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“Whatcha doin’ up there?”
A voice cuts through the silence and Taehyung almost rolls off the tree branch. He doesn’t, and he cranes his neck downwards to see a boy standing by the base of the tree, looking up back at him and smiling. He had not heard him coming, no leaves present to crunch under his feet.
“Must be another vision.” Taehyung thinks to himself. So he just stares at it, waiting for it to blow away like dust in the wind, or for it to run off in the distance. It sways from side to side almost impatiently and to Taehyung’s surprise, it doesn’t vanish. The only thing that vanishes is its smile, and it will soon be replaced by a confused frown.
“Did you not hear me? Did you not understand?” it pauses and in heavily accented English tries a clumsy, “What are you doing?”
This is enough to bring out a hearty laugh out of Taehyung. It’s been a while since he’s let out one of those. It vibrates in his chest like an earthquake and it booms in his ears like thunder. It makes him dizzy.
Its arms put a pause to their rhythmic swaying and end up folded across his chest. Its frown deepens and little wrinkle lines form between its eyebrows.
Taehyung decides to play nice with the hallucination his brain so kindly provided.
“I understood you the first time,” he shouts down to him. “I’m trying to die up here, isn’t it obvious?”
He’s not lying. He ran out of food and drink not too long ago, but long enough for him to feel the effects of dehydration. So, with nowhere and no one to run to, he found sanctuary on a dead tree. He was healthy enough to climb up to a sturdy branch, but in this state, the one he’s in right now, he doubts he can even sit up. So he stayed, at the mercy of the weather and mother nature itself for a length of time Taehyung hasn’t bothered to keep track of.
He was hoping today would be his last day and it most likely is. He was also hoping he’d be able to go in peace but it seems like his brain doesn’t want to let him.
“Wow, that’s crazy,” it scoffs, “The first person I meet since the Calamity and you wanna die.”
Taehyung’s eyes widen at his statement. His past visions had always had something in common. They shout irrational things at him, spew hate, or confess their love, all before collapsing into the earth below or fading away.
They’ve never presented knowledge of the Calamity.
Taehyung spent his time in a bunker with his family during the Calamity, so he doesn’t know what it truly was. His only hints were the strong winds and thunderous explosions he could hear through the metal doors; the heatwaves that almost cooked them alive; the floods that had their beds floating when the leaks grew too many.
Disease stole his family from him, and when he finally decided to come out, he saw that the world was barren and lifeless. With no sign of anyone anywhere, his mind took it upon itself to create lifeforms. Usually unstable and maniacal.
This one is different.
So, maybe this boy is real.
“I haven’t seen any other person either,” he whispers back timidly.
“Now you have!” the boy is cheery and moves so that he’s directly under Taehyung’s branch.
“The name’s Hoseok! It’s a pleasure.” he raises his arm for a handshake despite being meters apart in height.
Taehyung is baffled at his energy. In a world decaying and constantly overshadowed by dark, ash clouds, Hoseok is glowing. He radiates this blinding light with his smile. It’s as if his cheeks were full and healthy though it is clear through his sunken, pale face and a fragile body cloaked in baggy clothes that he hasn’t eaten a full meal in months.
Taehyung swings a drooping arm and they share an air handshake.
Hoseok disappears from his field of view, and for a second, Taehyung thinks he’s gone and disappeared.
“Woah, this is pretty high up.” His voice comes from a branch on the opposite side of the trunk. Hoseok peeks around it and locks eyes with Taehyung long enough to make it noticeable, but not uncomfortable. He turns back around and it’s quiet.
The silence rings in Taehyung’s ears and he doesn’t mind it. The two sit like that - Taehyung laying on a branch, face down with the top of his head pressed against the trunk; Hoseok straddling his own branch and resting his back on the trunk.
“What if we’re the last two humans alive.” he ponders to himself aloud, a few hours later possibly, not surprised when Hoseok answers humorously.
“That would be terrible! We’re both dudes so there goes the idea of repopulating the planet.”
Taehyung cringes at the thought, “Gross. Even if you were a girl I wouldn’t do it with you.”
“Don’t be rude.”
“I’m not rude, I’m gay.”
Hoseok loses it. His laughter almost shakes the tree and Taehyung is one giggle away from telling him to shut up when his laugh fades and he’s left hiccuping and gasping for air. Taehyung didn’t think he was that funny, but it was reassuring nonetheless.
“Are you a virgin?”
Taehyung almost rolls off the branch in shock, “You told me not to be rude and I’m gonna ask you not to be weird.”
Another giddy laugh escapes Hoseok’s lips. Taehyung is starting to like the sound of it.
“But I am! I’m gonna die a virgin!” Hoseok wails and Taehyung can almost picture the poor kid pouting and wiping away crocodile tears. His sobbing pauses for a moment,
“Can we say we did it so we both don’t die virgins?”
Now it’s Taehyung to laugh. The ridiculousness of it all gets to him.
“First, why are you assuming I’m a virgin? Second, who exactly are you planning to tell? The roaches?”
“Yes, in fact.” Hoseok nods to himself like he’s precisely planning how to go about telling everyone.
“What’s your name again?”
