Taekook Oneshots

Toy Soldiers

(A/n: two things very quickly. First, I've got a new book out. It's just the intro, but it's called 'little things' and is based off of the oneshot in this book. I decided to make it interactive as well.

Second, there's some pretty angsty themes in this - so anyone who could be triggered by the idea of soldiers or of people going missing during conflict should be careful. I love you all and I don't want to actually harm any of you through my work.

Izzy)

The silence is what hurts the most.

They're sitting there, hand in hand as always, next to each other as always, but something seems to have changed between them. Even they don't know what's wrong, what happened to turn their normal loving teasing into complete and utter silence. Even they don't understand why they feel so numb, why the air seems tense between them.

Taehyung takes a deep breath, closes his eyes. Opens them. As if that very action can take him away from this nightmare.

"Missing in action."

Why does it have to be so unspecific? The pain of not really knowing what's going on is almost worse than the pain he'd feel if his husband was just outright dead. Why would they even tell him something like this? He has a child to raise, a business to run. He has a life to live.

What gives them the right to break all of that down with three words?

Just as his husband had built it all up with three words, that triad of groups of letters, meaningless if you ignore the meaning, was shattering him into pieces.

But he can't break down. No. Not when his daughter is sitting beside him, trying to understand what was going on herself. Trying to translate a set of three words that nobody ever wants to hear. Trying to comprehend the concept of a life without her other father.

They're in a stuffy office, sitting opposite a man that's never been out on that front line, with only a mahogany desk to separate them. Taehyung wonders for a moment (with a faint bemusement) if that desk is only there to protect that man from being attacked by grieving relatives. Or if it's there to protect him from the sheer pain of loss.

Maybe that way he won't have to see them so upset.

But surely that wouldn't work? It's impossible to ignore human suffering, no matter what form it comes in.

This, Taehyung concludes, must be the most difficult job in the world.

"Mr Jeon? Are you okay?" the man says, sympathetically, and Taehyung's fist clenches, the one that isn't holding his daughter's hand that is. He would never want to hurt her.

"Not particularly, were you expecting me to be?" he manages to ask, his voice surprisingly level and calm. "I may be a homosexual, which to some of you is a sin, but I do have emotions. And I do love my husband."
"Mr Jeon-"
"Don't give me any of your sympathy, sir, I don't need sympathy. I want an explanation. What happened?"

"An expedition, bomb exploded under his vehicle," the man says, his voice oily and unpleasant to Taehyung's unwilling ears, "everyone else was discovered dead. His body was the only one that somehow wasn't there."
"How long ago?" Taehyung asks, his voice beginning to shake. "How long did you wait to tell me this?"

"Only four hours, Mr Jeon. We had to search the area safely first, before we could give any information to family members. He could be alive, but it is unlikely. If he is found, dead or alive, we will tell you immediately. I promise you that."

Taehyung closes his eyes again, takes a deep breath. Opens them again. "Thank you for telling me. My daughter and I must be going now. Have a good day. I hope you are able to give some good news to someone today, as well as bad news."
"Mr Jeon-" the baffled man begins, standing up. Taehyung fixes him with a glare.