AN: Hello, Lovelies!!! I have a week off from school (before my last dang semester of my undergrad!) so you all know what time it is, right? Updating time!!

This prompt was not my own. 

Enjoy!!

Btw--Clarity--Sam Tsui! Listen to it! 

<3 Moonlight-ah

We only get a few chances in our lives. Chances to live to the fullest and happiest without worry and care about what darkness the world brings down on us. The world, despite being a large place to explore and grab hold of opportunities, is cold and miserable.

To Jinki, the world could go burn for all he cared. At the ripe old age of 72, his life had been a mess, one he preferred to not think of now. He knew it could be wrong to wish that his memory would just simply fade, but he didn’t care anymore.

His outlook on life was one that most people would say is bitter. To him it was normal. After a long life filled with too many disasters and troubles, he found himself alone. He was old, and going to die alone, just like he wanted. Although he had been married before, his wife had died a couple of years ago. She had been beautiful, at least to his aging eyes, and really the only one able to put up with his persistent stubbornness and bitterness.

Luna had been a kind woman, one he knew growing up and one he married after his time in the military was over with. It had been the right thing to do, the socially acceptable thing to do. After years of fights, constant times in therapy and no kids, they had grown old together. Luna was the one to have him placed in the senior home in downtown Seoul, coming by faithfully every day to make sure he ate and keep him company despite never speaking.

And it happened on one fateful day that she stopped coming. His world grew darker the day he found that she had passed in her sleep, her graying hair resting over the pillow that used to belong to him once upon a time. With no one to visit him, no one to make sure he ate, he remained in his own little world, wondering where he went wrong.

The caretakers eventually began to leave him alone daily, letting him sit by himself and refuse to eat. Jinki would sit in his chair, holding onto his cane as he stared at the outside world, a bitter scowl on his face. It had taken everything away from him and left him old and brittle, waiting for the whisper of death on his neck.

Jinki remembered the day that Taemin had come to the senior house. In a place full of fragile old folks who either never knew who they were or where they were, Taemin should have been a fresh of breath air to him.

But he wasn’t.

Only four years younger, Taemin was a bubbly old man. For reasons unbeknownst to him, his eyes would sparkle whenever he saw him shuffling slowly to his reserved chair in the morning as breakfast was served. The first day Taemin was there, he had taken a seat next to him and stuck out his shaky hand, “I’m Taemin!”

Jinki stared at the hand, scowling. “So?”

Taemin chuckled, “Well, aren’t you just a fun morning person.”

Jinki only gripped his cane handle harder, hoping the man would leave him alone. Instead Taemin reclined in his seat and put his shaky hands together.

“So how long have you been there?” 

Jinki remained silent as Taemin giggled. The giggle was small and cute and Jinki wondered how someone so old could sound so young.

“Well, your silence is fun! I think I’ll have fun getting to know you.”

Jinki hadn’t taken him seriously at first. No, he believed that Taemin would give up the next day when he found Jinki simply refused to speak about anything. Jinki only thought about his miserable life and all his mistakes, there was no need to talk about them as well. But Taemin never left him alone. The man sat by his side each day, talking about every little thing that included the bugs on the ground to the sun in the sky. Taemin would give him little nibbles of his food any time he found Jinki staring at it longingly.

And as seasons started to change and winter slowly approached, their relationship did as well. Jinki found himself getting even more annoyed with Taemin each time he pranced around behind him, talking his head off. He would grit his teeth each time he heard a polite reply come from Taemin’s mouth any time someone asked him a question. He began to lose his mind at Taemin’s overall happy attitude when one day he snapped.

“Leave me the hell alone. You don’t understand what it’s like to live a miserable life and die alone.”

What truly drove him crazy was how Taemin only smiled at him and patted his hand, “You’re not alone, Jinki!”

The words set Jinki off and he growled at the younger male, getting up from his spot and retreating to his bedroom. He knew Taemin would follow behind him as he scowled and shuffled slowly to his room. The moment he was there, he slammed the door shut, not caring that he had just slammed it in Taemin’s face as well.

The days grew darker as Jinki grew colder. He wanted to die already, to let his pain disappear from the miserable world. He was dragged daily from his bedroom and forced to sit in the living room and listen to Taemin’s incessant rambling, over and over again. His eyes would shut as he tuned out the younger male and soon he find himself wishing he had the strength to just let go and die already.

The pain inside his body was too much for him to really bear, especially knowing that he would die alone in this world. It was one day that they were outside in the chill warm sun. He was off in his own little world when he felt a small tug on his hand. He looked up and found Taemin frowning at him.

 “Why do you always look so sad?”

Jinki ripped his hand away from Taemin and growled, “You wouldn’t ing understand.”

 Jinki expected to hear laughter, even a few giggles. What he didn’t expect was Taemin standing up, his frail body blocking the sun. "Why can't you just lighten up for once, you old man!"

“Wh-what?”

Taemin shook his head, “You aren’t the only one with pain, Jinki! Instead of wallowing in loneliness think about who you’re hurting!” 

