Solum || Taeten

Chapter 10

Hello, everyone!

Happy birthday to Ten! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity of posting Chapter Ten on Ten's birthday.

ALSO PLEASE READ: If ANYONE has ever read From Blood and Ash, PLEASE say something and lemme rant to you lmao thank you.

Anyways, I hope the wait was worth it, Enjoy!

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Something about physical contact always comforted Ten.

The idea of holding someone, either for comfort, flirtation, safety, or maybe even no reason at all, holds a special place in Ten's heart. It speaks a kind of language that can't just be spoken with words. Sometimes, a hug is the only key to helping someone who is sad. Sometimes, a soothing touch is the only key to calming someone driven by rage.

Jungwoo is always there to be the victim of Ten's hugging attacks, pillow fights, and cuddles. That kind of physical touch stems from the love of two brothers.

Lucas is always there to hold Jungwoo, and the latter is there to do the same. That kind of touch comes from the unbridled affections of something unimaginable; two people who were once strangers, with no relation, and no knowledge of each other, running into the fatal hands of fate. No matter how cheesy it sounds, Ten will always be enamoured by its doings.

But the feelings that he has for Taeyong is the same thing by definition, but are also entirely different.

Maybe he is being partial, maybe he is too far gone to realize that it's not really that special. But for him and Taeyong, they had a relation to each other. Ten was to be Taeyong's therapist, and nothing more. But just like what was said earlier, Ten ran into the hands of fate, and got thrown into the arms of the patient.

Taeyong, who went through so much in his life.

Taeyong, who grabbed onto his heart and held it with his own.

It is different, Ten concludes. There is something so different about being pulled out of the darkness while finding love. There is something so different about surviving all the traumas of one's life, to meet love at the end, like it's an achievement.

But they are not close to the end at all, and Ten relishes in it.

The physical contact between them now is a warmth that is unforgettable. It's a warmth that makes Ten wish he were somewhere else when he is alone in his bed at night. It makes him want to get up and run into the hospital, unable to find an excuse to tell the nurses other than the fact that he wants to be held by the other.

A small ray of sunlight that shone directly onto Ten's closed eyelids was enough to wake him up. He opened his eyes to find Taeyong's peaceful and calming sleeping face. And that vision is enough to get Ten to start thinking about everything that was said earlier.

I do love you, he confessed. Well, he didn't really confess, but to accept the thought alone in his head, right in front of Taeyong, makes the acceptance all the more real. The acceptance that this is real, not just a figment of his imagination.

The moment Taeyong broke down the day before, the moment he told his reasons for pushing him away, something in Ten broke.

Like a dam that failed at doing its job miserably, all the deadly waters of realization came flooding into Ten's heart, nearly shattering it. He realized that it would be silly to not admit that he loved him. No matter how long they have known each other, the feelings that Ten has for him are undeniable. Jungwoo was right, there is no timeline that says when one should love the other, and it would be foolish to wait that long.