Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was so blue it even felt blue. In a good way. Like a calm ocean or a cool sky with a perfect breeze and just the right amount of clouds. Blue like a sweet icy drink. Refreshingly calm blue. Pure, innocent blue.

"Hold me," he whispered to to sky and warm gentle arms wrapped around Taehyung from behind.

He didn't turn around because he didn't need to see who was holding him. He felt their love, their calm. And that was all that mattered.

Maybe it was the sun itself holding him in it's warm sun rays as they lay wrapped up in the cool blue blanket of the sky together.

The arms suddenly let go and he was falling. He plummeted through the pale blue sky until he crashed into water, a vast ocean, awakening as he hit.

"Taehyung are you okay?!?!?" Jimin shouted in his ear shaking his shoulder.

Taehyung lifted his head slowly up, his cheek sticking slightly to the counter top. He stayed there, face still sticking to the surface as he remembered where he was. The convenience store.

Great. He had fallen asleep on the job. Again. Luckily, as far as Taehyung could see through his bleary eyes, the convenience store was empty of customers, besides Jimin, who didn't really count since they were best friends, of course.

Click! It was the snap of Jimin's polaroid camera. He just always had to insist on taking that pointless, irritating thing everywhere with him so he could take his pointless, irritating pictures. It whirred as it printed out a picture.

Blinking away sleep he watched his friend shake the polaroid. Looking at the developed picture Jimin snorted a laugh and tried to hand it to Taehyung.

"I hate you..." Taheyung groaned, closing his eyes and refusing to look at the picture.

"It might actually be good for you if you could see how terrible you look right now, " Jimin sighed.

Reluctantly, Taehyung opened his eyes again but Jimin had put away the polaroid and was just staring at him with his concerned grey eyes while running his hand through his floppy grey hair.

Actually, it was not remarkable that Jimin's hair and eyes were grey because absolutely everything in the world was either grey or black or white.

It's not that Taehyung was color blind. Absolutely no one could see color. Color simply didn't exist and no one talked about it.

In fact, it appeared no one COULD talk about it, since every time Taehyung had tried to talk about his colorful dreams or the reasons he found photography dull and pointless, the words 'blue' or 'color' always got caught in his throat.

But if he could remember the words and had these dreams, surely colors were once real things, right? He even felt he could remember that, just a few years ago, Jimin had been blonde and that he'd had brown eyes. The memories were so so fuzzy and always just out of reach, but surely it meant color was real...

Jimin snapped his fingers in front of his face.

"Taetae" he said sharply but not unkindly, trying to pierce through the fog of Taehyung's mind, "you're spacing out again."

"Ahh sorry..." he yawned, "well anyway...what can I help you with, sir?" he said lazily while stretching and straightening the employee name tag pinned to his grey polo shirt.

His friend plopped a pack of alcohol up the counter.

"Don't tell me you forgot again," Jimin sighed.

"Again? What do you mean again? What did I forget last time?" Taehyung protested.

"Last week! Seokjin hyung took us to that strange little magic curio shop!" Jimin said with exasperation, "you totally flaked on us! We had fun without you! Jungkook got a new video camera and I got this new polaroid!" he held his camera which was, of course, just grey, just the same as his old one, though maybe a shade darker and with a touch of white sparkles as a design.

"Ah...nice..." Taehyung breathed, trying to sound impressed and a little bit apologetic at the same time, "and today?"

Jimin gave a tight smile.

"And today, Seokjin hyung is taking us all out for fried chicken," he answered attempting to be patient, "I'm here to pick you up to make sure you actually show up."

"I have work--" the younger started.

"Your shift is over in one minute Taehyung," Jimin interrupted, pointing sharply up at the clock on the convenience store wall.

"Wha??" Taehyung sputtered in surprise. He checked his fancy watch with a cute honey bee design. He couldn't remember ever buying it and yet it was always there on his wrist. It seemed to symbolize how time was always passing without him remembering it either.

"Oh...yeah..." the younger said quietly, feeling sheepish. He'd apparently slept most all of his shift away, "and what's this for then?" he said pointing at the alcohol.

"Eh for later," Jimin said noncommittally.

"I'll need to see your ID please," Taehyung said, getting into his professional convenience-store-cashier voice. Time to make Jimin pay for scolding him.

His best friend glared at him.

"You don't look old enough to be buying alcohol so I'll need to see--" the younger persisted, squinting at Jimin with mock suspicion.

Jimin slammed his ID down on the counter, annoyed. Taehyung pulled out his round golden spectacles he wore more for fashion than function. Pretending as if they were strong prescription reading glasses, he put them on and peered slowly down at the card, adjusting his glasses obnoxiously as he took his time. Jimin sighed deeply.

"Mhm, mhm, this checks out. Thank you," he chirped, "and you look cuuuute in your picture," he said with a wink as he slid it back across the counter, " what are you doing later--"

"You better zip it if you don't want to have to drink your fried chicken through a straw" the older boy tried to growl menacingly but both ended up laughing.

"Gross," Taehyung chuckled.

After Jimin paid for his alcohol, Taehyung clocked out.

"Where's your coat?" Jimin asked, adjusting his own light grey longcoat, black scarf, and beanie, "March is still winter you know."

The younger just held up his dark grey hoodie and started putting it on.

"That's not..." the older boy sighed apparently giving up before he started to go on about how a hoodie is not a coat.

"Brand new," Taehyung grinned as he zipped it up.

They went out to Jimin's car.

When Taehyung opened the shotgun door he saw his old film camera glistening in the daylight as it sat on his seat.

"Jimin..." he said with a warning voice, "what's this doing here?"

"Oh my mistake just let me get rid if that," Jimin apologized, reaching quickly for the device but the younger boy snatched it up first.

"I may not be using it anymore, but it's still mine," he grumbled, pocketing his camera, "how did you even get your hands on it?"

Jimin said nothing but just smiled as if triumphant.

"I'm NOT using it," he repeated as they got in, but Jimin just ignored him, started the car.

"Seokjin hyung is picking up Jungkook from high school, he's going to skip the rest of the day. They'll both be meeting us there," Jimin explained as they took off down the road.

Taehyung grunted in acknowledgment as he took a peek in the rearview mirror at himself. His eyes were puffy and droopy and shocks of his dark grey hair stood up all over his head, going all different directions, and all the wrong ones. With one failed attempt to flatten his wild hair, he just closed his eyes and settled back down into his seat.

His brand new hoodie was still so soft and fluffy on the inside, like a cloud. He could just fall asleep right here and then perhaps he could see that blue sky again and feel....

His best friend whacked him smartly on the head.

"Seriously!?" Jimin shouted, putting both hands back on the wheel, "you just took a nap! You almost never hang out with friends and you don't even go to college, so you probably sleep over ten hours a night anyway, and yet you're going to doze off again!?!?"

"Hmmpff," Taehyung grumbled, opening his eyes and sitting up little straighter. He folded his arms and stared out the car window at the grey buildings, grey sidewalks, and grey people. Grey, grey grey..

"Look, I'm not trying to be a nag, I'm just worried about you," Jimin continued, "it's not healthy, it's like your mind is in another world and it scares me a little."

"Mmm," Taehyung hummed, not wanting to talk about it. Yes, his mind was in another world. All he wanted was to go back and stay as long as he could in his dream world of colors, of kind warmth, and of cool peace.

"I thought maybe if you took up photography again..." Jimin started.

"I told you a thousand times!! I don't like it anymore because the...there are no... they don't..." he stumbled over the words for the thousandth time again, too, hands gesticulating wildly. "Ugh!!" he just ended up grunting and folding his arms in frustration.

"Taehyung..." Jimin said softly, putting his hand on his shoulder and looking at him with concerned eyes again.

"Look, I'm awake okay? Can't that be good enough?" Taehyung complained, throwing off Jimin's hand exasperatedly, "you should just keep your eyes on the road."

"All right," Jimin acceded and kept quiet the rest of the ride. He really was a good friend to be so caring. Even if he did go a bit far with worrying sometimes, he also always knew when to stop. A dark little feeling of guilt for being so harsh with his friend welled up in Taheyung's stomach.

As they pulled up in the parking lot next to Seokjin's car Jimin spoke again for the first time.

"Looks like they're already inside," Jimin said flatly, opening the car door.

Taehyung grabbed Jimin's arm before he could get out.

"Hey...thanks for...for caring," he said in a quiet voice, "sorry I've been kinda out of it lately."

"You've been out of it for like two years," Jimin laughed, yanking Taehyung's hood over his head playfully, "but it's okay, no matter what, you'll always be my best friend."

He put out his pinky and locked it with Taehyung's.

"Promise," they said together and then chuckled at their awful cheesiness as they went inside the fried chicken shop.

The first thing they saw as they entered was Jungkook standing there in his school uniform, with a bright smile and sparkling eyes. It looked like he was feeling hyper today, probably because he was getting to skip school for chicken.

"Ahhh Taehyungie hyung!!" the youngest whisper-shouted as he ran up and hugged him, lifting him a little in the air. Taehyung laughed in surprise but hugged back tightly.

"It's been so long since you came over to play video games all night with me," the younger whined as he set the older back on the ground again.

"Yeah, we gotta get together sometime soon," Taehyung gushed back at the younger boy, even if he wasn't feeling it. It was true, it had been a long time since they'd hung out, but video games, friends, and fun, all had lost their spark for him lately and he'd really just rather sleep. Still, he smiled for Jungkook's sake.

"And what am I??" Jimin complained.

"Ahh Jimin hyung!" Jungkook laughed and hugged him too, "of course I miss you too but I understand how busy you are at your dance academy." He always said the words 'dance academy' with an almost comical measure of respect and awe.

"True," the oldest of the three agreed, running his hand through his hair haughtily, "Taehyung doesn't really have an excuse."

"Where is Seokjin hyung?" Taehyung asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Ordering the chicken," the youngest answered, bouncing up and down, "he's getting the new fruit flavored chicken!!"

"Ewww that sounds so gross, " Jimin said, "I can't wait to try it!!!"

"I know right!?" Jungkook laughed.

Taehyung tried to laugh too as they all went to grab a table for the four of them, but he just couldn't feel it, couldn't understand. Why on earth were they were getting so excited about...flavored chicken?

Seokjin finally came over with an armload of fried chicken boxes. He was dressed casually in his black baseball cap and black rain jacket. He always looked so effortlessly cool, but in an approachable way.

"Hey Jimin! Hey Taehyung!" the oldest greeted them cheerily, "I got it to-go in case you'd all rather eat it outside in the park."

"Ahhh yes!!" Jungkook cheered, pumping his fists in the air and then punching playfully at Seokjin, who dodged with practiced expertise. Usually this kid was more reserved but then there were these times he just overflowed with energy. Taehyung apparently used to be even more wild than he was, but now he couldn't fathom how.

"Nooo," Taehyung groaned, "we just sat down and got all settled."

"I agree with Taetae let's stay here its nice," Jimin agreed cheerily, but Taehyung knew he only said it for his sake. He was positive Jimin would've wanted to go to the park too.

"All right, staying here it is," Seokjin said, eyeing Taehyung as he passed out the food. Jungkook didn't even complain about not going outside as he was too busy digging into the chicken.

"Woaah!" the youngest said eating the banana chicken, "it's like-- it's like-- so familiar!"

"Like it's been infused with the essence of Banana Kick crumbs..." Seokjin said with the fancy attitude of a professional food critic, but with a mouth half full of food.

They all laughed. After trying a bit of the strawberry chicken which was sort of.... interesting, Taheyung just wasn't feeling hungry, nor was he feeling talkative. Folding his arms on the table and resting his head on them, Taehyung just listened. The conversation went on lightly with lots jokes.

They talked about the same things they always did: Seokjin's latest minor role in a drama, how Jungkook just had too many passions to pick a profession from, and how Jimin would surely become the best contemporary ballet dancer in the country.

As much as he loved all of them, it was still boring as heck. Just as Taehyung felt himself drifting off to sleep again, Seokjin suddenly addressed him.

"Taehyung," he said intensely staring at the younger boy, making him jump, "why don't you take pictures anymore?"

"I-- I don't... I just... It's uhhh..I..." he blubbered in shock, unsure how the conversation had suddenly turned onto him. Words stopped even coming out and then he was just opening and closing his lips repeatedly.

Jimin and Jungkook started talking at once.

"I've also wondered why hyung doesn't--"

"Seokjin hyung maybe this isn't a good ti--"

"Because of the dreams?" Seokjin pressed, ingoring Taehyung's imitation of a fish and everyone else's attempts to join the conversation.

Taehyung looked to Jimin but Seokjin was too fast.

"Jimin just mentioned your excessive amounts of sleep, so I assumed," he explained. He talked a mile a minute, eager as if he were a scientist finally unraveling the secrets of the universe, "Have you been seeing.... things? In your dreams? Things you can't see in the real world? Have you seen old memories? Have you finally been able to remember your first kiss perhaps?"

Jungkook snorted, "hyung hasn't had his first kiss."

"Yes I have!" Taehyung yelled at the younger. Somehow the old arugment had provoked him enough to find his words again.

"I'll believe you when you tell me who you kissed," the younger teased in a singsong voice, laughing.

"Not this argument again," Jimin complained as if he were mature, but he was holding back laughter too. Neither of them ever really believed Taehyung.

Seokjin shoved Jungkook's and Jimin's heads to the side.

"Ignore them. Focus on this," he said, maintaining his level of intensity as he pulled out a blank polaroid and pointed vigorously at it, "you have to wake up, now tell me what you see--"

"I am awake!" Taehyung yelled. He was getting so sick and tired of the fact that he was awake, so for Seokjin to tell him he had to be even MORE awake? The nerve.

"No." Seokjin continued patient yet intense, "look at this picture," he persisted, still pointing.

"There's nothing there," the younger sighed impatiently, "it's an unused polaroid."

"Then it would be black, but you see this one as white, right?" the elder pressed on.

"Then you overexposed the film," Taehyung groaned, "hyung, why are you giving me a photography lesson when I know more about it than you..."

"Do you?? Do you know more??" the elder challenged. He just wouldn't give up. "Look at it, reeaallly look at it."

Taehyung frustratedly obliged him, he stared down at the blank white image with all the power of all his fury burning through his eyes.

And then he saw something! Something so so faint. Was it...color? A bit of green, a bit of blue and orange. Yes, it was color! He gasped and froze, face and mind going blank as his eyes tried to drink in the pale little pigments. He felt a painful thirst for the colors, like a person who was on the brink of death from dehydration.

"Yes! Yes!," Seokjin yelled, breaking the younger's concentration, "you see it! I know you see it!"

With his broken concentration, the colors disappeared once more into the white.

"No..." he whispered, despair and anguish welling inside of him. Taehyung felt himself grow cold and lightheaded, breathing growing shallow. It was all gone. Gone. Had it even been real? He clamped his fists tightly.

"Hey calm down," the eldest soothed in a calming voice, "take it slow, I'm just trying to help you wake up, to remember."

"Remember...what?" Taehyung managed to ask, voice shaking with emotions he didn't realize he had.

"Our friends. Didn't you see them in the picture?" Seokjin said gently, hand reaching out to try to hold Taehyung's fist but the younger pulled back quickly.

"What are you talking about?" Taehyung asked with growing frustration, " I saw nothing! Just faint...faint...you know what! And then gone! Gone!"

"Ah...I see...you aren't quite there yet," the elder said sadly.

"Quite WHERE yet!?!?" the younger was on the verge of outright shouting.

"I've really piqued your interest haven't I?" the elder asked sounding pleased as he raised an eyebrow, "I feel haven't been able to do that in years," he chuckled to himself, "this is good. Good. Keep asking questions, keep waking up, you'll do fine."

Tehyung was so frustrated and confused at this point he had nothing to say.

"Can we go outside now?" Jungkook asked.

Jimin nodded and grunted through a piece of fried chicken in agreement.

Taehyung started. How had he forgotten the other two were there?

"Yup, we will end up there anyway," Seokjin said. They all stood up and went outside, leaving the food without cleaning up. The rest of the customers in the chicken shop followed, also not cleaning up. It was all so strange.

Taehyung almost called out that they should clean up after themselves but then sighed. What was the point anyway? He followed after them.

The streets were full of people, tons of people looking up at the sky.

"I think it's going to rain," Jimin said to Jungkook, both excitedly clutching black umbrellas.

Seokjin held an umbrella too. Looking down at his own hands, Taehyung found another black umbrella. In fact, everyone in the entire street had an umbrella and was looking up, up toward the sun, as if this were a normal procedure. Did this happen every day?

The sun was a black orb in a white sky, as always, but it had grown much bigger, and was still visibly growing.

"What...?" Taehyung breathed, fearful. What was happening? Why was this day getting stranger by the minute?

"You really are waking up," Seokjin smiled, taking Taehyung's umbrella from his hands.

"Hey! I need that!" the younger whispered, grabbing frantically for his umbrella.

"No, I think this time you'll do fine without it," the eldest said, as he slipped the umbrella into his coat. "Please go find your memories and find our friends. If anyone can do it, you can."

Ignoring his instruction, Taehyung dove for Seokjin's coat pocket trying to grasp the umbrella but it melted into the elder's coat leaving the pocket empty. The younger panicked.

"I've never been in the rain without an umbrella before!!" he yelled at his hyung, grasping at the elder's coat in desperation.

"Don't talk nonsense," Seokjin laughed, shaking the younger boy off, "you used to love it. All seven of us did."

"You're the one talking nonsense!!" Taehyung yelled in frustration, "I don't remember any of that!"

The elder just smiled and put his hand on the younger boy's shoulder.

"That's fine, it will come," Seokjin said, pushing a blank white polaroid into Taehyung's hands, "but while searching for these lost people and lost memories," he added while taking out a small plain hand mirror and also putting into the younger's hands, "be careful not to lose yourself in the process. Losing yourself for love is not true love."

Taehyung stared down at the polaroid and mirror in his hands. He quickly turned away from tiny reflection of his own panicked face.

"Thanks hyung, but I still have no idea what you're talking about," the younger replied with tight voice, as he pocketed the strange gifts.

And then the first rain drop fell.

Chapter Text

Up up up the umbrellas went. As the rain drops began to plop, black coverings popped open up and down the street.

And as they were covered, the heads of the people transformed into things both monstrous and strange. In a way, each face was sad, as if the true feelings of each person were being worn on the outside now instead of deep inside their hearts.

Seokjin smiled encouragingly at Taehyung one last time before putting up his umbrella too, his face morphing into a giant wilting black rose. A large petal peeled off and fell, turning to ash as it hit the groud in front on him.

Taehyung stepped back, terrified.

"...h-hyung.?" he whispered desperately. But Seokjin did not respond.

Taehyung looked back to Jimin and Jungkook, but both had already turned away and joined in the crowds of people under black umbrellas, all walking toward the giant black sun.

Then Seokjin also turned and joined the masses.

"Wait..." he could barely whisper around the growing lump in his throat.

Panic had him frozen, he stood in place, people walking at an even pace around him. His eyes couldn't help but glance at each monstrous face, one face with a gaping hole, one face that dripped strange goo. With each passing second he kept feeling more and more fearful, more and more alone.

His hoodie was quickly soaked through. It wouldn't be soft and fluffly inside anymore now. Rain was dripping off his hair and into his eyes, running down his cheeks. Or were those tears?

He tried to move his hand up to touch his own damp face, but no matter how he strained against himself, he was still paralyzed. All he could do was slightly move his head.

Looking up into the harsh, white sky, he tried to let loose his anguish in the form of a scream, but even this came out as nothing more than a weak whimpering whine.

Warm tears now definitely ran down his cheeks. Feeling weak, he collapsed to his knees in defeat. Tipping over onto his side, he was ready to just lie on the wet pavement and succumb to this powerlessness.

All the crowds of people mindlessly walked around him, giving him a wide berth. The rain seemed to come down and pelt him all the harder.

But then a shadow fell over him and a sneaker came into his vision. Taehyung blinked at the muddy water it dripped onto his face. Someone was actually going against the crowd flow and stepping over him.

As the person passed he saw that indeed this man was different. Like Taehyung, he did not have an umbrella and thus still had a human head, thank goodness. Instead the man wore a long grey raincoat and a baseball hat to keep the rain off.

This sight of him gave Taehyung such hope he forgot his paralysis and ran after him, not even needing to spare a thought. He was so desperate to see a human face again.

"Hello!!?" he called after the figure.

The man did not respond, continuing forward as if he couldn't hear Taehyung.

"Hello?! Please! Please turn around!!" he yelled desperately.

Still there was no response, so when he finally drew close, he grabbed the shoulder of the man and stepped in front of him.

"Please. Please talk to me," he begged, his voice hoarse now, staring straight into the stranger's eyes. He was a young man, probably only a year older than himself, with a kind face.

His eyes though...they were somewhat cold, not in a harsh way but in a closed-off reserved way, as if the waters of his eyes had frozen over.

But beneath that layer of ice he could see the older boy's eyes were filled with such a depth of sadness and tiredness, Taehyung wondered how he contained it all in his eyes without it spilling out constantly as tears.

Finally, the stranger responded.

"Why are you looking at me? You're not supposed to look at me..." the older boy said in a slow, heavy voice.

Taehyung was just so relieved to hear him speak that he couldn't help himself. He threw his arms around the stranger and started to cry on his shoulder.

"Hyung pleaseeee help me!! Seokjin hyung and Jungkookie and Jiminieee... they're goneeee!!!" he sobbed.

The stranger stiffened.

"Please...please don't cry like that," he said uncomfortably.

The younger boy released him, attempting to choke back back his cries.

"Ah, but it's also okay to cry," he said gently, frowing down a Taehyung. He reached out and patted the younger boy's dripping wet head with a little uncertainty.

After a thought he reached into his coat and took out a plastic rain poncho. He slipped it over Taehyung's, head.

"There," he said, chuckling a bit as he pulled the plastic hood over the younger boy's wet and matted hair, "you really remind me of myself a couple years ago, the first time I was in the rain alone like this."

Taehyung smiled, he liked this guy, he made him feel at home already.

"I'm Taehyung!" he said, wiping the tears off his face and attempting a smile.

"Nice to meet you, I'm RM," he said, shaking Taehyung's hand.

"That's a funny name... What does it mean?" the younger asked.

"It means...." the RM paused, "I think it means Real Me."

"You don't know?" Taehyung wondered.

"I...I can't actually remember the real me, that's what I'm searching for you see," RM tried to explain, "what about you, what are you searching for?"

"My friends, Jimin and Jungkook and Seokjin hyung," replied the younger dejectedly, bowing his head, "I've been treating them pretty terribly lately, and now I've lost them in the rain."

"Hmmmm," RM hummed with understanding, "did you talk about meeting up anywhere with them?" he asked.

"I don't know...,"Taehyung searched his brain, "Oh! We did talk about maybe going to the park today!"

"Then let us head down there now," the elder suggested.

Walking together slowly and quietly, Taehyung kept feeling better and better. The sky even began to dim from a harsh white to muted greys and the crowds began to thin.

But they were still surrounded by people with monstrous faces and the black sun still grew bigger and bigger in the sky.

"Do you know what is going on?" he asked as he jumped in a rain puddle. RM walked slowly enough that Taehyung had time to play on their way.

"Hm?" the older boy hummed.

"With the people, and the rain, and the sun?" Taehyung elaborated, pointing at each.

"Sun?" RM scrunched his eyebrows, "what sun?"

"You know, the big black orb in the sky!" the younger boy pointed again.

"That's not the sun, kid...," RM sighed, "the sun is supposed to be bright and warm, don't you know that? The sun is really an awful thing, especially for us moonchildren."

"Um..." Taehyung wasn't quite sure what 'moonchildren' were but he decided not to ask too many questions at once. "Then what is the black orb?"

"It's the moon of course. It's gone black because there is no sun to reflect on it. The moon, without the sun is unbalanced, and lonely," the older boy rambled on with his hands in his coat pockets, "even though the sun is a pain...we need it...the day and the night and all things must exist together..."

"Oh..." the younger boy wasn't sure how to respond.

Just then they reached the park and Taehyung realized that while they'd been walking the sky had turned a deep velvety grey and the crowds had completely dispersed so not a soul nor an umbrella was in sight. Taehyung wasn't even sure whether to be surprised or not for it was such an odd day already. It did still rain, though a bit more softly, a gentle shower.

"See," RM pointed to the sky, "you can barely see the moon up there now at night without the sun."

"Where is the sun?" Taehyung asked, following RM through the park and toward two benches that sat back to back under a cluster of trees.

"The sun escaped when it shouldn't have" he answered with a groan as he stretched out on one if the park benches, looking up at sky through the naked tree branches.

"I also want to escape," the younger boy commented, stretching out on the other bench next to him, "this world is awfully boring."

"No," RM said calmly, "No we can't escape."

He sat up to explain, "you see, we are all tethered to this world by something...a responsibility, a loved one...no matter the pain or wish for death, we still live for something" RM gesticulated as he spoke, "we live while we die and, we laugh while we cry, we are glad and sad and we remember and we forget, everything...."

"That...." Taehyung interrupted with a tight breath, "that is a lot to say and think about."

"Everything is a contradiction that's all," RM dismissed, lying back down, "all opposites must exist together, which is why, the sun never should have left."

Taehyung thought again of the friends who'd left him.

"Where are they?" he asked, blinking at the little raindrops that fell into his eyes and on his eyelashes.

"You're friends aren't coming to this park now, you know," RM said absently.

"What???" Taehyung sat bolt upright, "Why??? Are they?? They're not dead are they?!?!?"

"No no no, they're fine," the older boy reassured him, "everyone with an umbrella wakes up in their own bed again the next day, good as new."

"Oh...oh okay," Taehyung lied back down, not further questioning the logic of an already so illogical phenomenon, "but then what about me? Why did you tell me to come here?"

"So it'd be the right time" RM said as if it explained everything.

"...What?"

"Check your watch."

Taehyung scrunched his eyebrows. Did RM know about his special watch or did he just assume most people wore some sort of timepiece? He looked at the fancy honey bee watch anyway.

"Four o'clock already?" the younger boy gasped, "Wait...if it's dark out then...oh my gosh! I didn't feed Yeontan dinner!"

"Mhm four o'clock in the morning," RM confirmed, "and don't worry I'm sure Jimin took care of him."

"I guess he would have," Taehyung sighed with relief, "but how?? How is it so late??" he just sat there dumbfounded. He was used to losing track of time but this was A LOT more than usual.

"It's your time now, moonchild," RM almost sang the words.

"My time for what?"

"Your destiny."

"l don't have a dest--"

"You're gonna suffer a lot," RM talked over him sadly, frowning at Taehyung with pity, "but here," he said, getting up, "let's dance." And he started to spin, eyes closed and face tilted up toward the falling raindrops. His raincoat flared out around him.

"Dance in the rain, the pain, and even if it crashes down, dance in the plane," he sang to himself.

"What??" Taehyung was too dumbfounded to join in.

RM stopped spinning and sat down next to Taehyung.

"And don't feel too bad either, because love and hate are the same... It's all care. Hate is love in pain...because love is painful," he continued at an odd pace, as if trying to hold himself back from talking too fast, "but don't stay in the sun too long, don't be in pain too long...it may be your destiny to suffer, but remember balance."

This was all overwhelming and seemingly out of context. Taehyung stood up, growing anxious.

"But I don't want to be in pain!" he argued, "I don't want to love if it means pain and hate! And I don't want to suffer in this boring world! I want to be free!!"

"There is no freedom if you speak it out loud," RM pointed out.

"That doesn't even make a bit of sense!"

"You can't be free from everything. Being free from one thing also limits you from having it," he explained rapidly, "and not everyone can be completely free we all live bumping into eachother, overlapping and intertwined."

"Look, I just want to escape the pain, the black-and-white, and the empty loneliness," Taehyung persisted stubbornly.

"You see, this will all pass, though..." RM started thoughtfully.

"It hasn't yet!" the younger boy began to yell, "it's been YEARS of life just feeling pointless and dull and miserable!!"

"...because it is also forever... continued the older boy calmly.

"So then it doesn't pass!" Taehyung interrupted

"....but nothing is forever either..." RM kept on.

"You!!" Taehyung balled his fists in his frustration, "You just can't contradict yourself so balantly!"

"No, just look at this rain," RM said patiently, holding out his hand to catch the drops, "it's forever rain, constantly pouring on you, but every drop is different. Being in the rain it's all the same each moment... You're wet, and then more wet. But...each second each drop of time is different, don't you see? Even if the pain is always there like a constant rain each drop of pain is different they pass forever and eventually even forever passes..."

"I am lost," Taehyung sighed and threw his hands up in defeat.

"No no please don't lose yourself!" the older boy said urgently, standing up and grabbing the younger's shoulders, "what's your name? Tell me your name! If you forget your name and yourself you will be in big trouble!"

"Like you?" Taehyung asked.

"Your name!" RM insisted, shaking the younger boy.

"Taehyung..." He answered, a bit shocked at the intensity.

"Good," the older boy sighed with relief and sat back down, "and yes, I didn't have room to remember my name and myself, I basically traded it for this."

"For what?" Taehyung asked tentatively.

"Understanding" RM sighed.

"I don't understand you though," the younger boy said hesitantly, worried he might hurt his feelings.

"That's why I am alone..." the older boy sighed even deeper, "I understand so much that each thought folds in on each other until I cannot communicate the whole of anything. For every contradiction I tell you, I have a thousand more I'm holding back, like an ocean of kaleidescopes of thoughts. It's as if I have so many thoughts that I really have no thoughts at all."

"Oh..." Taehyung said sadly. He was speechless because still nothing made sense, but this made him so sad for RM that tears came to his eyes.

"Please don't cry again," the older boy asked, "what time is it?"

"Four--" he stopped when he realized that time hadn't moved. He tapped gently on his timepiece, "my watch is broken!"

"No it's not broken. It's just that you still have time on your side," RM said, "it really is your time," suddenly emotion came to his voice, "ah this lovely park, this is truly your night scenery...the moon...you really are a moonchild...ah you're so sensitive but also so enduring...." he sniffled, "now I want to cry."

"Thank you, that's all very nice," Taehyung said tentatively, "but... I still want to escape. The park is still black-and-white, the moon is still dark and the rain still hurts constantly pouring and pounding my skin."

"Yeah," RM sighed, "well I do know an escape artist, then, if you're really sure you want to escape."

"An escape artist?" the younger boy perked up. This sounded cool, and promising.

"His name is Agust D," the older boy informed him, "he once escaped from being tied to a chair in a rail car that was being transported in a truck across the country. If anyone knows how to escape from this world, it would be him."

"Great!" Taehyung said eagerly, "where do I find him?

"Take the 10pm train--" RM started.

"It is 4am! I have to wait almost a whole day for the 10pm train!" the younger protested.

"Don't be silly, it will be 10pm once you reach the train station."

"It's not that far away! It doesn't take 18 hours to get to the train station!"

"It's a different station okay," RM insisted, "just head east from here following the footpath lined with flowers. Walk for ten mintues and you'll reach the station at 10pm."

"If I leave now?" Taehyung confirmed.

"Yes."

It still made no sense but it was getting very tiring to bring that fact up, so Taehyung decided it was time to say good bye.

"Okay then, thanks for everything, can I keep--"

"Yes keep the poncho it was cheap," RM anticipated.

"Wow thanks! Goodbye then!" Taehyung said goodnaturedly.

"Or you might as well say badbye," RM replied, "aren't byes both good and bad because..."

And Taehyung walked out of earshot of RM's latest contradictory speech. He wondered that if he hadn't left then, if the conversation might never have ended.

The sky was still dark and it still rained as Taehyung left the garden, following the eastward path.

Still nervous about the time, constantly checking his watch which was still frozen at four, Taehyung made up his mind to only walk for ten minutes. And then, even if he did not reach a train station, he would turn back and go home. This seemed like a reasonable plan.

As he walked, the rain turned to snow. Snow, being always white was still magcial even in a black-and-white world. Taheyung felt memories on the soft flakes as they brushed his skin, light as moonlight might've been, if he could remember monglight.

The memories were just fuzzy enough he couldn't quite grasp them like specks of dust lit by the sunlight, if he could rememeber sunlight. These memories, though, they were important....oh so important. But what? But with whom?

Smiling absentmindedly about memories he couldn't remember, Taehyung suddenly found himself walking in the woods, with no buildings around besides a lonely train station up ahead, which was now heavily blanketed in snow.

Inside his sneakers his toes were frozen and wet from crunching through the snow and he shivered under his thin little poncho and hoodie. Why hadn't he listened to Jimin about wearing a coat? It was a good thing he'd reached the station just now because he desperately needed to warm up. He hurried forward.

The sky was still dark, a mute grey dusted by the white snow falling from it. How long had he been walking? Taehyung checked his watch. Ten o'clock. The boy persed his lips.

"RM hyung why do you always have to be right?" he said to his watch.

As he stepped up on the platform, he looked around the station. There was no one around to ask the time anyway, it was empty and quiet. The only sounds were the gathering of snow and Taehyung's breath.

"Hello?" Taehyung's voice echoed through the station and the surrounding wood.

He began to wonder where he'd get his ticket when a bell rang out of the silence.

Steadily the bell rang, ding, ding, ding, ding. Then a train whistled, a deep low whistle.

Taehyung took another back to be safe and looked down the train tracks after the whistle.

A cloud of white smoke announced the train first before it puffed into the station. It was a smallish train, a bit old fashioned and a bit cute. As it rumbled into the station it brought swath of warm air with it, blowing Taehyung's plasitic poncho hood back and warming him instantly.

With a hiss and a squeal the train stopped and it's doors popped open.

Tentatively Taehyung walked up to a passenger car door. Looking around once more for any signs of people, he entered. It was empty but warm inside, little curtains lined the windows and the rows of seats had soft cushions. It almost seemed familiar. It made him feel at home.

And seeing the cushions also made Taehyung realize just how tired he really was. Taking off his poncho and kicking off his damp sneakers, he crashed down on one of the seats.

Just then, the whistle blew, the doors snapped shut and the train lurched gently forward.

"Well, this seems as good a time as any to finally take another nap," Taehyung said contentedly to himself, and dropped off to sleep instantly.

Chapter Text

This dream was green. Vibrant lively green. Fresh leaves seemed to overflow off the trees, golden sunlight warming their verdant shades. Thick grasses filled with tiny yellow flowers surrounded Taehyung. Even closing his eyes, he could smell the life, the green in the air. It smelled like grass and dirt and wood and a thousand kinds of foliage.

Someone sighed contentedly next to him and leaned onto his shoulder. Taehyung looked down. It was a young man dressed in white. He had red hair, but his face was turned down looking at bright sunny yellow flower he held delicately in thin hands.

Taehyung breathed in. What should he do? He wanted to kiss his head, smell his hair, lift up his face and see just who--

A blue bird almost directly above them suddenly squealed out a high pitched song, it's voice shattering the dream into a thousand tiny green leaves that blew into Taehyung's face.

Wooooot! Taehyung awoke. The train whistled shrilly and a gust of wind from an open window across the aisle was blowing somewhat aggressively in his face. He could've sworn that back at the station the whistle had been lower pitched and the windows had all been closed.

Stumbling to his feet and across the aisle he slammed the open window shut and looked out.

He must have traveled far, he thought to himself. Outside it was a clear day in the countryside. There was a lot of grass and not a lot of buildings. A big highway bridge dominated the area and it appeared a junkyard was underneath it. Somehow, Taheyung knew that's where he'd find Agust D.

He must have also traveled a long time, for the white sky was fading to grey once again. Checking his watch, it was around 6pm.

Surely the train would be stopping any minute. The thought of meeting this mysterious Agust D in the middle of nowhere at twilight had him nervous.

He surveyed his belongings to prepare to leave. He folded the plastic poncho to a tiny square and pocketed it along with his film camera, the white polaroid picture, and handmirror.

That was really all he had. He didn't even regret the fact that he never carried a cell phone or anything else on his person anymore. Carrying that had always stressed him out and tied him to the real world, real people, and real responsibilities. And he was still getting along just fine without it!

The train started whistling again and pulled into a station, bell also ringing in his arrival. Hissing tiredly to a stop, the train settled and the doors swung open.

Stepping out into a field of grass, it was a deeper dusk now and tiny white stars sparkled up in the deep grey sky. Taehyung found it difficult to see without any street lights or a bright moon. But a bit away, he could see the warm light of a fire reflecting off shiny cars and concrete pillars. He headed in that direction.

As he approached what appeared to be a jungle of discarded automobiles and railway cars all stacked up on one another and all topsy-turvy and glowing from fires within, he thought it best to announce his arrival.

"a-a-a" he squeaked out, then cleared his throat, "AGUST D!?!?" he bellowed, deep voice echoing 'agust d... agust d... agust d...'

A great crash sounded, like a car window being smashed in. Maniacal laughter echoed back at him, sound bouncing off the concrete structures. Apparently this was his answer.

For a second he thought about turning back, but his mind went blank when he thought of it. When would the next train pick him up? Where would he sleep or eat if it didn't come for a while? Even if he did catch a train, how could he go back to that life?

Telling himself he really had nothing to lose, he forced himself forward into the junkyard, despite his trembling legs. Surely this couldn't be more scary than the rain monsters, because Agust D would at least have a human face, right?

"Agust D, I think you're home, so I'm coming in," he called out nervously as he entered.

The first thing he noticed as he stepped into the clearing amidst the broken down vehicles and train cars, was the color. It was very faint and faded, but there it was! There was real, actual color in the real actual world! Faint blue shadows and pale red orange light from the fire danced together. Taehyung gaped in awe at the sight, but was interrupted when a figure stepped around the corner.

"I really don't have time for this," Agust D spat, "I don't want to get stuck teaching another useless brat a lesson, so beat it."

He was young, older than RM maybe, but still perhaps younger than Seokjin. He stood in aggressive stance, swinging a baseball bat. He had almost white blonde hair and wore a long faded green camouflage coat. His person was also adorned with various pale gold pieces of jewelry, which were plentiful, yet tasteful. He looked cool.

Part of Taehyung was really terrified. His eyes went wide. This guy looked like he didn't give a heck about anything and would really tear him apart if he got in his way. And yet, for some reason another part of Taehyung's heart felt safe and happy to see him and he couldn't help but smile.

The conflicted emotions probably came out as a very odd expression, because Agust D furrowed his brow and squinted at him in confusion. To be safe, Taehyung just bowed his head.

"I'm so sorry to trespass, and take your time like this" he apologized sincerely, "but I really have come here to learn something from you, if you could please help me."

The older boy frowned at this.

"Get lost kid, if this is some kind of joke, you're going to seriously regret it," he said in a low growl, walking away, "and if you're really in earnest, I don't give a ---- . I don't have time to play with needy puppies like you."

Well, if Agust D was going to call him a needy puppy, thought Taehyung, he might as well act like one. And he followed after the older boy despite his warnings.

"What are you so busy doing?" the younger asked.

Agust D halted but did not turn around.

"I'm not going to say it again," the older boy said firmly.

"Please!" Taehyung begged, "I am desperate! I need to know how to escape this empty pain, this empty world."

Agust D turned around, face unreadable.

"What kind of empty pain?" he asked, his voice softening just a bit.

"All I do is sleep now. I barely even care to eat," Taehyung said, letting it all out, 'life holds no joy. I am mediocre. Worse than that, I am purposeless, talentless, meaningless, skilless. Even dreamless and passionless," he paused to swallow down the lump growing in his throat again, "and all I do is argue with and avoid my friends, who just can't understand."

During Taehyung's speech Agust D had walked back to stand in front of Taehyung. The older boy's eyes softened and he frowned.

"What's your name?" he asked in a low gentle voice.

"...Taehyung"

"Can I hug you, Taheyung?" he asked seriously.

The younger boy was shocked for a moment.

"....ye-yes," he finally managed to answer, "yes please."

And Agust D immediately wrapped him in a firm hug. Taehyung hugged back eagerly, a few tears springing to his eyes, but the older boy patted his back and let go as quickly as he started. Taehyung tried to cling on, still.

"I'm done," Agust D said, peeling the younger boy off of him, "I'm not much of a cuddly person, especially not with strangers, but I just wanted you to know...that I understand, okay?" He kept one hand reassuringly on Taehyung's shoulder for a second.

"Thank you," Taehyung said wiping his eyes, "then will you help me?"

"This is unbearable, I know," the elder replied somberly, " but I cannot give you any good answers."

"But you can give me answers! The guy in the rain, RM, said you were the greatest escape artist! That if anyone could figure out how to escape this prison of a reality, this prison of my life, it would be you!"

"Taheyung," Agust D said carefully, "are you talking about wanting to end your life?"

"...no. No, I still have some hope I guess," Taehyung answered, "that another world exists that I can escape to, one with all the..." he gestured around them. It was so darn inconvenient that he couldn't say the word 'color!'

"Colors?" the older boy said flatly.

Taehyung's mouth dropped open. He pointed at Agust D.

"How!? How did you!?" he complained, "why do you get to say it!? And why do you get to have them!?!? They're faded, but still!"

The blonde smirked, "cause I'm Agust D."

"That's not fair!" Taehyung protested loudly.

Agust D just laughed. Not his maniacal laugh, but a real, good laugh, with a gummy smile.

"Come over here, kid," he invited, walking deeper into the junkyard, "careful of that broken glass! Anyway, I'm cooking up some steak."

"Oh so that is what you were so busy with?" Taehyung teased as he followed him to sit on some wooden boxes around a little campfire in the midst of the broken cars.

They sat in silence listening to the popping of the fire as Agust D cooked the steak over it. Taehyung stared, mesmerized, into the flames. Those dancing oranges and yellows and that tiny hint of hot blue, even though only faint, were still so gorgeous to his eyes.

"Hold this," the older boy shoved a paper plate at him. Then, opening a pocket knife he handed it to Taehyung slowly, "and this, but CAREFULLY."

Taehyung did as instructed and waited patiently as Agust D used tongs to pick up the steak off the grill set up over the campfire and place it on his plate.

"There we go," he smiled, handing over some disposable chopsticks too. He went to the other side of the fire and sat down.

"Thank you!!" Taehyung said with a beaming smile. He had no idea how long it had been since he'd last eaten, but he was definitely starving now.

He cut a piece off the steak with the pocket knife. It cut so easily, it was perfectly cooked. But, when he tried to pick it up with chopsticks, it disappeared. He looked up and across at Agust D with a sad, confused wide-eyed look on his face.

But Agust D was holding the piece of steak in his own chopsticks. He popped the food into his mouth and closed his eyes.

"Mmmm perfect," he whispered as he chewed with exaggerated enjoyment.

"What?!" Taehyung yelled as Agust D chuckled at him.

He cut another piece while staring at Agust D. Still not taking his eyes off the older boy, Taehyung reached his chopsticks down toward the piece of meat. And suddenly it appeared in Agust D's chopsticks. The blonde ate this as well.

Taehyung wanted to yell 'impossible!' or 'unfair!' but he'd already seen so many impossible and unfair things today, what would be the point? Instead he just growled in frustration.

"Ha!" Agust D laughed at his growl, "maybe you aren't so much a needy puppy as you are a tiger."

The younger boy responded by taking the whole steak up in both hands, prepared to simply bite into the whole thing. He opened his mouth and...

The steak disappeared. Across the fire, Agust D sat there frowning with the steak in his hands. He walked over and placed it back on Taehyung's plate.

"Please cut it into small pieces," he asked calmly, "you may like enjoy eating like an animal but I don't."

Taehyung flipped the plate off of his lap angrily. But before the plate could hit the ground, it appeared in Agust D's hands.

"Very well," the older boy said, taking the knife and chopsticks from Taehyung's hands, "I'll eat it myself then."

"Is this little magic trick somehow a part of your escape artistry?" Taheyung asked bitterly.

"No, this is more like my curse," the older boy said, sadly cutting and chewing on his steak.

"How is eating steak a curse?!" Taehyung exclaimed.

"It's not just the steak, it's that I always win," Agust D explained, "I get everything, I get to keep the last bits of color in the world, I always get money, success, fame, whatever the world has can be mine."

"But still, how can winning be bad? How can getting whatever you want be bad?" the younger wondered.

"Hahahahaha ha..ha..ha..." the elder laughed hollowly and stared up at the stars in the sky, "yeah, that's what I thought once."

"Did you lose yourself too?" the younger said quietly, "like RM?"

"Yeah, I did, " he said with a heavy voice, "I can remember I was once Min Yoongi...But he's dead now, I killed him with my success."

"Success?"

"It can become a monster if you lose control of it and it starts to control you instead," Agust D explained "what starts as a simple desperation for food and money to live on and honor enough to hold your head up can change into an all-consuming greed."

"You don't seem very wealthy to me though," Taehyung observed.

Agust D scoffed.

"That's because I escaped the world of wealth and fame," he said, frustration leaking through his voice, "I had to, I made so many enemies and the problem was, I always won against them."

"How could enemies that always lose be a problem?"

"It scared me. And I was alone, no one would--or even could--work with me, a guy who couldn't help winning, alone," he sighed heavily, "you see my wish was also to detatch from the world, detatch from my cares and become untouchable, unreachable, careless."

"Sometimes I want something like that," Taehyung said gently.

"Yes, because being betrayed and hurt before, I wanted to be protected," the older boy admitted, "but it's not good to be THIS alone. Being alone can be good and I want to be alone a lot but at some point..." he trailed off.

"You get tired of breaking cars and starting fires?" the younger continued for him.

"And cooking steaks I can never share," Agust D laughed bitterly.

"So you actually wanted to share the steak with me?" Taehyung perked up.

"Of course, I really really wish I could help you," the elder said earnestly pointing over toward a traincar turned on it's side, "I have some cold pizza in my train car, books and coats too, and cushions and blankets to sleep on. If I could, I would want to let you stay here as long as you needed and recuperate and hide from the world."

Agust D sighed and ran his hands through his blonde hair, "you know, part of why I wanted success and money and power in the first place was to help protect my friends along side me. But I ended up being unable to help at all, since even my friends have to lose to me, even my friends cannot really touch me."

"Ah," Taehyung responded sadly "but can you not still give advice and directions?"

"I suppose you're right. I can still do that. Let me tell you," Agust D crossed his leg over his lap and leaned back, "the story of three boys who sought different kinds of power, only for each to be cursed with a unique eternal loneliness. Well...actually there were four boys but the fourth didn't get into the same trouble...."

"That sounds like a very interesting story," the younger boy interrupted tentatively, "but I am still more interested in escaping from the world right now."

"Hmm, maybe it is best to skip the story," the elder said thoughtfully, looking at Taehyung as if sizing him up, "all right kid, I will help you escape."

"Great!" the younger said enthusiastically, "How do you do it?" Finally, finally he would be getting his wish.

"Mmmm," Agust D hummed in a low voice, looking all around, "ah! You see that squirrel over there?" He suddenly pointed at a small faded brown-grey squirrel sniffing around the nearby traincar, "chase it."

"That's not funny," Taehyung frowned.

"It's not a joke!" the blonde protested, "look, just follow the squirrel, and it'll lead you out of this world, and into another of course."

"Hmmm," the younger said, now skeptical, "what if I don't like the other world?"

"You insist on asking me for an escape so desperately and now you want to question it when I give it to you!?" Agust D scolded him and threw his hands up in frustration, "honestly what could be worse than this world?!"

"Good point," the younger admitted, but still he was stubborn , "but if I don't have a way out of the other world, I'll feel just as trapped as I am here!"

"Gah! Fine!," Agust D pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket and scribbled on it with an ink pen, "I'll draw you a map of the way out if you need it."

He folded it four times into a tight little square and handed it to Taehyung, who raised an eyebrow and started unwrapping the paper.

"Don't! Don't open it now!" Agust D said urgently, "my curse might affect it! Besides, the squirrel is going to run off any second now so just read it once you get inside."

"All right," Taehyung agreed, pocketing it and standing up and smiling, "thank you very much Agust D!"

"Take care of yourself, kid," the older boy said dismissively, turning his face away.

