Stronger together (Okkay) (1/1)

One of these days, Taecyeon would poison his manager’s coffee or something. It wasn’t the first time he had to work overtime, but that day had been an exceptionally unfortunate choice because he had promised his best friend to be there for him.It would have worked out, had he been able to leave on time, but no, instead his manager had called, telling him that the late shift would only be able to show up two hours later and he’d have to cover for them in the meantime.Suffice to say that Taecyeon was pissed beyond reason. Normally, he was a man of his word, showing up to appointments punctually, if not early and now he had been forced to miss one of the most important dates in his life. He was hoping against hope that the funeral party would still be there when he arrived, that he wouldn’t have disappointed Minjun as much as he feared he had. But as he walked into the funeral home and noticed all the empty chairs, his heart fell.He slowed down, walking the remaining distance up to the shrine that the urn had been placed on in silence. The picture of Minjun’s late father was still there, along with the flowers. A deep sadness grabbed a hold of his heart. He knew how much Minjun had loved his father and felt even worse now because he hadn’t been there to comfort him on this day. For a while, Taecyeon just stood there, head hung low and remembering how much this had meant to Minjun. A movement in the corner of his eye made him turn around, though. He spotted Minjun on one of the chairs, glaring at him, trying hard to hold back all the hurtful words he probably wanted to spit at Taecyeon right then and there. His eyes were red and he appeared to be on the verge of crying, but he bit his bottom lip stubbornly, fighting the tears.No matter how hard Taecyeon thought about it, none of the excuses he could offer would make either of them feel better about the whole ordeal, so he remained silent, averting his gaze until Minjun had gotten up and left. ~⚱~They hadn’t talked ever since that day and Taecyeon was feeling worse with every further day that passed without making up with his best friend.Therefore, it felt like a gift from heaven when he stumbled upon something that would hopefully help solve this issue for good one evening after work. ~⚱~When Minjun received the message, at first, he couldn’t suppress a relieved smile. Even if Taecyeon’s absence at the funeral had hurt him deeply, he had been missing him like mad these past weeks. So here he was, heart beating faster in his chest as he fumbled with his phone to open the text. His initial joy turned into anger, however, because the message merely consisted of an address and the plea to meet Taecyeon there at a certain time the next day. No sign of remorse or the least bit of guilt. Taecyeon would be in for a good ass kicking as soon as Minjun got there.~⚱~ The next day, Taecyeon was walking in circles, hoping Minjun would show up. His plan for reconciliation depended on that entirely and if he didn’t… well, Taecyeon really didn’t want to think about the alternative. Just as he was about to yield to despair, Minjun walked around the corner of the building, though. He looked exhausted beyond words. As if there weren’t even a tiny bit of fight left in him. And that made Taecyeon’s heart ache even more since it would have been his duty as Minjun’s best friend to be there for him and lighten his sorrow, not to add to it unnecessarily.But he was here now, trying to make up for his mistake.“Hey.”“Why did you ask me to meet you here, Taecyeon? It’s cold and I honestly don’t have any idea why you’d drag me to this godforsaken place at this hour…”“I- just turn around, please?” Taecyeon asked him resignedly, pointing at something behind Minjun’s back, so the latter threw a glance there out of curiosity, spotting a large billboard on top of a house.‘The person standing beside you, pointing at this billboard, has brought you here because it was too hard to say “I am sorry” out loud.’ it read and Minjun’s heart stopped beating for a second.“What?” he croaked, throat dry and turning back to Taecyeon slowly.“I’m an idiot, Minjunnie. There’s no way I can make up for how much I hurt you with my absence, but please know that I regret it more than anything. I know how much this meant to you and your family. I’m so sorry for disappointing you. Please forgive my sorry ass one day?” Taecyeon apologised and looked at his best friend with guilt in his eyes.Minjun actually took a moment to process it all, but when he did, his eyes started welling up and he glared at Taecyeon. “I hate you, man. You’re the one person apart from my mother and brother who I really needed there with me…”With merely a nod, Taecyeon stepped closer and extended his arms and Minjun didn’t resist. The taller wrapped his arms around him to hold him close and faced the sobs and mumbled words with as much dignity as he could muster in the position they were in, somewhere on a street in the middle of the night. What really mattered, though, were not the strangers walking past them, giving them weird looks. No, it was that they had found back to each other again.“It’s okay, man. I’m here for you now.”~⚱~That night, Minjun stayed over at Taecyeon’s place because he needed the presence of his best friend more than anything else.But when Taec woke up in the morning, honestly expecting to find Minjun snoring into the pillow next to him, he found the bed empty. Worry grabbed a hold of him immediately, so he threw aside the cover and hurried out of his bedroom, looking for any clue about Minjun’s whereabouts. He almost ran into him while turning a corner, though, and came to a sudden halt when he collided with the wall instead.“Ow! There you are!”“Yes…?”“I thought you were gone already. Or, I don’t know, had done something.” Taec blubbered as the blood rushed into his cheeks. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but in this situation, nothing seemed impossible, so he hadn’t thought about it logically and just gone into panic mode.But Minjun had probably come to the same conclusion because he was closing the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Taec.“Hey, don’t worry about that kind of thing, Taecyeonie. I might not be exactly emotionally stable right now, but I’d never hurt myself over this. I just… miss him like hell, I guess.”Taec pulled him closer then, stroking his back comfortingly. “I know. I’m just unreasonably worried about you. And I don’t want to fuck things up again…”“Sh, we’re past that, man. Just be there for me now and we’re good.”With a silent nod against Minjun’s shoulder, Taec loosened the hug a little. “What have you been doing out of bed, though? It’s not like you to be up already.”Minjun’s smile was audible as he pushed Taec away and went to grab a sheet of paper from the table nearby. “I’ve finished the song I was writing. Wish I could have sung it to Dad, too, but it wasn’t ready then… Or rather, I guess, I wasn’t in the emotional state to finish it.”