Pandora's Box

Chapter 31

ok did you guys know that there's a cgi girl group called MAVE with a song called pandora's box ??? 😭😭 i found that out today omg (but lowkey would recommend)

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Taehyun had never had such a 'wake up call', by nothing other than the process of waking up.

He'd opened his eyes that morning, forgetful of the events the night before. He turned to look at the body next to him, and embarrassingly almost sighed at the other's perfect early morning profile.

But when Beomgyu opened his eyes as well, and they met in gazes, both seemed to realize at the same time what the day had in store.

Neither said a word. But eventually, Taehyun felt that if he didn't produce words, continuing to think about the sickening day would make him vomit. So he sacrificed the peaceful, ignorant bubble they'd built.

"Good morning."

The other laughed shortly. "Good, huh?"

He couldn't help but laugh too, nodding. "True. But I really don't know what else there is to say." He watched as Beomgyu shook his head, heart twisting at the way his hair fell messily into his face. "There's nothing to say. Good morning it is."

They laid still for a moment, as if both daring the other to be the first to move. Eventually, however, Taehyun remembered the threat of The Fates.

As much as he would rather stay in this cabin for the rest of eternity, there was another eternal sleep awaiting him in the woods. It wasn't worth losing the boy on his side to ignore the inevitable.

He stood from the bed, probably pretty abruptly given the surprise on Beomgyu's face. He tried not to think about what he was actually doing, or where he was going. It wouldn't help anything.

But his mind did drift slightly, and very bitterly, off to the irony he now lived in. "You know, I've been training almost my whole life for this."

He looked over at Beomgyu as the other was throwing random clothes on. Neither had necessarily dressed for the occasion, or knew how to dress for death. Beomgyu glanced up at the words, and gave a small smile, but he remained silent.

"It's like...I thought that the one thing I would fear most would be battling some dumb warrior and dying because he was better than me." But now, my biggest fear of the outcome is that I'm not the one who ends up dead. "But now, I just feel like it's not even happening. Like we're just gonna walk out of there, hand in hand, as if we'd just had an argument or something."

Beomgyu swallowed as he finished zipping his bag, flinging it over his shoulder. He walked over to the other and put a hand on his shoulder. It took everything in Taehyun not to shove it off, fearing that any contact or reminder of who this was would ruin his denial. But he stayed still and watched as the other spoke.

"I can't say I've been training for this my whole life. I didn't even know about it until three days ago."

Taehyun laughed, though remaining guilt was etched into the sound.

"But even after finding out, it didn't feel real. Maybe it was because it was written on weird-ass fantasy style slips, but I think there was a part of me that had always thought it was a joke."

Taehyun nodded in response. Recently he'd hoped that, too.

"And now," the other laughed, the noise choked with tears, "Now I guess we're both realizing that it's real."

He nodded again, commanding his brain to come up with something, anything to say, but there was nothing that felt right. Beomgyu must have felt the same way, because he simply smiled and moved away from the other.