Work Text
Present Day.
1636 hours.
The late afternoon sunlight glows through the loose shades of the old-washed curtain, beaming off a warm feeling inside the room. In his space, Jeongguk quietly sets up his computer and other compartments on a long simple varnished table. Brows frown as he solely focuses on connecting all the wires properly, inserting the adapters on his octopus extension, putting it neatly underneath his table. Even when there is his cable wire to wrap those unnecessary long cables, it still looks like it is not clean up but that never stops him from smiling all too widely.“Great, lovely.” He breathes, his eyes never leaving nor blinking as he takes all of it to his mind.He does not know the exact reason or feeling as to why he is too preoccupied now, but he certainly knows that setting up his first computer satisfies him more than ever. The way the neck of the monitor holds its big screen, the way the color shimmers slightly across the sunlight, all those chords piling in one place, and his lit CPU that shines perfectly in a dark place because of its rainbow LED lights around it.Recently, on his way down to his dorm, he gazed through some kids playing with each other on the playground as if there’s nothing wrong in the world, as if smiling and laughing is all they could do, as if they are the only people in the world that they cherish every single moment of their life. And that strikes Jeongguk hard to his very depth. He then wants to live off every moment as if nothing will come on the next day. That quickly settles of him recording and uploading it on youtube to remember every single thing he does before anything else happens.Too cheap, isn’t it? But for him, it’s a worldwide momentum.He asks himself what he should post as his first ever video on youtube, laying his hands on his hip and bites down his bottom lip, pleading silently at the webcam as if it will answer him.It is past noon, so probably everyone is busy in the internet. He does not know what to do but to sit slowly in front of his creation. Lazily pushing the power button, he sighs deeply as soon as the monitor boosts into life because we are talking about technology and we cannot help but sometimes when in not coordinated in whatever that needed to be in properly laid, it crashes and cannot be repaired that easily. He thanks the Lord.As soon as the background appears, he quickly logs into his account, rummaging through his desktop to click the search engine and types in. Never in a million times does make him a nervous this way, well, he really is excited about all this stuff in his room but thinking if all of his efforts were not praised enough, all these little things digging into his mind make him feel so suffocated. But on the other hand, he doesn’t give a fuck.Shaking his head, he clicks his camera, waits for it to open, and sees staring at himself. He wears his casual look, a red beanie, oversized white shirt, and his baggy denim pants that shows off his Timberlands.He snorts, starts the camera, “Alright,” he fixes his beanie in, fumbles for his phone, and searches for the date today, “September 15, 2015… Jeon Jeongguk’s first video. Let’s give it a round of applause,” and claps shyly at the camera whilst holding his phone.Reaching for his beanie (he’s got quite a habit of positioning his beanie properly on his head), he smiles as he starts to mumble to the camera. He talks about his likes and dislikes, his birthday, all those personal information that can be revealed in public as much as Jeongguk possibly can.It feels so casual for him, talking in front of the camera, slightly quirking up the side of his lips when he talks, his eyes getting little wrinkles as he opens his mouth.“Okay! That’s it for today. Thank you for watching this crappy video perhaps anyway. If you ever want to stay tuned again, please leave a big thumbs up; comment down below which things would you like me to upload. And! Don’t forget to subscribe just click that button to be updated! Hope to see all again next time! Byee!” he’s doing these gestures, pointing at nothing, waving his hands at the camera, just like every youtuber does once they end the video.Sighing, he shuts off the camera and pops a window in his computer to edit the video, not to mention his wide ever grin as he sings one of his favorite songs. ~*~
Next Day.
1216 hours.
Loud noises occupy the big room, the room of every person who loves to play games. Some are practically screaming at the top of their lungs as other people try to overtake the high score in a particular stall. Different strikes of color loom and give life to place, purple and blue mix while red and shades of green combine in a great shadow. There are sounds of ping!, bang!, doink, and etc.. And Jeongguk is one of them who slowly walks over the cashier to exchange his money to those coins.“Here are your coins, sir,” the cashier softly says, batting her eyelashes in a most slow pace of the time. But Jeongguk doesn’t even know that the girl is flirting with her because he dashes off immediately after he receives his coins, his breathing twitches, eager to play already. The girl clicks her tongue in dismay.Jeongguk lowkey (which is not really) films himself whilst playing as much as he can. Laughs and pants echo throughout his gameplay. One time, he cannot shoot the ball in the ring in three straight lines and that piss him off. He frowns and looks at the camera and back again at the ball he currently holds. The corners of his lips quirk up in a smirk and quickly settles the stand of the camera on the nearest flat surface he can put on while not messing up the recording.This time, he manages to shoot perfectly without breaking a sweat. Even in the angle of the camera, it greatly shows how flexible Jeongguk is. The way the muscles of his arms clench as he reach for the landing ball and the way he holds it up and whips his wrist to shoot.As soon as the game ended at stage three, he scoops us the camera and smiles so genuinely, revealing his white bunny teeth, his eyes wrinkle as his cheekbones lit up. He says to the camera that he really likes to play basketball in his high school days like in these areas so he didn’t really need to break a sweat (he’s so proud of it by the way).Just like some toddler that is so fascinated in everything he sees, leaping in the way when he scoops and wins every game he touches, he gets so many tickets for today. So, he tends to buy something or souvenir as a token for himself, that he played well. He walks off to the counter and is greeted by the girl cashier, same as his age he thinks.“Good afternoon, sir! What would you like to buy?” she greets with her so-wide smile it looks so much forced and well-practiced for strangers. Jeongguk flinches. But then again, the girl swiftly flips her hair to show off. And again, Jeongguk cares nothing.He looks onto the series of stuff toys, keychains, and even food like candies for cheap number of tickets. Like now, the tickets he holds look so bulk in weird and complicated swirls. He does not have the time to fix them as he switches from stall to another stall like an excited toddler (which he is for everybody that glances at him).His eyes lands on the large-sized light brown teddy bear far atop of him. It looks so innocent (he thinks) like him and wears a red apron that has a nametag on it. He quickly beats a shocking ‘oh’ and points at it. “I want that one.”The girl follows the direction and types a command at her keyboard as she says, “That would be 40,000 tickets, sir.” She looks back again at him with her fake smile, but something within bubbles up a flirtatious as she tiptoes a little on her feet.“Uh, can you count my tickets if it fits in.” Jeongguk stutters, he foolishly tells himself he should have counted his tickets at the machine counter before stepping into the cashier area.As Jeongguk expects, the girl just stares at him in disbelief before sighing and grabbing the said tickets and storms away to the machine counter. Jeongguk had to quiet down his laugh as he stares into his camera and whispers, “Can’t you believe that the cashier glares at me like she’s seen a ghost talking. I’m– ” he snickers and tries to hold back by biting his lip and covering his mouth with the back of his palm.Jeongguk straightens up as he sees the cashier brings back with now neatly compiled tickets and types in numerous taps before calling for someone who is much capable to reach the bear. Well, she could not be able to reach the bear even she has a chair to ease up. That even makes Jeongguk puffs a laugh. The girl frowns in dismay as she looks at his way.Later on, a man, taller than Jeongguk, shows up and reaches for the bear with his long arms. The guy gives a squish at the bear before smiling at the girl and leaves. She gave it to Jeongguk immediately and gives him the extra tickets for other future game tour again.He bids farewell, walking out the room with a big fluffy teddy bear in his free hand.“Guys, I bought myself this teddy bear. Aigoo, it’s so big and heavy. I wonder why did I point at this thing when can I just buy the keychains there because it is way cooler than this.” He laughs and gives again a squish at it and snorts his nose.“Since lots of you commented that I should show my habits, I thought I show you how I play at these mini games. The next one will be about, uhm.. what about? I still haven’t gotten any thoughts about it. But I’ll probably gonna upload again soon. Don’t worry!” he reaches the parking lot and throws the bear on the passenger seat as he slides in the driver seat.Adjusting the camera angle, he says his goodbyes. He even makes a heart and sends a flying kiss at the camera. He chuckles and waves off, shutting off the camera. With a heavy sigh, he turns at the bear beside him, turns the ignition on, and drives home. Uploading videos on youtube satisfies Jeongguk. The way the views lit up, the tons of likes and comments he gets, and his subscribers are fairly increasing for an amateur like him. He likes the thought of someone encourages his presence, notices his existence, supporting all the things he wants to do in life.Smiling, he switches off his laptop after replying almost all of the comments saying thank you's and you’re welcome's. For today, he made a vlog of him playing on Timezone. Like, he shows how well he plays on those arcades, how easily can he earn so many tickets. Those bright smiles showing on his face make the streamers' heart warm.Now, he’s thinking of what to do next for his upcoming update on friday. He surely sometimes forgets what to do next. All those writer’s blocks are the same with Jeongguk making videos for his fans. He wants to keep uploading, but he doesn’t even know what to.He’s totally into it. He bites his lip and thinks he will just sleep this and think of it tomorrow. Darn this block thing. Jeongguk makes his way to his bathroom to take a quick shower and puts himself in some sweatpants and oversized shirt after before coming for his bed.He slowly climbs in, finding some comfort, warmth for him to sleep well. Today, he’s exhausted and too tired to move. Staring off at the ceiling, as if not blinking will make him yawn and then sleep afterwards. His duvet is well tucked in, the humming of the crickets outside his window, the slow waves of the wind across the leaves, and the dim light from the moon space in his room. He slowly succumbs to sleep.
2047 hours.
