章節 23: 23 - The past and the present
Taehyung was so glad that finally he was all alone on the roof. Even though he still tried to find a place up there where no one could notice him from the buildings nearby or if someone would want to come out here as well. Taehyung took a deep breath, exhaling it shakily before he took off his coat, then his shirt too. The weather was cold that night, his teeth clanking against each other, but he didn't want to ruin his clothes so he kept them off - at least from above his waist.
Closing his eyes, he started concentrating. It took a few moments until he felt how the skin on his back started prickling, transforming into a more intense, painful feeling after a short while.
He hated how painful this process was; he hoped that he'd get used to it by now, but unfortunately it wasn't the case. His only relief was that it's just temporary, that the pain went away once his wings were finally out.
He heard his bones cracking like they were breaking, only to agglutinate again as the tattoo on his back started growing out of his skin, growing bigger and bigger, getting heavier as they manifested; Taehyung had to step from one foot to the other, adjusting his position because of the weight of them.
He couldn't tell how long it took until his wings grew out; time became blurry while his new bones, cartilage, muscle and ligament grew out from his back, covered with dark blue, almost black feathers at the end of the process. It felt like hours, but he knew it was only a few minutes. He bit onto his lips to hold back his painful groans, during this whole thing every breath he took felt like a huge, exhausting task.
A relieved sigh slipped through Taehyung's lips when the pain finally faded; he stood back up and spread his wings as much as he could. He gasped at the harsh pain he felt, letting him know that it had been too long since the last time he had the opportunity to expand his wings. He stayed put for a few minutes, waiting for the pain to ease, then he slowly contracted his wings, extending them again with the same slow pace. It was similar to stretching, only focusing on one of his wings, then the other, then both, moving them carefully.
Gosh, how much he wanted to fly, but it was too risky - he was scared of being noticed by someone. The night sky was too clear, and he wasn't as good enough to fly higher. Also, the city was still pretty unfamiliar to him, he had no idea if there was any place where he could be able to fly without being noticed. Maybe he should try to ask Yoongi about it when they'd meet.
His lips curled up to a smile at the thought of Yoongi. Even though they'd met at such bad circumstances, he was still glad he could talk to him, even if just a little. He truly hoped that he was going to meet with Yoongi again. As he recalled the latter's face, he had a feeling that it would happen soon.
A shiver ran over Taehyung's body because of the cold wind; he curled his arms around himself, trying to warm himself up a bit. He moved his wings again, extending one after the other before he curled them around himself like a shield, protecting from prying eyes and the cold weather. He stayed like that for a while, then he opened his wings and moved them to a relaxed position so to speak, making sure that they didn't touch the ground in this position.
A soft smile appeared on his face as he remembered when he had found out that he was not an ordinary human.
It had happened on his sixteenth birthday; he'd already felt strange in the morning, his back ached so intensely, but he'd thought he'd slept in a bad position. During the whole day he'd felt the pain shooting into his back multiple times; his skin became extremely sensitive too, like he'd gotten sunburnt. As time had gone by, it had become worse and worse, turning unbearable at the end of the day. Taehyung had gotten feverish; his grandmother had been there for him all night, making sure to keep him under check, resting a cold, damped washcloth on his forehead.
On the next day, when Taehyung had woken up, he noticed that his back was still aching, but it had not been as bad like the night before. He'd been sweating a lot because of his fewer, so his grandma had led him to the bathroom, letting Taehyung freshen up a bit. When she made sure he was okay, she had left him there, and Taehyung had taken a shower. He'd been pretty quick, he had already finished when his grandmother came back.
"Taehyung-ah, you forgot your clothes agai- my goodness!" His grandmother's voice still echoed in his mind as he recalled this memory. Taehyung had turned around, frowning when he'd seen how scared his grandma had been - eyes wide open, mouth agape.
"What's wrong?" Taehyung had asked as he walked to her, putting his hand onto her shoulders. She just blinked, still shocked, then a few moments later her eyes finally focused on his face.
"Your- your back, there's-" His grandmother stuttered.
"What about it?" Taehyung had asked, but before his grandmother could answer, he walked towards the sink to check out what she was talking about.
"What the-" Taehyung's words died on his throat, he was just as shocked as his grandma. He saw a part of a tattoo down from his shoulder blade. It wouldn't be such an issue, but it hadn't been there before.
Taehyung rushed into his own room and stopped in front of the whole-shaped mirror, trying to stand there in a way so he could see his back more clearly. His eyes widened at the sight.
His tattoos were beautiful and incredibly detailed, he thought that he would be able to feel the texture of it if he'd run his fingers on them, that they could grow out from his back and make him fly.
That had been the first time Taehyung had seen his wings tattooed into his skin.
He remembered how shocked he had been, collapsing onto the floor, covering his face with his hands as he felt tears rolling down on his cheeks.
He still was not sure if he'd cried because of happiness or sadness - maybe it was both at the same time. But he knew that it had been too much to process at that time, he had no idea what was going to happen with him. His grandmother had been there for him; she kneeled next to him and hugged him tightly, whispering that everything was going to be okay while he rocked him gently like a little child.
A sharp, chilling wind pulled Taehyung out of his thoughts; his teeth clenched as his whole body shivered. He took a deep breath like he was trying to gather some inner strength.
It was about time to retract his wings.
