ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴘᴜʀᴘʟᴇ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ || ᴋ.ᴛʜ + ᴊ.ᴊᴋ ✔️

twenty-one: ugly duckling

Taehyung didn't remember falling asleep on the living room floor, but that's where he woke up. His back ached a bit, and for a moment he had to think of why he wasn't on the couch like normal.

Sense was shaken into him soon enough, though. As he rose to his feet, Taehyung laid eyes on Jungkook, face covered in bruises, fast asleep on the couch, blanket still draped over him from chest to toe.

He looked peaceful. For that, Taehyung felt relieved, as he had a bad feeling that when the boy woke up he would be in a lot of pain, so at least he was sleeping well. That is, Tae hoped he was sleeping well. The longer he stared at Jungkook the guiltier he felt. He wanted to talk with him, to find out just what had happened, how Jungkook had ended up like this, if it truly were Taehyung's fault like he worried it was.

Sitting on the floor beside the couch, Tae watched the boy's resting face and felt his heart sink. His conversation with Yoongi from the night before chose then to resurface, just when he thought to himself, Jungkook looks kinda pretty when he's like this. He dared to touch the boy's hand but pulled back when he heard a door open.

Yoongi walked out of the bedroom, his fuzzy, messy hair drawing the faintest laugh from his friend. "Mornin', Yoongi," Tae whispered. Yoongi pointed at the couch.

"Still sleeping?"

"Yeah. Wait, why are you already dressed?"

He hadn't registered at first that his friend didn't show up wearing pajamas, as one would expect seeing as it was morning and Yoongi had presumably just woken up. And it couldn't have been that he fell asleep in his clothes the previous night, because this was an entirely different outfit. A casual, button-up shirt and black jeans, as opposed to the anime t-shirt and blue jeans he had arrived in yesterday.

"Oh, you know, just thought I'd go out for a bit, get some coffee." He dug his hands into his pockets and smiled. "I've been taking morning walks, remember?"

"Yeah, I do remember you saying that..."

"You'll stay here with your roommate then?"

Roommate... "Yeah, I kinda have to," Taehyung replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't be so down, Tiger, we'll have to go to breakfast together soon."

"Right. Of course."

"I'll be back soon, then, okay?"

"Mhm. Enjoy your walk, Yoongi."

With that, Taehyung watched somewhat sadly as his friend left the apartment and closed the door behind him. And Yoongi hadn't closed it loudly, but it seemed that the noise from the door had still managed to stir the sleeping boy awake. Taehyung held his breath and backed away from the couch. If he finds out I was watching him sleep, I'm dead.

It didn't concern him all too much. Taehyung was more concerned about Jungkook's condition, and finding out who had done this to him.

"Kook?"

It took some time for the boy to fully open his eyes. Lying on his back, the first thing he saw was the ceiling and that almost seemed to puzzle him. But within seconds Jungkook registered the voice that had just addressed him, and perhaps a bit too eagerly he turned his head to look back at Taehyung's worrisome face.

A shock of pain surged through his bones. He winced, biting down on his tongue to suppress the urge to yell. Taehyung immediately jumped to attention.

"Kook, be careful!"

He extended his hands as a steadying gesture, but aside from that Taehyung wasn't entirely sure what to do. His eyes darted around to every inch of the boy's face. Should he hold ice against the bruises again? Would that help numb the pain? Or would it be better simply to get Jungkook's mind off of them?