He totally doesn’t expect to stand in front of a blank wall, quirking his head to look around but he only finds himself staring at nothing. And then, the space slowly dims and shifts into a living room. Jeongguk gasps as he almost losses his balance. Common living room with rectangular table and couch with throw pillows neatly set aside.This doesn’t seem normal to me. He frowns, thinking this is just a dream that feels too real. He touches the couch as he walks around and it makes him jump because it’s whole. The feeling against the pad of his fingers is definitely there. This completely fucks up Jeongguk's mind.Bizarre. He thinks. The walls scream white and off to the horizon as if nothing is there. It’s like he’s confined but not at all. Sinking into the couch as he sits, he bucks up and down again, measuring the softness of it, thinking whether he’s in a dream or not does not matter. As long as he’s got no problems about school he’s totally fine.Of course, nothing lasts long as everything seems to slow in motion. His lashes blink dozen times before finally recognizing that he’s not the only human being in this living room. His mouth agapes as he drinks in the man's presence, his physical appearance. Thinking that he happens not to recognize the human earlier makes him creep.Mouth slightly agape, he’s beautiful, Jeongguk whispers into the thin air. The said man is standing five meters away from him to his left, holding his gaze so strong as if breaking the contact will lose him and the memories will puff like a bubble.Jeongguk waits for something to happen, to tell him this is just one of his stupid dreams. Like, how could this be feel so real and yet so ideal? Staring at those dark orb eyes, the little wind they had in that small space blows off the only air Jeongguk inhales. The fringes haphazardly stick on his forehead, framing his face so well and perfectly.Gliding down his gaze, he found out that the man is wearing a simple oversized white shirt, same as he’s currently wearing. But the only difference is that this man is giving off the sexy vibes. The big collar makes him look as small as it expanses to reveal his clavicle, sharp and deep.The long sleeves covering his biceps (probably firm as what Jeongguk thinks at this moment), his other hand gripping the other edge of the couch. He doesn’t look as shock as Jeongguk though. It feels like he’s expecting that this is bound to happen.After realizing that he’s checking him out, Jeongguk is the first one to break the silence, stands up while trying to straighten out the crisps of his shirt, clears his throat, and averts his eyes elsewhere, his ears burning to blush. “Uh, hello?” he says in a question rather than a statement before returning himself to look at the young fine man.Blinking at the sound, the man stands up straight and says, “Hello there.” Jeongguk hangs open his mouth at how deep and hoarse is Taehyung’s voice. “I’m Kim Taehyung, by the way.” Absentmindedly licking his bottom lip that quickly makes Jeongguk to stare at it and gulp. What an obvious bold move of Jeongguk to flirt. Good way to go, Jeongguk.After a second or so, Jeongguk finally realizes he’s staring too much at Taehyung. He opens his mouth, “J-Jeon Jeongguk.” He bows a little. He curses at himself that he hopes Taehyung doesn’t notice his way of checking him out. God knows Jeongguk is whipped already.“So, why don’t you take a sit, Jeon Jeongguk?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“So, why don’t you take a sit, Jeon Jeongguk?” Taehyung asks, gesturing for him to sit at the couch, preferably savoring the name he takes. Shortly frozen, because hearing his goddamn name rolls off of the beautiful man’s lips feels so amazing and overwhelming. Soon he obliges and hurries to sit down simultaneously with Taehyung.Awkward it is. The atmosphere is so awkward for Jeongguk. He’s been staring at the wall (or the endless waves of white) in front of him, but then he’s staring at his peripheral view, glancing once or twice at Taehyung, whose his hands are calmly laid at the back of his head, leaning down the soft sofa.Taehyung, whose mind is made up, perks up, “What do you think about this?” slowly opening up the question, little glances are made.This makes Jeongguk side-glance at him, raising an eyebrow, “What this?” he’s clueless as a sloth sleeping under a tree upside down.“This, this thing that happens when you sleep. I mean, you and me talking like it’s real. You know what I’m saying?” he explains, his voice is so deep and tantalizing. Jeongguk feels his tongue dry.Even if Jeongguk doesn’t really know what the heck is happening, he just nods off. “Yeah. Like, how does this supposed to happen in my head?” He should be probably sleeping tight around this time in his own bed.“Well, let me get straight to the point. I’ve tried retrieving information here and there. And I’ve come up a little conclusion about it.” Taehyung leans down, his elbows prompt on his legs. He rubs his hands and looks down. “We’re having a telepathy inside our minds. Like, the consciousness of ourselves are consumed inside of our heads while we sleep. And I don’t know why that is happening to us.“We are awake inside our mind, but asleep outside. Everything is still happening as the same time. There’s no parallel world thing in this crap. You get it?”Jeongguk nods, and decides to ask a question, “Here and there? You mean you’ve been here before me? You’ve met other people like this?” the curiosity springs out of him.Taehyung swung an arm on the back of the couch, “Yeah, you can call that. So that’s why I kind of expect someone will show up tonight.” He’s only two meters away from Jeongguk and it makes Jeongguk to look back at the blank wall in front of him.“Oh, that’s why you’re not as shocked as me earlier. That does make sense.” The last sentence he only whispers to himself. But he’s still not believing him. “When did you start noticing something is off?”Glancing at the ceiling as if he’s really thinking which Taehyung is, “Well, two nights before.”Jeongguk widens his eye at what he just said, “What? You’re already sober after finding everything about these? How did you already come up something like that within two days? Th – That’s smart, though.” He praises Taehyung in a good way, really.Taehyung smirks and pats Jeongguk’s shoulder, “Thanks, dude. It’s just that, legit long night hours that I had to encounter with different people. I’ve only encountered three, including you. And I’m the one who’s shocked that you’re not that shrieking type of person when it comes to these things.”Jeongguk glares at Taehyung as soon as Taehyung leaves his hand from his shoulder. It brings him to reality that he shouldn’t trust this man so easily. He shouldn’t be soft for Taehyung at this point. He needs Taehyung to earn his trust before letting him to enter.Looking back, he really thinks hard that he just went to bed and closed his eyes. He really remembers that that’s the only thing he did before coming to this room with a strange, handsome man.But after taking everything Jeongguk can from Taehyung to process in his mind, he’s blown away. There’s a little private information Taehyung slips off his tongue. But Jeongguk doesn’t mind it at all, but instead he really likes it. He likes the way Taehyung says things he’s hyped about, the giggles and smiles he gives to him.Yeah, he’s surely not attached at him, already. He didn’t realize Taehyung has a piercing at his left earlobe, and a long earring sways at every little move Taehyung makes while he talks.Hours go by, Jeongguk enjoys Taehyung’s company and Taehyung enjoys Jeongguk’s. Even if Jeongguk is the only receiving end, Taehyung appreciates him that he’s listening intently at him, babbling at something not really serious after having all those deep convo.Talking to people isn’t Jeongguk’s forte. He’s really not much of a talker. He likes to just listen and think about other’s feelings. If one wants him to bring up something about him, he quickly shoves anything he can to stop that. He’s not comfortable to say things about his privacy. He’s not ready yet.A clock shows up at the wall transparent, with all this hi-tech feeling at the edges. It says 3:56AM in the morning. Jeongguk just stares at it, wondering how could he stayed up so late conversing with Taehyung without yawning or being sleep at all.“Woah, it’s already three in the middle if the night?” he asks.“Yeah, Kookie. I guess that’s it for us.” Taehyung sighs heavily.Jeongguk frowns at the heaviness of the sigh and its hint of disappointment. And he really feels sad and lonely at the same time when he hears those last words. Is this really the end of them? Jeongguk won’t going to remember him the next time he wakes up? Jeongguk won’t really see Taehyung again?This is what Jeongguk hates to himself. He’s easy to be attached to someone who wins his favor. He just met Taehyung today and Jeongguk thinks he’s crazy for clinging his feelings for someone. He regrets letting his guard down.Thinking back, Taehyung had just said that he didn’t meet again the people he met before. That made Jeongguk happy and frowning at the same time. He’s happy because he won’t going to be seeing him and frowning because why did his heart skip a lonely beat? Like, he’s missing something in his entire life and something cannot mend his need for Taehyung’s presence again by his side.No, he won’t be tricked. So, he stands up and says, “Yeah. So I’m off.” He didn’t say thank you, or addressing Taehyung that he’s waving off and grateful for his presence. He really did not.He doesn’t know what Taehyung feels right now but he thinks something is off the way he speaks, “Okay. Just go to the door and you’ll wake up.” Gesturing at the door, he closes his eyes.Jeongguk thinks this is manly. That he’s showing off his manly man side. That he doesn’t care about others. He doesn’t want to hurt himself again after those times. He cried and cried multiple times before and it made him look sick. And he doesn’t want that to happen again.He walks straight to the door and without glancing back, which he’ll regret later if he ever founds out that the memory will not linger inside of him forever, opens the door and closes it behind him, hearing the click. ~*~
Next Day.
0703 hours.
Sunlight invites itself inside Jeongguk’s room, warming it up through the small holes of the curtain. He groans as he feels something burns his cheeks, bothering his peaceful sleep.Swaying back from the side, he squints his eyes, trying to erase the drying sleep and looks up. Nothing seems extraordinary except the fact that he’s awake way too early than the usual. And everything about that ‘dream’ hits him all at once. The movement of him off-balancing once the field shifted into living room up to the time he walks out that door as the clock said it’s time’s up.Sitting up straight cripples his mind, causing him to blacken his visions temporarily. He seriously hates to wake up early in the morning. Surprisingly, he remembers that it should be three in the morning but why’s there a light shining through his window. Clearly, Taehyung had said to him that this telepathy is also happening with this ‘normalcy’ Jeongguk can describe. Perhaps, Taehyung’s real wrong and Jeongguk had had slept for another good hours.
Tsk, why should I believe him?
And then it struck hard when he remembers the way the man looking at him. “Ugh, I fucking hate this.” He hisses through his teeth.“I’ll just gonna take a shower and everything about this will be a dream. Yeah, that will do.” He convinces himself, truthfully stupid and awful.Hops off the bed, he makes his way through his bathroom door. He looks himself at the mirror. The traces of his scar he had on his cheek, he remembers the days he had before it happened. He sighs and undresses as he addresses for his pleasing shower time.Overthinking kills him. He cannot take Taehyung off his mind, off his subconscious, off his affected heart. He has to deal with this kind of situation soon or else, he fails. A lot of questions he wanted to ask Taehyung about all of this. But that introduces into meeting him twice, again, and it aches Jeongguk to see him.Confusion confuses him more, makes him hate himself, and makes him a real martyr.Of course, Jeongguk isn’t well bothered if this thing happens again. And maybe with another stranger? There’s a possibility because just like what Taehyung had said, he did not encounter a person twice in the telepathy thing.The water running through his shower is like his feelings; it falls down, down, eternally falling until someone has to stop it. He won’t stop falling for that person until someone had to tell him it’s over, there’s nothing to continue on.Having classes have had almost forgotten, by the time he finishes drying off and changing into clothes. It’s still thursday and until then, he is reminded that on Friday he’ll have again his second update for the week.Crunching his nose, he reaches for his backpack from across his study table and hurries for his car. Being in a college is a hassle for him, really. He needs to go in cities to go to his universities, far away from his parents in Busan. So he had to take a decision.Being so far away, he also needs to earn money for himself, his rent, his food, his schoolwork shit. He also considers applying for a part-time job in some stores in his available time and day. And he’s also okay with night shift, as long as it’s his free time (meaning: no uploads and loads of work from school, really).He only has his car because his father gave it to him as his birthday present for him being eighteenth. Well, Jeongguk accepted an Audi car. He’s cool with it.He strides for his first class a little late. It’s his math class for sake. And thank goodness his professor isn’t there yet. He heaves a sigh and proceeds to an available unused chair at the back, nearest to the windows.He totally loves his place there. It gives him time to think things, rethink things, and so much more while listening to the class and watching the scenery in front of him. The scene last night flashes back and makes him groan and look over his not so much covered notes.“Will it happen again?” he slurs, daydreaming again if he never ever sees Taehyung again in his dreams. His vivid dream last night will be his only memory of him and that thought makes him sad.First off, he really thinks about the telepathy thing not about Taehyung. He wants to know why did that happen in his place, between him and Taehyung. And that he doubts his straightness after that. Guess, he has a lot to think about.“Okay, that’s it. Just prepare for some quiz next meeting. Goodbye.” Said the professor.Everyone stands up and bids goodbye to said professor. He does the same, abruptly getting ready for the rest of the boring day.As he walks out the door for his next class, someone calls up to him, “Jeongguk!”He looks up to the voice, seeing Hoseok waving at him. His face lit up with such shining light that will never be plastered on Jeongguk’s face. With his mouth shaping into heart, Jeongguk totally forgets his bad day.“Oh, hey Hoseok hyung,” he shyly replies with a nod. He only continues to stare at him until Hoseok makes it in front of him. “What makes you call me, hyung? Something wrong?” he asks innocently.“Ah, no, no.” Hoseok is still smiling, waving his hands in the air. “I was wondering if you’d like to have lunch with us later.” He beams. Jeongguk wants to curl up in a corner and be mesmerized by how beautiful Hoseok smiles, and how contagious it is.“Oh, with your other friends?” he asks, he still does not know what Hoseok’s friends are like. Well, he is friends with him but not that close, like eating lunch with him. He’s with him because he also dances and Jeongguk loves to dance. He found his crew at some blocks down his home so he goes there whenever he needs it.Hoseok nods, “Yes, you know. Jimin and Yoongi.”Jeongguk, who of course cannot refuse from Hoseok’s bright smiles, says, “Okay, hyung. I will just meet you there after I finish my class. Is that okay?”“Oh yeah, yeah. Just look for us at the most corner of the cafeteria.” Hoseok bids goodbye and proceeds to his own classroom, opposite to the direction Jeongguk faces.Eating with Hoseok’s friends does not seem to be a bad thing for someone like him who is so shy and not the very talkative. He has seen Jimin in their dance practices, he is good at it, well, awesome even. Jeongguk tries to be like him, so graceful when flipping, changing footsteps here and there with such power in his control.In Yoongi, he barely sees him in the studio. He only saw him one time when he reaches a water bottle at a sweaty and panting Jimin. He thought those two are well close to one another because of Yoongi’s stares at him at the far end. He watches Jimin intently with his catlike eyes.Tilting his head, Jeongguk goes for his next class. Two hours has passed and Jeongguk is currently walking down the hallway of the lecture to go to the agreed venue. Seeing his nervousness in his palms that he is shaking. But he just shrugs it off. It is not that he will see Jimin and Yoongi for the first time.Opening the front glass door of the cafeteria, Jeongguk looks around the noisy crowded place. He seriously does not want places like this so he rarely goes here. Instead, he goes for the library and just quietly reading some books he can read. Books that he really needed to focus on.Once he spots Hoseok waving at him, he exhales and manages to make it in time to sit with them. He sits next to Hoseok, of course.