Made for Min | SOPE

thirty four | "if the fates deem it so, not even the gods could get in the way"

There'd been whispers.

They spread far and wide, almost inaudible but they were whispers, ones that found themselves plaguing Seokjin's ear far more than he wished. Broken twigs and creaking branches, giggling amongst each other as if they knew something that Seokjin didn't. It had been fine the first couple of weeks but after a while, Seokjin felt himself losing the little control he had over the terrain. He was grasping at strings thinner than those the spiders made, and he felt as if one small, delicate move would snap them.

Hoseok hadn't stopped bothering him. If anything, he was more persistent now, telling Seokjin he was running out of time. But what time exactly? Seokjin had all the time in the world. If anything, he had an almost limitless supply. Artemis had told him that as long as he held the reigns, he would continue to live. The blood of the Gods was something that granted him reduced aging, and all he had to do was remain in Artemis's good graces.

"It's like you don't love me anymore."

Seokjin ignored Hoseok's words, though that did nothing to stop the immediate dagger at the heart. He chided himself for still letting himself get hurt over Hoseok's words, as it had been the only true constant in his life. Hoseok's constant hatred, the corn, the venom, like he despised every cell in Seokjin's skin, every breathe that passed through his lungs. It was excruciating. All Seokjin wanted to hear was the words he'd heard from Hoseok before. The words of love, the side of Hoseok he had murdered. He did everything to appease Hoseok, to no avail. Nothing seemed to satisfy Hoseok.

How could it?

This wasn't his Hoseok.

"I'll never be him," Hoseok smiled snidely, jabbing a finger at Seokjin's chest. "He's gone. All I am is what you will never have."

"There have been talks of Hoseok," Seokjin responded, voice wavering at the change of expression on Hoseok's face. "Of you. That they've seen you running around, like one of them."

If Hoseok knew anything, he didn't show it.

"If I were alive, my lovely Seokjin," his voice dripped with venom. "You would not see me standing here, shadowing you. I would not be creeping on your every thought, every heartbeat, and I most certainly would not be within your eyesight. Look at me, Seokjin. Touch me. Aren't I real?"

Seokjin turned to look at Hoseok. He turned to see the dead, dull eyes staring back at him paired seamlessly with contempt. His lips were blue, skin pale, and hair devoid of life, but he looked alive just the same. The wound Seokjin had inflicted on him was visible, though no blood came out of it. He was still wearing the clothes he'd last worn before his death. Slowly, Seokjin brought his hand up to Hoseok's cheek, breath sharp as his hand touched cold, clammy skin that suddenly seemed so warm to Seokjin.

His eyes watered with tears. Hoseok's lips pulled into a smile that Seokjin knew would never reach his eyes, and he leaned into Seokjin's touch, letting his free hand run along Seokjin's face. It felt so real, it always did, that it was difficult for Seokjin to remind himself that he'd made it up. It was so much easier pretending that it was real. Eventually, his will to remember Hoseok wasn't real eroded, though Seokjin couldn't remember exactly when, but it helped him all the same.

"You are real to me," Seokjin smiled through tears. His heart hurt, beating frantically in his chest, and tears slipped. He wanted, no needed, it to be Hoseok so badly. The guilt that had been tearing at him since Hoseok had died never left his mind. Not even Artemis could relieve him of the stress, much less Micah, who'd conveniently settled into the post-ruler life.

"I would never be one of them, my love," Hoseok said, the words etching themselves into Seokjin's reality. "They are the one thing you fought for me. If I turned into one of them, all your sacrifices to me would have been in vain. Your mission would be in vain. You saved me from them."