Lunacy and Other Fairytales ; tk | ym

14.

remember that i put together a soundtrack for this story. you should be able to find it on spotify by just searching 'lunacy and other fairytales'

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Jimin has texted Taehyung several locations where Yoongi might be. Somewhere near the café, a park he used to go to with Seokjin, the campus, a bar they went to before the accident, Seokjin's memorial, several of the many bridges across the Han river. It's useless; even though it's in the middle of the week and past 3am already, the streets are packed with cars and people. Taehyung sighs when he plops back down on the passenger seat after checking the bar.

"He isn't there," he says and Jeongguk starts the engine, "They're closing now anyway."

"Want to check the bridges? I think the river is the closest," Jeongguk says. Taehyung shakes his head, reading through the list again.

"No, that won't help us... it'll take us forever to get from one location to the next. Anything could happen during that time." He leans his head back against the headrest with another loud sigh. "We won't find him. It's hopeless."

"Well, we can't just give up," Jeongguk says and turns left into a street that leads down to the river, "Did you hear anything from Jimin?"

"No, not yet..." Taehyung locks his phone and drops it on his lap. "The city is crowded. If Yoongi hyung were to do anything, then it wouldn't be right here. That just doesn't make any sense..." He tries to think even harder. A dull headache makes itself noticeable in his frontal lobe. He lets his head drop against the window and watches the blinding city lights pass by.

"What are you thinking?" Jeongguk asks. Taehyung narrows his eyes.

"This doesn't make any sense..." he mumbles.

Yoongi wouldn't want other people to realize what he was going to do. He wouldn't do anything near people who could stop him. All the locations on the list are just places in the city where he would be easily accessible. If Yoongi is going to do something, then it'll be in secret and away from everyone else.

"Maybe he just went into the middle of the forest..." Taehyung wonders, but even that seems implausible. Jeongguk glances at him.

"Just... some random place?" he asks, and the doubt in his voice makes Taehyung listen up.

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Jeongguk clears his throat, suddenly seeming a bit uncomfortable. "If Yoongi imagines these... things, they're just part of his own consciousness, right? They're part of his mind."

Taehyung squints his eyes at him, not quite following. Jeongguk drags his tongue along the inside of his lip.

"Look, if these creatures that he imagines tell him to... end it all... then wouldn't it make sense that it would happen at a place that holds some sort of significance to him? Like... this is all part of his consciousness. Only his imagination, right? If his mind is capable of something like that, something that makes his suicide almost ritual, why would it just happen somewhere?"

At first, Taehyung is too taken aback to realize the meaning of Jeongguk's words. He even opens his mouth to protest because no, it's not just part of Yoongi's imagination, he knows better than that after all — but then it hits him.

His eyes widen.

"Jeongguk," he breathes, "Baby, you're a genius."

Jeongguk frowns. "Well, I wouldn't say that—"

"Pull over!"

Jeongguk does, in a little alleyway a bit away from all the people and the lights. Taehyung immediately dials Jimin's number, not even attempting to explain anything yet.