The Most Beautiful Moments in Life...

...Are Encouraged

"Psst, c'mon, over here!" Namjoon was smiling, a candy-apple green lollipop keeping his teeth from touching. He was slowly getting off of cigarettes through Taehyung's gift of lollis. Taehyung grinned back. He liked Namjoon's attention, and he found himself looking for his approval or validation.

He didn't want to be alone.

Hurrying, Taehyung ran to keep up with his hyung. He shifted the bag on his shoulder, hearing the cans inside clink against one another noisily.

"Do you know what we're going to do this time?" Taehyung never really got to do it, but he was an accomplice, so he considered he and Namjoon a 'we.' Namjoon nodded though.

"Yeah. A flower." Taehyung nodded like he understood. He didn't, not really. He knew that Namjoon had a significance behind all of the graffiti that Tae had helped him with so far, but he didn't know what it had been yet, for any of the pieces.

So far, he had done a pack of cigarettes, a camera, a record, and a lone Icarus, flying towards the sun. Taehyung thought that maybe it was representative of their friends, but he could only tell the camera and record to be the two oldest. He had actually no idea who the flower could have been.

Taehyung liked watching Namjoon work on his spray-paint designs. He was always so focused. They were small pieces, but he knew exactly what to put where to make it look perfect. Taehyung admired that. Nothing he ever did in life was perfect.

His father had seen to that.

"Hand me the lighter pink?" Namjoon had a cardboard stencil held to the wall with one hand, the other extended towards Taehyun, expectant. Tae liked that Namjoon took him with him. It made him feel wanted and important. Neither of those were common feelings to the college dropout.

Taehyung handed the requested color off and set to watching Namjoon as he focused on his task. Namjoon was good at losing himself. He did it when he wrote as well. Short stories, poems, song lyrics. If either of them could play guitar, Taehyung would have probably taken to singing them by now. Yoongi had always told Tae that he could have made it big as an idol or something. Maybe a model, as least, with his looks, but Yoongi thought that Taehyung could sing well.

"What do you think?" Namjoon's voice broke into Taehyung's thoughts, preventing the younger from crying. When Taehyung looked at the finished image, he was impressed. Like he usually was with his perfect hyung.

The flower was a light pink and lilac carnation with a broken green stem. It was beautiful.

Taehyung let out a low whistle. "Wow, you really outdid yourself, hyung, it's awesome!" He smiled widely to assure his hyung that he was telling the truth, since he knew how Namjoon was about liars. The now bubble-gum haired man smiled, almost ashamed.

"Really? Thanks, Taehyungie. That means a lot." He glancced at the wall art once more and then around the street, which was still as empty as it had been. Taehyung capped all of the spray cans and placed them back in the black bag before slinging it over his back. He smiled again, remembering the first time Namjoon had brought him, how they had almost gotten caught. That had been a wild ride, and frankly, Taehyung kind of wanted to do it again.

"You might as well move in with me," Namjoon said suddenly as the two boys headed to the subway station. "I mean, you practically live with me anyway. And your place has too many...memories." Neither of them mention that Jeongguk had been killed right outside in the street. Or that there were fights that had gone one a lot between some of them when they were shit-faced drunk or high off their asses, or sometimes even both.

"Might as well. I don't see any point in having my own place if I haven't even been there in a few weeks." Namjoon nodded. In reality, they were both scared. Neither of the boys wanted to be alone while all of their friends were dead, having died from terrible deaths. It was better for them to be together, and Namjoon thought that not only was there safety in numbers, it was less likely for either of them to commit suicide if they were together - Yoongi, Jimin and Hoseok had all been their own downfall, and Namjoon was not liking those odds.