sure that he cared for Aspen as carefully, diligently and passionately as he cared for his plants. He had to make sure she would grow and blossom into a beautiful flower.

"You're doing a great job." Aspen told him, getting up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "If you keep it up. Maybe I'll buy you that tree you wanted."

Taehyung's eyes brightened. They were at Lowe's, looking for more plants for Taehyung to take care of when they got to the small trees. Taehyung wanted one, picking so many out that he was practicing buried in them. Aspen told him that maybe he should work up to it, so they started off small.

"Really?"

Aspen nodded. "Yep. Just keep those plants alive fore another 2 weeks and I'll take you to get a tree." She put her mug down on the coffee table before walking back over to the window, looking out of it to see that it was raining hard outside, rain that might turn to snow if it gets any colder.

"Let's do something other than lying around and watching TV." Aspen told him. She turned to him. "I'm going to teach you something that loved doing as a child."

Taehyung looked down at her with a look of curiosity. "And what is that?" He was interested in the childhood of human children. He supposed, just like everything else, it would be far different from his.

"Playing in the rain." Aspen told him with a toothy smile before motioning for him to follow her. "Put in some clothes you don't mind getting dirty."

Taehyung looked back outside before shrugging. There was no harm in it. He walked upstairs, following after Aspen into her room so that they could grab some clothes.

Taehyung grabbed some clothes he wouldn't mind getting wet and went to the bathroom to change just as he always did. When he came out, he put his old clothes on the bed and grabbed some boots that Aspen bought him before going downstairs to see that she was waiting at the door for him in sweatpants, a hoodie, and boots as well.

"Come on before it clears up!" Aspen urged him forward, going to open the door to the raining day. The sky was grey, crying, but they could still make the most of it. Taehyung stepped outside and into the rain, letting it pour down over him, making his hair wet and flatten and stick to his skin that was quickly growing wet as well.

Aspen stepped out into the rain as well, looking upwards, squinting her eyes as to not get rain water in them. A grin pulled at her lips as she looked out, back ahead to the deep puddles forming on the sidewalks. Her eyes sparkled with childlike excitement, something he's seen for only a short time before. Like there was a child hiding away somewhere in the soul of a broken girl.

Aspen grabbed Taehyung's warm, wet hand and dragged him towards one of the deeper puddles. He looked down and then around as the raindrops beaded and hit the water, sending thousands of ripples through the surface of the water.

Aspen looked down as well before jumping into the puddle, sending water spalshing everywhere, all over Taehyung as well.

If he weren't wet already, he certainly was now.

"What was that for?" Taehyung whined, not getting the point of this. Aspen nudged him. "Because, the point is that we have fun." There it was again, that childish glitter in her eyes and that wonderful, beautiful smile.

Taehyung still didn't get it. He looked down at the water and then back up at her. "With water?" He didn't understand.

Aspen nodded jumping once more, splashing herself and Taehyung with more water. Taehyung pouted at her, causing Aspen to laugh. He stomped his foot in the water, splashing Aspen just to get back at her. She gasped with fake shock and splashed him back.

They went back and forth like this, running around the yard, chasing each other through the rain. They splashed and laughed. It didn't take long for Taehyung to find the entertainment in doing such an act with someone you care for.

As Aspen ran from him, trying her hardest not to slip on the wet, muddy ground. Her laughs rang in Taehyung's ears, serving as another way to keep track of her.

It didn't take long for Taehyung to catch up to her, scooping her up and lifting her into his arms, making her screech and then laugh. She clutched his shoulder, holding onto him in case he hold on her slipped.

"Tae! Put me down before we both fall!" Aspen demanded in a playful manner. Taehyung sigh and carefully out her down on her own two feet.

Aspen stood in front of him, looking up at him. His hair was flat down, completely drenched, pushed back out of his face so that he could see. Aspen pushed her wet hair out of the way as well, looking up at him with a smile. She hadn't had this much fun in a very long time.

Standing here in the rain with him had reminded Aspen of something else she'd always wanted to do.

Kiss in the rain.

Do she reached up and cupped his face in her hands, reach up on her toes to kiss Taehyung's lips, wet with rainwater and slightly salty, but still sweet and loving all the same. Rain fell between them, but it didn't break them apart. The water slid down their faces and made their clothing cling to them like a second later of skin.

When they pulled apart, Aspen smiled brightly.