Taehyung took that moment to steal a quick hug from the older boy. He quickly turned away and dashed off after the little squirrel before Agust D could respond.

The squirrel scurried away into the darkness, the further he strayed from Agust D, the fainter the already pale colors faded, until they were again gone completely. This hurt Taehyung's heart but he told himself that the colors would be better in the new world.

It was a miracle that he managed to keep up with the tiny creature as it wound it's way through the wreckage and then out into the grassy field. For a long time they ran through the night, until snow began to fall and cover the grass.

It came down thick and white, Taehyung couldn't even pull out his poncho to keep dry because he'd risk losing the squirrel. So, he pressed on. The heat of his body from running clashed painfully with the suddenly chill in the air. His skin and throat burned painfully.

After too long a time, the squirrel slowed down at an area with more trees, and a lake. The area was completely covered in snow and the lake was all frozen over, except for a small hole at the very center.

Waiting for the squirrel to dig out some acorns from a tree and nibble them, Taehyung found some time to shiver and put on his poncho. But he also had to resist the urge to think about the absurdity of his current activity.

The squirrel took off again, running out onto the white, frozen lake. It reached the center and stared at Taehyung, as if waiting.

Carefully, he approached the the edge of the frozen water. It was frosted over, but he rubbed his hoodie sleeve on the ice to polish it. He looked down at his reflection there.

He looked a mess. Worse than a mess, really. Pale and thin from hunger, but flushed from the cold, hair mussed, eyes puffy and blood shot from emotion, and clothes muddy and damp, he looked absolutely pathetic.

"No wonder Agust D must have felt bad for me," he mumbled to himself.

Then, remembering the squirrel, he looked up quickly. It still sat statuesque near the center of the lake, watching him with its tiny black eyes.

"Hey squirrel," he called out in the high-pitched voice he used with Yeontan, "it's dangerous out in the lake there, the ice is too thin. Come back over here!" He made little kissy clicking noises at it and smiled encouragingly.

The squirrel tilted its head to the side. Taehyung chuckled. It looked so much like Yeontan when it did that.

Then the squirrel jumped right into the hole in the lake with a tiny 'plop!'

Taehyung was stunned for a moment. Did that just actually happen?

"Aaaahhhh!!! No no no no!" he yelled, slipping across the frozen lake toward the center, "no no little squirrel!"

Skidding to a stop near the center, he got down and carefully edged to the hole in the ice on his stomach. The ice still creaked under his weight.

"Li-little squirrel?" he whispered at the hole in the ice.

A tiny head popped out the the water and Taehyung almost jumped.

"Now, squirrel, everything is going to be okay," he said to it in a steady voice, shakily reaching out his finger toward the small creature, "now take my finger, I'll pull you out."

The squirrel just floated there staring at him. Then, it nipped him on the finger and dove back into the water.

"Oww-- nooooo!" Taehyung winced, scooting closer and peering down into the water. He could see it's tiny body shrinking from view into the darkness of the lake.

Without thinking, Taehyung jumped in after it.

Chapter Text

The icy water felt like a stinging slap. It felt tight all around him. He imagined this might be what it would feel like if he were a piece of meat shrink wrapped in plastic and stored in a freezer, having all warmth and life sucked from him.

And yet he still stroked downward after the squirrel to save it from an icy death. He could see its little body paddling downward as well. What was up with this squirrel's surivial instincts? Why was it purposefully swimming down? Taheyung kept after it, not able to catch up. They continued going down down down.

It had started out darker than night in the water but after some time sinking in darkness he began to faintly make out a metal pole standing vertically next to him. It went all the way down into the deep water as far as he could see. He could just make out a sign affixed to it. Bold white letters painted on it read: 1 LEAGUE.

A league!?!? Taehyung's eyes went wide and he almost opened his mouth in shock. How deep was a league again? The sign couldn't have been accurate.

In fact nothing about this lake felt right. Weren't lakes supposed to get darker and colder as one goes deeper? This lake was the opposite. It got lighter and warmer the deeper he sank. It was as if the bottom of the lake were a great warm fire that he and the squirrel were traveling towards. It was growing so warm now he began to doubt if the surface of the lake had really been frozen.

Another sign appeared on the pole next to him: 10 LEAGUES. Despite the warm water he felt a chill go up his spine and into the back of his head. This felt wrong.

Taehyung turned around in the water, looking up as he continued to sink after the squirrel. Ten leagues or not, he must have sunk very very far from the surface now. As big and strong as his lungs were, he worried he might not be able to make it back to the surface in time.

His worry made him forget his squirrel rescue attempt and he started to paddle back upwards. But he made no progress. It was worse. 20 LEAGUES, the sign read.

Every upward struck seemed to push him down twice as fast and every downward stoke seemed to push him down four times as quickly. 40 LEAGUES. 160 LEAGUES. The signs read.

Surely the water pressure and lack of air should have killed him by now, but Taehyung was getting dizzy, his chest aching for more oxygen.

As the light from the bottom of the lake got brighter large goldfish began swimming into view. Their gorgeous orange hue was the brightest color he could even remember imagining.

They were each nearly as big as a horse and swam about him like big slow floating golden clouds. The light danced off of their scales and their long flowing tails swooshed in his face, only increasing his dizziness. Whether the fish were real or figments of his clouded mind he could not tell. Surely the color meant they were just a dream?

One goldfish swam by that was smaller than the rest. It had a mischievous look to it's little face. It reminded Taehyung of Yeontan. His heart now ached as much as he lungs.

"Oh Yeontan, I'm so sorry I didn't love you enough," he cried aloud tearfully, not even considering how speaking underwater shouldn't be possible. He reached out to the little goldfish as it swam away. "I hope that Jimin feeds you well and remembers your medicine," he sobbed into the water, "and that Jungkook takes you for little walks, careful not to over-exercise you, and that Seokjin hyung rubs your belly and scratches behind your ears and remembers to massage all your legs and paws and brushes your coat till it shines...."

And then he thought of how concerned his friends had been for him. What had Seokjin said about finding friends and memories while also not losing himself? He'd surely messed that up now. And Jimin, who had just wanted him to be healthy, and Jungkook, who had just wanted to smile and laugh and play with him... he'd failed them too.

Even RM and Agust D had been worried about him, caring. A lot of their advice hadn't made any sense but perhaps there was something to what RM had said about enduring the good and bad in life? Perhaps Agust D had been trying to warn him about the dangers of taking on things alone, and of running away? He really hadn't listened very well.

All around him it was now bright as the sunniest day. The gold fish around him shined like little orange moons. Looking over at the pole next to him he saw a sign that HAD to be wrong. The dizziness must have had him seeing double or quadruple because there wete too many zeroes. It read: 20,000 LEAGUES.

At that moment Taehyung felt his consciousness really begin to slip away. Just as he was about to surrender it, he burst out of water, falling down and into open air.

He took a deep gasping breath. Taehyung was shocked to be alive and also shocked that this felt like the cleanest and purest air he'd ever breathed. He closed his eyes and drank it in, feeling his head clear and brain awaken as the fresh air circulated through him.

Suddenly remembering that he was still falling, Taehyung blinked his eyes open. Facing upwards, he watched as the leagues of lake water he had just plunged through became a bright blue endless sky to look up into.

Lake water peeled off of his body in pretty little droplets that gleamed in the sunlight and made the light blue sky appear to be full of stars. And indeed the water droplets seemed to get stuck up in the sky rather than disappearing, getting shinier and brighter like real stars. They were little diamonds stuck up in that beautiful serene blue.

"Blue," he said to himself, smiling. He'd just said the name of a color out loud! "Blue," he tried again. "It works!!!" He yelled, "blue Blue! bLUe BLUUUUUEEEE!!!" he whooped.

The near-death experience, the vivid colors, and the rush of the air had his adrenaline spiking. He was absolutely thrilled.

"Ohhhh Agust D!! Praise to Agust D! He did it! The master escape artist truly led me to the blue sky of my dreams!" he shouted as loudly as he could, waving his arms and legs in the wind, "Oh the stars! The lights and the colors and the Blue! bLUE! Bluueeeeee!!!!!!!"

Looking at his legs floating out in front of him, he realized that he'd forgotten yet again that he was still falling through open air toward who-knows-what. He then began wildly flailing his arms and legs in a panic. With some effort Taehyung managed to spin his body in the air so that he was now looking the direction he was traveling.

Below him lay a vast, endless sea. Gentle blue waves glimmered in the sunlight, the reflected light hurting Taehyung's eyes.

Would the ocean be a soft enough cushion for his fall? He couldn't tell if he was falling quickly or not, the air was rushing past him but he felt like he was floating. Was something wrong with gravity? Was this that terminal velocity thing? Taehyung honestly couldn't remember anything from high school physics at the moment.

The ocean approached faster and faster. He took a deep breath, put his hands together about his head, and angled into a position he hoped was good for diving. Then he hit. The salty water wooshed through his ears and around him, bubbling and fizzing.

Momentum took him down a bit into the blue green sea, but was able to swim back to the surface easily.

Bursting out of the water he whipped his hair back out of his eyes and squinted around him. With the glare from the sun and his bobbing in the waves he was not able to see well, but it appeared there was no land in sight.

Just as he was about to panic he felt soft sand beneath his toes. There was no way that could be the ocean floor! And then the sand rose around his ankles, calves, legs, and eventually up to his chest as every ocean wave transformed into a wave of sand.

He fell face first into the sand, half of his body burried.

"Uuugh what is going on?" Taehyung groaned into the sand. He pulled himself to his feet, spitting grains of sand out of his mouth.

The sun seemed even brighter and hotter now. High in the bright blue sky it beat down on him relentlessly. He could see what RM had been talking about when he had said ths sun was painful.

As he looked around he began to wonder if this was any better than being stranded in the ocean, for there was not a building nor tree in sight, just endless sand. The sand was a beautiful gold color, but otherwise very unpleasant to walk through.

Taehyung saw motion out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see a squirrel scurrying down the sand dune. Oh right! He had been following that little squirrel! Apparently it had survived the dive and the fall as well. This was not a normal squirrel.

"Hey you squirrel! Get back here!" he yelled running after it. Taehyung had questions for that tiny creauture and at this point he half expected it to be able to answer him in Korean.

His legs wobbled as he ran. The journey had left him a bit shaken. Tripping on his own feet Taheyung slid all the way down the side of the large dune past the squirrel. He hit the bottom with a soft thud.

The boy was now just absolutely covered in sand. Sand in his jeans, his sneakers, up his shirt, in his pockets, and his ears, eyes, mouth, and between his fingers.

"Ughhhhhh," he complained loudly, "what a cursed desert!! Oh save me oh I'm going to die of thirst!"

This world may have colors but it apparently had no life besides one irritating squirrel. Remembering the map of a way out that Agust D had given him, Taehyung got to his feet and took out the piece of paper.

It had just a few short lines scrawled on it. He read it out loud to himself even though his throat was now painfully dry.

"There is no way out of there that I know of," the paper read in Agust D's sloppily elegant hand, "I've never been in there. If you get stuck, just try to find hope. And if you find hope, don't let hope go. If you can please please please bring hope out of there with you. Good luck!!!"

Taehyung held the note in his hands tightly, now trembling with anger, fear, betrayal. He was stranded in a desert with absolutely no hope of escape.

"What is this?!" he shouted, "That!!! That swindler!!! That con artist!!!" he sunk to his knees dramatically and screamed into the sky, "That! THAT!! AGHH!! CURSE YOU AAAGGGUUUSSTTT DDDDDD!!!!!!!!"

It was satisfying to hear is voice echo across the dunes for a second, but then he started choking on his dry throat. He collapsed into the sand.

"I'm really gonna die this time," he rasped, trying to claw his way forward pathetically.

In the distance there was a ripple in a valley between two distant sand dunes that turned into a shimmering wave that transformed into a beautiful city oasis with water and palm trees and tiny little tropical birds and many tall colorful buildings. The greens and blues were vivid even in the distance.

"Ah!! Ahhhhh," Taehyung whined to the distant patch of life, "you're so far. Too...far... Please can't you just come to me?"

In answer, the image of the tropical city shimmered and faded away into nothingness.

"Noooooooo," the boy croaked desperately, "come back."

And then the ground rumbled and a palm tree erupted out of the sand right next to him, spraying golden grains everywhere like a geyser.

"Woah!" Taehyung yelled, rolling away from the tall tree. He gaped at the rich green fronds that now shaded him from the sun.

But then another palm tree erupted on the other side of him. And another in front of him, and another behind him. They started erupting out of the ground all around him.

"Yahhh!!!!" Taehyung yelled, curling into a ball, unsure where to run.

And then came the tops of buildings, bursting out of the sand. Great white and magenta skyscrapers, lime green spires, a cool blue clock tower, and bright yellow rooftops starting emerging from the sand in a great rumble. Underneath Taehyung a magenta lampost shot up, catching on his hoodie and lifting him into the air. Next came little silver mailboxes and then the purple pavement of the street.

The distant sand and desert landscape was now forgotten, overtaken by rolling hills of bright green and blue and pink and mini forests of deep green tropical trees and foliage.

The rumbling then stopped and the world went quiet. Taehyung hung there by his hoodie from a lampost in what now looked like a colorful neighborhood street. After only a moment of silence he heard a crackle of static in his ear. Then the lampost started blarring a song: WELCOME TO MY HOPEWORLD~~~!!

Shocked, he jumped enough to unhook his hoodie from the lampost, and he dropped to the street with a thump. Taehyung just lay there in pain simply listening to the bright and lively song play.

"This is nice," he said to himself smiling, "it may have burst my eardrums up there, but the song makes me kinda happy."

The song finished and the street went quiet. The street was still empty of anyone but Taehyung...and the squirrel! It was scurrying across the sidewalk over to an open archway.

Taehyung knew he better see this thing through to the end now. He pulled his aching body to it's feet and followed the squirrel. The archway it had entered was the beginning of a long path of colorful arches.

The sunlight shined between each column creating a beautiful passage that the squirrel ran down. The boy put his hands in his jean pockets and followed after, strolling happily as he named the colors on each archway he passed.

"Blue, pink, yellow, green," he hummed to himself.

At the end of the passage he came to a lime door beneath the last arch, a door attached to a big, colorful magenta house.

The squirrel simply sat there in front of the door, so Taehyung decided he was supposed to knock. He rapped his knuckles on the painted wood.

No answer.

He knocked again, and again, and still there was no answer. There didn't seem to be a doorbell anywhere either.

He looked down to try the doorknob but instead of a door knob there was simply a tiny key protruding from the door, teeth out. What on earth--or wherever this place was--was he supposed to do with that?

The squirrel at his feet chirped and started scrambling around on the door matt, trying to lift up the edge with it's nose.

Taehyung bent down and lifted up the bright yellow door mat. Underneath it he found a small padlock.

"That just wouldn't make any sense..." he mumbled. But he tried putting the padlock's keyhole over the teeth protruding from the door. It fit. He twisted it, it turned and it turned, clicking, and eventually opened the door like a little doorknob.

"Should we go inside?" Taehyung looked down to the squirrel, but it was no where in sight, so he put the tiny padlock back under the mat and went inside the house alone.

Going through a teal entryway and into a teal and yellow living room, he found that the furniture was sparse, just a yellow checkered armchair, a framed picture of a blue primate, and a bright red jacket hanging on the wall.

"I am tired. Where is the bedroom?" Taehyung wondered aloud.

As he spoke, a square hole began to open up in the wall. It grew to a size just big enough to crawl through. It was pointless to question this. Taehyung felt absolutely sure this would lead to the bedroom. So, he promptly crawled through.

The tunnel was dark but short. He emerged into a small room on the other side.

The walls were all a cool happy avocado green color striped with sunlight from the blind covered window. The room had strawberry red highlights painted behind the bed and on a side door.

The bed spread was similarly cheery. It was a shimmery gradient of purple to yellow with a yellow polka dotted flipside that peeked out over the fold.

The room was empty besides the bed, one healthy green potted plant, an alarm clock, and some fresh clothes neatly folded on the bed.

Taehyung went right to the clothes. He immediately ripped off his now filthy hoodie, jeans, and t-shirt and slipped into the long sleeved blue and white striped shirt, pale pink shorts, and tall navy and pink socks. There was also a black and white stitched hat with earflaps he pulled over his tangled greasy hair.

For the first time in a while Taehyung didn't want to sleep that badly, but needed to desperately. Usually he didn't need to sleep, but wanted to desperately. But as much as he wanted to explore this colorful new world, he was about to fall over from the exhaustion of his journey and lack of proper meals.

He flopped onto bed and fell right to sleep despite the sunlight streaming through the windows.

This dream was all pink and red

Hot red butterflies were fluttering up a storm inside of him, heating up his whole body and turning his cheeks pink.

Someone was sitting so so close to him, a bit behind him. He started to lean on their leg and felt his head get pressed down on firmly by a pair of lips. Flushing and smiling uncontrollably Taehyung put his hands on his own burning cheeks.

It was some sort of sleepover, they were all in pink pyjamas. Agust D was suddenly there, also wearing pink.

"I dare you!" he challenged. Everyone was yelling and giggling at once.

Jimin was there too, freaking out, hiding his face. Jungkook appeared, bouncing up and down excitedly in his soft pink clothes. RM was also there, eyes wide and curious. And then there was Seokjin, who stood quietly in the back, face serious. They all stared at him.

What was the dare? Why were they looking at him? He felt the fluttering inside of him become a tornado.

Everything glowed pink and fuzzy. Someone touched his head, running their hands down over his hair gently, ending with their hands resting firmly on his neck. He reached out and put his hands on their neck.

He was so so warm now, and so so fluttery, he felt he would explode. The air was tense. He was trembling like a leaf. His eyes shut tight, he could feel his face getting closer and closer to another. Lightly, ever so lightly, lips touched his, and then suddenly they were kissing full on. Taehyung's conciousness melted into the deepest redness.

Screams erupted all around. Yelling and shouting and utter chaos. It got louder and louder and shriller and shriller.

Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep! Taehyung bolted upright in bed. The alarm clock right next to the bed was going off. 2:18 pm it read. 2:18 pm!? Who the heck sets an alarm for that time?

Taheyung slammed his hand down on random buttons until it shut up. Then he turned over and tried to go back to the dream, but it was already slipping from his memory.

A few moments later he heard footsteps enter the room. Taehyung didn't move.

"How many times have I told you guys!?" a male voice complained loudly, "just because we have the same face doesn't mean you can just come in my house, wear my clothes, and sleep in my bed!!"

Taehyung really didn't know what to do so he just pretended to be asleep. Maybe the person would just go away?

But instead he heard him walk closer. Taehyung felt the bed dip down as the person sat on the side his back was facing. A hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey......wake up," a voice into his ear.

His voice actually sounded rather kind and good natured, as if the person were smiling as he spoke, so Taehyung opened his eyes and turned to face him.

Heck. He was handsome. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Not to mention he was the first person Taheyung had seen in full color.

They just stared at each other, Taehyung with his mouth hanging open and the other boy with his eyebrows furrowed, studying him carefully.

The boy looked to be around RM's age, a year older than himself. He had dark red hair parted to the side, skin that glowed with a warm tint, and dark eyes that somehow shined brighter than the hot sun. His features were somewhat delicate and cute but he looked cool and sharp and confident at the same time.

He wore a black jacket with intricate bright red, blue, and yellow designs on the sleeves and tight black jeans on his slender legs. The shirt he wore under his coat was also black and had a couple buttons undone in a v-shape on which hung some funky sunglasses with thin red lenses.

It was then that Taehyung realized he was probably looking at the coolest most fashionable most handsome most attractive person he would ever meet. What should he do now that the moment had come?

He wanted to just reach out and touch his face, his gorgeous face, and just hold it in his hands. But he held back. That wouldn't be a normal thing to do would it? It would especially not be socially acceptable when first meeting someone...

The older boy suddenly grabbed Taehyung's face in both hands, slapping his palms on his cheeks, squishing them as he pulled his head closer, until their faces were almost touching.

"What is wrong with your face?" the red haired boy asked, squinting at him.

"Nothing!!" Taehyung protested. Though he did feel his face growing very flushed and warm from being so close to the handsome boy.

"But you don't look exactly like me," the other countered, turning Taehyung's head side to side to inspect him, "your face looks waaay too cute to be mine."

"Excuse me," Taehyung found the courage to say, pulling the boy's hands off his face, "first, you are definitely the cuter one of the two of us. And second, of course I don't look like you! How could anyone else look as good as you!?"

"Everyone usually does..." the older boy said thoughtfully staring at Taheyung's face. Then he stood up. "Let me compare your face just to be sure... It's be years since I've seen any face but my own."

He grabbed Taehyung's hand and yanked him out of bed and through the red door into a small adjoining bathroom with bright blue and white tiled walls.

The red haired boy held Taehyung's shoulders and rested his chin on one of them. They stood in front of what looked like a mirror, except neither of them showed up in it.

"Where are we?" Taehyung asked, pointing at the odd mirror, "shouldn't we be in there?"

"They're just lazy on the other side, give it a minute," the older boy explained. Then he reached out and wrapped his knuckles on the glass.

A reflection of the older boy walked into the room in the mirror slowly and casually. He wore the same black shirt, jeans, and jacket get up. The reflection looked to his source.

The red haired boy started making impatient gestures at his reflection, pointing at Taehyung and to the door.

"Go get your cute new person out of bed," he said mouthing the words exaggeratedly.

His reflection watched him and then nodded in understanding. He left the room.

"Just wait, you'll be along soon now," the red haired boy said cheerily, squeezing Taehyung's shoulders.

The older boy's reflection then dragged in a sleepy reflection of Taehyung. It appeared his reflection was whining and yawning and the older boy was attempting to encourage him to brighten up. He held his Taehyung by the shoulders in the same position and suddenly the reflection matched reality.

"Ah there, see they've finally caught up," the red haired boy said, his reflection mouthing it with him. He pulled the ear flap hat off Taheyung's dark brown hair to see him better. The messy locks stood up at strange angles.

"Woooow your face really is different!!" he exclaimed, putting his face cheek-to-cheek next to Taehyung's face for comparison, "and what is the name of this handsome new guy!?" he gushed.

"Taehyung," he answered with an embarrassed smile, a bit flustered and confused by the attention he was getting.

"Taehyung?" the red haired boy said, his voice getting higher pitched, eyes wide as if realizing something. He pulled away. "Wooow, you even look just like him...or at least how I remember him..I guess of course," he chuckled, "since this is my mind...." he trailed off laughing to himself.

The younger boy wasn't sure what all that was about so he ignored it.

"And who are you?" he asked the older boy.

"Hope!" he chirped brightly.

"...hope?" Taehyung doubled-checked. This name seemed even stranger than RM or Agust D.

"Actually..." the red haired boy said thoughtfully, as if remembering, "my name is Hoseok!" He smiled wide and giggled, "so it seems you don't know me at all, right?"

"Of course..." the younger replied uncertainly, "I've...never met you before....right?"

"Ah that's fine I love to start from the beginning," Hoseok said excitedly, smiling with his eyes, "the beginning makes my heart flutter!"

"What...?" Taehyung responded, confused yet again. This was really happening far too often lately. Hoseok just ignored it though.

"You even look and smell just as bad as the first time," the red haired boy giggled loudly, muffing up Taehyung's already hopelessly messy hair. "It's really cute but if you're going to live in my house, wear my clothes, and sleep in my bed, you will need to shower!"

Taehyung's eyes went wide. What was happening? He'd just intruded in this handsome boy's home, but now Hoseok just accepted that he'd live there? And...what did 'sleep in my bed' mean exactly??

"You're speechless and blushing, oh my gosh this is so cute," Hoseok gushed excitedly. "I'll get some fresh clothes and towels for you. You hop in the shower," he instructed.

Still in shock, Taehyung just obeyed automatically. He pulled off the blue and white striped shirt just as Hoseok came back.

"Here they are! With some fresh underwear too..."the older boy trailed when he looked at Taehyung's bare chest and arms. He bit his lip. "Oh uh, right...uh...I'll go make breakfast," Hoseok said quickly, dashing away.

"But it's 2pm..." the younger tried to call after him. Oh well, Taheyung was still starving for any kind of food.

Then he thought, had he just made Hoseok flustered? He looked at himself in the mirror. Despite being a mess lately he was still pretty fit and attractive, he guessed. In fact, seeing himself in color now, his golden tan skin really glowed quite beautifully and his dark brunette hair would look cool if it were cleaned and combed.

The idea of someone as handsome as Hoseok maybe finding him attractive made him smile uncontrollably. He smiled the whole time he was showering.

Coming out of the shower, he dressed in the fresh pink shorts and blue and white striped shirt Hoseok had given him. They were identical to the first set of clothes he'd borrowed.

The water temperature and pressure of the shower had been precisely perfect and it felt so amazing to finally be clean. Taehyung rubbed a towel over his wet hair and left it on his shoulders as he walked out of the bathroom.

He stood there in the bedroom shocked. The walls had expanded the room to twice the size it was before. The bed as well, once a tiny twin sized bed, was now nearly three times as big. Its was really like the house...knew things.

"Where is the kitchen," he said aloud, wondering if maybe the house would direct him there.

Indeed, an entire doorway opened up beside him. He walked into a bright and sunny kitchen with intensely yellow walls, soft blue curtains on the windows, and many pots of sunflowers scattered about.

Hoseok looked up at him from behind the white counter as he entered the kitchen. The red haired boy smiled brightly at him.

"Ahhh so I'm all out of groceries... this is going to be a very weird meal," he laughed apologetically.

"That's fine, I'm starving. I'll eat anything," Taehyung said as he sat at a small table covered with a red and white checked cloth.

'Anything' ended up being milk and toast with lunch meat and ketchup. Taehyung probably only wolfed it down like it was the tastiest thing in the world because he was starving.

"I still feel bad about about the meal," Hoseok said as he cleared away the plate for him, "so let me make it up to you with some cake."

He pulled a beautiful little white cake topped with bright red strawberries out of the refrigerator.

"Wooahh!!" Taehyung yelled excitedly clapping his hands.

Hoseok pulled up a chair next to him and set down the cake. He picked off a strawberry and held it out to the younger.

"Hyung," Taehyung gushed with a smile, and let Hoseok feed him. It felt like his birthday.

The older boy continued to cut off pieces of cake or pick strawberries to put in Taheyung's mouth. He held up a finger covered in frosting and the brunette boy sucked the icing right off. They laughed.

"Here," Hoseok said, "you bite the other end..." And he picked a big strawberry off the cake and, placed one end of it between his teeth and turned to Taehyung.

The younger boy hesitated. He was really flustered now and shyly leaned away shaking his head.

"Ah yeah, this is too fast isn't it...." Hoseok said quickly, eating the strawberry himself.

There was an awkard pause.

"Want to go on a date?" the older boy suddenly broke the silence with a grin as if nothing had happened.

"A date?" Taehyung was surprised. "Where?"

"I can show you some of Hope World!" Hoseok said excitedly, "we could walk in the park and maybe get churros...and go out to dinner after that!"

That sounded like multiple dates to Taehyung, which was all the better. He couldn't believe how well everything was going....and so fast too.

"I'd like that!" he agreed enthusiastically.

"Ah great," Hoseok smiled with his eyes, "let's go now, I'll clean up," he jumped up to clear away the cake.

As Hoseok put away the cake, Taehyung noticed that the cake looked whole again, as if he hadn't eaten any of it. It must have just been the angle he was looking at it, though.

"Should I change?" Taehyung asked, looking down at his pink shorts.

"Nah you look cute," the elder laughed, "but let me go get you some shoes."

Hoseok went and brought out some navy sliders with white buckles. He also brought out the black and white ear flap hat, plopping it on the younger's head affectionately at the same time he plopped the sliders on the floor. The moment Taehyung slid into his sliders, the red haired boy was pulling him out the front door.

The long path of colored arches that had led Taheyung to the door before was now gone, replaced by a simple purple front porch with leafy green plants on it. Taehyung tried to stop and gape at the changes, but Hoseok kept pulling him along by the hand.

On the curb, a man was putting something in a bright blue mailbox. He looked exactly like Hoseok, same face, same dark red hair. He wore a tan, navy, and green windbreaker, green baseball cap, sunny yellow hoodie, and jeans. He also carried a big mail carrier messenger bag on his shoulder.

"Hoseok hyung Hoseok hyung," Taehyung whispered frantically pulling on the sleeve of the elder's jacket, "the mailman, he looks just like you!"

"Good afternoon mailman!!" Hoseok yelled out cheerily with a big wave. The mailman waved back and went on his way. Hoseok turned to Taehyung.

"Didn't I tell you? Don't you know why I wasn't surprised at a stranger showing up in my house? The people around here often think what's mine is theirs and pop in all the time just because they all look exactly like me," he laughed and tapped the brunette's nose with his finger, "you're the one exception. Which is why I'm letting you stay instead of kicking you out like I do to all my identical twins."

"Really?" Taehyung breathed both flattered and bewildered, absentmindedly touching his nose.

"Mhmmm," the red haired boy hummed as he pulled a little red paper heart out of the mailbox.

"What is that?" Taheyung asked as he snatched it out of Hoseok's hands.

"HEeey!" the older boy whined

"You are the best! Happy birthday! I love you! Love, Hoseok," the younger read out loud from the paper heart. "Wow hyung, did you really send yourself a love note?" he teased, laughing.

"The mailman sends them to everyone!" Hoseok protested, "it's sweet."

"But it says 'Love Hoseok' so I think you did send it to yourself," Taehyung argued, still laughing at the older boy.

"And so what if I did? What's wrong with that?" the red haired boy said defensively snatching back the paper heart.

Then, looking down at the heart, Hoseok thought for a moment, and handed it back to Taehyung. "But actually.... It's for you," he said with a bright heart shaped smile.

"It's not my birthday," the younger laughed, refusing to take it.

"It's not anyone's birthday!" Hoseok insisted, "but it's still just nice to say it sometimes."

That didn't make much sense but the thought was actually kind of sweet, so Taehyung tentatively took the heart back.

"Do you really mean this for me?" he asked, "every word?"

"Of course!" Hoseok reassured him.

Taehyung knew the older boy had just made it up in the moment, but he was still floating on a cloud. He smiled stupidly at the little red heart.

"Put it away now," Hoseok instructed, linking arms with Taehyung, "let's go."

Walking down the street, it was still bright as it had been when he had first arrived. The sun still looked high in the sky.

Taehyung checked his watch. 4pm already. Wasn't the sun too high for 4pm? But his thoughts then became distracted by the beauty of his watch.

He'd never seen its colors before. It had a deep green background with a red stripe and a shiny golden honey bee design, with gold colored metal frame and a rich brown leather strap.

"You have the watch!?" Hoseok suddenly squealed, looking down at what Taehyung was looking at, grabbing his wrist to touch the watch, "oh my gosh I'm gonna cry."

"...why?" the younger asked, pulling back his wrist, a bit concerned.

"Oh hahaha," the red haired boy laughed, "nothing nothing."

Taehyung let it go and they walked on quietly together.

Once they reached town they were suddenly surrounded by many many many Hoseoks. A good number of them wore dark green track suits with bucket hats and sunglasses. The others all wore different fun bright clothing styles. Everyone was bustling busily about in and out of brightly colored shops and stores.

Taehyung grabbed Hoseok's hand, intertwining their fingers.

"I really don't want to lose you in this crowd," he said with voice that was as tight as his grip on the older boy.

Hoseok just laughed. "Don't worry," he reassured him, "even if you can't find me, I'll always be able to find you," he smiled, "you're the only Taehyung here."

"I guess so," Taehyung laughed with him, but he didn't let go of his hand.

They walked into the city park. Along the path palm trees twisted in bizarre shapes, their trunks and leaves all sorts of strange colors from blue to yellow to red. There were also lots of flowers everywhere, bright and tropical.

They came to a large area with a pond in the center and leaned against a railing around it.

"Woahhh!!" Taehyung oohed at the sight, making Hoseok chuckle.

The pond was not only filled with tropical flowers and trees, it also had dozens of fountains spraying an elegant water show. Bright pink flamingos and multitudes of other vibrant birds were flocked in the pond, standing amongst hundreds of goldfish swimming both in the pond and also out into the surrounding air.

As he gazed at the fantastical sight Hoseok smiled at him and waited patiently.

"I...I wish I had my camera," the brunette said quietly. It was back with his clothes in Hoseok's house. In fact, he wished he'd had taken pictures with it for a while now. He'd seen so many amazing things...

"Oh!!" Hoseok suddenly squeaked, "there it is!!" The older boy ran over to a cute little food cart with an old fashioned blue sign that said: 'Churros!' It was pushed by a Hoseok sporting the--apparently very popular-- green jumpsuit and bucket hat look.

Taehyung watched his own Hoseok carefully as he got his churro and skipped back over to him.

"I didn't see you pay," the younger mentioned.

"Everyone is rich in Hope World so there is no money," Hoseok said dismissively.

"Huh..." Taehyung said thoughtfully. He wondered if he would ever make sense of this place.

"Here," the older boy mumbled around the end of the churro in his mouth. He held out the other end so Taehyung could bite it.

Again the younger boy shied away from it.

"Still no?" Hoseok frowned disappointedly.

"I...." Taehyung trailed off. He didn't know why it made him so nervous. Maybe because it felt like Hoseok was just toying with him?

"It's okay," the older laughed and split the churro in half. They each ate their piece of churro as the started strolling again.

After they'd finished and walked in silence for a bit, Taehyung put his arm around Hoseok, taking a deep breath.

"You know, if you want to kiss," the younger said in a voice he hoped sounded confident, "why don't you just ask me instead of playing games with food?"

Hoseok stopped walking.

"Ah...hahaha Taehyung, you are so direct," the older boy laughed nervously.

The younger just looked at him in the eyes, waiting.

"All right then," Hoseok finally said, "I do want to kiss you..."

Taehyung took that as an invitation and moved without hesitating. He grabbed the red haired boy's face in his hands and kissed him fervently. But he pulled back just as quickly as he had surprised even himself.

"Woah!" Hoseok exclaimed in shock, but his smile was as wide as his eyes. He grabbed the earflaps of Taehyung's hat and pulled him into another kiss.

Taehyung was really floating on a cloud now, totally in heaven. He got lost in his passion and started kissing harder and harder and running his hands down to Hoseok's waist and...The older boy quickly pulled him off, laughing loudly and high pitched.

"Save some for later okay," Hoseok teased. "In fact," he said, "it's a good time to go home and change so we can go to dinner somewhere nice."

A bit embarrassed, Taehyung agreed and they hurried home together.

Walking in the front door, the brunette checked his watch.

"6pm and the sun is still high in the sky?" Taehyung remarked.

"The sun never sets here of course," Hoseok responded casually as he led the younger to a decently sized walk-in closet.

"I know exactly what I want to wear tonight," the red haired boy said excitedly. He paged through the hanging clothes until he pulled out a hot pinkish red suit.

"Oooh," Taheyung breathed, impressed by the bold choice.

"I'll go slip into this," Hoseok said with bright smile, "you can look around and choose anything you want to wear."

As the older boy left, Taehyung got lost in the clothes. There were suits in almost every color, bright and loud. There were dozens of neon colored tennis shoes and assorted hats and glasses of every shape and size. The clothes ranged from whacky to cool to artsy.

'Fashion is so much better with color," he sighed to himself as he reverently touched each piece of clothing. Taehyung was totally immersed.

Hoseok walked back into the closet before the younger boy had even begun to pick something. He whirled around to look at his date.

Dang it, he was hot. The pink-red suit was tailored perfectly to his slim figure and the color worked amazingly with his deep red hair, which he'd crimped and curled in the cutest way. He'd also chosen casual sliders as footwear, which made the outfit even bolder and cooler.

"Tada!!" the red haired boy said loudly, spinning around.

Taehyung gave him a big smile and started clapping in approval.

"Do you need help?" Hoseok asked when he noticed Taheyung's empty hands.

The younger boy laughed.

"There's just so much to pick from," he said.

"It's okay, I have some suggest--" the older boy cut off as he tripped over a pile of grey clothes on the floor. "What's this?" he said, picking up the hoodie with only two fingers.

"Oh sorry those are mine," the younger said sheepishly, "I don't know how they ended up in here."

"Really?" Hoseok exclaimed, "they're thoroughly filthy!"

"I traveled a long way to get here believe me," Taehyung defended himself.

"You... traveled?" the older boy asked, seeming concerned. But then Taheyung's camera fell out of his hoodie pocket and hit the floor. "Ah! You even have your camera with you?!" he said in a nervous voice, "do you have film in this?"

"Yeah..." Taehyung said slowly, unsure why his hyung was acting strangely about it, "it'll be really old though, I haven't taken pictures in a couple years."

"Oh..." Hoseok said sadly, "do remember what's on here?'

"No...I don't remember much of anything from that time to be honest," the younger answered.

"Oh crud," the red haired boy cursed, running a hand through his hair, "here, I'll go get the pictures developed right now. Stay here and pick an outift. I'll be right back."

"I want to go with--" Taheyung started.

"Don't worry I promise I'll be right back with the pictures," Hoseok spoke over him.

"Can't we do it later?" the brunette pleaded, reaching his hand out to Hoseok. He really didn't want to let him out of his sight.

"No it's fine," the elder said, ignoring his hand, "just pick your clothes."

Then he quickly left, leaving Taheyung alone in the closet.

"He'll be back," the lonely boy reassured himself, "he'll be back."

He distracted his mind with picking out the hottest outfit for his date.

After some time of searching he picked a velvet brown coat, low scoop neck white tshirt, black lace cardigan, black trousers, and black shoes.

It wasn't colorful, but it looked mature and suited him. Also, it wouldn't clash with Hoseok's bright suit. He combed his hair smooth in the bathroom mirror thinking about how he'd show Hoseok he could be more than just cute.

Once he'd finished all his grooming and had moved on to practicing facial expressions in the mirror, he heard footsteps out in the entry the hall.

He rushed out to greet Hoseok.

"Tada!!" he shouted as he slid into the hall and tried to strike a sexy pose.

But older boy wasn't looking at him. He was looking down at a bunch of photos in his hand. He also held a plastic bag full of take-out boxes in his other hand.

"It's really you isn't it" Hoseok said quietly. "You aren't just a creation of my mind. You're really you. You're really Taehyung." He looked up, eyes full of tears.

"Hey..." Taehyung said gently, "Hoseok hyung what's wrong?"

The red haired boy handed the pictures to Taehyung. They were black and white.

"Why is it black and white?" the younger asked before really studying them.

"You always used to like taking black and white photographs," Hoseok said with a wavering voice.

"I did?" Taehyung exclaimed. He couldn't believe it. But then he looked at the pictures and was even more shocked.

"That's RM and Agust D!" he yelled, "with Jin and Jimin and Jungkook! And me! With..." Taehyung slowly looked up at Hoseok, eyes wide and full of questions. "With you," he said quietly.

"Their names are Namjoon and Yoongi," the older boy said with a heavy voice.

"What?" Taehyung asked.

"Namjoon," Hoseok said pointing to RM, "and Yoongi hyung," he said pointing Agust D.

"And...you?" Taehyung asked, pointing at the boy in the picture who held him in a tight hug. He was still in shock that these pictures existed, that these moments had happened.

"Yes," the older boy said with a deep breath, "I knew you." Tears began to spill from his eyes and he turned away, "I'm so so so sorry Taehyung," he whispered.

"What for?" Taehyung questioned, "I'm the one who apparently forgot everyone, even someone as amazing as you!" He felt frustrated.

"If I had known it was really you and not just my imagination..." Hoseok said closing his eyes and putting his hand on his face, "I wouldn't have acted so stupid like this."

"This was all stupid to you?" the younger boy asked, hurt and more confused than ever, "the flirting, the kissing, the date? It was just a stupid game?"

"No no it's not like that," Hoseok explained desperately, "it's just....I'm acting really really irresponsible. I usually try to forget about everything but...." He hung his head shamefully.

"I don't understand," Taehyung said woodenly. The good mood he'd been in since meeting Hoseok was deflating so fast.

"I'm so sorry..." the red haired boy apologized with a pained expression on his face, "but I have to go, that's why I brought this dinner," he said as he pushed the handles of the plastic bag of take-out food in Taehyung's hand.

"Wait, why?" the younger demanded, a bit panicked, dropping the take-out to the floor.

Hoseok didn't answer. He just grabbed Taehyung's wrist and wrapped a thin black cord around it, tying it carefully. Hanging from the bracelet was a tiny padlock. The key to the front door.

"I'm giving you the spare, so you can always get in the house," the older boy said gently. He pulled a necklace out from under his own shirt. A matching padlock dangled from it. "I still have mine too okay? It's going to be okay," he reassured the brunette.

"No..." Taehyung begged with a weak voice, grabbing both of Hoseok's hands in his own and holding tight, "please, you're the only thing that makes me happy. I thought colors would make me happy but really it's just you that can make me happy. I can't live without you."

"Taehyung..." Hoseok said painfully, trying to pry his hands from Taehyung's grip, "I really have to go. I-I-I'll be right back okay?"

"You're lying," the younger boy accused, but he released his hands. He hung his head in defeat, staring at the bright yellow tiles on the floor.

"Take care of the baby," the older boy said.

Taehyung whipped his head up. "Baby?!" he exclaimed.

But all he saw was the lime green front door closing in his face. His heart sunk, and crumpled, and died somewhere at his feet.

Then the sound of tiny puppy bark echoed from the bedroom.

Startled, Taheyung rushed in to find the bedroom small again, with a twin sized bed. It even smaller than the first time, actually, as the walls had shrunk so close to the bed it was basically a closet. The room felt as tight as Taehyung's chest.

The room was otherwise empty of anything that could bark however.

But then, slowly, something small and fuzzy and dark brown faded into existence. It was his puppy Yeontan appearing out of thin air on the bed spread! Once the little dog had finished fading in to existence, he promptly wet the the bed.

Chapter Text

"Tannie?!" Taehyung gasped excitedly, grinning, but his smile faded as he looked at the soiled bedspread. "Ah crud, I thought I house trained you," he groaned.

"Yup!" Yeontan barked happily.

"Mmhmm," the boy sassed his dog. "Now get down," he instructed, shooing the little dog off the bed so he could wash the once beautiful shimmery yellow and purple covers.

He tucked away the photographs Hoseok had printed so Yeontan couldn't get to them. He'd have to look them over later. Besides, it just felt too weird right now to look at things he couldn't remember.

Looking back at the mess, he was tempted to just rip off the bed spread and dump it in a corner to rot, but he knew Hoseok would not like that.

His puppy followed him closely as he gathered the blankets as well as his dirty old grey clothes and searched around for the laundry room.

"Gotta do the wash," the brunette said to the house.

Promptly, the house provided the proper room for him and he threw it all in a big washing machine.

He emptied the pockets of his old clothes before tossing them in and brought the stuff back to the bedroom, dumping it onto the bed. He picked up the polaroid Seokjin had given him. It was clear and in bright color now.

Seven boys were crammed into the frame of the selfie. Indeed it was Seokjin, Jimin, Jungkook, and himself, all hanging out with Yoongi, Namjoon, and Hoseok...

"I actually did find everyone Seokjin hyung wanted me to find..." the boy mumbled to himself, "and yet I didn't remember any of them when I met them..."

How much did Seokjin actually remember? And how much did Namjoon and Yoongi? It seemed like they might've known a lot more than they'd let on.

"But why.... why can't I remember? And why did Hoseok hyung leave?" he asked aloud desperately, grabbing at his hair in frustration.

The house did not provide a door or an answer for this, but he hadn't expected it to.

Yeontan bumped into his legs with a little whine.

"All right, let's eat," he sighed, tucking the polaroid in his coat pocket with the other pictures and his camera.

Dejectedly, he went back to the hall to pick up the bag of take-out food he'd dropped on the floor. He lugged it into the kitchen, plopped it down at the table, and slumped into the chair.

Taehyung was still in his fancy date outfit. Wearing it alone in the kitchen and eating take-out was a painful reminder of the date that would now never be. And yet, the boy didn't change because he was too hungry and sort of wanted to just wallow in self-pity.

Slowly, lethargically, he pulled the take-out box out of the bag and popped it open. Despite his mood he cracked a small smile at the sight of it.

"Jajangmyeon!! Hyung how did you know!?" he asked the box of noodles.

Taehyung frowned as he realized Hoseok had probably actually remembered it was a favorite of his from all the time they'd apparently spent together. Still, he enjoyed his food; the black bean sauce and pork were excellently flavored and the vegetables were fresh.

"Ruff!!" Yeontan reminded him.

"Ah crud, yes, your food," the boy mumbled through a mouthful, scrambling to his feet. He slurped up the noodles still hanging out of his mouth.

The brunette searched the yellow painted cupboards for anything Yeontan could eat. The first one he opened had a bag of kibble and two little white bowls that said Mickey in soft blue letters.

"Mickey..." he mumbled distantly as he took the things out, "I feel like I remember Hoseok hyung having a dog named Mickey...or is that just my imagination now?"

After he poured out some kibble in one bowl and filled the other with water, Yeontan started eating enthusiastically and Taehyung went back to his chair.

"Where is Mickey...?" he mused absently.

As he and Yeontan finished eating, the boy pulled more things out of the take-out bag. It was an attempt to distract himself. He still couldn't bring himself to look closely at the pictures from his camera.

There were a handfull of brand new rolls of film for both black and white and color photos. Hoseok must have purchased these for him so he could take more pictures.Taehyung's heart squeezed a bit. Why did Hoseok have to be so thoughtful at the same time that he broke his heart?

He pulled out his camera and put in the new film, choosing a roll of color. Lifting the viewfinder to his eye, he snapped a photo of the sunflowers on windowsill across from him.

Behind the flowers was still a clear blue sky. The boy checked his watch. Sunny at 9pm?

"Why do I even bother keeping track of the time?" he asked his black Pomeranian with a sigh.

"Wooph," the puffy little dog responded, going over to a screen door that had appeared in the wall.

"Ah, you gotta go out now?" Taehyung groaned, getting up slowly and opening the screen door.

Yeontan shot out the door like a bullet from a gun, but the boy just stood and stared. Outside was a small but gorgeous garden, fenced-off and private, an oasis within an oasis within an oasis.

Multi-colored roses bloomed everywhere and soft fine green grass carpeted the ground.

It was really so beautiful, Taehyung instinctually lifted his camera to his eye again, snapping a picture of Yeontan chasing his tail amongst the sea of roses.

Seeing the whirling dog, he set his camera to a faster shutter speed and a bigger aperture. Maybe he could get some cool action shots.

But the black Pomeranian soon got busy watering and fertilizing the flowers, so the brunette put away his camera and went to a corner of the garden. He sat down against the light purple painted fence and released a deep, sorrowful sigh.

"What's wrong dear?" a red rose by his right cheek asked sweetly.

He turned to look at the flower. It had no lips or eyes or any facial features to speak of, and yet seemed to be looking at him. Well... why not talk to it? He was certainly lonely enough.

"Why am I still sad, even in Hope World?" Taehyung despaired, "I thought I could escape here."

"That's because this is Hoseok's daydream, not yours, silly," a yellow rose above his head piped up.

"But I don't think Hoseok is happy here either," the brunette protested, looking up at the yellow flower, "he was crying just now!"

"That's the nature of daydreams, though," a blue rose near the ground sighed somberly, "they don't truly make you happy..."

"What do you all mean by a 'daydream?'" Taehyung asked the three talking blooms, turning his head to try to take turns looking at each of them. But instead a fourth rose answered.

"There are dreams and then there are daydreams..." the purple rose said wisely.

"...there are dreams you pursue and there are dreams you suppress..." the red rose continued wistfully.

"...there are the wishes we wish and there are the wishes we wish we didn't wish..." added the yellow rose with a jaded tone.

"...and yet..." the blue rose cried woefully, "we can't help but wish them!"

"That doesn't really explain it," Taehyung complained, closing his eyes. He couldn't choose which flower to look at and his neck was getting tired of turning every which way.

