Work Text:
🔆
— it starts when taehyung is fourteen years old.
he's having the dream he hasn't been able to finish for almost two weeks now.
it always starts the same, taehyung is resting on his mattress gazing up at the ceiling. but instead of his usual ceiling, it's an up-close view of a beautiful night sky.
everywhere his brown eyes meet stars were dancing in front of them in all shapes and sizes.
his left-hand lifts from his side to reach up for the sky and he lets out a giggle when a star lands in his palm, seemingly dancing for him and then bounced out after.
it was the sincerest level of breathtaking.
before taehyungs mind can even process the previous events, a hand is swiftly laced with his and the person is pulling him to his feet and they're running out of his apartment.
taehyung isn't quite sure who it is, the long black hair the boy (he assumes) is sporting is hard to decipher or see past it.
shortly thereafter, the pair are surrounded by the prettiest lavender field taehyung has ever seen. he couldn't quite distinguish where it was, but he knows he's been there before. but why and with whom?
taehyung and the boy go around the field. it takes everything in taehyung not to spin them around to find out who they are but he never does. he lets them pull him along as they reach a break in the field.
by this point, the person drops taehyung's hand and runs away from him and when taehyung tries to go after him, something makes his feet freeze beneath him.
taehyung's heart hammers behind his chest, the feeling making him tink to his knees and clutch the grass for any bit of support.
he cries out for them to stop but they don't, not even one glance back.
the young boy's voice grows hoarse from the yelling and he can't get the feeling of panic to leave him the moment his hand slipped out of the others.
it's not long into the dream where he just crumbles into a teary mess as the person fades into the purple sea of flowers.
and like clockwork, he wakes up with tears muddling his face and his mind in a frenzy from the all too real dream. no matter how hard he tried afterward, he couldn't get back to sleep and he'd have no choice to face his thoughts head on.
but, a few nights later, when the dream picks up from the starry night show to the boy coming to his room to take him, and finally to when the person starts running, his feet aren't frozen anymore, and he's running with them.
he could feel his own smile stretching across his face as he squeezed the others hand reassuringly and when the figure finally turned around and he was met with his best friends bunny smile, he knew.
taehyung can feel it throughout his entire being that this is the soulmate dream. it has been every night he just couldn't finish it until now.
he should have known since there were only a few days till jeongguk's birthday and everyone knows you share the soulmate dream around the youngers birthday.
taehyung knew he wanted jeongguk to be his forever person. he thinks it was destined since before they were even born.
their mothers had been in college together and stayed close friends throughout the years. and when taehyung had turned four and his parents moved him and his sister to busan, they ended up moving up the road from jeongguk.
the two became an inseparable pair from the start and did everything together. taehyung had been at jeongguks house almost every day teaching the younger things and protecting him dutifully.
running up the road to the market to get supplies for dinner, huddling up under their makeshift fort inside taehyung's living room and competing in drawing contests were some of their favorite things to do.
taehyung couldn't imagine anyone else being by his side like jeongguk had for years.
taehyungs knew he wanted him after he'd asked him when they were six and four if he planned to stay by him forever and ever since jeongguk accepted the blame for taehyung shattering his mother's favorite vase and, more so when jeongguk drew him an entire comic strip of the two as a dynamic duo fighting bad guys as a bunny and a heart.
and now as he sits on his bed and watches his lavender mark fill the blank canvas that was his right wrist, he really knows. taehyung couldn't fight the smile that reached beyond his features.
jeongguk might really be his? he couldn't believe it, not till jeongguk confirmed he wanted this too. but he was pretty sure and that alone brought the boy enough peace to go back to sleep.
🔆
— the next morning when taehyung arrives at jeongguk's house he smiles brightly seeing that the younger is already waiting for him on his porch waving at him with his own radiant smile taking over his face.
"hi, taetae," the younger says laughing as he runs into taehyung's chest wrapping both arms around the elder's middle.
"did you sleep well jeonggukie?" taehyung asks as the pair part ways to sit on the bench,
"yeah, did you?" he replies wearily as he fiddles with the string hanging from his hoodie sleeve,
"mhm I uh... finished that dream I kept having, I told you about it right?"
taehyung can feel the younger tense as he mutters, "oh, you did?" he said, "yeah, I remember so how does it end?"
