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

twenty-three: scared

Taehyung had managed to coax Jungkook back over to the couch after their talk, and there, he stayed with him. His heart had been moved by the other's tears, by those profound words the boy poured out as he confessed everything he had been hiding from Taehyung.

Side by side on the couch, having abandoned their half-eaten breakfasts, the two just sat in silence, Jungkook clinging to Taehyung's arm as the latter ran his fingers through the boy's hair. Every so often, Tae would press a soft kiss to Jungkook's head, as it was resting on his shoulder. In that moment, things had never felt so peaceful. To either of them. Even though both their hearts beat wildly, it wasn't frantic, but simply out of a shared feeling.

How tragic that moment of peace had to be shattered so soon.

Out of nowhere it seemed, the front door swung open, triggering both Jungkook and Taehyung to swivel their heads around to face the one who had entered so conspicuously - Yoongi, to neither of their surprises, however the expression Taehyung's friend now wore did surprise them.

Taehyung made a brief glance at Jungkook who still clung to his arm. "Uh, Y-Yoongi, there's something I wanted to tell you-"

"Yeah, well there's something I gotta tell you, too, so who's gonna go first?"

His voice was unidentifiable. Concerning, to say the least. Taehyung scanned Yoongi's face and hesitated before rising to his feet. "Yoongi, what's wrong?"

"This." He held up what Taehyung could only assume were photographs. "This is what's wrong."

"Yoongi, please-!"

As if the current situation hadn't already thrown him for a loop, a new voice abruptly entered the conversation, and within seconds the owner of that voice came to a frantic stop at the door.

Through that doorway Taehyung met eyes with Jimin.

And that feeling of confusion and betrayal from before rekindled itself.

"Yoongi, what's going on?"

"Sorry, went for a little chit-chat with your neighbor, he pricked his finger for me, there was blue, wild, but this is what I'm more concerned about right now."

While Jimin seemed almost too scared to set foot in Taehyung's apartment, Yoongi adamantly marched over to where his friend was standing and grabbed one of his hands so that he could slap the photographs on his palm.

It was a lot to process. Even without having yet looked at the photos, Taehyung needed a moment to take in the rushed explanation Yoongi had just given him.

"You talked with Jimin...?"

"Yeah, wild, now look at the photos, Tiger, this is important."

He blinked away the strong sense of puzzlement bubbling in his head, enough for him to focus on the small task in his hands. Curiously, Taehyung flipped over the photographs.

Everything seemed to stop. His brain, his heart, the room around him, time itself. Everything.

It didn't make sense but he knew he wasn't imagining this. His eyes weren't trying to trick him.

These photos. The one, of Yoongi and Jimin. The other, of him and Jimin.

He felt sick. Sick, nauseous with incertitude and anxiety, but a type of anxiety he had never felt before. The longer he stared at that photo he was in, standing right next to Jimin, the more the nausea increased and his chest began to hurt.

"What...what is this??"

"Tae, what's wrong?"

In the heat of the moment Taehyung almost swatted away the hand that reached for his, but he caught himself and grabbed it instead. Jungkook didn't deserve to be pushed away again. Not ever.