“Hey there, man.” Hoseok greets, fist bumping with Jeongguk, who gladly gives it back.“We already bought food for you since again today is hassle.” Jimin reclines, sliding onto him his plate full of food. Jeongguk just stares at him in disbelief that they made an effort to buy him food. He is about to pull out his wallet when Yoongi speaks up.“Don’t be concerned. It’s just that it will take you days before you can buy your food if you’re late than ever.” Yoongi responds with monotone.“Oh, thank you.” Jeongguk bows and gladly takes the utensils in his hands.“So,” Jimin prolongs the heavy weight of the word before continuing what he says, “What’s with this youtube channel, Jeongguk-ssi?” Jimin starts, smiling slowly as he glances both at the other men within the table.Frowning at the question, he looks up to the one talking in front of him. Did he just hear him right? “What?” he continues to munch his food while asking.Jimin only has to roll his eyes and quirks his lips lightly, “Oh, c’mon, Jeongguk. Stop with that.” He chuckles, eyes presenting into crescent-like moons.“I didn’t even tell you about that.” His frown grows deeper as he looks to Hoseok, “I haven’t even told you that yet.”“Oh, c’mon, Jeongguk. You’re not that famous.” Hoseok grins and laughs, covering his mouth, not wanting to make a mess while he is eating.Completely off the page, Jeongguk lets out a long sigh, intends to give up. “Seriously, me? Famous? On youtube?” That can’t be happening, right? “I mean, yeah. I upload stuff there, but I didn’t know that you all know of it.”“Yes, Jeongguk. You’re that famous.” Jimin’s eyes go puffy as he smiles, “Your first ever video, I think, went viral ‘cuz I happened to see it on my home page too.”Despite the compliment, Jeongguk is about to speak again to say the opposite when Hoseok cut him off.“You were even playing basketball,” he continues after he finishes his food, “Mind you, that was a badass thing to do though,” the sides of his lips stretch as he smiles.Even having a difficult situation wherein he cannot speak because of embarrassment and the complimentary made him speechless, he chooses to nod it off with, “Thanks.”Yoongi seems want to speak up. He fixes his position on his chair and opens his mouth, “You do know that you’re getting popular, right?” His eyes squinting, looking directly at Jeongguk.“Well, I just happened to know it now,” he mumbles, skimming his gaze onto the boys one by one until it lands again on Yoongi’s. “Is it really that important?” he shrugs.“Oh, yes of course, my darling,” Jimin hits up immediately, bringing his hands in the air like a waiting arms. “We’re your friends and we need it to say it’s important. Duh.”Jeongguk snorts, everybody laughs. It is really a good time to be with friends again. He’s glad he has them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
For the most part of the day, Jeongguk tries to listen to every teacher he meets in front of their classroom. Yet with his mind being all over the place, he only sees his teachers move their mouths. He cannot hear them speaking at all, with his mind focuses on the other things like the way the trees sway against the wind, his classmates whispering tons of shit on each other, the creaking sound of whiteboard marker as its tip slides over the white surface. He surely did not miss the way one of his teacher pushes up her eyeglasses on top of her nose bridge whilst speaking.He certainly is not thinking about last night.Despite the ‘whole’ attention he gives to others, his dominant hand drips off the paper, resulting a big dark slash mark on it. He lazily looks at his mess with his droopy eyes before he hears a chuckle at his left.Glancing with narrow eyes, he snickers as it lands heavily on Yugyeom. “Fuck off,” he stares back at the teacher whose mumbling nonsense (for Jeongguk it is and is not).“Don’t worry, I feel you,” Yugyeom continues to laugh until the teacher gives out handouts and reminding them for a short test next meeting before she bids them farewells.“Seriously, that was the most boring class today,” Yugyeom stretches his back and long arms as he stands up, quickly giving himself a copy of the handouts and pass the extras to others at his back.Some students quickly stuff their things into their bags and make way for their last subject while Jeongguk stays idle, observing their movements and behavior. He looks up at Yugyeom who says goodbye before dashing out.Many people merge fast to obtain their wished chairs, encouraging again the wild and loud noises to keep the tension free and not awkward. Jeongguk roughly does not mind it but sometimes it gets to his nerves.A minute or so, a student rushes in and shouts, “Sir Kim is here!” before sitting on her chair carefully. His eyes immediately look at the front door, waiting for the teacher to come in.The noise died and the room comes completely still as if it is a calm weather before the storm.“Hello, class,” said teacher Kim as he manages his way in front of the room, stopping at the teacher’s desk. All of them stand up and reply. “Okay, take your sit.” Without much of a look as he arranges his things on the table.When Jeongguk laid his eyes on the teacher, he suddenly feels the goosebumps blossom in his skin. Strangely, teacher Kim looks up at him and smiles like a fool, showing up his deep-seated dimples on his cheeks. Jeongguk gasps. What the actual fuck.Teacher Kim puts his hands on the table and leans onto it. He speaks, “Let me get straight to the point. We will talk about the mind of a human person. How does it perform, why does it perform, and what does it perform. All of its psychology thing you may want to know. The hidden mysteries you ask to yourself.”“As all of you know, I’m Kim Namjoon. I study science just because I have many questions in life. I find them interesting and why not spread them to people like you, right?” Namjoon does not wait for an answer as he quickly tells them about something.“But first, let’s get you all have a nice introduction in front of everyone.” His thin black eyeglasses that can make him look all appealing contrast his innocent smile.Tons of student whine and shout in disagreement but Kim keeps his composure, “All you need to say is your name or your nickname and what do you think about people that surround you,” and walks down the platform to give the first student in the front row the space. Kim makes himself comfortable at the back in the middle, leaning against the wall.Whispers and such fill the room while waiting for the girl to speak. One of them is he. Much to his personality, he is little to unknown the principles of talking in front of many people. A peaceful conversation on a one-on-one basis is enough for him to secure his collectedness. But talking to a bunch of people more than two makes a mess out of Jeongguk. It makes him go absurd.Time passes as student per student completes their task. Some say people around them make them gain confidence because they know they can do it, no matter what the consequences they surge on. People are for their reminder that they are alike, that they are likely the same and for them to be okay in living such crucial and dangerous place called Earth.Perhaps in a balance medium, negative and positive should contain equality of quantity. So most of them call people a distraction and just a piece of shit that they only know what their brain capacity can give to them, that we all are just toys of God, that we’re here to harbor his creation and make a deal out of it. Even Jeongguk agrees to that.It is Jeongguk’s turn now. His classmates give an effort to twist their necks to just look at him and that makes Jeongguk to cringe at the way they look from absolutely dazzling to disgusting face. He knows it is nothing that their opinion is just a bunch of shit and it will not make a hideous sensation bubble up of him.Making way to the platform feels like forever. He absolutely hates doing things that are too much of work to do. But as soon as he stops in the middle, he looks up at Namjoon and receives the most comfortable feeling that makes him sigh in relief, but a little mass of his muscle stiffens as he speaks.“Hi, I’m Jeon Jeongguk. And,” he stops abruptly, knowing nothing to say but he sure needs to say something. “The people around me, I don’t give a shit—” many gasp and tried to push themselves but Jeongguk continues on, “—about them. As long as they don’t bother me, I’m good. My friends and close ones are the only people I care about. It will only be a hassle if I always think about what you people think in order to look good in your disappointing and judging eyes. Give me a talk, don’t care. You owe me nothing. That’s all.”He walks back to his seat with a trophy laying smug on his back. He may look a bit off the edge to even curse in front the teacher; he does not give a fuck. It is what he thinks, so be it.And the final curtain doesn’t end from him, there are remaining students to speak about and slowly kill the time.He gave one look at Namjoon’s direction, to see if he is not looking at him, or whether he is getting a detention after this. But surprisingly, Namjoon is intently looking at the student in front, not bothering to look at Jeongguk’s own story.Back to gaze the front, Jeongguk hears the remaining sentence his classmate says, “…Even if you’re surprisingly lost to this world, you’re a part of it.” The boy quietly bows and calmly goes for his seat.After classes, the aforementioned video to be uploaded sinks to Jeongguk that he needs to record for tomorrow’s update, so he could only edit it without hassle about the numb-ticking time. Tilting his head to the side while remembering that, he opens his car and flops onto the driver’s seat.Earlier whilst walking down the hallway of his course building after the class he had with Namjoon, some of students passing by took a momentary look at him with those narrowed eyes. Jeongguk’s brows twitch at that because something strange is happening. There is an urge of him to ask the fuck what it is all about it because he cannot withstand people looking and watching his movements without knowing the real cause of it.Not so long, he hears a group of three girls talking about him as they walk to the opposite direction, “Yah, isn’t he that the youtuber?” number 1 girl asks to the other beside her.Number 2 girl gasps somewhat scripted and quickly takes a glance at him. “Oh no shit. It’s him!” she whispers to number 3, when Jeongguk can even hear that.“It’s really him! Hey, hey, do you think I can get his—” Walking straight ahead with fast strides to avoid the commotion, really, Jeongguk does not have any will to talk to people right now so he goes to the parking lot in silence. Finally entering his room, the dusky feeling of it reminds him of something nostalgic but the source in his mind is unknown. Shrugging it off, he drops his bag on the table beside his bed and makes his way to his computer. First thing in the afternoon after a heavy day at the school, using the computer is surely his thing.“What will be today’s upload, hmm?” he starts, rummaging through his desktop full of applications such as those editing stuff for videos, aligning along with the games he plays really well.Spots a new update in a game this month, he thinks he could play it for now. Double-clicking the shortcut icon on his desktop, he leaves his chair to get some water on his small kitchen down the house.On his way back to his room, he stops and notices a small pink sticky note contrast to the dark cotta color of the table beside a lampshade on his living room. He asks himself, what the hell is wrong? Did someone bark in without his notice? Immediately trying to detect any sudden weird movements across the area, searching for another clue whether he is really seeing things.When he notices nothing for the past five minutes, he lets out his breath he has been holding, too afraid that he sucked all the air in his lungs in and did not breathe. His legs help him come to the said note, snatches it and squints slowly trying to comprehend the sharp handwriting.
Jeongguk,
It is your father. I came without your permission. Need not to worry about the fee for this year anymore. So, please stop doing part-time jobs and just focus on your studies. I know I have no rights to say it but, you can come back home anytime. I will wait for you.
Deep breaths, he shakes off the feeling. But, his fingers are trembling with fear and hatred for his father. Suddenly he can’t feel his nostrils as he tries to sniff off his tears.
I will, dad. However, not today.
With the back of his palm, he swipes his wet cheeks and it even encourages the tears to fall down uncontrollably, his bunny teeth showing off as he cries those memories in his head.
I really miss you, dad. Someday, I will be the one to come home.
And so, after that grounding moment, he thinks he’ll not post something new tomorrow. In that same day, evening rushes to replace the afternoon so quick Jeongguk has not noticed yet that he actually made those long hours into good use of completing his essays and assignments, trying himself to distract from that letter. Getting emotional is not his thing so he tries to be impervious in some ways.His relationship with his father is not that great. His reason for going to the university in Seoul is his father. Before, it was all fluffy goofy feeling since it is so nice and comfortable; that everything is completely fine. Until Jeongguk, at the age of sixteen, realized none of the love he has witnessed between his parents are real. It is all delusional piece of family security and safety and all that shit.It started and lasted when he heard them shouting something at their master bedroom.Too loud. Too uncensored. Too evil.Jeongguk froze and all his senses centered at once on that one specific word.
Don’t.
And it even came from his father. And it was thrown out directly at his mother.Then he heard cries. Innocent sniffles and pure phrases he really did not want to listen to but his body reacts the opposite. He completely stood still in front of that door, not by far away and too close.Speaking did not process in his mind or butting in their conversation because he knew it was an adult talk and stuff. Nevertheless, the fact it is about family, where all are united as one and everyone needs to know anyone’s pain and suffering; Jeongguk cannot still manage to mend them back.Hearing the doorknob wriggle, his heart and mind choked on his throat and his eyes widened at the sight. Fully opened, he saw his mother with red puffy eyes, cheeks stung with smudged fallen tears.“Guk…,” his mother breathed slow his nickname at seeing him unexpectedly.At the background, Jeongguk can see his father writhe in anguish and with no absolute care for his mother in the world. He wanted them to ask if all of these are just jokes, that they were so good in acting that they made Jeongguk believed in them. Yet his lips stayed intact and not moving at all.His father gazed back at him, turned into cold and blank expression, not even a single vestige of guilt can see in the haze of his eyes. His mother spoke up again.“Guk, sweetie. I want you to stay with me. Let’s go somewhere far from your father,” his mother fell from her knees, in front of him, clutching his forearms so tight her knuckles were turning white and it’s quivering with so much intensity.“Yah, Jeongguk don’t listen to your mother,” his father said with such authority lingered in his voice.“I-Is it true dad, you don’t love mom?” those little and soft sounds of his voice did not do a thing to change his father’s aura.“So what? Since from the start your mother is just a whore, filthy shit that forced me to marry her,” his words cut through his soul, “I just endured this for so many years because of you, Jeongguk. Our regret. Our mistake.” Jeongguk was lost. He did not know what to feel at that moment when he heard those words coming from his own father. His biological father.“Guk, don’t listen to him. And we need to get out of here now.” his mother kept struggling him to wake up, to open his eyes that everything will not be the same again.Perhaps.Everything went slow.His mother stood up and was ready to snatch him, get out of this hell when Jeongguk heard a loud gunshot and saw his mother opened her mouth as she felt all the excruciating pain as the .308mm bullet passed through her chest. Looking down at Jeongguk with heartbreaking eyes, she fell with a loud thud on the furnished carpeted floor.
“That’s what you get for being a bitch. I’m so done.”
“M-Mom?” Jeongguk rushed to her side, caressed her head while sobbing.