"Let me spell it out for you," the yellow rose chirped impatiently, "this isn't the real world. Hoseok built it. So, he gets to do whatever he wants here, even the things that were against his rule. All the things Hoseok wouldn't allow himself before are now accessible to him."

"It's not that he didn't allow himself!" the red rose insisted softly yet intensely, "it was the curse!"

"It is my opinion that curses always reflect something of our inner insecurities and fears," the purple rose said thoughtfully.

"Why does Hoseok have a curse?" the boy asked, eyes flying open, "is he like Namjoon hyung and Yoongi hyung?"

"It's the price he paid for becoming the human embodiment of hope and light and sunshine," the blue flowered lamented with a sob, "so unfair if you ask me!"

"Is he really an embodiment of all that?" Taehyung breathed in awe. It made sense though. Hoseok did seem to glow with the warmth of all things good.

"Didn't you ever wonder where all the light and joy and color in the real world went?" the yellow flower asked a bit bitterly, "well, he was the one who drained it all from the world when he escaped this other realm."

"The poor dear didn't mean it!" the red rose defended loudly, "he just wanted to be free, but his power followed him naturally. He bascially IS the sun after all, the little sweet heart."

"Wait, you're saying Hoseok hyung is the reason the real world is black and white and the moon is all dark?" Taehyung exclaimed, "and what about the weird rain and monsters...?"

"Isn't the rain an attempt at balance in the absence of color and sun?" the blue flower contemplated, "it makes people forget it there is an imbalance and stay calm."

"Does Namjoon hyung do that? I met him in that rain and he likes balance and opposites," the boy speculated.

"I think it's just a natural defense mechanism of the world..." the purple rose responded.

"Hoseok hyung really put the world in that situation?" Taehyung wondered, "how could he just run away and leave the world like that!?"

"I keep telling you! He didn't mean to! He didn't know!" the red rose insisted.

"But still...he wanted to leave all of us?" Taehyung persisted, "how could he do that? How could he leave me?"

"Please, get over yourself and think about HIM for a minute," the yellow rose sighed, "no human being can truly bear the burden of being the embodiment of all light and hope. Not even Hoseok is THAT pure. News flash: he's full of humanity and contradiction."

"And he ran here because in this daydream, the contradictions that make up Hoseok can exist," the purple rose said calmly.

"Did you ever even know Hoseok?" the yellow rose challenged the boy, "his true self?"

"I don't know! I can't remember!" Taehyung yelled exasperatedly.

"But I don't think Hoseoks's living as his true self here," the blue rose argued.

"That's not what I meant..." grumbled the yellow flower but the blue cut it off.

"Here he is stuck in self indulgence," the blue rose continued, "which is against his nature. He believes he can have his cake and eat it too but it is an illusion."

"Well actually he IS having his cake and eating it too! And, yes, THAT is the problem!" the yellow rose said haughtily, "his dream was to share the cake with the world, to make others smile. But here now he just took the cake and eats it indulgently. Alone."

"Well actually I ate some cake with him just this afternoon," Taehyung countered, "he's not alone anymore."

"Which is not good," the purple rose shook it's head seriously, "it is not good that you are here."

"Why?" demanded the boy. How dare they say that it was bad that he was with Hoseok?

"Because of Hoseok's three forbidden wishes!" the yellow flower explained, "the first is to behave crazily without concern for his character.."

"...and the second is to cry freely and shed his eternal smile," the blue rose continued softly.

"While he has these first two, Hoseok has never been able to have the last wish," the red rose said reverently, "which is to fall in love."

"How come?" Taehyung asked.

"Because he's the only person here," the purple rose explained, "with his mind he can bring birds, flowers, trees, mountains, and streams to Hope World, but never a person that is not a permutation of himself. The mailmen, the farmers, the lawyers, the criminals, the policemen, the king, and his servants... all are Hoseok."

"There's no one to fall in love with!" the red rose sighed deeply.

"But now that you are here, he is no longer alone. He can finally fall in love as he wished," the blue rose said mournfuly, "and if all three forbidden wishes are fulfilled, he may never want to leave. He'll be stuck here forever, and so will you."

"And yet I think Agust D sent you here knowing all of this full well!" the yellow rose grumbled, shaking it's leaves with irritation, "he must trust that Hoseok may change his mind once he has his wishes or that YOU can convince him to leave. Who knows what his logic is! He certainly is foolish in MY opinion though."

"That's what Yoongi hyung meant by finding hope and bringing hope back with me?" Taehyung gasped, "he wanted me to bring Hoseok hyung back?"

"Probably," the purple flower agreed evenly, "and that would be a very good thing to do if you could manage to give up Hoseok's love and get him to give up yours."

"Why can't Hoseok come back AND still love me in the real world?" complained the brunette. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

"What part of 'curse' and 'forbidden' do you not understand?!" the yellow flower shot back in a tone that surely would've been paired with eye rolling, had the flower had eyes.

"Let me ask my questions, all right!?" Taehyung defended himself.

"He WAS in love with you in the real world," the red rose reassured him breathily, "he has always loved you and always will, even if he can't show it."

"Really?" Taehyung asked, his heart twinging a bit. They had been in love before? That might explain how fast everything had been moving.

"And SEE," the yellow flower asserted impatiently, "you can't remember any of it because that's his curse, his rule, his condition, the price of his power to spread hope and light."

"The poor thing...," the blue flower sobbed, "every time in the real world when he broke the rule and cried or loved or acted crazy, the memory of him was increasingly erased from the minds of those who witnessed it, from your mind."

This was all so extremely unfair and unreasonably complicated that it was making the brunette grumpy.

"Well then maybe I don't want to leave! Maybe I want to stay here with him!" Taehyung declared stubbornly.

"No no no," scolded the purple, "you belong here even less than Hoseok does, you will see."

Taehyung bristled at that-- yet another condescending comment. These roses were each uniquely unhelpful.

"Well! I think you're just a bunch of flowers! So what do you know!?" the brunette argued petulantly, "I'm gonna go find my Hoseok hyung and tell him it's okay for us to stay here. I'll tell him that I want love him here in Hope World, where we can have whatever we want!"

"What a fool he is...he didn't listen at all," the yellow rose sighed irritatedly.

This was starting to push him over the edge.

"You know!" the boy yelled in defense, "why don't YOU just try having this much exposition dumped on you by a bunch of cyncial old flowers!"

"I am not an old cynic!" the red rose huffed dramatically, "I'm a young romantic!"

"Honey," the purple rose condescended, "this isn't even all the 'exposition' I could dump on you if I wanted to."

"Really we've been holding back," the blue whispered apologetically.

Groaning and rolling his eyes, Taehyung got to his feet

"It's probably why he's gonna run off and act like an idiot," the yellow muttered "if you ask me, he needs even more information."

"Agh! Can you all just shut up!!?!" he yelled at the argumentative flowers.

"Well!--" the offended red rose started, but the boy had already gotten up and was running into the house.

His puppy followed after him.

"Come on Yeontan," Taehyung said with determination, taking long strides through the house, "we're gonna find our Hoseokie hyung."

The Pomeranian barked excitedly at the sound of Hoseok's name. Apparently Yeontan could remember Hoseok even if Taehyung couldn't.

At the door he found a dog leash that was probably Mickey's. Once Taehyung put it on Yeontan and straightened his own long velvet brown coat amd smoothed his hair, the pair headed out into the streets.

They walked boldy for about ten paces before Taehyung halted. He remembered he had no idea where to begin his search.

"Where should we look first Tan?" he asked the eager, panting pup, "where's Hoseokie hyung?"

Yeontan sniffed the air for a second and took of running down the street, dragging Taehyung with him.

"Good boy!" the brunette praised him as he scrambled to keep up.

They turned the purple street corner and found the mailman Hoseok he'd seen earlier, with the yellow hoodie and green baseball cap.

Yeontan made a beeline for him.

"No no no!" Taehyung yelled, trying to pull the dog back, "wrong Hoseok! wrong Hoseok!"

"It's okay!" the mailman called out with the characteristic bright Hoseok smile, "I love puppies!"

At that the little dog ripped the leash from Taehyung's hands and dashed right to the older boy who was crouching and waiting for him. He jumped into his open arms and licked his face.

The mailman giggled loudly and fell onto his back, letting the Pomeranian tackle him.

"Who's a good puffball!? Who's a good fluffybaby? Who's my Tannie!?" the older boy gushed in a squeaky high pitched voice.

The little dog was standing on his chest and licking his face. It was such an adorable scene that Taehyung was pulling out his camera without thinking.

"Do you mind if I take a picture of you with Yeontan?" he asked the mailman, "it's just so cute."

"It's fine go ahead!" the elder agreed.

As he took the pictures he realized he'd almost forgotten this wasn't the real Hoseok. Now he felt sad watching Yeontan unwittingly love the wrong Hoseok.

"All right Tan, come back," he said, picking up the dog's trailing leash and tugging it, "that's enough."

"Go back to Taetae," the mailman told the puppy, moving the puppy off of himself and trying to help direct him back to his owner.

But Yeontan barked in defiance and jumped back on the older boy.

"I'm sorry, he thinks you're someone else," Taehyung apologized, "we're looking for the Hoseok you saw me with earlier today."

"Ah I understand, it's easy to mix us up, we even all smell the same," the mailman laughed good naturedly through another round of licks to the face from Yeontan.

And apparently all the Hoseoks laughed the same way as well. It was as if pure sunshine was in their every breath.

"Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" the younger boy asked as he finally JUST picked Yeontan up to take him off of the mailman.

The little dog whined a bit but resigned himself to Taehyung's arms.

"You could check in town. There's a bar everyone goes to at this hour," the elder answered, getting up and thoughtfully rubbing the back of his neck, "I can't remember the name, though. I never go there myself."

"You just deliver mail 24/7?" Taehyung joked.

"Yup!" the mailman answered proudly with a cute little salute, "I'm busy working hard every second to deliver love and joy to every citizen of Hope World!"

"Oh," the brunette said quietly, "wow."

It seemed he took delivering little love notes very seriously. Maybe too seriously, if he never took any leisure time.

"Speaking of hard work," the mailman Hoseok continued, "I better get back to it! Good luck!"

He nodded and smiled warmly, but quickly and moved on.

"Thanks," Taehyung smiled back, but he only half felt it.

The suggestion the mailman had given him wasn't much to go on. But he tried to shove away his anxiety as he and Yeontan walked into town.

Even though his watch was now reading half past 10pm, the streets were still busy and the sun was still beating down strong.

However, the fashion did seem to have changed. Instead of tracksuits and shorts and hoodies and bucket hats and baseball caps, the crowds now wore colorful suit coats and slacks in loud oranges, purples, and blues.

Taehyung momentarily panicked that there would be a hundred more Hoseoks in pink suits that he'd confuse for the real one, but he could see no pink suit in sight, not a single one.

And indeed the information from the mailman appeared to be correct as a good third of the Hoseok crowds seemed to be heading to the same place which must have been the bar.

Walking Yeontan up to the building, he could feel the deep bass of music emanating from it, vibrating through the ground and up into Taehyung's bones. Was this a bar or more of a club?

He looked up it's purple brick face to the stylishly cursive purple neon sign that read: The Baseline.

Whether or not his Hoseok was in there, this might be great place to maybe actually forget his troubles. A great place to...escape. He sighed to himself. Apparently he would never get over his escapism.

At the door he was faced with a Hoseok in all black and a leather biker jacket, red hair parted to the side to show off his eyebrows. He must be the bouncer, as he looked a little intimidating.

"Uhhh," Taehyung started timidly.

Leather jacket Hoseok raised an eyebrow. The younger gulped but continued.

"Are dogs allowed...?" he asked.

"No, they're not," the bouncer answered kindly, "but don't worry Taehyung, Yeontan's already started disappearing for you!"

The brunette whipped his head down to look at his puppy. All that was left was Tannie's little nose hovering the air, and then that winked away. The leash fell to his side, empty.

"Aaahhhhh!" Taehyung started to scream, "Yeontaaaan?!!!!?!!" He'd already been ditched by Hoseok today, and now his dog was leaving him?

"Woah woah woah," the bouncer calmed him, putting black gloved hands on his velvet shoulders, "Yeontan will come back when you need him."

"That's so awfully convenient, I don't believe you!" cried the younger.

"Everything's convenient in Hope World!" the elder responded with a thumbs up and the cheesy air of a salesman.

"Except when it's not," Taehyung contradicted dismally, thinking of how hard it was finding his Hoseok.

"That's not a very positive way to look at it," the bouncer frowned.

He took something out of his back pocket, a soft white hat shaped like a bunny head with long flaps that came down the sides as bunny feet. He placed it on Taehyung's head and gave the extensions a squeeze. He could feel the ears of the hat wiggle.

"You've just won a bunny hat!" the older boy announced, "now isn't that something to smile about!?"

Taehyung did have to hold back a smile. Once again another Hoseok was making his heart feel things so that he almost forgot he wasn't the real one.

"No thanks," he mumbled, "but maybe I'll smile if I can drink something in there." He pointed into The Baseline.

"All right," the bouncer said brightly, "can I just take this back then?" he reached for the hat.

"Go ahead," the younger answered. He stood and waited as the bouncer happily grabbed the hat put it onto his own head, squeezing the feet and making the ears wiggle to his heart's content.

In just a second the bouncer was in his own little happy world. He looked so joyful, Taehyung had to pull out his camera and snap some pictures to capture and save the emotion. The leather jacketed Hoseok didn't even notice.

"Uhh may I go into The Baseline now?" Taehyung interrupted the elder's contentment.

"Oh! Oh yes of course!" the leather jacketed boy answered, taking off his bunny hat quickly and stepping aside, "please enjoy yourself and forget your cares!"

And so Taehyung walked into The Baseline. His black shoes clicked on the floor through the short, dark entryway tunnel. It led into the inner area, which was huge. He wouldn't have been surprised to learn that it was bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside.

There was a long bar counter with dozens or bartenders serving drink after drink, hundreds of tables filled with colorfully dressed patrons laughing and conversing raucously, and a large and lively dance floor in front of a stage. The stage was empty of anything but the deep purple velvet curtain backdrop and the lonely old fashioned mic in the center.

The corners of The Baseline were a bit shadowy and moody, but purple, red, green, and blue lights bounced wildly off the purple brick walls and the music thumped his heart even harder than outside and there was a tension of excitement in the air.

He walked up to the bar counter, scanning the whole room as he went. He still saw no one in a red-pink suit. Should he leave and keep searching for Hoseok? Should he get a drink and wait to see if he might show up?

He stared out at the dancers on the floor. They were all very talented at freestyle, even when they were wild and drunk, it simply made them attempt even more ambitious moves. He kind of wanted to join them.

"Can I help you Taheyung?" someone interrupted his thoughts with a crisp and professionally friendly voice.

He found himself standing right in front of the bar. A Hoseok with neatly combed red hair, a white dress shirt, and half a magenta red, half cobalt blue bow tie smiled at him. His tie matched the gradient of the lit up paneling that stretched behind the long bar, counter. It cast a glow from pink red to purple to blue.

"I need so much help," Taehyung sighed, "I can't decide on anything. Do I stay here? Or do I leave? Do I get a drink or not? I'm not the biggest fan of alcohol but it might be nice to take the edge off right now. But also...if I get too tipsy maybe I won't be able look for him and I'll waste the evening! But should I even be looking for him? What if he doesn't want to be found?"

"Sir," the clean-cut Hoseok laughed, "this is a bar. I'm a bartender. All I want to know is if you'd like a drink.

"Oh right...." Taehyung blushed, "sure I'll have one," he answered, sitting down on a bar stool next to a Hoseok in a light blue suit.

"I don't care about your troubles, and nor should you. Remember, this is a carefree joint we're running," the bartender said calmly as he prepared a drink.

"Sorry," Taehyung mumbled.

"Just a warning," the bartender said chipperly as he slid a shot glass across the counter toward him.

Taehyung attempted to swiftly and cooly swig it down as if he had not a care in the world, but he spilt it all over himself.

"Ah shoot!" he cursed with embarrassment, but he chuckled at his own clumsiness.

The Hoseok next to him side-eyed him as he took a long drink from his large glass. The bartender silently slid another shot over.

He managed to down this one. The drink fizzed in his mouth, with a lemony lime flavor.

"This is Sprite!" he exclaimed loudly, standing up.

All down the bar, well-dressed Hoseok's laughed at his announcement.

"Of course," the bartender said, smiling as if holding in his own laughter, "what did you expect?"

"I thought you were gonna give me alcohol!" Taehyung complained, plopping back down on the bar stool with a pout, "did you judge me as too childish?"

"Well, I'm certainly judging you as childish NOW, but that's not why I gave you the drink," the bartender answered.

"I'm sorry," the younger apologized, "but I'll have what he's having."

He gestured to the light blue suited Hoseok next to him who was still chugging his glass.

"That's what I gave you," the older boy shrugged.

"He's drinking Sprite too!?"

"Yes, it's all anyone ever wants, so it's all we ever serve."

"Then how do people get drunk?"

"On Sprite."

"Impossible!" Taehyung yelled again.

The bartender just gestured to the Hoseok next to him. He'd finished his glass and was staring off in the distance, a bit forlorn, irritable, and sleepy looking. His cheeks were red and his eyes unfocused.

Taehyung started to reach out to poke him.

"Don't!" the bartender stopped him, "he will actually topple out of the chair, and then I'll have to go and pick him up."

So Taehyung just grabbed the drunk man's drink and sniffed it. Indeed, it smelled only of the lemon-lime soda.

"You really have nothing else in the taps?" he asked.

This bar was just as strange as everything else in Hope World, and against his own bad mood, he was finding it fascinating.

"Well actually we have this other spigot we've never tried before..." the older boy started.

"I'll try it!" Taehyung said with gusto, excitedly slamming his palm on the counter.

"Well okay then!" the bartender Hoseok said with a surprised smile, "aren't you a daring adventurer now? Making decisions and without even thinking! I'm proud!"

He handed Taehyung a mug full of a brown liquid. A dark colored beer? The younger boy took a gulp without hesitation. His taste buds lit up with joy.

"This is Coca Cola!" he shouted ecstatically, "it's my favorite!"

"Oooh cool!" the older boy enthused back.

"Is this gonna make me drunk too?!" Taehyung asked, eagerly taking more sips.

"I'm sure it will!" the bartender giggled at the brunette's excitement.

Though they laughed together, the bartender quickly switched back to a professional attitude as he turned to serve another Hoseok in a lime green suit who'd just sat down.

Taehyung sighed, remembering once again that that wasn't his real Hoseok, that he was still alone. Though he was already feeling tipsy from the bubbly drink, it wasn't helping much with taking away the pain. He just felt sadder now. The lights of the bar seemed to dim to a more melancholy purple hue as he let himself droop like a wilting flower.

The second his hanging head dropped to the counter, the constant bopping music stopped. The whole club held their breaths in silent anticipation. The fuzzy sound of a live mic crackled over the speakers. Taehyung slowly lifted his head.

"AAAARRREE YYOOOOUUUUUUU REEEEADDYYYYYYY!?!?!?!?" a deeply joyful voice bellowed throughout the bar.

The whole room erupted in whoops and cheers, everyone clapping their hands rappidly with excitement. It sounded like a fluttering buzz of a thousand little bee wings.

Beside him, the drunk Hoseok in the light blue suit flipped out of his chair at all the noise.

"There he goes again," the bartender sighed, leaping with practiced grace over the counter to help the fallen customer.

But Taehyung and the rest of the room were distracted. They were all shouting out how ready they were. Though Taehyung had no idea what it was, he knew he was ready too. Though he hadn't had much, the Coca Cola had relaxed him a bit.

Nearly all the Hoseoks in the bar crowded down to the dance floor, taking their Sprite drinks with them, hiccuping, burping, and giggling excitedly. It was a big space, but it was totally packed full of people now, all pressing up to the stage.

Taehyung followed the colorful crowd, but kept to the back. He snapped a few pictures of the crazy bar scene.

There wasn't much room. Hoseoks who didn't fit down on the floor began standing up on tables and chairs in the back to see.

Three Hoseoks in vivid purple suits stood up on a table next to Taehyung.

"I just remembered!" one with trembling legs squeaked, "I'm scared of heights!"

"Me too!" the second agreed.

The third Hoseok on the table just screamed a high pitched little scream and grabbed onto the other two into a tight group hug as they waited and watched the stage. Taehyung chuckled at them as he also waited.

Then the music started. The first low beats and...

HE stepped out. HIS Hoseok, reddish pink suit and casual sliders and all. Sliding up to the lonely mic with a whirling spin, Hoseok brushed aside his smooth red bangs and winked. He had a whole new level of confidence on the stage.

"HoOPE WoORLD!!!" he called to the cheering crowd.

His presence filled the room so well that even in the back, Taehyung burst into a smile. It felt like Hoseok was right next to him, that Hoseok was his best friend, that everything would be okay, that he would be safe and happy in this moment forvever.

"Let's go!" Hoseok chanted, and then the song really got going.

He started to sing, and rap, and dance to the music. What couldn't he do?! He was cool, he was smooth, he was joyful, he was perfect, he was EVERYTHING. Taehyung's mouth kept dropping open in awe.

Everyone one was singing and dancing along but Hoseok's voice drowned them all out as it came over the speakers beautifully, sometimes rich and deep, sometimes soft and delicate, but always so passionate and alive.

"All right everrrybooody," Hoseok announced at the end of the song, "let's move on to some steps that are a bit more difficult!"

With the start of next song the pink suited Hoseok jumped off the stage and onto the dance floor, the crowd moving away from him as if they were ripples in a pond.

In the large empty circle, he began what turned into a freestyle dance-off. Various other Hoseoks in green and yellow and blue suits went in the clearing to dance against the pink suited Hoseok.

They popped and jammed to the beats with moves Taehyung didn't even know were possible, most of them could do the splits and pop right up from them effortlessly. Still, none were even close to a match to his Hoseok's skill and control. But the crowds cheered for everyone just the same.

"Go Hoseok! Go Hoseok! Go Hoseok!" they chanted for each dancer.

Taehyung started trying to take pictures of it, desiring to preserve the amazing moments forvever. But then he hated having the viewfinder between Hoseok and himself. Heck, he hated having the crowds between them! He wanted to get closer. He put away his camera and pressed forward through the hyped, drunken, cheering crowd. When he'd almost pressed through to the edge of the circle, his Hoseok locked eyes with him.

The pink suited boy suddenly ran back to the stage, jumping up and grabbing the lone mic. The music instantly clicked off.

"Hey everybody!!" he said into it with a cutely tight little voice. He did not take his eyes away from Taehyung. A new song started as he winked and whispered, "just dance--"

Everyone seemed to know what this meant. Everyone turned away and became absorbed in their own dancing, still laughing and popping and bopping and drinking lots of Sprite all at the same time. The pink suited Hoseok looked down to carefully but gracefully hop off the stage and into the crowd, this time mixing in.

He glanced once more into Taehyung's eyes before he cut off eye contact and started dancing alone. He moved smoothly but slowly away from the younger boy through the crowds.

"Is he seriously teasing me?" Taehyung wondered aloud with a laugh, and pushed his way through the crowd after him.

He could easily spot him in his bright reddish pink suit. After struggling past sharp elbows and kicking feet, he finally reached him.

The pink suited Hoseok glanced peripherally at Taehyung but did not move away again. So the brunette decided to dance right behind Hoseok and casuallly inch closer. The red haired boy seemed to dance closer as well, until they were bumping into each other. Still, Hoseok would not turn around and look at Taehyung.

"Why won't you look at me? Are you mad that I followed you here?" he whispered into Hoseok's ear which was right in front of him.

In response Hoseok's hands reached back and found his own. He pulled Taehyung's hands to his waist and leaned back onto his chest, making them sway together.

"Not at all, I just can't look at you," Hoseok finally said with a teasingly dramatic sigh, "my heart stops when you look at me Taehyung, why do you have to have such intense eyes?"

Taehyung's hands were sweating as he held the older boy. His heart beat faster than the music. He was trying hard not to let the Coca Cola make lose his head.

"I-I wasn't even trying..." he started, with a nervous laugh.

"When you're not trying is when it gets me the most," Hoseok talked over him, still breathily dramatic, leaning his head of red hair back onto the younger's shoulder.

Part of Taehyung really wanted to press his nose that hair but but the still sensible part of him was really getting worried about how odd Hoseok was acting.

"All right, how much Sprite did you drink tonight?" Taehyung asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As much as I possibly could," the older boy giggled bouncing hyperly.

"Then you're not in your right mind," Taehyung sighed, pulling his hands off Hoseok's waist. He felt like he was taking advantage.

But then the older boy whirled around to face him, wrapping his slender arms around Taehyung's shoulders.

"No don't go. I promise I'm in my right mind," he insisted more seriously, finally looking right at him, "I'll look into your deep intense eyes if that's what you want, just don't stick out your tongue or bite your lip or I'll--"

"Fine then, let's talk about what happened this evening, about why you left," Taehyung interrupted, trying to steer him back to serious things.

But his hands still found their way back to their place on Hoseok's waist.

"Doesn't matter," the older boy dismissed with a wave of his hand. The music seemed to get louder.

"What do you mean!?" the younger exclaimed, "you were crying about it! It made you cancel dinner!"

"Crying is just crying! I don't care about all that! Let's just dance!" Hoseok insisted.

The tempo sped up, the volume increased and the lights got more intensely red and purple. Hoseok began dancing right up against Taehyung in a way that was... very distracting. Taehyung grew frustrated. Honestly normally he would've wanted to just enjoy it, but this was just NOT the time for it.

"Well I CARE!" Taehyung shouted over the music much louder than he meant to.

As much as he didn't want to, he let go of the older boy's waist again and stepped back from Hoseok's distracting dancing.

The whole bar froze and went silent, holding their breath. The music continued playing hollowly.

"Don't say that Taehyung please," his Hoseok whispered, eyes wide and hand flying to his mouth.

"Take it back!" one patron yelled out.

"No! Throw him out!" another shouted "this is a carefree establishment!"

"You break the rule, we break the window!!" others chanted.

Taehyung was dumbfounded, speechless. What had he done wrong!?

A group rushed him, five of them picking him up in their arms. They lugged him to a window that was tinted purple to keep outside light out. They began to swing him back and forth, preparing to throw him out through the glass.

"All cares get literally thrown out here," a nearby Hoseok in an orange suit told him with a weirdly evil chuckle as he sipped a Sprite.

Taehyung closed his eyes tightly as the Hoseoks holding him heaved back and forth and the crowd chanted.

"ONE! TWO!! THR--"

"Wait!!!" his Hoseok in the pink suit yelled over all the noise.

All turned to look at him.

"Taehyung doesn't understand the rules. He's my dancing partner so this is MY responsibility," he declared with a voice of authority.

Somehow, he suddenly seemed completely sober. He walked up to Taehyung's side, who lay in the arms of the five Hoseoks. He leaned down to address him gently.

"Listen. Here, we only care about three things," he counted it off on his fingers, "dance, Sprite, and having a positive attitude. You bring up any other cares, you're thrown out. I don't want that though, so here's your chance."

"Anyone have a Sprite?" his Hoseok asked the room.

A dozen Hoseoks around him instantly held out Sprite bottles. He grabbed one, popped it open with a little fizz, and held it out to Taehyung.

"Drink this and renounce your cares. Then you can stay," he said kindly.

Taehyung grabbed the offered drink and the Hoseoks holding him let him down immediately. The crowd all went back to their dancing and talking and drinking before even checking that Taehyung had truly drunk his Sprite or renounced his cares.

"Can I have another Coke instead?" he asked his Hoseok.

They went up to the bar together. The bartender already had a big mug of Coca Cola waiting for him.

Taehyung started to sip it. While waiting, Hoseok spun round and round on the bar stool next to him, making sound affects as if he were an airplane whizzing by. Taehyung's face scrunched up in an adoring smile. Hoseok could still be cute when he was drunk and carefree.

"But why is it against the rules to care here?" he asked his spinning Hoseok, "what's so bad about caring?"

But Hoseok ignored him, too absorbed in spinning, so the bartender answered instead.

"Tae, be careful what you say here," he said in a low voice, wiping the counter nervously, "people will be quick to think you're on HIS side."

"Who's side?" Taehyung wondered, sipping his Coke slowly.

"The King!" the bartender Hoseok whispered impatiently, "you really don't know anything do you?"

"People don't like the King?" Taehyung asked, "then why do you even have a king? Isn't everything free in Hope World? Can't you all do whatever you want?"

"Who told you that nonsense...?" the bartender groaned, holding the bridge of his nose like he had a headache.

"Some flowers sort of said..." the younger trailed off.

He wasn't sure whether it was normal to talk to flowers here in Hope World. Should he be embarrassed or not?

The bartender just rolled his eyes.

"Forget the flowers...," he said in a tired voice, "look, Tae, things still aren't ALL free in Hope World. The King regulates us. This kind of drunken carelessness is restricted to certain hours at certain bars. The King would rather we be responsible and sober and work all day and night to improve 'society', just like we did in the real world. He is delusional and uses his dragonwocky beast to keep us all in check, to keep us all down."

"Oh my gosh..." Taehyung was unsure what to say.

There were even tense political issues in Hope World, of all places.

"Just be careful not to give anyone here a reason to suspect you're his spy, okay?" the bartender said quietly but intensely, "and I'm only giving you this advice because I like you, so you better appreciate it and follow it."

"Thank you, thank you so much," Taehyung said, lowering his head in gratitude at the bartender.

"Woah!" his Hoseok in the pink suit suddenly yelled out beside him.

The bartender walked away to serve another customer as his Hoseok reached out and touched the drapey lace cardigan peeking out from under Taehyung's velvet jacket.

"This is sO prettyyy!!" he giggled, playing with the lace.

"How is it that one second you can seem almost sober and the next second you're drunk as heck?" Taehyung asked, "Are you okay?"

"Not at all," the older boy said dramatically, throwing his arms around Taehyung's neck, "I've been dying a little bit ever since I saw you and only one thing can possibly save me," he said, looking up into Taehyung's face.

"And what's that?" the younger laughed.

"Dance with me, Taehyung," Hoseok answered with comic intensity, clutching the collar of the younger's brown coat, trying to yank him off the stool and to his feet.

"Oh, I thought you were going to ask for a kiss," he teased, refusing to get up.

"Don't be silly!" the older boy scolded him, "that comes after the dance of course!"

"But we were just dancing together," Taehyung pointed out, "does that mean we could kiss now?"

He smiled mischievously as he said this, but Hoseok just glared at him like he was an idiot.

"NO, I mean a PROPER dance," Hoseok insisted. He mimicked a sort of waltz in the air.

And he just continued to dance, in his own world.

Taehyung laughed at him. It looked like it'd be best to just go along with Hoseok's shenanigans tonight. At least he'd found him. Talking out their problems could wait until they were both sober. Besides, since when had HE, Taehyung, been the responsible one? It was time to let down.

And so the younger boy quickly chugged the rest of his Coke. With a brain buzzing with the bubbly drink, he felt more confident and more careless and more attracted to Hoseok than ever.

"All right!" Taehyung said decisively, slamming his empty mug down.

He stood up swiftly and grabbed the red-haired boy's waist, suddenly pulling him close.

"I'll lead," he tried to say in his deepest most alluring voice, "even though I have no idea how to waltz."

He also tried to stare very intensely and wiggle his eyebrows seductively but Hoseok just sputtered laughter at him. Frankly, Taehyung couldn't take himself seriously either, and was holding back laughter too.

"Don't worry, Taetae, I'll lead," Hoseok said, patting his cheek, "and I told you, your stare is better when you don't try. You end up looking like you're confused when you try this hard," he giggled.

Taehyung pouted, which just made Hoseok laugh even more.

The went back out to the dance floor, which had cleared up quite a bit in the meantime. The music changed to a slow song with a heavy beat, low and minimalistic.

On one side, they held each other's hands, Hoseok's thin fingers intwined with his. On the other side, Taehyung's hand reached instinctively for the older boy's waist, but red haired boy grabbed his waist first. Oh right, if Hoseok was leading he should hold his upper arm, right? He hesitated unsure what to do with his hand...

"Just put your hand anywhere you want," Hoseok whispered with a suggestive smirk.

Taehyung's eyes went wide and the older boy burst out with laughter.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, "look, it's okay. If you like holding my waist, do it. We don't have to be limited to dancing in 'traditional' partner roles."

The younger boy beamed and grabbed Hoseok's waist too.

And then the red haired boy pulled him into the dance and into the music. The lights in the bar stopped flashing wild colors, the place going to velvet darkness with just simple spotlights and deep purple ambiance lighting on the dance floor.

They spun around slowly together to the steady rhythm, Taehyung following Hoseok's graceful, deliberate steps.

He was surprised he really felt nothing but happiness. In this moment, nothing mattered but the dance. Maybe there was something to the rules of The Baseline. It was so freeing to have no cares beyond what he was doing right then.

The song was still slow, so Hoseok let go of Taehyung's hand for a second and reached up to play with his long hair in the back, twisting his delicate fingers into it. Still, Hoseok kept them spinning in time.

As Taehyung got used to the rhythm of the steps, he felt Hoseok loosen his control. He leaned his head onto the younger's shoulder, and let him take the lead. Taehyung kept them moving just right with the music. It was fun. And this time, looking down at the older boy's soft smooth hair, Taehyung didn't hesitate to bury his nose in it. Hoseok smelled of vanilla, fresh and clean, as he always.

The music picked up a little. And Hoseok stopped leaning and directed the dance again. They began swirling faster. Hoseok spun Taehyung out from him with one hand, the brunette's long coat and cardigan flared around him elegantly. Then he twirled them back together.

And the music kept speeding up. It was a lively waltz now, but with a dark undertone, dramatic and passionate. They spun even faster.

"Catch me" Hoseok whispered, and he fell gracefully back to the side. Taehyung barely held onto him at his waist, as the older boy surrendered himself to gravity. Hoseok pulled Taehyung's face down with him, into his. The younger boy's heart raced as he held Hoseok there, his mind frozen.

"You have to pull me back up, Taehyung," Hoseok whispered patiently.

Oh right. The younger pulled his dance partner back upright, and Hoseok threw them back into the dance. They were whirling all around, waltzing gracefully yet rapidly around the empty dance floor. All the customers had stopped dancing and cleared the way for them. The entire bar only watched them.

They spun faster and faster and suddenly-- the music cut off dramatically. Hoseok stopped the swirling all at once. He stopped so fast but Taehyung felt like he was still going. The older boy had to hold on to him tight otherwise he might've kept spinning right out of his arms. Taehyung found himself clutching desperately to Hoseok and Hoseok clutching desperately to him, their arms all wrapped about each other and faces almost touching.

Their breathing was heavy but in sync with eachother. Hoseok's hot breath smelled of fresh lemon lime Sprite. It mingled with the spicy Coca Cola of his own exhalation.

Taehyung was dizzy from the drinks, from the dance, and just from Hoseok's beauty. Sweat ran down his face and he absolutely glowed. He stared at Taehyung like he must be glowing too. They were both just so drunk on...everything.

And so Taehyung kissed him. Hoseok met his lips as if he'd been dying of thirst. Like soda, the kiss was sweet and fizzed with energy constantly building to bursting with tension.

The room cheered. As the crowd whooped louder, Hoseok kissed him back even more passionately. Taehyung was just completely lost in the heat of the kiss, until Hoseok's lips started to grow cold. They went from lukewarm to icy. Taehyung froze as a chill passed through him. He could no longer feel Hoseok in his arms or Hoseok's arms around him. And the room was silent.

He pulled back and opened his eyes to see a large goldfish floating in the air where his Hoseok once stood. The reddish pink jacket of his suit was draped over the fish's back. It slipped off and fell to the floor as the fish began to drift away toward the door.

Taehyung stared, in shock, as did all the bar patrons.

"H-h Hoseokie hyung?" Taehyung stuttered weakly, crouching down by the empty pink coat on the floor.

Everyone started shouting at once.

"You killed our dancing king!"

"Bring him back!"

"I knew we should've thrown him out!"

"He's a spy! A member of the secret police!"

"No! He's a criminal, a killer! We should CALL the police!"

The bouncer ran inside, wearing his bunny hat.

"What's going on?!" the leather jacketed Hoseok yelled over the chaos as he dodged the goldfish that swam by his head and out the door.

"He killed our dancing king!" the crowd answered, all pointing at Taehyung, who was holding the empty pink suit coat in his hands.

The bouncer looked at Taehyung shocked and sad for one second, but then he glared. He waved his hand at the bar counter. At his signal the dozens of bartenders all leaped over the counter at once to rush at Taehyung.

Still clutching the pink coat, Taehyung ran as fast as he could. He dodged past the bartenders and the bouncer, barely missing their grasping fingers, and charged out the door and into the street.

He still heard yelling and footsteps coming from inside the bar. They were going to chase him. So Taehyung began to sprint. His long coat and cardigan billowed out behind him and Hoseok's pink coat flapped in his hand.

People in street gave him odd looks but none were stopping him. Yet. As he ran, he tried to process what had just happened.

It must have been the wrong Hoseok... right? It just couldn't have been his REAL Hoseok. Was his hair styled differently? Hadn't his Hoseok curled his hair to get ready for the date? But this guy's hair had been smooth. Taehyung was desperate to find some proof to hold on to.

Turning onto another street, still running, he saw the mailman Hoseok in his tan jacket and green baseball cap whistling contentedly while walking. Taehyung raced to catch up.

"Hey hey!" he called out.

The mailman turned his head, stopped, and waited for him. He smiled sweetly and paitently as the younger boy caught his breath, panting.

"Hello again!" the elder said cheerily.

"This is a weird question...but can I kiss you real fast?" Taehyung asked, still breathing heavily, "there's just something I nee to chec--"

"Really!?" the mailman giggled excitedly.

"I'm sorry I know it's weird and out of the blue," the younger aplogized.

"Aren't you Taehyung, the angel that fell out of the blue sky? Because in my opinion, then, the best things come 'out of the blue,'" the mailman said with a slight blush and an innocent looking eye-smile.

"Was--what--that--I--uh...." Taehyung stuttered. He was pretty sure the mailman had just used a cheesy pick-up line on him, and he was also pretty sure it was working...very well.

"You know, I would hang up my mail satchel for you," the mailman Hoseok confessed shyly, "I'd rather be with you more than anything, even more than delivering than deliver love letters."

He pulled his side bag off and let it fall to the ground. When it hit, a hundred little red paper hearts spilled out onto the sidewalk.

"And that's a yes, by the way. You may kiss me," the older boy laughed, putting his arms around Taehyung's neck.

Dang it why did EVERY single Hoseok have to be so attractive to Taehyung? He was getting distracted and flustered and yet he KNEW this wasn't the real Hoseok.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to clear his head. Closing his eyes, he kissed the mailman gently. It was good and tender. And again, he smelled so fresh and clean and like vanilla. The maliman kissed back, softly and lovingly rather than passionately, but held the younger boy tightly.

Again, warm lips turned cold. Filled with dread, Taehyung opened his eyes to yet another goldfish. This time the fish still had the green baseball cap on it's head.

"ahhhh..." the boy whisper-screamed to the fish who was once a mailman, "I'm so sorry..."

Guilt rushed in on Taehyung. The mailman had always been so kind and pure. Even his kiss had been pure and perfect. And Taehyung had betrayed him.

"Glub," the golden fish said with what seemed to be a smile, if fish could smile.

Then it just slowly swam up through the air and into the bright blue sky.

"What did you do!?!?" someone yelled from across thw street.

Two Hoseoks in green tracksuits and bucket hats laden down with numerous shopping bags were sitting at a bus stop. They had lowered their sunglasses in shock, pointing and yelling at him.

Taehyung took off running again. He had to get out of town, out of sight. He was going to be in serious trouble if he kept turning Hoseoks into goldfish left and right.

But at least he had confirmed that kissing Hoseoks that WEREN'T his real Hoseok could turn them into fish. That time he'd kissed the real Hoseok in the park, he hadn't turned into a fish. So...this must be the rule.

Real Hoseok=safe to kiss.

Other Hoseoks=goldfish.

In conclusion, the Hoseok from The Baseline had not been his real Hoseok. Hopefully. Oh! How he just wanted to believe that!

It would probably be better to have more data points to prove his hypothesis, but it wouldn't be ethical to turn so many innocent Hoseoks into fish. It also broke his heart when it happened.

Taehyung shook his head vigorously as he flew down the street. The stress was bringing on a headache. All these different Hoseoks were so confusing!

Finally reaching the house he unlocked the door with his padlock bracelet and dashed inside, slamming the door shut and bolting it. Surely the angry Hoseoks from the Baseline and the bus stop were still out for him.

Back against the bright green door, he slid down and slumped to the floor. Burrying his face in his hands, he let himself cry a good, hard cry. Things had gone from bad to worse very quickly. He was so so scared and so so alone.

"Yip!" He heard the tiny bark pierce through his sobs.

Taehyung looked up to see Yeontan's nose hovering in the air. Then the puppy's full head appeared, followed by his fuzzy little body and legs. The little ball of fur waddled up to him and bumped into his legs.

He gathered the little dog up in his arms and sobbed all the harder as Yeontan tried to lick his tears away.

A knock sounded at the door vibrating the lime wood agaisnt his back. Yeontan barked sharply at it.

"Open up in the name of the King!" someone on the other side ordered.

The King. The King that the bar patrons found oppressive? If he opened the door, would he be in trouble? But also... If he DIDN'T open the door, would he be in WORSE trouble? Maybe he could explain things...

Taehyung put Yeontan down and cracked open the door shakily. He peeked out.

At least fifteen Hoseoks in light pink police uniforms were crowded on the porch. Their well-fitted stiff pink shorts and t-shirts were covered in pockets and straps. Each wore a pink baseball cap over his red hair, pink-tinted sunglasses over his eyes, a gold badge on his chest, a pink walkie-talkie strapped to his leg, and tall pink socks with pink combat boots on his feet. They were all identical. Standing all together in a big group, there was almost too much pink.

The officer in the front spoke to Taehyung.

"Kim Taehyung, sir, you are under arrest," he said firmly, "by the Flamingo Police Force of Hope World, under the orders of the King, on the charges of murdering two citizens into goldfish in front of multiple witnesses!"

Behind his legs, Yeontan started barking furiously.

"But! But!" Taehyung sputtered fearfully, "I didn't mean it! I-I I can't go to jail! I still have to find Hoseok hyung!"

"The King's orders are the rule," the flamingo officer replied calmly over the noisy dog, "we will take you by force if we must. Please make this simple and comply."

The panic inside of the younger boy was increasing rapidly. Yeontan was trying to push past his legs to attack the policemen, but Taehyung held the dog back and tried to breathe. If he kept a cool head, he could think of a way out of this.

"O-okay..." he stuttered pulling at his clothes, "could I just change first? I spilled Sprite all over this..."

"All right," the officer Hoseok said crisply.

Taehyung pushed Yeontan back away from the doorway and then slammed the door shut in the officer's face.

"Wait!!" the policeman yelled through the door, banging on it loudly, "you must be escorted by a flamingo officer!!"

Taehyung grabbed Hoseok's pink coat and ran. He ran through the house and out into the garden, his puppy trailing behind.

"Where do I go where do I go?!?!" he yelled to the air, pulling at his hair frantically as Yeontan barked at the bushes.

The roses in the garden perked up.

"Got yourself into trouble did you?" the yellow rose teased.

"You poor thing! You look so frazzled!" the red rose cried with pity.

"Running away is not the answer," purple rose chastized him, "it never is."

"Oh why is prison our eternal fate!?" the blue rose sobbed.

"Gah! Shut up!!" Taehyung just yelled at the roses, "and that goes for you too!" he said to the barking Yeontan.

But the little dog didn't shut up. He kept growling at the bushes. And indeed, a squirrel dashed out from the shrubbery, squeaking as it raced between Taehyung's legs, across the lawn, and into the bushes on the other side.

Yeontan went berserk, charging after the little creature and diving into the bushes in pursuit. After a second of rustling, the bushes went still and silent.

"Tan!!" Taehyung desperately called after his pup.

He rushed to the still bushes. Where had the dog gone? Had he disappeared again? Taehyung didn't want to be alone, didn't want to be here when the policemen broke down the door, so he dove into the bushes too, joining in the squirrel chase again.

Chapter Text

The moment he dove in the bushes, Taehyung heard the screen door of the house crash open and a stampede of feet in pink combat boots gather out on the lawn.

"Come out with your hands up!" one of the flamingo officers ordered.

That sounded like they might be armed. But he didn't remember them having weapons. Were they armed? Taehyung did not plan on coming out of the bushes to find out. He desperately crawled forward. Though he expected to hit his head on the fence after just a second of crawling, he didn't.

He just kept going, pushing through the green leaves. The leaves got bigger as he crawled and the space got roomier. The leaves grew to the size of umbrellas and then great awnings. Eventually he was able to stand up with the giant leaves all high above his head.

Had the bushes grown or had Taehyung shrunk? He couldn't tell nor could he stop to ponder. The police might know how to follow.

Coming out from under the bush's leaves Taehyung walked into a veritable forest of tulips, daisies, chrysanthemums, and towering sunflowers. The stems were so thick he couldn't wrap his arms around them, like giant tree trunks. The petals of the flowers were so large that they hid the sky behind a colorful canopy of pinks, blues, and yellows.

Yeontan's sharp barks echoed through the forest. Up ahead he could just see the little dog's fluffy bottom disappearing behind some green stems. Taehyung jogged after the pup, deeper into the floral jungle, and hopefully farther away from the flamingo police force.

The canopy of petals cast tinted shadows. The pink, blue, and yellow overlapped and mixed into oranges, greens, and purples. It was somewhat dizzying, making his legs wobbly. Not to mention he had been running SO much today already. If only he could just...stop for a bit.

Thankfully, Yeontan did. Stopping in a clearing ahead, the puppy barked up the stem of a yellow daisy, which the squirrel was scaling. It quickly disappeared into the sunny petals.

"Give the poor thing a break," Taehyung grumbled at the puppy, "heck, give ME a break."

The boy let himself fall onto his back. The ground was covered in a soft green moss with fibers as big as grass. It made a nice springy cushion to lie on. Yeontan stopped barking, running over to check on his fallen companion.

"I'm okay, boy, I'm okay" he chuckled as the puppy licked his face.

So Yeontan curled up beside him, his warm little body pressed against him. Taehyung was still clutching the reddish pink jacket that the Baseline Hoseok had been wearing. He carefully draped it over himself and Yeontan like a blanket.

Searching his own pockets, he pulled out his camera. Pointing it upwards, he captured one picture of the kaleidoscope of colorful flower petals covering the sky. It was a magnificent sight, but... He sighed. It was just hard to appreciate anything when he missed Hoseok SO bad.

Taehyung figured he might as well make that empty place in his heart even more painful, so he finally pulled out his old photographs that Hoseok had printed for him.

A picture of a beach, a person's back, walking through the sand toward the water.

A picture of the city at night, a person's back, walking through the streets wearing a beanie, carrying a drink.

A picture of the city in the snow, and a person's back, carrying an umbrella and heavy bags, walking toward a building.

Somehow... Taehyung knew these were all Hoseok. Well, he'd taken them hadn't he? Of course he should know.

The more he flipped through the photos, he realized that even though there were truly many beautiful pictures of his five other friends and lots nature and landscapes and his dog Yeontan, they felt like few compared to what seemed to be his main subject of interest.

"Almost half of my pictures are of...him," Taehyung mumbled in awe at himself.

There were countless selfies of Hoseok and himself at restaurants making silly expressions, a whole series of pictures of Hoseok serious-faced in a dance practice room or a studio, and even more random shots of Hoseok just standing in nature or out on the streets or relaxing indoors.

"I was really THIS obsessed?" he chuckled, "sheesh."

Then, he pulled out the most gorgeous one. It was a picture of Hoseok sitting on the couch in a plain white t-shirt and jean shorts, cuddling Yeontan in his arms, his dark hair spilling forward. The light from the window behind him made him look heavenly. This whole image was... perfection.

