Faded But Not Gone [ TaeKook ]

flame.

flame.

taehyung left the haze of the city and headed back to his own little town. he took his time getting home, taking in the scenery and the smell of rain on the pavement. taehyung thought it was too cold for rain, that it should be snowing instead, but he wasn't exactly a weather man. he wasn't exactly anything.

taehyung stared at the ground as he walked. a thin, thin, thin layer of water splashed beneath his feet. it was kind of amusing to watch, and taehyung didn't know why until a fly buzzed by his ear. "a little bit. and little bugs are fun to crush." masochism. the world is made up of masochism. taehyung stopped walking for a moment. he closed his eyes and fought the thoughts that were trying to break into the walls around his mind.

when taehyung opened his eyes, he realized he hadn't actually stopped. he was standing a few feet away from his house, just across the street from it. but he couldn't see his house. the haze was back, just as it had been when he was with namjoon a mere twenty minutes ago. but this haze was a dark, dark, dark grey, not a light grey-white color. when taehyung began to choke, he realized it wasn't haze at all. it was smoke. black smoke. taehyung was breathing it in.

taehyung panicked. not because he was suffocated, not even because he couldn't see, but because he knew where the smoke was coming from before he even saw the source. he blindly ran across the street. the smoke was thick, and everything he would be able to see was blurry thanks to the tears in his eyes. but he didn't stop running.

"jungkook!" taehyung called, finally calling his someone by his name like a normal person. there was a fire truck outside of his house, and there were a few firemen hosing it down. it didn't seem like the whole thing was on fire, just a couple of rooms on the first floor. taehyung's heart jumped. he spun around, around, around, searching, searching, searching. His heart pounded, desperate, desperate, desperate. where was his someone? where was his jungkook?

"jungkook!" taehyung called. his blurry vision still didn't allow him to see very far, so he didn't know if jungkook was three feet away, eight yards away, or still burning inside the house. he began to run blindly again, bumping into various people. he caught glimpses of their faces; they weren't recognisable.

his someone was nowhere to be found.

"jungkook!" taehyung screamed, panicked. his whole world was crashing around his aching body. his whole world was probably stuck, burning, inside of that house. his whole world. taehyung looked around again. his whole world. please, please, please.

"excuse me," taehyung croaked, tapping on the shoulder of a fire-fighter. he wasn't busy, just standing around and watching- probably waiting. the man turned to him. he looked kind enough to ask. "have you... did anyone come out of the house? did they find anyone in there?"

"no, sir, we're still looking. are you the owner of this house?" the man asked, his voice plain- void of emotion. taehyung was sure he looked the same way beside the tears in his eyes.. he was used to pulling a straight face when he was panicking.

"yes." taehyung answered, wiping tears from his eyes. they burned, most likely because of all the smoke he kept blinking against. the tears that kept coming out involuntarily weren't helping all that much, either.

"and I assume you have a relative in this house? a loved one?" the questions of the man reminded taehyung of an interviewer. he didn't have time for interviews, but he needed to know where his someone was, so he nodded.

"male or female?"

taehyung could have screamed. did it fucking matter? the type of genitals they had did not prevent them from burning to death. taehyung fought the urge to say this and said, "male."