♔ Royal Pain ♔ → kth | jjk

XXIV

The next two days were complete and utter agony for Taehyung. 

He knew Jeongguk had to find out sooner or later, but he dreaded that moment more than anything. He was afraid. 

So he kept putting it off, insisting they go out and do things to distract himself from the impending bomb that would drop on Jeongguk in a matter of days. 

That's how he ended up where he was, now. On horseback, clutching the reigns tightly in his fists as his horse continued on in a steady trot while Jeongguk zoomed by, laughing and hollering taunts at Taehyung. 

The two had decided to race across the fields, seeing who could make it to the river the fastest, who could jump over it first, who could go the fastest overall... Just random things. 

Unlike Jeongguk, Taehyung had taken lessons as a child. He knew the ins and outs of riding horseback, and yet here he was falling terribly behind while Jeongguk ran literal circles around him. 

"C'mon, slowpoke! You call that riding?" Jeongguk teased, slowing down his horse to a trot alongside him. "What happened to the feisty Taehyung from an hour ago? You suggested this after all."

Taehyung forced a smile. "Still here." He ignored the dull ache in his chest as he forced a larger taunting grin before giving his horse a commanding nudge with the inside of his heels. 

The horse took off almost immediately, leaving Jeongguk in the dust. Taehyung lifted himself from the saddle and crouched forward to keep himself steady, as he was taught to do.  

"You fucker!" Jeongguk laughed after him, nudging his horse into a bolting gallop as well, almost catching up. Almost. 

Taehyung was too skilled to let him win. 

He leaned in a bit more, narrowing his eyes with his gaze fixed on the horizon. "You ready for this, bud?" He murmured to his horse companion, eyeing the steady rush of water that was quickly approaching. 

There was a bridge. 

But Taehyung was too good for that. 

He timed it perfectly, waiting until the last moment to aid his horse in the leap by raising his hips with the movement. 

The landing was perfect and smooth, just as it always was for Taehyung. Jeongguk, on the other, had some difficulty with it. His feet weren't securely in the stirrups and his body came down onto the saddle before the horse came down, resulting in some bumpiness that was enough to jolt Jeongguk off the horses back. 

Taehyung turned around when he heard the grunt, laughing when he saw Jeongguk stumble back to his feet to grab the horses reigns before it could wander off. 

"It's not funny." Jeongguk grumbled, but he was smiling nonetheless, chest rising and falling with heavy breathing. 

"Sure it's not. You okay?" Taehyung moved over to them and hopped off of his horse. 

Jeongguk nodded and brushed his jeans off with his free hand. "Yeah, I'm fine." He flashed Taehyung his award-winning cocky-ass smile that just screamed 'I'm invincible, duh.'

On any normal day, Taehyung would slap him and laugh with him. Maybe he'd play along and coo at how cute he was being. 

But today wasn't a normal day.

Today was Saturday. That meant tomorrow was Sunday. That meant today was his final day in the Jeon's residence. 

His last day with Jeongguk, possibly ever. 

His smile faded and he averted his gaze to the horse, tenderly petting it's muzzle. Taehyung feared that if he looked at Jeongguk too long he would lose himself, in more ways than one. He feared he lose his composure and his heart all in one. 

"Tae?"

Taehyung tried not to visibly wince. 

"Taehyung, are you okay?"

Taehyung turned back around and forced a painfully tight smile. "I'm fine, Ggukie." He forced out a quiet chuckle, but it trailed off, making it obvious that he was trying to convince himself of it as well. He thought that if he denied it enough times, it would all just go away and things would be okay. 

Jeongguk stared at him, worry flooding into his eyes. "Tae..."

"I'm alright! Really." Taehyung insisted, not paying any mind to the forming lump in the base of his throat and the stinging in his eyes. 

"You aren't. I can tell."

Taehyung managed another smile, but it looked incredibly pitiful with beads of hot tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes as he began to involuntarily sniffle back as much as he could. "I'm okay, I promise..." He reached his free hand up to wipe his eyes and felt the warmth that soaked his riding glove. 

Shit. 

Well what was the point now?

Exactly, there wasn't one.

And so... he broke. He let his walls crumble right then and there, collapsing and exposing everything he had been trying to conceal for the past 48 hours. 

Jeongguk's facial expression became that of alarm and concern as he quickly tied both horses reigns to the post at the end of the rivers bridge, before grabbing Taehyung. He pulled him into his arms and forced him to look at him. 

"Tae. Tae, look at me."

Taehyung reluctantly opened his eyes, pursing his lips into a tight line. 

"What's wrong? What happened?" He panicked, trying to calm him by brushing his fingers through his hair. That didn't help at all. 

Actually, it made it worse. Taehyung began to cry harder. 

Jeongguk stared, unsure of what else he should do. "Taehyung. Talk to me, please." He begged quietly. 

Taehyung burrowed his face into Jeongguk's shoulder, squeezing his eyes shut.
"I don't want to leave you, Ggukie..." He wailed, grabbing a fistful of Jeongguk's shirt. "I'm going to miss you so, so, so much."

And that was the first time that Jeongguk had felt his heart simultaneously stop and race at the same time. 

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