"guk I think you have a pretty good idea of how it ends, your sleeve went up when you waved at me before," the elder says looking over to meet the boy's watering eyes,
a rush of adoration washes over taehyung as he coos "oh gukkie why are you crying? what's wrong bun?" taehyung asks tilting jeongguk's head towards him and god has the nickname never made jeongguks heart swell more before,
"b-because," he chokes out, "y-you're my—I'm... your,"
taehyung took jeongguk's hand in his as he spoke, "jeongguk, can you look at me for a second, please?" the elder said, his voice coated with tenderness and concern.
jeongguk turns to him, his face coated with salty tears and there's a faint blush still rising on his cheeks, "I'm so sorry" he says wiping away the tears with his sleeve, "you could have gotten anyone else-"
taehyung put a shaky finger over jeongguks shaky bottom lip and sighed as he got the words out, "I for one am so thankful it's you jeonggukie,"
jeongguks head shot up at the words, the tears in his eyes slowing as he heard his best friends voice filled his mind, "you've always been my forever person this just tells everyone else," taehyungs hand moved to wipe away a tear spilling down the youngers cheek,
"as long as you want this as well guk but if you're crying because you don't want anything to do with this right now then that's more than okay we can figure it out,"
jeongguk shook his head no immediately "I love you taetae, I wanna be with you" jeongguk replied and a faint sob escaped his mouth straight after. taehyung had to choke back his own cries as he said the three words back to his forever person, lifting the boy onto his lap to rub soothing circles on his back.
there was still so much to it that they didn't know and yet so much they already understood.
as much as they loved each other, their parents and the society they've been brought up in couldn't know they were anything but best friends for now.
but they did, taehyung made sure to remind jeongguk that there was one thing for sure.
their marks were forever.
🔆
when taehyung and jeongguk first figured out they were soulmates at twelve and fourteen, they'd agreed to keep it a secret until they were safe. but as it goes the things you want to keep hidden, always come out.
they had been together for three years by then. now fourteen and sixteen, the pair easily spent more time together now than before.
at the time, they hadn't quite realized just how quiet they needed to be about their relationship.
jeongguk had been the "lucky" one out of the two as his parents worked overnights 3 days a week. so, taehyung would sleep over every time and they'd just stay up watching movies or playing games and eating, surrounding themselves in each other's company.
as for taehyung, his parents were always home, and they weren't allowed to be in taehyung's room alone or at least without regular supervision since jeongguk may or may not have broken his tv once when he'd lost a game for the third time.
the last night they spent together was jeongguks fourteenth birthday.
they'd planned a sleepover with their six closest friends. coincidentally enough the eight friends were perfect soulmate pairs and had been connected their entire lives. whether their parents knew each other as kids or from school or they grew up next door to each other.
they were a tight group that promised to stay that way no matter what. yoongi and jimin had known each other and been soulmates about as long as he and jeongguk had and the same went for namjoon and hoseok.
jin and jun found each other a little later, but that was more jins parents moving him around than anything else.
their friends had long gone to bed by then but jeongguk couldn't fall asleep yet. he laid pressed up against taehyung's front, playing with the elder's hair as he did the same.
"isn't my gukkie sleepy yet?" taehyung coos while tenderly kissing the youngers forehead,
"my birthday is almost over hyungie and you promised me," jeongguk pouted looking up at the elder with his bright doe-eyes, the glimmer from the lamp making them shine that little bit more that took taehyungs breath away,
"ahh, I promised you that did I?" he said teasingly and jeongguk frowned lightly slapped his chest, "okay bunny since it's your birthday" taehyung giggled as he tilted jeongguk's chin up towards him, swallowing as he watched the youngers eyes flutter closed and his lips part.
after brushing his thumb over jeongguk's bottom lip he leaned into the boys awaiting lips, locking their lips together for the very first time.
taehyung felt his own breath hitch in his throat as the butterflies in his stomach sparked sending tingles all across his body.
his hand moved to rest on the nape of jeongguk's neck as he deepened the kiss. he couldn't suppress a soft laugh at the sweet sounds that left jeongguk's needy flushed lips that didn't want to be away from his too long.
