ᎢᏔᎬᎬᎢ ( pjm ♡ jjk )

xix

"jiminie, please, you need to eat something," taehyung begged, pleading with his best friend. "you need to take care of yourself."

jimin's eyes were devoid of emotion as he stared dully at tae, cheeks still wet from his tears.

"jiminie, please. you're either crying or like this, zoned out to the point where you can't even hear me."

nothing. taehyung started to cry.

"please jimin," he sobbed, grip tightening on the bowl of ramen in his hands. "say something, anything! i've already lost chinsun, i can't lose you too. you're my... you're my best friend!"

"taehyung!"

the idol turned at the sound of his name, but there was no one in the hotel room except the two members.

"god," he sniffled, "i'm such a mess and i wasn't even directly involved. i'm hallucinating now, this is such a messed up-"

"kim taehyung, opens this damn door or i'm going to kick it down and make you pay to replace it!"

there was a loud noise; presumably from someone hitting the door.

"that's definitely not a hallucination," tae muttered, placing the bowl on the night stand before heading over to open the door. he glanced in the bathroom mirror as he walked by. his hair was a mess, his clothes (that he'd been wearing for two whole days now) were wrinkled, and his eyes were dead. yet he somehow managed to still look good. he sighed as he unlocked the door.

"do you need something? my friend and i are going through a tough-"

the next thing he knew, the person had flung themselves at him, wrapping him in their arms tightly. taehyung was about to start screaming and flailing around when he caught a whiff of their hair.

jasmine, with a faint hint of chamomile.

"chinsun?" he choked out, breath catching in his throat. "is that you?"

she looked up, a small smile tugging at the edge of her lips.

"no, it's the other short girl you know with ash-gray hair."

"actually, i'm pretty sure i saw irene-noona with gray hair at the-"

"shut up," she breathed before punching him lightly in the chest, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. "that's for being a dick."

"i know," he breathed, hugging her again. "chinsun, i'm so, so, sorry. i didn't mean anything i said. i shouldn't have taken my anger out on you-"

"it doesn't matter."

he froze.

"neither of us were thinking properly, our best friends were both hurt. i know we both get protective. we both ended up blaming each other because that's who was available to place the blame on. but i forgive you, taehyung."

she took a moment to catch her breath.

"so, if you still want to be my friend..."

"always."

taehyung crushed chinsun in his embrace, breathing in her comforting scent.

"i'm so relieved right now," he mumbled. "everything that was happening with jimin and jeongguk... it's been draining me emotionally. jimin's either crying or spaced out. he won't do anything." to his horror, he was starting to cry again.

"shh," chinsun soothed, running her fingers through his hair. "it's going to be okay, taehyung. it's going to be okay."

she pulled back from their hug and squeezed his hand, smiling sadly at him.

"our best friends are both pretty broken from this, huh?"

"it hurts, sunnie. it hurts that i can't help them. i wish there was something, anything, i could do."

"me too. but they need to figure this out on their own."

she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket.

"can i give this to jimin?"

taehyung nodded, following her to the bed jimin was lying on.

"hey jiminie," she said, placing it gently in front of him. "i know that it's hard right now. it's never easy. but you need to make a decision. i'm going to leave this here for now. you can take as much time as you need before you read it, or even touch it. he'll wait for you. for you, and for the choice you make. everything is up to you."

jimin said nothing, staring up at his two friends blankly.

"sunnie, he's been like this for so long. the only thing this hotel had in the store was instant noodles, but i still haven't been able to get him to eat anything."

"is there tea?"

taehyung shook his head.

"there's a convenience store a little bit away. he needs to at least drink something that'll warm him up. i can run out really quickly and-"

"no."

he grabbed her arm as she tried to walk away.

"please... stay with me. or let me come. i think i'm going to break down again if i have to be alone." his voice cracked towards the end. he stated pleadingly at the female, eyes wide and shaking slightly.

"but what about jimin?"

"we'll only be gone for a bit. it'll be fine."

chinsun bit her lip, gaze flitting between taehyung and jimin.

"okay."

but when they returned half an hour later with bags that were bulging from everything that had been stuffed in them, the room was empty.

jimin was gone, and so way the note that chinsun had left for him.

—

a / n

yEs i know this is jikook but i needed some connection between tae and chinsun to help progress the story more easily so uh

ik some parts of this may still seem weird (jeongguk instantly knowing who jimin was, jimin's reaction, etc.) but they'll most likely be explained in future chapters :) and if not, feel free to ask me about them!