Dreaming Alone | taekook ✔️

t w e n t y - f o u r

the story starts lying in the dark
broken and bruised
i count the scars left in my heart
from losing you

dreaming alone
~ atc

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Imaginary spiders. Taehyung could feel them crawling up his back and leaving a trail of itching silk. The higher he hiked, the more pressure pressed against his lungs. His feet were in motion, yet they carried the weight of concrete, this weight of dread.

If this is what having a soulmate feels like, Taehyung was tasting bitterness on his tongue.

Hoseok was barely through half his speech when Taehyung got up and left.

Yup, those dreams are real. They represent something that happened, is happening or will happen to your soulmate.

That was enough for the brunette to jump to conclusions.

Taehyung was praying silently as he pushed himself up the boulder. Praying that the blood on Jeongguk's skin wasn't real. Who was he kidding? Dreams are supposed to be childish visions. And they weren't soulmates. Right? How could they be? Why was he so afraid to face him?

The ravenette stood at the top of the world, arms spread, letting the breeze wash over him like the murderer waves did over his mother's pendant. Jeongguk turned when he heard a sound and sighed in relief when he saw who it was. Taehyung, however, did not return his expression of ease.

"Hi—"

"Show me your wrists." Taehyung demanded, now standing before him.

Jeongguk's heart stopped beating altogether, his features slacking in both shock and confusion. "What?"

"Jeongguk..." Taehyung was short on breath. "Show me."

The ravenette staggered back, pressing his hands against his chest like it could somehow open up and swallow all his fears and insecurities.

"Tell me it's not true."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Tae."

Taehyung's fingers curled around Jeongguk's forearms, their fear-ridden eyes not leaving each other's for even a second. Silent words were traded between them, each waiting for questions to be answered. Everything happened so fast.

Taehyung tried extending the ravenette's hands towards himself, only to have Jeongguk pull back with equal strength. This caused them to yank each other close, diminishing the space between them, their foreheads almost touching.

"It's okay." Taehyung whispered, "I-I know you're scared. It's okay."

Jeongguk's chin started to tremble, his whole body going limp in Taehyung's hold. He was shaking his head. At what? He didn't even know.

"It's just me, Jeongguk, Bambi. It's okay."

Silence used to be Jeongguk's best friend. It used to caress his skin and soothe the jagged edges of his soul. It used to hush his demons and offer the only reassurance he thought he'd ever get.

Who was this boy who just waltzed into his life and spoke vowels so softly that silence was no match for him? Who gave him the right to make him feel so utterly safe and reassured? Surely he can't be real.

Silence was just a distraction. Taehyung was something else.

"It's okay."

It's not.

"It's okay."

Is it?

Jeongguk flinched when he felt Taehyung rub comforting circles into his arm, through the fabric of his long sleeves that covered up more than just shame. And every single reaction was proof that Taehyung's assumptions were right.