051621. namjoon & taehyung.

[lovestrippedbare]

SPRING.
May 16, 2021.

WHO namjoon & taehyung
WHAT morning after

WHERE train car
TIMELINE cycle 5

NAMJOON Though only small rays of sunlight leak in from the gaps around the train car door, the way it lights the room makes his eyes sore, pupils straining against it as he wakes. Then it's the headache, starting from the root of his neck and filtering up into his skull, throbbing with every movement. He usually doesn't feel this bad after drinking, so this probably means he wasn't smart about it. Didn't drink water. Didn't eat much. Why didn't he?

Then the memories come back, rattling around the throbbing in his head until they find their places, more or less. There's a lot he could ponder, worry over, be upset about, but he puts them aside so that he can answer his most important question first: rolling over to check if Taehyung was there.



TAEHYUNG He's been awake for a while, relaxing with his eyes closed and his arms behind his head. Not thinking about the images that crept into his dreams last night. Not thinking how Namjoon had looked when he came into the car last night. Just thinking, instead, about how nice the morning feels. Joon, he figures, will probably worry enough for them both.

With a deep inhale, he stretches out languidly, letting out a groan to make the motion that much more satisfying before letting his arms fall back over his head. He hears the sheets rustle to his side, and he looks over, hair still mussed and half in his eyes as he smiles. "Hi."



NAMJOON Yes, Taehyung's there and smiling and his heart jumps into his throat. His head is raised a little but collapses to the pillow, wincing as his headache jarrs him.

"Hey." His hand moves to reach out, but stutters, hesitates. The worry is beginning. "Are you, uh... are you... how are you?"



TAEHYUNG "I'm good," he says with a grin, looking at Namjoon first, then back up at the ceiling. "You look hungover."



NAMJOON "Well. Maybe. Yeah." He frowns, half his face obscured by the pillow, peering at Taehyung with one eye. "Are you sure? That, uh. That you're good." Thinking is hard. His thoughts are still swimming.



TAEHYUNG "I'm good," Taehyung repeats, with just a hint of a smile now. Which abruptly starts to fade as he lets his mind slide back to what it's been avoiding. "Are. Are you?"



NAMJOON Namjoon closes his eyes, taking a slow breath. He can feel what he had been trying to erase with alcohol standing like shadowy figures at the edge of his mind, and he's not ready to let them in now - if ever.

"I don't know yet." Opening his eyes, the shadows fade away. All he can see is Taehyung. "But... better."

He fumbles for Taehyung's hand, but as soon as their fingers touch, he's hit with vivid, disjointed memories. He groans, pushing more of his face into the pillow. "Sorry if I was embarrassing."



TAEHYUNG "Better is. Better!" Taehyung perks up, though he knows that maybe it isn't exactly worth celebrating. He only has hints of what was going on last night, but he figures that Namjoon will tell him when he's ready. ...or maybe he won't. But either way, at least he's here if Namjoon needs.

Namjoon is faceplanting, though. So he seems like he needs something.

"Embarrassing? What, because of - nah. No, nah. Definitely not embarrassing. Which is impressive! Given the alcohol. But not just because of the alcohol."

If reassurance is what Namjoon needs? Maybe Taehyung could have done a little better.



NAMJOON "Wait, impressive?... I wasn't that drunk." Namjoon grumbles, peeking back up from the pillow and pushing Taehyung's side lightly.

His hand doesn't want to move back away now that he's touching him, though, so it creeps up until Namjoon's arm rests heavily across Taehyung's chest. With his sense of balance confused even as he's laying down, it feels good to have an anchor.

He closes his eyes again, testing if shutting off one of his senses would cut at least some of the pain. It almost does, but then there's the shadows.

"You don't have to dig for nice things to say if there are none."



TAEHYUNG "You were pretty drunk!" He laughs happily when Namjoon shoves him. The car is quiet, and it makes him feel like he has to compensate. Or, at least, he wants to.

"Yah." A scoff at the last words. He pushes Namjoon back to the bed from where he's reaching over for him, like he's offended to be touched, and promptly climbs to straddle Namjoon's hips, arms crossed defiantly over his chest. "I don't have to dig for anything. I don't lie to Kim Namjoon. Or bullshit him."



