PRISONERS [Taekook]

일곱

The sound of guards' boots stomping on the cold hard ground is the only thing Hoseok can hear in the prison. It echoes and reverberates through the walls, rings in his ears, a cacophony he'll never enjoy hearing. Yet somehow, it still reassures him, because as long as he hears that sound, it means he's not facing it all alone. It means that the guards patrolling the prison with him will be here if someone suddenly decides he wants him dead.

Yeah, it means he'll live.

"Jung." A voice calls out to him.

Hoseok cranes his neck and stops in his tracks to look at the officer approaching him. The man's tall, taller than him, and so thin his cheekbones stick out unnaturally. His thick, gray mustache covers his thin lips completely. Hoseok thinks he seriously needs a trim.

"Did you patrol in block J yet?" The skeleton asks, stopping at a fair distance from Hoseok.

"Yeah, about ten minutes ago. Why?"

"You might wanna check again. I just saw an inmate go inside the block and I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be in mandatory right now."

"Fucking hell." Hoseok curses and makes his way towards the block with a sigh.

The officer looks inside cell one and sees Taehyung on the bottom bunk bed, curled up under the thin blanket and sleeping so soundly you'd think he's in his own pricey bed. The sight turns Hoseok's throat dry and he gulps. Because he knows that serene, peaceful look on his face won't last long.

Cells two, three and four are empty, and it's only when he gets to cell five that he stops patrolling. Inside the cell, facing away from the officer, there's a man with bright mint hair sitting at the desk. He appears to be scribbling something. Hoseok takes a few steps towards him and taps his shoulder, which makes the man jump a little from surprise before he looks up at him.

There's silence for a whole minute. A whole minute where they recognize each other and recall the events that took place just a couple hours ago. Hoseok's panicking. He's pretty sure the prisoner misunderstood the situation and doesn't know the real motive for that meeting and yet, his heart won't stop pounding in his chest.

"You... You're supposed to be in class." Hoseok manages to speak.

"Right. Yeah. I'm supposed to."

His voice is monotone. It's deep, raspy with a slight Daegu accent, and he sounds like he doesn't give the slightest fuck about the fact Hoseok can send him to solitary right now.

"Why aren't you, then?"

"Don't feel like it." He simply says, and Hoseok's eyes widen.

A smile taunts the mint-haired man's lips as he gets up and swings a leg over his chair to sit again, this time with his thighs parted around the back of the chair so he's facing the officer. He looks up at the brown-haired male, eyes playful in a way that makes him all the more intimidating.

"And I know you won't send me to solitary." The inmate blurts out and that's it.

Hoseok's brain short-circuits. At this point he can feel sweat pearling on his forehead and dryness invade his throat but he keeps a straight face, doesn't flinch, tries his hardest to stop being the overly expressive man he used to be before this prison broke him. He can't. He wishes he could just stop feeling.

"Why wouldn't I? You're breaking the rules and-"

"I know what I saw in the storage, officer."

"That was... that was just-"

"A correctional officer smuggling drugs into a prison and willingly offering them to an inmate?"

Hoseok stiffens from head to toe. This time, fear radiates from him, and he can't stop himself from fidgeting. Yoongi's smile widens.