something old, something new | taekook

Chapter 33: A Soul Is But Two Halves Of A Whole

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Jeongguk expects many things when his eyes open again, lashes weighted with his exhaustion. He expects pain, he expects blood. He expects terror- his last memories filled with the excruciating pain of teeth in his throat, hands on his body.

He does not expect the soft rise and fall of a chest beneath him, the weight of an arm over his legs, a hand at his back holding him close.

He blinks slowly, the taste of something familiar on his tongue.

It makes him dizzy, the taste. He licks his lips, his body moving as if through molasses. His fingers do not move, his muscles screaming at him with every passing second. He swallows, his ruined throat nearly refuses to cooperate.

The chest beneath him rises and fall again, slowly as if sleeping, and Jeongguk's eyes burn.

He turns his head, nose brushing over dirtied skin. He can smell dried blood, some his and some not. Mostly his.

It takes everything he has to nuzzle his nose against the throat he's pressed against, lips parting so his tongue can brush over the dried blood.

He knows this taste, he thinks as a tear drops.

His lips tremble as he faintly kisses over where he can now feel a ruined bite, skin torn where his blood had once flown freely. He wonders if his own teeth had made that mark, and he thinks he did. He thinks the taste of blood on his tongue is the only proof he needs.

His mouths a word, a name, but his voice fails him.

Weak, bruised, battered hands twitch. They finally shift, curling with an ache that makes him cry. The pain is fading steadily, his body healing quickly, but not quick enough.

His hands lift slowly, moving to press against the chest beneath him. He feels silk under his fingertips, sliding with his touch. He presses harder and Jeongguk bites back a groan as he slowly lifts up, head pulling back from where it was nestled against a strong shoulder.

He lifts and his heart stops as stares at the face of the one he's wanted so desperately to see for so long now. The same dark brows, strong jaw, full lips that he had fallen asleep to, had kissed dozens- hundreds- of times. The same face, the same man he had married months before.

"...Taehyungie," he finally manages to whisper, tasting his name on his lips. But Taehyung doesn't stir, his head tipped back against the headboard he is propped up against.

The circles under his eyes are dark, his cheeks near guant. The skin is red, rubbed raw, and Jeongguk feels himself cry harder.

He leans in, shaking lips pressing to his cheek, whispering his name again. "Taehyungie, please," he begs, and his fingers clutch at Taehyung's shirt, miraculously clean dispute the grime over his skin. Jeongguk's only body spotless, marred only by bruises.

He goes to say it again, leaning in for another kiss, when he sees those eyes slowly blink open.

Dark eyes that focus on him only, blinking again.

Jeongguk is speechless, any words he ever thought he would say lost to him. He's spent so long wishing for this moment but now that he has it, he doesn't quite know what to do with himself.

And then his lips part, expression stunned, as he watches a slow tear trail down Taehyung's cheek.

It is followed by another, and another. And soon Jeongguk is watching his husband cry, his heart beating wildly in his chest. He doesn't know how to help, doesn't know what he can say-

But Taehyung cuts him off before he can attempt to utter a single word, large hands rising to cup Jeongguk's face.

His touch is nothing like the harsh beating he had received before, it never was. Only gentleness and love in every touch he gives. Jeongguk's eyes well with tears as Taehyung tugs him forward again, their foreheads gently, softly, tap together.