ATEEZ Oneshots

K.Y.S || Gratitude

      Talia had awoken from her sleep multiple times that night; the first time was when Yeosang finally came to bed, the second was when she heard his fingers typing away at the keyboard of his laptop (probably answering a client on the mental health hotline he worked at), and the third time was now when he suddenly called out for her.

       "Hmm?" Talia hummed out, half-awake half-asleep as she attempted to look over her shoulder. "Is something up?" she slurred out with her eyelids almost shut.

      "Uh," Yeosang began nervously, "uh, I-um..."

      Talia tried to shake the dizziness away before sitting up properly to take a good look at the man who was sat beside her. "Can't sleep?"

      Yeosang halted for a second, not realizing that this was true, but it wasn't what he woke her up for. "Not really, I haven't tried to yet, anyway," he whispered as he chewed on the inside of his cheek.

      "Then what's up?" Talia asked as her eyes blinked slowly despite her trying to sound awake and cheerful.

        "Um, well, it isn't something serious, so if you want to go back to sleep just go ahead, I thought you were awake since you were shuffling around, that's all," Yeosang blurted out as he scratched the back of his neck.

     Talia immediately shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "No, it's fine, I'm awake now, tell me."

     "I mean it isn't something serious, but I‐" he halted as a certain chill overcame him once he verbalized his words. "Do you remember my high school graduation?"

      The memory brought a fond smile to Talia's lips as she nodded, "yeah, I do," she yawned,"What about it?"

      "I-I know it's been a while, but that day, I-" Yeosang paused as he caught his hitching breath, Talia noticed from the dim light of the bedside lamp how his lips were itching into a subtle frown. "It really did not hit me much then, but I-I was really grateful you attended it when my parents didn't. I remember looking through the audience wanting to see any familiar face, and when I saw you there, it made me feel—celebrated." He looked down at his fingers as he continued on, "it was then that I realized I was really a person," he scoffed at the word himself as a tear rolled down his check, " I was alive, and existing as everyone else is. If you could see me," he looked up at her as his nails scratched against the skin around his fingers, "then everyone could, I guess. I was a valedictorian yet the achievement didn't hit me until I was able to have you look at me on stage that day as I gave my speech. It made all the struggles worth it."

      "Yeosang-ah?" Talia called out, confused as to from where all of this was coming out. She shuffled to come closer to him and place a hand on his back, but he quickly wiped away his tears and smiled.

      "I just don't think I've ever thanked you for it properly when it was something that meant so much to me," he told her, and before he could take a breath after finishing the sentence, Talia's arms were tightly wrapped around his neck as she brought her body to his. With a chuckle, he hugged her back.

      "It's not something you should thank me for, of course I would show up, baby," she sighed, her throat constricting as tears filled her eyes too.

      "Hm," Yeosang absorbed the weight of her words as he pulled her closer, "but you didn't have to; my own parents didn't attend, but you did, and you bought me flowers. You didn't have to."

     "I didn't have to, but I wanted to, and I was honored to be there for you; it made me feel special, too, you know," she told him.

      Talia was always like that; she was always a person who never makes anyone around her feel like a burden  and for someond like Yeosang who always felt like one, she was the perfect complement.

      "I love you, you know," Yeosang suddenly said.

      Talia giggled through the tears in her eyes, "yes, I know, we are married, so no shit." Her words made him laugh, too. "I love you too, you know?" Her reply left a shy smile on his lips.

       They bathed in silence for a moment, and Talia almost went back to sleep in the comfort of his arms, but she forced herself to stay awake to ask one more question. "What brought this up, Love?" she asked as she fought away the drowsiness.

       "Nothing much," he began lightly, "I was working, and one of my clients was a high school girl, too, and she was telling me the situation with her parents so I went about asking her questions to check some boxes cause I felt from her words that they had some narcissistic behaviour, one of the traits of narcissistic parents is that, they-um, like never show up to important events in your life, and it isn't my first time knowing this, but it just hit me so harshly for this time."
 
      Talia turned to look up at him from where her head rested on his shoulder. Her fingers rose up to wipe away the tears on his cheeks making him look down at her. She smiled before raising her head only to peck his cheek gently.

       "Yeosang, they missed out on being there for you, they are the ones who should be crying," she muttered softly as her hand cupped his cheek. "You were such a brilliant student, and now you are an even more brilliant counselor. You built all of this for yourself, on your own." She tucked away a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. "You mean so much to so many people, and you mean the world to me," she said as she looked into his glassy eyes only for him to break the eye contact to wipe away his tears.

       "I'm sorry," he let out between huffs as he wiped at his tears; her words always had a way of piercing straight through the most delicate wounds in his heart. Talia tugged him back towards her as she smiled.

        "You don't need to apologize," she chuckled as she hugged him, and he hummed a response as he nestled into her embrace.

       "I know it sounds petty, but I don't want to attend my parents' retirement party," Yeosang informed light-heartedly through his silent sobs.

      "It's not petty," Talia responded as she leaned her head against his, "it's Hammurabi; an eye for an eye."

       "You make it sound worse," Yeosang laughed back after a moment of processing her words.

       "What? You should always be reminded I minored in History," she nagged making him laugh harder as he pulled away.

      "Sorry for waking you up over this," he apologized as he wiped away his tears.

       "Yeah, honestly you owe me breakfast in bed tomorrow or something." Talia rolled her eyes, but an uncontrollable giggle ruined her facade.

      "Never, no food on the bed, nothing can change that rule," Yeosang stated making Talia roll her eyes again.

       "Fine, mister OCD, I'm going back to sleep," she huffed as she shuffled her way across from him making him laugh as he watched her wiggle around in the sheets to get to her side of the bed.

       "It isn't OCD, it's hygiene," he corrected and watched as she threw a glare his way mid-wiggling. "What? You should always be reminded I majored in Psychology."

       "Alright, mister hygiene," Talia spoke feigning bitterness before opening her arms, "come here, let's catch some sleep before sunrise."

      Yeosang smiled before making his way to her, and pulling her to his chest.

       "Good night," she muttered with her eyes closed, already welcoming sleep.

       "Good night, baby," he replied with an underlying chuckle as he pecked the crown of her head.

I wrote this around a month ago and realized I should post it as I haven't posted in a while.

Hopefully I'll upload more often (no promises though, I'm a big fat liar).