taehyung deliberately pulled back to see the look on the younger' s face and he wasn't disappointed in the slightest, the younger boys mind hadn't seemed to process taehyung wasn't still kissing him and he couldn't help grinning at the pout that immediately settled on his soulmates face once he realized, "please tae," he almost whimpered at the loss,
"shh, okay, okay" taehyung giggled kissing him quickly and then again considerately harder than any time before, connecting them in the most passionate of ways as their lips relished in the familiar warmth that spread all over again.
but in an instant, their private intimate moment was stolen from them completely.
as fate would have it, the moment the pair touched again is when taehyung's parents had come to check on them.
his father had peered into the room scanning over the bodies on the floor only to see his son kissing not only a boy but his wife's best friends son in the boy's bed.
the broad man slammed the door open, the force far too intense starling everyone in the room and creating a hole in the wall as he made eye contact with the frightened eyes staring back at him.
the main light was turned on by his mother and she was weeping vehemently speaking incoherently as she did so leaving his father to do all of the screaming.
the man ordered everyone but taehyung and jeongguk to leave and taehyung's never seen them look so scared in his entire life leaving the couple still on the bed.
the screaming seemed to go on for decades, taehyung tried to speak up and protect not only himself and jeongguk from the harshness coming from his own father but the relationship they'd made together.
he tried to tell them that they were wrong that every degrading comment that left their mouths was so far from the truth but things only got worse when his mother saw their marks knowing that they bound them to one another unavoidably.
"they're soulmates seungmin?!" she screamed out repeating the words like it wouldn't be real as long as, "this can't be happening" spilled past her lips. the frail woman threw her head in her hands and her shoulders visibly shook from her sobs,
taehyung wanted to care that the sobs coming from his mother were his doing but he couldn't.
what was so wrong with loving jeongguk? what was so wrong with being happy? why would the two people that brought him into this world speak to him and the person he was undoubtedly in love with so terribly? because they were boys?
the first set of sobs coming from jeongguk took him out of his trance and he didn't even care that his parents would see as he tried to calm the boy next to him, pulling him into his side and running his thumb over the others knuckles from their already intertwined fingers.
he didn't care what they were saying jeongguk was crying and it wasn't okay or fair, none of this was okay,
"you both!" his father's voice boomed sending jeongguk further into taehyungs arms, the aged man came closer, cowering over the two boys giving them no room to escape or speak,
"you will listen to me this instant! especially you taehyung, that boy is not your soulmate, you two will not be soulmates as long as my heart beats in my chest and my lungs allow me to breathe do you understand me?"
the two quickly nodded so he continued, "you will pack your things immediately taehyung, we will not stay in this godforsaken town as long as he inhabits it. I won't let you shame us," his father's voice rang throughout the house, taehyung was sure everyone in their neighborhood could've heard and it made the two tremble in their places.
"you will leave my house jeongguk, and you will never see my son again," his father said disgustedly as he slammed the door shut behind him.
jeongguk crumbled the second the heavy footsteps dissipated down the hall, tears spilling out of his eyes with words that broke taehyung,
"i-its my—my fault! ta-tae" he shook, words barely registrable with the force of his sobs, "m'so gr-greedy we... we should've been asleep! you'd... we would still be okay if it wasn't f-for me,"
taehyung couldn't hear that, couldn't let the person he loved feel like any of this was on him, "it's not your fault bunny," he said, forcing his voice to stay steady to keep jeongguk from losing what little hope he had remaining,
"they were going to discover the truth about us eventually and..." he paused, making jeongguk look up at him as he spoke,
"I'm not sorry for kissing you the first time and each and every time after and I'm not sorry for being in love with you." jeongguks eyes filled with tears and taehyungs grew glossy with every word he said,
"I'm just sorry I have to leave you here, I don't know where they're taking me, I'm scared" he admitted as the worry settled into the deepest parts of his body,
he shook the thoughts away, focusing on savoring what might be the last time he ever saw his soulmate, because that's what they were and his parents could never take that away from them,
"remember what I said gukkie, as long as these marks are on us you're mine and I am yours. I—I don't care how long it takes, we'll find each other I promise." taehyung said gently, wiping the tears coating jeongguk's cheeks as he leaned in to kiss him for the last time.
and with each step he watched jeongguk take out of his room and out of his house, to watching him run away from his childhood home, he knew that things wouldn't be okay. not for a very very very long time.
