Route 66 | taekook

09

The past week has been hectic for Jeongguk.

After Taehyung had dropped him off at his father's apartment, his father had bombarded him with questions, absolutely furious that he ran off and proceeded to disappear off the face of the earth. When the initial anger wore off, he pulled his son into a hug and they held each other for a while, silently weeping in each other's arms.

And then there was Hoseok. He was close to going into cardiac arrest. Although he knew Jeongguk was at Taehyung's, that didn't stop him from worrying about his mental and emotional wellbeing. He nearly went out of his mind with concern and fear. But that didn't last very long and soon he too was enveloping his younger friend into a bone-crushing hug.

The rest of Jeongguk's was spent planning for his mother's funeral with his father. He still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that his mom was gone. For good. He spent a good majority of his nights crying his eyes out, which lead to him calling Taehyung on FaceTime, where they talked for hours  on end until Jeongguk finally calmed down and fell asleep to the sound Taehyung's soothing velvety voice.

Today was finally the day. The day he would bid his mother a final farewell. The dreaded day.

Jeongguk was in his room getting ready, but he was taking his sweet time doing so, as an attempt to delay the funeral from happening. Until he heard his father yelling for him to hurry up. He finished up tying his tie and sighed heavily. "I guess it's time, then."

He grabbed his phone from the bed and stuffed it into his pocket. He trudged out of his room and joined his father at the doorstep. Together they made their way to the cemetary, where the ceremony would be held.

They were the first ones there, save for the priest who would be holding the ceremony. He gave them both a sympathetic smile when he saw them step out of the car. Jeongguk was ry starting to hate those smiles.

• • •

The funeral had been heartbreaking. There were a lot of people, but that didn't surprise Jeongguk. His mom was kind to everyone, and she was always great at making friend. There were even people from their hometown Busan here to pay their respects.

A few days prior to the funeral, the priest had suggested Jeongguk prepare a few words to say about his mother, but Jeongguk had shut him down quickly. He couldn't get up there and talk about his mother and hold it together in front of all those people.

When the time came for his mother's casket to be lowered into the ground, Jeongguk had snapped. He burst out crying again and rushed over, clutching the casket for dear life, surprising everyone. He sobbed uncontrollably while begging them not to bury his mother and refused to let go of her casket. Refused to let go of her. And then he felt two hands wrap around his torso gently and a familiar velvety voice whisper into his ear. "Jeongguk-ah, don't do this to yourself. You have to let go, baby. She's gone. Let go of the casket and come with me. We can go somewhere more quiet, m'kay?"

Jeongguk stopped short when he heard the voice in his hear and felt the warm, soothing hands wrapp ed around him. His chest was heaving and the tears were streaming down his face still, but he looked at around at all the people watching him in shock, and nodded softly before letting Taehyung pull him up, away from the casket and out of the cemetery.

Taehyung leaded Jeongguk to his car and helped him into the passenger seat. He let the younger boy take a moment to calm himself down. He watched carefully as Jeongguk took long, deep breaths through his nose and wiped at his eyes. The younger finally opened his bloodshot eyes and focused them on the beautiful man sitting across from him. "How do you always manage to be there when I need you most?"