The Meaning of Family: The Collections

Goodbyes

Request:
"Could you do some more chapters regarding those ones? I mean further interactions with their biological parents, how Tae is getting with his father"

Notes:
So much angst

Ages of the Characters:
Tae's Bio Father - 50
Jin - 43
Namjoon - 42
Yoongi - 26
Hoseok - 25
Jimin - 23
Taehyung - 23
Kortni - 22
Jungkook - 21
Austin - 4
Caleb - 2

Taehyung paused in the doorway before the man lying in the hospital bed saw him, his heart tugging at the sight of him looking as if he were already knocking at death's door. He took a deep breath to compose himself before forcing a smile on his face. "Hey, Oliver." He greeted, and his biological father turned to look at him, smiling brightly at him.

"Well, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

The 23-year-old shrugged slightly. "I'm on spring break from school, thought I'd come visit while I'm in town." He moved to sit in the chair next to Oliver's bed. "How are you feeling?"

Oliver shrugged. "I'm still alive." Taehyung forced a small laugh at that, knowing that's what the man wanted to hear. "Doc still hasn't found me a new liver, but he's not giving up yet. How are you doing? You're still in school? I thought you were supposed to graduate last year."

"I did, but I started OT school this semester." Taehyung explained. "I'm acing all my classes, so if I keep that up, I'll be a fully certified occupational therapist in two years."

His biological father's lips quirked in a proud smile. "That's amazing." Taehyung quietly thanked him. "And how are those boys of yours?"

"They're doing really well." Taehyung said, smiling as he always did whenever he talked about his sons. "Austin's four now and has started writing his name and is starting to recognize some words, and Caleb just turned two and..." He let out a breath, shaking his head slightly. "If I was anything like him at that age..." Oliver let out a laugh before wincing in pain. "You're looking good." Taehyung said, although that was a lie. He looked millions of times worse than he had when he'd visited during Christmas time, back when he was still at home and not stuck in the hospital.

"I appreciate the lie." Oliver responded.

Taehyung spent a good hour visiting with him before heading home, putting on a bright, happy façade for his family until he was able to steal Kortni away to talk through his feelings in private. "It's just...so hard to see him like that." He said with his head in her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair. "It hurts, knowing that I'm about to lose him a second time, but I'm also...angry. So angry at him, because it's his own fault that his liver is shot." Kortni hummed, but otherwise stayed quiet as she knew Taehyung liked to just talk to himself to work through his emotions rather than have someone else try to do it. "Part of me regrets ever even keeping in touch with him over the past ten years."

After a stretch of silence from him, Kortni finally asked, "And the other part?"

The 23-year-old bit his lip before responding. "The other part is glad that I did, because at least I got to know him beyond the alcoholic. Not very many people get that chance."

He felt quiet again, just simmering in his amalgamation of conflicting emotions. "It's completely normal to feel how you feel." Kortni whispered. "It's okay to embrace everything you're feeling. You don't have to try to suppress one or the other just because you think you have to feel one over the other."

"I know." Taehyung mumbled, turning his head to press a soft kiss to her thigh. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you."

"I don't know either." Taehyung playfully pinched her before sitting to press his lips to hers.

They had just put the boys to bed for the night and were about to partake in a 'adults only' game night with his family when his phone started ringing with the recognizable number of the hospital. He already knew exactly what that phone call would entail before he even answered it. "Hello?"

"May we speak to Taehyung Kim?" Taehyung confirmed that it was him. "I'm sorry to inform you that Oliver Kim passed away 10 minutes ago..." Taehyung wasn't fully sure what else the woman on the other end said, robotically giving out generic responses until it was appropriate to hang up.

"Everything okay?" Seokjin asked when he entered the living room, obviously seeing the expression on his face.

"That was the hospital." He told them. "Oliver died."

At first, no one said anything, not sure what kind of reaction Taehyung would have preferred from them. But then Taehyung started crying, no longer able to hold the tears back, and it didn't take long for everyone to encompass him in a comforting hug.