Stupid Teenager or Grown Man
The charity event, not ironically, is held at Rise Suites and Gardens. It's almost spring now and with the light breeze rustling through the trees, moon high up in the sky, it's a perfect place for a garden party.
There are lights strung tastefully around the trunks of trees, a thick, white canopy set up to shelter tables of shining silver cutlery and clear champagne glasses. As custom, there's a ten piece orchestra, playing something soothing, something to make Seoul's elite open up their hearts and their checkbooks.
Despite the musicians' best attempt at creating a relaxed, easy atmosphere, the feeling Taehyung carries around with him is dark and nauseating.
Taehyung smiles pleasantly and nods graciously to person after person, but their faces blur together until he can't tell up from down and it's all because of Jeon Jeongguk.
The man stands out to Taehyung like there's a spotlight trained at him, shining on him no matter where he moves, and he's all Taehyung can see. Even while Taehyung is speaking to someone, his eyes are on Jeongguk, following his every move, as though trying to will the younger man to look at him.
Unfortunately, Jeongguk is terribly good at giving the silent treatment. When he doesn't want to be seen or talked to, he completely vanishes and Taehyung would think he'd disappeared off the face of the planet in the last week except that he is, in fact, here, wearing the most well-fitted tuxedo Taehyung's ever seen and he wishes he wasn't so pathetic to still be attracted to him after all the things that had happened.
His lips still burn with the phantom sensation of Jeongguk's mouth on his. The way Jeongguk had touched him, had made him melt, fingers pressing into him with such a ferocity that it makes his knees weak when he thinks about how quickly he had unravelled in Jeongguk's skilled, demanding hands.
It's a far cry from the shy, innocent touches of high school. Neither of them had had any experience and just a simple touch of the lips would make them laugh and blush. And their first time had been awkward and nerve-wracking, but they had done it together, so sure of each other and their feelings. It had been beautiful in the most naive way.
But now-- everything is rough bites and loud moans and grinding hips, hair pulling and bruises on his hips, moving and writhing against each other like there's no time to think about emotions and consequences, or the fact that they had both been drunk but Jeongguk was the first to pull out of his alcohol-induced haze.
Taehyung should have known the only time Jeongguk would actually let people in was when he was drunk. He should have been ready for the hurt when Jeongguk shoved him away. He should
have braced himself, should have expected the denial, but it doesn't mean it was justified, and it
fucking hurts .
Because Taehyung wants to try, he'd never loved anyone the way he loved Jeongguk in the past. Things may not be the same now, but he knows how his body reacts to Jeongguk. The way his heart lurches whenever he's near. There's something there, but if Jeongguk isn't going to meet him halfway, what's the point?
And his mood grows progressively more foul with every passing moment, the more he stews over it, until Hoseok notices and hands him a glass of champagne.
"I think you need some air, Taehyung," the older man suggests firmly and Taehyung can only nod. He's been conditioned to plaster a smile on his face and listen to socialites blabber about. things he doesn't care about his whole goddamn life and he just needs a break, so he's more than glad when Hoseok offers him a chance to step away from it all.
