Pandora's Box

Chapter 30

"Fragile and safe. I can see it."

Taehyun kissed his temple then. He tried not to let the sob escape his throat when the boy's lips stayed there.

"I think you're wrong about firewood though."

"Hm?"

He felt the question before he heard it, making him laugh. He nodded. "I don't think people think of firewood as dark or hellish. Maybe at first, but I think they know it's not really. Really... It's warm. Slow, but soft. Full of...spark. Even dangerous." He laughed. "It has the potential to do anything."

He felt the other still, then kissed his head. His voice had broken at the last part, and trying to swallow down tears, it was all too much. He stood up abruptly, with a harsh whisper.

"At least the perfume will last."

He walked quickly toward the bathroom, vision blurring under his sorrow. He was grabbed last minute, and swiftly pulled into the too-familiar scent. It drowned him. He felt Taehyun's arms attempting to swallow him whole; holding him with such desperation he might faint. He said nothing.

He simply held the other back with the same urgency, allowing the tears to slip past his eyes and onto the shirt of Hades' son.

—

"Favorite childhood movie?"

In an attempt to forget the coming events, they'd taken to sitting across from each other on the bed. Taehyun's hands were on his knees, the two as physically close as you could get in such a position.

He thought about it. It was Beomgyu's idea to distract themselves with questions, although the nostalgia was almost just as painful. His Daegu parents, what he'd started to call them, never failed to raise him with all of the warm, comforting media a kid could want.

"Hercules?" he tried, laughing at Taehyun's eye roll. "I know it's not that. You can like that movie, even though I don't understand how. But it can't be your favorite." Beomgyu shook his head in agreement. "It's not. I need to think."

The other never took his eyes off him as he sifted through the memories, coming upon one he felt was worth it.

"Sleeping Beauty."

He cackled at the scowl Taehyun was sporting.

"Please tell me you're joking."

Beomgyu shook his head confidently. "Nope. I've always been a sucker for the classic fairytale. I told you, I was spoiled with stories growing up." Taehyun groaned and collapsed onto his back. Beomgyu soon followed, gazing up as the other attempted to wipe the information from his eyes.

"Then you tell me your favorite movie, if you have such good taste."

Taehyun thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't really have one. There's no TV in the Underworld, so I don't really know that stuff." It was Beomgyu's turn to scowl. "How on earth did you entertain yourself then? Please tell me it wasn't father-son bonding time 24/7."

Taehyun shivered, to his entertainment. "Ugh. Definitely not. First of all, it wasn't on earth." Ignoring Beomgyu's eye roll, he continued. "I guess I was like you. I survived mostly on stories."

"How can you hear stories if you are a story?"

He was shoved lightly."There were myths for us too, dummy. I had plenty of stories that I loved."

Beomgyu smiled at him. "Like what?"

He watched Taehyun think about it more. The boy's hand reached over to trace his collarbone, making him shiver in the process. He continued mindlessly as he remembered. "Well, Heracles had this really cool one. No, his name wasn't Hercules. But the movie was right about his fame. We were all forced to go to his birthday parties growing up, even me." He whispered the last part, and Beomgyu tried not to be distracted by the sting it caused.