Heaven ➳ Taegyu ✔

4. Friendly

*Same day*

Taehyun dreaded going home everyday. He dreaded getting off his motorcycle and going inside to see bottles of alcohol open on the counter. The presence of deep mourning from his dad who was home drinking himself closer to death everyday.

He hated when he first saw his father after getting home. He always looked tired, internally beaten down and still resentful towards Taehyun. It wasn't our protagonist's fault. Not in the slightest.

His mom died giving birth to him, but his father didn't truly start hating him for it until a few years ago when he started drinking a lot more.

Taehyun saw his dad on the couch watching something and quickly walked away to his bedroom, hoping to get moments of peace to do his homework. He did get some of it before his door was slammed open, but of course, that meant it was done.

"Why did I get a call saying that you got into a fight?"

Taehyun twirled his pen between his fingers before turning to face him. "It wasn't my fault."

"It's never your fault, right?"

No.

"I'm sorry..."

The man rolled his eyes and walked over to grab the pen from Taehyun's hand. "You don't have your phone or notes out or anything. What is all this work on the paper? Did you memorize all of it?" Venom laced his tone and Taehyun nodded a little bit, gasping when his pen was roughly thrown across the room. "I thought you were done with all this science bullshit Taehyun!"

It wasn't about the fact that he was trying to fix his life and do good in school for once. It was the fact that he wanted to be a doctor that somehow made his father disappointed in him.

"You only say that because you think that I can't do it..." he mumbled, staring into the man's cold eyes.

He loved his dad. He truly did. But the alcohol just fucked everything up.

"Kang Taehyun." Taehyun didn't flinch when his name was said, nor did he flinch when his face was roughly grabbed. He was used to it. "Make me dinner to calm my nerves before I beat your ass."

He walked out and Taehyun stared at his homework for a second before following him. There was only enough food for one person, he realized. But going to bed hungry was better than getting hit.

"Here you go," Taehyun said, handing the plate to him. "I'm sorry."

His dad looked up at him while eating and shrugged. "For what?"

"Getting into a fight and then giving you attitude. I was out of line."

He nodded and Taehyun walked back to his room, thankful that his dad was in a good mood. After a little bit, it was nighttime and he decided to leave. Sometimes he went into the woods to sit by a lake with a waterfall, as soft as it sounded.

He liked listening to the water while he thought about everything.

When he got there though, he already saw someone sitting on the rocky ground writing something in a journal. The person quickly turned around when he heard footsteps and Taehyun's eyes widened when he saw that it was Beomgyu.

"What are you doing in the woods all alone?" He asked, sitting next to the brunette.

"I should ask you the same question. Don't sneak up on people like that. It's scary."

Taehyun apologized and looked at the water as Beomgyu continued writing. "How'd you find this place?"

"I saw it on Google Maps and decided to drive up here. It says it's usually vacant."

"Yeah. That's why I come here."

He laid back on the ground with his arms behind his head and Beomgyu looked at him. "Why do you come here?" He set his book down and also laid down, obviously uncomfortable from the rocks. Taehyun noticed and took his leather jacket off to lay under Beomgyu's head, making him smile.

"I just come here to think." He looked up at the stars and Beomgyu looked at his arms that were behind his head, seeing bruises and scratches all over them. "A lot goes on in my life. And I know that it's not an excuse to do the things I do." He turned his head to face Beomgyu, seeing that the boy was already laying on his side to stare at him. "Please don't be afraid of me, okay?"

Beomgyu furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Everybody will tell you to stay away from me. That I'll hurt you emotionally or physically. But I can see that you're not like the rest of them. Even if I wanted to fight you, I wouldn't because of how fragile you are. The moment I saw you, I promised myself that I would never hurt you like I do other people."

Beomgyu's lip quivered. He didn't know why. He barely knew Taehyun. "Why do you hurt other people?"

"I had a very violent upbringing." Taehyun shook his head. "It's still happening, and it makes me really frustrated. The frustration leads to me letting my anger out on other people sometimes. But understand that they always start it. Sometimes it's verbally and I'm the one who throws the first punch, but it's always the other person who starts the argument."

Beomgyu was smart enough to now know that it wasn't solely Taehyun's fault. It was whatever was happening to him that was making him do these things. Taehyun looked back up at the sky and Beomgyu rolled over to hug him.

You can call it weird or way too early, but the way Taehyun let out a shaky sigh when it happened let Beomgyu know that he needed a hug. He didn't get affection from people at school, and he apparently wasn't getting it outside of school either.

"I'm here because I needed a peaceful place to write," Beomgyu said, grabbing his journal and laying back down still cuddled into Taehyun's side. "Can I read to you what I wrote about my day?"

"Sure."

Beomgyu smiled and opened to the page. "When I first got to school, I met Kai. He's really sweet, and he held my hand and it made me shy. Then I met Yeonjun. He's also sweet, but I only got to say hi when I first met him. I couldn't find my science class so I requested the help of a student named Hyunwoo. Everyone says he's bad, but he's really nice to me, so I trust him. While we were walking to science, I witnessed two students fighting. I found out one of them is named Kang Taehyun. He made eye contact with me and I felt like I saw a lot of things in his eyes. Before I entered the science room, Hyunwoo kissed me. Partially on my lips, and partially on my cheek. I blushed nonetheless. I had science with Taehyun. Since we sat next to each other, his arm kept bumping into mine. He also warned me about Hyunwoo, but I still don't know who to believe." He put the book down. "That's all I have so far."

"He kissed you?" Taehyun asked.

Beomgyu nodded. "But it's okay. Even later, he was acting really touchy with me but nothing happened."

Taehyun sat up and looked at him for a moment. "He touched you?"

"In a friendly way."

"How?"

"He just like..." Beomgyu shrugged. "Put his hand on my waist and touched my neck. That's all."

Taehyun sighed. "That's all? Who do you know that touches their friends like that?"

"Hyunwoo..."

Again, Taehyun sighed. He walked Beomgyu back to his car even though it was far from his own house and stood by the window. "Thank you for talking to me."

Beomgyu nodded. "Anytime." He smiled and said goodbye before driving off.

Taehyun watched his car disappear and bit his lip with a small smile. "He's so kind," he whispered before starting the long walk back to his house.