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Kim Taehyung died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 86. He died not as an unremembered man in a small town, but rather he would be remembered by many as both a good friend and as a famous medical researcher.
He not only made it out of Beaufort as he had hoped, but became a doctor and played a part in many important medical breakthroughs that occurred in his lifetime. Taehyung was guided by Jungkook's words every step of the way: "... you can do anything."
Taehyung's funeral was held in Beaufort, so he could finally be laid to rest in the plot he had reserved next to Jungkook's.
His memorial ceremony was held in the same Baptist church where Jungkook's parents were married, where he and Jungkook were married, and where everyone had gathered sixty-eight years earlier to remember Jungkook.
The small church had been expanded several times in the years since Jungkook and Taehyung were married there, but the crowd that gathered to honor Taehyung still filled the main sanctuary. There were doctors who had worked with Taehyung, as well as those of his friends from medical school who were still alive.
Not many of Taehyung's friends from high school survived him, but there were the faithful few, Namjoon and Belinda included.
The children and grandchildren of those who had already passed also came, many of them remembering Taehyung more as an uncle than as a family friend.
Namjoon had been chosen to deliver the eulogy.
Time had taken its toll on him; his hair had turned to white and he walked with a slight limp. He still stood proud, however, as he made his way to the pulpit to speak in remembrance of his best friend.
"Kim Taehyung was a great doctor," Namjoon began.
"You can see that if you just look around and see how many other doctors are here to remember him. But more than that, Taehyung was a wonderful friend, whether we were riding our bikes around the neighborhood in first grade, working on cars or just being lazy in high school, or getting together for a soda on some warm summer day. He was a brilliant man, more so I think than any of his friends (myself included) had realized when we were younger. I mean – I never would've thought when we were at Beaufort High that Taehyung would be famous for developing an amazing medical treatment." Namjoon paused. "At least, not if it hadn't been for Jungkook. I'll always remember the day when, we decided to pull a prank on Jungkook and hand out flyers of his face on some swimsuit model's body. I'll never forget the look on Taehyung's face when he found out, or the surprise we all felt when we saw him punch out Dean and walk away from us. I don't think any of us really understood at the time, but Jungkook really changed him. It was only later that we found out Taehyung had more love in his heart than we knew. More than I think even he could understand. Even after Taehyung and Jungkook got married, I don't think I understood fully. Not until the day when he and I were just lounging in his living room, drinking some lemonade, when the phone call came telling Taehyung that the medical community had approved his treatment for leukemia. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes, and when they asked him what to call the treatment, he could only say one word: 'Jungkook'. That's when I understood what Kim Taehyung was all about. He was a man full of caring, respect, and love. He even found it in himself...." Namjoon trailed off, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "He even found it in himself to forgive us for all of the terrible things we did to him and Jungkook in high school. I'm thankful every day that he was such a good person. I don't know what I would've done without my best friend."
After Namjoon left the stage, the gathering of people proceeded to say their individual goodbyes to Taehyung. As the people passed by, a lone piano in the sanctuary sang out the notes of "Only Hope", the song Taehyung had requested to be played at his funeral many years earlier.
The coffin was lifted into a limousine, and the procession went on to the cemetery where Taehyung and Jungkook had spent so many hours looking toward the heavens. After the prayers were recited, Kim Taehyung's body was laid to rest beside that of his husband.
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Kim Taehyung opened his eyes and slowly, almost agonizingly rolled out of bed. He looked around, but he couldn't quite see clearly.
He felt the same as he did every morning, but somehow different. As he got dressed and walked down the hallway, he felt that he wasn't really in his house – yet, it was the same house.
The same white, two-story house he and Jungkook had moved into after their wedding. The same home he had lived in since he left Beaufort when he was 18.
The furniture, the decorations were all the same as he had left them the night before, but in a strange way they weren't. As he walked down the stairs, Taehyung tried desperately to clear his mind and to shake off the cobwebs. But he couldn't. His mind seemed cloudy, foggy.
The past and the present were suddenly all a blur to him, and he felt like he couldn't bring anything distinctly forward. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he thought he saw something move in the living room.
