1994.

29. GLORY DAYS

GLORY
DAYS

                            THE SOLACE THAT raesun felt that afternoon had buried itself in her bones when jeongguk and his company walked through the door, unscathed and quite happy with themselves. as they settled in the living room, raesun immediately found herself in her lover's arms and glass of wine in hand. she had tried to keep track of the conversation the rest of her friends were having but her mind always trailed back to jeongguk's embrace and his occasional neck kisses, or his deep laughter and lips wrapped around a beer bottle's rim.

"hey guys, look what i found," a cheerful hoseok grinned when entering the room, a bottle of bacardi and a few vhs tapes in his grip, "some tapes of our golden times!"

yoongi rolled his eyes, "oh christ, do we really need to—"

"yes, yoongs, we do," jimin raised a brow at the older male, who shook his head and pulled the giggly blonde closer to him, "it's important to look back on the glory days, don't you think?"

"i've only got three but they're kinda long, so get comfy kids," hoseok placed his bacardi on the coffee table and got right to slotting in the tape, "remember when i used to walk round with my video camera? i was recording shit to look back on when i'm old, weak, with loads of kids, and a super model for a wife."

everyone laughed (apart from yoongi, simply rolling his eyes), and snuggled up with their partners on the two couches. mijin didn't feel like third wheeling anyone so she sat next to hoseok on the floor, opening the alcohol before the owner could take the first sip.

the first tape showed a young jeongguk sprinting towards the camera, with rosy cheeks and a film of sweat covering his forehead. his arms carried paintbrushes, acrylic paints and a palette: raesun remembered yoongi telling her that he had stolen art supplies in an attempt to change himself, to out a distance between him and trouble.

a younger jin, through crackling audio, laughed in the background, "yo, don't tell me i distracted the cops for you to steal some art and craft shit!"

jeongguk grinned though out of breath, "hey i'm gonna need a start to my artist career," he shrugged, glancing at yoongi when his arm wrapped around his shoulders.

the camera turned to jimin, who happened to have tangerine hair, "oh fuck, i can see you being some big shot in paris now. imagine him with a beret — oui oui gukkie!"

hoseok's laugh in the video was heard over everyone else's, even jin's, and the sound proved that though they were all going through a rough patch, they were happy. truly happy.

the present jimin giggled again, "and to think you were only fourteen when you stole all that stuff."

"yeah, where's your creative flair gone to jeongguk?" hoseok spoke from the floor, a spark to his eyes that suggested he was already drunk.

"between rae's legs?" yoongi suggested with a chuckle; both jeongguk and namjoon punched him in either arm whilst avoiding an amused jimin by his side, "fucking hell, i was joking!"

jeongguk returned to his previous position as he smiled, tracing star shaped patterns on raesun's leg, "i don't have the time to paint anymore. besides, it'd all be the same depressive shit."

raesun took a gentle hold of his hand, only just noticing that as they were watching the tape he lit a cigarette. she studied him through marlboro smoke to see an endless summer in his stare. there was something about the sweet season in his eyes that made her believe, just for that moment, he'd be okay in the end — the dark present will go by and sunshine will douse their love once more.

after all, she had nothing but hope left. hope for jeongguk to return to the way he was.

the tape continued and hoseok was constantly laughing at the memories, slapping mijin's leg as a habit. raesun studied all her friends around her and realised that it really must've been a good time without her. the honey boy beside her would be painting in peace, with liberty dancing with his tainted soul; her saccharine self would be living in a completely different galaxy, a galaxy seemingly beautiful but twisted on the inside.

jeongguk could probably sense the havoc ensued upon his lover — his lips pressed against hers as soft as ever, fingers hooked around her chin to tilt her towards his affection. the heat blossomed like wildflowers in summer, burning an everlasting heat like suns and stars alike, and she cursed the way she allowed such a thing to happen in front of her brother and their friends.

"come on guys, we best leave the love birds to it," jin had said, but the words bounced around in raesun's mind as her boyfriend swiped an eager tongue across her bottom lip.

"i want no further than kissing while i'm here muscle pig!" namjoon jokingly shouted at an occupied jeongguk, everyone laughing to themselves whilst they shuffled out the room (more than likely going to get the alcohol and drugs yoongi and hoseok provided).

kissing him again felt like she was back in her polished heels and stepping into freedom for the first time, tasting the cheap beer with the tinge of cigarette smoke. she felt rough hands softly drop down to the dip of her waist and grip her t–shirt in passion, a whole euphoric fantasy behind closed eyelids.

just as she swung her leg over his lap to straddle him, an empty beer bottle was knocked over to only end the kiss in laughter, a slow end that came much too soon. she leaned back in her new position to rake back fading red locks, jeongguk helping out whilst chuckling away.

"sorry," he spoke through a grin, a slight dimple to his tanning cheeks, "i just wanted to kiss you — you looked kinda sad."

"well thank you," she giggled; to only notice a certain nickname inked on the side of his neck, "oh my god! what is that?!"

jeongguk's eyes widened in panic, "what? what's what?" hands of his then took hold of her arms in a move to protect her, alarm clear in his face.

though his worried state was funny, and she laughed at that, raesun tilted his head to the side to study the word 'sweetheart' in cursive, his body relaxing under hers, "how did i not see this?!" with a glance at his face and noticing his growing smirk, she looked back at the tattoo to try and comprehend what emotion she should've been feeling: perhaps she should've scolded him for getting such a thing tattooed, since it was permanent, but flattery took over and she couldn't help but swell with love.

"it's for you," he whispered, playing with the material of her (his) shirt.

raesun took a moment before smiling, kissing him again while doing so. it wasn't as long–lived as the last, but it showed her gratitude, one hand of hers cupping the tattooed side of his neck and the other stroking a thumb over the scar his cheek held.

they parted mouths to connect their foreheads, heavy breaths mingling as a warmth washed over the pair, "please don't let this be some kind of dream," he whispered against her lips, her eyes staring at the swollen rosebuds.

"it's not," she mumbled, giving him a small peck, "i promise you, i won't ever leave again."

— 雨 —

forgive me if there's any typos lmao

starr.