“You have to know that mom will never regret of having you, Guk. Always remember that…”
Long story short, his father killed his mother when he is sixteen. With no other people to ask for some shelter, Jeongguk had to stay with his father. He eventually turned into cold, quiet son. Jeongguk just wished he would turn to 18 soon so he can get out that safety and start a new life.He will never forgive his father because he cannot; with his still fresh memories of his mom lying dead in front of him. Who would not get to recover from that?Now, he is thinking twice if he can go back. That seeing his father again after years of studying on the city side of the country might actually do him something wrong. And he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. Let us leave it like that. That way, it is easier. “Ugh, so many things happen today, I’m so tired,” he exhales after taking a quick shower, hair still wet, covering himself with some sweaters and pajamas, “I cannot even do some recording today. I’m one day behind.”Thinking about his subscribers asking one another what happened to Jeongguk, after announcing that every Friday he would upload regularly he truly feels miserable and sad. Moreover, for his second video, he failed. He just sighs it off, thinking about the problem tomorrow.Lying down the bed, he blinks up the ceiling and lets his mind wander. Wander until he comes to a stop in remembering his night with Taehyung. And he frowns when he cannot remember his face, the structure of his strong eyebrows, his heavy brown eyes, his perfected nose, and his thick lips. He knows surely that he saw him.“What…in the world,” he mutters, and then a minute later on, he now cannot recall his name. He slowly starts to confuse more, “I can’t remember his name.” he retries to think again. Even a little amount of vestige is enough for him.Right now, everything closes until the only thing he can recollect is about being in a delusional space, white walls that were not there at all. “What the fuck is happening to me.”Yet the strangest part is that Jeongguk’s eyes go droopy all of a sudden, like being engulfed with a thick strange enticing scent into his nostrils. “Why…am I…”Then blackness with silence turns on.Jeongguk, being sleepy seconds ago, is now wide-awake. Blurry space turns into that same white space he had encountered before. Same position of that couch, that clock on the wall beside that familiar door.Déjà vu hits him hard.Within a second, somebody has invaded the space, not leaving Jeongguk alone with his endless questions. In front of him, a sound of virtual entrance can be heard and strings of blue and lightest green forms into a human form.Unexpectedly, it is someone he knows.“Yoongi hyung?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Two Days before.
1926 hours.
Bored as he can be, too lazy to do anything, even searching up random videos on youtube makes him go insane because of too much work in just clicking his mouse.Because he cannot sleep. His eyelids are still wide open and not heavy even though his body says otherwise. Currently, he is on his bed, back resting against the headboard, laptop on his pillows sitting comfortably on his thighs.Even the dazzling soft whispers of the crickets in the night, calm expression of neutral dark blues and blacks looming through the sky, his shady lamp on, and quiet neighborhood, do not lull him to sleep.Yet he continues to find interesting videos that can satisfy him to a good night rest.And there, he finds Jeongguk’s introduction video. It makes him grin from ear to ear, hearing his shy voice, the rookie in his actions, that small quirk in his lips, his beanie, his ear piercing, his plain white shirt hugging smoothly the expanse of his shoulders and clavicle.Everything. Everything catches Taehyung.
Same Day.
1946 hours.
There is a domestic feeling in hearing the clangs of kitchenware. Seokjin gladly proves that.The door creaks as Namjoon opens it wide, coming in and closes it behind. He glances down to remove his shoes and put it nicely at the shoe rack beside him. Since Seokjin does not want a mess in the house.“I’m home,” Namjoon declares, loosening his necktie with his free hand. As soon as he throws his messenger bag lazily at the living room, he strides on his way to Seokjin; he clings his arms around his waist, nuzzling the neck next.“Welcome back, Joonie,” Seokjin shortly stops to pat Namjoon’s head gently, “How’s work?” he says, working back to what he is doing. The room smells strong hints of spices.Namjoon sighs and replies, “It’s fine but stressful as always,” he chuckles and further leans to Seokjin’s scents. “Want me to help?”Seokjin quickly snorts, pushes his hip backwards to bump Namjoon’s, “Silly. You know you can’t.”“I know. But you’re always doing the work.” Namjoon feels hurt, stiffening as he tightens his grip around Seokjin’s stomach. “Just ask if you need help, okay?”Nodding, Seokjin closes the lid of the pot for it to cook itself.Silence looms the room. They know what is coming. Yet no one is talking.Still clinging to Seokjin, he cannot help but tad him with feather-like kisses along the junction of his neck and shoulders. Seokjin closes his eyes at the sensation, firmly resting his own hands on top of Namjoon’s; soughing.Knowing he did not protest, Namjoon then rakes his hand up to his broad chest in lust wonder. His trail kisses go up behind Seokjin’s earlobe, nipping as softly as he can, eliciting that sweet sound from his partner.They continue their ministrations to each other until the pot in front of them screams that it is all ready for supper. Giggling, the cook removes those willing hands around him to prepare the table. Namjoon butts in that he wants to help and his lover agrees. Well, he cannot help himself if Namjoon shows him his weakness.“Let’s eat first before we begin.”
Same Day.
2025 hours.
White deafening noise surrounds Taehyung as soon as he lands his feet on something concrete and yet nothing similar with floors. He feels like he is floating when he looks down. Those noises he hear subside after a few seconds before he can regain again his normalcy.Remembering that he is in unknown place, his eyes discover simple things that can be seen in a living room; a couch with rectangular table in front, a clock steadily floating in air beside a lone door.
This is creepy.
He is about to take a step to further linger his wonder when a voice interrupts him.“Good evening, Taehyung.”The voice is unfamiliar to him but it knows his name. His heart freezes in attempt to hide itself and to not further encounter such things like this. Who’s that, he asks. His eyes investigate his surroundings, trying to find the source of that voice but fails to see it.When he can voice out, he asks, “Who are you?” a little stiff to his neck as he speaks.“That does not matter here,”It doesn’t change the tone but Taehyung knows it is not an artificial intelligence.“What do you want?” he calls out, looking up as if the voice is up there, where he knows its just an endless white ceiling looking down on him. “Thank you for asking. I am here to say that in the next few days, you’ll encounter things like this every night,” it pauses, “Whatever you oppose, you will strictly follow the rules.”“Rules?” He frowns, “What rules? What is this? Can you not see I’m trying to decipher the hell of this.” He hisses.“Yes, Taehyung. I can hear your heart pulses in a higher rate than a normal being. Your mind tells us you are not believing this.”Speechless, Taehyung grimaces at the sudden confession. “But if you know what I’m feeling, why are you still continuing this?”“For I cannot tell the reason, you will remain here as he wishes.”The hands at Taehyung’s sides grip into fists, his nails digging in the flesh, “You can’t tell? Seriously? You cannot have me here without my consent!”“My apologies. But you are the chosen one and you will abide to our restrictions.”Taehyung knows he cannot argue any further because he does not have any words to butt in, knowing that the voice was the one who put him here in an endless white noise, it is the only one who can turn him back to the realm of the world. “Fine.” He just needs to follow it. He can go through this.“Thank you. Now, we will proceed.”A dark light flashes to his left side, appearing to be a flat screen. It says:
Swallow the pill.
Taehyung waits for the voice to reappear, but a minute or so, it does not speak. Seriously, if can just control this naïve space, he can turn back to his room any time now. Nonetheless, he is still here and needs to oblige what the speaker tells him to do.Hesitantly, he approaches the table. He hears shimmering sounds and sees a pill and a glass of water appearing in front of him. Gulping, he stares in awe and flashes a look at the screen if it is just joking on him.Well, he guesses no.Licking his lips, he grabs the small plain white and red pill, swallowing it with water. After finishing until the last drop, he wipes his mouth with the back of his palm as he places the glass firmly on the table.He waits for the effect. But nothing happens.He waits for the speaker. But nothing happens.Then a ting of a sound enters his ear, he sees the screen flashes some words again. It says:
Seat on the couch and read attentively for the next slides.
Sighing, he walks over the couch and softly bouncing after he finds his place. He’s really without any authority right now and that saddens him. Rather, irks him.His mind wonders. If he will be okay after all of this. The vulnerability in his eyes. The panic in his sweaty palms and the stuttering of his thigh. For he cannot predict what will happen to him, he knows he is in great danger. Even the knowledge of no control of this space in his hold, scares Taehyung. He always likes to be in control. In no matter what kind of situations. Just like this is one of the examples.After it seems to register that Taehyung is sitting now, the screen changes. It lets the words flow in slow motion. Taehyung’s heart rushes to his ears, closing up his throat, his chest feels so heavy as he sees what’s in front of him:
You will start tomorrow at exactly 2050 hours.
Close friends of yours are the variables. Except one.
Everything is in real-time. Meaning it is in the present.
Your memories will retain but theirs will gradually not.
Talk about the rules with other party, say goodbye.
However, can talk about anything related but not directed.
Attachments, say goodbye.
Experiment is all. Whether we lose you or not, in the end you are just an independent component in this field.
If successful, memories will be your reward.
One more thing, give your best.
He reads every single word on the screen, without blinking, without breathing, without breaking the contact. His breathe only hitches when his eyes glaze over the word goodbye, in awe and blank.In agape, his lips part. Everything he sees is unacceptable. His mind has this tingling sensation that makes Taehyung close his eyes and tilts his head, air seems to come back slowly in his lungs.What the hell is the meaning behind all of this, he thinks. Why me.“What the fuck about me being just your independent component in this field?” he spits.“Successful? Reward?” he emits.“What the fuck is this give your best?” he shouts, feeling all his blood rushes to his head.“What the hell is goodbye?” he murmurs to himself, trying to hold himself, trying to contain all at once.But the voice does not respond to him.Taehyung’s been thinking. All of those possibilities that could happen to him and his friends—he gulps. Who in his circle of friends will he meet? The odds of guessing isn’t with him. It could Baekhyun, Bambam, Bogum, or Mark. They are his close friends, right?He just does not expect it to be Jimin. Of all people.
Next day.
1615 hours.
He walks out of his classroom, clutching his phone in his hand. His other hand fixing the strap of his backpack on his shoulder. His eyes never leaving the small screen of his phone. He just happens to hear the notification that Jeongguk has just uploaded a new video in the middle of his class. Maybe he is clutching his phone underneath the table. God only knows why.Taehyung has been giggling all around the hallway, not minding much his way out of the building as he easily is effected whenever he hears Jeongguk inhale and exhale through the mic of his camera.Upon walking to the exit, he bumps into someone—technically a teacher. Embarrassment quickly crawls on his face, wants the tiles to devour him in instanat because he actually bumps into one of the infamous teachers he is been hearing about. And god, does he gulp slowly as he takes in his image before him.“G-Good morning, Mr. Kim,” Taehyung whispers, different shades of pink decorate his cheekbones the moment his lips roll his teacher’s name in a quiet manner.“Good afternoon to you, too,” Namjoon just laughs it off, even if he notices Taehyung widen his eyes in the correction.“O-Oh, s-sorry. Good afternoon—sir,” bows Taehyung, for he cannot stand the gaze of the teacher for long. It holds those dark shapes, the deepness of his soul, and the unknown ambivalence it holds.Unintentional bump means awkwardness. So, Taehyung immediately bows again for the time being and says in a hurry manner, “I have to go now. See you next time sir.”Promptly, he dashes his way out of the exit even before he hears Namjoon say his farewell.He only stops when he thinks he’s far too gone to notice, bending to catch some air as his chest trying to level out his pace.The first thing he thinks is to update Jimin.
My hoe tae
JimINNNNN
My love
Jimin bae
TaehYUNGGGG
What is up babe?