And yet his eyes kept going back to all of the pictures of Hoseok's back. It was almost symbolic. He'd been walking behind him, watching and following. He had been obsessed, but had Hoseok been able to turn around and open up to him? Even now, he was still trailing behind him, trying to find and understand him in Hope World.

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, he began to doze off. He was so thankful when sleep began to overcome him and pull his troubled conciousness away.

"It's no good..." he mumured as he drifted off, "I still just want to escape everything."

Even in Hope World, he was alone and sad. Even here, he felt trapped and hounded. The King's police force would probably catch him if he slept here, but Taehyung let himself go into the world of sleep anyway.

The ocean roared.

The sea mist mixed with his sweat and dripped down his face.

Taehyung tried to pass the soccer ball to Jimin, but Jungkook slipped in and stole it, running with it the other way down the pier. Taehyung yelled and his teammate cursed as they both charged after the youngest.

They hadn't even set up clear goals and were basically just passing and stealing the ball, but the three of them always went hard at it until they were drenched in sweat and collapsed.

Once they reached that point, they chatted and rested there on the pier, letting the ocean heal them.

"Do you think Seokjin's new friends will be cool?" asked Jimin as he stretched.

"Yes," Jungkook breathed, looking past Taehyung at something behind him, starry eyed.

Taehyung turned around to see a smiling and waving Seokjin striding up with the three other boys he had promised to bring.

They all indeed looked very cool. One was tallish and looked thoughtful and another was shortish and looked unreadable. But the third...

"Oh..." Taehyung said. He wished he could take a picture. He also wished maybe he wasn't so sweaty now.

"HEY!!" Taehyung shouted happily to greet their new friends.

The scene shifted.

Taehyung was resting with Jimin and Jungkook on a basketball court in the park now. Seokjin was walking up with Yoongi, Hoseok, and Namjoon.

"Hello!!" Jimin called out to their hyungs.

"I wonder where they went without inviting us yesterday," Jungkook grumbled, standing up and grabbing the basketball.

"Heeeeey!!!" Yoongi yelled as he ran up, swiped the basketball from the youngest's hands, and effortlessly sunk a three pointer.

Namjoon did not greet them, staring silently at the sky in contemplation.

"Sorry we're late," Seokjin mumbled as he fiddled with a new polaroid camera.

Those three may not have given the best greetings, but Hoseok smiled brighter than he ever had.

"It's a perfect day isn't it?" he asked the youngest three, his eyes scrunching up as he beamed at them.

Taehyung thought it might really be perfect, now that he was here. Even if tje others were in an odd mood, Hoseok was still the infallible angel of perfection and light he always was.

After Yoongi owned Jungkook at HORSE countless times in a row, it was Hoseok who comforted the younger boy and let him beat him at a game or two.

After Namjoon said cryptic things about how friends can never actually be close because true understanding between two humans is impossible, making Jimin cry, it was Hoseok who came over and made him laugh again, promising they were true friends.

And when Seokjin struggled to make everyone gather around to take a selfie on his polaroid, it was Hoseok who brought them all together and made them smile for the picture.

"This is important! For memories!" Seokjin insisted.

The scene shifted again.

All seven of them were at a restaurant dining table.

"Everyone smile! One! Two! Three!" Seokjin said as he clicked his polaroid.

"Let's get to the drinks now!" Jimin said excitedly.

"Yeah!" Jungkook agreed.

"Nope, you're still drinking soda for a couple more years," Yoongi laughed at the youngest as he poured Sprite into his cup.

It was not long before everyone but Jungkook was drunk as heck.

Yoongi and Seokjin remained the most lucid, but the other four were hopeless, especially Taehyung. Their table grew very loud and even though Jungkook couldn't drink yet, he was well entertained by his hyungs.

Namjoon and Jimin told each other bizarre stories, laughing at things that weren't funny while Seokjin and Yoongi heckled them with sarcastic remarks. Meanwhile, Taehyung put an arm around a flushed Hoseok, who was staring off into space with heavy eyelids.

"Heyyy hyung!" he yelled in his ear

"...huh?" the elder turned to him slowly.

"I think I love you," he mumbled, touching his forehead to Hoseok's.

"...mmhmm love you too, bro" Hoseok hummed, smiling with his eyes closed.

"No!" Taehyung insisted, "I think I love you TOO much!"

"How much?" Hoseok asked with raised eyebrows and a hiccup.

"SooOo much...," the younger giggled, "I think...I'm... in love....," he trailed off with breathy laughter.

"Ah rEallY?!" Hoseok laughed too, grabbing Taehyung's hand and shaking it excitedly, as if congratulating him, "what a coincidence!! I'm in love with you too!!"

"Someone pull those clowns apart, they make me sick," Yoongi grumbled, but he smiled at them while the whole table laughed.

Sounds of laughter turned to the soft rush of the ocean in a light rain.

Hoseok stood before him in the sand. His eyes were serious and his dark hair was tousled by the misty sea breeze.

Their friends ran down the beach away from them, laughing and playing in the rain, but Taehyung and Hoseok stayed behind.

"About last night...the things we said..." the older boy said reluctantly.

"What things we said?" Taehyung asked, mind blank.

"You know...when we were drunk," Hoseok said, blushing a bit.

Taehyung's mind was still blank.

"I'm sorry, I must have been REALLY drunk," he apologized, "because I can't remember what we said AT ALL. Was it important?"

The older boy went from blushing to blanching.

"....no....no it wasn't. I... I barely remember either," Hoseok laughed in an unsettled way.

The sun came out from behind the clouds, lighting up the rain drops, making them glisten in the air. Hoseok turned and ran away from Taehyung and toward their friends, most likely expecting him to give chase.

But Taehyung just took out his camera and raised it to his eyes.

The scene through his viewfinder shifted to night.

Taehyung was looking through his camera at the city lights...at Hoseok, who turned around and giggled.

"Quit walking behind me I feel awkward!" he whined.

"I want to capture the moments," Taehyung answered, but he put his camera away and caught up with the older boy.

Hoseok suddenly stopped and turned to him.

"I have something for you...a sort of early birthday present. I'm excited so I can't wait to give it to you," he said quickly.

He took out a square box and handed it to the younger boy.

Taehyung's heart skipped a beat. It felt like a movie. A date at night, strolling the streets and suddenly one of them pulls out a box with a....no...what was he thinking?! He shut up his mind and took the present.

He opened it. It was a watch, THE watch, in fact, that he'd been wanting, the one with a honey bee on face surrounded by red and green, and a rich brown leather strap. Hoseok always paid attention to those things.

"Hoseok...," he breathed.

For some reason this was hitting his emotions hard. Not finding the words to express his gratitude, he pulled the older boy into a big hug. Trying to speak, sobs of happiness were all that came out.

"It's...not that big of a deal," Hoseok said nervously.

"It IS a big deal!" Taehyung cried, "not just because I know this was VERY expensive, but because it's from you," he said as he squeezed him.

"Nah, nah," the older boy dismissed with a laugh, but he hugged the younger back.

Why did Hoseok always have to act like this? Didn't he know how much he meant to him?

"Seriously Hoseok hyung!" Taehyung blurted tensely, "it's a big deal becauee I have been falling in love with you ever since we met."

Hoseok froze and Taehyung stopped short. He hadn't meant to say that. Well, it was too late to take it back so he just kept going.

"I love you more and more every day and it's unbearable to keep it inside."

"Oh..." Hoseok said, letting his arms drop to his side, letting go of Taehyung.

The younger pulled back and searched the older boy's face, holding his shoulders.

"Do you... not feel the same?" he asked in a small voice, growing desperate.

"I..." Hoseok wouldn't look at him. "Please don't make me answer," he whispered.

Taehyung said nothing. He couldn't really say anything. He felt ready to cry again, but not of happiness this time.

They stood in silence for what felt like a long time, neither moving or looking at each other. It was unbearable, until, finally, Hoseok sighed heavily and met his teary eyes. The elder's own eyes looked full of a mix of pain and love, hope and despair.

"I do feel the same, Taehyung, I've fallen in love with you too," he finally answered with a weak voice.

Taehyung's heart just latched on to those words, ignoring the hints of sorrow, and overflowed with joy.

"Hoseokie hyung!" he squealed and wrapped him in another tight hug.

They held hands the rest of the night as they walked, like they were a couple now. Hoseok even bought him a bouquet of pink flowers from a street vendor.

Taehyung lifted the bouquet to his nose and his senses were enveloped in the fragrant pink.

The scene shifted in a rush of flower petals.

It was that pink dream again. Yoongi had dared them to kiss. They were all there. All seven. At a sleepover. In pink pyjamas. His heart fluttered.

"Taehyung it is okay," Hoseok said calmly with his hands on the younger's shaking shoulders, "let's be brave like last night when we told each other...you know."

"What do you mean last night? I haven't seen you in weeks," Taehyung said, confused.

Hoseok's eyes opened wide, eyebrows furrowed, and mouth turned down in a frown.

"Oh...sorry. Just ignore that. It's okay, we'll just do this coolly mhm?" he said, still with confidence.

After they kissed it was chaos. They were laughing and hitting each other. But Taehyung saw sadness and distance behind Hoseok's smiling eyes. Had he been that bad of a kisser?

Their friends' roars of laughter turned into the roars of the ocean again.

Taehyung, Seokjin, Jimin, and Jungkook were on the pier.

"Yoongi, Namjoon, and Hoseok might not be able to hang out as much anymore" Seokjin said somberly.

"Who?" Jungkook asked as he tossed pebbles into the sea.

"Aren't Yoongi and Namjoon those antisocial jerks from school?" Jimin said apathetically, "I never heard of a Hoseok though."

"You don't remember them?!??!" Seokjin exclaimed with almost panic in his voice, "was Taehyung and Hoseok's kiss cursed THAT powerfully?

"Wait. Taehyungie hyung kissed someone?" Jungkook asked incredulously with a smirking laugh.

"Yes...? Yes! I did!" Taehyung defended himself.

Wait. Why did he say that? He felt like he had kissed someone. But whom? He couldn't remember. It couldn't have been this Hoseok that Seokjin spoke of. He didn't even know a Hoseok.

Three boys approached.

"Taehyung!" the most handsome one called out to him.

How did that guy know his name? He still went up to talk to him. He was cute, afterall. Heck, he practically glowed.

"Sorry, I forgot your name," Taehyung apologized to the beautiful stranger. He must've known him from school, but how could he forget someone like THAT?

"It's Hoseok. You can call me hyung. And don't be sorry. It's all my fault you forgot. Everything is my fault," he said, voice heavy as he hung his head.

"How could it be your fault?" Taehyung asked, concerned and confused. Was this the Hoseok that Seokjin was talking abou? What was going on?

"You won't believe this probably, but I have to try to explain," Hoseok sighed but looked up with determination.

"It's okay, I'll listen."

The handsome boy started fiddling with his coat zipper as a rush of words spilled forth.

"We've been friends for a while now. Close friends...REALLY close. We were in love. Well, I thought we were. I loved you. And you said you loved me. You kept saying it actually. But you kept forgetting because I'm.... Basically short story: I'm cursed not to be in love. Every time I returned your love you forgot more and more. A couple nights ago we actually kissed and now you've forgotten everything. I don't know what to do. I miss you so much it hurts. It's all my fault you keep forgetting and you'll never believe me--"

"Hey," Taehyung interrupted and grabbed the older boy's fidgeting hands, "don't worry. I believe you."

It surprised himself. Why did he believe him? Was it just because he was cute? Or was it that weird feeling that something was missing? He didn't know.

"Really?!" Hoseok gasped and smiled, eyes sparkling, "oh thank you thank you thank you Taehyung!" he cried, tears welling in his eyes.

The older boy tried to hold it back, tried to smile it away, but his lip trembled and the tears broke through, rolling down his cheeks as he burst into sobs.

Taehyung's heart broke with Hoseok, he wanted to hug him. So he let go of his hands and...

He forgot everything in that moment. A strange boy was crying in front of him. Why was he standing so close? He should give the poor guy some privacy. He started to walk away.

The strange boy grabbed his arm.

"Please don't leave Tae," he said.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Taehyung asked, concerned.

The boy's eyes widened with hurt. It looked like he'd just been punched in the gut.

"No...no, no nevermind," he choked out in a whisper, "I'm so sorry. I was mistaken."

Taehyung walked away to join his friends but he watched the crying boy as his two friends joined him. He listened in on their conversation.

"I'm so hecking sorry," he sobbed to them, "I messed up and fell in love and now they forgot ALL of us just because the three of us met them at the same time. And I don't know how to fix it. He just keeps forgetting. I'm so so sorry."

"Hope," the tall one addressed him gently, "Agust D and I have been thinking maybe we should let it all go. With these overwhelming powers, we all barely remember ourselves anymore."

"Yeah RM and I think it's better to stay away from people," the shorter one agreed, "now that we're like this, we just can't have friendships. I'm planning on moving out to the middle of nowhere."

The crying boy nodded in agreement. Even from afar he looked defeated, hunched over.

"Agust D, please take me with you," he mumbled so Taehyung had to strain to hear, "take me so far away from here that I'll never be found. Take me as far away from...him as you possibly can."

It blurred to a new scene. Taehyung was in his kitchen sitting and looking at his camera. Should he develop the film? He couldn't even remember what pictures were on it.

Suddenly his whole soul sank. He felt tired, all life drained. The colors were gone. The sunlight was gone. The energy that kept the world turning was just...gone. Something in his heart, something that had kept him attached to life and hope, that last mysterious something that always kept him going when life got tough, was severed.

Only now, reliving it as a dream, did he realize. This was the moment Hoseok had left. The moment Hoseok had escaped reality and hidden himself away in Hope World, taking all the colors and hope in the world with him.

Taehyung just sat there feeling cold. Just cold. Was he dead? Where was he again? He couldn't see anything anymore. It wasn't darkness and it definitely wasn't light. It was just...nothing. Absolute nothingness.

With so much nothing, there was no context for space or time, so he just drifted in a horrifically indefinite limbo, barely able to even think. Did he even exist? Who was he?

But then, a warm hand reached through the nothingness. It touched his cheek. It felt like the hand was infusing him with light, bringing his limp body back to life. Heat surged through him as if he were tinder catching fire. The nothingness fluttered and buzzed around him like insect wings. His brain lit up, awake.

And then hand yanked him out of the cold nothingness, pulled him out of the dream. His vision suddenly burst to light with the green and colorful world. Butterflies scattered everywhere in the air around him, their colorful wings catching the light. It was as if he'd been asleep under a blanket of butterflies and distrubed them with his waking. His vision now clear, he looked up and into Hoseok's warm and tenderly smiling face, red hair wreathed in golden light from a setting sun.

Hoseok looked back down at Taehyung with eyes overflowing with what was undeniably love. Love even with no painful reservations mixed in, just pure, pure love.

"Taehyung....," he said quietly, but with the deepest happiness that bespoke an eon-long, lonely, longing hope that had just been fulfilled, "you found me."

The older boy's shining eyes sparkled with tears, but they did not fall. He just laughed softly and carressed the younger boy's face.

At first Taehyung was stunned: he was in the flower forest again, lying on his back with Yeontan asleep at his side; then full of joy: Hoseok had appeared and awakened him; then full of fear: he had just been trapped in that empty nothingness of a dream. No... not a dream... he knew that nightmare had actually once been his reality.

Now Taehyung was terrified, absolutely terrified, that the boy in front of him might disappear at any second and send him back into that despair. Sitting up with a jolt, he grabbed the older boy's hand that was on his face.

"Hyung please PLEASE don't leave me!" he begged with a sob, breathing fast and clutching Hoseok's hand tighter and tighter. With clenched teeth he choked out, "I can't bear it again. Never again. I. Just. Can't."

"Hey, hey, hey," Hoseok soothed, reaching out with his other hand to smooth back Taehyung's hair, picking bits of moss out of it, "I won't leave. I won't even let you out of my sight now. I promise."

The calm of Hoseok's voice, touch, and presence washed over Taehyung like the edge of a cool lake lapping up on the shore. He took a deep breath, still holding Hoseok's hand against his face.

But as his mind cleared he realized, with an internal groan, he still didn't know if this Hoseok crouching beside him was the real one. Taehyung let go of Hoseok's hand and looked him over.

The older boy had the same curled hair his Hoseok had had at the time he'd slammed the door in Taehyung's face, but his clothes were different.

He wore a black and tan varsity jacket over a plain red T-shirt. A red bandana hung out of his ripped and faded blue jeans and his feet were covered in clunky black and red sneakers.

He'd probably just changed his clothes, right? Taehyung himself needed to change out of his fancy date clothes. They were already ruined with dirt and sweat. Of course Hoseok was in a different outfit now. And who else would say 'you found me,' but HIS Hoseok who had left him?

"Is it...you?" Taehyung asked tentatively.

"Yes? Of course?" the older boy said with musical laugh, "I'm your hope, your angel--"

"No," Taehyung cut him off, "how do I know it's REALLY you, that you're the REAL Hoseok?"

"Because I love you," he answered immediately and seriously.

"Actually, it seems quite a lot of Hoseoks here are in love with me." He counted off on his fingers, "the mailman, the bouncer, the bartender, the dancer... I am sure they all had a thing for me."

"That wasn't love, it was infatuation," the redhead said simply.

"Are you sure?? Even the mailman's love??" Taehyung questioned.

The mailman had been so pure... surely his love had been true, but Hoseok just smiled and shook his head.

"Yes. I'm sure," he said firmly but kindly, "look, I'm the only one here now and saying it: I love you."

That was nice, but it still wasn't proof.

"Oh well..." the brunette sighed, rubbing his neck, in frustration, "I guess the only way I can really know is if we kiss..."

"That's a bit childish," Hoseok frowned, "you know kissing isn't the same as love, right? But if you want, I will indulge you."

The older boy tipped forward onto his knees, putting both hands on either side of the seated Taehyung and leaned in.

The brunette closed his eyes. He was nervous, dreading the possibility of this Hoseok turning into another fish. He couldn't bring himself to meet his lips, so he waited for him to meet his.

As he felt the warmth of Hoseok's face getting closer he really started to have second thoughts. He wasn't ready to be alone again. Real Hoseok or not, he REALLY didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to know if he was real anymore.

"... No! Wait..." the younger whispered urgently.

Eyes still shut, he put out hand to push against Hoseok's chest.

"Don't do it. It's okay... ," Taehyung said.

But Hoseok didn't answer, nor did he move closer or farther away.

Taehyung opened his eyes. Hoseok was still leaning over him, but he had frozen. His eyes glared up at something behind Taehyung's head.

"Hoseo--"

Suddenly Hoseok whipped a nerf gun out of his coat and shoved Taehyung onto his back. He aimed and fired a nerf dart up into the flower canopy with pop and a woosh.

Something squaked loudly and fell to the ground with a flutter and a heavy thump.

Taehyung's heart was fluttering and thumping too, he whirled his head around. A few paces behind them on the ground at the base of a bright red tulip tree was a lump covered in pink feathers. An unmoving flamingo.

Beside him, Yeontan awoke, lept to his tiny feet, and started yapping at the disturbance.

"Wha-- Why did you!?" Taehyung sputtered at the older boy.

"Come on, we need to get out of here. There could be more," Hoseok said calmly, grabbing Taehyung's hand and pulling him to his feet.

The pink coat he'd used as a blanket fell to the ground next to his camera and photographs as he stood there dumdfounded.

Hoseok reloaded the nerf gun and hid it back in his varsity jacket. The orange light of the setting sun made his face appear even more serious.

"It's also getting dark for the first time since the dawn of Hope World," he said.

It was only now that Taehyung realized. The sun was indeed going down. But it hadn't gone down last night! Hoseok had said the sun never set in Hope World!

"Wha? Why is the sun going down all of the sudden?"

"Because of you," the elder answered with a smile and a hand on his back, "you've been here over a day now, which means you're becoming a permanent part of this world. The sun is naturally making room for the moon. Makes enough sense."

"Wha?? I'm the moon??"

Taehyung's eyes glazed over and his mouth hung open in confusion. Hoseok was the sun, for sure, but wasn't Namjoon given the power of the moon?

Hoseok patted his back.

"You can think about it later, come on," he said, eyeing the place where the bird fell with suspicion.

"Wait let me grab my camera and--" Taehyung started.

"No time, no space, leave it!" Hoseok said quickly.

He grabbed the younger boy's hand again and started to run, dragging him along. Yeontan followed. Taehyung let the camera, pink jacket, and photographs go. But then he remembered the fallen bird.

"Did you really kill that flamingo!?" Taehyung asked, trying to look back at the fallen bird over his shoulder as they ran.

"Those birds are NOT innocent. Nothing with wings is," Hoseok said as if that answered it.

"How!?" the younger protested, "what did they ever do!?"

"Winged things are the King's spies!" Hoseok hissed, "and they're after the both of US, you know!"

"I don't believe this..." the brunette grumbled, frustrated at the absurdity. Again with this paranoia over spies and political enemies.

"Seriously?" the elder scoffed, "Flamingo Police and the Dragonwocky? Never heard of those? Never noticed that they all FLY?"

"I... Sort of?" Taehyung defended, "...but that one was...that was just a bird! The flamingo police are people!"

"Don't be naive!" Hoseok scolded him, "ALL birds are dangerous!"

"But did you have to kill it...!?"

"Taehyung, this is a nerf gun," Hoseok said flatly, opening his coat to show him the plastic firearm.

"Well?!" the younger yelled, still unsatisfied, "and are those lethal in Hope World!? For all I know they could be! Sprite is alcoholic for heck's sake!"

Hoseok said nothing to this and kept his eyes ahead and focused on running. He kept a tight grip on Taehyung's hand too. As they ran and the sun continued to set and the shadows of the flower forest grew thicker.

"Why-- why aren't you answering me?!" the brunette whined between breaths.

But the red haired boy seemed be intent on ignoring him. Taehyung was out of breath so he begrudgingly let the matter drop.

Again, here he was running and running and running, but would it finally help him escape and take him to happiness this time?

He held one hope in his hand--literally--and it was that the hand he held belonged to his real Hoseok and that the older boy's promise to never leave him was true. In the midst of his doubts, the bird controversy, and the oncoming twilight, Taehyung only knew one thing: he wouldn't be letting go of this hand.

Their running took them to a clearing in the flower forest. In the dimming orangey light, he could see a large pond fed by a wide and steady stream that ran through the area, flowing down from a distant mountain. The mountain was so tall, he could not see the top, for it was obscured in fluffy clouds painted gold by the sunset.

Down in the clearing next to the water was a large warehouse that could've been an airplane hangar. It was a long building with green paneling and a smaller tan maintenance-looking building attached.

Hoseok slowed few paces from the building, still holding Taehyung's hand.

"This is where we can hide from the King's minions. And rest for the night," he said panting hard every few words. He was even more out of breath than Taehyung was.

Yeontan sat down and barked up at Hoseok as if asking a question.

"Yes, we're good here," the older boy spoke to the dog, "thank you very much for watching over him. Tell Mickey I said hello and that I love him."

The Pomeranian yipped happily in answer and began to disappear.

"No! Not again!" Taehyung cried, falling to his knees and reaching out to his puppy that was only a floating nose and then... nothing, "whyyyyy does he keep doing that!?"

"It's okay," Hoseok soothed him, rubbing his shoulders, "it's okay, he's in doggy heaven with Mickey."

"HE'S DEAD!?" the brunette screamed.

"OH no no no no no," the older boy quickly backtracked, "no. I meant they're just really happy that's all. In Hope World puppies just poof away to go chase squirrels whenever they want and then pop in whenever we need them to take care of us."

Hoseok said it all in a very cute voice with a sweet smile and adorable little laugh. He was really trying hard to smooth it all over, but Taehyung wasn't having it.

"Puppies aren't supposed to take care of people! People should care for their puppies!" Taehyung cried. At this point he was so stressed he was on the verge of a tantrum.

"Well, here Yeontan is a very capable and independent young dog and you should respect that," the red head said with a huff, "you, on the other hand, appear to be very high maintenance and in need of some serious TLC."

"Excuse me?!" the younger protested, standing up, "I don't even know what that means but I'm offended!"

Hoseok answered by wrapping his arms around his head and kissing the side of it firmly three times, once for each word.

"Tender. Loving. Care."

Taehyung was feeling more and more that this might be his real Hoseok.

"I'm here to give you that now," the older boy said proudly and let go of the younger, "and I'll expect just as much in return from you as well."

He turned to walk away toward the building as Taehyung stood there blushing and holding his head. Hoseok wanted the same in return, huh? The younger ran after the him, grabbing his head from behind and planting a three quick kisses on the fluffy red hair.

"Ha!" Taehyung yelled with a laugh and started to dash away.

"Come here, you!" Hoseok shouted playfully, grabbing his arm before he could flee and pulling him back and into a hug, "this isn't a competition or a game. It's just the equal give and take of love. You are mine. And I am yours. Forever."

Staring at him with heart eyes, Hoseok tried to lift Taehyung into the air, but strained to lift the younger boy a few inches off of the gound. He quickly dropped him with a grunt.

"Why are you so big--?" Hoseok started to complain.

But he cut himself off with a high pitched squeal as Taehyung scooped him up into his arms bridal style.

"It's so I can carry YOU," the younger answered with a smug grin.

"Ohhh don't get cocky!" the older chided him with the gentlest slap, "I can feel your arms shaking!"

Indeed, his muscles were already burning from holding Hoseok. The older boy was smaller and leaner than he was, but not enough to make it easy. Taehyung was beginning to feel the consequences of skipping all of Jungkook's invitations to the gym lately.

Still, he wouldn't be defeated so easily. He charged up to the warehouse building with Hoseok screaming and laughing in his trembling arms.

Unceremoniously, he dumped Hoseok onto the ground outside the door. Both of them collapsed there, out of breath.

"Good job, Taetae," Hoseok said weakly while sloppily trying to pat the head of the younger boy kneeling next to him, "let's not do that again."

"Sorry....," Taehyung said, a bit deflated.

"Don't apologize, it's okay," the redhead assured him, "we just need to be careful not to get hurt. You can't run from the police very well with a sprained ankle, you know."

Hoseok got up and pulled a padlock necklace out from under his shirt. He used it to unlock the warehouse door, which happened to have the same lock-and-key reversal as Hoseok's house in town. Taehyung looked down at his little padlock bracelet. If he had the same lock necklace, was this indeed truly his Hoseok?

Taehyung was feeling reassured and hopeful as they stepped into the dark warehouse, but then Hoseok switched on the lights...to reveal a room full of weapons.

Colorful plastic guns lined the walls from top to bottom. It looked like a toy gun shop. But there was also a variety of other devices mixed in.

"Hyung...," the younger asked in a small voice, "what's all this?"

"Oh, this is our safe house!" Hoseok explained excitedly, "these weapons will protect us. See they're all ranged, meant for shooting things with wings: bows and arrows, crossbows, nerf guns, squirt guns --these are actually my favorite--slingshots, blow darts..."

The older boy walked around the warehouse picking up and showing him each item as he spoke, but Taehyung's eyes were drawn to a thin silver sword hanging on the wall across from a high window. The metal was unsually bright with the sunset light gleaming off it. The hilt had a simple jagged swirling design that reminded him of lightning.

"What about that? That's not ranged," he asked, pointing at the sword.

"Ooohhh you mean the vorpal sword? No, no it's not ranged," Hoseok said reverently.

The older boy took it off the wall and swung it through the air a few times. The blade cracked the air like a whip. It sounded like the stormy noise aluminum foil makes when unrolled.

"This is the only thing that can cut through the steel of a dragonwocky," Hoseok explained, "I've never had to use it yet... but you might."

"...I might?" Taehyung gulped.

"The dragonwocky in most vulnerable on the belly. The fuel tank is in there. Rupture that, and it will effectively kill it. Here, I want you to take it," the elder said as he put the vorpal sword in a simple sheath and handed it to him, "and some nerf guns, too."

But Taehyung put the sword down on a table as the redhead started picking out nerf guns for him. He didn't want to carry around a sword or a gun. He still didn't know what a dragonwocky looked like...or of it even existed.

"Hoseok I don't know about this..." the younger said carefully, "this violence."

"It's self defense," the older boy shrugged and tried to hand him a nerf gun, "also, this is Hope World. Things are different than in reality."

Taehyung frowned and pushed the gun away. This whole thing still made him uncomfortable.

"But I don't understand. It shouldn't matter where we are. You're not a violent person. You're gentle and loving!"

"I know... I don't like this either," Hoseok said with a serious sigh, "I truly don't want to do anything but love you. But sometimes loving means protecting, right? Won't you protect me too?"

But Hoseok put the guns away instead of continuing to pressure him.

"Of course I will," Taehyung reasured him, "but do we need THIS level of protection?" He gestured at the packed room.

"Yes," the elder answered immediately, "we need this warehouse. And we need to stay together. That's our rule, okay?" Hoseok grabbed his hands and looked at him with big worried eyes, "please never go outside without me."

"All right." It was impossible to say no to those eyes. "But what will we do for fun in here?"

"Well!" Hoseok answered excitedly, eyes lighting up, "the sun is going down so we can finally gaze at the stars!"

He dragged Taehyung off to a corner of the warehouse with spiral stairs that led up and out onto the flat rooftop.

Taehyung leaned on the yellow railing that bordered the roof's edge. The sunset had turned a purply pink-orange and was casting the most gorgeous light and shadows.

"Won't we get seen by 'flying things' up here on the roof?" the younger pointed out.

"It is a risk, but we can also be on lookout up here."

"Oh," Taehyung grumbled and looked down with a pout, "I knew you had an ulterior motive."

"Aw don't be sad!!" the elder cooed and gently lifted his chin, "we're still gonna see the stars, come on."

Taehyung took off his longish velvet brown coat and laid it on the ground like a blanket for the two of them to lie on.

They settled down on their backs right next to each other and silently looked up into the fading blue sky until it turned inky and the stars emerged.

The darkness was refreshing after so long in the sun. Next to him, even Hoseok breathed a sigh of relief.

And there were so many stars, even more than Taehyung had ever seen out in the countryside. In this flower forest, all went completely dark, and the sky filled in with detail. He didn't feel the need to focus on any one star, he could just look at the whole sky at once and let his eyes relax. The stars seemed to be slowly rotating and moving...did Hope World spin on an axis like the earth did?

"Look at that," Hoseok spoke up, "we can finally see Yoongi hyung. It's so nice that he's sitting just outside of this world, you know, shining on us."

"Yoongi hyung?" Taehyung asked.

"I just mean the stars. Yoongi hyung chose the vast shining power of the stars, Namjoon chose the deep reflective power of the moon, and I chose the joyous and lively power of the sun. Seokjin hyung chose something else back then...a weaker power over memories or something..." Hoseok trailed off.

"Wait, so Namjoon hyung IS the moon. Then why did you say I'M the moon before?"

"Because you are! I don't know, you kinda just naturally manifest as a moon too," the elder laughed, "moonchild."

"Oh...Hyung did say something like that in the park..."

"Mhmmm, and look at that," Hoseok pointed at the horizon, "there is proof." A round white moon was just beginning to rise. "Even if you don't have special moon powers, you'll always be MY wittol moon."

He hugged Taehyung and curled up against him, nuzzling his face into his chest. Hoseok was so warm. The younger boy smiled and gathered the older boy up in his arms.

"Or maybe not so little," Hoseok chuckled thoughtfully, "you're my BIG wittol moon!"

"I still don't know if I'm a moon," Taehyung laughed with him. "But you, you're definitely my sun. THE sun. The one and only one in the whole world. You should see...everything has gone dark up there without you."

"Pfffffffff" Hoseok made the sound of a deflating balloon and shoved him away.

Taehyung was being serious but the elder seemed uncomfortable so he changed the subject.

"Do you miss them? Namjoon hyung, and Yoongi hyung?"

"Yes. I miss all of them, Seokjin hyung and Jimin and Jungkook too. But they're unreachable for us up there now," Hoseok answered somberly as he slowly started enclosing Taehyung in a hug again, "I'm just lucky to finally have YOU in my arms. I wouldn't dare go back, wouldn't dare reach for the stars."

"Oh..." the brunette responded, something felt wrong about it but he didn't know what to say, so he just said: "well, Yoongi hyung is beautiful up there."

"He sure is," the redhead agreed, but he was looking at Taehyung's eyes instead of at the sky. The younger raised his eyebrows and looked back at him.

"You're beautiful too," Taehyung said.

"I sure am," Hoseok whispered with a shy laugh, but he reached up to touch the brunette, gently brushing his elegant fingers over Taehyung's eyelashes.

The younger boy blinked and squinted and frowned at him, breathing an irritated puff of air. When would Hoseok just compliment him back already?

"Taehyuuuung," the redhead said teasingly, "you already know you are the most gorgeous, most perfectly imperfect human being to ever exist in any time or space or reality."

Taehyung blushed, satisfied. "Aww hyung..."

They fell silent, just holding each other under stars.

A soft warm breeze began blowing. It was comforting and peaceful, but the breeze steadily grew stronger in the quiet.

The silence was disturbed by a distant rumble. The rumble grew along with the warm wind until it became a screeching roar and an enormous metal machine filled the sky above them.

Metal wings wider than the length of a football field were attached to a monstrous metal body big as an oceanliner

Red lights on the machine glowed like they were the fiery eyes of the silvery white metallic beast that howled like it was the source of a thousand winds.

It looked like a great mythic dragon, ruling the sky, built from the wildest aircraft designs in Studio Ghibli films.

As quickly as it came, it zoomed over them, leaving white trails illuminated by the moon in the dark sky.

"Wha-at was that!?" Taehyung gasped, "a massive airplane?!"

"No, not an airplane," the elder said quickly, standing up and picking up Taehyung's coat, "we need to go inside. Stargazing is over."

"What was it?" the younger pressed, slowly standing as well.

"The dragonwocky," Hoseok answered grimly as he grabbed Taehyung's hand and pulled him back down the stairs into the warehouse, "it is the king's enforcer, his dragon, his tool. It hunts down the 'irresponsible and careless' and brings them back to the palace to be locked away so they may no longer 'harm society.'"

Reaching the ground floor, the redhead paused, clutching Taehyung's hand. After almost a mintue of silence, he finally sighed with relief. He continued, voice still a bit tense.

"Hopefully we weren't spotted. We should be safe tonight. But now my worst fear is realized. He sent it after you. After us."

"Both of us?"

"Yes, you because you are turning people into fish, and me because I am determined to love you," Hoseok explained while busying himself with pulling bed clothes out of a closet.

"Because of love?!"

Shouldn't Hope World of all places be full of love? As Taehyung stood in disbelief the older boy pushed soft striped pyjamas into his hands.

"Of the forbidden wishes the king only officially allows crying unregulated," he said flatly.

"Why crying?" the brunette asked, absent mindedly changing into the pyjamas.

Hoseok started changing into his own striped bed clothes too. They just carried on the conversation naturally. It felt routine, as if they'd always gotten ready for bed together.

"He thinks crying is the only harmless wish. I swear he's just selfish because he happens to be obsessed with crying," the elder spoke bitterly as he finished buttoning up his shirt.

Hoseok had changed swiftly and crisply. Meanwhile, Taehyung was still fumbling with his own shirt buttons slowly and mindlessly.

"So he regulates love and craziness?"

"Well, he has only ever needed to officially regulated craziness," Hoseok admitted as he began dimming the lights and turning down the sheets of a plain little twin bed in the corner of the room, "but I'm sure he wants to do the same thing with love now that you're here. There's no way that heartless tyrant would ever support us."

"I'm sorry I'm such a problem for you..." Taehyung mumbled, hanging his head now that he'd finished dressing.

"No, no, no, you're not the problem," Hoseok reassured him with a steady voice, walking over.

He gently lifted Taehyung's head and started fixing the younger's terribly skewed shirt-buttoning.

"The King is the problem. But I won't let him win. I want you too much. I'm determined to be with you even if I have to hide with you forever in the deepest darkest corners of Hope World where nothing can stop us."

Finished realigning the buttons, Hoseok smoothed Taehyung's shirt, patting him on the chest. Then he turned around and nimbly hopped into the small bed, scooting over and patting the empty side.

"Let's stop worrying for tonight and sleep now, okay?"

Sleep. Right. As Taehyung climbed into bed, the dream from his last nap came rushing back to his mind-- the empty void. He didn't want to fall asleep. He was afraid that he'd pick up his dreams where he'd left off, in a world without Hoseok. What if Hope World was the dream, and what he thought were dreams now, were just his reality? Why had he never thought of that before!? His mind was spinning. Lying down stiffly, Taehyung pulled at his hair fretfully. Maybe he could just not sleep...ever again?

"Hey, Taetae don't do that..." Hoseok soothed, pulling the younger's fidgeting hands away from his hair, "could you use these hands to stroke me to sleep instead?"

Taehyung nodded. As he started to move his hands over Hoseok, they instinctively remembered what to do. He smoothed the older boy's soft hair and brushed a hand down his chest and up his arms.

Hoseok sighed deeply and contentedly and hugged onto him tightly. Taehyung started gliding his fingers over his back. The older boy's breathing was so steady and calming, he felt his fears and worries fade away with each breath. Before he knew it, they were both fast asleep.

Taehyung woke up first, feeling more refreshed than he'd felt in years. He'd had no dreams last night! At least, none he could remember. He looked down at Hoseok who was still there, asleep in his arms. It was as if hugging the older boy all night had protected him from the dreams, letting him finally be peaceful. Who needed dreams when his true dream was right there resting against his chest?

Taehyung decided to stay there and hold the older boy for a while, until he was sure the fears of losing him had fully retreated from his mind. Then, carefully, he untangled himself from Hoseok, the elder reflexively curling into a ball at his withdrawal. Taehyung pulled the blankets back up around Hoseok, making sure he was tucked in tightly. He brushed aside the red hair on his forehead fondly and tiptoed away.

Since there were almost no windows except a few small high ones for ventilation, the warehouse was still mostly dark despite the sun being up again. He fumbled around for the closet to pick out some day clothes, grabbing the first things he touched. A simple pleated white shirt and off-white slacks with a black side-stripe were his incidental choices.

Walking to the door he spotted a bowl of fresh red and green apples sitting on a table. Had those been there before? He shook his head and smiled. It must just be that magical convenience of Hope World. Snatching an apple for breakfast, he then quietly slipped out of the dim warehouse and into the bright green world outside.

It was the little rebellious piece of Taehyung's heart that made him want to disobey Hoseok's rules and venture outside alone despite the supposed sinister birds and dragonwocky that were hunting for them. He didn't feel alone or scared because he knew his hyung was sleeping just inside now.

Breathing the morning air in deeply and shining his apple on his sleeve, he felt more refreshed and happier than he had since.... actually, had he EVER felt this content before?

Taking a big bite of his apple and strolling out to the edge of the large pond nearby, Taehyung munched happily as he looked across the sparkling serene water. Little goldfish swam within. Goldfish...that was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

A soft footstep sounded behind him in the grassy moss. Taehyung winced. Hoseok had already caught him. He turned around to greet him with a sheepish smile and a wave.

"Good morning hyung! Do you want an apple?"

But that smile faded and his eyes went wide as he saw who was actually behind him: a flamingo officer, pink from head to toe, holding a pink nerf gun casually to the side. Taehyung almost dropped his apple in shock.

The officer also wore the Baseline Hoseok's pink-red suitcoat over his uniform. He must have picked it up when he was tracking them. For some reason this ruffled Taehyung's feathers. He glared at the intruder.

"Don't worry," the officer assured him, "I'm not here to arrest you."

He removed his reflective deep magenta tinted aviator glasses, revealing his bright, disarming Hoseok eyes.

"And yes, I'd love to have an apple."

Taehyung tried to stay stern and not melt under his gaze. For the millionth time he cursed his inability to distinguish between Hoseoks. Being hopelessly attracted to ALL of them was growing steadily more inconvenient.

"Why do you have a gun then?" Taehyung took a fierce bite of his apple in an attempt to look intimidating and show he was NOT intending to share it.

The flamingo policeman shrugged, keeping the gun held at his side and pointed toward the ground.

"It's protocol to carry one when engaging with wanted persons who choose to run."

"Aren't you going against 'protocol' if you say you won't arrest me?"

"Yes..." he replied thoughtfully, as if just realizing this himself, "I am rebeling against everything, risking everything by just standing here and talking to you."

"And why would you do that?" Taehyung took another big bite of apple and folded his arms, trying to look unimpressed.

The officer's cheeks turned pink to match his entire ensemble.

"...I like you."

Taehyung spit out his apple.

"What!? Seriously!? Does EVERYONE here like me!?" He threw up his hands in sarcastic lament.

"Actually, yes!" the policeman laughed cheerily, "even the angry ones! It's complicated...but we're all in love with you. We are hopeless."

"You are the embodiment of hope how can you be hopeless?" Taehyung sassed him to hide how flattered he was.

"It's an expression, okay..." The flamingo officer rolled his eyes.

The conversation hit an awkward pause. Taehyung decided to inquire after the officer's goals in talking to him.

"Why are yo--"

"Don't trust him," the pink policman blurted, cutting him off.

Though stunned, the brunette knew he was referring to his Hoseok sleeping back in the warehouse.

"...why?" he asked genuinely, caught off guard.

"He doesn't want to see you flourish, he wants to keep you for himself, hold you here, and never let you live your real life."

The older boy spoke so urgently, making it sound like it was a bad thing.

"What...? But that's what I want." Taehyung set his jaw and insisted firmly. "I want to stay with him here. This is my choice."

The policeman's eyebrows scrunched up in concern over sad eyes. It almost bothered Taehyung that he cared so much.

"But what about your life? Your friends? Your photos?" he pleaded desperately, pulling a shiny film camera and packet of developed photos out of the red-pink jacket.

Taehyung's camera and photos.

"Hey!" The younger snatched at his belongings. "Those are mine! Give them back!"

The officer dodged agily, tucking the items back into his coat, so Taehyung threw his half-eaten apple at him, but the infuriating pink boy dodged that too.

"You willingly left then behind, remember? And I'll gladly give them back. But, only if you agree to search for a way to leave Hoseok and leave Hope World."

What kind of terrible deal was that? And how did HE know he'd chosen to leave it behind? He hadn't been there. Had he...?

"Fine then." Taehyung enunciated bitterly. "I don't care about it. I only really liked taking pictures of Hoseok hyung anyway. Now I can just stare at him all day instead."

"No no no!!" the officer cried, "You you are an artist Taehyung!! An individual person! With friends! And other loves besides this one lover! Don't just throw yourself away like this!" He held out a hand, palm forward, as if it could stop Taehyung from ruining his life.

"I've been throwing myself away for years already, so don't worry about me." The brunette was surprised at the jaded resentment dripping from his own voice.

"Then stop it now!" The policeman grabbed his shoulders, shaking the younger boy as he begged, "Start living now!"

With the nerf gun still in the officer's hands as he grasped his shoulders, Taehyung found the plastic weapon uncomfortably close to his head.

"Are you threatening me?" He challenged with a raised eybrow.

The flamingo officer frustratedly threw the gun at his feet.

"No. I'm being honest. I want you to live. REALLY live, Taehyung. Don't get stuck here in this Daydream. Please."

"I appreciate it, but...no," Taehyung dismissed, stepping over the nerf gun and past the policman to walk back to the warehouse.

"How do you even know he's the real one?!" the officer called after him, "You know the real one would want you to leave, to live!"

"Oh, you mean like you? Are you trying to be my 'real Hoseok?'" The younger yelled back sarcastically.

"...maybe I am the real Hoseok, I don't know..." he mumbled weakly.

But Taehyung just laughed acridly and kept walking away from the flamingo officer.

He stepped back into the warehouse, shaken and disgruntled, with too many thoughts and questions he didn't want to address. How dare that policeman swoop in like that, ruin his perfect morning, and shatter his perfect dream!

"Where did you go!?!?" Hoseok yelled over the dark storm swirling in his mind.

The redhead was sitting up in bed, fluffy hair standing up at adorably odd angles. But his face looked panicked. It was so cute that Taehyung couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I just stepped outside, sorry. I didn't want to wake you"

"Please don't do that again. I thought I'd die of worry," Hoseok groaned, head in his hands. He sounded so exhausted, as if a few moments fretting had sapped a whole day's energy.

As the older boy creakily got out of bed and changed into ripped black jeans and a white t-shirt, Taehyung battered him with more apologies.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," he chanted, hoping if he repeated it enough times that one of them would stick like a band aid over his mistake.

Hoseok just laughed at him and pulled on a puffy white jacket with tiny Korean flags polkadotting the fabric. At least three different plastic guns were fastened to the inside.

"Sheesh, it's okay! Just please don't do it again. I can go outside with you now if that's what you want."

"Yes!" Taehyung beamed eagerly.

When they stepped outside the flamingo officer was no where in sight, thank goodness.

Though Hoseok had said it was okay, he was uncharacteristically quiet as he took Taehyung down to the shore of the pond to a small yellow row boat that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere.

Taking the appearance of the boat in stride, the brunette climbed into the sunny watercraft. Hoseok pushed it off, hopping nimbly into the boat before it drifted to deeper water.

As the redhead rowed them out across the pond, Taehyung tried to search his brain for ways to mend the trust he'd broken. But he kept getting distracted by the shiny goldfish scattering around their gleaming yellow boat and the surface of the water sparkling in the sun. Collectively, it was almost too bright to look at.

Approaching the pond's center, Hoseok pointed out a thick patch of water lilies there. The whites and pinks of the petals surrounding the rich yellow centers were striking against the green pads floating beneath the blooms.

"Here!" the older boy spoke as good naturedly as ever, "I wanted to show you these. Aren't they pretty?"

"Pretty like Hoseokie hyung," Taehyung replied instantly, smiling proudly at his own masterful flirting ability.

Hoseok just shook his head, but he couldn't help but smile too.

"Oh! I can pick some for you!" The brunette yelled the offer. Yet another genius idea! He was on a roll.

"Don't bother, the prettiest ones are always the farthest away, in the center. The plants are too thick. Our boat can't get close so you can't reach--"

Taehyung dove over the side of the of the little boat and into the thick patch of water lilies.

"Tae!!" Hoseok's scolding was loud enough he could hear it through the water.

But the younger ignored it, swimming to the center of the vegetation, right to the prettiest pink and white lilies.

Popping his head up out of the water as he picked the flowers, he glanced across to Hoseok who had stood up in the boat and removed his coat, as if anticipating needing to jump in after Taehyung. He waited and stared at the younger boy intensely, holding his breath angrily inside puffed cheeks.

The look on his face made Taehyung giggle as he slowly paddled back to the boat holding the flowers in one hand above the water.

Hoseok let out his breath in a big sigh once he reached the boat.

"They're beautiful, but you shouldn't have moved them. They'll DIE now. Also, YOU could have DIED."

"Since when are you so dismal?" Taehyung whined petulantly, "fine then, I'll just leave with the flowers." He turned to swim away even though he knew he had no where to go.

"No wait!" Hoseok yelled and then began more gently, "Come back over here. I want them, and you. It was really so sweet and thoughtful of you."

As the younger boy drifted back to the boatside, the redhead reached over the side, dipping his arms into the water over Taehyung's shoulders and looking down into his face.

"I'll even give you that kiss you wanted."

Excited, Taehyung pulled himself up by the boat edge halfway out of the water, their faces now almost touching ...and panicked. He grabbed Hoseok's shirt collar and yanked him over the side and into the water with him.

The older boy went in screaming and flailing. Taehyung couldn't help laughing at him, but he put his arms around him.

"Sorry sorry, I've got you, I've got you," he soothed through his laughs.

He grabbed Hoseok's hand and placed it on the edge of the boat so he could hold onto something as he brushed his dripping wet hair out of his eyes.

"No." Mischief darkened the older boy's face and voice as he caught his breath. "I've got YOU!" he yelled and shoving the brunette's head beneath the water.

He didn't push hard, though, so Taehyung popped right up again, bringing a mouth full of water to spit at the redhead who screamed and splashed back.