🔆
taehyung will be twenty-five in less than four hours and he is more than underwhelmed, to say the least.
since being forcibly moved to toronto when he was sixteen and being put into countless hours of therapy, sports, even a few medical centers, he felt he lost determination and joy for little things like his birthday a long time ago. all his birthday reminded him of was how long it'd been since he was really happy.
the young boy had to immediately learn english and learn it exceptionally well seeing as school was in session when they'd arrived and he'd been thrown into the curriculum as a junior.
taehyung spent countless hours working on not only the language but the stacks of work he'd been given a month to complete if only to appease his parents and to get his diploma.
heeji and seungmin expected an entirely new child when they'd gotten there and to say taehyung changed would be a vast understatement.
it wasn't the change they'd wanted though. he'd spent the first year and a half in the lowest place of his life. he missed jeongguk. every single moment he missed him.
it was like every single part of him knew what was wrong, every nerve in his body stinging while he was away from him, taehyung had no way to contact jeongguk or any of their friends.
he didn't have a clue where to even start. and although jeongguks parents had completely disagreed with taehyung's parents choice, they couldn't do anything to change it.
taehyung wasn't their child and soulmate laws weren't a thing so taehyungs parents couldn't be charged for splitting the two up and causing irreversible damage to their mental and physical health.
taehyung had fallen into terrible eating habits not long thereafter and was barely taking care of himself. the last thing on his mind was proper eating and hygiene habits when he couldn't function right anymore.
he would go to school to get what he needed to do done and then lay in his bed for the remainder of the day.
the only people taehyung had was his sister, elisa and his friend, hyungsik and if the conversation was about jeongguk in the slightest of ways his mother would lurk around the room until she caught him crying or saying he missed him.
she didn't care that one of the people he was confiding in was her own daughter, she would ground him from leaving the house and seeing both for days for even bringing up the younger's name and even longer if he'd cried while doing so.
while taehyung's parents were equal parts furious and disgusted that the soulbond between jeongguk and taehyung was so strong that separating them didn't fix their son but rather sent him into a dark depression, jeongguk's parents wavered over what to do with their son's broken heart and the damage someone else's choice had on their lives.
unbeknownst to taehyung and jeongguk, the two had suffered almost identically. while jeongguk had the support of his parents he didn't have it from most of the town after the kims left suddenly on what they believed to be his doing.
it was terrible for their friends back home to see jeongguk like that, being tormented by grown men and women who didn't understand anything about real love and hating that taehyung couldn't be there to heal him again or that couldn't do much themselves.
jeongguk had tried to stay strong, but it was hard for him when the basis of their group was that they were all perfect soulbonds and his other half was somewhere unknown to them all.
that probably hurt jeongguk more than anything. he had no idea where taehyung was. and he couldn't just find him online because he had nothing to start with.
even when instagram got popular jeongguk and taehyung had tried to find each other but it was a shot in the dark.
there were more than enough jeon jeongguk's and kim taehyung's from south korea for them to process.
lucky for taehyung that by his twentieth birthday his sister rescued them both from the hell that was their parents.
🔆
— taehyung laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling, a glimpse of his soulmate dream flashing in his mind forcing him to blink away the hot tears brimming in his eyes because he can feel jeongguk slipping away from his mind.
even thinking about him and what he probably went through hurt him so much. and he knows his parents will be happy if the mark fades away permanently. taehyung knows it'll be the final straw for him though.
once the mark is gone from his wrist forever he is gone forever too.
he'd been okay with that for a long time, finally blending into the world as nothing but a man who worked and ate the amount he needed to survive with no room for happiness or pain.
there were no words to describe the pain he'd felt for nearly a decade now, it was better if he made himself forget the way jeongguk smiled at him. or the way he used to sing for him and only him. or the way his nose crinkled when he smiled and how his eyes gleamed when he was talking about something he loved.
