Solace

chapter two: I Could Take It

The rest of this story will be told in the third person. <3

This is the song Taehyung is playing.
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   Taehyung was exhausted. He had spent the entire day cleaning the apartment from top to bottom. Only two people had responded to any of his listings and neither of them were good fits. There was one girl who openly talked about how much she hated recreational drug use, how much she hated marijuana, and how it was normalized. Yeah, she and Taehyung would not get along. And he couldn't help but wonder if there was something he missed in his cleaning to reveal himself.

   Then there was a man who stopped by, took one look at the size of the room he'd have, apologized, and left. Nobody else had answered him and he was beginning to panic. What would he do? Would he have to move out? The thought of having to leave his home, the last piece of Joel he had, his eyes stung at the notion. Rent was coming up and he only had enough stocked away to make it a couple more months without help.

   He weighed his options. He would put up some posters tomorrow. The University had a public bulletin board on the quad, he'd leave one there. He was bound to get one good response. Taehying sighed as he hurled himself off the couch. He and Elaine were supposed to go meet the rest of their friends at Yoongi's studio. He walked to his bedroom, making sure his clothes looked right on him before finding his shoes and fixing his hair. Before long he was on his way to the bus stop next to his house.

   It was still chilly, but not nearly as bad as it had been the past few days. The cold wasn't painful now. Taehyung loved how quiet things got in the winter. The blanket of serenity covered everything. The streets didn't bustle as much, there were fewer cars on the road, fewer people out and about. It was calm. When the bus arrived he stepped onto it with purpose, excited for the heat that awaited him. He always sat near the front if he could so he was closer to the vents.

   Today was no different, he found a place for himself two rows from the bus driver and let himself fall into the music in his ears and the sights of the streets as they blurred past him. Portland was pretty when it was covered in snow. Made the tall concrete towers look like they belonged exactly where they were.

   It did not take long for him to reach the studio. It rested at the base of an apartment complex with a mostly glass front wall. "Hybe Labels" plastered above the door. When he walked in he saw Elaine waiting for him in the lobby, sitting in one of the dusty orange chairs. "Hey, Tae! The rest of them are in room four. Come on." The two linked their arms and made their way to the studio at the end of the hallway. When they entered ten different pairs of eyes snapped to them.

   Yoongi and Lindsey were sat in wheely chairs close to each other both of them previously hunched over a large sound board. They were adorable together, they were on their way to five years when February came around. Lindsey complimented him very well. She was slightly taller, had short dark hair, she was just as pale, matching her boyfriend's pallor. Yoongi always looked tired. With dark violet circles under his eyes but he never complained about lacking sleep. They were both dedicated to their work and they loved what they did. Lindsey came up with most of the label's cover art while Yoongi ran almost everything. He was quite proud of the life he had created for himself and Lindsey. If you talked to him you knew they were both incredibly happy.

   Lilith and Jimin sat on the larger couch. They were molded into each other per usual. They both tended to complain about being cold. And while Taehyung usually cringed at PDA he couldn't seem to be bothered with it. It was such an innocent type of affection that he did nothing but smile when he noticed that they were both asleep, each having one of Jimin's air pods in.