Guess whattttt;;Bitch just tell me XDYour bitch just bumped onto mR>KIMwHAfoR REAL??aS IN KIM N A M J O O Ni CANT BELIB IT MINNJSKJDAKJD SHT WHAT DID U DOFck instead of saying good aAFTERNOON, i said good MORNING JSKJKAJSAJSAKSJHAHAHHAYOU MADE URSELF A FOOLBut that’s alright sweetieHe’ll remember u bc of that sht HAHAHFUCKYU JUST USCK ON YOONGI’S DICK TEHNuGH I HATE YOU AND YOUR TYPOSI LOVE YOU TOO <3 <3Taehyung just smiles at his phone while rereading the ones Jimin has sent. It lights up his darkest moods and lightens his day. He would never ask anyone better since he has Jimin already as his best friend—well, soulmates.After seconds of retracing their conversation, he ducks his phone in his front right pocket as quickly and neatly as possible before taking a turn for an afternoon coffee. Certainly, he just wants to slightly forget the things happened last night and to just bury his nose on the books and notebooks he probably needs to read.The first thing he sees is Starbucks and comes in with a soft chime of a bell. It has always noisy people, especially students just like him trying to study in a specific place. But since this coffee shop is quite popular they need to get the hang of it; the time to adjust.He orders quietly, listening to the soft buzz and hums of the surrounding while trying to decide which drink he should drink, considering he’s quite broke but still buying expensive coffees.It’s his turn, yes, gladly he says so as he says what he picked up, says his nickname (he really doesn’t want to tell out loud his real name) and pulls out some bills to pay. While all doing these things, he remembers. The voice vibrates inside his body, the deep but soft sound speaking across that white room.Hearing the cashier calls out his name, it shakes off the reverie out of him. He murmurs shy thanks and bows, sighing softly as he feels the warmth beverage radiates off the plastic cup. Goes around, his eyes flickers onto every vacant chair available for him and his quiet time.As if he met an idol, he immediately rushes to the only chair further back with a nature sight of fresh green and dries leaves outside the glass beside it.Perfect time to go emo, he laughs.He places his bag on the table, pushes back and in the chair as he sits on. Through the papers and books, he finds his earphones and quickly plugs it in and opens up youtube. He did not finish what he watches earlier so he had to finish it now.Whenever Jeongguk does something that amazes Taehyung, the silver-haired man quirks his lips into rectangular smiles, breathing out as he tries to control his laughs.That is when Taehyung feels a pang behind his back.He thinks someone just happens to throw a little heavy material on him accidentally. But he remembers that it is a wall behind him. So his mind reverts back and thinks other possibilities.It hurts so much he grimaces. He attempts to rub it off while still watching the half of the video on his phone. It is when it starts to spread out just from between his shoulder blades. He then pinpoints out that the pain is right on his blades. It feels as if something was ripped off out of its place. He has to slouch, feeling the pain down to the dimples of his back.“What—the, hell,” he curses.Putting down his phone, he manages to grab his coffee and drinks as if it will numb the pain. Yes, it eases down his dry throat but it is not going anywhere near torpid.Now it slightly scratches against the shirt he is wearing, then turns to burn and flexes itself till it reaches to his deltoids.“What the-” he yelps as it bites his shoulders and starts to gain some attention from people near him, wondering what is he up to, and why is he shouting in a dim and secluded shop. Yet he could not stop the burning sensation across his bod. He wants to scratch the itchiness away, dump his body here and float his soul away.Just like in any story, it reaches its climax and ends in denouement. His ending pain hums in low vibrations and slowly gathers at one point below his thoracic region. He hisses the pain secluded there, trying to trash it away by thinking other things like his favorite songs, or his little plant inside his bedroom, or the stranger’s voice.And then his mind goes over Jeongguk’s baby face: the baby fat that clings onto his cheeks, his doe cocoa eyes, the curve point of his bumpy nose, and the pint-size of his dimples only showing whenever he smiles so wide even his eyes start to wrinkle.It’s all soft and svelte and sweet. The sweet smell of caffeine invades his nostrils, calming his nerves and all the enzymes to go back to work. He imagines himself talking with Jeongguk in one of these chairs whilst his eyes closed, no signs of hurry as they softly sip the hot drink with their hands circle the cup.If hearing Jeongguk start to mumble about his life, Taehyung would clearly listen to every inch of it. He’d intently let the words melt inside him, feel them, make them feel special, make Jeongguk feel safe with him. He’d even do anything just to make Jeongguk smile with his dimples again.Sighing, he can now twist his upper body and feel nothing as if the pain was not there at all.After all, it is just his imagination.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Without looking back at the coffee shop, he swiftly leaps on the asphalt stairs down to the road. Without much of thinking anything else, his thoughts drifts back to what happened last night.He really tries to analyze the weird things happened to him, asks himself if he truly just sleeps off the bed, mentally cursing for making his laptop ran out of battery the next day.Going back to the “sleep hallucination” – he entitles, he tries to remember the rules the voice has given him. Those 10 instructions, 10 things that would survive his humanity in this ‘experiment’ they call, haunt the silver-haired man.
What experiment?
They sound it so scientific (well it is), but for more like deep, as if something has been planned all along, without even trying to acquit the specimen out of their sin.Do they even consider his feelings? His consent first? Do they even know that?Taehyung feels so confused, so used, so thrown out of the window. What could be the personalities within him that got that voice to pick him? Are there any physical qualities that only Taehyung could execute? Why him?He makes an effort to gather the information he remembers. First, a living room in a blank space. Why would someone actually spend his or her time in a common living room? He thinks it should in a laboratory room. Bedroom? Since that would be in a closed scenario. Perhaps the kitchen since there are many utensils to use for.Quickly dismissing the idea, he goes for the space. It really solves the curiosity. Having a blank space—especially white—is an important part of an experiment. It will be their limiting factor. Everything that happens in the white space will only be in that white space; but everything that goes in and out of that, it does not hold volume, meaning it would only be the conscious. It will be very hard to transfer a particular solid shape, let alone any physical property in and out (that would put a lot of hard work). That is why only when they are asleep can the voice snatch them back to the room.Everything sounds so technical and even Taehyung is proud of himself that he recalls what the professor spits on them every time they had the lecture with him.Next one is the clock. It only shows up when the time is up. Even the sketch of it displays a hi-tech construction. Could that be a visual conscious of the voice? It could not be with the living room since the other pieces of furniture does not go invisible and reverse back.Anyways, his mind shoots to the black screen floating across the couch and the table. It follows to the command of the voice and contains the instructions of the experiment. He cannot think of anything about it so his eyes flick to the appearing pill and a glass of water on the table.He stops walking, the gears inside his head cognitively stops. Did he just swallow the pill without even asking the reason behind it? What if that pill is the reason his dead is reserved.“God fucking damn it,” he hisses through his gritted teeth.He continues to strive home. He could not possibly be dead after everything, right.Right?Frowning by this, he gets to trip a little, as he clocks in that he is already in front of his apartment. He pushes himself up to open the door and locks it behind him. Darkness envelopes the lone boy when he looks up, the deafening screech of silence passing his ears by left and right.The man puts his bag languidly on the floor beside his bedroom door and slumps on the bed with a sigh.“Did I ever ask of this?” he whispers into the sheets with a mumble.
Let us ditch dinner.
~*~
Present Day.
2051 hours.
Yoongi squints his eyes when he hears Jeongguk speak. “Excuse me?”Jeongguk cannot help but to smile at the little action. “It’s you, right? Yoongi hyung?”“Hey, Jeon Jeongguk. I’m sleeping,” says the blond haired person, turning his back and straddling his way to the couch to sleep again.“Y-You’re not awake?” asks he.“What do you think? It’s my precious time, I need to sleep.” Yoongi grumbles, muttering something related to music recording all day and night.Stunned like a frozen ice, Jeongguk walks in front of him, his face masks already with so much questions. “B-But…”Under the heavy gaze, Yoongi glares at Jeongguk, declares but without any threat, “I’ll smash you with my fist if you speak one word again.”With that, Jeongguk backs off and sits on the front of the couch, places his chin on his arms as he makes his elbows slump on the table. He did not mean anything to make Yoongi mad, though.As he expected, Yoongi does not speak or talk to someone unless you are Hoseok or Jimin, or both. Even in their practices, he only manages to sneak a peek on Yoongi’s lithe body movements.He can only catch some knowledge from Hoseok and Jimin when they are talking about music and him being a brat and soft at the same time. He pictures then that Yoongi is such a grumpy man but with a soft pleading heart. He knows Yoongi is concerned but never shows it off, he truly proves that actions speak louder than words.One time, they were tend to clean the studio. However, Jeongguk was already at his limit but he pretended as if he was not. Therefore, he helped wiping off the wall of mirrors with some damp cold flannels.But as he started to reach for something on the floor to throw it at the trash bin, his knees lied to him. He went straight to the floor with a loud thud, with the help of his sweat. He moved to hold himself up but were stopped when he saw a pair of pale strong hands grip his forearm with an overprotective feeling sipped through his frantic nerves.“Hey, hey, kid, slow down,” said the owner of the said hands, pulling him up with such slow pace. “We can take care of this. Now, go take a shower.”The younger glances at Yoongi, pleading that he can also take care of this. He is already grown up and can do hard tasks. He stares at him like a pup, that he is not a bedridden ill man who is a waste of time and effort to feed.“Chill, Jeongguk. It’s okay. I know you pushed yourself too much. I understand.” Yoongi nodded.It softens his face, his pale cheeks turn to blush as he averts his eyes at how embarrassed the younger was just from remembering it. Yoongi’s face was too close at the younger so he should be frightened at the proximity.The younger hears the older shuffle in his position, sees him stare at him from his arms. Of course, Jeongguk smiles with all of his best, tries not to be awkward with his hyung.“Hey, I have a question,” he mutters, a little slur as he continues to hide his lips.“Yes hyung, what is it?”“Why are you here?”“Me?”“Yeah, you.”“But hyung, I should be the one asking you that. Why are you here?”“I was just sleeping but you had to appear before I even make to this couch.”“Do you even remember where you had fell asleep, hyung?”This slips Yoongi’s lips tight shut. He does remember falling asleep, but where could he possibly get to sleep?“Ah, I slept inside my studio. Why you ask?”Jeongguk just has to slap his face with his hand as he witnesses the slow turtle walk ten thousandth kilometers per hour. “Jesus, hyung.”Yoongi gets to sit upright and faces Jeongguk is a questioning look.Jeongguk continues, “Hyung, you are not in your studio right now. We’re not even inside the dance room.” He acts like a normal guy, but inside he is laughing his ass out.And then silence.The brown haired man had to bite his bottom lip to ensure he will not break into fits of laughter. If anyone could have just seen Yoongi’s shock face, they can relate to what Jeongguk has been laughing out about. Remembering his other friends, Hoseok and Jimin, oh boy it will be speechless.“What—where am I, fuck,” Yoongi abruptly stands up, whisking his head from side to side to check the place with a matter of annoyance. “Yah, Jeon Jeongguk-ah.”He looks up, snickering aloud, his laugh bursting out in intervals. “Yes, hyung.”“Did you bring me here?” he says, a hint of disbelief in his voice.It takes Jeongguk half a minute to regain his composure and talks, “Hyung—no. I didn’t—”“—Then why am I here.”“—bring you here. Hyung, I don’t know, okay. This is not even my own room.” He explains, leaning to his side to hold himself up with hand as he stands up too.The older, frown on his face, looks at him, taking his time to figure out what is happening. His skin-colored lips parted a little, his catlike eyes scan the area. He notices the walls are not walls at all; the pieces of furniture are left hanging with nothing to hold them.“J-Jeongguk-ah,” points at the wooden door and looks at him, “Can you tell me what the fuck is wrong with me? Am—Am I hallucinating? Am I even floating too—AH!”Yoongi starts to fly, flips his arms to the sky he struggles to understand that he is floating. “There’s n-no floor!” – “J-Jeongguk!” – “Help!”“Hyung! Hey—” he keeps on laughing, silently smacking his thighs with his right palm.“What is this!”“Hyung!”Yoongi stops and then rushes to the door, only for him to shake its doorknob excessively. “The door! It won’t let me out!”“Stop, hyung! There is nothing you can do about it,” Jeongguk’s laugh slowly cools down, coming forward to snatch his hyung back to the couch and lets him sit there.Lost to his own world, Yoongi obeys, staring blankly on the wall (well if it is there) in front of him. He knows he can go through this, he is a tough member of their dance crew, and he can do well. He is not afraid of such thing like this. Yeah.Jeongguk sits beside him, caressing the older’s nape gently as he tries to hush him like a little crybaby. Keeping a look on his hyung, he thinks of words he can explain to Yoongi. He anticipates some stranger not Yoongi or other people that he knows of.Especially much to his surprise, Yoongi acts like he is so shocked. Like, Yoongi as someone as who does not show most of his emotions to his friends or just stares at them blankly—blinking even—seeing him go berserk shuts him up and takes everything in.He does not want to judge him either. It is Yoongi after all.“Hyung, do you want me to talk now?” he whispers, if he knew that there is water here, he would give him a glass of water to gulp something. “I mean, I know a little bit of it.”A moment of silence. The rhythmicity of his breathing comes back to normal.Yoongi glances at him, quirking an eyebrow.Jeongguk rests his hands between his thighs before exhaling, looks down at his fidgeting fingers as he tries to find the right words to say, his body warming up from the gaze, attention.“Uh, I also encountered this yesterday. When I slept, I woke up suddenly standing also in this living room.” He gulps.Knowing the blonde guy won’t respond, he proceeds, “I, I did not freak out like you were, hyung. I’m too stunned to actually shout and try breaking the door. I thought I was just dreaming that ‘yeah, it’s so peaceful’. I made myself comfortable even though it is quite shocking. Until then, I realized I am not the only one in the space—whatever you call this.”He scans his hyung’s face, stretched wide eyes looming over his image. “Hyung, there’s a man. A beautiful man. H-He is so dazzling I cannot describe him as handsome like a guy should be. He is like a precious thing I have ever seen. God, I didn’t know I was checking him out when I realized he is also looking at me too and I’m staring far too long. His eyes are so beautiful; I mean it is so unique. He has his one eye a mono lid and a double lid on the other! And his lips damn, his smiles are so rectangular. I don’t know. I get attracted to it. His eyelashes too—” he fumbles his words as Yoongi cuts him off with his palm covering his mouth.“Okay, okay. I can imagine him now. Yes, you have a crush on this ‘beautiful’ man. I can’t wait to see the both of you getting clingy to each other. Now, please cut to the point. Why we are here and all that gloomy stuff.” Yoongi mimics, an impeccable soft partly suppressed laugh oozes out his thin but now bloody lips from biting too much.
