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Seven of Pentacles
http://www.learntarot.com/p7.htm

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At around Midday the next day Taehyung woke to find that he was now alone in the house. He sat up from the position that he had remembered falling asleep in on the floor but Jin was no longer there; His head pounded as the after effect of last night's spontaneous drink-fest came to light- He knew he had to get some water and aspirin into his system if he were going to make it through the day but was surprised when he made it to the kitchen to find that Jin had left some out for him with a small note next to it. Taehyung took the aspirin with the water that was still fairly cold and extended his hand out to reach for the note.

“Good Morning, Taehyung.

Sorry I had to leave before you woke up, I had some stuff that I needed to do. The weather seems to be better today… If you feel like meeting up again soon, I’ll be roaming around this side of town later on tonight, normally around the library- If not… I understand.

-Jin“

It took Taehyung a moment to register that Jin was even wanting to hang out with him again; He bit down on his lip and pondered on whether meeting him was the right thing to do or not. I mean… They had only met each other by sheer chance because Jin had helped Taehyung after a bicycle accident… Was that enough reason to meet up again?

Taehyung tried not to dwell on it too much.

Instead, he decided that he would wander outside to assess the damages to the house and the rest of the surrounding properties in an attempt to keep his mind off of all else that was going on.

Taehyung groggily walked towards the front door, holding onto his churning stomach and slid into his sneakers that were resting at the bottom of it; He pulled the door open and gasped at the sight of the area that had once been his front yard. A tree from a neighboring property had fallen over into the yard and taken out a small patch of fence line in the process- The grass was mostly upturned around it; All of the objects that had once been resting on the garden shed were now scattered around on the lawn. From the front step he could see in the distance that most of his neighbors were already out cleaning up their properties. The storm really had been a big one- Like nothing he had ever seen before that was for sure...

Without a second to spare and despite how much Taehyung’s hangover screamed “NO” at him- He got to work.

☾

Before long, Taehyung had most of the lawn- minus the tree that was still in his yard, tidied up as best as he could. All of the objects that were scattered over the lawn were now placed inside of the garden shed where they belonged in the first place and he was able to replant some of the plants that he uprooted themselves during the storm last night. Taehyung knew that by this time it was getting late because all of his neighbors had gone inside and their chimneys smoked as if the fires were going inside of their houses; He decided that it might be a good time to give his family a call to let them know that Him and The House survived the storm although there was still a tree laid across the front lawn.

Taehyung dusted the dirt off of his jeans and trekked back inside to find his cell phone; As he recalled, the phone was still lying at the foot of his bed where he had left it before he went to get supplies. When he picked it up he noticed that it was almost going flat so he attempted to plug it in to his charger but to no avail. No matter how he shifted the cord or replugged it back into the wall socket- It would not charge. And then he remembered that the power had been out last night from the storm. Sighing, Taehyung decided that he would use whatever was remaining of the battery to call through to his family- But this proved to be a stupid move on his behalf too as all that could be heard when he dialed was static. Was everything down at the moment?

He switched his phone to “Flight Mode” to preserve what battery his phone had left.

For a brief moment he wondered how Seoul was dealing with the storm. Had his apartment complex and the area been hit as bad as what it had been here? Hoseok lived in an older style apartment- Was he doing alright? Had his apartment suffered the same amount of damage as Taehyung’s family home had?

Taehyung felt his heart break a little more; Hoseok wasn’t his anymore so why should he worry…

It was these little thoughts that popped up out of the blue that hurt Taehyung the most because in the back of his mind he wondered whether Hoseok was somewhere out there thinking the same things about him too- remembering, caring. But he also knew that once he started thinking about it for too long he wouldn’t break free of all the lingering thoughts; The overthinking would set in again and again. Taehyung tried his best to do as his therapist had said to in times like this- “The best thing to do when you can feel these thoughts coming along is to distract yourself from them.”

He held his breath and walked out into the lounge room and was soon preoccupied when he remembered all that had happened within these four walls last night. Cushions laid messily all over the floors, the bottle of scotch that Taehyung barely remembers drinking has soaked up from the fire but left a sticky patch all over the wooden flooring, the old radio still played quietly in the background.

And then Taehyung looks at the spot next to the fire and remembers what happened with Jin…

The kiss.

It sets his stomach into a frenzy of what feels like butterflies to Taehyung though he’s not sure whether the alcohol last night is catching up with him or not because… It couldn’t be butterflies, right?

