priceless | tk ✓

-: 89 :-

Jungkook smiled softly as the others slowly trickled from the bedroom they'd been hiding in. Taehyung was curled into his side on the sofa, trembling with deep steady breaths in his sleep. He held the model close, the arm around him straining to soothe his hair.

He nodded happily at the inquisitive expressions on their hyungs' faces.

Smiles broke out across the room, the tension broke like thin ice and the space plunged into a tingly sensation of victory. Hoseok and Jin embraced each other, hugs of relief passed around.

"Thank god," Jimin sat beside him, hand resting on his shoulder and glancing at Taehyung. "He looks wrecked."

"He fell apart." Jungkook mumbled softly, leaning into Jimin's proud touch with the least amount of movement as possible. "Crashed pretty quickly."

"That's okay." Yoongi assured. "He's like that. Strains himself until he crashes, we all know that. But now that we know things went well, everything's gonna be good."

"It's not completely over yet," Jin and Hoseok sat on the floor by the couch, the dancer rubbing Taehyung's knee like he needed to make sure that he was resting himself.

"What?" Jimin asked the eldest.

"Media. BigHit's gotta release a statement. Even in a private trial, Bogum's arrest will go public at some point and its best to beat them and do it on the company's terms." Hoseok answered.

"It'll be okay. Media dies down. And we've got to trust the good side of fans." Yoongi sat on the coffee table so they were all huddled around in the living room. "We should ask him about the trial when he's ready to talk about it."

"Must've been hard being in the same room as Bubblegum Bitch." Jungkook whispered inconspicuously, resting his chin on Taehyung's head, the elder's face buried into his chest. He hoped his pulse helped ease Taehyung's subconscious, gave him a gentle rhythm to sway with. "Wouldn't they follow normal procedure?"

"Of course," Jin grimaced. "But guilty charges have to be unanimously voted on by the jury. I wonder if there were any attempts made by Bogum to tip his odds in the jury."

"You mean jury manipulation?" Jimin asked with worry. "Isn't the jury just randomly selected citizens, though?"

"And Bogum and Taehyung are big names. They could easily be fans. Jury verdicts, regardless of evidence, are up them. They have a full say in their stance on the charge no matter the evidence presented."

Jungkook's face fell in horror. "So this could have been lopsided and lost if just one of Bogum's fans got called in for jury duty?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"For cases like these, it's unfortunate." Yoongi nodded. "It's all there for reason however. Like if the crime charges seemed unjust? Helps protect the defendant."

"Obviously, it worked out as we hoped." Hoseok reminded, like it wasn't worth their time to dwell on the what if's? when reality was everything they had asked for.

"You should get him to his room." Jimin nudged the photographer and Jungkook glanced down with a small pout on his face.

"It's okay. I don't want to risk waking him."

"Your arm's going to go numb." Jin laughed, voice hushed, staring at the two wrapped up together in admiration.

"I don't mind."

And he didn't. He didn't give a damn about whether his arm went numb holding up Taehyung's body. He didn't give a damn about whether his neck got sore or his legs ached under the leg that was draped over it.