𝗺𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺.

⠀ were

you know, they say that time flies when you're having fun and drags when you want to be somewhere else. but maybe taehyung is different.

maybe the fact that his dreams keep him awake and his life keeps him asleep threw off the clock in his brain that keeps everybody else on the same timeline, because everything's a blur when he's waiting for the day to come around again where he gets to meet jeongguk.

it moves fast and it's all irrelevant and he doesn't remember any of it. he doesn't remember the drag of the moments before sleep, nor the waking up that ensues another day of placing books back in their slots and finding resources for students to help them study shakespeare.

after he'd left school and gotten a job things had moved quicker, of course, but working in a book store was just something to fill in the gaps until he had something fun to do again. but all of his friends moved away, went to college, or got into relationships, and he still had his head in the clouds, growing tireder and tireder.

his mother worries a lot, but it's never phased him. she's been a worrier ever since his father passed. she tries not to mention his lack of sociability nowadays, but sometimes you just can't help wondering when it is that your son will move out or introduce a friend or mention a possible girlfriend.

but he's only twenty, she'd conclude to herself with a sigh. he still has time to grow up and meet people.

regardless, it's been four years of taehyung leaving through his window at midnight each july the seventh and with every visit he's become more sure that these moments are worth the life he's given up in exchange.

every worry melts away when he's in the presence of his angel boy.

"hello, jeongguk. i brought you a daffodil," taehyung slumps down against the grass as though it were a soft mattress and he hadn't slept in months, breathing only beginning to slow down once jeongguk lays supine beside him, taking the flower into his porcelain grip.

"i counted the stars as i waited for you tonight, taehyung," jeongguk offers in a quiet, dulcet mumble, words muffled further by the flower in front of his lips. "i got to thirty five before i heard you in the woods, and then i was too excited to continue and lost my place."

"perhaps it's good that i stopped you. if you counted all of the ones you could see there'd still be hundreds hidden away," the other speaks slowly, a small smile growing on the corners of his mouth at the thought of jeongguk being too excited to concentrate because of him. "you hold a million of them in your eyes, you know, jeongguk. it's impossible for you to be able to count them when you hide them all away."

jeongguk only laughs, dragging his eyes down to the curl of taehyung's lips in the centre of their own little universe. "how could you know if you didn't count them?"

"i chose to believe that a fairytale was real when everyone told me otherwise. if i didn't trust my own judgement then us two would never have met. if my heart tells me that a million stars reside within your eyes, then that must be so."

"i like when you call me a fairytale," jeongguk murmurs with a shy smile. "it makes me feel special."

"how could you think that you're any less?" and taehyung's question is righteous; sets an inferno of colours onto the canvas of jeongguk's cheeks because it's so nice to be looked at in this manner.

"sit up and talk to me, please. i like when we're face to face."

taehyung, of course, is fond of this request, much preferring to look at the boy he's so hellbent on seeing (counting down the days from 364 to 2 with the excitement of a child on christmas) in the eye so he can better remember it all later. he wishes he'd taken more care in sitting up, however, as he feels light-headed as he does so from moving too quickly.

"hasn't the dizziness gone yet?" jeongguk asks, rubbing the petals of the daffodil across his cheek as he tends to do recently since he discovered that the silken texture feels so nice against his skin.

"i didn't know that i was coming to see my doctor," the human replies with a slight wince as he waits for the dissociation of his brain to subside.

it's only minor, if he's honest. lately he's been suffering much longer periods of these dizzy spells, but he's quite sure that they're down to not drinking enough water or sleeping on time.

"well maybe that'd be more useful than coming here," jeongguk insists with a playful smile, words cautioning as though he could possibly take any control over the way the human acts when he isn't around.

"i promise i'm fine, jeongguk," taehyung says. "i just haven't eaten much today, is all. i've been a bit busy. but i wouldn't ever worry you like this if there was actually an issue; i only want to make you happy."

"you do, taehyung," the angel sits up and notes the way that the darkness beneath taehyung's eyes looks more prominent today, as though the strain of opening them isn't so good in the way of ease. as though having them shut is much more beneficial for his body. "you always make me feel happy when i see you, and i'd like to keep it that way, so please eat and sleep so you can come back here forever."

taehyung laughs softly. "i'll hang on to every last ounce of might in my body if it means i'll get to be beside you every year on this night. you are my strength, after all."