It turned into a long water fight with lots of high pitched squeals and bellowing laughs. The lillies were long lost and forgotten.

As their water thrashing turned to weak sloshes, Hoseok declared it was time to return home and dry off. The two of them struggled to get back into the boat, having to help each other quite a bit.

"And out of all that I didn't even get my flowers," the redhead complained with a pout as he rowed the yellow boat back to the shore.

"I thought you didn't like that I picked them."

"Well... Yes. But you'd already done it and they were right there so...I don't know..." Hoseok trailed off.

Taehyung wasn't listening anymore anyway. His mind swirled with worries. He wanted to believe this Hoseok was real one so badly. But then why couldn't he just kiss him? Why couldn't he just trust that he wouldn't turn into a fish?

Reaching the shore, Hoseok sprinted back to the house, apparently so eager to dry off that he forgot his promise not to let Taehyung out of his sight again. But the younger boy was content to casually trail behind with his thoughts, not minding being a dripping mess.

"You didn't kiss him," a smug voice observed from behind a sunflower tree beside him, "apparently you ARE listening to what I say."

Taehyung froze. At first he thought it was still his internal voices arguing in his own head. But no...he knew to whom that obnoxious voice belonged.

The flamingo officer from that morning emerged from behind the sunflower stem. He had his sunglasses halfway down his nose and peered over them with folded arms, raised eyebrows, and an irritatingly innocent smile.

"You still doubt whether he's real, whether he has your best interests in mind."

"Get lost before MY Hoseok hyung comes back looking for me and shoots you down," Taehyung growled.

"...Ookay!" the officer said chipperly, "I'm going to take that not as a threat, but as concern for my well-being!"

Honestly, the pesky pink boy was right. Taehyung didn't want to see his Hoseok hurting anyone, nor any other Hoseok getting hurt. Not even this flamingo officer. Still, the younger was not in the mood to admit that, so he just shot daggers from his eyes instead.

"All right, all right. I'm going, I'm going..." the flamingo policeman reassured him with a sigh, "I'm only meddling because I care, you know."

And so the officer tipped his pink baseball cap at Taehyung and disappeared behind the sunflower again, melting away into shadows of the colorful forest.

Marching grumpily up to the warehouse, Taehyung made a decision. He'd get rid of his doubts and fears once and for all. There would be nothing for that flamingo guy toy with anymore. This WAS his real Hoseok. He'd prove it.

The redhead was waiting for him in the doorway, still in his wet clothes, but with white a towel draped over his head. It made Taehyung wish he had his camera to capture how adorable he looked.

"Are you okay!?" were the first frantic words out of the older boy's mouth.

"Yeah," Taehyung mumbled.

"I'm so sorry I ran ahead. I wasn't thinking. It was all my fault we got separated this time." Hoseok rushed the words out.

"No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't be making you take all on the responsibility and worry by yourself."

It was time to start acting like he believed it was really him.

"Tae..." Hoseok seemed touched.

"Give me the nerf guns and the sword you wanted me to carry," Taehyung decided, "And, let's go back out. I'll really get you your flowers and kiss you this time."

The older boy's spirits seemed to lift so high he would float. He ran back to grab the vorpal sword and a nerf gun which he enthusiastically strapped to the younger boy's waist and back, respectively.

"My Taehyungie looks so cool and grown up," Hoseok gushed at him once he'd finished.

The brunette actually felt the opposite--like a kid playing a warrior. But that wasn't a bad thing. It actually made him feel better about it.

They walked down to the boat again together, holding hands. Hoseok was still wearing his towel on his head to shade himself from the sun. He'd also ditched his puffy coat and just strapped a nerf gun to his back.

Everything went smoothly. Taehyung rowed them out toward the flowers in the water and jumped over the side again. Swimming out, he grasped the flowers and brought them back. Before he did anything else he placed them right into Hoseok's hands.

"Thank you!" The redhead giggled as he turned away and smelled the flowers happily.

"Hey..." The younger pouted.

Hoseok took the towel off his head and leaned over the side of the boat, flowers still in one hand.

"Oh? Did I forget something?" he teased as he reached out to play with brunette's messy wet hair.

Grabbing the side of the boat with one hand, Taehyung put the other on Hoseok's cheek. They stared at each other's lips. He'd really kiss him this time. There was nothing to fear. Hoseok would still be there for him. He wouldn't turn into a goldfish. He was real.

But just then a hot wind rushed over them and thunder filled the air. A shadow fell. Something was blocking the entire sky. They looked up and into the fiery red eyes of the dragonwocky. Metal screeched as it flapped it's massive wings above them.

There was no time to react. Quick as a lightning flash, sharp steel claws dropped from the beast's massive belly and grasped Taehyung, lifting him out of the water and into the air. Hoseok tried to grab onto him, clutching the edge of his shirt with both hands, flowers still clutched in them as well.

"DON'T LET GO!" the older boy yelled. But Taehyung wasn't even holding on.

It was futile to struggle against a giant metal dragonwocky. It ripped Taehyung free with a spray of flower petals as Hoseok lost his grip on both him and his flowers. Boy and beast began to ascend. But the redhead didn't give up. He grabbed his nerf gun, futily firing dart after dart at the great metal monster. They just bounced off pathetically.

"USE THE SWORD! USE THE SWORD!" he screamed up at Taehyung.

But younger boys's arms could not move to reach for the blade fastened to his waist. The claws had grasped him right around the shoulders.

"Hyung! I'll come back!" Taehyung tried to yell, but it came out like a hoarse whisper, as if the wind had swallowed his breath and his words.The higher and faster the dragonwocky flew, the less he could breathe.

They ascended up up up toward the mountain that reached into the clouds. Passing through the fluffy vapors, he would've gotten soaked had he not already been drenched from swimming in the pond.

As they rose above the clouds, the drgonwocky bellowed a roar, like an announcement of their arrival. What came into sight at the top of the mountain was the most magnificent palace Taehyung could've imagined.

It was enormous. Like an entire city of spires and towers was crammed on top of the mountain peak. The dragonwocky was huge, but this palace could easily house a dozen of the beasts. Though, if it did, it would surely break, for it was entirely made of glass. The hot yellow-orange sun gleamed off of it, turning its walls to thin shining gold, simultaneously delicate and powerful.

The strangest thing, though, was that the space beyond the glass seemed empty. Who would build such a large palace only to not fill it with anything?

The dragonwocky flew into a large opening in the glass walls and right toward the only thing occupying the great space: a large, high, central platform. They slowed and descended with a whirring rumble over the empty white landing pad.

Just before it touched down, the claws released Taehyung, dropping him a few feet onto the spotless floor. The boy landed in a heap and groaned. Being whisked through the air in sharp steal claws and dropped to a hard floor had his whole body aching.

The great metal beast glided over him and landed just ahead, coming to a sudden rest. It faced him, with it's burning red eyes, sitting tall and looming over him, a mythical draconic guardian made from modern aeronautical designs. It popped and burbled and hissed as it's engines cooled.

Over it's intimidating sounds, though, Taehyung heard a soft whine and sniffle behind him. Still laying on the ground, he turned his head to face the noise. Someone was crying?

Taehyung looked upon the platform's only other occupant. A boy sat tall in a lone chair, sharp face in profile, a silhouette against the expansive view of the sky behind him. The sun sat amongst enormous clouds, a rich round yellow yolk among fluffy egg whites basted in hot gold. It surrounded the boy with a burning dramatic glow.

Was this the King of Hope World? With that endless backdrop of majestic clouded landscape, Taehyung thought he looked more like a god of the sun and sky, sitting upon a heavenly throne. But the boy's soft crying continued, shattering the divine image. It was just too human.

Slowly, Taehyung began to stand. The boy on the throne suddenly spoke in a tired, heavy voice.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

"Excuse me...?"

"You mess with our hearts, seduce us away from our lives and our duties so you can turn us into mindless goldfish. And for what? Your own amusement? Is our uselessness funny to you?"

"No! Of course not! I didn't even know it would happen! I never meant to..."

Taehyung trailed off as the King sharply stood up from his throne and strode toward him. He wore all white, jeans and a jacket with a fluffy collar. His hair was smooth and dark red. It looked like he was trying to command an intimidating presence, but Taehyung was distracted by the shining tear trails that ran down his round Hoseok cheeks from his watery Hoseok eyes.

"Don't even try to feign innocence," the King accused, "you know EXACTLY how you affect all of Hope World by now, and yet your goal is STILL to stay here. You've made a clear choice now."

"But I don't want to affect anyone! I don't want every Hoseok in love with me! I just want one! The REAL Hoseok, who won't turn into a fish! Once we can love each other in peace, everything will be fine!"

The King put one hand over his face, teary wide eyes staring through his fingers. He began to laugh and cry at the same time. Taehyung just stood there, unsure what to do and deeply disconcerted. The King cried with a bitterness that seemed to long for apathetic madness, but couldn't quite reach it.

"Why?!" he exclaimed almost to himself, "why is it you? Why did it have to be you?! Why couldn't I just leave you behind? I ran..." he put his hand down and spoke directly to Taehyung again, his words biting, "I ran away so I could never go crawling back to you again. I hid here to ESCAPE YOU. And yet you still think everything will be 'fine!?'"

The younger boy was shocked at the king's direct attack. He spoke as if he assumed HE were the one that Taehyung was trying to love. The expressed pain felt so real, so detailed, it brought tears to Taehyung's eyes too. He never would've believed this miserable tyrant of a king could ever be his real Hoseok, but in this moment he forgot that. All he could see was his Hoseok now, standing in front of him, vulnerable, hurt, and angry... everything he never wanted to see on his beloved's face.

"But..." Taehyung began with a shaking voice, on the verge of crying himself, "why do you still need to leave and escape? This is Hope World. I...I can remember things here now. I won't forget you anymore. Doesn't that make it okay? Why won't you just let me love you now?"

"And why couldn't YOU just move on?" the King spat back, voice thick and tight with emotion, "don't you get it? We're OVER, Taehyung. For years now. We were over before we began."

These words instantly broke the tiny floodgates holding back the younger boy's tears. He began to sob.

"I--I know," he gasped through his cries, "But I couldn't stop... can't stop loving you."

"It's not love. Stop lying to yourself and snap out of it. Go back home. Live your real life and Let. Me. Go."

"But there is no life for me in the real world!"

"Yes there is."

"No. This is really all I can do. I never had anything in my life but you-- but Hoseok hyung. I never had talents or a purpose. All I can do is keep running after him. Loving him, is all I know how to do."

And with this Taehyung let himself cry harder than ever. He let everything go into his tears. He was a snotty teary mess, face red and swollen. So much pressure in his head, as if all the pain he'd felt for three years was trying to squeeze out of his body all at once.

The King just watched him, let him cry. Tears still ran down his face as well.

"Then you're a fool," the king eventually whispered, "what you call love is just insanity. You'll forever be running in circles after this nonexistent 'real Hoseok' who you think can somehow fill your 'empty' life with meaning."

"Well, you aren't my real Hoseok hyung. So if it's just foolishness to you, why do you care? I'm not hurting anyone!" Taehyung tried to argue with firmness but his voice still cracked from crying.

"You ARE hurting ME-- us-- Hoseok!" The king let out a cry of frustration as he aggressively pointed at his own chest. "I AM Hoseok! We are ALL Hoseok! You think your love has no effect on the rest of us just because we aren't what you deem to be 'real?'"

Taehyung was silent a moment. It was hard to think of a comeback to that.

"But you said my love was a lie and an insanity," he eventually said.

Hoseok--the king--sighed and closed his eyes tightly.

"You think I didn't try, over and over, to let myself love you?" His voice wavered but he forced it to keep going. "And every single time it broke me! Ruined me! Do you understand!? ALL love is foolishness! Love ITSELF is a lie and an insanity! So take your love and your lies away from me, take it all away."

"But you-- Hoseok hyung, the REAL Hoseok hyung is my everything!" Taehyung cried.

"Please. Go. Away." The King ordered with finality, but with tears still gushing out of his eyes.

The dragonwocky growled. With a bright flash of its fiery red eyes, it roared to life, suddenly attacking Taehyung with it's silver claws. He rolled out of the way clumsily, but luckily still avoided the sharp talons.

"Hey!!" Taehyung screamed in shock, "Make it stop!"

He dodged the dragonwocky's next swipe again, looking desperately to the King Hoseok.

"Please!" he cried pathetically as he tried to run toward him, "I'm sorry!"

The King just gave him a deeply pained look and turned his back and walked to his throne. His shoulders shook with sobs.

"I hate you," the King called out through his cries.

This stung Taehyung, pierced his heart, but strangely, it also reminded him of his conversation with Namjoon in the park. Love and hate can seem like same thing.... He thought he understood now. Standing a little taller, Taehyung wiped his own tears and from it's sheath, pulled his vorpal sword, the only thing that could cut the steel of the dragonwocky. He turned to the King and spoke quietly.

"I love you." That was all Taehyung had to say anymore, the only truth that could counter all of that hateful pain.

And then, vorpal sword in hand, he charged the dragonwocky.

"What are you doing!?" the shocked King yelled behind him, "You can't kill it! Don't you understand? I've tried, I've tried."

Ignoring the King, Taehyung danced around the dragonwocky, holding up his vorpal sword. It was so light, so easy to weild. When he waved it through the air it snapped and cracked like sharp thunder claps amdist the rumbles of the beast.

The King Hoseok continued to lecture him as he fought, projecting his voice clearly over the storm of their battle.

"This beast was once an innocent bird that brought mist and shadow over your mind. I tried to kill it, hide it down beneath the ice so it could never cloud your mind again. But it only transformed into a more monstorous curse, a regret that now plagues all of Hope World! The weight of the life we lived, our mistakes, we can never escape. It is our duty to suffer in it's claws, to never move again. We are wrong to try to fight it!"

But Taehyung still refused to listen. He focused on his fight. When a great claw came from the side at him he sidestepped and stabbed wildly with the sword, managing to graize the steel arm. The dragonwocky roared, breathing hot wind onto him, as it took to the air, now attacking from above.

That was foolish, for it had exposed it's underbelly. The very weak place his Hoseok had told him to go for. Taehyung grinned triumphantly.

This time, when the claws came for him, he grabbed them, climbing up the arms protruding from the belly of the dragonwocky. He was in the perfect position to kill it now. But, suddenly now that had the opportunity, he couldn't do it. This beast was made of steel but it still felt...alive. He didn't want to snuff out a life.

While hesitating, Taehyung noticed a gold band, like a shackle, gleaming on the dragonwocky's neck. Instinctively, he knew he should cut that instead. Even though they were several feet in the air, he lept off the arm toward the dragonwocky's neck, slicing the golden metal as he fell.

Rolling to the ground, he looked up to see the shackle fall from the beast's neck and clatter to the clean white floor with a loud clanging.

"How could you do that!?" cried the King.

The dragonwocky bellowed joyfully, unlike any of it's other roars. It was practically singing. It flew straight at the King's throne and over him, making him duckm it was heading for the glass walls of the palace. In seconds the beast burst through the glass behind the King, flying through the tinkling shards and into the golden sunlight and clouds, singing raspy choruses of freedom.

With the glass walls coming down behind him, the King screamed and cried, over the howls of the wind that rushed in through the broken walls.

"How dare you free our dragonwocky, our embodiment of regret! It was the only thing keeping us under control, keeping us from irresponsibility and wildness! Only our regrets can guard our behavior and our hearts! It only flew for MY purposes, for guarding the behavior of the kingdom. Now it will use it's wings freely! It will be chaos!! How will I enforce regulations now?!"

Taehyung just stared at the King, too tired to speak as he got to his feet and sheathed his sword. He was panting hard, with sweat running down his face, so he wiped is brow.

The King turned red as he looked back at him. Was he blushing? Oh no...

"Why do you have to be so beautiful!?" The King despaired and hid his face behind his hands.

Then he started crying rivers of tears unlike anything Taehyung had ever seen. The tears rushed down from the platform like great waterfalls and filled up the entire palace in a flash flood. And as he cried the King screamed a curse over the rushing waters.

"You are just the same as the dragonwocky. Even worse, you are the cause of all the pain and regret You are a scourge on this hopeful world. You beautiful monster... YOU are the TRUE dragonwocky!"

The flood of tears reached Taehyung now. When it rushed over his feet, he suddenly felt a pain in his back. It was as if the bones at his shoulders had become knives and were pushing through his skin.

He bent forward and roared in pain as metal tore through his skin and wings sprouted out of his back, tearing through the back of his shirt.

The King continued sobbing harder as he looked upon him. And the waters rose, past their ankles, their calves, their knees. It seemed the King couldn't stop his feelings of regret. The burden of duty clashing with his selfish desires.

The dragonwocky rumbled past the shattered glass wall of the palace roaring at Taehyung. The boy's own wings began to flap. They were broad and metal and shining, just like the dragonwocky. A sudden emotional connection with the great beast had him throwing fear to the wind. He took off and soared over the crying king's head and out of the flooding palace to join the metal beast in the clouds.

And it was pure joy.

Taehyung forgot everything else. He didn't even need to think about flying, it was all instinctual. This was the TRUE escape. It was not when he'd gotten drunk, not when he'd been wrapped up in love, not when he'd cried his eyes out...none of them had given him THIS feeling of freedom.

He turned in the air just in time to see the palace walls all shatter at once.

Glass and water flew everywhere as an ocean burst forth from the mountain where the palace had been. And suddenly, that's all there was. Water had filled up Hope World and covered even this highest peak. It was endless ocean, like when he'd first fallen from the sky into Hope World.

The dragonwocky whooped beside him and he whooped with it.They flew and flew, the air rushing around them, enjoying the blue sky, the clouds, and the sun.

And then a sandy shore came into sight. On that shore was his Hoseok!!

Was this truly the end? He had won? Had he defeated the oppressive King and freed the dragonwocky and the people of Hope World? Was this now his reward? Was he returning to his true love to stay here and live happily ever after?

The smile he beamed down at Hoseok faded as he watched the older boy raise a bow and arrow. The tip of the arrow shined just like his vorpal sword. The redhead drew it back and fired directly at the dragonwocky.

"NOOO!!" Taehyung screamed

But it was too late.The vorpal arrow struck the dragonwocky right on the belly as it did a loop in he air. It screamed a shrill raspy death cry like screeching metal and plummeted toward the sea.

Taehyung made ready to dive after it, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side, between his ribs. He looked down to see an arrow was sprouting from his side.The sight made his head spin. He waited for the blood. Why was there no blood? He suddenly lost all strength. His wings stopped flapping and he fell, spiraling downward.

Hoseok...had shot him? Why? Why? Why? His heart ached more than his side now.

He hit the water more softly than he expected. It didn't even hurt. Almost as if nothing could hurt as much as this betrayal.

In a second the waves washed him up on shore.

He lay there, in the damp sand, his wings wet and angled oddly, clutching the arrow in his side, trying to pull it out.

Hoseok rushed up to him.

"Let me!"

"Why...?" Taehyung croaked

Hoseok just yanked the arrow out with one jerk of his arm. Taehyung groaned in pain and the redhead winced.

"Sorry. Bad aim. Meant to shoot your wings."

But then, pulling Taehyung to a sitting postion, Hoseok grabbed the wings on his back and ripped them off before he could protest. This made the younger cry out through his gritted teeth. It was odd how easily Hoseok snapped the strong metal wings from his bones. They must have been far more fragile than he thought.

As Hoseok chucked the broken metal wings back into the sea, Taehyung didn't even have the breath to ask him why, but the older boy answered his unspoken question anyway as he faced the sea.

"I couldn't let you become one of the King's winged things. We're not supposed to fly. We're supposed to be together, safe, forever." He turned around and walked back to Taehyung, dropping to his knees next to him, he gently pulled the younger boy into his arms, cradling him. "I'm so sorry I hurt you, but please, PLEASE, don't fly away from me anymore."

He searched Taehyung's impassive face.

"I love you," Hoseok added earnestly, as if the words could be a band aid over his wounds.

Taehyung still said nothing. He thought of Namjoon's words again. Love and hate seem like the same thing....

His back wasn't bleeding nor was his side, but the pain was excruciating. Even worse, though, was the pain of loss. He'd liked his wings. He'd liked being on his own. For a moment, he'd actually had real joy without Hoseok, and now it was taken away.

Hoseok stared at him with desperate worried eyes.

"I can kiss you if that's what you need."

He leaned down to Taehyung's face. The younger boy didn't even stop him, but he knew what would happen.

"Goodbye..." he whispered to his Hoseok from the forest.

"Don't tell me that," the elder begged, "you're not going to die."

And then the Hoseok from the forest quickly pressed his lips on his. It was a lovely kiss. Not passionate or pure, not sexy or sweet. It just...was. A kiss of love. But it still wasn't right.

And sure enough, Hoseok's lips chilled and his cradling arms disappeared. Taehyung dropped to the sand, hitting with his sore back. Above him was yet another goldfish swimming in the air. He watched it swim out over the ocean and dive down beneath the waves.

Of course he wasn't the real one. The real Hoseok never would have done and said those things. He might have felt those fears, but the real Hoseok never would've pulled Taehyung down or wanted him to give up his life for him. The real Hoseok never would have wanted to hide and stay by each other's side every second. The real Hoseok would never let his fear of flight stop him from taking to the air. He never would've ripped off Taehyung's wings.

There was a thing about these different Hoseoks... they all had emotionsTaehyung believed Hoseok could really have, but their actions were all skewed. They were incomplete. The real Hoseok would be more balanced and make different choices.

And Taehyung still couldn't find him.

Lying there in the sand, the waves beginning to lap up onto his side, Taehyung thought he might finally die now. All over he was in pain, his side ached from the arrow, his back ached from his torn wings, and, even worse, his heart ached more than ever. A single tear rolled down his cheek. After all the crying he'd done earlier, that's all he had left.

And then a boy in a pink baseball hat leaned over him, his bright smile and aviator sunglasses covering his whole view. A flamingo police officer. With a finger, he briskly brushed away Taehyung's lone tear.

"His Hopefulness the King of Hope World requires your presence in the palace!" he began energetically, "and don't worry! You aren't under arrest anymore! You're invited as a special guest!"

So apparently the palace had somehow survived the flood. In the distance, he could just make out the form of the palace mountain, once again rising high above the sea. But Taehyung wasn't dwelling on how this was possible. He was too busy noticing the reddish pink suit jacket draped over the officer's shoulders. It was the same policeman that had pestered him in the forest with warnings about his Hoseok there.

"Go ahead and say it," Taehyung grumbled, "tell me 'I told you so.'"

"No, I won't say, it" the flamingo officer said calmly, "I'm just glad you aren't stuck anymore. You can move forward now. Once we get to the palace, I'll give you your camera and photographs back too."

"Thanks, but I haven't changed my mind, you know," the younger insisted stubbornly, "I WILL still find MY Hoseok hyung and stay with him in Hope World forever."

The police officer frowned but said nothing more to Taehyung as he ordered his accompanying squad of at least fifteen of flamingo police to take positions on either side of him.

It wasn't even surprising when the entire squad began to sprout pink feathers and beaks, their legs growing skinny and long, as they morphed into flamingos. Taehyung just sighed. Of course it had to get even weirder. Each flamingo then grabbed onto a beak-full of his clothing and lifted him into the air. And so this was how he would he escorted back to the palace in the sky. If only he still had his own wings, he could fly back himself.

Chapter Text

It was much more uncomfortable riding to the palace like this, carried by fifteen fiercely flapping flamingos, than it had been in the strong steel claws of the dragonwocky. It felt like they might drop him at any moment. Even though he'd fallen further when he first dropped into Hope World, Taehyung just closed his eyes and tried not to think about the long fall that waited below him.

When they arrived, the flamingos set him down gently and flew away. Taehyung opened his eyes to a completely transformed palace.

The once empty glass walls were now filled with gardens of countless blooming rose bushes and fruit trees on every level. The glass palace had become a greenhouse city. Empty, cloudy whiteness had become lively, verdant greenery.

And it was not only overflowing with plant life. Happy squirrels danced among the trees while shiny goldfish and fluffy flamingos waded in the sparkling garden fountains found in each clearing.

And then there were the hundreds of coutiers. They all looked like Hoseok, of course, and were dressed in fine silk clothes splashed with every bright color and adorned with dainty white lace trimmings. They mingled and laughed amongst themselves, eating fruit and drinking bubbly beverages from crystal glasses.

"Sir," a forced monotone voice addressed him from above, "please stand."

Taheyung looked up at the first in a row of stoic Hoseoks dressed identically. They wore big grey coats and grey bucket hats low over their soulless eyes. They were quite the contrast to the colorful, lively Hoseoks in the gardens. With their posture it seemed that, to them, their bucket hats were their helmets and their thick grey coats were their armor. Taehyung imagined they might be soldiers of the King's guard.

"What does the King want to yell at me about this time?" he sighed.

"His Hopefulness will tell you himself, please come this way."

Taehyung got up slowly, still aching and in pain. The King's guard formed up in a square around him. They started marching him through the gardens.

As they went, Taehyung was assaulted by dozens of fragrant floral scents and hundreds of admiring eyes. The courtiers whispered and giggled amongst themselves as they watched him go by and several waved at him enthusiastically. It was an odd sensation. This must be somewhat what celebrities felt like.

He found himself glad to have to guards surrounding him. Though, he could have sworn he saw some of the guards stealing glances at him too.

Eventually they wound their way to a shaded table surrounded on three sides and overhead by swirly trellises filled with thousands of the deepest pink roses. The blooms were so dense that the corner was positively drenched in romantic rosy hues. And at that table sat--or slumped--the King of Hope World.

The guard turned their backs to both Taehyung and the King and formed a fourth wall to their private rose-filled meeting room. Taehyung tentatively sat down in a white garden chair across from the King.

He might've been embarrassed at his own torn clothes and tattered, disheveled appearance if the King himself didn't look even worse off.

Somehow, he'd managed to become even more pathetic than before. His once smooth red hair stuck up at wild angles from his head, which he'd buried in his arms on the table. Also on the table, surrounding the miserable monarch, were a dozen half-eaten rich chocolate and vanilla cakes as well as perhaps a hundred empty to half-empty crystal drinking glasses that shone in the dappled sunlight.

"Surely this breaks your regulations on drinking." Taehyung began the conversation with a mildly bitter sarcastic remark, as the King showed no signs of acknowledging his presence first.

"There are no more regulations anymore, thanks to you," the King grumbled defeatedly. He lifted his head to reveal severely puffy red eyes, undoubtedly, due to his excessive crying and now drinking.

"Ah, well then, may I have some sprite to drink then as well?" Taehyung asked, looking around the table for a glass that was mostly full.

"It's not sprite."

"But everything is sprite!"

"Please! I'm a King! This is champagne," the King Hoseok scoffed and handed him a full glass, which Taehyung accepted with a shrug.

"Thank you," the younger said with curt politeness, taking a sip of the champagne, frowning at the flavor, "isn't it nice to have no more regulations?"

"No." The King petulantly wiped his wet eyes. "Just look at what you did to Hope World," he swept his hand around clumsily through the air, "you did this to us."

"You mean these beautiful gardens full of people enjoying themselves? Everyone looks happy to me."

The King snorted derisively. "They're happy and celebrating because you're here. Fools. It's all chaos and foolishness."

The King downed one of the half-empty champagne glasses before him. Tears dripped out of his eyes as he swallowed and stared into the now empty glass.

"They celebrate because I'm here? Why? I thought I was a criminal."

"Under MY laws you were, but then you went and freed the dragonwocky, and thus freed all of Hope World from my laws! Didn't I already explain this would happen? Now you're their hero who saved them from oppression and regret! It's been absolute chaos ever since! All those 'happy' courtiers out there are organizing a coup against me as we speak!"

And with that the King broke down into sobs, burying his face in his hands.

"I was a peaceful king and now you've forced me into conflict and battle!"

"I'm...sorry. But if you were really trying to be a peaceful king, you weren't doing a very good job of it." Taehyung took another smug sip of champagne, though it was hard to not feel at least a little bit sorry for the King.

"Oh and you think you'd do better?" His crying voice was rich with emotion.

"No--!" The brunette almost choked on his champagne. Where'd he get that idea?

"HA!" The King stood up and leaned over the table, getting right in Taehyung's face. His teary cheeks and eyes glowed in the soft light. "Well we'll see for ourselves now."

"What? No," Taehyung stammered, blushing from the closeness of the redhead's face.

Even when Hoseok was uncharacteristically jaded and crying, he was still irresistibly handsome.... Dang it. The scents of the roses and the bubbles in the champagne must have clouded his head with odd romantic feelings.

"You don't realize what the conflict, the battle really is, do you?" the King said in a low voice, "to overthrow and replace me, they have chosen a champion to challenge me in a battle for the crown. And who do you think they've chosen?"

Taehyung sat there silently dreading the obvious answer as Hoseok sat down, eating piece of cake during his dramatic pause.

"You." He spoke with intense seriousness.

Taehyung paled.

The King laughed and cried at once, not at Taehyung, but clearly at their reality itself. "Yes! They have chosen you--YOU! to be Hope World's new King!"

"But I don't--!" Taehyung began to protest, when the King picked up another piece of chocolate and vanilla cake and shoved it in the younger boy's mouth before he could finish.

Then Hoseok wiped his own tears, sniffling as he sat up straight.

"We have only three hours before the battle. I'll leave you to prepare."

At his words, the King's guard immediately turned around, grabbed Taehyung by the arms, and whisked him away.

Three hours went by in a whirlwind that felt more like ten minutes. Taehyung was bathed and groomed and dressed and fed and armoured by hundreds of attendants, never given a second to think before being rushed to the next thing.

He found himself suddenly standing in the darkness wearing stiff armour and a helmet over impeccably combed and styled hair. Oddly, he felt perfectly refreshed, without a hint of the pain or tiredness he'd been suffering from.

Next to him was one of the King's guard in a grey bucket hat. He handed Taehyung a sword in a sheath. It had a silvery hilt design that evoked lightning. It was the vorpal blade.

"Good luck, my King, your Hopefulness," the guard Hoseok murmered somewhat begrudgingly, bowed, and stepped aside.

Had they just called him 'King?'

Three other guards rushed up to him. They instructed him to put his foot here and grab there. Suddenly he was hoisted up into a saddle. The giant steed he now sat upon growled a low purring growl, like a cat, if cats were bigger than horses. But it was too dark to see what he was upon.

Together, the group of guards bowed to him in the darkness again. Taehyung was too stunned to speak. He could still taste the cake the King had shoved into his mouth as if it had been mere moments ago.

Outside the dim chamber a loud Hoseok voice announced something unintelligible. And like thunder following lightning, the walls shook with resounding boos and jeers, bellowing hatred.

"What is this?" Taehyung whispered desperately to his guards, managing to find some words, even if they weren't the best ones.

But his time to ask them questions had apparently already run out. The great doors of the chamber opened with a groan. Light flooded his vision and his mount pounced with a lurch, out into a giant arena.

Cheers exploded around him. The announcer's voice pierced excitedly through the roars of approval.

"The champion of Hope World, who saved us from the dark reign of the dragonwocky with the sharpness of his vorpal blade, ushering in a new era, flowing with sprite and laughter!"

That announcement, those cheers, were they truly for him? The sound was overwhelming. But as his eyes adjusted to the daylight, Taehyung became even more overwhelmed.

Above him hundreds of thousands of Hoseoks in colorful clothing filled the stands of a great white stone colleseum. It must have been constructed in the center of the glass palace, for above his head, great green-leafed trees outside the arena reached to a blue sky covered in glass.

Lowering his gaze from the awful sight, Taehyung looked to the only other person on the floor of the arena.

A silvery blue knight rode upon a giant blue horse--no, a unicorn. The equine had purply periwinkle skin, a shimmering deep blue mane, and a silvery white horn. It stood tall and broad, making the knight upon it's back appear very small.

"King Hoseok?" Taehyung guessed, calling out to the knight who hung his head morosely. At his call, the blue knight sharply lifted up his head and the visor on his silvery helm.

"Of course it is I," the King answered in his wavering voice that meant he'd probably spent their past three hours apart crying, "I told you we'd be battling for the crown didn't I?"

"But you didn't let me say--I don't want to fight."

They spoke as loud and clear as if it were an intimate conversation, and apparently everyone else could hear it that way too, for the crowd fell silent at his words in one eerie hush. It felt as if Taehyung commanded too much attention, too much power. He shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, trying to focus on the King in blue instead of the silent eyes above them.

But from the crowd came a single voice:

"Fight!" the spectator yelled...like the first single drop of rain before the downpour.

In a rush, the entire arena began to shout at once, in unison, echoing the chant.

"Fight! Fight! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

The tiger and the unicorn responded to the shouts. Their mounts began pacing the perimeter if the floor, circling, always staying opposite each other. Fear turned to frustration and then determination in Taehyung's heart.

"But I am Taehyung!" he shouted over the crowds, "How can I be a King of Hope World? Rule over Hoseoks? Shouldn't only a Hoseok be King?"

As he spoke he looked at the King, still not wanting to look upward and face the masses. But the crowd continued to roar in disagreement.

"Look" the King Hoseok said, pointing upward.

Eyes following the King's silvery blue armoured arm, Taehyung looked up at an image projected on a great screen to the entire arena.

It was an image of a warrior in golden red armour, ornate and fearsome. The fiery knight sat atop a gigantic deep red tiger. Gold glinted in it's fur and it's eyes dangerously as it paced, prowling with such tension, it's muscles it seemed to be holding back the chaos of the universe itself. The feline felt almost bigger and more magical than the blue knight's unicorn. And yet, the knight on it's back was not dwarfed by the great tiger. He had a presence, almost animalistically powerful. His shoulders were broad and from under his red helm stared intense eyes...Taehyung's eyes.

The brunette started in sudden realization. His image mirrored his surprise an instant later. That horrible red knight was was himself. Taehyung. They'd dressed him like some god of war.

"You are dressed to fight. You are dressed to be a King. Do what you must do." The blue knight spoke to him with weary resignation.

"You're the one who dressed me like this! You're the one making me fight! You're the King! You can stop this battle!"

"You really think I want to fight? Didn't I already say this?! I am a King that has always stood for peace!"

The silvery blue of his armour did sparkle serenely in the light as his unicorn elegantly circled the floor, blue mane rippling like calm water.

"You were an oppressor!" Taehyung contradicted.

"I was a protector! I wanted to keep us from pain and chaos, chaos like THIS!"

"Well then make it stop!"

"Can you not see I am powerless now?!" The King hung his head, a waver in his voice. "You have already defeated me. This battle is just a formality. I must now wane and go down as a silvery blue moon, while you rise and take my place as a golden red sun, as our King. We don't have a choice."

"There has to be another way!"

"It is the will of the people! They WILL have you as their King!"

"Why can't we both be King then?!" Taehyung blurted desperately without much thought. "As long as we don't have to fight."

"Both?" the King Hoseok laughed with such surprise he almost slipped off his unicorn, "there can't be two kings--" he paused in thought and halted his unicorn, "unless..."

"What?" Taehyung's tiger also stopped, maintaining the distance between them.

Hoseok looked directly into Taehyung's eyes. Even from across the arena Taehyung was drawn into those shining eyes, as if nothing else existed, as if no space were between them. The King spoke one word, slowly and thoughtfully, but almost reluctantly.

"Cake."

"...cake?"

"Yes!" The King agreed, suddenly excited, "We'll have our cake and eat it too!"

Now Taehyung was worried the King might still be drunk from all the champagne he'd had earlier.

But the blue knight jumped off his unicorn and landed gracefully on the ground. The crowd went silent. He removed his helm slowly, setting it down carefully. His red hair was perfectly combed again.

Then he pulled out his sword, a dark stony blade that seemed to rumble like thunder as he pulled it from it's sheath. Taehyung's hand reflexively flew to the hilt of his own vorpal blade, but Hoseok just held his sword up and then drove it into the ground, kneeling beside it. He looked up into Taehyung's eyes again.

"Will you rule beside me as an equal? As two kings--two husbands? That's what I meant by cake," he added nervously, "a wedding cake."

Now Taehyung almost fell off of his red tiger in surprise. The crowds went wild. They were actually approving--jealous but joyous. This was insane. He just gaped at Hoseok in shock. The stands were so loud, screaming about this turn of events.

But as Taehyung lept from his tiger, tearing off his own helm and casting it aside with a clanging clatter, the whole arena fell silent again. Every soul held their breath as the red knight began to walk up to the kneeling blue, crossing the arena floor. The distance felt much greater when he was no longer riding a giant tiger.

Reaching the King, Taehyung stared deep into those bright eyes that stared up into his, searching them. Hoseok's eyes showed only sincerity and...fear. Did he know what he was doing? He could have directed that question at the King or himself, for, Taehyung found himself earnestly speaking as he looked into those eyes.

"Yes."

He held out a gauntleted hand to the King, who grabbed it and let Taehyung pull him to his feet. Tears started gushing from Hoseok's eyes. The crowds screamed even louder. Champagne bottles were being opened all around, the popping and echoing through the arena like fireworks. Taehyung spoke quietly in Hoseok's ear.

"But you said you hated me, that love was a lie, that--"

"Please," the King cut him off, crying pathetically, shoulders shaking under his blue armour.

So Taehyung shut up and hugged him, gently tilting the older boy's head onto his shoulder and stroking his hair. Hoseok seemed to wilt against him as he held him.

The King's guard then rushed onto the arena field and tried to take the King away from him while other guards grabbed and pulled Taehyung in the other direction.

"Let me stay with him," he ordered them, shaking off their hands and refusing to let go of Hoseok, "I'll soon be your King too now." From were had he pulled out that commanding attitude? He had no idea.

They allowed it. As they were led back under the arena seats to change out of their still pristine armour and then led up into higher palace rooms to change into fresh comfortable clothes, Taehyung didn't leave Hoseok's side.

Servants handed him a black coat embroidered with light brown and white flowers, a sparkly floppy bronze-gold shirt, and soft leather pants to wear, while the King was given a simple, crisp all-white suit.

And as they changed, Taehyung studied his now fiancée. Hoseok looked more weary than ever, and yet he kept smiling little smiles to himself, then suddenly catching them and frowning hard. The King of Hope World sure was a mess of contradictions. Namjoon would've liked him.

When Hoseok had finished changing, he ruffled up his red hair, tromped over to the giant bed in the room, and collapsed onto it, sinking into the fluffy white pillows and sheets. He curled up and closed his eyes as if blocking out the world---Hope World, which was supposed to be his own dream world.

And it really was a beautiful world. Taehyung went over to sit in a white chair beside the King's bed. Bringing his knees up so his feet rested on the seat too, he sat there and let himself a moment to breathe and appreciate the beauty around him.

The room was lavishly decorated. A glass balcony of twisting design was framed by frothy gossamer curtains and leafy green vines. Lacey embroidery and tassels seemed to line every edge of soft furniture or bed linen in the room.

Besides the green plants and vines invading the space, everything seemed to still be the King's go-to color--white. But it was like a blank canvas onto which the sky could paint.

The golden sun coming in through the glass walls passed through the glass prisms hanging from the ceiling like little chandeliers, fracturing into rainbows that sprayed across the room amidst the sunlight hues.

Taehyung looked back down at Hoseok to watch the rainbows dance over his warmly lit face. The redhead's eyes were still closed but his expression had softened into a slight smile again. Taehyung felt like his chest was filling with molten lava, overflowing with affection. Could he really not even help falling for the awful King? But the angry sobbing King he'd first met seemed far away.

Then, as if he knew Taehyung was staring, the King's eyes fluttered open. Tears welled up in them immediately as he looked up at the brunette beside him. But, he was still smiling. Were those tears of...happiness?

"What have I done?" the King whispered eyes searching his.

"You proposed..." Taehyung let out a short soft laugh. "Why did you do that? I thought you hated me?"

"I wanted to...I wanted to hate you. I wanted to be safe, here in my palace of glass with my rules and restraints. But you broke it, broke my reign, freed the dragonwocky, my people, my regrets, ... and you freed me."

Taehyung raised his eyebrows.

"Suddenly I'm your hero too now? You're not blaming me anymore?"

"It was always irresponsible for me to blame you... I'm sorry." The King's voice was heavy with regret again. If he wasn't careful, perhaps he might spawn a new dragonwocky with it, Taehyung thought to himself. But he responded sincerely:

"Thank you."

"But more importantly why did YOU say yes?"

"I want peace in Hope World, just like you do." Taehyung tried to shrug coolly, a futile attempt to subdue the blush that had been rising to his cheeks ever since Hoseok had opened his eyes.

"So..." the King asked in a tentative voice, almost a whisper, "you only did it for political and moral reasons? You do not think I could be your...'real Hoseok?'"

Taehyung shrugged again, picking at a floral embroidery on his jacket sleeve.

"I have been learning that Hoseok hyung is much more than I ever saw him as, so I'm open to the idea."

"How diplomatic of you," the King chuckled, "perhaps you will make an excellent monarch afterall."

"But I really think--"

"It's okay." The King turned to lie on his back, staring up and the glassy ceiling covered in leafy vines and crystal prisms. "Even if you see just a tiny bit of your angel Hoseok in my wretched person, I am happy."

"You make me think more and more that you're the real one!" Taehyung offered earnestly. And it was true, right now, with his white clothes and soft expression, all bathed in golden sunlight, he looked truly like his angelic Hoseok.

"You're just saying that." The King's eyes were still on the ceiling.

The brunette fell silent, picking at his clothes again before he spoke.

"I'll admit that I still don't think we should kiss at the wedding..."

Hoseok's eyes darted back to him.

"--not because I don't want to!" he added quickly, "but because I don't want to hurt you...in case."

"I understand." The King spoke calmly, which was very impressive considering his usual lack of emotional control. He must have been trying hard to subdue his feelings.

"I'm sorry." Taehyung felt bad.

"It's okay!" The King insisted.

"But you still seem...defeated?"

"Because I was. You defeated me, AGAIN. I wanted to just go down in battle this time, but now you've made me come back into your arms."

"I --" Taehyung was at a loss.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm happy with you."

"You're really happy?"

"Yes, even as hard as I try not to be." There was a reluctant love in his watery eyes.

"Look at you, you still cry constantly, you drink champagne irresponsibly until you're crazy, and now you're letting yourself be in love. I guess you just break all the rules all the time now." Taehyung smiled broadly with pride.

"Yeah, thanks to you" Hoseok laughed, then spoke more seriously, "genuinely, thank you."

The conversation lulled as they just smiled warmly at each other, unsure what to say next.

"So....." Taehyung asked, trying so hard to sound natural that it came out unbearably awkward, "when is the wedding?"

"Probably tomorrow."

The younger boy's eyes widened in a panic. "Tomorrow!? Don't these things need more preparation time?"

"Cool your jets. It'll be something of a wedding-coronation combination, so don't expect too much."

"A coronation sounds like an even bigger deal!"

"Nah," the King waved his hand, "we really don't have to worry about ceremony. Those details will be taken care of by others." Then he sat up, with sudden energy. "What we DO need to worry about is preparing you to be a king, to rule Hope World! There are things you should know."

"Ah..." Taehyung breathed quietly. He'd forgotten about the responsibility part of being a king. What if it was the sheer stress of it that had driven the King mad? Just how much work was it? Would Taehyung lose himself too?

A small part of him started wanting to back out. He was in Hope World to find happiness, not work. And if this wasn't even his real Hoseok, what was he doing? If he married a fake Hoseok, would that be like cheating on the real Hoseok? But, if he backed out, what would the masses do? What would happen to Hope World? To the King?

"What?" The King was trying to read his expression.

Taehyung immediately felt guilty for his thoughts. Real Hoseok or not, he couldn't just abandon him to deal with the chaos of an angry Hope World.

"Can I rest first?" he asked sheepishly. He decided he'd just avoid work as long and as much as he could, an excellent tactic.

"Of course, the guards outside can take you to a room of your own. I'll prepare the materials while you rest."

"You should rest too," Taehyung encouraged as he moved eagerly toward the door.

"I'm fine," the King insisted firmly, sounding actually kingly now.

So Taehyung slipped out the door. This being an upper floor in the palace interior, the glass walls did not show the sky so much as the other rooms and the jungle of a garden within.

Had the trees grown taller? The plants thicker? He couldn't see much deeper into the palace for his view was obstructed by vines and rose bush branches and mossy grass that covered much of the floors now.

With all the layers of glass walls bouncing off each other, light seemed to come from every direction at once, giving everything a too-perfect look, almost fake, certainly surreal.

Two royal gaurds in grey bucket hats stood on either side of Taehyung. Wordlessly they began moving down the hall, apparently leading him to his room. Their King-to-be followed them happily, skipping and feeling dashing in his pretty floral jacket. He felt lighter now, having left the tearful King's presence and successfully escaped work and worry for a few hours.

He never made it to his room to rest, though. As they passed a large doorway into a garden courtyard, voices beckoned him from within.

"Hey! Your Hopefulness-to-be! Come and play with us!" A chorus of giggles followed.

Taehyung stopped in front of the entry. The gaurds kept moving down the hall, either not caring or not noticing that he'd stopped.

While the lower gardens had been overcrowded with colorful Hoseok courtiers, this garden only had five or so, and they were all wearing white. Standing in a disorganized group on a large patch of lawn, each held a flamingo upside down in his hands.

Intrigued, Taehyung entered the garden. Surely playing garden games counted as resting too.

Walking up to the group, he tried to look for ways to distinguish the different Hoseoks in the group. He noticed each wore different brightly colored sneakers.

"He's coming over here! He's actually coming!" the one in yellow shoes whispered and jumped excitedly, clutching his flamingo's feet tightly, which earned him a light smack from his companion in blue.

"What's this game?" Taehyung asked in his friendly tone once he'd approached.

"Croquet!" the courtier in blue shoes answered brightly, leaning cooly on his flamingo, "we can restart the game and show you how it's done!"

"I can just watch, I wouldn't want to get in the way." Taehyung moved to look for a place to sit, but his foot pressed halfway down on something round in the grass. It squeaked and he froze.

"Nonsense!" the blue-shoed Hoseok exclaimed. While he spoke, he absent-mindly grabbed Taehyung's hand and pulled him off the squeaking object. "Our game was a mess anyways, so we needed to restart." He gave the excited Hoseok in yellow an irritated side eye but kept his jovial tone.

Not waiting for Taehyung to answer, the Hoseok in red shoes clapped his hands and gave out crisp instructions.

"All right, let's gather up the balls and mallets."

It turned out that the balls were hedgehogs--one of which he'd almost stepped on. It made sense to use hedgehogs if the mallets were supposed to be flamingos. Sort of.... No. No, it just didn't make sense.

The courtiers scurried after some hedgehogs that had started to wander off, collecting them swiftly. A Hoseok in green shoes came back after fetching a particularly speedy hedgehog, grumbling as he rejoined them.

"We've already restarted this game at least five times in the last hour."

The rest of the group ignored him though, and Taehyung did the same as he was growing more concerned about something else.

"Isn't this animal cruelty?" he asked as the Hoseok in orange sneakers handed him a flamingo by it's feet.

The orange courtier sighed at Taehyung's question. Wordlessly, he took back the flamingo and opened a door in the bird's side, showing the brunette the interior. The flamingo was filled with little gears and gizmos all whirring smoothly as the bird flapped it's wings and squaked.

"It's a machine!" Taehyung gasped in awe.

"Same with the hedgehogs," the blue courtier joined in, popping open a door in the belly of a hedgehog to show off it's inner workings as well, "the King is something of a mechanical and engineering genius."

"He MADE these?! Hoseokie hyung?"

"Yup he made Hope World and everything in it. That's why he's the King. He designed everything, even the dragonwocky, the greatest aeronautical engineering feat since ...well since anything."

"That sounds like a myth."

"Maybe it is." He put the hedgehog down and it scurried away. " Now, for the rules of the game. First, you'll take your hedgehog, have it roll into a ball and then whack at it with your flamingo's beak. Understand?"

