✎┆ what is love?

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ship: taekook

❥ genre: angst / romance / slice of life

❥ mature content: none, but skip ahead if ships aren't your cup of tea.

❥ synopsis: when taehyung turns up at the door at midnight, jeongguk finds himself recalling all his memories with the older man and questioning once again the definition of love.

❥ notes: one chaotic mess, i know :") but i hope you enjoy nonetheless!

❥ word count: nearly 1.5k


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'What is love?' is a question I have searched the answer for for a long time.

And for once, I can say a long time without feeling contradicted about the fact that I haven't lived enough years to be qualified to make that statement. Because even though you always baby me more than you probably should, I have wondered about this mysterious thing called 'love' ever since I met you - and even you would agree that it has been very long since that.

The furthest memories of my life I can recall are not pleasant; they never were until you stepped in. Until you told me that we could never be enough no matter how much we tried. Until you told me I had someplace else to go to if things got too much for me.

I think my first reaction to that statement was to crush you in a tight hug and thank you repeatedly despite the tremble in my voice and the tears in my eyes. You only smiled and hugged me back, glad you could finally help me after a few years of knowing the state of my so-called family.

But the real reason why I thanked you again and again that day was not because you had offered me a place to stay as soon as you officially became an adult. It was because just your presence was enough to soothe the wounds on my skin and my heart.

I wonder if the comfort I felt at that precise moment was love?

My father couldn't care less about me moving out. I remember asking you if he would care if I were his own son. You said that's not how it worked; that loving and caring for someone didn't depend on blood or any kind of rule.

Then you smiled and added, "I love you, Gguk. And there's no rule behind that, is there?"

I wonder the tingly feeling of happiness that spread through me at that time was love?

The years passed by. You entered college while I stepped into high school.

I never realised that the amount of time you spent on your phone had increased, or that you stayed over at a 'friend's' for projects too often, or that the sillage on your shirts wasn't that of your own cologne.

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