He rubbed his eyes, thinking maybe his blurry vision was just stopping him. When he looked again though, he knew he wasn't dreaming the first time.
The something was actually a someone, a young man from the looks of things. He turned to him and smiled.
"Taehyung!"
The man ran up to him and wrapped his arms around him. Still confused, Taehyung tried to push him away. Before he could, however, the man looked up and kissed Taehyung . And then it happened.
The moment Taehyung lips met his, everything came rushing back to him. He remembered being in kindergarten, watching as a small boy with dark brown hair walked into the room and sat down.
He remembered his father leaving him and his mother. He remembered the crazy stunt in his senior year of high school with Clay Gephardt.
He remembered spending the night in jail, and the following months with his leg in a cast. He remembered being forced to help the janitor, tutor disadvantaged kids, and participate in the school play.
Most of all, he remembered Jungkook.
Taehyung remembered blocking Jungkook out the first time he had tried to talk to him on the bus. He remembered when Jungkook gave him a ride home after play rehearsal and he had rudely dialed his radio to his own preference.
Taehyung remembered asking Jungkook to help him with his lines, only to blow him off in public in front of his "cooler" friends. He remembered the play and seeing Jungkook in all of his beauty for the first time.
He remembered their first date, taking Jungkook to the state line, giving him a fake tattoo, and kissing him at the pier. He remembered their wedding day, the joy they both felt and the happiness they shared the following summer.
Taehyung also remembered the pain – the anger he felt when he found out about Jungkook's leukemia, the fear and uncertainty he felt when Jungkook passed out and was taken to the hospital, and the loneliness he experienced for the many years after Jungkook died.
All of his memories flooded his mind in a wave – the emotions, the people, the places. When he looked back at the man, he realized it wasn't just any other person in his home, it was him.
It was Jungkook.
His Jungkook.
The love of his life.
His husband.
His little angel.
It was then that Taehyung looked down at his hands.
They were no longer the wrinkled hands that had been worn by time. His hands looked younger, stronger. He turned and looked into the decorative mirror that sat on the wall next to the staircase. The face he saw wasn't the face of an old man.
He was eighteen again.
He turned back to Jungkook, and exploded in a burst of laughter and tears. He pulled him close to him, holding him like he had wanted to do all those years.
Jungkook whispered in his ear, "I've been waiting so long for you." Taehyung looked deep into his eyes, and when he saw the loving sparkle that he knew he had missed for a long time, he kissed him.
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An hour after the funeral had ended, Namjoon sat next to Taehyung's grave, saying goodbye to his life-long friend.
"Hey buddy. I know it wasn't easy living all these years without him. But all that loneliness, all the pain – it's over now. You're finally together. You've been a great friend all these years, and I want to say thank you for all you've done. I'll miss you, but hopefully I won't be lonely too long either. I'm glad you're finally with Jungkook now. You belong together." As Namjoon got up to leave, drops of rain suddenly began falling from the sunny sky.
Namjoon laid his hand on Taehyung's headstone once more, and looking up to the sky, said, "Well Lord... I guess there really are tears in Heaven. Happy ones at least."
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Taehyung lied back in bed, cradling Jungkook in his arms.
'It's been far too long,' he thought to himself.
Jungkook stirred and turned around to face him. He kissed Taehyung lovingly, and said to him, "I'm so happy you're finally here. You've done so much with your life Taehyung, you have no idea how proud of you I am."
"Thank you, Jungkook," he replied.
"For what?"
"For everything. I might not have discovered a treatment for leukemia, made it through medical school, or even gotten out of Beaufort if it hadn't been for you. I wouldn't be here now, that's for sure. You saved my life Jungkook, and you saved my soul. I love you Jungkook. I've never stopped loving you."
"I love you too Taehyung, with all my heart and soul."
Jungkook smiled, the same joyful smile he had smiled when the two of them had gotten married.
Jungkook looked down at the wedding ring that had all but become a part of him, and then back up at Taehyung.
He wrapped his arms around him and said to him, "Welcome home Taehyung."
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A taekook FanFiction;
~The end~
Ⓒ Jiminxwurld