"So far..." he responded with a tight voice, struggling to hold his squirming flamingo straight.

"Good," the blue courtier grabbed Taehyung's shoulders and pointed across the expanse of the somewhat rough and hilly green lawn, "now, do you see the arches?" He didn't give the brunette time to answer. "No. Of course you don't. They're imaginary. Because no soldiers or policemen were willing to help us out and bend their backs and be our arches, we have been forced to imagine where they are."

"Imagine?" Taehyung was confused already but the blue courtier just kept on explaining.

"Now see our friend 'yellow' out there, he will point down to each arch for the course YOU need to worry about." He counted as the courtier in yellow shoes scurried down the lawn, pointing at various spots in the grass with a big smile. "One-two, three, four, five, six-seven. Hit your hedgehog under the arches, in order, and then hit the peg at the end."

Taehyung squinted at the twisting course trying to memorize the locations of the imaginary arches.

"Oh and remember that the arches should move periodically when they feel like it. Factor that into your imagining as well."

"What?!"

"Let's get started!" the Hoseok in red shoes yelled, clapping his hands again.

They all started playing at once, because, apparently, there were no turns. Of course.

The red-shoed courtier played seriously and smoothly, outpacing the rest. The yellow-shoed courtier was as wild and excited as the flamingos and hedgehogs themselves. He squealed with delight even when he made the slightest progress, but was basically just frolicking pointlessly. The green-shoed courtier grumbled and played lazily, looking like he'd rather sleep or do almost anything else.

Then there was blue-shoed, courtier, whose playing would've been decent had he not been spending most of his time correcting Taehyung or remarking on his fashion or the weather. Thus, he ended up making the least progress down the course, besides their future King, of course, who was struggling fiercely. The courtier's remarks to him went something like this:

"A beautiful day. I think we've had better weather since the moon came out."

"Wrong, the arch moved a bit to the left, go back."

"You know your outfit looks really good with your skin tone. You're practically glowing!"

"Nope, the arch moved again, can't you just imagine it like all the rest of us? WE all imagine it the same way!"

"The leather by the way, a fantastic touch, really brings the outfit together. It's very flattering." He winked.

"To the right now! Hit it more to the right!"

"I do wish we'd get some rain though, we're due for a good bit of--"

Taehyung cut him off with a scream of frustration as his flamingo attacked him for the fourth time since the start of the game and his hedgehog ran off for at least the third.

"I can't see how these things are genius!" he complained, wrestling the flamingo, "why play with machines that work against you?"

"It has to be accurate! This is how the Queen of Hearts played it, and so this is how we play!"

"It makes no sense it's pure chaos!"

"Exactly. It's a metaphor."

Taheyung groaned and rolled his eyes, but it didn't discourage the courtier in the slightest.

"There are rules, strict rules, but they actually make no sense and create more chaos than having no rules in the first place!"

"Would it REALLY be less chaotic without rules?" Taehyung finally got his pink bird under control and moved to grab his hedgehog that was circling him as if it was trying to annoy him on purpose.

"Imagine: this silly game has no rules at all, absolutely anything goes. What would you do?"

"I don't know? Go insane?"

"Interesting. Well I, for one, would just go sit down in the shade of that big orange tree over there and have a nice cool drink and perhaps a nap on the lawn or a chat with a friend."

The Hoseok in blue shoes grinned smugly. It had been a trick question.

"I suppose you would," the younger responded shortly as he snatched up his hedgehog. He couldn't decide which was more irritating, the game itself or having it explained to him like a riddle.

"But, instead of freely choosing our own relaxation, we play this silly game, to honor our King and say farewell to his useless rules and regulations, that were always equally ridiculous."

"Right..." Taehyung observed, "I forgot you all still hate him." He wasn't sure if that fact bothered him or not. At the moment, he was distracted with lining up his flamingo and hedgehog as they were both miraculously holding still at the moment.

"Hate him?" The courtier sounded almost offended. "I wouldn't say that. I certainly don't HATE your fiancée. There's a reason we are allowed on this level of the palace, you know. We're the only courtiers he can stand! We're much more sympathetic than the rest."

"But you still criticize him, mock him, and resent him." the brunette pointed out. As he spoke, his flamingo mallet hit the hedgehog ball a good bit closer to what he hoped was the location of the next imaginary arch. Finally, a good shot.

"Well he HAS controlled our lives for...well, all of our lives!" Complaining passionately, the blue-shoed courtier threw up his hands. "He has always called the shots on what Hoseok can or cannot do, engineered our entire life. That's what the engineering bit is too, a metaphor rather than a literal skill."

"He can't actually do engineering?" Taehyung asked with a frown that combined his confused disappointment with intense focus as he lined up another shot.

"Hoseok never studied it technically. This world is engineered with the fantasies of his own mind." The courtier tossed a hedgehog in the air and caught it. "These run on pure imagination."

Gently tapping it with his flamingo's beak, Taehyung's hedgehog rolled directly toward what he hoped was the imaginary arch, ready to go smoothly through. Seconds before it went under, though, the hedgehog suddenly unrolled and walked off.

"Seriously?" Taehyung hissed angrily. He kicked at the imaginary arch and, to his surprise, it hit solidly, stubbing his toe on air. He growled in frustrated pain and surprise, hopping on one foot.

"See, imagination is a powerful thing." The courtier chuckled. Then he continued on in a dazed sort of way, reminiscing. "Anyway, the King was actually always very wise and imaginative, and things went pretty well until the dragonwocky. That was when the rebels rebelled against him stronger than ever, with the archer gunsman and the dancing king emerging as leaders from the various rebelling factions."

With his stubbed toe still throbbing, Taehyung wasn't quite processing what he was listening to. Had he really just avoided his king homework only to get caught up in a history lecture?

"You're forgetting the other rebel leader: himself. The King was also fighting himself." It was the courtier with orange shoes speaking.

Taehyung had forgotten he was there because he had been so silent. He simply sat there in the lawn with his flamingo mallet and hedgehog ball in his lap, not playing, content to just observe his future King's struggles with the game equipment. That made Taehyung feel self-conscious, face reddening from angry embarrassment.

"That's right, in a way," the blue courtier agreed and continued, "anyway, eventually the archer gunsman rebel was exiled to the forests because he got too radical. No one follows him anymore but we sympathize in our hearts." He put his hand over his heart and made a silly sad pouting face of mock reverence.

It had been slowly dawning in Taehyung's mind, that he knew those rebel leaders they were talking about. The 'dancing king' had been the Hoseok he'd danced with at Baseline club and bar, and the 'archer gunsman' had been his Hoseok from the flower forest.

"He isn't in the forests anymore. He's...gone." Taehyung swallowed a lump in his throat as he thought of how he'd ended each of them, "And the dancing king is gone too. I..."

"We know," the blue courtier said sadly, "we know. Let's not speak of it."

The younger let his relief and gratitude show on his face. The orange-shoed courtier picked up the conversation, ignoring the sad change in tone.

"What's interesting is that now the King seems to embody all of the rebels' personalities, at least each fault in the extreme." The orange courtier spoke as if the King were a fascinating specimen he were studying.

"Dangerous," the blue-shoed courtier commented.

"But also more real, more human," Taehyung added, thinking of how much more he liked the King lately, now that he was showing more sides of himself.

"I suppose I envy him then," said blue-shoes wistfully.

Taehyung laughed. "You do?" He raised an eyebrow teasingly but got a far more serious answer in reply.

"You see, I don't think the King or the rebel leaders were bad. None of them. They just each were a particularly powerful distilled flaw, an understandable flaw, but without balance, you get vice." The blue-shoed courtier gesticulated meticulously and he spoke. "Love without duty and responsibilities? Turns selfish. Duty and responsibilities without love? Turns dictatorial. And carelessness without balancing moments of care? It lacks depth, can turn cruel, amoral, senseless. Not good."

"Each is incomplete? A piece?" Taehyung speculated.

"Yes! A fragment, I'd say. And it is bad thing to be a fragment, but we are all fragments! All of us Hope World citizens are in his head! Pieces of a soul, with the King at the top, moving us around. Most of us are not able to be much more complex than whatever simple trait we embody. So, if the King truly is taking on new traits, I envy him and his increasing human complexity."

"That's what Hoseok thought I was at first!" Taehyung gasped in realization, "a fragment of his imagination!" He was thinking back to when the first real Hoseok had left him in the house, apologizing for not realizing it was truly him.

"Yes because Hope World is literally his imagination, his mind."

"So then shouldn't the one in charge of it, the King, be the real Hoseok!?" Taehyung gasped, again, almost hopefully.

"Should he?" the orange-shoed Hoseok challenged flatly.

"Aaghh why is this so complicated!!" Taehyung wailed.

"It's not, it's as simple as this game." The Hoseok in blue shoes snapped his fingers smartly.

"This game is NOT simple!" Taehyung's stubbed toe throbbed in agreement.

"Simple doesn't mean easy to understand."

The younger boy growled again. The blue courtier may have been neglecting the croquet game but it was apparently because he found playing mind games with Taehyung even more amusing.

Just then a flamingo police officer walked into their garden courtyard. He moved briskly as if he had something very important to do. It wasn't the policeman who had talked to him in the forest and who had later found him on the beach, though. Taehyung knew that somehow. He didn't wear the pink-red coat, for one thing, but something about the aura he gave off was just different too.

"Hello there officer!" the courtier with blue shoes shouted as he passed. "Would you like to come join us? You can be our arch, we're in desperate need of a good arch!"

The police officer halted and whirled to look at them, noticing them for the first time. His face contorted with disgust. But when he saw Taehyung his face softened to respect momentarily. He bowed low to his future King, sniffed in disdain at the others, and then turned on his heel and swiftly retreated back the way he'd come.

"Tell your friends!" the blue courtier called after him cheerfully.

"Does he not know that these aren't real flamingos?" Taehyung looked down at the very lifelike flapping birds they used as mallets.

"Nah he knows. He just thinks it's disrespectful all the same. And, that games are a waste of time. He's just one fragment. One of the little snooty, judgmental, and proud aspects or Hoseok's personality."

"I didn't even know he had one of those..." Stubbed toe having recovered, the brunette had taken to getting his revenge on the imaginary arch. The flimsy bit of air vibrated as he kicked it over and over and over again.

"Doesn't everyone? For instance YOUR little pride aspect is showing quite a bit right now."

"What is that supposed to mean!?" He kicked the imaginary arch so hard it apparently fell down or decided to move on it's own accord. Whichever it was, his next kick hit nothing and he flailed foolishly as he was put off balance.

"I mean you so seem frustrated by your constant losing that you're taking it personally. How about a prize?"

"For winning a game?"

"Yes, you win a prize if you can beat me just once before the sun goes down. We'll play one-on-one and the others will bend over backwards and be our arches so we don't have to imagine the course. They'll have to move around a bit to cover the everything but they'll manage."

The other courtiers grumbled at that but didn't voice direct protest. The Hoseok in yellow shoes hopped up and down, the only one excited.

"What good is a prize for making me less frustrated? Won't it make me MORE frustrated when I still can't win?"

"It'll give you something else to focus on, different stakes besides just your own pride."

Though not sure if he was convinced, Taehyung decided maybe he could give the prize to the King as a present. It might make this whole thing worthwhile.

"What is the prize?"

"You'll get to have your pick from my prize wagon."

"Prize wagon?" Taehyung held back a laugh. "Okay, let me choose now."

"Fair enough."

They walked over under the big orange tree. A little white wooden cart was tucked around behind the trunk. The courtier unlocked it with a padlock necklace he pulled out from under his shirt. Apparently everyone had them! What kind of security was that?

Inside the little cart was a small glistening fortune. There were shiny silver horse figurines, spakling pink gem bracelets, golden embroidered slippers, and starry hair pins. But what could he give a King that he didn't already have?

In the corner of the cart was some cheap stuff such as deflated blow-up beach balls and floaty rings and various plush toys that looked about as quality as fair prizes. Among the plush animals was a cute little pink flamingo. But what really caught his eye was a ring meant to be worn on the finger. It was made of red smooth rounded plastic with the word "'LOVE' written on it in white handwriting. Surely the King wouldn't have any jewelry like this.

"I want that." Taehyung pointed at the red ring.

"Really!?" The courtier looked surprised. He'd probably expected Taehyung to pick one of the many expensive items.

"Yes."

"Okay. You sound so certain, so who am I to deter you? I feel like a scammer though, so I'll throw in an additional prize of the same value. Pick something else."

"The flamingo plushie," Taehyung said immediately.

The blue courtier laughed.

"Deal."

And thus they started their croquet games, the courtier in blue shoes versus Taehyung. They kept playing late into the afternoon as the younger continued to lose game after game.

While they played, the blue shoed courtier kept trying to strike up new conversations, but Taehyung kept shutting him down with short answers. Couldn't that guy keep his mouth shut for just five minutes? He needed to focus.

Once blue-shoes finally HAD been silent for almost five ticks of the minute hand, another visitor passed into their garden courtyard, distracting him yet again. Wearing his white suit and smooth red hair, the newcomer walked tall and elegant. It was the King of Hope World.

"There you are!" he said to Taehyung, "What in Hope World are you doing with these clowns?!"

The courtiers all got up and bowed to the King half heartedly with little effort to hide the smirks on their faces. They obviously only barely respected him and thought it quite funny that they'd stolen away the King's fiancée to play with. Taehyung wasn't sure whether to be angry or ashamed.

"Stop playing those silly games and come up to study with me now." The King beckoned lightly with a gentle scolding tone, but he turned around as if sure he'd be followed.

"Okay, in a bit," Taehyung answered good-naturedly. He still had to win those prizes and he was doing better and better each game they played. He wasn't about to just give up now.

The King turned around, eyes flashing with surprise. Apparently he wasn't quite used to having such simple instructions brushed off by those close to him. Well, then it was good for him to see Taehyung wouldn't be letting him get things all his way. The younger just smiled at him.

"Okay. See you in a bit, then," the King said stiffly, and turned to leave the courtyard again, alone.

The courtiers snickered and looked as if they were going to begin a bout of teasing, so Taehyung preempted them with a hard glare. They went quickly back to the game, as if nothing happened, playing furiously on late into the afternoon.

When Taehyung finally made his way back up to the King's chambers, the sun was setting once again in the sky, painting the palace in pinks and oranges.

He walked quickly, knowing he'd taken much longer than a 'bit,' but also with a spring in his step because--he'd won. He'd actually finally won a game against that infuriating courtier in blue-shoes.

Once he'd claimed the prizes, he'd hastily said his thank yous and goodbyes, then rushed out before he could be engaged in another conversation.

The little stuffed bird was tucked deep in his embroidered jacket and the bubbly plastic ring was safely settled in the corner of his pocket. He smiled to himself, satisfied with the day's spoils.

The guards at the King's door let him in immediately without even a word.

"I'm here to study those kingly things now!" Taehyung announced as he strode triumphantly into the room. But looking around, he stopped short.

The room was full of champagne glasses. Every surface was covered with one, the bed, the tables, desk, chairs, even the floor, each cup containing varying levels of remaining champagne. Did the man not know how to refill or finish them? It was a dazzlingly dramatic sight, with the hot red-pink rays of the setting sun burning through the hundreds of glasses and reflecting all around wildly.

Hoseok sat in his desk chair downing a glass, his red hair slightly muffed and his cheeks tinging red as well. When he'd finished it, he clicked his tongue and set glass down in the last inch of free space on his desk.

"Nevermind that, I have it all prepared for you to read after the ceremony tomorrow." He hiccupped, then smiled mellowly.

"Ah...." Taehyung said gently, trying to pick his way through the room on tip toe, "thank you very much!"

He was trying to hide his concern for the King behind a cheerful voice. It was beginning to feel like the tables had turned. Instead of people staring down at HIM with worry, Taehyung was now feeling inclined to stare down at Hoseok with worry. He didn't want to subject him to that kind of uselessly condescending attitude though. He knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of it all too well. So, he put on a smiling face for him instead, despite his worry.

Hoseok glared down at his hazardous obstacle course of a floor.

"Why'd you put all those down there?" he scolded, "look now you can't walk! Silly."

"You'd better be talking to yourself cause those are all yours, you know. You're the one who's drunk silly."

"Yes...yes! I was! Am! Are! Eeeehehehe." The King devolved into giggles.

Finally reaching his chair, Taehyung found a spot to stand behind him. He brought his arms down over Hoseok's shoulders and down his chest. Hoseok tilted his head straight up and back to look into his face.

The King's eyes looked wide and vulnerable and his mouth moved to a pout as he stared up into Taehyung's face. How easily drink could dissolve his strict confidence! He started reaching upward with his hands and looked almost as if he was going to kiss Taehyung. The younger stiffened and Hoseok stopped himself suddenly, dropping his head to face forward and smiling as if laughing at himself.

"Will you just come sit with me tonight?" Hoseok asked, grabbing one of Taehyung's hands.

"There's nowhere to sit," Taehyung said softly as he rested his chin on the top of Hoseok's head, smelling his fluffy red locks. He smelled fresh and vanilla as ever.

"There aren't any champagne glasses on the balcony yet!" The King moved suddenly to get up, making Taehyung get off him reluctantly. Hoseok still held the brunette's hand though, and began towing him toward the door, scattering and shattering champagne glasses with each clumsy step.

"Aren't you afraid of heights?"

"You'll comfort me." He spoke with the reckless certainty of a drunk.

"I'm scared too!" Taehyung protested loudly. Especially now that they'd draw closer to the glass doors of the balcony, he could see just how far down the drop went. The balcony was all clear glass, hanging out over the side of a tall palace that was built atop the highest mountain in Hope World. The entire drop of both those lengths was all beneath this one fragile little balcony.

"You want to fly don't you?" Hoseok spoke with sudden sincere clarity. He still pulled Taehyung's hand.

The brunette paused at those words. His heart ached at them, and his back ached, as if wings longed to grow back. The memory of soaring through the air rushed into his mind. That thrill of freedom. He did want that. He was sure the balcony certainly wouldn't feel like that, but he allowed Hoseok to pull him out onto it anyway.

They both took one step out onto the glass floor and started screaming. Hoseok was shrieking and Taehyung was letting out a series of middle-pitched 'yaaahhh' sounds. Each grabbed onto each other, becoming quite tangled.

"Heck heck heck heck!" the younger chanted. It was disorienting, like they were standing on air, but trapped in this vertigo, vulnerable. He felt he might be sick. This wasn't how flying felt at all.

"Just don't look straight down, look out, far out," Hoseok advised in a tight voice, eyes still glued downward himself.

But slowly, they managed to sit down together on the glass floor and look outward, straight across the expanse of Hope World. In the dying sunset light they could see the colorful city, the colorful plant life, the ocean, the desert, and all things at once, all bathed in soft magenta.

"Woah," Taehyung breathed in awe. It still wasn't quite like flying, but he did feel a semblance of that freedom and power he felt before, that more distant perspective in which troubles sort of melted away.

Calming down, he stuck his hand into the back of Hoseok's hair, messaging the base of his neck and playing with his springy short hair while they sat. It seemed to comfort Hoseok as much as it did himself. Both of their tense muscles began to relax.

Studying the view, he picked out the little bright house he'd first found in Hope World.

"Hey! If you are the real Hoseok shouldn't you remember the time we spent together there?" He pointed at the little house. "Why didn't I think of that!? I could just quiz you and know!"

The King began began speak automatically.

"I found you in my bed and then I gave you an odd breakfast and some cake before we went walking in the park where we had a churro and stuff. Then we were going to go on another a date in really nice outfits before I found your camera and got scared so I just brought home jajangmyeon instead and left suddenly."

Taehyung's eyes went wide.

"And then? Then what did you do?"

"I think I went to the palace and...." Hoseok paused, eyebrows crunched up in thought. "The harder I think about it the more it disappears. It feels like something doesn't want me to know."

"WHAT doesn't want you to know?! And so was it really you I first met here!? How do you know all those things!? Because you're the King? Or...are you just drunk and guessing?" Actually he didn't know how being drunk could let him know all those details.

"First, I have no idea what wants me to not know what happened next, I'm a king not a god. Second, no I don't think it was me. And third, no this isn't a special king power or a drunken guess. I just remember." Hoseok tapped his temple. "We all do. We have a collective memory."

"How do you tell yourselves apart then?" Taehyung asked frustratedly. He felt like he was getting closer to an answer and yet at the same time, not.

"I don't know. I don't know.... Don't overthink it. How do you know that first Hoseok was the real one anyway? Cause you kissed him? There are so many factors you're not accounting for. You still can't be sure your hypothesis is correct." He leaned into Taehyung's face as if tempting him to test his theory again.

"If I just found him. I would know," Taehyung said faithfully, ignoring the King's closeness and staring out at the little house in the Hope World suburbs.

Hoseok pulled back.

"Then I'll help you find him once the ceremonies are done."

"Really!? Thank you!" The younger hugged the King tightly round the waist. He received a melancholy pat on the head in return.

They sat there like that all night, as the magenta sky turned to purple to blue to black, and the stars came out and the city lights washed them out....

Early the next morning the balcony doors flew open.Taehyung woke with a start, his head in Hoseok's lap and his arms hugging one of Hoseok's hands against his chest. The older boy was sitting upright, awake as ever, still staring straight out across Hope World in the weak morning light. Had he even slept?

Servants in neat white clothes rushed in to start the wedding preparations. There was not a trace of a champagne glass in the room anymore. Now it was filled with bright fabrics of every color and tables covered in make-up bottles and brushes and hair products and jewelry.

The jewelry somehow took up the most space, filling up the tables with gold and silver and gems and spilling to the floors like someone had emptied half of the royal coffers into the chamber. It was unrecognisable as the King's room anymore.

They got them ready in the same place. Big pearly tubs of bubbly warm water were brought in for bathing, and big fluffly white towels for drying. Then it was time to dress.

He watched as attendants with the King's same face wrapped Hoseok in an intricate bright green silk hanbok, covered in gold embroidery. Taehyung was in turn wrapped in a cherry red silk hanbok, with equally lavish golden embroidery.

Everything matched piece for piece, completely equal, from their heads to their golden slippers, only the colors and smallest details differing. He was truly not just to marry a king, but to become a king himself as well.

Next the attendants did their makeup and hair. They'd brought no mirrors, so Taehyung had to look over at Hoseok to see what the grooming looked like. The make-up artists kept turning his head back forward, scolding his inability to sit still. Hoseok meanwhile endured the process perfectly, not moving a muscle except when asked to.

Hair was combed smooth, as silk as their robes, eyebrows were molded to noble perfection, and lips were tinted a pink-red. Bold eyeliner and green and red eyeshadow were applied carefully with intricate details in gold. It looked absolutely regal on Hoseok.

Finally, they were covered in jewelry. Golden rings with bright gems or intricate designs of swirls and leaves were pushed onto every finger. Multiple gold chains were hung about their necks and each wrist was clapped with no less than three bracelets.

Taehyung had to argue with the attendants to get them to stop trying to take off his padlock bracelet and honey bee watch. They compromised by shoving them further up his arms so they'd be hidden in his big red sleeves.

Lastly, both of them were given an earring. Hoseok wore a clip-on from which dangled a tiny crescent moon, while Taehyung was given an earring with a tiny dangling sun.

Hoseok's hand suddenly darted out and started playing with Taehyung's sun earring. It was his first sign of life all morning. He'd endured the entirety of the preparations with a tired, passive attitude, but now he was smiling. Taehyung smiled too and grabbed at Hoseok's ear with the moon.

As they stood there playing with each other's earrings and giggling like two children, they didn't notice as the room emptied of servants.

When they finally looked around to find themselves standing in the room alone, the weight of all the clothes and make-up and jewelry began to set in. They sagged their shoulders in sync as the heavy mood fell over them.

This wedding was just a temporary solution to the unrest in Hope World. They both still had much more weighing on their minds, so it was hard to be happy even on such an occasion.

Searching his mind for something to lift the mood, Taehyung remembered his gifts. He ran over to his black floral jacket from yesterday and pulled out the plastic ring that said 'LOVE' on it, hiding it in his hand as he ran back to Hoseok, who raised an eyebrow at him, curious.

Taehyung smiled and grabbed the King's smooth hand. He slid off one of the kingly golden rings and chucked it over his shoulder.

"You're my love," he said cheesily as he slipped the plastic bubble ring onto Hoseok's empty finger.

"Oooh! Cuuute!" The King's mouth went into a little 'o' shape as he enthused, looking at cheap red ring and wiggling his fingers happily.

That was his Hoseok, always hyping up the silliest things for him. Taehyung beamed. The redhead smiled back with his brightest biggest smile.

"You're my bro!"

"...bro?" The younger frowned, puzzled.

Hoseok laughed somewhat erratically.

"Sorry sorry. I'm nervous so it just came out."

"It's okay, it's just a little weird when...well..." Taehyung trailed off. Well, they were about to get married.

Hoseok just fiddled with the red ring and spoke softly.

"I used to call you that, you know. Used to call everyone that. Before things changed."

What did he mean by 'changed?' The feelings between them? The entire group? Himself and his powers? Perhaps all of it.

"Well, bro," Taehyung teased, "things are about to change a lot more now."

"I know," he responded seriously at first, but then his face twisted up into a smile again, "and by the way, thank you, bro!" he wiggled the fingers on his hand with the red ring again.

"That's my, uh, wedding gift," Taehyung said, "and I have one other. For after." He smiled as he imagined the little plush pink flamingo sitting on the King's bed all tied up with a red bow. He'd ask a servant to put it there secretly sometime during the ceremony.

"Are these gifts what you were actually spending your time on when I thought you were just playing silly games?" The King put his hands on his hips as he spoke.

"Maybe I was doing both at once."

They laughed but then Hoseok stopped, suddenly upset.

"I didn't get you anything!"

"You are enough, bro," Taehyung responded instantly, with a flirty smirk.

"I knew you'd say that!" Hoseok pouted and shoved the younger boy, who snickered at him, only making him pout harder.

"Well, if you want to get me something," Taehyung finally suggested more seriously, "maybe you can give me back my wings?"

Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows at that and the little hope in the younger boy's heart flickered uncertainly.

"I'll see what I can do...." Hoseok said carefully. Then he added with a grin, "bro."

Taehyung smiled with fiercely irritated eyes--mock irritation of course. He was about ready to attack his 'bro' with a hug.

But just then the royal guards came to whisk him away.

Since it was also Taehyung's coronation, and not just his wedding, they'd be bringing him up through the city on a palanquin with a flamingo police escort. It was so he could greet the people of Hope World on his way to the throne.

They started in the city center. Out his curtained window, he could see the streets that led to the neighborhoods, the road that led to the Baseline bar, and the tropical city park with the fountains and churro carts. But now all these familiar locations were filled to the brim with spectators, all staring and cheering and waving at him.

At first it made him was to disappear, hide his face, run away--anything to stop the eyes from staring. But somehow, he managed to pull out a piece of his personality that loved the attention. Soon he was smiling and waving back at the crowds.

As he looked into each Hoseok face, he began to appreciate just how many pieces made up Hoseok's own imagination, soul, personality--if what the courtiers had said was true.

They marched and marched, the flamingo police carrying him along until they reached the edge of the ocean and then flew him into the sky again like before, but with the palanquin in their beaks this time.

They carried it the rest of the way into the palace as police, up through the green corridors to a large garden filled with thousands of courtiers in white and millions of pink roses.

He only saw the room for a moment, a flash of pink and white, before he was rushed behind a trellis wall of rose brushes. It was a sort of 'backstage,' filled with attendants who rushed about, some rearranging his robes or hair or touching up his make-up.

Not sure what to do, he stood tensely, facing the trellis wall. As he waited, the first sweet buzzing notes of a daegeum came flowing from the main room. The bamboo flute was joined by crisp strings sounds and soft tapping drums, blending into a beautiful melody. It soothed Taehyung's nerves a bit, though his stomach was still flipping like an insomniac trying to find a good sleep position.

The traditional music was a wonderful element. He'd never even thought about what kind of music he'd want at his wedding before, or really anything else about it.

As a child he'd always just assumed it would be something taken care of by his family. But then he'd ended up falling for Hoseok and...well, he'd never let himself think this far anymore.

But now he was worrying. Shouldn't their families be there? Their friends? It was strange, he couldn't even picture anyone's faces at the moment.

In his mind it was just a crowd full of Hoseoks. And that's what it would be today. He'd be surrounded by him. And he loved Hoseok. Shouldn't being with him be all that mattered? That's what he wanted, right? To be isolated here in this dreamworld with him, where the real world could never hurt them again?

But, weddings were supposed to be about family. What would this wedding even look like, then?

He felt like something was cracking deep inside him as he continued to stand there, staring at the rose-covered wall, calming flute music swirling and mixing into a mind full of confused and torn thoughts and feelings.

The music stopped and blared an enthusiastic sort of sound, like an announcement. Hands pushed him from behind to step through the wall of roses, and out onto a platform at the end of the great space in the gardens.

The rows of wedding guests in white rolled back deeply down the audience hall, the pink roses bursting from every corner framed every space, and the two simple white thrones on the platform sat quietly awaiting their kings.

But then there was Hoseok, standing across from him on the other side of the dais, looking like a god of the skies and all the nature beneath it in his green robes and golden crown.

The headpiece looked like one of the crowns of Silla. Golden branches covered in little jade leaves reached upward from the base circlet resting above his brow, golden wings feathered on two sides of the back, and links of golden leaves cascaded down from the front to frame Hoseok's face.

Taehyung's stomach dropped as he looked at him. He felt like the small, hot, and sweaty child he'd been when he first seen Hoseok, when he'd first thought Hoseok was perfect, an angel.

But he knew better now, that he was far from being an angel. Hoseok was so much more than that, and so much better. Under that heavenly gorgeous appearance, was a whole complicated and flawed human being.

And at this point, Taehyung felt he'd like to marry every bit of that flawed person, every one in Hope World if they'd have him.

They finally caught each other's eyes, and Taehyung knew the regal king was just as nervous as he was. Now he was glad Hoseok had called him bro today. It diffused the tension of the coronation and wedding. This didn't need to be serious or even real. Their families and friends not being there didn't have to matter. They could just be bros playing out a ridiculous scene in ridiculous costumes in a ridiculous location.

Thinking of this as they looked at each other, Taehyung grinned and bit his lip while Hoseok smiled with tight cheeks like he was trying to hold back laughter.

He imagined what their eyes silently agreed: 'I can't believed we're doing this.'

The younger looked down, but quickly back to Hoseok with teasing eyes, as if to say: 'Come on, we're doing this.'

But elder was looking down too, shaking his head. When he brought his head back up, he smiled the softest warmest smile that could only ever grace Hoseok's face. All that look could possibly say was: 'I love you.'

At that, Taehyung's mind spaced out, burnt out in a fizzle like a fuse overloaded. Imperfect, flawed, human Hoseok's smile still held his mind captive in complete awe.

His trance was only broken when Hoseok stepped up, grabbed his hands, and pulled him to the center of the platform.

Hands in his, Taehyung could feel the plastic ring on the King's finger, a different texture amidst all the gold rings. He looked down at it.

Was his love plastic like this ring, a fake surface level infatuation? Or was this cheap ring more real and honest than the pounds of gold and jewels they wore? He hoped it was the latter. He hoped he actually loved Hoseok better now than he did before. He hoped....

"This won't be quite normal," the King interrupted his thoughts with a whisper in his ear, "I'm the highest authority in Hope World, gender roles are irrelevant, and we have no family here, so I'll just do everything simply myself."

He handed Taehyung a piece of paper that had some simple vows written on it and the brunette started reading the paper aloud.

"Do you promise to love your fellow king and husband, to respect him as an equal, take care of him as a friend, and help him in every duty or personal trial, for every sunrise and sunset, every cycle of the moon, and even beyond the endurance of these heavenly bodies, until forever." He added in a whisper: "Hyung that's a lot! Did you write this?"

"I do." Hoseok attempted to be formal as he spoke but he had to press his lips together to stop himself from reacting to Taehyung's wide, questioning eyes.

He snatched the paper from him and asked the younger the same question.

"I do," Taehyung said too, the words feeling odd in his mouth.

He was getting so overwhelmed he wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry or run away and hide somewhere, so he grabbed the King and hugged him to his chest, bending his head over his silky green and gold shoulder, hiding his face in the older boy's neck. Ah, that's what he wanted.

"We're not done yet!" Hoseok whispered trying to pull him off, but he was smiling as he did.

Reluctantly, Taehyung stood up straight and Hoseok went to stick his hands through the rose covered walls. He was handed something that he pulled out, an identical golden crown, a perfect match right down to each jade and gold leaf and each wing's feather. He raised it to place on Taehyung's head and the younger stooped a bit to receive it. It felt odd to have such a contraption clanking about on his head. He hoped it wouldn't fall off.

As they turned to face the huge crowd of the people Hope World, Taehyung snatched up the King's hand. Well, the other King's hand. They were both King now.

"Should we sit down?" he whispered looking at the thrones behind them.

"No!" Hoseok hissed.

"Then what are the chairs for?"

The redhead just squeezed his hand in response. The entire crowd was bowing at them now.

"This is too solemn, hyung, I can't--"

"Just wait."

There was a movement in the crowd. One Hoseok courtier had stopped bowing and was working furiously on the cap of a bottle of champagne. After a bit of struggle, the lid came off with a POP! It echoed through the great garden space for a moment before all hell--or perhaps heaven--broke loose.

Suddenly everyone was up and dancing and popping champagne bottles and sprite cans as they roared out in cheers, thousands of them all splashing fizzy drinks and tossing pink roses about as they celebrated.

The room transformed in waves like an ocean of rolling roses, white silks, champagne, and sugar. The rose trellis walls were opened up to more parts of the gardens filled with flamingos and squirels.

Then the rows of chairs became circles of tables and huge white cakes covered in thousands of strawberries were rolled to each one. One such cake, the largest, was even rolled out onto the platform near the two kings.

Hoseok went up to the cake and started cutting it, and Taehyung excitedly followed him.

"Woaaah this is amazing!" the younger said to him.

But when the King turned to him with a bit of cake in his hand, he was crying. Were those tears of happiness? Taehyung felt they weren't this time.

"What's wro--"

Hoseok stuffed the piece of the wedding cake in Taehyung's mouth and grabbed his cheeks in his hands.

"I'll leave you now. Go and live a good life," the King whispered to him. And then he kissed him, even with Taehyung's mouth still full of the strawberry-covered cake.

It was so sudden, he hadn't had time to stop him. And now the King's lips went cold and small against his as he turned to a goldfish. This one was tinier than all the others had been, the size of a pet goldfish. The red plastic ring was all that remained of the King, loosely sitting around one of its golden fins.

Taehyung swallowed the sugary cake in his mouth, but couldn't take the growing lump in his throat down with it. He could only get his voice to whisper in his anguish.

"No don't leave me! I can't be king, can't do this alone!"

The goldfish somehow still cried too, like it still understood his words. Large salty water drops bubbled from it's eyes like it was in zero gravity. The fish swam in them, in the air for a moment, and then, the water drops began to fall. And the fish fell with them, the red ring slipping off it's fin as it dropped.

One of the King's guard rushed up, juat in time to catch the fragile falling fish and the plastic 'love' ring in a half-drunk champagne glass. They landed with two pathetic little plops in the bubbly drink and Taehyung's heart dropped in his chest. The emptiness of being alone hit him in an overpowering wave again.

The room went silent as all eyes went to the champagne glass in the gaurd's hand. The guard looked down at his little fish king with a broken glaze over his eyes from which leaked deep vulnerability. The royal guard had always been more loyal to the first King than anyone else. And it seemed now, without him, they would be lost. Taehyung could empathize.

Now, if he had thought the celebrations had been chaotic before, he'd been wrong. Once the shock of the King's fishy transformation had been processed by every eye in that great garden hall, the room erupted in TRUE chaos.

The courtiers threw champagne glasses like grenades, glass shattering and drinks spraying. Flamingos and goldfish lept out of garden fountains and were whirling through the air in tornados and gold scales and pink feathers. Squirrels chittered and scampered up and down trees throwing acrons from above like snipers. Tables were flipped and turned over as the courtiers rampaged everywhere, kicking down chairs and wrecking cakes, throwing handfuls of strawberries and sugar like it was a war zone.

Were they happy or angry to lose their first King? Taehyung couldn't tell, perhaps it both. Perhaps everyone was just insanely drunk.

The royal guards rushed him and this time he had no where or will to run. He let himself be taken by them rather than be taken up in the stormy chaos.

"You're charged with the murder of the King of Hope World--high treason!" a gaurd yelled over the din.

He wished a hole would just open up in the ground and swallow him up. And then, granting his wish, one literally did. 'How...convenient,' he thought bitterly, as the dark gash in the floor of the palace widened, gaping open like a monster's grassy jaws eager to eat him up.

The gaurds held his arms tightly at his sides and stepped into the hole with him, leading him down a set of stairs into the pitch blackness as the wedding guests raged above.

Down down down they wound into the darknest of nights. He could see nothing down here, absolutely nothing.

It was a kind of complete darkness that went far beyond closed eyes, the kind only found in deep caves or in the trenches of the ocean floor. It was the kind that seemed to enclose and press in on you at the same time that it seemed to pull away and leave you completely adrift and alone. It could probably induce simultaneous claustrophobia and agoraphobia.

After endless steps in endless dark space, they finally reached the bottom, or at least a floor. The royal guards wordlessly shoved him into some sort of cell.

He could still see nothing, but he heard the screech of a door swinging open and shut behind him and the clicking of a lock being locked. The grey guards left him there without a word, alone in the darkness.

He sat down on a cold hard floor, feeling a strange floating sensation with no reference for his vision.

He was still in his silken kingly hanbok and still wore the heavy golden crown on his head. Slowly, Taehyung lifted the crown off and set it on the floor next to him. The hanging links of gold clattered as they hit the floor.

Then he started pulling off all of his jewelry, bit by bit, ring by ring, piling it on the ground and listening to it's tinkle echo through the darkness. With each gold or jade piece he dropped to the floor, he felt he began to see little pinpricks of light appear in the darkness, like stars.

It might've just been his eyes playing tricks on him though, because they illuminated nothing. He still couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. Clink clink clink, went his jewelry and more little stars popped into view.

"Now what would our new King of Hope World be doing down here?" a slow, teasing voice came out of the darkness. It was near, and it sounded just like Hoseok.

Taheyung started for a second, but depression won over shock. Not knowing how to respond, he just said, "hello," sullenly.

"Hi," the voice said politely and repeated the question, "what are you doing down here?"

The stars around Taehyung twinkled as if
they wanted to know as well.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." He really had no plans at the moment.

"Our friends upstairs are being rather stubborn and silly right now aren't they?"

Yes, yes they were, but Taehyung just grunted in response, pulling off the last of his royal jewelry, the dangly sun earring, and dropping it onto the pile he'd built with a 'tink!'. He still left his wristwatch and lock bracelet on, though.

A little dog suddenly barked, the high pitched sound echoing around the starry dark space.

"Yeontan!?" Taehyung gasped hopefully.

"No that wasn't Yeontan," the voice contradicted.

"Oh. I guess not, didn't sound like him," he said sadly, but then perked up, "is Mickey there?" He hadn't seen Mickey in ages.

"...no. It was just me. I hiccupped." The voice spoke in a suspiciously stilted tone and was immediately followed by another little bark.

"That one really sounds like a dog though."

"I hiccupped again."

"Why, are you drinking?" he accused the voice, imagining thousands of champagne glasses or sprite cans were what filled the darkness.

"No! Sometimes people just hiccup, you know!" the voice yelled defensively. A puppy whined. "That was my stomach," he added.

"Sounds like another a bad lie...." Taehyung smiled and let out the tiniest of chuckles which made him feel the tiniest bit better.

"Look!" The voice was exasperated. "Can we just get back to your predicament? You want to get out of here right?"

"Mmm. No. I'm done running from the law."

That seemed to make his friend in the darkness even more frustrated with him. He let out a big sigh, and attempted to speak calmly, but his voice gradually got tenser.

"You know they can't put you down here without a trial right? It's written in the LAWS of Hope World. You really should've let the first King teach you about the laws and workings of the government before you got married--" He stopped and checked the tension in his voice with another sigh. "But it's okay. Just go up there now and ask them for a trial."

"JUST go up?" Taehyung asked grumpily, "How? They locked the door!"

"You have the key. Or lock, I should say."

Taehyung lifted his wrist and felt for the padlock bracelet, turning the bit of metal in his fingers.

"They're really the same pattern?"

"Yes, please don't ask the logic of it, it's just easier that way." The voice sighed again.

He started fumbling around for the door in the darkness. He really DID want to get out of here. But, he kept tripping on his robes and could hardly tell up from down, and much less where the door was without his vision.

"I can't see anything!!" he cried and fell onto his back in defeat. The starry darkness around him spun dizzyingly. "Where is the lock!?"

"Don't panic, I'll help you," the voice replied.

With that, the darkness was illuminated, like a mini sunrise had just taken place. He could now see the grey stone floor around him, the black bars of a cell door, and the place to unlock it.

"Did you do that!? How did you do that?!"

He looked around wildly for the light's source, to find it was warmly emanating from the little sun earring he'd cast to the floor. He snatched it up and held it aloft, trying to see if it could reveal the person with whom he shared the dungeon.

But the light was contained in the space immediately around him. He could not see the person who had been speaking to him or any further into the darkness. There was only silence and stars.

He unlocked his door, but ventured a tentative question before he stepped out.

"What about you? Do you need me to get you out, unlock your door?"

"No." The voice was firm. "Take that earring upstairs with you to light your way. Go demand a trial. Go be a King. Read what the old King prepared for you. Hurry."

"Why hurry?"

"So I don't change my mind!" The voice said tightly. It's owner did not sound angry, but he did sound like he could lose control of something.

Taehyung had no idea what that would mean, but he didn't want to know what this stranger in the dungeon would do if he changed his mind.

So, the brunette clutched the glowing sun earring tightly in his palm and rushed up the dungeon stairs. He left the rest of the jewelry on the floor.

The ceiling opened up for him as he reached it and he burst out of the dungeons and back into the bright and colorful gardens of the palace...which had already been turned into a makeshift courtroom.

The royal guard, the flamingo police, and courtiers stood in the center of the court in three groups, arguing with each other so loudly that none of them had noticed their King's appearance.

"He's our King now! We cannot accuse him of murder! The old King was false and evil. Our new King has cleansed our kingdom!" yelled the courtiers.

"No! He has not even been king for a day, and by marriage of all things! He was surely plotting from the start to kill our true King! In the dungeon he stays!" shouted the royal gaurd.

"You're both fools! He cannot be condemned either way until we've had a proper trial! That is the law!" upheld the policeforce righteously. The officer wearing the red-pink jacket was at the front of the group.

"Yes!" Taehyung boomed over the din, using his deep voice as commandingly as he could, "the flamingo police are right. I demand a trial!"

Everyone in the courtroom jumped at least three feet into the air at his sudden outburst. The flamingo officers quickly recovered and bowed to him.

"That's why we've already had this courtroom set up, just for your Hopefulness," a policeman spoke for the group.

The courtiers began taking seats in the audience, happy to follow Taehyung's will, with some higher ranking ones taking higher seats in the court.

The members of the royal guard grumbled and took a few seats as well, while the rest stood at attention at the sides of the court in reluctant deference to their king.

But among all the reactions, no one questioned him and no one asked how he'd gotten out of the dungeon.

Taehyung stood there as they moved about him, a bit frightened by his own power. One of the courtiers ran up to him and handed him a great thick book that he almost dropped.

"What's this for?" He hefted the heavy tome and read it's title: 'Judicial Laws and Procedures of the High Court of Hope World ver. 2.18.'

"You're the King, so you must preside over your own trial," the courtier whispered and scurried off with a hurried bow.

With the guiding fingers of helpful courtiers, Taehyung shuffled to his seat at the top of court, where he sat, still in his red wedding hanbok.

With a thud, he set down the enormous book of laws on the desk in front of him, flipped it open to a random page, and began to sweat. The hangul was almost microscopic and covered every inch of the pages.

His damp hands stuck to the paper as he tried to turn to another page. It didn't even feel like Korean as he tried to read it, his head just swam and he processed absolutely nothing.

Looking up from the book, Taehyung licked his lips nervously and glanced around the court. At best, this would be an embarassment. Much more likely, it would be a disaster.

One royal guard and one courtier moved to the center floor of the court. The guard removed his bucket hat, smoothed his red hair, and stood stiffly.

The courtier, on the other hand, leaned casually against one of the walls surrounding the floor and winked at Taehyung when he caught his eye. He crossed his feet, which wore blue sneakers. It was the courtier he'd played croquet with.

Without prompting, the royal guard stepped forward.

"Permission to call my first witness!" He yelled to nothing in particular.

All eyes turned to Taehyung.

"Uh...sure. Yeah..." The eyes still stared at him. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Permission granted" he said gruffly.

The guard nodded curtly and whirled around.

"I call, Mr. Squirrel to the stand!"

A little squirrel scurried out from between some seats in the audience and crawled up to a seat at the front of the court, just below the king. The guard walked up next to the little creature to begin questioning.

"You were the one who first led this man to Hope World?" His arm pointed sharply up at Taehyung.

The squirrel chirped. It was impossible to tell whether or not it was an affirmative. But, it did look like the squirrel Taehyung had followed, so perhaps it was a yes.

"And you have been watching his every move since then?"

Again, the squirrel chirped. And again, the meaning was impossible to discern. Or did all Hoseoks just understand squirrel language? Was Taehyung sitting there, the only fool who couldn't understand?

"And has he not been a great nuisance to Hope World, wreaking havoc, destruction, and murder in his wake?"

The squirrel chirped for a third time. Taehyung gulped. Not understanding a thing made him feel only more doomed.

"Thank you," the royal guard concluded the questioning, and then turned to Taehyung as if expecting something

"Uh. Nice job." Taehyung nodded with an approving frown and gave him a thumbs up. It hadn't actually been a very nice job, in his opinion, but what else should he say?

"I need call no other witnesses," the guard proclaimed as seriously as ever and sat down at the front of the audience.

The courtier instantly popped up from his leaning position and sauntered out into the middle of the floor.

"I can call my witness now, right? Your Hopefulness?" he asked Taehyung as casually as ever.

"Right."

"I call the noble Yeontan to the stand!" The courtier spoke and flared out his arm as he were a magician.

Taehyung sat up straighter at the mention of his dog.

His little black nose appeared first, then his tan and black face, his body, and his tail. Sitting at the front of the court now, was his fluffly little puppy.

It was out of his control,Taehyung's lip quivered and his eyes welled up automatically.

"Hey there little buddy, can you tell me," the courtier pointed up at Taehyung, "is he a good human to you?"

Yeontan barked sharply and panted happily. Then he lept from his seat dashed around the court, and ran right toward his human, dog tags jingling as he lept at him, licking his face. Tears leaked from Taehyung's eyes as he kissed the pomeranian back.

"I missed you too," he gushed.

"Aaaawwww," chorused all the courtiers in the audience together, which made rheit king smile bashfully.

"Dogs know their human's character better than anyone else. I rest my case." The blue courtier smirked and did a little fancy bow, one arm tucked in front and behind, legs crossed.

Nothing happened after that. Taehyung just sat there at the top of the court, petting Yeontan. Why was nothing happening? Raising his eyes, he sat up with a jolt. The entire court's attention was back on him. They were waiting for him. Yeontan nibbled the edge of his silken red hanbok sleeve.

"What? Is that it?" he asked, "no more witnesses? No closing statements? No jury?"

"Yes, that's it your Hopefulness!" The blue courtier said brightly but respectfully, "you are King so now you make the verdict. Are you guilty of murder or not?" He wriggled eyebrows teasingly. Funny how he could make so light of a murder trial.

"Do I need a gavel or...?" Taehyung fumbled around his seat looking for one.

"Just speak and your word is law," the royal guard who'd stood as prosecuting attorney interrupted him, talking in the typical monotone of his occupation.