“Taehyung,”
“Thanks.”
There’s a rustling sound. It’s Hoseok’s jacket as it rubs against the trunk as he climbs to the highest branch. It should’ve snapped under him, but it holds his weight as he stands on it.
He cups his hands around his mouth and-
“Taehyung and I FUCKED!” he belts.
“Oh my god,” Taehyung can’t believe this kid. He eyes him as soon as he gets back to eye level. Hoseok gleams back at him.
“Please don’t say that ever again.”
===
They go on talking, debating, and then bickering.
Taehyung reveals more about himself than he’d like. Personal things he would normally save for a journal, but he’s lost all his shame by now. Who else would Hoseok spill his secrets to?
Hoseok is a lot more secretive. Vague in his upbringing in Gwangju and his childhood. The discomfort that comes with every word makes it obvious he’s hiding something.
Taehyung takes the lead, not caring what Hoseok knows or thinks about it.
He shared his regrets, his successes, and all the in-between.
Where he came from, where he went to school, his favorite meal.
Taehyung tells him about his family. His parents, his nephews, and his boyfriend he was so excited to introduce.
“What was he like?” such an uncharacteristic, solemn tone coming from Hoseok.
“Where to start..” Taehyung his smiling to himself even though he wants to cry. The tears are nowhere to be seen, he’s dehydrated after all.
“Jimin was, well, Jimin.” his breath stutters, “He was so precious to me. We’d walk around during our break at school and talk. I’d hold his hand, so small, so perfect in mine. And then we’d sit with our lunches. He’d bring extra food for me because he knew how much I loved his mom’s cooking. We’d feed each other, god we’d look so stupid.”
He pauses just to scoff at the stupid things they did.
“I’d make sure to get some on his face so I had an excuse to wipe it off of him. I traced every bit of his face with my hand and then my lips. His nose, every little bump of it I memorized. His eyes were so deep, I’d get lost in them and he’d have to snap me out of it. When he smiled I could barely see them. They scrunched up and the chub under his eyes would turn them into tiny arcs. I’d play with his hair whenever we kissed. Always soft and fluffy and it smelled of his shampoo. I never found out what scent it was. I’d mess his hair up and when we stopped kissing, he’d whine about it. He’d sit, pouting with his duck lips, until I fixed it the way it was before.”
Taehyung just sighs, the aching in his chest almost overwhelming. Words weren’t enough to describe what he felt for him.
“Why do you speak of him like he’s from the past?”
“He’s dead.” It burns Taehyung’s chest to answer that question, but deep inside he knows he has to accept it.
“You don’t know that. Bring me his dead body and then I’ll believe you. You still love him, Taehyung, he loves you.”
Taehyung cries tearlessly. Sobs wrack through his body and he feels frailer than ever.
The sky has darkened by then or the clouds had thickened, blocked out the sun. Taehyung is so cold. His stomach has long stopped asking for food and the last of his saliva was dried by the day’s conversation. He’s tired and he knows sleep isn’t what his body wants. His vision blurs.
“I think this is it for me, Hoseok, I’m sorry.” he croaks.
“It’s alright, let’s go.” Hoseok audibly shifts.
Taehyung in his haze, is confused by the phrasing of his sentence. He doesn’t ask. He lets his eyelids flutter, blinking a few times before shutting his eyes.
His eyelids are penetrated by a bright light, soft and warm on his skin. He opens them and lets his eyes adjust to the brightness and he makes out the figure of Hoseok who was once pale, sickly, and severely underweight just like him. The Hoseok he sees in front of him is full, healthy, eyes like fire, hair like silk. His skin radiates heat with its golden tone, and the mangy clothes he wore is nowhere to be found.
Snow-white feathers caress Taehyung’s face. Hoseok embraces him in his arms, cradling him against his chest and Taehyung goes limp in his arms, breath stolen from him, his heartbeat coming to a silent still.
===
His Master caused all of this. Displeased with the world He had crafted, he destroyed it with his own hands. Humanity was fragile. Throw one too many stones on the scale and it’ll tip. That’s exactly how He went about his mission.
A few, strong-spirited souls slipped under His radar, clinging to the last threads of life.
He had sent out one of his most prized servants to look under every rock, in every crevice, in search for the last surviving traces of humanity.
===
The Angel of Death had his own way of doing things. Take the form of a human and approach anyone he found. See their character, their true self, their soul; and see what they’re worthy of. It was up to him whether they made it to the gates of Heaven to pass the final judgment of his Master, or whether they deserved to crawl on their bellies as they enter the Kingdom of Hell to burn for eternity under the wrath of another angel.
He’d make his acts believable. A new face for every region he entered. He’d play along with their jokes, adapting to their humor. He enjoys connecting with those he meets and he remembers each and every one of them, their life story, and the aspirations they’d had that would never be fulfilled.
He’d taken a liking for Taehyung. He could’ve fallen for him if he weren’t a mortal and if it weren’t forbidden in the Kingdom. He’d searched for him directly. Afterall, Jimin had spoken so highly of him before Death fell upon him as well.
The Angel of Death planned to reunite the two at the gates of his Master.
How cruel of him would it be not to do so?