jangmi (장미) ● taejoon

e i g h t y t w o .

   Yoongi's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly with a tightly clenched jaw. He was running red lights, but no police officers ever monitored the poverty side of the town till they hit the gated communities. Yoongi's eyes were hoodies under the streetlights with anger that's been pent up to the point there was a hint of tears from frustration.

Namjoon could simply feel the disress radiating off of the other, so he placed a hand over his knee and leaned to his side. "... Yoongi, stop the car," he says, "Just stop the car for a little bit, you're speeding too fast."

"We need to get there now, we don't have any time to waste," Yoongi shook his head, swerving to the right. "God knows if they already started or not. Jungkook's not answering his phone, Seokjin's not either!"

"Stop the car, I don't want to repeat myself," Namjoon insists, tilting his head to the side indicating for him to park. "Just for two minutes, okay? You're breathing too hard, I need you to relax and I can drive."

"I'm perfectly fine, Namjoon-"

"You're stressing out too much-"

"It's my fucking brother for goddamn sake!" Yoongi shouts, stopping the car at the red light within the busy streets. People began to walk across the crosswalks as cars slowed down along beside him. "If he ends up in jail, it's over! Everything I worked for? Gone! Everything I did to keep him safe? GONE! I can't afford to get him caught and end up in juvie, he's suppose to graduate next year! I was suppose to steer him away from my work, my lifestyle, but he's about to end up on the wrong side of the jail cell with my mother sobbing on her knees to a judge to shorten his sentence because we obviously can't afford bail, Namjoon! We're not privileged at the slightest, and you out of all people know that. Don't tell me to calm down when my family is on the line."

Yoongi slammed his palm on the horn harshly and growled in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose with furrowing eyebrows. "I don't want his life to be ruined when it just started," he says with a wavering voice, "Man, I just- I want him to move on from this bullshit. Own a house, get married, and I want to be an uncle too! But he can't do that if he's not working for it! I-I don't want him to be a dropout like I am, and I sure as hell don't want him being a juvenile. Seokjin's been poisoning that thick skull of his, and I swear to god once I put my hands on him-"

"... Greenlight," Namjoon says softly, "... I'll talk to Seokjin as soon as we get them back, but you have to talk to Jungkook too. Don't make this a punishment, make it a lesson for him, okay?"

Yoongi put his hand on the steering wheel and drove. "I already slapped him, I've done enough damaged to the kid already."

"Your innocence gets ruined in a place like this."

[unedited]