So, Taehyung stopped and thought. WAS he a murderer? It was an odd sensation, being faced with such a question. He began to doubt all things about himself. Who was HE to say he wasn't a murderer? Who was he, to begin with?

He looked down nervously, and his eyes met with his puppy's, who was smiling up at him admiringly. The poisonous doubts fled his mind in a second. No.

"No," he said aloud, "I'm not a murderer. I'm innocent."

The silence of the room snapped and released in a sigh of movement as everyone got up, bowed, and started to move to leave. They really just accepted that? Even the royal guards? How in Hope World had this go so well for him? And so easily? He figured he better ride his luck and confidence while he had it.

"And!" he said loudly, making his subjects jump and rush back to their seats. "I'd like to make...a declaration-- proclamation!... An important instruction! ...thing!"

Half a dozen courtiers whipped out papers, books, and pens and began scribbling notes.

"I want to find the REAL Hoseok. You know who you are. I demand that you come forward and explain yourself to me. And, if you will not come forward, I will provide a reward to the person who can bring you forward to me. The reward will be the crown of Hope World itself. That is...my decree."

That actually sounded pretty good to Taehyung, so he strode from the room and marched into a garden to wait.

He found the little corner surrounded by pink roses where the first King had been before, the table still covered in old champagne glasses. He went and sat down there at the table, an entourage of royal guards following him.

Just as he was taking a despondent sip of the flat champagne, an attendant rushed up to his side.

"The 'Real Hoseoks' are ready for you, your Hopefulness," the servant informed him.

He accidently sprayed the mouthfull champagne all over the poor guy. "What!? HoseokS? Plural? Now?!" It had only been minutes since his proclamation.

It turned out, no one tried to find the real Hoseok at all. Instead, half of Hope World had lined up declaring that THEY were each the real Hoseok. Some royal guards led a long line of them into the garden. There were thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of them.

As they filed into a snaking line in the garden, Taehyung's eyes grew bigger snd bigger until he finally he stood up and yelled to the crowd.

"You can't all be the real Hoseok!"

"But I am!" a chorus of shouts from the line answered him.

"Then prove it!" Taehyung challenged angrily, "anyone who would bet their status on their life and risk being turned into a goldfish, remain in line, anyone less than confident, leave."

Not a single soul moved from line.

Taehyung felt sick, but he carried on anyway. He stood in front of the pavilion of pink roses, tall and kingly, ready to greet and kiss every last Hoseok in that line. Once and for all, he'd test his hypothesis thoroughly. It made him feel almost evil.

The pool of subjects was diverse. He kissed bar patrons, mall shoppers, courtiers, servants and attendants, food vendors, the kind bartender who had advised him in the Baseline, the croquet players with yellow shoes and orange shoes, and, surprisingly, even several members of the royal guard, including the one who'd prosecuted him. Those last ones came with their eyes hidden deep under the brims of their bucket hats, but they kissed him more fervently than almost any of the others.

And yet, without fail, each one turned to a cold golden fish. Soon Taehyung was surrounded in a great school of goldfish, all swimming about in the fresh garden air around him. It was simultaneously one of the most beautiful and most horrible sights he'd ever seen.

And still they came. Even watching each person in line before him be turned to a fish, no one ever exited the line.

Taehyung turned to put on another application of chapstick when a flamingo policeman stepped into the line.

"You want some?" he asked him, proffering the chapstick.

"Thank you!" the policeman said, taking it and rubbing the balm on his lips.

It was then that Taehyung really looked at him and saw that he was indeed THE policeman, the one from the forest, the one with the stolen red-pink suit coat, the one who'd tried to persuade him not to stay in Hope World, the one who'd wanted him to live his own life, the one who'd followed him for so long.

Of course. OF COURSE. Taehyung's hopes soared.

"It's always been you hasn't it?" Even as he spoke it, his sureness solidified.

"I don't know." The flamingo officer shrugged and returned the chapstick.

"You don't know?"

"Honestly all of us feel like we're the 'real' one, how else are we supposed to live? But I do hope I'm the one you're looking for." He smiled, almost as if he were embarrassed to be trying.

"I think you are. I know you are. It has to be you."

With that mantra, Hoseok's smile got wider and both their hopes got higher.

Taehyung grabbed the collar of his pink jacket and pulled the officer close, the redhead's eyebrows popped up and his smile went lopsided with pleased surprise. His hands took Taehyung's face and the brunette kissed him with all the energy of all his hope.

But he wasn't the one.

He watched that pink-red jacket flutter to the floor for the second time, empty. And yet another goldfish swam away. He'd...been so sure...for a second...he'd thought....

He looked up from with wides eyes at the next face in line. It was the courtier in blue shoes. The courtier winked at Taehyung, who could only respond with a haunted emotionless face.

"No more..." he murmured, backing away.

"Your Hopefuln--?" an attendant beside him began.

"NO MORE!" he bellowed, voice racked with hurt. He turned his back on the crowds of Hoseoks and buried his face in his hands.

He was beginning to understand exactly how the first King must have felt, wanting to cry all the time.

Everyone acted swiftly. He heard the flamingo police begin shooing away the 'real Hoseok' hopefuls while the royal guard rushed him out of the school of goldfish, out of the gardens, and up to his room.

When he entered the room, it was empty and clean and clear, not a trace of jewlery or silk left from the wedding preparations. The guards and attendants stayed outside the room, leaving him alone behind glass walls covered in thick leafy green vines and climbing roses. He shut his door to his room--the King's room. Their room? No, just his room.

The flamingo plushie sat on the bed where he'd asked a servant to prepare it, a small red ribbon tied around its soft pink neck. It managed to make him think of both the King and the flamingo officer...and it hurt. How had this all happened in one day?

He went up to the desk in the room and picked up the 'gift' of kingly homework Hoseok had left behind. It was all packaged in a large box meant for storing files.

On the top of the box was a quickly scrawled note that read:

"I'm sorry I cannot figure out how give you back your real Hoseok or your wings, but I can give you the 'wings' you once had in the real world, and some wings to borrow so you can return there."

Sitting amongst the materials the King had prepared for him, next to various books and a large manila envelope full of papers, were neatly some folded clean grey clothes, a stack of photographs, and a shiny vintage film camera.

The police officer must've turned in his personal affects to the King, who had them returned them to him. But he couldn't even remember why any of those items were important to him right now. Right now, all he could think about was all the Hoseoks he'd lost. And so he cried. Loudly.

Knocks came at the door, thudding into his foggy head that throbbed from his sobbing.

"Your hopefulness your hopefulness!" the servants or courtiers or guards or whoever was at the door called out desperately in a concerned Hoseok voice. Apparently they were listening in on him.

"Hopefulness..." he muttered bitterly, not even looking up, but the calls kept coming as insistently as the knocks.

"Your hopefulness your hopefulness!!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" he finally screamed.

It went silent and still. All he could hear was his own upset, heavy breathing.

"Then..." The voice came back very small. "What do we call you, our King?"

"My name!" he bellowed, deep voice cracking. When was the last time anyone had called him by his own name?

More silence.

"I'm sorry, but what's your name again?" the voice finally asked timidly.

"My name is--" he stopped, voice getting weaker as his tongue floundered with no words to speak, "my name..." He was drawing a completely blank. He'd lost it. He'd really lost it now.

It was so strange, a reverse of his clouded mind in the real world. Now, he could remember every detail about Hoseok, yet nothing about HISMELF?

In fearful passion, he tore into the room's adjoining bathroom. It was all white and bright and clean inside.

But when he looked into the the mirror that covered the wall behind the sink, there was no one in it. His image did not reflect. The emptiness was as intense as the first time he'd come to the palace, before the glass walls had been filled with green life.

He knew the first time he'd looked into a mirror in Hope World, the reflection had been delayed. Hoseok had had to ask his own sleepy reflection to go wake him up. Was his reflection sleeping in the other room now? But who would be there to wake him up this time?

"COME OUT! COME OUT!" He yelled at the glass, rapping on it furiously with his knuckles and then pounding on it with the meaty sides of his fists. The glass rattled as it shook but didn't break or change. The mirror just remained as blank and useless as any another glass wall of that prison of a palace.

He slammed his aching fists down on the marble countertop and closed his eyes tightly. Hanging his head, he spoke to himself through gritted teeth.

"I've lost myself...just as they warned...just as my friends...warned me."

And with that a memory fluttered into his mind, light and delicate, barely there: a cool little handmirror being pressed into his palm. Seokjin's odd gift...the gift that nearly marked the moment all this madness had begun.

"While searching for these lost people and lost memories, be careful not to lose yourself in the process. Losing yourself for love is not true love." That's what Seokjin had said.

Not knowing why he felt so sure it would help him, he rushed back to the box of his stuff the King had left him. He fished around frantically in his old grey clothes until his fingers hit the smooth little glass from the real world. Trembling with his panic, he lifted the handmirror up...and finally saw his own face.

'Taehyung.' It came to his mind instantly. He knew his name. He breathed a sigh of relief, sinking down to his knees as if settling into his own skin, familiar once again.

He had to go back home.

Chapter Text

As he continued to dig through the box of his belongings, Taehyung clearly remembered himself again-- his name, his interests, his friends, his family. Oh his family! He'd even neglected them far worse and far longer! His siblings, his parents, his grandparents. When Hoseok had disappeared, the grey depression of life had driven him away from all of them.

He picked up his film camera, hugging it to his chest, leaking tears of guilt and regret. How could he have let a lost love make him lose his love for everything else in life? Lose sight of all the love everyone else had been giving him? Hoseok had been his everything, but at the same time, he wasn't everything. Taehyung did have so much to live for.

He reached back in the box, touching the note from the King. '...and some wings to borrow so you can return there.' What was that?

The only other thing inside the box besides his personal items and the books on Hope Worldian law, was the thick manila envelope in the corner. That had to be it.

Snatching the envelope and tearing it open, hundreds of grid-lined papers spilled out, each with detailed, careful drawings of an airplane--or a submarine? Or both at once? Of course! It had to be both: first to fly up through the sky to the bottom of the lake, and then to rise out of its leagues of water. It was the way out of Hope World. The realization made his heart want to soar and sink at the same time.

And he chose to sink. Clutching all his belongings alongside the airplane-submarine blueprints, he sat down on the floor and sobbed, raw and hard. He thought of how much he'd let go of, how much life he'd wanted to just throw away, run away from, but also of what he'd have to let go of now to return to it all.

"Um...uh...do you not know your name?" The tiny voice and a soft knock came through the door in a lull between Taehyung's racking cries. That person was still at the door. It was kind of sweet and loyal how he'd not given up by now. The next day's sun was already rising.

Taehyung got up, threw all of his things on the desk, strode across the room, and flung open the door. Tears still streaming down his swollen face.

Outside was just a single servant attendant Hoseok who looked a frenzied combination of shocked, scared, and worried. He shrunk backward at Taehyung's sudden appearance.

"My name is Taehyung," he finally answered the question. His voice was on the edge of wavering, but he kept it firm. He knew who he was now.

Then he grabbed the attendant and started sobbing into his shoulder, his hot tears soaking the man's crisp white shirt. The servant was tense for only a second before he wrapped his arms around him and started stroking his hair.

"It's okay, it's okay, don't cry Taehyung," he soothed.

At the sound of Hoseok's voice saying his name, Taehyung just cried all the harder. The attendant kissed the top of his head, and he cried harder still.

He didn't know quite what happened next. He must have pulled the servant into the room and down onto the bed with him, for he found himself lying there in his arms, crying, as Hoseok wiped his tears, rubbed his back, and held him tight.

"I'm so stupid!"

"No, you're not."

"I left all of them!'

"It's okay."

"Our friends, my family...Yeontan!" he wailed.

"He's fine."

"Everyone...I neglected...I...Selfish." he spat.

"It's okay, they'd understand."

"I know I have to leave you now. I know I have to change--my course, my perspective. But it still hurts! Why, why does it have to hurt so much.... I don't know if I can do it."

"It's okay, you'll be okay, you can do it."

"Why can't you come with me. Why can't there be no curse? Why can't-- Why can’t-- Why can't--" He breathed hard, chest heaving, trying to get back the air that the crying had sucked from him.

"It's okay, Taehyung, it's okay."

Taehyung closed his eyes and let himself be soothed in the attendant’s embrace. Just as his breathing was steadying, the attendant suddenly recoiled from him and sat bolt upright in flustered surprise. Confused to have the warmth leave him so suddenly, Taehyung opened his eyes.

Apparently, they'd left the door standing wide open, because a certain courtier in blue shoes had taken it as an invitation to lean on the doorframe and look down at them hugging each other on the bed. How long had he been there like that, with one perfect eyebrow and the corner of his pretty mouth both raised?

Despite his embarrassment, the attendant glared back at the courtier with a little stubborn expression that seemed to say: 'Yes, the King just chose to hug me and cry on my shoulder and pull me down onto his bed with him. And what of it?'

That only brought the courtier's face into a full smirk, as if he were replying: 'Get it, bro.'

Being excluded from the silent exchange was irritating Taehyung, so he jumped up to speak to the courtier. At the same time, he took and held the attendant's hand, locking their fingers together.

"Your timing is perfect; you've come just when you're needed. I need you to tell me about some design blueprints, plans for an air—water—craft." He tried to speak to the courtier with kingly dignity but he ruined it by punctuating the sentence with a great sniff of his still snotty nose.

The courtier looked thoroughly amused, and even more so as the attendant attempted to rush away to get his king a tissue, but Taehyung refused to let go of his hand, so they kind of just jerked about until Taehyung solved the problem by wiping the snot on his red silken sleeve, which made the attendant whine quietly in pain as if watching a precious garment be soiled were a form of torture.

"Sorry," Taehyung murmured to the attendant, hiding the snotty sleeve behind his back.

Blue-shoes the courtier was outright guffawing at them now. He wiped a tear from his laughing eyes before he spoke.

"Please, your Hopefulness, show me the designs you want me to consult you on and I'll take a look immediately."

"Just call me Taehyung," he said as he walked over to the desk with the blueprints that the first King had left behind. He also made a mental note to himself to make some sort of proclamation about his name, to make sure everyone called him Taehyung from now on.

He still held the attendant's hand tightly as he and the courtier leaned over the desk, but the servant seemed jittery. Taehyung looked at him questioningly.

"Taehyung," the attendant said gently, massaging his thumb over his hand to comfort him, "I have duties to attend to. You'll be okay now, right?"

Taehyung was tempted for a tiny moment to declare that the attendant’s duties had been changed to ‘Royal Hand-Holding,’ but he was sure that was an abuse of his kingly power. 

So, reluctantly, he let his hand go, his own fingers feeling stiff as they uncurled. The attendant left his side quickly, and Taehyung tried to turn his heart back to the task at hand and the blueprints in front of him.

The courtier in blue was staring at the papers in awe.

"Subplane or Airmarine," he read off the blueprints. 

"Where is this machine kept?" Taehyung asked.

"Nowhere. I've never seen this before. This is beyond anything I've ever seen. It can take on both water and air?! Function as both an airplane and a submarine?! To think the king was hiding this ."

"Nowhere?! You mean it doesn't exist? I need it!"

The courtier ignored Taehyung’s panic.

"Do you want us to build it for you?" he offered calmly.

"Can you?!”

"I think so. It'll be tough, but I can put together a team."

"How long?"

"To build everything? A week maybe."

Taehyung was about to get upset, but he realized that was actually probably a very good time for constructing an entire aircraft of genius design.

"Good, I'll trust you with it then?"

"Yes, you can count on me, your Hopefu--uhh I mean Taehyung!"

The courtier saluted and started walking toward the door with the precious blueprints rolled up under his arm.

"Aren't you going to ask what I want it built for?" Taehyung called after him.

Of course, he had no intention of telling him what it was for, but he found his usual lack of curiosity odd.

"Nope!"

He waved his hand as he spoke, not turning around, and still walking out the door.

Apparently if there was one thing blue-shoes loved more than conversation, it was mechanical designs. And so, the courtier left Taehyung alone again with his thoughts.

One week, one week until he could leave. What to do with one week? He didn’t want to spend it alone and aimless. But if he went looking for that attendant Hoseok again, or another Hoseok to fall for, he might get all caught up in another tragic romance.

Taehyung looked at his old film camera sitting on the table. There were so many things he'd thought would be beautiful to photograph in this world. And he'd be leaving and forgetting it. But perhaps the camera film would stay intact? It could very well fade once he returned to the real world, but this was Hope World film after all; maybe film from here would outlast the curse. It was worth a try, at least.

In fact, that was just the thing to keep him occupied this week! He could document everything, everything he remembered from Hope World and from before with Hoseok, write every detail in both photographs and writing. And maybe, if he were lucky enough to ever find a way to get Hoseok out of here too, he could use it…to remember…somehow.

Taehyung made the decision. He would do it. He shook his head, dark hair bouncing about, shaking the doubts from his mind. Time to get to work. 

First, he wanted to change out of his royal wedding hanbok. He looked at his old grey clothes from the real world, washed and neatly folded for him. It would feel good to wear a hoodie again. So he changed into the grey jeans and hoodie.

Then, after sitting at his desk and drawing up plans and outlines of where he'd go, what he'd photograph, and what memories he'd record in detailed writing, Taehyung took his camera and his papers and pens, put up the hood of his sweatshirt, and stepped out of his room.

"I want to go into town!" he announced to the guards stationed in the hall.

"I'll call you a cab," one of them said and then snapped his fingers. 

In an instant, the hall was filled with a rushing wind so strong that Taehyung couldn't help but close his eyes. He clutched his papers tightly to his chest as they were almost torn from his grasp and his hood was blown back from his head. He set his feet in a strong, wide stance and reached out toward the wall for support, worrying gust might grow strong enough to blow his entire body away.

But after mere seconds, the wind stopped. When Taehyung opened his eyes, they fell upon a bright red automobile now filling the hall before him. The space was just wide enough to comfortably accommodate its girth.

Despite having seen and experienced thousands of impossible things already for weeks, Taehyung still gaped in amazement at the appearance of a car right outside his door, so instantaneously and magically. Meanwhile, the guards looked as emotionless as they ever did, their bucket hats not even an inch out of alignment.

"Woah…" was all that Taehyung could say before the red car's door opened and it's smiling driver stepped out. If he represented an aspect of Hoseok, Taehyung's first guess would be that he represented suaveness. His smile dripped with confidence and charm. 

He wore a black shirt and blazer paired with shocking neon yellow lounge pants accented with black-and-white checkered sneakers and some beaded jewelry. His hair was smoothed and parted to the side, with his fringe perfectly set in a curl on his forehead.

"Hey, friend, hop on in!" the driver invited him in a melodically cheerful voice.

Without waiting for a response the driver  went and opened the passenger door, bowing low and gracefully as if inviting royalty to board a carriage. Well, he technically was.

"Thank you," Taehyung said, getting into the car.

The driver smoothly shut the door and slid into the driver's seat.

"Where are we going now?" he asked, checking his perfect hair in the rearview mirror.

"Do you know the neighborhood near the Baseline?"

"Sure thing." He flashed his bright smile and turned to face straight ahead, putting a bejeweled hand on the stick shift.

The beads on the bracelet had big letter-shaped pieces that stood out from the band and spelled the word 'hope.' Taehyung only had a second to think 'that's cute,' before Hoseok pulled the stick back and the car jumped into motion.

Reality blurred, melted, around them. Was this a car or a spaceship? Or a time machine?  The car was traveling through a tunnel of light, streaked with yellows, greens, reds, and blacks. Taehyung's stomach lurched. He had no frame of reference for their motion, but he could feel them hurtling.

Seconds later, the world around them stopped--halted and solidified into a city street. Taehyung looked out.

It was colorful, as always, but otherwise completely wrong. This wasn't the neighborhood where the original Hoseok had lived with his bright little house and flower garden. This was a crowded apartment complex, blocks wide. The buildings were tall and filled with windows, each with their own small pot of sunflowers sitting next to a patio chair and table set on it's balcony.

The buildings were each one imposing color. They seemed to nearly scream the hues at him. PINK, YELLOW, GREEN,...

"This isn't right," Taehyung said, "this is the wrong part of town. This must be another neighborhood near the Baseline."

"This is the only one."

Taehyung craned his head to look out the driver side window. The city looked far larger than he remembered. Taller, busier, more expensive. Bright red construction cranes dotted the horizon by the dozens. The unfamiliarity began to feel oppressive, and he felt his chest begin to tighten in a faint panic.

"Where is the Baseline?"

"Just up that street and around the right corner." The driver gestured vaguely into the tangled mass of buildings to their left.

"This can't be right," Taehyung insisted.

"It is--"

"No! Where is the cute little neighborhood?! The homey streets!?"

"What?" Driver Hoseok looked at him like he had two heads for a second. "Ohhhh. Those got ripped out a long time ago and replaced by these apartments. Growth, you know."

"..what?" Taehyung whispered.

"Yeah, sorry, man." The driver frowned faintly in sympathy.

Taehyung couldn't believe it. How had things changed so much and so quickly? His mind whirred, going to the next destination in his plans.

"What about the park?"

"Sure thing!" 

With another flash of a smile, Hoseok pulled the stick shift. Taehyung was thrown back and forth as the car lurched into the tunnel of light and lurched out again. 

"Is this right?" the driver asked, gesturing out the window, still cheery. He didn't seem to notice Taehyung's dizziness or whiplash.

He shook his head clear and looked out the window again only to see more gigantic buildings. These were primarily glass, accented with shocking blues and riddled with dozens of waterfalls and terraces full of green shrubs and rainbow flowers. 

Plastered all over the buildings, though, were thousands of brand logos and names in large neon letters, all crowding and shouting over each other for attention. 

It was also absolutely filled with people laden with shopping bags and eating mall food, all yelling at each other over loud music that pumped out of at least ten different stores in the area.

"This isn't a park!" Taehyung yelled, offended.

"Well," the driver said carefully, "they did combine the park with the new shopping mall, but they now call it The Hope Park & Mall. There are still a few trees here and there, see, and a few flamingos."

Taehyung closed his eyes. He didn't want to hear anymore.

"Can you take me to the forest?" he interrupted.

"Forest?"

"Yeah, the one with flowers as big as trees and the lake."

"Ohhhh, that's where they moved the houses."

"What?" Taehyung's tone was bitter and sharp now. He couldn't help it.

"They ripped out the forest and drained and filled in the lake to make room for the houses that they ripped out to make room for the new apartments that were added to replace old apartments that were ripped out of the city to make room for the new skyscrapers--"

"What is left !?"

" The Baseline club and bar, of course! It is the heart of the old town."

Old town!? That was about enough. This was making him feel like an old man when he was only in his twenties. He had just worked up the courage to go live his life , and now--!? This felt like a slap in the face.

"Maybe I should just go back to the palace…" he groaned.

"No no no no no! You gotta keep going! Don't give up on...on whatever you're doing! I'll take you to the Baseline. You'll love it! It's been expanded…"

Taehyung tuned out as the driver started describing how the Baseline had been remodeled and improved. He found it hard to care at the moment. Everything had changed. All his plans and motivation and hope had fallen apart before his eyes in a single day. He was only going to the Baseline now to get a drink.

Despite traveling so fast, the day was gone by the time they stopped in front of the Baseline. It was as if the day also traveled as fast as they did in that car. The sun had set and the city now glowed in overwhelming neon color. The sidewalk next to them was bathed in the classic purple light of the Baseline sign.

Taehyung got out, still loosely holding his now useless plans and empty film camera.

"I'll wait for you here and take you home when you're done!" the driver called after him over the noise of the street, the thousand horns blaring and beeping and the thousand voices chittering and giggling.

"Thank you," Taehyung mumbled tiredly even though the driver wouldn't be able to hear it, and slumped up to the Baseline door.

The bouncer seemed to judge his appearance slightly--his dull grey sweatshirt and bad posture must have looked dreadful--but the Hoseok still smiled warmly and invited Taehyung inside instantly.

"Enjoy yourself tonight," he said.

"Thanks."

He was greeted with the familiar scents of fizzy sodas, the throb of the dance music's bass, the purples and reds and blues lighting up the cozy brick walls. But directly before his face was something slick and shiny and new: an elevator. The Baseline definitely didn't used to have more than one floor.

He surprised himself and pushed the round elevator button beside the metal doors. The plan had always been to visit the familiar sights, like the first floor of the Baseline, but now he found himself wanting to go straight to the top.

The elevator announced itself with the cutest 'ding!' Inside were two hundred and eighteen floor buttons, so Taehyung pressed two-eighteen.

The elevator rose and it became apparent the walls were made of glass. Looking into the building, he could see floor after floor of partying guests in more and more expensive and colorful suits. Looking away from the building, a view of the city opened up to him. 

Pink and yellow lights swam among an ocean of blue that illuminated the dark skyscrapers and cast a hazy glow into the black sky. His rising vantage point made it dizzying to watch as many individual things below began to shrink away, but the overall view expanded.

Piano music played as he ascended, but it did not sound like typical elevator music at all in mood. It was slow, but somewhat harsh and chilling in a way that ran shivers of sad awe up his spine. The music made him feel the same way the view did.

Taehyung put his camera up to his eye, and captured his first picture of the day. The new Hope World night cityscape.

When the elevator finally reached the top, Taehyung stepped out to find a rather sparsely populated floor. The view through the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling glass windows was crowded with the stunning city lights, but there were only a handful of small groups chatting at tables, and a couple customers drinking alone at the bar counter. That was it. 

Quiet melancholy music played and the patrons all talked in low tones. This suited Taehyung's mood well enough.

He lumbered up to the bar counter, plopped down on a stool, dumped his papers and camera in front of him, and spoke to the nearest bartender.

"Excuse me, a coca-cola, please."

The bartender, dressed in the traditional white dress shirt and magenta and blue bowtie, tilted his head.

"No one ever orders that!” He seemed excited.

"Mmm," Taehyung grunted and wordlessly held his hand out for the drink.

In a second the bartender popped open and placed a cool bottle in his hand. Just as he was bringing the drink up to his lips, a loud voice interrupted him.

"Taehyung!"

Taehyung turned, surprised at being noticed. It was the attendant who'd comforted him this morning. He was still dressed in his white servant's smock.

"Did you come to stop me from drinking away my sadness?"

"No, I came to stop you from doing it alone!" He slammed a bottle of sprite onto the counter and sat down on the stool next to him.

"Don't you have duties to attend to?"

"Cheering you up is my duty right now!" He clapped him on the back.

Taehyung laughed. The attendant was even more friendly than this morning.

"Are you drunk already?"

"Maybe." The attendant Hoseok smiled and took another sip of sprite.

Taehyung glanced around the room again. One of the small groups was all dressed in white servants smocks. He hadn't noticed before. This attendant must have already been here for a while drinking with them.

"You should go back, hang out with your friends."

"I am." Hoseok touched his arm gently. "Now tell me what went wrong today."

Taehyung's heart squeezed. He knew he was in danger of getting too attached, but he needed someone to talk to.

"I didn't realize how quickly things could change around here. Everything is gone: the park, the house, the gardens, the forest, everything. I took some beautiful night pictures of the city but it's just--"

"Overwhelming?"

"Disappointing... "

"It's okay," he looked out the window at the neon lights and skyscrapers, "it is hard to accept change when it is bad," he turned back to Taehyung, "and yet almost harder when it is good."

"I thought that I had it this morning. I thought I could follow my plan. I was going to write down all my memories and take pictures of all the locations. But it fell apart before I even got started."

"You aren't going to have it all together all at once. It is okay to fall apart again, as long as you just keep getting back up."

"But what do I do now?"

"Try to embrace the new, maybe? Take it in stride. Perhaps you can try some new things." He started fishing around in his pockets as he spoke. "Of course you can still write your memories reflecting on the past.  But you might want to balance it with new activities so you aren't all stuck in your own head."

He pulled a neatly folded pamphlet from his pockets, unfolded it, and presented it to Taehyung. The cover read: Hope World's Weekly Community Activities Calendar!

“Oh! Thank you! This is nice!” Taehyung said.

“Yes, it is,” Hoseok agreed, “I’d recommend the painting and pottery classes happening this week. They're easy to hop in on any time, but you're welcome to join anything.”

“I’ll look into that! But Ohh! A violin class is on Wednesday? I want to try that! And the astronomy club meets Thursday! Ohh but so does the dance class...hmhmm"

The attendant laughed.

But Taehyung went silent with the next line he read. 

It was an announcement for a Saturday morning meeting in 'the chapel,' held by 'the Church of Hope.' The event was a funeral ‘for those who now swim with the fishes, literally.’

Taehyung felt his stomach drop and the blood drain from his face.

"What's this? This funeral?" He held out the pamphlet and pointed to the announcement.

"Oh." Hoseok frowned and waved his hand. "Don't worry about that."

"Don't worry?! It is a funeral for all those whom I … I am responsible for…” The words caught in his throat. It was obvious this was for all the Hoseok's he'd kissed and turned into goldfish. “Why wasn’t I notified of this?!”

“No one would have thought it necessary to inform you."

“But I am the king! And the one who… Well, shouldn’t I attend?!”

“No one would care! Probably nobody else will even show up to it. The church and its activities are not very significant. Really, don't worry about it.” Patting Taehyung's arm reassuringly, the attendant smiled and nodded and took another swig of his soda.

“Is that why I have never heard of this church before? Why they weren't involved with the wedding, and the coronation? They are really that insignificant?”

“Yesss, and also because the government and the church had something of aaa… a schism? a looong time ago.”

Taehyung frowned. “What for?”

The attendant shrugged lazily and sipped more sprite before he answered.

“No one remembers.”

“Well, I think I’ll attend the funeral anyway, maybe the government and the church can make some amends.”

The attendant Hoseok sighed, his drinking clearly making him drowsy now. When he spoke his words slurred a bit.

“Iit'snot necessssa—”

"I'm going," Taehyung interrupted firmly. 

The attendant just drank more sprite, giving up trying to convince him. Taehyung had already made up his mind. Both his own guilt and curiosity compelled him too much. He had to attend this funeral.

An employee went up to the stage and announced that open mic night for vocalists was beginning.

Taehyung put his drink down.

"I'm also going to go up and sing."

"Whaaa?"

"I'm gonna go sing!"

"Go get 'em tiger," Hoseok giggled and shoved him weakly. His face was flushed rosy red. He looked so sleepy and dazed he was about ready to fall over.

"Slow down on the sprite, hyung."

Taehyung crossed the room quickly, climbed up on the small corner stage, went up to the mic, and grabbed it. He thought when he got up there, he would sing to Hoseok. After all, he was surrounded by him. But instead, Taehyung ended up singing to himself.

He couldn't even remember all the words he sang that night, it just poured out of his heart in the moment, but he remembered one thing he sang over and over: we gon' change.

And he would change. No matter the backslides or restarts or relapses or pitfalls or stumbles, he'd keep going, and keep changing. Things were getting better. He was getting better. Even if he didn't see it, or feel it in every moment.

Outside the glass walls of the club, the city lights twinkled like a galaxy of stars all around him and his ten odd audience members, wrapping them up in their glittering glow.

As he sang, he bathed in that warm starlight and what it represented--hope, a hope that didn't come from Hoseok this time, but from himself. Taehyung wrapped his arms around his own body and held himself, shedding tears right there on the stage as he finished the song. He belted out the words with all the strength of his voice and his emotions. He left it all hanging in the air.

The song ended. The room filled with silence. He bowed to the silence. His small audience of Hoseoks stood and applauded him with a smattering of enthusiastic, fluttery claps.

He looked up to the bar for the attendant, but his drinking buddy was gone. It didn't leave him feeling alone, though. He thanked his friend silently in his heart as he left the stage, gathered his things, and took the elevator back down to the street.

The driver was waiting for him, sitting on the roof of his red car and staring up into the towering buildings and lights. 

"What are you doing up there!?" Taehyung laughed.

"Taking it in."

He turned to Taehyung. The driver's face was calm instead of plastered with its usual smile. The yellows and blues from the city lights cast a greenish glow on his skin which was unexpectedly beautiful.

"Are you ready to go?" Hoseok asked.

"Oh…" Taehyung was still staring at his beautiful face and couldn't really form thoughts yet.

The driver slid down from the car and opened the passenger door with a sweeping bow.

"I'm sorry but we really should go now," he said, gently guiding Taehyung inside.

He was back in his bed at the palace in an instant.

The rest of the week passed by quickly between bouts of writing down all his memories in detail and trying new things. Painting abstract portraits, learning to pluck out melodies on the violin, or taking a dance class, they all made him feel more alive, for now at least. And the Hoseoks teaching the classes were all very patient yet precise teachers.

Meanwhile, blue-shoes the courtier also sent him regular updates on construction through a postman courier. The subplane airmarine project was always right on schedule. Also, it was 'the most beautiful and advanced nautical and aeronautical design ever built, made of the finest materials....' Taehyung shook his head at the courtier’s reports that went on and on, gushing over the fineness of the craft.

On Saturday, the last day before the scheduled unveiling day, Taehyung only had one thing left to do: attend the funeral held by the mysterious Church of Hope.

It was difficult to find 'the chapel' at first. It took asking at least twenty or so servants and courtiers before one of them was able to point him on his way.

"The chapel of the Church of Hope? I remember it. It used to be underneath the palace, deep in the heart of the mountain. I suppose it must still be there."

Taehyung wondered if it went as deep as the prison did, but he did not ask. He just hoped it did not.

"The main staircase down there was walled off long ago, but the entrance near the servant's halls should still be there. There's a plain white door in an unassuming corner you've probably never even glanced at."

Taehyung nodded in thanks and turned to leave.

"Oh, and take a lit candle down there with you, and some spares. It used to be customary for everyone to bring a light down to the chapel. I don't know if you'll need it now, but better be safe than sorry."

Nodding again, Taehyung left to follow the instructions.

The corner was indeed unassuming and the door indeed plain, but when he opened it, the space before him gaped like the maw of a giant beast breathing out strangely sweet and musty smells from an infinite dark gullet. This staircase felt more ancient than those that had led to the prison.

And so, turning his back to the morning sunlight, Taehyung descended into the darkness below, with one candle to light the steps held in one hand, and two waxy spares in his other. 

He still wore his simple grey jeans and hoodie. Dressing nicely could have been a way to show respect, but dressing in his own clothes, he thought, showed more respect through its humility and authenticity. He was not coming as a king, but just as Taehyung.

The walls on either side of the staircase were made of stone. The candlelight illuminated carvings of faux columns and purple stained glass of increasing intricacy with each progressive flight of stairs.

Gusts of damp cold wind blew his hair and raised goosebumps on Taehyung's skin, or perhaps it was just the presence of the place he was entering affecting him.

When his feet reached the bottom of the stairs, the echo of his sneakers on the polished floor described the room's cavernous size with sound. But Taehyung did not need to hear it's size, because he could see it.

There must have been thousands of candles, from the elaborate chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, to the candelabras decorating every table and the little pillar candles and tea lights littering the floor, all lit and glowing brightly.

They allowed him to see all the way up to the pointed gothic arches that shaped the space, and all the way down the long velvet purple curtains that lined the walls and framed alternating floor-to-ceiling paintings and stained glass windows.

Stepping out into the room, Taehyung looked up at the art work. It depicted Hoseok as various mythic gods. He identified Odin with his two ravens, Mythrias, Zeus, and Ra, the sun god, of course, as well as countless others.

Behind the stained glass, light glowed faintly, and even though he knew this was underground, it almost made him forget it. The windows were all composed of shades of violet and gold, depicting delicate flowers in sun rays, connecting to the full, round sun on the even larger stained glass window at the end of the long room.

The stained-glass sun seemed to pull Taehyung toward it, and he continued toward the end of the chapel. He hardly noticed the rows and rows of wooden pews on either side of him.

At that end of the chapel, under the giant sun, he found the funeral memorials. Pictures of each of the Hoseoks who'd been lost were enshrined in every corner. Candles clustered up against them, along with small gifts and tokens and bunches of purple flowers.

He spotted the flamingo policeman’s picture near the front, in a prominent position, as well as the Baseline dancer, and the Hoseok from the forest. But, in the very center, with the largest array of flowers surrounding it, was the memorial to the king.

Taehyung took the three small candles he’d brought with him, lit them, and placed them at the front of the memorial. Then, he just stared at the beautiful mass of light, flowers,images of so many different Hoseoks, feeling numb. 

A draft made dust particles dance in the air above the pictures, forming almost-shapes, their grey white standing out against the deep purples of the curtains and dim glass behind them.

He was alone in this echoey chamber. It was large, and though it was full of memories and candles and flowers, it also felt empty. Full yet empty.

But then someone tapped his shoulder. Taehyung turned.

It was Hoseok.

No, it was just the image of Hoseok outlined in the grey dust, but it had touched him. The image of Hoseok wore a suit, and somehow Taehyung knew it was supposed to be bright reddish pink. It was a memory of the Hoseok from the baseline.

The image held out his ghostly dusty hand to him, and Taehyung took it.

All around them sprung up visions from the dust, images of every lost Hoseok: the mailman, the policeman, the bartender, the Hoseok from the forest, and... the king. He stood in the back of the group of dust-ghosts, watching over the scene sadly. 

Taehyung bowed toward the king, deep and low.

But the Hoseok from the Baseline still held his hand. Hee pulled Taehyung into a spin, twirling the two of them around the purple chapel.

Pews fell away and the space opened up like a ballroom. All the other dusty Hoseoks took each other's hands and began dancing around them as well. His dance partner passed him to another Hoseok, and then that one to another, and soon he was dancing with them all.

Taehyung’s feet alone clicked and echoed on the cool stone floor as he twirled amongst the dust and shadows, as he danced with these ghosts, everything face and every dust particle heavy with sadness and regret.

When the king’s ghost finally stepped in to dance with him, Taehyung's eyes filled with tears but he kept dancing, kept spinning, dizzy from candlelight and stained glass visions. He felt he heard music, like a violin crying.

He was losing himself in the dance, in the ghosts of the past again, but then someone grabbed his shoulder. A truly solid hand.

Looking up, the dust all fell away with sudden weight, leaving the chapel now empty of the dust-ghosts.

Holding his shoulder was a Hoseok in a long blue robe of velvet blue, almost turquoise. It must have been a priest garb but looked more like a cozy bathrobe. It had little pockets on the front. But he wore a high collared white shirt with a ruffled edge, that made him look a bit stuffy, yet pretty.

"Let them go," he said with a smile, "that's what funerals are for."

Taehyung laughed lightly. He didn’t know what to say.

“Where is everyone?”

The priest sighed, smiling sadly now.

"Everyone is just where I expected them to be. That is, everyone except you. I never expected our king would condescend to attend our humble services! But, well, here you are! It is a pleasant surprise."

"Can you tell me why that is? Why is no one, especially not the king, expected to attend? I would have thought that such a church should especially be involved in coronations and royal weddings."

“There were some differences between the government and the Church of Hope some time ago. It was after that that when we went underground. This is why we did not attend the king’s--er, your wedding or your coronation. We have been separate and underground for so long. This is our first public action since the death of the former king. So, we didn’t expect anyone to show up.”

“What sort of differences did you have with the government?”

“Philosophy. The late king followed regret and shame, which are directly opposed to Hope.”

“He did,” Taehyung agreed with a sad nod.

“He believed that Hope World was built out of shame and regret, that its very purpose was to hide and escape from the realities of life! And yet he also wanted to stifle the indulgences of all but himself , wallowing in his own sadness. Hypocrisy! What is the purpose of escape, but indulgence? What is the purpose of a fall, but to regain and regrow? And he would let none of Hope World have either indulgence or growth! He gave them only shame and tears, and shame is not the lesson.”

“He was a bit of a tyrant, I guess."

“The old king just had the devil and god mixed up. The demon of regret was his master. He gave up and blamed all his dreams and even made you his devil and blamed your touch. But he did learn at the end that he was wrong, didn’t he? And that is why we will still love and honor him now that he is gone. We mourn the sadness he carried, but also celebrate how he truly changed and embodied Hope in the end.”

There was cold silence after that. Taehyung wanted to agree, but….

“But, he left me,” he whispered.

“He had hope for you, though, didn’t he? He hoped that you would be able to move on and grow without him, didn’t he? And we are all blessing your journey forward. We wish you safe travels tomorrow.”

“How did you know I was leaving tomorrow?”

“Our god, Hope, knows all and he tells us.”

“‘Hope’ is your god? Is he a real person?”

“The creator of our world.”

“Would he be the real Hoseok?”

“Real Hoseok? Well, um, yes? Maybe. I don’t really know what you mean.”

“And you speak to him?”

“Yes, we are his priests. Well, I keep saying ‘we,’ out of habit, but I am the only priest left now. All the others quit the order, and no one has been interested in joining for quite some time.”

“But, can I talk to him?”

“Noooo,” the priest laughed, “you'd have to be inducted into the order and chosen by Hope himself to be his mouthpiece.”

“How does that happen?”

“It is a uhh..a sacred...rite…”

Taehyung looked at him skeptically.

“You’re making all this up.”

“I--! Look, we try to follow the creator's intent and follow Hope, but our connection to him is tenuous and inexplicable! We have little control over it! We wonder how much control Hope himself has over it. Anyway, I doubt that you, being an entirely different person, would have the same connection.”

Taehyung tuned out the priest’s explanations. Running through his mind were the words of the king: ‘I’m a king not a god.’ Was the real Hoseok the ‘god’ of Hope World? He shook his head. No, no, no! It did not matter whether this Hope god was the real Hoseok or not, Taehyung was done chasing after him. 

"You guys are right,” he said, interrupting the priest, “I need to let go and move forward now."

“Ah! Yes! That is very good!” The priest grabbed his hands. “Taehyung, you have helped restore hope here, too. Not just to the king’s heart, but to the whole world. Remember this funeral is not a sad occasion but an honoring of those who gave their imaginary lives for the sake of the journey forward, toward hope, towards life.  We do not regret these losses, as much as we mourn them. We look toward the future, and to you Taehyung, with hope. Go before us, we bless your journey."

"Thank you.”

He had really not expected to be reassured so much at this funeral. He had come to wallow in his guilt. But now he understood why the priest would never allow that. It was the opposite of the beliefs of the Church of Hope.

The priest noticed Taehyung’s thoughtful stare and let go of his hands.

“I will leave you to pay your respects, then.” And the priest left him with soft footsteps.

Taehyung took a long last look at all the memorials before him amidst the glowing candlelight. Then he bowed and closed his eyes, whispering thanks to every Hoseok. He did not open his eyes again until he turned around. Without looking back, he left the chapel and reascended the stairs. He needed no candle on his way out. The way seemed full of light.

Even though he emerged into the late afternoon, apparently having spent his whole final day deep in the chapel, he did not feel like he'd wasted his time.

Taehyung felt more sure than ever now. He would leave tomorrow, with or without Hoseok. He would take that plane into the air and rise out of the lake in the submarine. He'd go back to his home, his life.

On his way back to his rooms, he was informed that the subplance airmarine project was still on schedule for tomorrow, but that departure would be delayed until the evening, right after the sun went down. Well, it was still tomorrow, at least.

Brushing his teeth, washing his face, and putting on his soft white pyjamas went slowly. Despite Taehyung's resolve to leave, something of him must have still been clinging to Hope World, making time feel sticky and slow.

Finally, he crawled into the king’s empty bed, but time still inched by. Unable to sleep, he tossed and turned. The large mattress and silky white sheets felt like drowning in a cold alien vastness. Taehyung pulled one of the fluffy pillows to his chest and curled around it.

There was a cold wind and a rumbling sound outside. Was it the sea? Thunder? 

Taehyung rolled onto his back. There was something heavy on his chest. A violin was across him. He picked up the wooden instrument and sat up. He’d only learned the most basic of notes and could still barely hold it properly. But, when he tucked the instrument under his chin, his body started moving on its own. His posture straightened, arms adjusted to the correct angles, fingers found the right placements, and the bow landed with practiced grace upon the strings.

“This must be a dream,” he said to himself.

He stood up and walked out to the balcony. His hands began to play a song that he didn’t even recognize, but it dripped with a bittersweet beauty. The music drifted out from the balcony and down to the beach and the ocean. 

As he played, faint light began leaking over the horizon. Taehyung thought he saw a shadow way out in the sand on the beach that looked almost like a person listening. Just one person. Taehyung smiled at his imaginary audience.

The curtains around the balcony door blew outwards in the wind, theirwhite film obscuring his vision. When he looked back out, the shadowy audience was gone.

And then he was lying in bed again. Still asleep and yet not asleep, dreaming, and yet somehow not dreaming. His eyes were closed, yet he could see the room around him, lit by the surreal light of sunrise’s earliest moments. It was that blurry land between dreams and reality.

Across the room, there was a figure, a person, wearing white and tiptoeing over to his bedside. Taehyung couldn’t make out his face, but who else’s face would it be? 

There was something thin like paper in his hands.  The person set it down on the nightstand beside his bed. Then, he placed one of his fists onto the bed and leaned down over Taehyung. A puff of breath moved his hair before gentle lips pressed down onto his head.

This couldn’t be a dream now. This had to be real. Taehyung felt it in the presence of this person. This person  made the whole world feel paler, thinner, in comparison, like he was so full of realness that he warped the very fabric of the imaginary world around him. It was the gravity of a sun pulling everything toward himself. He hadn’t realized this power of his presence before, but now it was unmistakable.

Lifting up from Taehyung's head, the person began padding away.

"Why don't you wake me up?" Taehyung said, eyes still closed.

There was a small surprised jump and scuffle of feet.

“Ah--! Are you sure? You have a long journey ahead of you. And the sun is coming up. This is your last chance to rest.” The feet turned to leave again, but slowly. “Sleep just a little more.”

"Come back!" Taehyung croaked. He reached out an arm, grasping blindly in his direction. "I know it is you . I know this is not a dream, but please let me test it, let me know with--"

Two quick strides and Hoseok's lips covered his in a moment. Taehyung froze, eyes still closed, waiting for the dreaded chill, but FINALLY, finally , the lips didn't grow cold and fishy. Instead, they grew warmer.

"Hoseok...," Taehyung whined into the kiss and then devoured his face.

"I'm—here—I’m here," Hoseok panted between the onslaught of desperate kisses, "it’s—really--me this time—it’s your real Hoseok—"

Taehyung pulled back, leaving heavy breaths of joy between them.

"They were all real though, that's what I learned."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes, for a while I was worried how easily I fell for each one, thinking it must mean I can't tell who you really are, but I think instead that I love you completely, You have a thousand hundred yous inside of you, and I know now that I love every bit of you, and that every bit of you loves me.”

After that, he had to kiss him again, but Hoseok pulled back.

"Really? All of them? Aren't you being a bit generous?"

"Nah," Taehyung dismissed and planted another kiss.

"Taehyung, slow down!" Hoseok laughed.

"I can't, you've ruined me for kissing now, hyung. I was to either end up too traumatized to ever do it again or unable to ever get enough. Looks like it's the latter."

As he went in for yet another kiss, Hoseok straightened his arms and put his weight down on them, pinning Taehyung down at the upper arms.

"I love you too, but heck! Let me breathe!"

Taehyung could have thrown him off easily, but instead he squirmed and made puppy dog eyes until Hoseok finally sighed and leaned down to give him a last quick peck on the lips. Taehyung pretended this satisfied him, though it most certainly did not.

Now that the full and complete Hoseok was here again he felt he'd lost all the control and determination he'd built up to let go and leave. Now he'd stay here forever if Hoseok asked, do anything Hoseok said, as long as it never meant leaving his side. How easily he felt himself wanting to fall right back into that utter, surrendering love again.

Hoseok seemed to read it in his eyes.

"Don't you dare," Hoseok warned, his voice rising, "don't you dare change your mind, Taehyung! I swear! If you undo all the work I've done to help you get to this point!"

"But Hoseokie—"

"No. Don't. Don't ask me if you can stay here. I won't be able to say no and all this will have been for naught."

"I'm not going to ask if I can stay here!" Taehyung contradicted, pretending to be offended. And it was mostly true. Sure, he'd had a moment of weakness but he knew what he really wanted. "I'm going to ask you to come with me!"

