Boy By The Sea • taekook

Fifteen

The sky is blue with wispy clouds drifting about. The ocean, calm and tranquil, gentle sea breeze bringing salty mist and soft waves. Fall in Malibu comes gently, in a kaleidoscope of brilliant colors.

Nobody's home.

Jungkook walks through the living room, past the guitar and books, the plants and rows of abstract watercolor paintings on the wall. He turns into the bedroom with the rows of floor to ceiling windows, and glances at the four post bed with wrinkled sheets. The ocean beckons outside, the sound of waves crashing to shore soothing and familiar in the background.

Taehyung is gone.

Sticking his tongue to the inside of his mouth, Jeongguk pulls out his phone and look up the location of the bar Yoongi texted him, and slowly saunters back towards the front entrance.

He leaves his car in the driveway and walks. Down the street, about fifteen minutes onward by foot, is an abandoned old local pier. He continues to walk around the pier, basking in the sun and glancing at the empty storage area next to him overgrown with weed. There, tucked all the way in the back and not accessible by the main road, an old crumbling building with red tiled roof slowly pops into his vision. The brick walls are partially painted white, and on it, in black capital letters: PONTO FINAL.

As Jeongguk walks closer, he spots the bar inside the building, facing the ocean and with tables spilling out casually into the sunlight. There's music drifting out, soft and mellow, and the smell of grilled fish is in the air.

Jeongguk's gaze scans through the outdoor tables under bright yellow umbrellas. He nods to the young friendly looking bartender smiling at him, and keeps walking. Beyond the tables, as the music fades and the sound of the crashing waves takes over, splayed out on one of the few lounge chairs with yellow cushions, is a familiar figure.

Jeongguk exhales slowly and feels his shoulders relax, as he approaches.

"Yoongi said you'd be here."

Taehyung looks up, eyes hidden behind gold rimmed aviator shades. A wide straw hat casts shadow on his petite face.

"Snitches get stitches." the words are delivered with a sneer but there's no malice.

Jeongguk grins lazily with crinkles around his eyes, "well he said you texted him twice. As if you wanted to be found." He gestures to the lounge chair, the grin widening as Taehyung grumbles.

"Like I said." Taehyung shifts to the side, and Jeongguk sits down and extends his arm out expectantly.

He hears a soft sigh and feels Taehyung's slender torso curling into his. Jeongguk tangles his fingers through Taehyung's tousled hair contently. It's grown since he left, dyed ashy dark blonde, almost silvery gray, and soft to the touch.

In front of them, nothing but calm ocean waves, and endless sky disappearing into the hazy horizon. It's as if they are at the edge of the world, away from it all. Jeongguk closes his eyes and soaks in the serenity, luxuriating in the heat of Taehyung's skin against his chest.

After a moment of silence, Jeongguk speaks up, "are you upset that I didn't come back earlier?"

Taehyung shifts and responds with a huff, not looking up, "two weeks, two full weeks. You said it was gonna be three days..."

Jeongguk hums, the New York office was a mess, much worse than he anticipated. They had to let a few people go, and met with most of the investors in person to calm the nervous chatters. A few more companies they invest in are teetering dangerously close towards bankruptcy, this storm that's been raging in the industry for the past year shows no sign of slowing down.