2102 hours.
At the sound of that, the tip of the raven’s ears turn to crimson colors, burning slowly with the heat splashing across his helpless face. He wants to argue with that, but his lips stay intact and because at a little bit of honesty, Yoongi’s right. He does not deny it.So, he coughs, clearing his throat, “So, yeah, as I was saying. He tells about the consciousness of the mind and the telepathy or something related to that. It is not in some parallel world like different dimensions merging into one in this space. That would be hard to control, I guess. And, I think that it is in the present.“Yoongi hyung, you know me. You did not even flinch or ignore me. I mean, well if we are in a parallel dimension, you should have ask what am I doing, why are you here, or how come I got to go through something to see you, something like that?“And perhaps you saw me like it is really me. It’s the Jeon Jeongguk you know and it is the same for me. I know you. I have come to the familiarity of your stubbornness, your glares—hyung it’s true!”He tries to get away from Yoongi’s countless spanks on his sorry arm. It feels so nice to have a time with your friends, especially to people who don’t express much their thoughts to others because they think it will not be beneficiary that it is just their opinion and no one could ever think about it. And of course to people who just don’t give a damn—like Yoongi.It is just a waste of time for him to exudate such strong feelings again and again. It feels like it is meaningless already. The purpose of one emotion is getting shallower, broader. Everyone knows he is an easy man. So, they would tend to leech, get that sympathy over him until they are satisfied, with their stomachs full.And now, after learning that Yoongi has changed, they left, said that it is not the Min Yoongi they knew before anymore, that something has corrupted his soul, that it will not ever going to recover from that ‘excruciating’ pain.Yet we all know he is still the Min Yoongi. Jeongguk knows, even though he only met him few years back. He understands him. Very well.Min Yoongi hides. Runs. Cries. His childhood memories crawl onto him every time he thinks of it, every time it triggers him, especially with his boys. His younger brothers. He has to save them too from the barbarous treatment of prejudice, of this unfair society.They stare, lost at the moment. The shift of Yoongi’s eyes leaps from Jeongguk’s one eye to the other, finding each other’s soft gazes, and the intimacy of their little moment.“Hyung,”“Yeah,”“Do you like Jimin?”
2117 hours.
“W-What—” Yoongi reacts, without receiving any warning from the young man. He blinks, take turns of sinking the thought in and throwing it out the door (well if the door is open he would do it).Jeongguk asks again, the little boy not knowing what is happening to the mind of who is sitting beside him, “Like, like him?” Coming from the reaction of the older, Jeongguk thinks he has, even a little bit of affection towards the mochi, squishy but built of lots of muscles man.“Why d-do you ask that? I mean, we get to see each other every day.” Yoongi stutters, averting his eyes oh-so-good Jeongguk sees it, the nervousness.“I don’t take it seriously, so don’t worry.” Jeongguk reassures. “But do you?” he squints, leaning forward, as if clearing Yoongi on something.Yoongi backs, trying to maintain the inches apart. “Hey, hey. Watch out.”Retreating, he stomps his fists on his thighs like a toddler, waits a response from Yoongi. His eyes sparkling, his cheeks dusting shades of warm scarlets, showing off his high cheekbones.Laughing, Yoongi’s gummy appears. “Jeongguk-ah. You don’t have to be like that.”“But hyung, I wanna know, I wanna know.”“Alright, alright.”Jeongguk sits still.“No, I don’t have feelings for him.”“What?”Sighing, Yoongi looks down at his clothed feet. “It seems I have but I don’t really. The thing is, I already have a boyfriend.”What about what he saw at those times? What about the way Yoongi stared at Jimin for a couple of seconds before batting away? What about those times he gave him water bottles during and after practices?What are all those?Are they lies?Are they illusions?As if, Jeongguk did not catch those rare significant traces. A prism of his different colors of feelings when he mentions Jimin, talking with him, talking to him.Jeongguk thought all of those have meanings. It is not his heart, but he feels so sad. His heart aches for need. The need to be recognized.He wants to read Yoongi’s mind. He desires to know what is Yoongi’s really saying. He looks into his eyes, searching for clarification, some assurance. Some truth. He wishes that he is just saying nothing and wants him to break. Break in conclusion of telling him what he truly wants because from just looking at his eyes, he knows it. It deflates of brown and gray.“A-Are you sure?”And he sees it. Jeongguk sees him put his lips in small thin line. The gummy smile Jeongguk always wants to see from him, it did not show. The genuine sparkles of his eyes, it’s gone. It’s blank. It’s like a dead fish’s eyes.Silence and deafening noise stuccos merge, showing the heaviness of Yoongi’s words. The question dangling in the air, no one wants to reach and pick it out. However, Jeongguk wants to know the reason.Who is his boyfriend?“Who’s the guy?” Jeongguk softly breathes, muttering through his parted lips.“You know him,” says the blonde-haired person, turning away to take an interest to the lonely table. “It’s Hobi.” A barely whisper but oh so loud noise for his ears to catch that phrase.There is a thing Jeongguk cannot distinguish. Somehow, he knows that he feels small all of a sudden. His mind goes numb. Coming to think of it, why is he feeling all of these? Why is he the one in pain?“Hobi? H-Hoseok hyung?”He can feel them as if Yoongi is trying to say he needs comfort, help, and sureness.He looks down; he is sure Yoongi’s right leg is shaking. A sign of dreading. He is scared of something. Jeongguk backs up, now he sees Yoongi biting his bottom lip.“Is there something wrong with Hoseok hyung?” he reaches his hand out, slowly and scared Yoongi will shriek.As soon as the pad of Jeongguk’s fingers touch almost to Yoongi’s whitewashed skin, the latter gets his hand fly to his chest, an incredulous stare is seen in Yoongi’s hollow eyes—with a squeal of surprise at the contact.“Hyung, are you alright?” Now, Jeongguk is more concerned. Wide doe eyes meet catlike eyes; the former keeps a close-lipped smile, conveying he wants to understand Yoongi’s condition or situation right now.“Y-Yeah, yeah. I-I’m fine,” Yoongi nods, breathing deep through his nostrils and exhaling lazily through his mouth.Then a sudden of jolt and shock strike.At the small amount of time, everything comes to him at once. Like hollows of the fearless night ghouls.Jeongguk agitates, judders, and shakes rapidly. His eyes roll back to his head, silently screaming for the sudden pain, nuisance coming through him.He cannot breathe.He cannot think.He cannot move.Yoongi sees these. In his eyes, he sees him convulses, trashes in his position, his eyes turning white, it is a horrible sight. Jeongguk’s wrists twist in pain, turning at all sides, his elbows darting side to side. He writhes and squirms, but there is no sound coming from his mouth.He wants help.
But there is no help.
He wants to cry.
But he cannot shed a tear.
He wants to stop.
But he feels all those hurt and pain.
“J-Jeongguk? Jeongguk!”
What is this? What is happening?
I can’t feel my body.
I see Yoongi hyung crying.
2121 hours.
Taehyung gasps, asks for air. For goddamn something he can stay alive with.
Fate does not want it.
He struggles, trashes around, whisks for an eternity.
Fate has to do something.
The pants he breathes, the puffs around his mouth, his chest heaves roughly.
Fate is angry.
He runs for dear life with no end. There is only a light, a tiny whisk of dot, asking for Taehyung’s attention.
They want it.
Taehyung’s legs are noodles. A fire burning down his throat, he feels so sick. He wants to puke, to vomit his organs. He wants to stop. He cannot. He can’t control his fucking legs. It keeps moving, moving forward to that singularity.
“He is the one.”
What are they talking?His mind is black, no signs of life. He sees nothing; he thinks he is blind. He wants to think.
“Let him rise once again.”
And he gets to the point his knees bend, drives himself through the dirty gray floor. He looks up; the dot is still so far. His mouth shivers, his eyelashes bash down his cheeks repeatedly.
“No one dares against me.”
Now, he wants to get up, come back to that dot he hopes his home. The burning sensation does not leave. The insides of his mouth pool of saliva, he gulps and gulps. Yet his esophagus hurts. Fingers itch to skin himself alive, targeting first the section of his clavicles.
“Yes, your Majesty. I will be ever your loyal.”
He just wants it to stop. No one listens to him. No one is around for him to call help. He wants to be saved. He is scared. So scared.
He needs to die.
He needs to live.
He needs to die again.
He needs to live again.
To feel the pain.
To feel what he has done to this world.
He screams, is shocked to hear his own voice. It’s scarred. It’s dry and hoarse. It’s like not his.The pain comes first through the dimples of his small back. It’s there. It’s all too-familiar. The surging energy of reds and oranges circulate through his spinal cord. He pleads it to go away, it slices him in half, and the sharp needles pierce through his skin and tissues.It shoots up, stopping between his shoulder blades. It balls, radiating so much heat near his heart. He will be not surprised if his heart stops beating. His mouth perfects an o-shape, his eyes widen, and his head lolls back.He is a screaming mess, a moaning mess. Sweats scatter around him, around the surface he is lying onto. He forgets he is shirtless and feet bare from the mind-numbing hell.A living nightmare in his dreams.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
2206 hours.
Fate is going to do it.
The ball of burning bright fire separates into two, attaching themselves right beneath his blades, mourning through his scapula, running to his deltoids. What is this?It slows but shines intensely with a destroying force Taehyung can still endure even though he is passed his limit. He cannot lie his back on the floor. It is not helping him. His lower arms squishing underneath his weight against the black floor. His pants fanning through his face because of the closeness of it against the floor, nearing his forehead from being touched.He is in scorching pain.
He will not make it.
Fate is unbothered.
Their fault. They made a mess.
And then, something happened even science cannot explain.Taehyung’s skin rips two identical slashes, parallel to each other, blood ogling out and painting his back with dark droplets of violent ruby-red fluids.Taehyung is crying blood.His vision sees black spots on its corners, slowly invading his eyesight with so much more evil. The transition is a slow progress, his body is trying to adapt to the new physique—no. Not new. His cocoa eyes fades out, a white for a second, and changes into evil flesh crimson coming to its own home. Black surrounds the orbs, Taehyung growls between his gritted teeth, spatting beads of salivates, deep down his throat, vibrating through his chest.
See, he is turning. He will make a great exception.
2248 hours.
Jeongguk reaches out, trying to calm his hands from scratching his throat. He’s in deep blue ocean because he sees nothing but deep blue hues, jet black anchoring through the beds of the backwater.It goes on for about an hour or two, or an hour and two. He does not give a fuck. He just wants to stop it.
This will be the prey.
Panicking, Yoongi goes back and forth, his eyes darting for something he can damp on Jeongguk without making it worse. Well, it’s worse.“Fuck, fucking hell,” he curses, his hands go for his head to tug at something. “Jeongguk, stay with me.”He can’t hear for god’s sake. The deafening noise attacks him, wrapping him in a black blanket. His senses are making it worse for him. It is as if someone is eating him up, clasping him hard across his hips and waist.“Y-You have t-to stay with me, Jeongguk.” Yoongi sputters, “You can’t die on me.”Yoongi is confused, out of place, paranoid, and scared. Jeongguk is suffering. He is bad to himself, Yoongi thinks it’s his fault. There cannot be anything that not his fault. Jeongguk is with him for hours straight. Everyone will expect him to surrender for murdering his own brother.Oh.He is a murderer. Of his own friend.He failed again.He is a failure to save his friend. Jeongguk, his youngest brother.“No, this can’t be happening, again,” Yoongi shakes his head, stepping back from the writhing almost-corpse body. “I, I can’t save him.”He hiccups with his words, his mind freezes, cannot comprehend the scenario flashing before him. He. Can’t. Save. Jeongguk. He is useless. Yoongi is useless.He will see someone again leaving his side.
He’ll play an important role.
He cannot do that. He does not want Jeongguk to leave him.
Let’s play him.
His head clicks, snapping him out of the reality. To make Jeongguk not leave him, he decides.
He will kill him.
It is going through the plan.
