"How could they do that?"
Taehyung chuckled mockingly and took the phone back when the brunette returned it, still looking shocked.
"That's what I thought too. How could they do that? And to their own son, no less. It's like he was a punching bag in their house whom they practiced on."
Jungkook kept shaking his head trying his best to not imagine the extremely handsome guy he once saw in a bruised and bloody state.
"I still can't believe they would do that just because he didn't tell them his sexuality. Please tell me you called the cops on them and your boyfriend is safe."
Taehyung smiled once again as he took another big sip and leaned on the sofa's arm rest dropping his head over it.
"I did call the cops but when you're a rich asshole you can buy just about anything including justice. As for Xiu, he's in coma. He received several harsh blows to his head that made him lose his consciousness. There is almost no hope that he'll ever wake up. His family is already deciding whether to pull the plug tomorrow or not.l instead of letting him live for a few months at least."
Jungkook listened quietly, now anger seeping into his blood slowly like a viper approaching it's prey.
"You guys looked so happy that day. I felt so jealous to see you two that it turned my insides. I can't believe such a dreadful thing could happen to him. Why is it always the good guys that get the worst in life? That's so unfair."
Taehyung didn't respond as he tilted the empty can to see it there was any drop left.
"And I was so stupid to never notice that he was going through all that every time he spent time with me. His body was loaded with bruises but I never saw any. And when I decided to pay him a surprise visit I didn't realize I had written his death sentence. His father sent me away immediately when he saw us kiss in his room and just a few hours later I received his text telling me to know what I did. He sent pictures as well but I deleted them. I couldn't look at them."
Taehyung sniffed as he sat up and sighed deeply.
"Do you have soju? I don't think this is going to cut it."
Feeling the other's emotions, Jungkook got up from his spot without any words and when he came back after a few minutes he had a bottle of Dr. McGillicuddy's in his hands. Taehyung saw the bottle and laughed slightly.
"Why do you have that? Are you old enough to be drinking?"
Jungkook grinned as he sat down and pushed the bottle towards the grey haired male.
"I'm twenty one so I'm old enough. And this here is a beast. You won't know yourself once it works its magic. You should let it take control of you for the night."
Taehyung couldn't stop himself from laughing a bit more at the way Jungkook tempted him to drink.
"Ah, you're younger than me by just two years. By the way, I'm not controllable once I lose it. Are you sure you want me to take the beast?"
Jungkook chuckled at the mock since it made him happy to see Taehyung feeling lighter even if it was just for a while. At least he was laughing from his heart and that too because of the brunette which was better in his opinion than seeing him cry over his loss. That alone made sparks go up in the younger's tummy despite the situation they were in. It might have been the beer from before but he was sure that Taehyung definitely had a part in it.
"It's not like I have someone coming over later so that's one thing you don't have to worry about. And I'll just lock you in the bathroom and go to sleep if you try to become an opera singer at some point."
Taehyung laughed again at the brunette's confidence and shook his head.
"What part of my warning made you think that I sing opera when I'm drunk? I might become a stripper or a three year old. There's a lot of options."
Jungkook's breath hitched when he heard the word 'stripper' and he couldn't stop the pink shade from appearing on his face. To avoid getting caught he scoffed and replied.
"I'm going to lock you in the bathroom no matter what you become and then have a peaceful sleep. You can rest assured that you'll be spending the night in my toilet."
Taehyung feigned hurt and pouted at the younger but only got a poked tongue in response which made him chuckle again before opening the bottle and staring at it for a while.
"To the death of those fucking monsters."
He raised the bottle while Jungkook grabbed the can from next to his feet which he left before going to get the drink for the older and clinked it with the bottle.
"To the death of those fucking monsters."
They both said 'cheers' simultaneously before taking a big sip each from their own container.
When Jungkook's beer finished he joined the older as they shared the bottle taking a swig every now and then in an attempt to lose themselves.
It didn't take long after they started drinking that Taehyung's words started to slur and he started to lose his common sense. Jungkook on the other hand had become a giggling mess.
"I've only kissed like uh, maybe~ fivce?"
Jungkook laughed at the drunk Taehyung.
"What's fivce?"
Taehyung held his hand up and pointed at his five fingers stretched wide.
"Once~, twice~, thrice~, fries~, fivce~."
Jungkook doubled over laughing at the explanation and had to hold the couch's arm rest to hold himself up since he was about to fall from laughing so hard.
Taehyung was frowning at the younger since he couldn't understand what the other was laughing for.
"Why you laughing?"
Jungkook apologized between his dying giggles and started another topic of discussion instead of about the older's ex who was beaten to near death by his own parents for being sexually attracted to the same gender and being in an actual relationship with one. Although his reason for avoiding the topic was his personal interest in the grey haired male and the drink but it was better for the older anyway since he needed a break from a week of mental destruction he had been going through.
"Ya know, I once saw a kid laughing at me and I turned him into a chicken with my pew pew pew pew pew. I will make you a chicken too if you laugh again."
Even if Jungkook wanted to pretend that he took the threat seriously he lost his control on 'pew pew pew' and bursted out laughing at the older's face at which the grey haired male stood up staggering on his feet and faced the younger looking very serious before pointing his finger guns at the brunette and doing exactly what he threatened to do.
"PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW! TURN TO CHICKEN! PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW!"
Jungkook was dying from lack of oxygen since he was unable to stop laughing at the sight of the older who was unable to keep himself steady as he stood and was shooting with his fingers.