NAMJOON Taehyung's voice is loud, and it's sweet to Namjoon's ears, and it triggers shooting pains in his skull; he winces but also he smiles.

"You're right, you don't." He reaches out to brush disheveled hair away from Taehyung's eyes so that he can better see the exaggerated glare he's giving, and then hands come to rest on the tops of his thighs. It does feel better like this. There's a painful throbbing at the base of his skull but it's not so bad, when he's looking at Taehyung.

"So I can trust that I was at least not sloppy and disappointing."



TAEHYUNG "You were a little sloppy." He says it matter of factly (and without volume regulating) before unfolding his arms to rest his hands on the mattress on either side of Namjoon's head and giving him a boxy grin. "But definitely not disappointing."

He falls off to the side and stretches out happily.



NAMJOON Namjoon blinks slowly, smile lingering easily. He reaches for a loose blanket in the tangle around them and tosses it halfhazardly over Taehyung. "Don't get cold," he mumbles before sitting up - after a little struggle - with a grunt.

His face falls to one hand as he reorients himself, waiting for stability to return. He peeks through his fingers off to one side, spying a water bottle under his desk that he should probably get but, wow, it's so far away. What isn't far away, unfortunately, is his phone, laying on the floor of the car where he had tossed it the night before, blank and harmless looking, as if it wasn't dangerous, as if it wasn't waiting to strike out at him, as if it wasn't a trap.

Instead of getting up, he covers his eyes with his hand. "I wish I hadn't been... like that, but, thanks for coming over."



TAEHYUNG "I'm warmed by my proximity to your long body." But he pulls the blanket up to his chin anyway, turning so he can face Namjoon. Even cocooned in a blanket, he doesn't mind letting his tone sober. "Sometimes we have to get drunk. It happens."



NAMJOON "I guess so."

He looks up to the water again, and is about to make the painful decision to get up when his eyes dart back to his phone, in the way, blocking him.

Nevermind.

He flops backward, groping around for a blanket before rolling to face Taehyung in his own cocoon, though it inevitably turns out much less neat, barely covering his legs. He squints, frowns, grimaces against the renewed pounding in his skull, ultimately closing his eyes.

"... but we're the same length," he mutters a delayed response, trying not to think about whether his phone was turned off or not.



TAEHYUNG Taehyung sees the direction Namjoon's gaze drifts and he hums his understanding, scooting blanket and all over to the water bottle. As he shimmies back, he rests the bottle until he can balance it on Namjoon's shoulder, chuckling to himself. "You still look longer. It's your proportions!"

He falls back to the bed, the jostling enough to make the bottle fall. For a moment, he just wants to ask about the night before. But he feels like he shouldn't.



NAMJOON He feels something on his shoulder, and his eyes snap open, startled when it falls in front of his face.

"Are you just -- oh. Thanks." He shifts to his back so he can take a few long drinks from the bottle, feeling some relief in his body as he does. "I thought you were gonna show everyone how many things you can stack on my corpse. Near-corpse." He takes another drink, and another, and his eyes find his phone again.

Ah, come on, Namjoon. It's just a phone. You can pick it up. You won't stop worrying about it if you don't check if it's on.

Sighing, he reaches out and tests the lock button. It's off. Good. He drops it immediately, only now noticing that he's pulled his blanket up over his mouth.

"... mom's probably calling. I think."



TAEHYUNG "Probably." He echoes, knowing what he should say. To call, probably. Or at least tell him what's going on. But he just moves past it instead, sliding in close to Namjoon and draping his arm across his chest.

"But you're real busy right now. Can't come to the phone right now." He says it lightly, almost teasing, as he kisses Namjoon's cheekbone. He doesn't know how else to comfort right now.



NAMJOON He hums as he accepts the kiss. "Mm, much too busy." It's not as light as the way Taehyung said it, he can't remove the weighted quality of his voice with the way he is right now, but he takes the opportunity to continue not addressing the elephant in the room.

