value || jikook

twenty eight

jimin walked the way he felt he should. or really a route he remembered. jungkook had shown him his route home one day after jimin asked. he hadn't known jungkook's path home, and he was curious about which ways he took. the information was turning out to be pretty useful.

the male glanced inside display windows as he passed small shops on the sidewalk. he took peeks behind fences and into other building doors. but he was having no luck, there being absolutely no sign of the younger boy.

with a gruff sigh, jimin rounded a corner, his attention elsewhere, and ran into a group of guys who were rushing in the direction that he had just come from.

he stumbled backwards after regaining a stable balance on his two feet, suddenly feeling a bit too much of every emotion there was.

"watch it punk." one of them growled, and they shoved past him. jimin watched them go with narrowed eyes and his fists clenched. it was some type of irritating that some didn't realize they were the punks in the situation. yet the men looked strangely familiar to jimin, faces having registered in his mind as recognizable.

he shook his head and continued on. he shouldn't waste time on thinking about such things when he had a person to find.

he walked on down the street, and spotted a small building with dark alleys on either side of it. they looked considerably deep, probably home to a few dumpsters or a colony of trash vermin.

jimin's worst fears then clicked in his head and his eyes shot wide open in alarm.

he sprinted across the street, ignoring the horns that blared at him for such a reckless act. the alley closest to him was the first one he stepped into, sprinting forward and stopping instantly after a repulsing stench hit his nose. despite the rain it seemed whatever it was wasn't going to die down anytime soon.

he squinted, peeking over a bundle of trash and into the darkness of the back of the alley. he saw no jungkook there, and that only swept a small part of his fear away. realizing there was one more to check, however, spiked the pit of terror deep down inside him.

jimin jumped out of the alleyway and bounded with anxious steps to the second one. he scanned the tunnel of darkness with sharp eyes and was relived to see nothing out of the ordinary.

he stepped back, about to leave with his heart hopefully a bit calmer, but not when suddenly something caught his eye.

way back into the dim tunnel of stone, there was a small black figure that was crumpled motionless on the wet concrete. jimin's head shot up like a deer in headlights and he had to swallow a scream.

he raced through large puddles into the deep alleyway. he pushed through bundles of trash and scrambled over dirty bags of whatever it was in them. all the while jimin let small chokes of his sobs slip from his mouth. he gulped the next one back down that approached at his lips, tempting him to release it because of the pain in his chest but he didn't.

he roughly crashed onto his knees beside the figure and couldn't seem to hold in the croak that left his mouth.

"jungkookie," his voice was hoarse and sounded insanely fearful. hands reached out to the younger and pulled him close, his head rolling to the side and bumping his chest.

the sight of jungkook made him choke up.

jungkook was ridiculously cold, and just barely breathing. tear stains surrounded his eyes like red clouds and the bruises all over his face clustered together like a mask. his spasming hands hung loosely in his lap but they were damp with rain water and scratched up badly, also oozing small slashes of blood.

jungkook had been clearly beaten senseless. there was no sign of mercy even though there was a few dollars on the ground around him. jimin had no idea who would do this to him, the adorable jungkookie, who wouldn't hurt anyone.

the thought of the bullies that jungkook had told him about, and the ones he had scared off sometime ago at the beginning of the year, suddenly roused from his mind. then he remembered the guys that he had bumped into a little while ago, as well as how they had looked really familiar. jimin knit his brows together. they were the ones who did this.

"im so sorry..." jimin whispered, his voice low and guilty. "so sorry... that i didn't come sooner." jimin wrapped his arm around jungkook's shoulders and hugged him close against his chest.

jungkook barely opened his eyes to look up at jimin. jimin couldn't bring himself to smile down sadly at him. jungkook's eyes were the epitome of a broken soul.

thankfully without any struggle, jimin slipped off his hoodie and wrapped jungkook in it, pulling the hood over his head to shelter him from the rain. then he raised jungkook into his arms bridal style and stumbled to stand up straight. jungkook fumbled around in his arms, head tucked into his chest and shirt.

if jimin had the guts to call him cute just then, he knew he would be ashamed of himself. he was simply too fearful to do it, and jungkook was too shattered in his arms to acknowledge jimin's unneeded thought.

"don't worry jungkookie," jimin murmured to him softly. jungkook gripped jimin's shirt tightly. "just hold on tight. ive got you. ill get you home safely, i promise."

//jfc i don't wanna go to school and my throat hurts and im stressed out of my mind GOD DAMN