• Take My Hand • | A Taekook fiction|

(Chapter 45) • The Beat of Your Heart •

[As you might've guessed, Kook's gonna learn what's up with his lover now, so we're gonna re-visit some triggering things like abuse and DID and similar stuff. So buckle up for 4.7k words, lovelies! Hope you enjoy!]

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Narrator's POV

For the next couple of minutes, Jungkook only stood there unmoving, seemingly frozen in almost every sense. His watery eyes focused solely on Taehyung, who was staring right back at him with a gentle smile. Two weeks without him seemed to have been enough for Jungkook to turn into an unkempt, miserable mess.

"Are you just going to stand there or do you plan to let us in?" Asked Yoongi, using a tone which had a strange mix of amusement and annoyance lacing it.

It was unsure if Jungkook had caught that tone or not since he just continued to stand there, unable to form words. But he seemed to have understood what his friend was saying as he haltingly moved a little to the side, and everyone except Taehyung had taken that as an invitation to step inside.

"Jeez, this place is a mess! When was the last time you even cleaned here, huh? Gosh- boys come on, let's help him with this," they heard Hoseok from a distance along with whines of protest from the others, and Taehyung guessed they'd already started cleaning up whatever mess was inside. And even as Taehyung glanced back to the direction where the hyungs' voices were coming from, Jungkook's stare stayed on him. Hesitantly, he then reached out to hold onto Taehyung's pinky, as if to make sure this wasn't something his mind made up.

And this didn't go unnoticed by Taehyung, it seemed like. He brought up their hands and made their fingers intertwine in front of the still stunned brunet's eyes before kissing atop his hand, "Let's go inside, yeah? We'll talk."

With that, Taehyung stepped inside with Jungkook tailing behind; fingers laced together. And it stayed like that till they reached their room, which was equally as messy as the living room— empty water bottles, cup noodles, clothes and even a few beer cans scattered here and there. The room reeked of spicy noodles and beer, a stench Taehyung wasn't quite fond of. As he scrunched his nose in distaste, his eyes landed upon the clothes that were spread all over the bed; and on a closer look, he noticed that those were his shirts and trousers.

Feeling adoration and guilt bubble up in his chest, he turned around to observe Jungkook— who was still, to the best of his knowledge, staring at him.

He was also a mess like his room; that much was evident from his hair, clothes, scent and the stubble on his face. "Gosh, you're a mess. Come on, let's get you cleaned up, bunny."

Wordlessly, Jungkook followed Taehyung into the bathroom— which was fairly clean, though it could do some work— and allowed him to take his clothes off and make him sit on the edge of the bathtub. And Taehyung took his time washing Jungkook; from scrubbing every inch of him with the raspberry soap lathered loofah, to gently combing his fingers through the brown, knotted hair. 

There weren't many words exchanged between them as Taehyung rinsed off the suds from Jungkook's body either. That was, until he finished washing his shaved face. Just as he did and was about to grab the fluffy white towel hanging from the hook, Jungkook tugged on his shirt and hastily asked, "P-Please, take it off."

Although puzzled, Taehyung complied and took his shirt off. And it wasn't like he had much of a choice, how could he not listen to the older when the first sentence Taehyung had heard from him in a while sounded so frail and soft?

Immediately, he was pulled into an embrace, a tight one; and Jungkook had his ear right over his heart, carefully listening to the calm and steady beat of it.