A little while later Taehyung was singing the powerpuff girls OST and Jungkook couldn't help himself but join in as they sang passionately as if it was a love song.
The two didn't know when they passed out from overdose but they might regret the adventure the next day once they'll see each other's feet in their faces. For the time being what mattered was that both were sleeping peacefully without any troubling thoughts in their heads. The morning would be dealt with when it would come.
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The next day Taehyung woke up first at some time around noon and was greeted by the sight of two feet shoved in his face, his arm draped over the legs connected to those feet and a bad pain in his head. He removed the feet that were kissing his face and burried his face in the pillow only to find there wasn't any. He groaned as the pain hit him again and didn't know what to do other than to get up and get a whole bottle of painkillers down his throat to help him.
He sat up in his spot with squinted eyes and grabbed his head in his hand immediately since slightest of movement was giving him pain. When he opened his eyes he saw Jungkook lying there with his head on the opposite side of the couch breathing evenly.
He wasn't given any chance to think about the other's presence as he freed his legs from the other's tight grasp to get off of the couch and stood up before making his was to the kitchen. The place looked oddly different from what he was familiar with and it got confirmed when he walked into a bathroom instead of a kitchen.
"What the-"
In the next moment or two he remembered that he was not in his own house but of Jungkook where he came last night to drink. When he turned back and saw the said person still soundly asleep he thanked him mentally before looking for the kitchen and going there to look for pain killers. After a while of search he still hadn't found what he was looking for so he had no other choice than to wake up the owner of the place and ask him to help him get out of the pain. Therefore he walked over to Jungkook and shook him.
"Hey."
No response came so he figured that the younger was a heavy sleeper. Taehyung didn't have it in him at the moment to play with the brunette's sleep routine with a throbbing head while he dozed off without any worry in the world. That was why he went directly for the extreme approach and brought a glass of water to splash it on the sleeping boy's face which did wake him up but shocked him as well.
"Sorry about that but I can't find pain killers. Where did you put them?"
Jungkook took a moment to register what had happened and glared at the grey haired male harshly but it didn't bother the older one bit. He knew he deserved at least that much. They couldn't fight, however, since the same problem occurred with the brunette as well and he gripped his head in his hand at the wave of the pain.
"My head~"
He whined and Taehyung rolled his eyes before repeating himself.
"Pain killers, Jungkook. Where are they?"
The said male grunted before getting up and going to his bathroom where he had a bottle of pain killers kept in the cabinet above his sink. Taehyung noted it mentally to ask why does the younger have the pills in the bathroom instead of the kitchen but for now he needed the remedy.
Once they both had taken the medicine and let it ease their pain they were able to let go of their heads. It was then that they stared at each other with the flashes of last night coming to their minds bit by bit.
Jungkook spoke up and broke the silence first.
"So, PEW PEW PEW, huh?"
He grinned as soon as he started speaking and Taehyung could only close his eyes to avoid looking at the highly amused look on the other's face, although a small smile did try to break out on his face.
"At least I don't think that my butt was transplanted on me from a sheep which is why it jiggles so much."
Jungkook's laughs died instantly and now it was Taehyung's turn to laugh on the brunette's face.
"I didn't say that!"
Taehyung gave him a knowing look before replying.
"Oh you know you did."
The time went by in laughs and giggles as they made themselves breakfast- more like brunch- in a happy mood before they were back to a comfortable silence as they sat in the living room after cleaning up the dishes.
"Are you feeling better now?"
Jungkook asked gently but heard nothing from the other which made him look to his side to read the older's expression. His face had a small smile on it as he was staring at his clasped hands for a while before speaking.
"Honestly, I don't know. I mean I thought I would cry and thrash around after getting drunk like I had been doing it for a few days now but instead I laughed and enjoyed it. The guy I loved is on his deathbed and would most probably be deprived of his life support tonight but look at me. I'm not even that sad anymore. Is this okay? Is this humane?"
Jungkook realized he had become more comfortable around the guy after getting drunk together and was also grateful that he hadn't blurted out his feelings for the older which he was sure were not romantic but of momentary attraction. That comfort was why he scooted closer to Taehyung and put a hand on his shoulder instead of going with the first idea of placing it on his clamped hands. This made the grey haired male look at him with eyes searching for an answer.
"I don't know how long have you been suffering from this pain but I think deep down your heart has accepted the reality even though your brain still wants you to think that you should mourn more since you were very attached to him. There is nothing wrong with the feelings you have right now. It's natural. People get over things. Some do it faster than others while some take a longer time. I think your heart is telling you to move on. And maybe that's what Xui would have wanted too. I mean, god forbid but if you were in his palce would you like to see him crying for you every night instead of living his life since he still had one?"
Taehyung turned his gaze back to his hands and pressed his lips in a tight line. He knew what Jungkook said was true. And being a smart and reasonable man that he was he knew he shouldn't do anything immature anymore. He had cried his heart out for days now so he didn't have the right to say that he hadn't mourned properly yet. Although he was logically convinced he still couldn't bring himself to say it in words.
"You are right. But I think I will need a little more time before I can get back to how I was before."
Jungkook squeezed his shoulder slightly and smiled.
"Of course. No one is asking you to throw a party at your house and invite hundreds of slutty people to grind on each other, right away. As long as you feel like you are ready to move on one day that's all that matters. Baby steps, you know? Take baby steps."
Taehyung smiled genuinely at him and thanked him to which he just received a giggle.
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