He dashes forward, hands flying to Jeongguk’s glistening neck, baring at him, asking him to choke it out of breath.Eyes are nothing but a mild blankness staring right into Jeongguk’s soul. His cheeks blaring burns and shaking at the furious feeling to kill Jeongguk, lips trembling with no fear. The adrenaline rush flows through his blood vessels so easily, making the tendons stand out in his neck, a visible pulse thumping hard.“Jeongguk, you’re going to stay with me,” he speaks, surprisingly calm and contrasting to his throbbing bod. “You have no choice and I will take care of you, alright?”Jeongguk feels his air tunnel shrinking, giving out. It snaps his eyes back to the reality but his body is still in rattle. Seeing the blonde hovering him, his eyes snap to his extending arms down to his neck. Yoongi hyung tries to kill me!With no other choice, he forces his hand to cooperate with him, slowly coming for the invading hands to stop and push it away.
The prey will stay.
After enveloping his weak and quivering fingers around Yoongi’s wrists, he dares move his tongue even though it tastes of iron and a mixture of melted metal and ash pollens.“H-Hyung!” it takes an amount of ounce of his decaying will to shout at the top of his lungs.“No, Jeongguk, you’ll stay with me.”Thick eyebrows of his sinking down to form an invisible line, “W-What?!”“You don’t have to leave me, alright. I can do this.”“Hyung! What are y-you talking about?” His weak force aren’t going anywhere near Yoongi’s big hands sucking him out of air, coughing.As much as Jeongguk wants to stay alive, his face is turning into pale crimsons and shades of white scarlets, sucking out now onto purplish blacks adorning his forehead. In any minute, it will be gone.“Yoongi hyung! It’s Jeongguk! I’m alive. I’m not going anywhere!”Nothing works.He flicks his legs out, pulling out Yoongi in the process.“Hyung,”He getting weaker, and weaker. He knows he is not going to last long. He stops lashing out.“Hyung, h-help…”Jeongguk cries quietly. He looks so fragile. His hyung is not listening to his pleadings to pull away. He would never thought he would die like this, his hyung out as his suspect, out of his mind, the malice across the distance feeding into his fear of Jeongguk leaving him.Knowing he is nearing his end, he whispers back, smiling like a fucking small he is, “Goodb-bye, hyung.”A whisper. A whisper that will make Yoongi snap out of his trance.Goodbye?What?I thought he would stay with me if I do this. Am I doing the wrong thing again?What should I do? Continue?But Jeongguk is saying goodbye. It is not the thing I want.I want him to stay, not the opposite.What am I even doing?He sees himself choking Jeongguk. He is terrified, a gnawing soul rushes back to his eyes.He is doing the Wrong. He cannot be Good.Yoongi stops but his hands remain on his neck. Immediately, Jeongguk’s lungs strive for tons of air to breathe again. Life colors replace the dirty pale red and purple spots on his face. Jeongguk coughs out the tangles in his desert throat. His snot is coming out from crying dry tears out of his eyes.“What?”Jeongguk keeps on coughing the hell out of him, retrieving his normal capability in his human form. Soon, his body follows. He is not shaking that violently anymore. He is now getting better but nowhere fully recovered. Poor clothes are slick with his sweat, clinging to his skin like a parasite.He feels alive once again. That is the best thing Jeongguk has ever felt, bringing back his broken soul inside his vessel. Blood purrs through the end nerves of his fingertips, toes, and the joints of his knees, ankles, elbows, and even the span of his back, latissimus dorsi down to his gluteus medius. He did good, surviving the near death experience.Minutes pass by, waiting for each other to calm their nerves. Jeongguk looks at Yoongi, remembering again, what has just happened to him—them.A low hum forms in the pit of his stomach as if it can relate to what he was thinking. He blinks slowly, focusing on his breathing in his nose. His right hand palms his chest, reassuring that his heart is still beating because for some reason, he cannot feel it. He closes his eyes, extending his fingers as wide as he his skin and phalanges could take up.“You know, I almost died.” He begins with a hush squeak, far too loud for Yoongi’s ears.Yoongi stays quiet. Embarrassment and guilty flood him very much. Only a psychotic would talk to someone who he has done something horrible with ease. That would be a topnotch mission for Yoongi to make. Nevertheless, saying it is impossible is a little bit off since he had the guts to try killing Jeongguk in this strange area.So Yoongi regrets everything he had done immediately like a rational human person. Meeting an eye contact for a second will be the end of Yoongi. He just did the last thing he would do to his younger brother. Jeongguk! Of all people, they had to encounter each other in this little but vaguely large open space. He wants the space beneath his feet open and eat him up, that would be his wish right now.On the other hand, starting with that sentence seems a bit sour. The brown haired boy wants the tension to be loose, even though he had just saw Yoongi killing him with his own naked eyes. He knows it is an accident when he sees him lurking gravely on his position right now. He just…don’t know. He did not feel being threatened, scared, or afraid or whatever adjective that can come up.Rather, he feels safe which is fucking weird.Did something happen to him during his convulsion episode? Did it mess up his neurons, brain cells, or hypothalamus or whatever fucked up science can register in the anatomy of the brain.“I’m sorry,” the older mumbles, feeling weaker as the seconds pass by. “I-I did not mean it to, I swear.”Jeongguk’s corner lips turn up painstakingly slow. He now did feel great after hearing Yoongi talk again to him. But it is hinted with despair and sorrow, Jeongguk can feel it again.“I didn’t think I would do that. I-” Yoongi hiccups, “I panicked w-when I can’t ask for help, that I cannot do anything to save you and- and I think it set me off.” Closing his eyes, he makes an effort to control himself, the inhales and exhales whilst gathering the right words he can think of at the moment of his confession.“I thought I couldn’t save you that you will leave me and that made me so so lonely and mad and guilty all the same time. I felt like shit.” Yoongi covers his face with his hands. “I’m sorry.” Repeats him.As if Jeongguk was beaten by a landslide or sudden drive straight to his face, his heart aches, again. He can feel Yoongi’s sorry deep down low. Staring right at him, Jeongguk grabs his hands and flip it away to get a better view of Yoongi’s now puffy red face.He doesn’t know why he is feeling things, but he knows it has to do with this space. Before, he is not known for reading people’s mind, or actions, body movements and all that stuff. He is not into staring holes at people’s forehead, figuring out what is going on in their minds. He is comfortable at his own zone; he need not mind their own business so they should not mind his too. That is how Jeongguk see things.“At least the good thing is I’m alive, breathing, talking with you.” With a clear view of Yoongi’s face, he takes now his time to rake his eyes to notice that Yoongi has big eye bugs sleeping under his eyes, thinner cheeks, his eyes got smaller from crying like a baby.“Hyung, you didn’t kill me, you won’t kill—”“—B-But! I just did that earlier—”“—me.” Jeongguk pauses, thinking of what to say, “I, I don’t know but, you would never do that to me. And- and earlier, while you’re trying to choke me to death, I couldn’t see you.”At this, Yoongi’s brows crease in the middle part, squinting his eyes as he sniffs his snot adorably. Jeongguk chuckles at this little detail.“I mean, your eyes are blank hyung. That’s – that’s creepy if I say.” His tight grip on Yoongi’s wrist loosens, bringing down both hands in the process to lay on the older’s nearest thigh between them. “I don’t see your soul; it’s as if I can see you right through your eyes with just a blink of an eye. It’s pure dark- dark gray and death and cold. It’s cold, hyung. And that is not you.”Speechless from Jeongguk’s acknowledgement, he blushes incredibly and excessively hard. Yoongi purses his lips and tries to back away. He means Jeongguk can see right through him. It feels so good when someone knows you more than you know yourself. It is so refreshing, he thinks. Even I don’t know why I would try to kill my youngest brother. “I think I know why these things happen, hyung.”
2319 hours.
“This is going to be the death of us.”“We woke him up!”“We will die!”“This is what we’ve been dreaming!”“Yes, but! What would the others will say?”“Let’s think of that later, shall we?”“I think we made it mad.”“At least we are almost done in our part.”“This isn’t going to be that easy, though.”“I know, rising him from his sleep stands with lots of consequences.”“We can do this right?”The man smiles with him, “Of course, we can do this together.”
2323 hours.
The uprising commotion on the underworld is overwhelming.For instance, there has been a flood advisory currently near Ulsan where they need to stay precaution before going out of their homes. A surge of high tide across Busan, coming from the foot of Sea of Japan.The weather forecasters are in delirium. The sky changes and is not in normal behavior. Instead of pretty sky blues, warm blue on the dusk of dawn, and oranges and pink sunsets, there were only limited dull colors of grey clouds and thick fogs looming over the green and brown livings. People are getting scared of what is happening. Little do they know that someone had broken the rule. No one hereby passes beyond The Law. As far as legends say, anyone who would do it has a sense of humorous piece of suicide by their side. They are willing to break it and accept the outcome of their doings.And now, he is hungry.After sleeping for like decades, centuries, he can now feel the overwhelming scents of all of his prey. But nothing can satisfy him. He will devour anything he can see until his cravings are full with satisfaction.But being hungry is going to be hard for him. He is weak still. He is not yet fully awakened but for sure all of the incidents happening as of today is already a call sign.A call sign for his grand unheard arrival.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
2358 hours.
He bends with hurt torn in his face, curls in a fetus with betrayal in his eyes. The pain subsides a little now.
It hurts. My back.
His new emerging blood drips on the floor, adding the plain back surface with shining strikes of full and thick pool of it. Guess he could sleep now, the numbing pain on his back is getting a little bit better, soothing him to his vulnerable state of mind and physical.Silver locks nuzzle at his bended elbows, hiding away from nothing, or from the pain he is feeling. He wants it to be gone over and over again. His slacks does not give him some warmth and comfort too, by its fabric being too thin and smooth against his skin. He squeezes in more, pushing his knees against his chest with his locked arms, breathing out some heat to lessen his shuddering.It is so quiet and so noisy.He can hear muffles of murmurs inside his mind, the fatigue coming on its way. Taehyung opens his eyes, adjusting to its darkness. There, only his bright red eyes are alone in a big black mass. It blinks once, twice, thrice, and stops.Lonely—as he could be since the start.So lonely.Alone the middle of the darkness. Alone with his home. Alone with his garden.He may not remember everything at the first glance; he knows he is in himself. He feels safe. He feels powerful. He feels the energy within him. The energy concentrates at the middle of his chest, visible to the naked eye with spurts of blues and oranges, slowing humming in rhythm with the beats of his heart.Currently, he sits cross-legged in an unknown place to others, but for him it’s his comfort zone. It makes him think with silence, closes his soulless eyes with no immediate hurry.He is back.
Death is nigh.
The ruffles of his curly silver locks sway softly, contrasting to his dark figure. Silver fringes cover his forehead with thick and prominent dark brunette eyebrows, as there is no forgiveness in his eyes, dark flesh vermillion in his irises leaving traces of red lines along in its wake, a vivid black with no tinges of soft Taehyung on it. Yet his face concedes of pale peach shadows, complimenting his swollen carmine bloody-red pouty lips.
The people are happy.
His neck adorning with curls of black tattoos, heavy in pigments along the way. A point of perspective of the tattoo places on the divot between his collarbones, spreading at least nine thin and thick tails to the expanse of his pulchritudinous neck. The irony of the black designs of art and of his pale skin make him a fucking glory.
“In no less time, he will rule.
The need to be destroyed is in vain.
Make him feel the excruciating pain of every human being before they die.”
Now, now. Why are not thou submitting?
A growl, Taehyung has never heard before, stings his ears with strong authority in its animal gurgle. His stomach twists in pain.
Submit? Why would I submit at you?
You and I are one, Taehyung. I was asleep for more than your life count. Now, I am awaken.
Who are you? Are you the one who is gritting me in pain? Who fucking rips my back like a fucking murderer that you are. I am the only one who can control this body.
Nuh-uh, sweetie. I came here and used this vessel first before you. Now, kneel.
Taehyung shouts in agony.
You stubborn, human.
No! I am now the owner of this body and no one will going to steal it.
Ah, it seems you need some burn.
You! You are the stubborn one here. You bitch!
Fuck you, human shit. I am more powerful than you are. I can just fucking throw you out of this hell with just a flick of my finger.
H-Hell?
Yes, fucker. You are in hell. I am your half.
Half? I am complete! Don’t go bullshitting with me, you motherfucker. I am so done with you.
I AM done with you. You do not listen to what I say. You should be punished.
If I get to punished, you will suffer too.
The growler clicks his tongue in irk.
Human, if you do not submit I will just have to rip you off your own goodwill.
You, son of a bitch, I have a name it IS Taehyung. You hear me?
Yeah, yeah.
Why would you even want this body? There are other shit out there.
Yours is compatible to my energy. You were sculpted to fit myself perfectly.
Who even are you?
You are such a talker; I disgust any being like you.
