Nightfall | BTS

t h i r t y s e v e n

02 JUNE 2034

◣ C A M E R A 1

yoongi awoke the next day, the book he was holding the night before still clasped in his grip. he ruffled his hair before leaving the room, his hand refusing to let go of the book. it felt like a bomb awaiting it's outburst.

he opened namjoon's bedroom door to witness the boy laying in bed with seokjin squatting by his side. the paleness and the exhaustion under his eyes made it evident that he was unwell and so he walked towards him, concerned.

"seokjin, what happened? what's wrong with namjoon?"

seokjin lifted his head and namjoon's eyes squinted open at the boy's voice. seokjin adjusted the towel on namjoon's forehead before facing yoongi.

"he's coming down with a fever. i made him some soup and made him rest for a while. it's not anything serious, thankfully."

yoongi let out a light sigh, relief washing over him when he saw namjoon flash him a lopsided grin. he gave a reassuring nod at namjoon and walked out of the room in search of jeongguk. he walked into the kitchen and was met with the sight of the younger boy standing cautiously by the stove, making himself a couple of eggs.

"wow, look at you. cooking all by yourself." yoongi announced before chuckling softly as the younger evidently struggled to flip the omelette.

"i didn't want to bother namjoon hyung and i need to learn how to take care of myself in case something happens to you guys."

yoongi knew that these words didn't mean any harm and was not well thought out but as soon as the words reached his ears, he couldn't help but feel guilt and dread seeping into every bone in his body.

if something happened to them, who's going to take care of jeongguk?

he felt the sudden urge to pull the younger into a warm embrace and so he did. jeongguk let out a string of confused phrases and a few yelps of it's burning hyung let me go.

yoongi pulled away with a chuckle and retreated back to his room, leaving his bedroom door open in case the younger needed assistance with anything.

***

yoongi spent the entirety of the day rummaging through books, articles and anything he could find to decipher the meanings of the remaining lines but to no avail. no codes were nowhere to be found anywhere around the house and the suspense was causing his anxiety to grow with every passing second.

he could hear the echo of namjoon's voice in the other room conversing with seokjin and he held onto the book and the information he knew in secret. he wanted namjoon to rest. the poor boy had been working around the clock and deserved to spend some time in repose.

"i'll let him know tomorrow."

he remarked to himself as he stuffed the book under his pillow before blowing out the lit candle on his table.

a thud awoke yoongi.

worried and perplexed, the boy sat up, his ears peeled for any continuation of the noise. and when another muffled thud followed, he was on his feet. his heart hammered against his ribs as he stared at the door, silently cursing at himself for leaving it open the night before.

he could hear footsteps emerging from the darkness, drawing closer and closer to where he was.

and a voice in yoongi's mind alerted him,

it wasn't one of his friends.

the footsteps drew closer and closer and yoongi glanced around the room, in search of any weapon. his clammy hands dropped to his sides as he took slow steps towards the door.

the footsteps stopped.

a boy in a mask stood by yoongi's door.