Sadly it wasn't a pleasant process either, but not as painful when he summoned them. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
His wings slowly started to shrunk, evolving back into his skin, turning into that familiar tattoo on his back.
Once his wings were gone, Taehyung quickly dressed up again and went back into the building, only stopping when he closed the door of his apartment.
He let his thoughts wander during his night routine, thinking about what had happened throughout the day. Was there any chance to meet with the two other boys Yoongi had come into the coffee shop with? He truly hoped he would.
Another face flashed in front of his eyes as he was lying in his bed - the boy who was in the picture that guy had shown him in the shop. He didn't know why, but he had a strange feeling as he thought about it. The whole situation was so off. That guy didn't look worried at all, his face was completely pliant when he showed him the picture. He couldn't be a policeman or an agent either - both would've shown their badges and introduced themselves if that would've been the case.
Then why was this man looking for that boy? Taehyung didn't know, but he was sure that even if he'd see him, he wouldn't tell that man.
As he turned to his side, he thought about the boy. Was he okay? Did he find somewhere to hide? Was someone helping him?
These questions whirled in his mind; it took him a while until he could finally fall asleep.
The boy from the picture
A quiet sigh left his lips as he was sitting at the window, staring at the traffic. He wanted to go outside, to freshen up himself a bit in the chilling weather which would help him figuring out what he should do next.
He wanted to, but he was too scared to do it, it was too risky. What if they'd find him? He was finally free, and so far luck was on his side as it had been a week and no one had found him yet.
He couldn't even think of what they would do to him if they'd find him. They examined him over and over again, doing one test after the other, but after this whole escaping, he was sure that those experiments would become more painful, torturous even.
I'd rather die than get back there, he thought.
…not that he was sure he'd be capable of dying at all with the powers he had.
"I'm home!" A familiar voice pulled the boy out of his thoughts; he winced a little in his surprise, but as soon as he saw who arrived, his lips curled up.
"You forgot to check out the time again during practice, didn't you?" The boy asked as he made his way towards the latter - he toed out of his shoes and hung up his coat, then he grabbed his bag from the floor and took it back onto his shoulder as he went into his room.
"You know me too well already." The elder said with flushed cheeks. "I didn't want to come home until I was sure I made no mistakes during the choreography." He added as he scratched the back of the boy's neck. "I hope you weren't bored that much."
The boy could tell that the latter felt guilty that he left them alone, but he had no reason to feel that way - it was him who suddenly appeared in his life, even if he didn't do it on purpose.
"It wasn't that bad." He said with a shrug, showing him a soft smile as a reassurance.
"And how did you spend your time while you were alone?" The elder asked while he turned over, searching through his wardrobe; his shirt got attached to his back, the boy could see how his muscles danced under his skin. He had to swallow at the sight. You shouldn't think about things like this, he scolded himself. He tried his best, but he could only do so much against it.
"Nothing special. I was reading and I gave it a try to cook something you can eat." He replied, glad that he sounded casual.
The latter turned around and looked at the boy, holding his clothes in his hands.
"You know you shouldn't have to cook for me. I'm fine with a cup of ramyeon." He said with a smile, then he ran his fingers through his red locks which made the boy's cheeks burn.
"You can't live on junk food though…" The boy mumbled, his lips forming a pout. The elder's gaze was so intense, the boy felt like he could see into his soul; he had to turn his gaze away. "Besides, while I'm here, I can make myself useful, am I right?" He asked quietly, but he kept his focus on his feet.
He just couldn't be there, doing nothing, his conscience couldn't bear it. He couldn't go to work so he couldn't pay rent, the least he could do was to help the elder out with little things like cooking a meal or doing house chores.
"We talked about this more than once. You're not a bur-"
"Cut the bullshit, please!" The boy interrupted him. The latter's eyes widened - his reaction was understandable though as he'd never seen or heard the boy acting like this before. The boy ran his fingers through his blonde locks. He licked his lips before he took a deep breath and locked eyes with the elder.
"Please stop saying that I'm not a burden to you, because we both know it's not true. You have to take care of someone else, which is a burden as you have to spend more money on food, water and power consumption, and you have to do house chores more frequently as well. So please stop with this whole 'you're not a burden' shit, okay?"
The elder looked at him with parted lips for a few moments, taken aback by what he just heard. The boy was right, he knew it, and as he looked at the latter, it was obvious that even if not completely, he partly agreed with him.
"Who are you and what have you done with that cute, shy boy I found?" The elder asked with a teasing tone, trying to ease the mood.
"That boy has never existed. He was just a kid, yet he lived through such terrible things no one should, especially at such a young age. You saw a glimpse of him when you found me, nothing more." He replied bitterly, flashbacks of his childhood appearing in front of him; how he'd played so happily, not knowing about what had been happening behind the curtains.
The latter's smile quickly disappeared at the reply he got.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Just forget it already, okay? Come on, I'll reheat your dinner. It's probably cold now." The boy interrupted him once again, not waiting for any kind of response, he was already walking to the kitchen. He heard a quiet sigh from behind, and his heart ached at that. He didn't want to talk about this, he wanted to forget, to erase all of his bad memories and start over with a blank page.
Life had taught him soon enough how cruel people could be. That the one who you loved with all of your being could crush you down, both physically and mentally to use you, to take benefits from you.
Yes, he had learned it first hand.
That's why he'd escaped from his father, hoping that he'd never had to go back.
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