TAEKOOK | HOPE

• 16 reminder

Lil more agnst?

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☣

And there it is, the question that Jeongguk's spent this whole trip trying to run from. He squeezes his eyes shut, sucking in a shaky breath.

"Yes."

He hears the rustle of sheets and then Jimin's bare feet padding on the wooden floor before his own bed dips, the comforting warmth of his body curling protectively around Jeongguk. His forehead presses against the back of Jeongguk's neck, breath making the tag on the back of his T-shirt flutter. Jeongguk clutches tightly at the arm draped over his waist.

"I'm really sorry you had to go through that alone, Jeonggukie," Jimin murmurs.

By the end of the night, he's filled Jimin in on most of the nuances of what had happened between him and Taehyung, although there are some memories he holds so close to his heart that he can't bring himself to talk about them - the first time they had sex, the first time Taehyung breathed the words "I love you" into his skin. The way Taehyung touched him, how it made him burn from the inside out.

It's hard to talk about at first, but then he finds that the words start flowing more easily, like a great weight lifting off of his chest. He's held so much in for so long, and it's a relief to come clean, especially to someone who knows them both so well. Jimin had been there the entire time, even if he hadn't know the full extent of what was going on. He listens as intently as Jeongguk knew he would, murmuring words of encouragement and rubbing Jeongguk's back supportively. It's exhausting, but when it's over Jeongguk doesn't regret telling him.

"Maybe you guys could try again," Jimin suggests tentatively, when Jeongguk's eyelids are heavy with sleep from having stayed up so late.

"He moved to LA, Jiminie," Jeongguk replies, resigned. As far as he's concerned, Taehyung had made his choice pretty clearly.

"Does he know, though?" Jimin presses. They're face to face now, still squeezed into Jeongguk's narrow bed. "How you feel?"

Jeongguk sighs. He knows Jimin's intentions are good, but Jeongguk needs to stop hoping and learn how to move on with his life, just like Taehyung had done. "I don't think it really matters," he says.

The look on Jimin's face makes it clear that he disagrees, but he doesn't voice that and Jeongguk is grateful for it. "If you say so."

Jimin goes back to his own bed after that, and they don't talk about it again for the rest of their trip.

***

South America is both incredible and exhausting. They see a lot of amazing ancient architecture, fail spectacularly at communicating in Spanish, and take a shot that is literally on fire while FaceTiming with Hoseok on his birthday.

All in all, it's a pretty successful visit.

That being said, Jeongguk should really spend the flight from Peru to LA sleeping. Instead, he's restless for most of the trip, his stomach a bundle of nerves at the prospect of seeing Taehyung in the flesh for the first time in months. The time apart has given him a lot of time to think, but it hasn't helped him reach any kind of resolution. He knows that he still has feelings for Taehyung, and that getting over them now that they're no longer living in the same place isn't going to be as easy as he'd hoped. He also knows that being around Taehyung for 3 days isn't going to do much to help the situation.