in the midst of the young man's thoughts, he hears his phone incessantly ring by his side and his heart eases a little when he sees 'sikiehyung ❤' and a rare photo of him smiling flash across the screen,
"hey hyung," taehyung says sniffling as he sits up noticing for the first time that hes crying, he doesn't even remember when he started crying,
"tae? is everything okay?" hyungsik asks, concern flooding his voice,
"I just... I miss him is all," the younger's voice cracks as he answers making new tears prick his eyes at how much it still hurt,
there was a pause, one that taehyung wasn't sure he liked until hyungsik spoke again, "what if I told you I could help with that,"
and if taehyung didn't feel weird before he definitely did now, "please don't joke with me hyung you know how serious I am about this and about jeo—"
"of course I know tae I would never joke about this," he said interrupting the boy's already shaky rambling, "remember how I said the name of one of your friends back home sounded familiar?"
hyungsik took the silence as a yes and continued "as a kid, I knew jun when I lived in korea, my mom still had his moms number and after they got caught up with each other, she gave me jun's number and I called him—"
"oh my god oh my god—"
"ya! don't ruin my build up!"
"anyways, he said he's still with your friend jin and that your other friends are all still together as well and there's more he told me about just... everything that happened while you were away but the important thing is that jeongguk has been just as heartbroken as you have been all these years,"
and taehyung wasn't sure how to feel about that, he didn't like seeing his bunny cry and knowing he'd been hurting for years...
"he wanted to find you too," hyungsik said gently, "he never once took a second glance at anyone, it was you and only you," and this pause was longer, sadder than the ones before, "I know your marks been fading tae, like your memories of him, jun said jeongguks has too an—"
taehyungs heart fell into his throat, was hyungsik trying to tell him that jeongguk was... "hyungsik wait please what's going on what are you saying is... is he" taehyung couldn't bring himself to say it, putting it out into the world like that could make what sliver of hope he did have slip away as fast as it came,
and just as soon as the question was out the phone call ended and his doorbell is chiming throughout his house and taehyung can't help but jump at the sound and the erratic beating of his heart behind his chest.
taehyung feels like he was in the field all over again, his feet never budging from the ground like they were frozen in place even though he knows he can move, but it's different. the air feels different and he can sense him now.
if he'd been paying attention, the moment he answered the call he would have seen his mark that had become a dull and lifeless purple with the lavender buds seemingly falling off one by one was returned to the opaque color and shine it once had, each bud returning back to its rightful spot.
taehyung forced himself to move towards his bedroom door, apprehensively he takes slow steps out of the room and rushed down his staircase.
for once he's thankful the house came with the screen door that appeared foggy 24/7 so he could only see a figure outside of his door and his heart instantly dropped.
his hand reached for the knob and he slowly twisted it clamping his eyes shut as it inched open. a slight breeze tickled his skin and he could hear cars going by along with the crickets chirping but no one said anything. taehyung could feel whoever it was watching him intensively, and it made him that much harder to want to open his eyes,
"taehyung it's hyung open your eyes," hyungsik said and taehyung quickly shook his head no, something about the way the elder's voice sounded so far away made him that much more nervous,
"just do it please, it's okay taehyungah I promise just open them," it took another moment and a few deep breaths before taehyung finally willed himself to open his eyes.
the first thing taehyung took in was the younger's eyes, still round and pretty with the glow of the moon hitting them in the perfect angle sending little dots all throughout them, he noticed the youngers tattoos that filled up his left arm and onto his neck while his right arm was completely bare, save for the lavender stem,
"ggukie?" taehyung cried, a hand coming up to jeongguks flushed cheek, "you're really here?"
"I'm here tae I'm right here," jeongguk hummed pulling taehyung into his arms and lifting him onto his waist just holding him close while they both allowed the other heartbeats to calm them.
taehyung was surprised at the youngers strength as he walked all the way inside of his house and set them onto the couch carefully,
jeongguk couldn't help the tears spilling down his cheeks as he kissed his soulmates hair, and took in the scent that somehow hadn't changed over the years, he kissed taehyung's cheeks and forehead leaving absolutely no part untouched before he pulled him back into the crook of his neck.
taehyung held on tightly, his mind still convincing him that this wasn't really happening, that jeongguk wasn't here in his house with him, holding him and kissing him while he was so far from his home.
home, jeongguk was home.
the two stayed folded up in one another for over an hour easily just emptying all the tears and pain they couldn't properly release without the other one being there.
