Pastel Palette ㅡ Taekook

seventy-seven.

Jeongguk spent his two days in Seoul with Jimin, going to all the places the latter could think of that’s memorable to him. Jeongguk can tell that Jimin is as desperate as him- desperate for him to remember. For him to come back.

As Friday came, Jeongguk declines Jimin’s offer to have dinner with the rest of their ‘friends’ because aside from the fear of facing Taehyung bubbling inside his chest, he’s also not feeling well. His head had been aching recently and he swears he’s had enough pain reliever to get through it. Or so he thought.

- 🎨 -

To say that Jeongguk is nervous is quite an understatement. He’s a total mess but he can’t really show that to his son now, can he? Storm has been eyeing him for the past few minutes, lips forming into a small pout when he realizes how his father wasn’t really listening to his story about how his teacher gave him a /very/ big star just because he defended one of his classmates from the bullies who threatened to take his lunchbox away.

Jeongguk only stops pacing around their hotel room when Storm decided to stand up and drag him towards the couch. He looks at his son with a confused look but Storm pays him no attention this time. Once they’re settled down, Storm reaches out to hold his hand, eyes staring hard at his father’s own ones.

“Daddy, repeat after me,” he whispers to Jeongguk whose face is contorted in shock. “I will not turn into a fool in front of Papa Tata,” Storm continues. Jeongguk follows suit, dragging every word his son had said, but he dawns into a realization at the end of the sentence.

“Wait, did you just trick me into making a fool out of myself?” Jeongguk asks, voice mildly threatening and Storm instantly knew what’s going to happen.

“Daddy, no!” But before he can even escape, Jeongguk already had him caged in his arms, fingers already digging on his sides. They continued playing around until they’re out of breath, and they only stopped when Jungkook notices how red Storm’s face had become. He holds him close, brushing a stray hair away from his face since it was almost blocking his eyesight.

“Love you, buddy,” he whispers, lips ghosting over his son’s forehead. Storm’s eyes light up after hearing him say that.

“Love you too, daddy. Always.”

And if the corner of Jeongguk's eyes brim with tears after hearing those words, Storm doesn’t really need to know.

- 🎨 -

“Storm? What will you do when you see your Papa Tata?” Jeongguk asks the moment they pull over at the parking lot. He’s still nervous despite Storm saying that he can’t be.

“I’m just going to hug him so tight he couldn’t breathe. I miss him so much, daddy.” Storm sounds so upset, so hurt, and that doesn’t go unnoticed by Jeongguk. He takes his seatbelt off and turns to look at his son. He cups his cheeks and strokes it gently with his thumb.

“And that longing will end now, Stormy. Look behind you,” Jeongguk tells him.

Storm does so, removing his own seatbelt in the process. Once he’s out of the car, he’s met with the same man who made them feel loved and took care of them when he was barely learning the ways of the world.

He’s met with the same armsㅡ the same warmthㅡ that used to cradle him every night when he couldn’t sleep. He runs up to him, hands instantly clutching the strings of the man’s hoodie, as if he’s afraid that he’ll disappear in to thin air again.