"I've always wanted to do that." She admitted to him over the sound of the rain pouring down over them, hitting the ground violently. No one would ever do something so cheesy with her.

"I am glad I could fulfill that dream for you." Taehyung gave a lopsided grin.

Aspen grabbed his hand. "Come on before one of us gets a cold. Can you even get colds?"

Taehyung frowned, shaking his head. "I thought we already went over this. I have an elevated body temperature. I cannot get cold."

Aspen rolled her eyes. "Not like that. Sick. Can you get sick?" Taehyung looked up then shrugged. "I do not know. I have never been ill before."

Aspen turned and started walking back towards the house, tugging Taehyung along with her.

"My hair's gonna be so fucking frizzy after this." Aspen murmured as she opened the front door. She turned back to Taehyung who shuffled in and closed the door after her.

"I really didn't plan this out." She hummed, trying to figure out the best way to get upstairs without getting water all over the floor.

And then Taehyung just walked past her, tracking water through the house, all the way to and up the stairs.

"Ta- fuck it." She sighed, taking off her boots before walking after him, shedding her layers away from her skin one by one.

By the time Aspen got to her room, Taehyung sat on the bed already changed out of his clothes at such a miraculous speed. He only wore sweatpants, no shirt. He had a towel in his head as he tried to dry his hair. It wouldn't take long, he was already steaming as the water began to evaporate.

Aspen cleared her throat, catching Taehyung's attention. Her brown cheeks were now a slight hue of pink as she looked at him with a arched brow.

"Let me put a shirt on." Taehyung stood up straight, turning towards the dresser to get a shirt. His back muscles stretched and flexed, showing just a peek of how fit he was.

"You... don't have to." Aspen told him as she started peeling her wet clothes off her body as well. Taehyung kept his back to her to respect her and her body while she changed into some dry clothes.

Taehyung put in a shirt either way, not wanting to make Aspen uncomfortable with him showing his bare torso to her. He remembered what she said then they first met. It was societally frowned upon for him the be unclothed around her.

"You can turn around now." Aspen told him as she pulled one of his shirts over her body. Taehyung looked over his shoulder to make sure she was indeed dressed before turning around completely.

He eyes trailed up and down her body, only wearing his shirt that fell to her mid-thighs, leaving her legs bare, exposed. Taehyung didn't hear her go through the drawer to get shorts so he guessed that she was only wearing that shirt.

Her black hair cascaded in curls down her back, untamable, but beautiful. It complimented her brown skin.

"Come on, I want some tea. The water should still be warm." Aspen spoke, using her head to motion Taehyung after her.

Taehyung followed closely after her, using his towel to dry up the water along the way to the kitchen. He dried the water on the floor while Aspen made them tea.

When Taehyung was done, he left the towel beside the door, walking back towards the kitchen to see Aspen bent over with her face in the fridge as she got the milk for her tea. The shirt was ridden up, though it didn't show much, it showed enough to make Taehyung flustered.

He looked away with bright red cheeks, swallowing thickly with embarrassment. Aspen stood up straight and poured the milk into the tea before looking to the side at Taehyung. She saw how red he was and her eyebrows furrowed. "Are you okay?"

Taehyung coughed and nodded. "Yes. I am perfectly fine." He told her, lying.

Aspen walked up to him and reached up, placing the back of her hand on his cheek and then his forehead. And then her hand dropped. "Maybe you do have a little cold." She couldn't be sure. He was always hot. His face was red now, that was the only way she could tell.

Taehyung watched as she grabbed a mug and gave it to him. "Go sit down. Maybe tea will help."

Taehyung didn't know how to tell her that he wasn't sick so he just did as told and went into the living room. He sat down on his normal spot, soon followed by Aspen with her own mug. He opened his arms to her, allowing her to lie in his lap, their legs tangled together.

Taehyung's hand was resting in her bare thigh, her upper thigh, under her shirt, his thumb just barely at her panties. Both of them noticed this, but because neither of them said or did anything, the other didn't either.

Eventually, it just came to the point where it didn't matter. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. He was allowed to touch her this way.

Just as she was allowed to see him without his shirt on.

"I'm not sick." Taehyung told her. Aspen smiled.

"I know."

¥

I just randomly got this idea and I was like...I should make this a chapter .

Thank you all for reading. I hope you all enjoyed and I wish to you a great day/night

사랑해

~Kay ෆ╹ .̮ ╹ෆ