“Oh, right.”A silence fell between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, just filled with mutual understanding that years of being best friends had granted them.Eventually, Taec cleared his throat, however, and got Minjun’s attention immediately. “Uhm, maybe we should go see your dad today? Only if you feel ready, though…”Minjun thought about it for a moment and nodded then. “Yes. I’ve been putting it off for far too long.”“Maybe you could sing him your song even? I’m sure he would love that.” ~⚱~It took them awhile to get there, but once they were standing at the gate to the cemetery, Minjun froze. Taec didn’t notice it immediately, but when he turned around and saw his best friend standing there, hand gripping the fence tightly, he crossed the distance in a hurry.Tone soft and consoling, he reached out to place his hand on Minjun’s arm as cautiously as he could. “Minjunnie? You okay?”Minjun just shook his head no and reached for Taec’s hand to hold. “I can’t walk in there on my own, Taec. I can’t.”“Sh, I’m right here. I’m by your side, okay? I’ll take care of you even if you break down, Minjunnie. You can do this.”“Can we just walk around the place for now?”“Of course, we don’t have to see him immediately…”So they walked in silence for a few minutes until Minjun uttered defeated: “I always felt unable to make him proud, Taec. It’s not that he made me feel like he didn’t love me. But when I told them that I wanted to become a singer, he was the one who tried to talk me out of it. In the beginning, Mum was a little surprised, too. But when she saw how serious I was about my decision, she supported me wholeheartedly. I think Dad was probably disappointed that I hadn’t taken after him and his interests.”“Did you ever try to talk to him about it?”Minjun shook his head again and sighed. “I wanted to, but whenever I tried to bring it up, the moment was gone or I felt too insecure. But since he didn’t come to any of the competitions or auditions, it was rather obvious that he didn’t think of it too highly.”Taec stopped in his tracks when he heard that and made Minjun look at him. “Okay, listen to me for a moment. Parents are just regular human beings who aren’t perfect or have the answer to everything, even if we tend to attribute these things to them. He might have been a little disappointed about the path you chose, but Minjunnie, he wasn’t blind. He noticed how much this meant to you and even if he couldn’t support you as openly as your mother did, he was proud of you for this persistence.”But Minjun still didn’t want to believe these words, so Taec continued. “Remember our graduation ceremony? He was sitting next to me during your song. Minjun, when your solo part came, he crushed my hand because he was so touched. He cried. He might not have shown you this pride openly, but he was proud of you.”“You’re lying. You’re just making this up to make me feel better…” Minjun was close to tears now, but Taec was far from done, so he pulled his best friend into his arms and recounted another event.“I’m not, man. He did these things. And one night last autumn, when we were out drinking with friends and I dragged your wasted ass home afterward, he was the one waiting on the couch for your return. You were already fast asleep when it happened, but he asked me to stay by your side. He knew you were strong enough to walk this path, but not alone. And he wanted someone by your side whom he could trust. In hindsight, everything makes much more sense now… I’m just sorry he never got around to telling you all this on his own. But you have to believe me. He knew you’d be successful and he was super proud of you.”At this point, Minjun had given up his fight against the tears. He just handed himself over to all the emotions he had been bottling up in himself for the past weeks. If Taec told the truth, he had been wronging his father for far too long. He needed to make things right now and show him how glad he was to be his son.“Taec… please help me find his grave.”And Taecyeon just nodded and looked up the area they had to find on the closest map of the cemetery. A few minutes later, Minjun was squatting down in front of his father’s headstone, crying his heart out, so Taecyeon decided to give him some time alone with his late father.He walked away far enough not to disturb his best friend in his grief but remained close enough to be there immediately if Minjun called for him.The grave lay on a hill beneath some trees that would cast beautiful shadows in the summer and protect it from the worst weather at all times.Taec gave Minjun all the time he needed to get everything that bothered him off his chest, but he couldn’t help but move closer when he noticed that his best friend had started to sing. It was only under his breath, not to disturb any other visitors, but the song still moved Taecyeon deeply. It spoke of all the insecurities and setbacks Minjun had faced. All the hardships he had gone through, but there were an overall positivity and resilience beneath it all. That’s when he realised how much Minjun had grown as a person and an artist. He was no longer the slightly awkward little boy Taec had met back in the day. And that filled Taecyeon with just as much pride as Minjun’s late father must have felt. So he crossed the distance between them, gently touching Minjun’s shoulder to make him look up before he went in for an embrace that spoke of everything Taec felt for him at that moment.“Minjunnie, he knows. He surely noticed it long before you were aware of it yourself. You were never lacking what it takes to reach your goal. Maybe you weren’t as polished yet, but he saw the potential in you. He knew that everything you needed was already in there.” Taec pointed out, gently putting his hand over Minjun’s heart, “You were whole right from the very start. All it took was time for you to discover your capabilities. But you did it!”“What are you talking about, man? I’m nowhere near the artist I strive to be…”“But you’re getting there! This song has it all. True emotions. It’s heartfelt and haunting. Even if I didn’t know you, this song would move me to my very core. If you keep walking down this road, nothing can stop you. And your father will be watching over you as he always did.”Minjun only hugged Taec tighter and snorted: “Maybe he will, yeah. But you know who else I need? You, Taec. So please, just stay by my side and help me get there, okay? I wouldn’t be who I am today if I didn’t have you in my life, you cheesy fool. Thank you for everything.”“That’s what best friends are for, Minjunnie. You won’t be able to get rid of me anytime soon.”