Age of Death (Taennie)

27

Jennie was still in my bed when dad and Chahee got home later that night. She was fast asleep, but i was alert enough to hear their voices going upstairs.

"I'll go check on Taehyung really quick.' I heard dad say, and my eyes immediately widened.

"Shit." I cruse, realizing there was no way I'd be able to wake Jennie and hide her fast enough. I could already hear his footsteps on the stairs.

"He's probably asleep. Check on him tomorrow?" Came Chahee's voice.

There was a pause in dad's footsteps.

Chahee spoke again. "He'll be fine. He's not a child anymore."

The footsteps resumed, but i sighed with that they were heading back downstairs. We'll be safe if Jennie could go back home, early morning.

She managed it, but only after being unable to find her shoes and then sneaking out barefoot through the back door early in the morning, which was further from my dad's room than the front. I saw her off and then went back to sleep.

The second time i woke up, it was a knock on my door. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, groggily calling out, "Come in!"

To my surprise, it was Chahee, not my dad, who cracked open the door and peered in at me.

"Oh. Hi," I said. My eyes widened when she stuck an arm through the door and saw what she held: Jennie's shoes.

"Your dad went into the kitchen for a minute when we first got home last night," she explained, very clearly amused. "I wasn't sure if he'd recognise these expensive shoes, but I've seen Jennie wearing them, so i took the time to hide them before he saw them. I'm sorry she couldn't find them."

She tossed the shoes into my room, I stared at her hard for a moment, before simply declaring, "Truce."

She laughed and moved to shut the door. "Okay, Taehyung."

______

The weather didn't change over the course of the next weeks. Jennie and I spent most of our time outside together, either by the cliff and the water or at the park or even just walking the streets of our neighborhood with Kuma.

I didn't want to stay away from her. I couldn't. And luckily, my dad accepted that I was growing up and that avoiding discussions about certain difficult topics didn't stop me from growing up, and that jennie's parents were letting me spend the night at their house.

One night after we'd finally untangled ourselves from each other and agreed to try and go to sleep, Jennie gently traced letters into my back with her finger while I, half asleep, guessed what she was trying to spell out.

"U...end word. R...end word. P...R...E...T..." I spelled out, before laughing quietly and saying, "Aw, thank you. You're pretty, too."

"You're too good at this. I was going to say, 'your're pretty annoying', by the way, but you didn't let me finish." She chuckled against my shoulder as she leaned in to kiss it. "Okay. Pay attention for this one."

"I will," i yawned out, and focused on the light touches against my back.

"I....end word. L...O..." I paused, and then rolled over to face her. She offered me a gentle smile.

"Me too," I told her.

She arched an eyebrow, her demeanor changing instantly. "You love chocolate?"

"That wasn't what you were going to spell out," I said.

"No," she agreed, leaning in to kiss me. "It wasn't."