He feels a little guilty, snuggling in towards Taehyung almost shamelessly like this, but Namjoon can't help how effective it is at easing the fear.

"You can stay for a bit, right?"



TAEHYUNG "I can stay." For a bit. For as long as Namjoon needs, if he's being honest. He hates the heaviness in Namjoon's voice, would do whatever, really, to make it go away. "Do we. Should I get snacks?"



NAMJOON "... maybe should eat. We should eat." Despite what he's saying, he curls in closer towards Taehyung. "If I took a painkiller I'd go, but they're--" With his eyes closed, he sends an arm flailing in the general direction of his desk before laying it across Taehyung's waist. "Mmph. Not worth getting up."



TAEHYUNG "I can go. You're obviously on the brink of death, I would never make you go like this." He keeps a straight face through this, though he looks toward the desk.

"You probably could use a painkiller anyway, though." Though he's hardly moving at a fast pace, he reluctantly starts to slide to sit up. He's supposed to be taking care of Namjoon, right?



NAMJOON "It's not thaaat bad," he says, even though it sounds like a groan. Taehyung starts to sit up and Namjoon sighs as he lets his arm slip off of him. "I mean, it kinda is, but it's not worth the effort if it's inconvenient."



TAEHYUNG "Oh, it's definitely inconvenient. But I'm a ridiculously attentive -" Boyfriend? "I'm ridiculously attentive."

He slides off the mattress a second time, grabbing the pill bottle and cracking it open. On his way back, he steps into a pair of underwear on the floor (are these his? yeah, they're his) as he shuffles by them, pulling them up with one hand and balancing one pill on the back of Namjoon's head at the same time. He puts the bottle on the small of his back.



NAMJOON "Why? Are you going to start taking pictures and call this abstract art?" Namjoon grumbles with his face in his pillow, though he doesn't really mind Taehyung's serving method. His fingers fumble in the hair on the back of his head for the pill, and he rolls over, letting the bottle fall into the bed somewhere.

"Take my wallet. Get real food." He rolls over to watch Taehyung amble about the train car, dragging a tangle of blankets with him.

"Hey." His arm goes out when Taehyung is next within arm's reach, his fingers tapping his ankle. "I love you."



TAEHYUNG "How about you buy the snacks and I buy the food? I feel like fried chicken." He takes Namjoon's wallet and waves it in the air, making a point of putting it in his pocket as he bustles around the container.

His sweatshirt is half over his head when he feels the tap, peeking through from the neck with just his eyes. "I love you too!" Muffled before he finishes pulling it on.



NAMJOON "You buy whatever you want." He starts to retreat into the blankets, pulling them up to his chin, the pill still clutched in one fist. He squints against the beams of light around the door, radiating inside more strongly now, flickering as Taehyung crosses them, back and forth. "Just, come back--" His throat gets caught, dry as it is. He means to say to come back with the food, to make a joke about him eating all the chicken, but once he finds his voice again, he decides to leave it at that instead.



TAEHYUNG "I will," he says seriously from his spot in the doorway. Namjoon looks comfortable, and if a hangover is what's making him miserable instead of whatever his mother was doing, then that was good enough. Taehyung would rather help fight a hangover than whatever is back waiting for Namjoon at home.

He opens his mouth to say something, but stops himself, hesitating and drumming his fingers on the side of the car. After a moment, he tries again. "I'll see you soon, Joonie."



NAMJOON "I'll... just be here."

Taehyung dazzles him - quite literally, as he's standing in the middle of streaming morning sunlight that Namjoon has to squint against - but he doesn't look away.

"Thanks, Taehyungie."



TAEHYUNG "Mmhm!" He gives a brighter smile, though his voice softens. "Don't go anywhere."

He leaves before Namjoon can say anything else.



NAMJOON He blinks and Taehyung's gone... and the train car gets a little darker. It's a little easier to see, but nothing between him and his headache now.

He wanted to say that he loves him. Wait, but he's already said that.

His eyes fall closed and he clutches the painkiller in one hand, as if it'll work that way. He'll tell him again when he comes back, he thinks, feeling himself drift off to sleep already. He'll tell him again so that he knows.


CODE BY TESSISAMESS