“I’m so proud of you, you know that?” from taehyun to hojin, nuzzling into him like the proud boyfriend he is uwu
@mircges || soft-hearted stars || taehyun → hojin !!
vibrating phone breaks concentration and one glance to the caller id has nausea and upset curling beneath tightening chest ; he loves his father, he well and truly does, but the man has yet to not end their brief conversations with the same words that are all but embedded in mind like a script at this point. hojin has half a mind to let his phone go to voicemail, to delete the voicemail filled with critiques of his choice in major, of the childish imagination his father still thinks he succumbs to, but he already hears the way gruff voice spews the same things over and over into deaf ears - ‘why can’t you be like your cousins, who are business majors ? animating and making things for children will not get you anywhere in life. going to that studio will only lead to failure. it isn’t too late to change your major.’
he swipes the answer button and lifts the phone to tuck between ear and shoulder, teeth sinking into lower lip and his father’s rambling tone jumping from cursory questions about his health, his classes, ‘that fine young man in his pictures’, and immediately into what hojin always loathes about these bi-weekly phone calls. despite struggling to tune out the same words, they’ve been burned into ears and among mind, searing smoke into thoughts until hojin questions whether what he’s doing is actually worth it, until it’s all he can do to wonder if what he’s doing is something his father’s ashamed of. his responses to his father’s words are hollow, thoughtless - a quiet hum here, a ‘no’ there, and ‘promise to call more often, dad’ over there and the phone call’s ended.
phone slides from shoulder to land with a thud on wooden floor, hojin not even wincing at the dent or crack that might greet him. instead he stands from his desk and pads through the room, in search of a distraction in the form of cool touch and warm words ; he finds taehyun sat on the couch with a book in hand and, for a moment, he doesn’t want to be a bother. but then taehyun gives him a cursory look, a small frown, and waves him over and hojin allows himself to be pulled into taehyun’s gravitational pull, collapsing onto the couch at his side and dropping head onto shoulder. he feels a cheek rest against his head, feels cool fingers play with his own, and all he can get out is a mumbled, ‘my dad called’.
those fingers still and suddenly the cheek is nuzzling against his head, a motion that would otherwise coax laughter from smiling lips if not for words buzzing ‘round mind. hojin allows himself the distraction of taehyun’s touch and presence, the unpleasant knot tangling in stomach loosening. however, something thorny and hot catches in his throat when he hears taehyun’s words, nearly muffled from the way his cheek is rubbing against hojin’s hair, but it’s clear as day and that something thorny loosens on a watery sigh ; he curls into taehyun’s presence, eyes blinking shut to combat the wetness he can feel misting behind his eyes. it’s something so small, a nearly mindless commentary, but it never fails to knock loose that discomfort and replace it with a reassurance ; he has to wonder if taehyun just knows exactly what to say to him to ease the knotted hurt in chest, and that thought sends warmth spreading through body.
“love you, taehyunnie,” he murmurs quietly, words muffled by the thorned hurt still caught in throat, soothed over by the gentle touch of the other’s words. there’s a thank you somewhere in his tone, a smile that is more wet than dry on his features, but he knows taehyun understands him. for now he lets the other distract him, lets those words play on a loop in mind and drive disappointed words into the recesses to die among the shadows.