Jinki stared at him startled as Taemin shuffled away. He had never seen the pain written in Taemin's eyes before. It looked like...his own...

For days after that, Taemin didn’t come near him and Jinki found himself bitter about this fact. Despite always having people near him all his life—his parents, his wife, and now Taemin, he had always wanted to be alone.

But being alone, outside on the park bench, made his already aching heart want to break inside his chest. He hadn’t realized how much Taemin’s mere presence next to him had kept him going each day. His focus on wanting to leave the wretched world and all it’s troubles had blinded him in a sense. Living with all his regrets made him want to cry, wishing for a chance to redo some things, to maybe smile just like Taemin had always tried to make him.

It was on a chilly day that Jinki shuffled out of his bedroom, his tired eyes looking around as the caretakers looked at him with startled eyes. He had never willingly come out of his room before. He ignored them, preferring to give them a famous scowl as he found Taemin sitting and laughing with a few of the other seniors in the huge living room.

He took one look at Jinki and chuckled. Likewise, Jinki shook his head and shuffled over to the couch Taemin sat on. He gently sat down, taking in a huge sigh as he did.

“This is a change.”

Jinki didn’t look up.

Taemin nudged him, “Thought your annoyance with me finally made you—”

“Why do you understand?" 

Taemin went silent and Jinki finally looked up at him, gripping the top of his cane tightly. Jinki heard a sigh as the male scooted closer to him as his tiny hands went into his lap. He watched the pain flash through Taemin’s eyes once again, the very pain he had almost felt all his life. That something was missing, that nothing was right.

“My best friend…died a couple years back.”

Jinki noticed they were alone in the room now and Taemin’s face was twisted in sadness. Jinki raised an eyebrow as Taemin leaned his head on his shoulder.

“You say you regret a lot of things, Jinki, but at least you told your wife you loved her.”

Jinki sat there shocked, listening to Taemin tell him of his best friend and their adventures together. And one day in Taemin’s life, the other boy had finally gotten married, living his happy life away from him. He listened to Taemin’s voice crack as he told him how he never told him how much he loved him.

And it was then that Jinki realized Taemin had always been alone. Whereas he had Luna, Taemin had no one and yet was able to smile at whatever life handed him. He nudged Taemin, “How come you never told him?”

“I think he knew in a way…” Taemin said trailing off with a sad smile on his face. “He wouldn’t have loved me back, though.”

Jinki frowned, “So you stayed alone?”

“I didn’t want anyone else, Jinki, wouldn’t you have done the same?”

Jinki sighed and leaned his head on top of Taemin’s. He knew that Taemin shared in his pain of something missing, something that was the missing link to fill their hearts.

So the days came where Jinki began to come out of his room willingly and joined Taemin at the large dinning room. He ate what Taemin gave him and started to slowly enjoy his presence, just a bit more. They would lounge on the couch and Jinki would kindly ask that Taemin talk about anything he wanted.

There were days where Taemin would come to his room and they would lay on the bed in there and watch the little television in the corner of the room together. Jinki began to feel just a little flutter in his chest when he saw Taemin and his bright smile.

To his eyes, he could picture them younger, smiling together, wrapped up in warm embraces on cold nights and holding hands on hot days. The day he reached for Taemin’s hand, the younger male blushed.

 “J-Jinki?”

“If I had known you earlier…I wouldn’t have left you alone.”

And it was true. He felt a sudden urge to protect Taemin, knowing it was worth it since the male had made such a huge impact on his life. He couldn’t change the past or the fact that they hadn’t met until the end of their life, but that didn’t mean they had to die alone anymore.

Jinki found himself craving Taemin’s body next to him. He found himself wanting to hold his hand, and to feel the connection of another human soul who loved him. He wanted to make up for the fact that he was so grumpy and bitter by showing Taemin that he was there. And it was on a late summer night that they sat out next to the large pond watching the sunset. Taemin’s head rested on his shoulder and Jinki shyly put his arm around the male, holding him tightly.

Taemin’s eyes shut as he sighed, “Jinki?”

“Neh, Tae?”

“Would you have ever imagined me as your friend when you met me?”

After letting go all of his burdens, all of his cold and bitter hate of the world, he found a spot for Taemin in his heart. Luna was gone, everything else was gone but it didn’t matter to him. He had Taemin—the one male who understood him and why he was so bitter—and still loved him regardless.

Jinki chuckled, “I imagine you to be so much more than a friend, Taemin.” With his warm lips, he placed a gentle kiss on Taemin’s forehead. “I consider you my other half now.”

And as the scene sets and the sun begins to set, the two finally find what they were missing in their younger years: a person to share their burdens with despite their now old age. Because that’s all we want in life, to find the person who smiles at you regardless of your scowls.

Jinki found that he wasn’t in a hurry to waste away from the world now, because as long as he had Taemin, every day was worth living.

AN: FLUFF IM CRYINGGG XD ONTAE LOVE.