I Was Pretty.

Until we meet again

Warnings: This story revolves around pretty heavy themes including the death of a loved one and mentions of homophobia. Please keep that in mind while reading this excerpt and feel free to skip this if its not your cup of tea. 

Word Count: 3.1 k words

(Listening to the song above enhances the tear-shedding quality of this piece by 10000000 times, so make sure to listen to this absolute masterpiece)

"Today's the day isn't it?" Jin tried his best not to cry.

A flag. That's what came home instead of his warm embrace. That moment was etched into Jin's brain; refusing to leave no matter how hard he tried to rid of it.

"Was he really that nice?" His friends asked him every year; and perhaps, the reason why Jin replied every time, even though it tore him apart inside, was to honour his memory. He was a great man, and he died in the same way. His honour never left him.

Jin chuckled bitterly. He knew, oh god, he knew how many jokes he'd made on his honour; and he also knew that those moments will now all be mere memories.

Smeraldo flowers. He loved those. Jin can still picture how he used to frolic in those Smeraldo fields and joked about being cottagecore gays. Whatever that was, Jin didn't know, but he knew one thing: if Hyuk liked it, he would too.

"How did he look?" His coworker leaned against her chair, completely abandoning her easel. 

To a random passerby on the street, Hyuk must've been quite the sight. He was a good head taller than Seokjin, who is considered by many as a decently tall human. His height complemented every single feature on his body, from his muscular build to his weird accuracy of pointing out people they knew in the vehicles that zoomed by. His height, however, did come with disadvantages. Hyuk had quite a reputation for being clumsy. Poor guy couldn't go anywhere without tripping on his feet or knocking something down and god, don't even get Jin started on the number of times he had caught him banging his head on the doorframes or breaking one of the handles of the various utensils in his house.

Jin was sure that the optician automatically knew-- when he entered the store with a sheepish Hyuk by his side-- that he had gone and broken his spectacles once again. And he also knew that Hyuk was as blind as the chemist three blocks down from where they lived, so not buying new ones would never have been an option.

And Jin would never admit it, but these little things, these little quirks and flaws in his personality, was what made him even more endearing. How he wished he could tell him that. 

His skin. He could almost feel Hyuk's soft skin, tan and taught and littered with scars from the rigorous training he had been put through in the military.

"Hyuk, please drop your skin care and moisturizing routine?" And just like everything about Hyuk always did, it brought a smile to Jin's face.

His laugh, oh my god, his laugh. His laugh was so pure, so childish and innocent despite his very adult build and Jin swore it had curing properties.

When he disclosed this piece of information to Hyuk, he simply shook his head and told Jin that he hated his laugh.

"You're just saying that because you're well," His eyes raked over Jin's smaller build, hands flailing wildly, "You're you!"

But how could he not like it? The laugh that never failed to brighten Jin's day when he was having a particularly rough one; the kind of laugh that can be heard from miles away and still radiate happiness and warmth

Hyuk always said he hated his laugh, but every time Jin heard him giggle adorably, throwing his head back, his eyes crinkling and dimples popping out; Jin felt himself fall in love with him a little more.