"Taehyung!!" Hoseok’s teeth flashed in a tight smile.

"Yes?!"

"No!!"

"NooOoo???" Taehyung whined.

"I will leave Hope World. I will leave it very soon. Ever since you said that the world had no sun and no color, I knew I would have to go back. But I will not go with you."

"Whyyy!?"

"The second we step out of Hope World the curse has power again! You'll forget me in an instant and I can’t be there to see that!"

"I'm going to fix it so that doesn't happen!"

"You can't do that! Your notes won't make you truly remember! And you can't just rely on them forever!"

"I'm the last one who hasn't been to the magic shop."

Hoseok went silent so Taehyung continued.

"You can only go inside once, right? Isn't that why Seokjin hyung wanted to take Jimin, Jungkook, and me there? To see if we could remember anything and maybe find out how to break these curses? But Jimin and Jungkook revealed nothing new and now I'm the last chance."

Hoseok nodded slowly, thoughts whirring behind his eyes.

"Well, I'll go in there and ask them to take back both your powers and your curse all together! And Yoongi hyung and Namjoon hyung’s powers and curses, too! I'll save all of you!"

"Taehyung," Hoseok sighed heavily, "I can’t give up these powers.”

“Why?”

“They're who I am ! –who I want to be. I want to help people, make them smile, have hope and peace. You might not have seen just how much I helped people, how much I loved it. Suddenly, everyone I wanted to uplift, I could. It worked with everyone. Everyone except you, that is." He laughed weakly, "So you might not have seen, just how much good I was able to do."

"I did. I did see it. But Hoseok hyung, I always saw it. It doesn't come from the magic shop; it comes from you ."

"No...," Hoseok turned away, ears turning red.

"Believe me, you can do everything you want in life without this magical power. You can do more than that even. You can be free to be human. And a human can do far more than a god."

Hoseok let out a short skeptical puff of air.

"How? How can a human do more than a god?"

"Only a flawed human can understand and connect with other flawed humans. That's where your real power comes from, your understanding of tears, and love, and human chaos."

"I feel like you've grown up so much." Hoseok smiled at him, both irritated and proud.

"Because I can beat you at arguments?" Taehyung smiled back and Hoseok shoved him.

"Well then beat me at this argument. How will you remember enough to be able to actually request to break our curses in the magic shop?"

“I have notes. I wrote everything down, everything that I remembered of our moments together, and everything I want to say in the magic shop. And, I have my pictures you printed, which helped so much to spark the memories in the first place. I'll take them all with me.”

“But what will make you believe your own notes? If you forget and then read all of that, won’t it be too bizarre to believe right away? And what if you read them and forget immediately after? How will you manage to hold the information in your head long enough to do what you need to do?”

“Once I'm in the magic shop, I think I'll be able to work from my writing to negotiate. I'll only have to use them for that moment.”

“And what about all the moments on the way there? The second you step out of Hope World you'll lose your purpose and need to be constantly reminded of it. How will you make sure you get to the magic shop first?”

“I'll hold your hand.”

“Hold my—! Hold my hand !? How does that help!? You really think you'd let some stranger drag you around by the hand into some strange shop?! Please don't ask me to try to do that.”

“Hoseok hyung. Calm down.” He grabbed Hoseok’s hands. “I've remembered every memory here in detail. I remembered the last moment when I forgot you, the time it didn't happen overnight, but right before your eyes. When you were crying, I was holding your hands. I watched you cry and still remembered to whom I was talking. But I wanted to hug you, so I let go of your hands and—” He let go of Hoseok’s hands. “—and that's when the memories puffed out.”

“And you think that's how it will work this time?”

"I'm willing to bet everything on it."

"Taehyung! ”

"You keep saying that." Taehyung smiled. It just felt good to hear Hoseok saying his name.

"Your boldness just astonishes me. How have you become so brave? Meanwhile, I am still the same coward who ran here in the first place."

"You're brave too, Hoseok hyung."

"No."

"You've always had good selfless intentions, doing scary and difficult things for the sake of others. You wanted to help me not get stuck here, right? And you also said you were already planning on leaving Hope World once you learned how it has affected the real world."

"But I'm still not brave enough to overcome the dread of facing your unremembering face again."

“Yes, you are. But you won’t have to, trust me. It won't be like before. It'll be different. I feel like I can see it. This will work. I'll be with you. I promise.”

“You think you can see the future?”

“No. I don’t know. But please, let’s just try .”

“But how do I push through the fear? I've hid here for so long, now. I can trust you, Taehyung, but can I trust myself ?”

At that moment the sun had risen high enough to start streaming golden light through the window.

“Yes, you can. Look, it's a brand new day, a brand new Hoseok, a brand new you! You can do it today!”

“Shut up.” Hoseok smiled. “It is embarrassing that you have to encourage me like this.”

“It is okay, I think it is just hard to have hope for ourselves sometimes. Especially you, since you spend so much of your hope on others, like me. Sometimes you might just need someone else to have hope for you . And I do have hope for you.”

“Thank you, Taehyung.”

“Well, what is your choice? Will you let me try? To help all three of you?”

“Okay.”

“Okay!?!” Taehyung sat up with excitement.

“Okay.” Hoseok nodded in confirmation. He stood up and started stretching his arms and taking deep breaths of the morning air. “Let’s try it.”

Taehyung stood up too, but he grabbed Hoseok by the shirt.

“What!?” Hoseok screeched playfully as Taehyung body threw him onto the bed and fell on top of him in a cuddle tackle, curling up against him.

He felt like they were a couple of puppies. Oh, puppies.

“Wait,” Taehyung said, pulling back, “what about Yeontan and Mickey? Where are they?”

“They're just my imagination too, you know.”

“What.” Taehyung’s face fell slack.

“Sorry.”

“What—?” His voice cracked.

“Oh, don't cry please! Don’t cry!”

Taehyung laughed.

“You’re the only real thing here, Taehyung.” Hoseok said, smoothing his hair.

“Besides you.”

“I suppose, yes, but the rest is just...my daydream, I guess.”

“I really liked your daydream.”

“Thank you.”

“You know, I really wanted pictures to remember it by. I wanted to recreate all the moments I had with you here. But, everything changed so much.”

“We could create new moments, if you want.”

“But we have to leave this evening!”

“So then we better get started! We only have one day!”

Hoseok sat up on his knees and looked down at Taehyung next to him and tugged his arms.

“Come on, rise and shine!”

The morning sun coming in from the window hit Hoseok’s cheek as he rose and made his complexion gleam gold against his red hair. Taehyung reached up and brushed his fingers over his face.

“Oh yeah, my hope, always so pretty…” Taehyung said.

Hoseok pushed him away with a laugh.

“Let's hurry and wash up so we can start our day.”

Taehyung got right back into his grey hoodie and jeans, but Hoseok spent time picking out a loose white knit sweater, oversized distressed jeans, red sneakers and an assortment of cute rings and bracelets. He topped it off with a black and white striped umbrella to use as a parasol.

While Hoseok stood in front of the mirror, curling his red hair a bit, carefully arranging it, Taehyung just ruffled his own bedhead mop a bit and stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket. That was good enough. 

It's not that Taehyung couldn't or wouldn't put in that amount of effort into his appearance, but right now, he just didn't feel like it. Maybe he was still absorbing the fact that real Hoseok had just reappeared.

Hoseok side-eyed him, looking him up and down.

"Do you want to go shopping? Maybe get something cuter to wear that isn’t grey, grey, grey?" 

"Why, you don't like it?

"It's okay...."

 “Besides it isn’t like there aren’t other clothes here in the king’s closet. If I wanted to wear something else, I would."

"Well, I'd like to go shopping for some more interesting clothes for myself! I'm going to go out in classy style!"

"Sounds like a plan.

When they opened the door of the king's chamber, it opened not into the hallway of the palace, but out onto a busy city street in downtown Hope World. 

"You can do that?!" Taehyung gasped.

Hoseok just smiled and strolled out onto the sidewalk twirling his parasol. He pushed a button at the crosswalk and waited.

Across the street was the 'Hope World Park' shopping mall, with it's fountains sparkling.

"I'm going to take you to the finest tailor in all of Hope World!" Hoseok announced loudly, like a tour guide.

They went up to a shop on the first floor of the courtyard in the middle of the mall, right across from a large, refreshing fountain. The sign on the shop had trim and clean looking serifed letters that read ‘J's Tailor.’

Before he strode into the shop, Hoseok tossed his parasol over his shoulder. It caught in the wind behind them and blew up and away into the blue sky.

What hit Taehyung first was the smell. Polished wood mixed with expensive fabric. And that was because the walls and counter were all shiny rich-colored wood accented with velvety dark green curtains and carpet. It was a luxurious shop.

An employee that looked just like Hoseok stepped out and spoke to the two of them. His hair was neatly parted and he wore a velvety black suit with shiny silver geometric patterns.

“How may I help you two gentlemen?”

“We’re looking for some snazzy suits to wear for the evening. Quickly, if possible. We only have a few hours. Tight schedule. Important business.”

The employee started showing Hoseok some suits in different colors and fabrics. He ended up picking out a deep red shiny leather-like fabric.

Taehyung watched as one Hoseok measured the other and helped him try on the suit. It didn’t seem like any adjustments were necessary. Afterall, if everyone in Hope World was an identical copy of Hoseok, no one would ever need different sizes. And yet, the tailor still seemed to find several infinitesimal adjustments to mark and pin.

As he waited patiently on a green cushioned wooden chair, another identical employee came out of the back and approached Taehyung.

“And you sir?” he asked.

“Oh! I'm just...here. I’m waiting for him. I'm with him.” He pointed at his real Hoseok as he tried to explain himself.

“You would like to get fitted for a suit as well?”

“Ohhhh no, no, I didn't mean--” he started, but the tailor was already pulling Taehyung to his feet and holding a tape measure up to him.

From the other side of the room Hoseok laughed one of his sunniest laughs.

“Taehyung! Get the green one!” He pointed to an emerald three-piece ensemble on display in the window.

The tailors all enthusiastically agreed, so Taehyung nodded and let them fit him into the green suit.

Once the tailors had taken their measurements and notes, they asked them to come back in a couple hours. It would take longer than usual because Taehyung’s suit needed quite a few larger adjustments since the default size was too small.

While they waited for their suits, they strolled around the mall’s courtyard quietly, just being in each other’s presence. There were a thousand words to say and questions to ask still, but it was all noise in Taehyung’s head. Just being with Hoseok was already dizzying. He needed to process this. Being next to each other, walking past fountains and trees, was enough for now.  They kept walking around until they found a street vendor making fresh hotteok. 

Hoseok pointed to the sticky pancakes filled with sugar, nuts, honey, and cinnamon.

They ended up getting two hotteok each. Hoseok took big bites and chewed enthusiastically with round cheeks like a squirrel.

“Even when you're eating, you're beautiful.” The words came out of Taehyung’s mouth without thinking. He was barely thinking, still, really.

“Ahhh….” Hoseok looked down shyly, but swung his head right back up, curls bouncing. “ I think our suits should be ready by now!”

At the shop, the tailors presented them with the red and green suits.They changed there in the shop and did their hair, parting it and smoothing it. 

Hoseok looked incredible in the suit. It put his movements, always smooth as if choreographed, in sharp outline.

"Oh you wear it so well. It fits perfectly. It suits you," Taehyung said.

Hoseok smiled . He looked so comfortable, like the clothes were a second skin he was made to live in. Taehyung wasn’t sure if he looked as comfortable in the fitted fabric. Maybe it was just because this situation still felt so odd. Here was Hoseok, the ‘real Hoseok,’ whom he’d been trying to find for so long , and he was just casually going shopping with him.

As Taehyung mused, Hoseok spun around to look at him. He brushed his hands over Taehyung’s red and green striped tie, adjusting it. 

“Woooah, Taehyungie, you look so manly and cool.”

Taehyung beamed. Standing up straighter, he suddenly felt amazing in the suit.

“You know you are still the most handsome, though.”

"Aghhh you!" Hoseok wrapped his arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. Taehyung scrunched up his face with pleasure.

One of the tailors across the room sighed. He was staring at them with a look of content tinged with longing on his face. Hoseok frowned at him.

“Let’s take some selfies and get on with our day, then,” he said to Taehyung, grabbing his camera. 

They took dozens of pictures together in the long shop mirrors, looking suave and fashionable.

After they stepped out of the shop in their fine suits, Hoseok proposed an idea.

"Do you want to go back to the Baseline? We are definitely dressed perfectly for it!"

Taehyung shoved a hand into one of the silky pockets. Going there would be like going backwards. Right now he needed calm and space to think.

"Actually what I really want is to go to the beach."

"Well, we aren't really dressed for it."

"Oh, I guess not."

"Okay, okay. So, how about after the Baseline, we make another stop here at the mall for some more beach-appropriate clothes? It's perfect!"

And so once more, Taehyung went to the dance floor of the Baseline club. He and Hoseok kicked their feet in their wide-leg pants, rocking the mid-day party. And when Hoseok tired out from all the dancing, he pulled Taehyung off towards the mall again. 

Hoseok picked out a bucket hat, vest, cargo pants, and expensive looking tennis shoes. Taehyung just picked out some more comfortable loose black pants, black lace up shoes, round dark sunglasses, and an even larger, softer new grey pullover hoodie.

They changed once again and set off toward the beach, walking through town.

“Wait! Taehyung! Taehyung! The art museum!”

“We don't have much time left.”

“Pleeeaassee. It's still early afternoon.”

Taehyung felt pretty sure that Hoseok was avoiding the beach, which was close to the palace and the runway and the plane that would take them back home to their friends. Even though Hoseok had agreed to leave with him and try to undo the curse, Taehyung knew it was still hard to face. Still, he agreed to go.

"All right."

They went to the museum, taking pictures of each other in front of modern art installments and holding hands as they walked around. 

The art was all very colorful, as they were created by different Hoseoks. One was a massive collection of plastic beads strung together in rainbow colors. Plastic beaded bracelets of similar design were available in the gift shop.

On an upper floor of the museum there was a small window between exhibits that looked out toward the sea.

"Hyung," Taehyung nodded to the window. 

He didn't have to explain. Hoseok understood. They couldn’t just keep shopping and sightseeing and try to ignore that the day was coming to an end. The sun was setting.

"We haven't seen all the exhibits yet…"

“I promise we'll go to more art museums when this is all over.” 

Hoseok seemed comforted by his words. A promise meant that this plan had to work.

“Deal.”

They passed so many people on their way out to the boardwalk by the beach, and then out onto the sand. It was rather crowded on the beach.

“Come this way,” Hoseok whispered. He took Taehyung's hand and pulled him down the beach toward a weathered white wooden fence that divided the beach down to the sea. There was a gate which he unlocked. On the other side, the beach was completely empty of people.

“A private beach?”

“Your private beach, King Taehyung of Hope World.”

Taehyung smiled and immediately ripped off his shoes, tossing them in the air, which made Hoseok laugh. Then he put his hands on his hips and took in a deep breath of the sea air and wiggled and wormed his toes into the sand.

"How does it feel?" Hoseok asked.

"Good."

He took his camera out of his pocket and handed it to Hoseok. Then he rolled up his pant legs and jogged off towards the waves.

The sun was setting, turning the water gold. When he reached it, it was cold, but comforting. He kicked at the water and ran and danced among the foam, his hair messy and bouncing with him.

When he looked up, he saw the lens of his camera pointed at him. This time, Hoseok was the one hanging back, taking pictures of him. Taehyung flashed a smile.

“Hyung! Come here! I'll take one of you too!”

Hoseok went out and walked along the edge of the water line like he was balancing on a ledge, the line between land and sea. He looked graceful. Taehyung snapped the picture.

Then he joined him where the land met the sea and swept him up into a dance in the waves. This was the feeling he wanted. The splashing ocean water was cold but he felt warm with Hoseok in his arms.

When the sunset had almost faded completely away and Taehyung and Hoseok were lying side-by-side in the sand, their feet just tickled by the sea foam of each incoming wave, an attendant came running up the beach toward them.

He informed them that the subplane airmarine craft was finished. It was time to leave.

They got up quickly and Taehyung began dusting the wet sand off of their backsides while Hoseok handed the camera to the servant and ordered him to print the photographs as quickly as possible and bring the camera and the prints to the runway before they left.

They went back into the palace one last time to change again and pack. Taehyung noticed the piece of paper Hoseok had set by his head that morning. It was a letter. They’d both totally forgotten about it. He shoved it into his folder along with his notes and photographs.

It was evening and the stars were coming out when they made their way to the runway on the other side of the palace beach. Hoseok had changed into the all-white fluff-lined jacket and sweatpants that the king used to wear. Meanwhile,Taehyung was back in his original grey jeans and hoodie. He clutched his notes and photographs carefully to his chest along with his camera.

A sleek airplane filled the small concrete runway. It was slender and not quite as large as a standard passenger plane, but still big. It looked as light as it could possibly be in design, while also being weighed down by the thick bolted seams of an air-tight water craft. The metal body was painted white with swirling blue designs across the body. Taehyung couldn’t decide if the blue swirls were meant to represent clouds, water, or both.

And standing next to the plane, in matching colors even, was the blue-shoe-wearing courtier, looking proud of himself. He had a blue scarf, aviator sunglasses, blue boots, and a bright blue bomber jacket on top of his typical white clothes. He looked ridiculous, yet fashionable in a way only a Hoseok could.

"You did a great job," Taehyung told him, still staring up at the amazing feat of engineering that was the airplane-submarine, "everyone did, thank you."

"You're taking him with you?" The courtier pointed at Hoseok, who was also staring up at the plane, but with less of a sense of awe, and more of a sense of apprehension and anxiety.

“Oh so now you want to ask me questions about what I'm doing with the plane?” 

"I already knew. The king's intention for this machine is clear in his design. This is the way out of Hope World." He looked off. "This daydream must have been a prison for one as strict and ambitious as he."

Taehyung looked at Hoseok beside him.

"Yes, it must have been."

The courtier held up one finger.

“I have a different question, though.”

“What?” Taehyung folded his arms.

The courtier looked down.

“What if…” He stepped closer to Taehyung and then looked up and directly into his eyes. “You stay here with me instead? I would not find this daydream a prison with you here.”

Hoseok stiffened beside him, angry, he looked ready to strangle his own alter ego. Taehyung had to put out an arm to hold him back.

“You really think I might say yes to that?” 

“No. But It's worth a shot isn't it?” The courtier flashed a big smile.

Taehyung smiled back and stepped closer, closing the gap between him and the courtier.

“Maybe it is.”

"What!?" Hoseok squeaked behind him. 

Taehyung grabbed the courtier’s blue scarf with one hand and gave him a smooch on the lips. A big genuine grin spread across the courtier’s face right before he poofed away into a fish. The fish still wore his aviator sunglasses. Flipping backward, the fish swam dizzily up into the starry night sky.

"Taehyung!" Hoseok scolded.

"What?"

"You! You!"

Taehyung laughed.

"Wasn't that what he wanted?"

Hoseok turned deep red. What an odd position he was in, to be both jealous and embarrassed of a bit of his own mind.

Alone on the landing strip now, they looked up at the stair ramp leading into the belly of the air/water craft.

“You ready?” Hoseok turned and asked him.

“Outing with Hoseok hyung, Let's go!” And Taehyung ran up the ramp into the plane with Hoseok following.

It was cold inside, but also very clean. Everything was white and light blue and modern looking. There were even wood accents on the walls, just like in an expensive private jet.

Hoseok turned to walk into the cockpit, while Taehyung went to the back of the plane to look for the snacks. He found bags of tiny cookies that he ripped open and started munching on. There were also complimentary blue blankets folded neatly in a stack. Well, this was a red-eye flight, leaving in the middle of the night. What good hospitality and planning on the part of the blue-shoes and the builders. Taehyung wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, took his bag of cookies, and moved to join Hoseok in the cockpit.

“Look at this,” he announced as he strutted. When Hoseok turned, he flung the blanket over his shoulder like a fashionable scarf and struck a pose.

"Hey, don’t get all cozy. You have to help me pilot this." Hoseok went back to nervously looking at the thousands of buttons and switches and toggles and meters surrounding them.

"Don't you know how? What would I even know about it? It's your design." 

Taehyung plopped in the copilot’s seat, legs draped over the dashboard, and popped another tiny cookie into his mouth. Hoseok carefully lifted Taehyung's legs off of the dash and placed them back on the ground. His lips were tight and his cheeks puffed angrily as he did so.

"It’s not my design! The king designed it!"

"He's you !"

Hoseok couldn't counter that. His cheeks puffed again.

"I'm still not sure, it's just an idea, a figment, a bit of imagination in my brain, not something I've actually done."

“Isn’t this plane just as imaginary as everything else in the world? I think even if you fly it wrong, you’ll still fly it right, because it is made up, and you made it up, so if you make up that you can fly it right, then you will!”

“I...I suppose that makes sense.”

“Try flipping a random switch. Whatever one you pick, I am sure it will be the right one.”

Hoseok reached out and switched a blue knob. The engines roared.

“Yes!” Taehyung stood up and pumped  his fists in the air. “Do another!”

Hoseok toggled a green dial and then pressed a red button, then he pulled back a lever, and the whole plane shifted, it’s wheels coming unlocked.

“Ohhh! We are ready for take off!”

He pulled another lever and the craft began to accelerate, eating up the runway through the window before them, they went faster and faster and faster.

“We need to pull up into the air now!”

“I--”

“You can do it!”

Hoseok grabbed another lever and pulled, and gently, the plane began to tip up into the air. Gravity pulled, and Taehyung fell back, pressed down into his seat, as they rose up, up, up, passing the mountain and the palace and rising high above the city lights into the stars and clouds.

Hoseok pulled the lever back and leveled them off, making gravity feel normal again. High above Hope World, they now flew parallel to its surface.

“Don’t we need to keep climbing?" Taehyung asked. "I suppose this should act more like a rocketship, since we need to fly up and out of the sky.”

“I think it would be too much all at once. Let’s ascend more slowly, bit by bit, I’ll take us up.” 

“That sounds smart.”

“And thank you, Taehyung, for telling me I can do this. I can.”

"Of course. But I promise I still won’t leave you alone with it. I will provide support. And snacks." He pressed one of the cookies up to Hoseok’s mouth, who smiled and ate it.

"Wait!!" Taehyung stood up suddenly.

"Yes?" Hoseok asked, still chewing his cookie.

"WHERE WERE YOU!?"

Hoseok swallowed and then laughed heartily.

“What? I’m serious!”

"I was wondering when you'd ask."

"And well???"

"I was hiding,” Hoseok said cutely and smiled innocently.

"I figured that much. But why? Where? How ?"

"You already know why."

"Say it."

"Because I couldn't trust myself. With the way things were, I was wishing I could just keep you with me in Hope World, but that's wrong. You're a real person, you shouldn't be wasting away in my guilty pleasure world."

Taehyung sat back down with a huff and folded his arms.

"I wouldn't have minded ‘wasting away in your guilty pleasure world’ as long as you'd stopped turning into a fish whenever things got good."

“Taehyung!!”

“Fiiine, I’m sorry. Keep going. You still have ‘where’ and ‘how’ to answer for, but I’m still not sure if I am satisfied with the ‘why.’”

“Well….I ….I was where I belonged. And the how, well….Ugh! Do I have to explain it!? My letter already explained everything.”

“Oh! Your letter! I totally forgot I was so busy kissing you!”

“It's fine, actually let’s just forget about this, it is fine.” Hoseok waved his hand

“Let me go get it.” Taehyung stood back up.

“You brought it with you?! I thought you forgot it!”

“Forgot to read it? Yes. Forgot to pack it? Of course not.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll go get it.” He moved toward the back of the plane but Hoseok grabbed his sleeve, pulling him back down towards his chair.

“No, no, it is okay. Actually, I could explain better in person.”

“I'm getting it.” And he tore away from Hoseok’s grip, who groaned miserably.

After Taehyung grabbed from his folder, he returned to the cockpit and plopped down on Hoseok's lap with it.

“Tae- ehrm I'm driving--” Hoseok tried to say, but he just pulled Taehyung closer into him anyway.

Opening and unfurling the letter, it turned out to be rather long.

“Wait let me--” Hoseok tried to snatch it.

Taehyung yanked it away and pouted and glared at him.

“I forgot what I wrote!”

"So what."

“So, I need to check to make sure it's not really stupid!”

Taehyung dodged his further attempts snatch the latter and began to read loud.

" Dearest Taehyung," he read with a grin.

"Stop.”

"Even after all that's happened, please never doubt my love,” he read and kicked his legs happily.

“STOP!” Hoseok begged.

Taehyung froze and frowned.

“I am sorry. If you really don’t want me to read it, I won’t.”

“No. No. I’m sorry. It is okay. Just--” Hoseok winced. “Don’t read it outloud, please.”

“All right.”

Taehyung leaned back on him, and read it silently. Hoseok tried to read over his shoulder, pressing a hot cheek on Taehyung's neck.

Dearest Taehyung,

Even after all that’s happened, please never doubt my love. I am sorry to say my farewell in a letter, but I just couldn’t meet you in person. I am too weak. I love you too much.

Hopefully, you are reading this on the airplane or submarine. 

There is no turning back now. I am no longer able to keep you down here. You’ll most likely forget me and everything about Hope World when you break the surface of the lake. So, this letter means nothing but for this moment. Still, I think you deserve an explanation.

When I confirmed that you were indeed Taehyung, and not just a new figment of my imagination, I knew I had to leave you, despite how happy I was to finally see you again. It is because I want the best for you, but I also want you for myself, so I couldn't trust myself to do what was right except from far away.

Deep beneath Hope World I locked myself away and watched through the eyes of my other selves. I'm not sure how much control I really had, but I was trying to steer you out of Hope World.

It must have been traumatizing, not only living in a world full of...me, but also having to see too many of them turn into fish. I’m so sorry. I was doing the best that I could from where I was hiding.

You see, I think that all of Hope World is made up of fish. Fish in water, like neurons or ideas, swimming in...brain...juice. Anyway. The point is, technically, everything was fish all along. You never killed anyone. It was to keep you from getting stuck here. Any time any of my selves got too close to you: POOF, they would go back to an unformed idea, a fish.

It is a cruel method, but I wasn’t the best at using my other selves to guide you. I have some connection to all of the members of Hope World, some were easier to work with, but eventually they would all get too close and have to go. They each get weaker the longer they are with you, wanting you to stay. 

And now, you are leaving, finally. Please, even if you forget me, don’t forget the feeling of hope you have right now. Live a good life.

Love,

Hobi

After reading Taehyung paused for a moment before he spoke, letting Hoseok's sad but loving words sink in.

"Thank you," he said, "for writing this."

Hoseok didn't say anything, but just hugged Taehyung and buried his face in his shoulder.

"I have questions," Taehyung continued.

"Of course."

"Are you the one the Church of Hope called their god, Hope, creator of Hope World?  Do you think of yourself as a god?"

Hoseok looked surprised by the question.

"Um. Well. Yeah. I don't know. If I am, I'm a horrible one. I can’t believe those priests even believed in me like that. I couldn't even make any of my own selves cooperate in the end."

"Maybe you didn't really want them to cooperate."

"Maybe not all of me, yeah.”

“I think that proves you’re not really a god.”

“Even with these powers?”

“You still have the complexity and weaknesses of a human. Even with power, you are still you, still full of human contradiction.”

“I guess that is why I failed.”

“No I didn’t mean that! You actually succeeded. You succeeded at retaining your humanity and not becoming a cold distant otherworldly being.”

Hoseok was quiet.

"Where deep beneath Hope World did you lock yourself away? Is it near the cathedral or--?"

"Where I belonged: in darkness, in prison."

“You were the one lying about 'hiccupping?'”

Hoseok laughed.

"Apparently I'm bad at it. Lying."

"It was obviously a dog."

"Yeah it was Mickey. He was keeping me company. I worried you might realize Mickey would only be with the real me."

"Honestly, I probably wouldn't."

“Oh. Well, I was just down there the whole time, seeing through everyone else's eyes, trying to manipulate things.”

“So you saw everything?”

“Of course.”

“That's good.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, cause we said nice things sometimes”

“Sometimes not so nice.” Hoseok’s face darkened with guilt.

“Yeah. Well it worked out.”

“We don't know that yet.”

“It will work.”

“We're getting higher altitude, make sure you’re ready. And then you better hold my hand and hope with everything you have.”

"I have all the hope in the world right here." And he kissed the side of Hoseok's head.

“Tae--”

“You have lots of hope, but also you sometimes do not have it. It is funny.”

They were quiet for a moment, before Hoseok piped up.

“Some rules.”

“Rules?”

“I can't act crazy, or cry.” Hoseok held up a finger with each point.

“Okay.” Taehyung nodded.

“And no saying ‘love you’ and whatnot.”

Taehyung frowned. “Can I kiss you?”

“Absolutely not ! You know that that, of all things, will put at most risk our already extremely risky strategy!”

Taehyung just inched closer as Hoseok went off.

"So. This might be our last chance to...?"

The plane passed above the highest clouds and the sparkly lake was now visible above them, the boundary line between Hope World and the real world. And they were closing in fast.

"I need to drive the plane," Hoseok mumbled, but he pulled Taehyung to him faster.

Their mouths connected and didn't part for some time.

He felt Hoseok's left arm reaching around his body and flipping switches and hitting buttons with one hand.

There was a feeling, a feeling that something was fast approaching. The heavy weight above the sky. So Taehyung kissed Hoseok harder and faster, before he couldn't.

And then it hit. The lake water. With a huge splash their plane turned into a submarine, diving upward into the lake. With that they both released each other, gasping as they parted.

They intertwined fingers automatically as they held hands. They looked at each other and the lights dimmed and the dials beeped with that submarine noise. Each was catching his breath, faces still close together as Taehyung was still on top of Hoseok.

The tension was almost unbearable.

Taehyung climbed off of Hoseok's lap and sat next to him. Hoseok leaned his head onto his shoulder and sighed, they were both shaking, whether from the passion of the kiss or the fear of what was to come, it was indistinguishable.

Golden fish almost as big as the submarine now swam away from them. The water was even more crowded than when Taehyung first sank through.

"Look at all the pretty fish swimming in your brain juice," teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Hoseok just squeezed his hand and started worriedly flipping switches with his other hand to make the submarine rise through the water.

The goldfish swirled around them faster, spinning down past them like they were caught up in a whirlpool in a draining sink. The submarine was sucking up the bottom of the lake and everything in it as they went up, each league below them disappearing. They still held hands the entire time.

The submarine felt dense, and grew denser still. It felt like Hoseok had more gravity and was more powerful than before. All of Hope World was folding back into him. Hope World had really had a lighter sense of reality. It was more apparent than ever now, as true reality caught up with them.

When the submarine hatch popped up out of the water, cracking through the ice layer and flinging shards everywhere, Taehyung saw the world as black and white for one second before color BURST out from the hatch, flooding the world. 

Streaks of magenta and yellow and green and blue zinged off in colorful swirls, landing like stars over the horizon.

And from that horizon the sun peeked out to look upon a world now colored anew. The earth seemed to breathe in fresh relief at the brand new day. Everything was shiny and bright as if every blade of grass had been polished by hand.

"The world's not going to be the same again, is it?" Hoseok said.

Taehyung said nothing.

“Taehyung...?” Hoseok asked tentatively. "Do you remember me?"

Chapter Text

Taehyung was holding his breath waiting. One...two…three... four...five... If he was going to forget he was sure it would be any second now. Six..seven...

"Taehyung?" Hoseok asked.

And he still remembered. The memories weren't poofing away into nothing. Taehyung smiled wide and held their hands up in the air triumphantly. 

"Hoseokie hyung! It works!" 

Hoseok started to tear up with relief. He looked away quickly, wiping his eyes and taking a deep calming breath.

 "Thank goodness," he whispered.

Taehyung was trying to think of something comforting to say to him, when they heard an explosion.

BOOM! FWOOSH! 

There was the feathery sound of fire alighting, and then the faintest feeling of heat on their backs. Taehyung and Hoseok froze, looking at each other.

When they turned around, they saw there was a great fire across the field, still far away from them. But it had entirely engulfed the pile of abandoned cars under the concrete bridge.

Taehyung gasped.

"That’s where Yoongi hyung lives!”

Hoseok’s eyes went wide and he started pulling Taehyung out of the top hatch of the submarine. They went carefully together. A ladder down the side had been built with steps wide enough for two. Still holding hands, they carefully climbed off the submarine and onto the cracked icy surface of the lake. The second they stopped touching the submarine, it zapped away into nothing, leaving a gaping hole in the icy surface of the lake. Hoseok staggered a bit and Taehyung steadied him, shuffling quickly away off the ice and out into the grassy fields.

They were starting to make their way toward the burning pile of cars when, over the roaring fire, they heard a CLANG, and a damaged car alarm went off, wailing weakly like a toy with a dying battery. Hoseok paused their progress, eyebrows knit with concern.

A car engine revved. One time, two times, three times, and then a car burst out of the flames. Curving wildly, the black and orange vehicle came tearing across the field toward them, eating up grass and dirt clods as it came. When the car was still some feet away it started swerving, tearing long dirt streaks into the field. And the car kept accelerating.

Taehyung stood there frozen, holding Hoseok's hand, not sure what to do. Hoseok started to pull to the left.

“Taehyung! MOVE!” he yelled.

Thankfully, the car's final swerve and acceleration turned the vehicle out of their path, spraying them with dirt, and instead--WHAM-- it ran directly into a nearby boulder in the field. The front of the car crumpled and a weak air bag popped out of the steering wheel with a wheeze. The driver smacked it away and got out of the car.   As he did, black ash began to fall from the sky, blowing in from the nearby smoke and fire, leaving little speckles on their clothes.

When the driver stood up, it was Yoongi's face that looked at them from over the crashed car. His formerly blonde hair was now jet black, and a thin scar crossed down over his right eye. He looked rough, like he'd been through a battle, but a goofy gummy smile still stretched across his face.

“Hoseok. I knew you were back.”

Taehyung was still too shocked to speak.

“Hyung...” was all Hoseok managed to say, but his eyes were tearing up again.

Yoongi began running around the car toward them.

Hoseok and Taehyung tried to run to him too, but Taehyung tripped on a rock and they almost broke hands as he fell to the dirt, pulling Hoseok down with him.

When he reached his fallen friends, Yoongi tackled them where they were, hugging them tightly.

 "Finally hecking finally,” he said as he helped them to their feet, dusting the dirt off their clothes.

 "How long has it been?" Hoseok asked.

 "Hoseok, you were in there for three years. Taehyung, it's been a year."

 "A year ?!"

 "Yeah, a bit more than that even. It's October now."

 Taehyung registered the bits of yellow and orange decorating the distant trees, the crisp breeze leaking into his sweatshirt despite the heat of the nearby flames, and the cool bright blue of the nearly clear sky. It was an October blue, that was for sure.

“You look like you’ve been through heck,” Hoseok asked Yoongi, “were you in a fight?”

“Yeah,” Yoongi looked off toward the flames, “yeah, you could say that. A fight with anger, laziness, inferiority,... myself.”

“I understand,” Hoseok said quietly.

“Your hair is different,” Taehyung said, “it’s nice.”

“But I’m not different am I?” Yoongi sighed.

“I don’t know yet,” Taehyung admitted.

“Me neither, to be honest..”

Taehyung turned to look at the burning mountain of cars where he had last met Yoongi.

“What are you going to do about your home?”

“That dump?” Yoongi laughed. “Let it burn.”

“I’m glad you made it out okay,” Hoseok said.

 "I’m glad you two made it out of that ice hole okay too. So, how did you guys break the curse?"

 “We haven't,” Taehyung said as he held up their interlocked hands, “this is all that's holding us together right now”

 “Ah, hand-holding.” Yoongi nodded in approval. “A sound strategy.” 

 "Thank you!" Taehyung beamed.

 Hoseok sighed.

For the next hour or so they told Yoongi the rest of their plans about going back to the magic shop so that Taehyung could attempt to bargain for all of their freedom.

 Yoongi listened with a serious and thoughtful face, asking only the occasional question.

"Hyung, if it's really possible to go back to how things were before all of this, would you want to go back?" Hoseok asked.

Yoongi bit his lip and breathed out.

"Well, I'll have to think more about that."

“Will you help us, at least?” Taehyung asked.

“Of course, I am here for you guys.”

“Then shall we go to the train station?” 

"Why not take my car?" 

The crumpled engine of Yoongi’s car took that moment to spit out a cloud of smoke. PFFTshhhhhh.

"Is it safe?" Hoseok squeaked.

"Looks like it went through a war zone," Taehyung said.

He was only just now noticing the large slashes and scratches in the metal, as well as what looked like bullet holes in the doors and glass.

"Yeah…” Yoongi rubbed the back of his neck. “ Maybe we'd better just take the train, it'll be a good chance to rest." 

But he paused for a moment and contemplated his totalled car. Pulling a bottle of soju out of his pocket, he walked up and started watering the car with it.

“Hyung what are you--” Taehyung began but Hoseok started pulling him away from the car, fast.

“Back up back up back up back up!” he yelled.

Yoongi took out another bottle, put a scrap of cloth in it, took out a lighter, and lit the end of the fabric on fire. Then he began running backwards with them, and as he did, he chucked the flaming bottle at the car.

KABOOM! It exploded in another fire.

“Yoongi hyung, why?” Hoseok cried. His free hand was over his ear, trying to block out the noise.

“I thought about it,” Yoongi said, “After everything, I'm still hungry, empty, and my head is still a mess. These powers can’t fill what is missing inside of me; they can’t fix it. You’re offering me a change. And I think the timing of this meeting is fate. But what I do about it, how and if I change, that is my choice. And I have chosen, I’m going to place my bets on Taehyung as well.”

“But is it necessary to punctuate your choices with flaming infernos?!”

“I'm done with that car. I just wanted to see that beautiful blossom of flame, like a mini sun, right before it becomes a pile of ash.”

Yoongi grabbed hold of the flabbergasted Hoseok's free hand and the three of them set off in a linked up line, raging fires at their backs, toward the train station on the other side of the field, surrounded by a cluster of autumn trees.

Taehyung wasn't sure if it was just the shock of seeing colors in the world again, but things seemed even more colorful than they should be. The leaves on the trees seemed to sport more vibrant reds and golds than he remembered. Or perhaps his frame of reference was just messed up.

As they walked, Yoongi took a deep breath and patted his chest, right over his heart.

“You feel that gentle breeze?”

Hoseok nodded.

“It’s nice,” Taehyung said.

When they reached the train station, there was a train already there waiting for them. No one else was around, but the doors were open, so they all boarded.

-----

They sat across from each other on long cushioned benches, Yoongi on one side, and Taehyung and Hoseok still holding hands on the other. Once they got settled, the doors swooshed shut and the train immediately began to chug and move.

Yoongi dug around in his green jacket and pulled out a dinged up little flip phone. He pressed one button and it began calling.

“Still have him on speed dial."

When the other end picked up, Taehyung and Hoseok could clearly hear the person on the other end.

“YOonGIIIiii!!!” Seokjin's silly voice came loud and scolding through the old phone.

"Missed you too," Yoongi said with a soft smile.

"Why are you calling all of the sudden? It's been YEARS ."

"You know what I'm calling for. I know you sent Taehyung my way to go fish Hoseok out of his daydream."

"Well?" Seokjin's voice was tight, on edge.

"I got them. All three of us are on our way back."

"Taehyung did it!?" Seokjin practically screamed with joy and the old phone crackled with the noise.

" They did it," Yoongi emphasized, "from what I hear, the two had to save each other."

"Ahhh! I wanna hear them, put them on!'

Yoongi pressed a button to put it on speaker, though it wasn't necessary to hear the excited Seokjin, and pointed the phone to them.

"Hyung! We missed you!" Hoseok said sweetly.

"I remembered what you told me!" Taehyung shouted, "you helped me when things got tough!"

"Aww. So, did you figure out how to break the curse? How are you guys talking to each other?"

"About that," Yoongi said, "we need you to set up an appointment for Taehyung at the magic shop ASAP."

"Ah...," Seokjin said darkly, "I see, I will get right to it then. I better go now so I can have everything prepared."

"Thank you, we'll talk to you again soon."

"Yes, love you guys." And Seokjin hung up quickly.

Yoongi settled down on his back across a seat and settled down to sleep. Taehyung and Hoseok agreed to take turns resting, so that they wouldn’t let go of each other if they both dozed off. Hoseok took the first rest, leaning his head on Taehyung’s shoulder and resting his eyes while Taehyung stayed vigilant.

After traveling in sleepy silence for some miles, Hoseok piped up.

"Taehyung, your hand is kinda sweaty…." he said quietly.

"I'm sorry!" Taehyung tried to concentrate on getting his perspiration under control.

"Can you… sweat less?"

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" His voice cracked with intense focus and he unintentionally clenched his hand tighter.

"I think I just made it worse." Hoseok laughed lightly through a frown.

"Wait," Taehyung held out his free hand. "Grab my other hand, then I'll let go with this one, and wipe it on your shirt."

"What if it doesn't work!?!" Hoseok panicked, "and why MY shirt!?"

Across from them there came a sharp sound like a tire leaking air. Yoongi was laughing through his teeth.

"It's not funny, hyung!" Hoseok wailed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know.” He turned on his side to face them, smiling. “But it's just really cute."

"Go back to sleep!" Taehyung scolded.

"Nah, I'm good, this is some of the cutest stuff I've ever seen, probably ever will see." Yoongi settled into his position happily.

Taehyung and Hoseok both tried to fold their arms and pout at the same time, but their interlocked hands ended up pulled back and forth between them as they both attempted it.

Yoongi just smiled and laughed silently to himself.

“Taehyung,” Hoseok said, “why don’t you rest your eyes now, I think it is your turn.”

Taehyung was more than happy to agree to that.

“Can I rest my head on your leg?” he asked, already laying down and adjusting their interlocked hands so they could both be comfortable.

“Sure.” Hoseok brushed the hair on Taehyung’s head with his free hand.

Taehyung closed his eyes, but could not fall asleep. Though after some time, it seemed Hoseok thought that he had, for he started talking quietly with Yoongi.

“Hyung?” he whispered.

“Mmm?” Yoongi responded right away.

“I-I’m worried.”

“Of course you are.”

“No, like, really worried. I don’t know what we are doing! Taehyung, he’s so confident but I don’t know how he actually plans to pull this off. Not that I don’t trust him, but...well he himself doesn’t even hardly knows how all this works!”

"Hoseok,  just leave tomorrow’s worries for tomorrow."

"But hyung, what if-- what if-- what if--!"

Yoongi sighed and there was a sound like he was moving to sit up.

“What if what?” he said gently.

“What if Taehyung forgets me? What if he can’t break our curses? What if he gets cursed as well? What if this somehow leaves the world even worse than before? What if I mess everything up again!? What if I...”

Hoseok trailed off.

“Is that all?” Yoongi prompted.

“No,” Hoseok said so quietly Taehyung could barely hear it, “What if Taehyung is right, he can do this, he succeeds and everything is perfect again except...except that I am not special anymore, not special to him or to anyone else? And my life is just ordinary, boring, and disappointing.”

"Okay, and what about it?"

"What?" Hoseok sounded offended.

"What about it, Hoseok?” Yoongi repeated. “If all these things you're worrying about happen, what about it? Taehyung forgets you again and you get hurt, what about it? If the world is worse than before, what about it? If you aren't special anymore without your powers, if you regret it, if life is dull, what about it?"

“Yoongi hyung, I don’t understand, all of those things would be awful, how can you say that so flippantly?” 

Hoseok’s voice was cracking. He sounded on the verge of tears again and it took all Taehyung’s willpower not to move to comfort him. This was a conversation he was not assumed to be included in and he wasn’t going to trespass. Taehyung felt bad he was even listening, but, how could he stop?

“Hey, hey,” Yoongi soothed, “Hoseok, tomorrow will come and any of those things could come with it, but I am me, you are you, and Taehyung is Taehyung. We are all going to get up and face tomorrow with whoever we are and everything we have that day.  Isn’t it all we can do? To just endure through the next day, whatever it brings?”

Hoseok sniffed.

“Keep riding this train, Hoseok. There’s something at the end, maybe a special life, maybe an ordinary life, or maybe something difficult. But it doesn’t matter which, because whatever it is will come and go again. Life is just like that. It’s just a series of sometimes dramatic situations. It will all turn out one way or another.”

“But, Yoongi hyung, aren’t you afraid that you'll be nothing if you give up your powers too?”

“Of course I am. But do you know what else I am afraid of? Being nothing even with these powers.” 

“Well, I think you’re special, extraordinary, even.”

“Pfff, what does that even mean? Being special? You know what would feel special to me right now? Being ordinary again.”

“But we were like gods . How can anything feel special after that?”

“I may not know your whole story in Hope World yet, but I think I could raise you a similar one. You faced yourself in there, as a king or a god, and you terrified yourself. You weren't even sure which one you were. You had so much power, yet so much fear, because when you reach the top, and there’s nothing above you anymore, the only way left is down.”

“You’re right….  But heck what did you go through?”

“Another time I’ll tell you, perhaps. But for now, I can just say that being called immortal is hecking overwhelming. I’ve seen a lot, a whole lot of myself. Sometimes I felt like a genius, sometimes I felt like I had no talent at all, always all or nothing. I questioned whether I was a good person or a bad person because everyone was always calling me one or the other. And yet in the end I just felt like...a person. That is what we are, just people, living and loving and changing until we too fade away. Funny how living a thousand lifetimes is the thing that makes you realize that nothing is eternal.”

“A thousand lifetimes!?”

“Yeah... at some point you can’t even remember what you had hoped for, what your dreams were. After achieving so much, being so much, the life I wished for, the life I wanted, whatever it was, just didn’t matter anymore.” Yoongi  paused and laughed a kind of rickety laugh. “Now it just feels  amazing that I’m still breathing. My heart feels as broken down as that old car I drove out to meet you guys.”

Hoseok let out a long breath.

“But if achieving all your dreams like that only made you lose them, and immortality only made you face mortality even more ,...then what do we do, Yoongi hyung?”

“Heck if I know! All I have is what I said before: stay on this train. Keep running, keep hold of things that you're grasping...”

Hoseok's hand squeezed Taehyung's a bit tighter.

“...pay back what you’ve received,” Yoongi laughed again. “And if at any point along your path, you think you’re gonna crash, accelerate even harder .” 

“Iiiii don’t know about that last one.” Hoseok laughed as well.

“Right now I am just riding this train to go and see if Taehyung can set us free. Even if things don’t go exactly how we want, I am hoping for just one day, one day where I won’t have any worries or concerns. One day to just live, and to be with my friends again.”

“I hope you get your one day, I hope we all do. I just wish it didn’t feel like getting that one day requires giving up on our dreams, giving up on our powers.”

“Ehh I wouldn’t say that. Don’t forget that giving up decisively on something also counts as courage. What you’re doing right now is incredibly brave.”

“Taehyung kept trying to convince me I was brave too. I don’t know, but thanks, hyung”

“Well listen to him, he’s right.” There was the sound of Yoongi shifting again. “Now, I think I should get a bit more rest before we arrive.”

“Rest well.”

They fell silent and Yoongi’s breathing turned to a gentle snore, but Taehyung still couldn’t sleep. He just lay there with his eyes still closed, ruminating on Hoseok’s worries and Yoongi’s words as the train rumbled on. Even if he did everything perfectly, Hoseok might still end up unhappy. But he couldn’t control that, as much as it hurt his heart, Hoseok would have to take care of his own happiness, and Taehyung could only do his very best to make things right.

Finally the train slowed, and Hoseok started gently shaking his shoulder.

“We’re here,” he said to him with his loving smile, and then reached across the aisle to touch Yoongi, “Hyung, we’re here.”

Taehyung and Yoongi both sat up as they pulled into the station, stretching and looking out the windows. A light snow was falling from the night sky.

-----

to be continued