Sound of Winter || Taegyu

Chapter Twenty Four

Taehyun's heart plummets, everything around him fading into insignificance when Beomgyu begins to fall. His body moves quickly, faster than he can even process what is happening, and he's grabbing Beomgyu tightly in his arms. The weight of the older's limp body presses against his chest as he holds onto him tightly, panic consuming his senses.

"Beomgyu?" He asks, voice trembling as he shifts his weight, picking Beomgyu up carefully and taking him over to the couch. "Jun," he looks up at Yeonjun, who is standing at the end of the couch, a worried expression written on his face. "Can you get me a rag, please? They should be in the drawer by the oven." He watches as Yeonjun turns and hastily heads towards the kitchen. "Oh," Taehyun adds. "Get the bowl of pretzels too, please."

He sits down on the floor beside the couch, turning Beomgyu's head to face him while pushing some of the hair out of his face. Beomgyu lets out a noise of disapproval and crunches his nose, attempting to turn back the other way.

He frowns, brows furrowing. "Hey, Jun?"

"Yeah?" Yeonjun calls from the kitchen. He can hear the water running and he assumes that Yeonjun already found the rags.

"We were drinking earlier right before you two got here. There should be two glass cups on the counter," he pauses for a moment, pursing his lips as he looks down at Beomgyu. "How much is in them?"

He continues to run his hand through Beomgyu's hair as a wave of regret washes over him like an unwelcome tide. It's so easy to blame himself, especially when he knows he should've watched Beomgyu closer and prevented this from happening.

Yeonjun walks over to where he's crouched and hands him the rag. "I didn't see any cups on the counter, but there's two in the sink. Is everything alright?"

With a heavy sigh, he shakes his head, bringing up the cool rag to place it on Beomgyu's fevered skin. He feels stupid for trusting Beomgyu to be alone, and part of him almost feels angry at him. All he wants right now is to snap at the older, to scold him for not listening and for going too far, but he knows that it'll do more harm than good. He doesn't even know how he would react if he was in Beomgyu's situation.

Beomgyu's chest rises and falls rhythmically in perfect harmony with the soft sound of his breathing, eyes trained on the ceiling. His eyes are glazed over, dull and expressionless, yet it's still the most peaceful that he's seen Beomgyu since he was taken, and the thought alone makes him feel like his heart is breaking into a thousand pieces.

He knows it's not his fault, or at least that what he tells himself to prevent unwanted thoughts from making their way in, but he wishes that he had done things differently that night.

"Taehyun," Soobin says softly, hand reaching out to halt his motions. Soobin's hand is cool against his own, fingers delicately grabbing the rag from his hand and holding it back out for Yeonjun to take. "You're shaking."

Taehyun closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and willing the air to flow through his lungs, doing his best to remain calm. He doesn't need to stress out right now. Beomgyu's alright, he didn't get hurt, and as soon as he's sober again, it'll be as though nothing happened.

"Get up, we're going outside. You need to get some air for a minute," Soobin stands up, holding his hand out for Taehyun to take.

"What?" Taehyun asks, shaking his head in disbelief. "No. I'm not leaving him here, he needs me."

"Yeonjun can stay here with him. Right, Jun?" Both of them look over at Yeonjun, who gives them both a small nod before Soobin is grabbing Taehyun's hand, pulling him up to his feet. The nod isn't promising, and it honestly makes him even more concerned about leaving Beomgyu alone. "Come on."