"I missed you jeonggukie I missed you every single moment I couldn't see you," taehyung whimpered as he moved his head for where it previously laid against the youngers shoulder, he wanted to look at him when they talked it was only right since they lost out on so much time just seeing each other's faces and hearing each other's voices,
"me too," the younger said, thumbing at taehyungs cheek, "I thought about you every single day hyungie, you were always on my mind and I worried about you the moment I woke up to when I went to sleep, I couldn't do anything without thinking about what you were doing or how you felt."
"I spent so much time with yoongi and jiminie hyung because they separated for a while too, jimins parents weren't happy about them being together but when they almost lost him because of that, they let them be together," taehyungs heart broke hearing jeongguk say jimins name, he always had a special friendship with jimin from the moment they met and knowing he went through what they did hurt him,
"it sucked because it nearly killed me too... not knowing where you were for all these years was so hard tae and your parents were so... willing to let me and you be heartbroken forever," jeongguk suddenly stopped talking then, looking around the room and taking in the few pictures he saw with them in it, "where are your parents?" he said, panic taking over his features as he stirred in taehyung's hold,
"oh-oh my god, do they live here with you? are they coming back? should I le-"
"shhh," taehyung cooed, "they don't live here baby relax, they don't even talk to me or elisa really, I only put those pictures up for elisa's daughter,"
jeongguk stared blankly at him, "wait, your sister elisa? she lives here with you? and she has a daughter?" jeongguk said shocked at the words coming out of his mouth,
"well, I live with them technically." he said, sitting up so that the two could face each other, "I'd been terribly miserable without you and my parents couldn't stand to look at me knowing it was because I wasn't with you. elisa was tired of hearing them bash me daily knowing she shared the same burden, so she saved up for a few months working odd jobs and such so that we could move out together,"
jeongguk looked confused then, knowing by 'sharing the same burden' he meant that she not only had a soulmate but a female one that their parents forbid her from seeing, "a year or so later after a drunken night out with her friends she slept with a man, and knew for sure afterward that she was, in fact, gay only to find out she was pregnant a couple of weeks later."
jeongguk picked up the picture on the coffee table, taehyung and elisa were both holding hands with a little girl that stood in between them, her small hands being consumed by both of their hands with smiles all stuck to their faces, the photo made jeongguks heart swell seeing that there was at least something that helped taehyung,
"for a really long time I didn't have anything to keep me sane but jisoo made me feel some kind of real happiness again,"
"and, as for my mom and dad, they moved back to korea last year after elisa came out, it was like a triple hit to them that not only did we move out earlier than either of them wanted since we were both paying rent at that point and that we are both gay but that elisa would never love or be with jisoo’s father,"
“what happened to elisa’s soulmate?” jeongguk asked,
”her parents were just as messed up as ours and forbid her just to live her own life just as well, she’s married to a man now and they have a child but she still talks to elisa.”
jeongguk seemed to understand before taehyung even had to explain. if you knew your soulmate was alive you have to be around them,
“jisoo has met her and she calls her auntie which elisa kinda loves and hates because she knows how good of a mom she would’ve been to her but having her around them helps”
it stayed quiet for a while after that, the two just getting used to each other again when taehyung places a kiss to the youngers jaw and then his lips,
"it doesn't hurt anymore gukkie," he said in between kisses,
"what doesn't hurt anymore baby?" the younger replied returning a few of the chaste kisses to his soulmates cheeks,
"my heart," taehyung breathed out sounding truly relieved and jeongguk couldn’t have been any happier,
jeongguk's silent for a moment before he says, "come home with me?"
"your home to me gukkie, wherever you are I'll be more than happy," taehyung smiles at the boy in front of him and presses his lips to the youngers giggling into the kiss,
"I love you tae, my hyungie,"
"and I love you more gukkie, my bun”
🔆