Your Eyes Tell

Your Eyes Tell : Frozen

Over the course of Taehyung's long life, he had experienced more than the average person. Of course, that was to be expected when for the last 100 or so years he'd been unchanging at 29.

He wasn't a vampire, or some other kind of mythological being. There was nothing like that about him. He was, and always had been, human. It was just that for some reason he... stopped. He stopped ageing, frozen in time, while his friends and family all grew older and older, and he had no idea why.

It became dangerous in his forty-second year of life, when he'd run into an old college pal who'd been shocked and visibly scared by his youthful appearance, questioning him about how it was possible, and Taehyung was confronted with the reality he'd been ignoring: this was not normal - he was not normal.

Soon after, a minor traffic infraction that required showing his identification alerted the authorities to his unusual state. It was the first time he'd felt true fear. That same day, he had run, and for the first time he'd been grateful he had no family left to leave behind. He packed up his little house in the suburbs, arranged for it to be put on the market over the phone, and moved to a small city a few hours away.

He took a job in a medical college and spent his nights researching for anything that might explain why he had stopped, but after three years he was forced to admit that there was no explanation to find. He was an anomaly.

The authorities found him again there, and almost succeeded in taking him away for what they claimed was questioning - but he knew what it would be: experimentation. Terrified, he escaped the car when they left him inside to get themselves coffee, and once again, Taehyung was on the run.

He couldn't allow himself to be found, to become a specimen. So he made a plan: every decade, he would take on a new identity, change his appearance, move, and most importantly: never speak of his condition to anyone. Ever.

In 100 years, Taehyung had slipped up only twice. The first time was in the 70's, in France. The second, only six years ago in a moment of weakness and extreme loneliness. But he was now relieved that he had let his guard down, because he'd found a great friend and confidant in the form of the ever-beguiling and fun, Jimin Park.

But in three months, he would move again and Jimin, unfortunately, could not come with him. Though he had forced Taehyung into promising to keep in touch over email. A risk that Taehyung was reluctant but also desperate enough to take since pay phones had become almost obsolete and almost completely disappeared.

His current identity, Cole Mattise of San Francisco, would disappear forever and become a footnote in the pages of his long, lonely history.

He would become Henry Choi of Eugene, Oregon.

At least, that was the plan.

*

"I'm not taking no for an answer. You're coming out tonight, and that's final."

Taehyung smiled down the phone, rolling his eyes fondly at the insistence of his best friend.

"I'm far too old for another New Years Eve party, Jimin," Taehyung answered him.

"Don't give me that," Jimin huffed. "For starters, it's your birthday and it's New Years. Double the reason to celebrate. Also, it's also probably the last time we can go out and celebrate them both together - for a while, at least."

Taehyung heard the sadness in Jimin's voice and his heart clenched.

"You're so cruel, guilting me like that," he whined teasingly, trying to lift the mood. "Ah, why did I become friends with such a cruel person."