VHope Fluffshots

Live And Let Die

Grief surrounded Hoseok from all directions; it was an abyss that he'd been falling in for so long that the light from the top had long since faded. Happiness was foreign to him, while darkness greeted him with open arms. 

Figuring out that your boyfriend had died by finding his body in your workplace -- a funeral home -- was reasonably terrible. Being the one assigned to take care of his body was the only sense of closure, but stitching the giant gash in his leg and even deeper one in his throat gave Hoseok no such feeling. 

No, fixing the dead love of his life, Kim Taehyung, seemed to slice equally as large gashes in Hoseok as the ones he sutured. 

Taehyung was the victim of a late-night stabbing. Roughly twenty minutes before the incident even occurred, he had sent Hoseok a text saying he was going to the convenience store for cold noodles. Two hours later, Hoseok uncovered his body in the embalming room. 

"Taehyungie," Hoseok whimpered, pausing in his stitching. Tears poured down his cheeks, hands shaking so bad that he had to set the curved needle down on the little tray resting on Taehyung's stomach. "H-how...how can this h-happen?" 

Silence filled the embalming room, Hoseok's sobs and squeaks echoing off the walls. His coworkers had left him to tend to his boyfriend alone, seeing that nothing they could do would be able to console him. Taehyung was Hoseok's world, so it was best not to get involved. 

"You should have stayed home, TaeTae," he sniffled, gazing at the thin silver band on his boyfriend's finger. It matched his own, which was currently covered by his gloves. "You should have stayed home!"

Once he managed to control his trembling, he went back to work restoring his boyfriend to the way he was when he saw him before he left the apartment for work. Taehyung's face had been puffy with sleep, having gotten up to make Hoseok breakfast and pack his lunch before he left; it was routine for them. He had the cutest pout on his face, voice so low Hoseok could barely hear the "I love you" mumbled to him. 

He was still in his pajamas, the once slightly-wrinkled, light-blue satin ripped and stained with dark spots that just had to be Taehyung's blood. Hoseok had quickly cut his love out of them, throwing them in the incinerator because he couldn't bear to look at them anymore. 

He had bought those pajamas as a matching set for Christmas. He'd throw his own pair out when he got home, too. Or maybe he'd have Taehyung buried in his set. These were things Hoseok had to think about now, but at least he didn't have to worry about dropping more than forty-thousand dollars on this funeral; he'd get a discount from the funeral home and possibly twenty-per-cent off the casket. 

It wasn't like Taehyung's parents were in the picture to help, unlike Hoseok's parents. Hell, Hoseok probably won't receive any messages from the Kims except an, "It's all your fault our son we disowned for loving you died." They were blocked anyways. 

One of Hoseok's coworkers knocked on the door before coming in, a bucket of warm, soapy water in one hand and a washcloth -- one of the ones they used for babies -- in the other. She gave him a small, sympathetic smile.

"Just yell if you need help," she muttered, then gazed at Taehyung's body. "Hobi will tuck you in all nice and cozy, don't you worry. Sleep well, sweetie." She left the room after. 

-------

Hoseok's sister dropped off the pajama set hours ago so that he could dress Taehyung after being embalmed. They weren't his official burial clothes, but rather an attempt at believing Taehyung was just sleeping. 

Embalming was the toughest, though Hoseok had done it to hundreds of bodies before. He had no attachment to any of those people other than making them perfect for burial. But this was Taehyung, the love of his life. 

Draining the fluids from the love of his life affirmed he was never coming back. Kim Taehyung was dead; Jung Hoseok was put in charge of making sure he stayed dead. 

There had aways been a reason for Hoseok's fascination with death enough to work as an embalmer, and it had gotten him in trouble as a child. The other children were terrified of the boy who brought a dead kitten back to life just by petting it. 

Maybe some outside force had cursed Hoseok with necromancy, but no one was ever sure as to why he had the ability. His parents forced him to never use his ability, since that wasn't what normal people did. People would think he'd grow up to be a serial killer. 

Hoseok restored life; he never took it away. 

Restoring bodies was the closest he could get to practicing his craft, since it was definitely illegal and there was really no need to use it. 

He stared at his dead boyfriend as he polished the ring now fused to his finger.

He'd never brought a human back to life. He brought back two kittens, the family dog, a couple squirrels and a field mouse. They all died within a week. None of them were the same after they were brought back, he noticed. They all seemed to be in immense pain and suffering. That was why he never foughts his parents on never using his ability again. 

He checked the clock. It was two in the morning. He was the only living person in the building, but he promised to finish preparing Taehyung before going home. He still wasn't finished. 

No eyecaps. 

No needle injector. 

No makeup.

He wanted to talk to Taehyung one last time, no matter how much suffering it caused. He needed closure. 

Hoseok closed his eyes and ran a hand through Taehyung's hair. When he opened his eyes again, they were completely black. Give me five minutes, he thought. I just need five minutes with him, please.

A choked splutter filled the room. Taehyung shot bolt upright, frantically looking around the room he was in. He screamed as he grasped his stomach; it felt like his organs had been ripped out. And they were; the hospital morgue had sent him back with his organs in a bag sewed up inside him. 

This is why they suffered. 

"Taehyung," Hoseok said, resting a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Taehyung, are you with me?" 

"Yeah," Taehyung croaked, reaching blindly to grasp onto Hoseok's scrubs shirt. "It hurts, hyung. It hurts so bad."

"I know, baby, and I'm sorry." Hoseok hugged him, smiling to himself when shaking arms wrapped around his middle. "Do you know what happened?"

Taehyung nodded. "I...I died. And it hurt, but not like...this. And then it was so nice." Tears soaked Hoseok's shirt. "There was no pain, and I was so...happy. I felt happy and loved."

Hoseok sniffled. "You are loved, Taehyung. I love you."

A trembling hand wiped his tears away, and Hoseok looked down to see Taehyung glancing up at him as he shook his head. "If you loved me, you would have let me be."

"How could I!? You're the love of my life and you died, Taehyung!" Hoseok sobbed harder, one hand keeping Taehyung's palm against his cheek. "I can't live without you."

"You can," Taehyung insisted, stroking his boyfriend's face with his thumb. "You can and you will. Please, Jung Hoseok, please move on from me. It's gonna hurt for a long time, but not your entire life." He winced and gasped. "I...have to go. It hurts, hyung. It hurts so much..."

"I love you, Taehyung," Hoseok whimpered.

"I love you," Taehyung croaked, then gasped again, "Please...live your life...find love again."

Hoseok nodded. "I will."

Hoseok remained the only living person in the funeral home once again, cradling his boyfriend's head against his broken heart.