Taehyung tried to shake his head of the thought and attempted to start cleaning up in the lounge; He restored all of the cushions to where they belonged and made sure to mop the spot where the Whiskey had been spilt last night. Eventually, his mind wandered back to the tall, brunette boy that he had been straddling last night, yearning for. He wondered what it is about Jin that was so alluring to him; Was it that he was attracted to him because by all means, he was attractive- Or was it the fact that no matter what Taehyung threw at him last night he was willing to listen without judgment, without input. Why was he still thinking about someone that should have only been but the blink of an eye in his life- a small fragment in time, passing strangers… Did this mean that a part of Taehyung wanted to move on from Hoseok and to believe that there was someone out there in this universe for him, too?

Maybe he would go try to find Jin tonight.

There was no harm in trying to get some piece of mind and to decipher what was going on, right?

It was 6PM...

Taehyung made the executive decision that he would go to find Jin; Something is pulling at him to find the older boy again although it’s against his better judgement. He went to take a shower and change again first into some warm clothes before setting out into the still early night.

It took him a little while longer to make it into the town on foot this time but it was refreshing to be able to get some fresh air and enjoy a bit of the scenery of where he once grew up; Nothing on this side of town had changed in thirty years and probably wouldn’t for another thirty more. He’s all too familiar with where the library is as he spent many years within its walls studying for important tests and reading books late at night to spare the cost of borrowing them. Taehyung made it there in no time just as it was beginning to go dark out; The night around him only illuminated by the dimmed street lights that hung from above and all the signs in the windows that were turned to “Closed”.

But Jin was nowhere to be seen.

After a few minutes of waiting out in the cold, Taehyung determined that Jin wasn't outside but guessed that he might be inside of the building since it was the only thing that was open that he had passed in the last few minutes.

Taehyung entered the building and the buzzer went off to indicate his arrival which caused the librarian to look up at him; She didn’t seem to be in the best of moods so Taehyung bowed and went about finding Jin as fast as he could; He could only hope that Jin was even in there at all.

There was no sign of Jin, or anyone, on the lower level but as Taehyung ascended the stairs he noticed that there were a few people scattered down the aisles reading silently to themselves. He had no other option but to explore the top level of the library; He slowly browsed around but his curiosity ended up getting the better of him as he went past what used to be his favourite genre section. Taehyung looked around briefly for any sight of Jin but proceeded further into the aisle- skimming his fingers over all the books until he found the exact one that he was looking for.

The Great Gatsby.

Taehyung’s breath hitched in his chest. It flooded back an uncontrollable amount of memories of Hoseok and that first day they met; What is he doing here when it’s so damned obvious that he is caught up on him? Hoseok was his one, his only; That much Taehyung knew, or at least thought that he knew. His eyes began to well up as he reached out to grab hold of the book but a high pitched, blood-curdling scream happens on the other side of the aisle just as he almost has it in his grasp.

“Taehyung?”

It startles him half to death- The book falls to the floor; He can hear the girl from the aisle next door running away with what looks to be her boyfriend in tow- He called out for her saying, “Come on, baby. What did I do wrong?” as she ran and Taehyung could hear in the distance that the Librarian was calling up at the commotion. Taehyung turned around to find Jin standing there. The older boy knelt down and picked the book up for Taehyung, reading the title of it aloud before handing it over to him; It seemed as though Jin understood, or at least remembered the story from last night and what the reference of it was.

“Jin. You scared me!” Taehyung’s voice trembled.

“Was it me or was it that girl?” Jin put his index finger in his ear. “My ears are ringing.”

Taehyung laughed, airily.

“I can leave you here to read if you wanted to stick around.”

The younger boy looked down at the book in his hands and bit down on his bottom lip.

“Uh… n-no, no.”

Taehyung put the book back on it’s spot on the shelf and wedged it back into its original position.

“You’re sure?”

He wasn’t.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Jin smiled half-heartedly and started walking out of the aisle and down the stairs; Taehyung followed not long after- He took one last look at the book before joining Jin on the lower level of the library and then eventually to the outside of the building.

“I’m…” Jin stopped on the pavement outside, “I’m glad that you decided to come find me.”

Taehyung blushed; He was left a little speechless so he just shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Come.” Jin called, “I want to show you something!”

It made Taehyung curious; As much as his heart was still upstairs of the library, resting gently on the shelf- His mind was telling him to follow Jin into the unknown… And so he did.

Jin set off in the direction of an older looking road off-side of the main street, much like the road that led to Taehyung’s family home. The younger boy jogged to catch up to Jin but Jin’s pace stayed unwavered; Jin knew exactly where he was going but it was a shame that it led the both of him to the front gate of the Old Town Cemetery. Taehyung put the breaks