Fucking answer my question, shithead. Do not fucking go around the bush. You are not a cat.
I am Lucifer, Taehyung. I rule this hell, which you are currently in. Now, I cannot wait for my main course after such a long time.
Bones popping out in the section of his collarbones, the clavicle is in prominent form, allowing him to be the blinding model he could be. His deltoids are so fine, bulging down to his biceps and triceps even though his overall form is not that masculine and bulk. He is glowing under the spotlight, his golden un-whitewashed skin blossoming in its purest form (if that would really make sense since he is dark).Behind him is what truly beholds the truth.Two rips of his skin are still shining with fresh cherry-red blood, burbling on its sides with bubbles as it is still gushing out with heat. Even though he is releasing with so much blood, he does not pass out with blood loss. It is as if he is the root of creating blood. It does not stop but the pace slows down after almost two hours squirming in pain. Moving on, there are dark and wet ends of feathers coming out. It continues until it forms a big arch of black feathers. Its massive size envelopes him with antagonizing slow swirls of shush before stretching wide in horizon with a maximum of at least eleven feet each, making the man look so fucking flyspeck.He has black wings, shining amidst the darkness upon him.Taehyung is breathing hard. His slender fingers with pure black decorating his fingernails graze with screeching noise on the marble floor as he takes out his enormous wings in heady and deep breathes. He cannot control it but he can take it out. Breathing in and out, his eyes pop out in hiss as his wings rip out his still-fresh slashes across his back. God-fucking-damn it.In a later note, his canine teeth transform into sharp fangs, getting longer until it catches his bottom lip. His thick curvy and black horns are coming out of his head, slowly and painfully. His eyes flatter back his head, growling down deep his throat, vibrating within his burning lungs.
Lucifer, you fucking bullshit. What did you do to my body?!
Now, you see what I look like. Ain’t I beautiful?
He is the definition of ethereal and celestial beauty only and only if then it is Kim Taehyung.The beauty of Evil, Malice, Sin, Pain, and the Wicked.Lucifer in the flesh. Well, more of in the human form.Taehyung is heaving, sweating from the transformation of his body. Now, his pointy tail is oozing out just above his behind. He falls into his hands and knees while groaning, unable to push the tail back in with his own voice. He aches in all of his body parts, the tension in his muscles contracts him from moving at all, since Lucifer is the one controlling now his body.Lucifer has powers. Lucifer is the fallen angel, thrown out of heaven because of his selfishness and greed. He is just like Taehyung, wants to be selfish just for his own good since Taehyung only helped himself without any reach from his parents. He was also thrown out like a garbage. His parents disowned him and of course, he should feel shattered and broken.Knowing that Lucifer is returning back, he thinks of himself. He sees himself on this ruler of hell. All of those sayings scripted in the Bible, non-fiction books regarding who is the opposite side of God, the revelation of his returning to Earth to tempt them make sin; follow his path to destroy every human kind in this devastating planet.But Taehyung knows he is not Lucifer and will never be Satan. He will not ally with the temptation to bring immense pain and death to others. Yes, he wants them to feel the pain he had gone through; just not like how Lucifer’s plan would go: the use of balls of fire to gash out any human being just like him, without any mercy, bringing his four Henchmen, the fire-spitting dragons that will rule the sky, and the redness of his greed will color the sky and clouds above.Taehyung is not Lucifer, he knows how to repent, knows how to forgive, knows how to help the needy, knows how to share his blessings, knows how pain will make one stronger than ever before, and knows how to love.Lucifer does not know love, does not know how to love, does not even know how to love his creatures and wicked Nephilim, and is scared to love.The two have a difference. Taehyung is not the vessel Lucifer was looking for. They made a mistake. They had awaken the demon beast from his sleep using Taehyung’s own fear and hatred towards his parents.Yet, Taehyung knows he is useless and nothing. Lucifer is a perfect but fallen angel.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s not like he didn’t like doing it.In fact, it felt like it had been engraved into his soul to do it. So normal; natural. So used to it that the essence he was trying to find in it got to shrink incredibly faster than usual. Sex tasted so useless to him nowadays.“Oh, p-please,” murmured the girl beneath Taehyung, clinging like a whore. Oh, maybe she was.Taehyung noticed her thighs shuddering around his hips. She must be near. Let’s end this.His dull gaze loomed over her big swollen breasts, and curvy waist to wrap his other hand around to stop her from moving. Thrusting deep to her spot should be enough. With a grunt, he focused his strength to his legs to thrust; his other occupied hand (locking her wrists above her head) swept down to her throat. Her eyes started to tilt backwards as the sensation of having lack of air dangerously crawled over.“Y-Yes, yes! Fuck. I- I can’t…breathe,” She drooled, speaking weakly against her current situation.The silver-haired man squeezed almost too much. He might have wanted the girl dead. Too noisy. He synced their movements to drive him deeper, her screams and moans were the abundant noises across the dark room.Seconds later, he found that bundle of pleasurable nerves within her as she violently tried to squeeze her legs and arch her back off the mattress. He hissed as he sped up his control, angling their hips to that right amount to abuse her sweet spot until she came. He loosened his hold on her neck and had to go for his dick to strangle out as her inner walls start to tight in.At least for the demon he was, he cannot make another human become disciple of his. He had learned his lesson enough in the past. Few strokes on his cock, he’s oozing out his own release onto the person’s stomach beneath him. It’s not much but that would do. He let himself even out his breathing for a good minute and without glancing at the girl, he picked up his clothes and proceeded to merge with the night. It’s disgustingly frustrating for the beast (let’s call the beast as Lucifer and the human vessel as Taehyung) inside Taehyung even though that he found what he had been searching for, he actually didn’t know where to find the human. The first thing he felt was a sting to his left shoulder blade, crippling up to his nape to burst all around his upper chest as soon as the human held an eye contact with him. Well, yes, that was Jeongguk. Onto that night of their first meeting, it all made sense to him. It was the loose shirt of Jeongguk that revealed an ample amount of skin of his back; that was when the mark of missing feathers was showing.Lucifer really tried to break away but Taehyung was a firm young man. For once, it was hard for Lucifer to emerge from a vessel he chose to live in. Jeongguk was right in front of him, for fuck sake. He could regain his ultimate power upon reuniting with his pure blood. He just couldn’t understand why the heck the timing was really off right now.Anyway, while wandering in the quiet street he’s quite unfamiliar with, now that he was almost awake and for being the wisest angel he was, he connected the past nights further. It had something to do with the pill they swallowed and the voice across the white room. That’s it, there is no way it has nothing to do with my incapability, he thought.For the meantime, he had to go back to Taehyung’s apartment to rest the body. Tsk, the fragileness of these mortals I cannot stand.
Nth day.
All Taehyung could say was how badly hurt he felt upon waking up especially with his shoulders and back. It felt like lying on a bed of hot screw nails, prickling his skin like sunbathing for twenty-four seven. Thankfully, it was Sunday and he wouldn’t bother to make excuse letters or reasons to his professors.His mind retorted back to the cause of it. It’s much of need to recall everything but he had to make food before leaving the space. For sure, it’s wrong to say nothing happened to him when in fact his aching body screamed for need of another nine hour of sleep to fully recover. Series of frames flashed in his head, trying to understand the chains of events that had come to this very day. While he comprehended the situation in mind, a splurge of hot tea to his trigger finger jolted him up. He didn’t realize his cup was overflowing from pouring.After sucking his finger to relieve the pain, he heard a ring across the room. It’s his phone. Narrowing his eyebrows in question of who the fuck would call him at nine in the morning, Sunday morning to be more specific, he slowly went to grab and press it.“Hello?” he stated, not really in the mood to talk.“Taehyung? Taehyung! It’s Hoseok,” said on the other end of the call. Hoseok? Ah, Jimin’s friend if I’m correct.“Oh, Hoseok hyung, it’s you. What’s the matter?” Taehyung wanted to be polite still to his senior. He glanced to his phone to verify the time, “it’s nine in the morning, what’s up?”A short silence and then Hoseok spoke up, “You know Yoongi, right? He’s, uh, how do you call it, traumatized? Well, he doesn’t want to talk to me and he’s in Jimin’s place.” A sigh was evident after the last word. It could be a fight between them, who knows.“Yoongi? As in your Yoongi hyung? Why would he not talk to you?” Taehyung questioned, getting a used small rug to clean the mess he made earlier. “Did something happen?”“Well yes, but actually no. But hey, the thing is, can you please come to Jimin’s place and talk to him for me? I’m really worried about Yoongi.” Taehyung heard some slumps of books, guessing Hoseok was sitting and finishing up some reading.“All right, all right, I will. I’m also going to Jimin’s anyway this afternoon. Is there anything you want me to say to him?” hm, before hanging up this stupid phone call. Hoseok seemed suspicious to Taehyung since both of them didn’t really have a proper conversation such as this. It’s only Jimin and sometimes Yoongi he had interacted with. Why? It’s because Hoseok always ditched the opportunities, saying he had to hone his dance more or that he had to go to his part-time job every time they tried to speak to each other. Who wouldn’t be suspicious of that, no?Suddenly, Hoseok’s voice became heavy when he said a specific phrase before returning to his usual happy façade. “T-That’s all. Thank you!” exclaimed he before ending the call just like how he startled Taehyung on the first ring.“What—” was the only response Taehyung manage to spit out before looking at his phone, wanting to know if Hoseok really just hung him up. He scoffed, “As if I’ve heard that correctly, sir. You didn’t even let me repeat what it was. Like, what.”
1642 hours.
Taehyung was walking now to Jimin’s place, preferably mentally wandering to the traces of the phone call earlier with Hoseok. He can’t help but to overthink what it was and at the same time it was already by the edge of his tongue, like it had that sweet familiarity in the very depths of his being.Without really thinking about what to see at the moment, he glanced to a convenient store and realized he hadn’t bought any food to bring with him. Sighing, he crossed roads in the intersection with his hands in his pockets. Right now, he would really like to have a cigarette in his mouth, lull himself with the smoke but it’s too bright now for that and he’s going to a place where people like his friends don’t know him smoking. They might smell it reeking from him, Taehyung didn’t like impressions, all right.It only took him around ten minutes to buy what he and Jimin might want to eat, maybe Yoongi as well if he’s at the mood of talking even. This walk was one of the moments he cherished: alone, quiet (no one talking to him), nothing serious to think about, and the walk itself was already a blessing for him. That’s probably why he moved around this place near to his university to solely put that calm feeling in between his routines without compromising other things.And then here it went.He was like fifteen meters away from the destination when he felt his stomach twisting, with that feeling again of wanting to kneel and curl up onto the asphalt floor he’s standing. Within seconds, next was to his left shoulder blade to burn and lurk to the nape before spreading across his chest. Gasping, he felt like his front skin was sucking him, turning cold before dropping to his groin and changing to being hot again. Fuck, now that’s near my dick, or was it my dick.Taehyung didn’t know he was crouching and closing his eyes when someone tapped on his shoulder to ask if he was okay or hurt.“Dude, you okay? You seem like about to pass out. Your face is like puffy red right now.”If Taehyung had guessed right, a concerned teenage boy seemed to approach him, just by hearing a youthful voice. And if Taehyung guessed right again, he may have had a boner in the middle of a fucking road. He needed not to glance at it since he’s way feeling too much right now that he can’t even look at the person helping him.“I’m, I’m all right. I’m okay.” He sighed, trying to regain control of his breathing. Think, Taehyung, think something. “I just, uh, can’t, really can’t stand stomachaches. That is all.” Yeah? Was that convincing? Since I’m fucking holding my stomach right now.“Uh, you want to go to a nearest restroom? There’s a fast food that has a restroom. You, uh, can go there.”Fuck, I’m losing him. His right ear decided to ring, almost silencing the sound but that didn’t stop his dick from twitching. “What the fuck,” he murmured, thinking being aroused wasn’t like this intense. It would really be embarrassing for him to reveal how dirty looking he was right now because thank goodness his face was still hidden, and Taehyung didn’t really want to look at anyone anyway. That might cause another…reaction. Who knows.“Just, just go. Don’t mind me. Continue walking.” Maybe a little pleading would work?“What? How am I—when you’re kneeling here? Here, let me—”
“I said just walk. Away.”
It was a moment of silence before Taehyung heard a series of padding as if something was fading. It’s probably the man walking away from his direction. By this time, his leveled breathing made him open his eyes and looked up in front, to his right side and oh holy fucking shit.Taehyung didn’t expect to see a dark dirty red pair of wings floating behind that man’s back as if the wings itself were in standby and ready to receive orders from its owner. It’s exactly in position of inserting to his shoulder blades.“What the fuck am I seeing,” he breathed, planting a hand on the road, a shuffle of the plastic bag disturbing him slightly from checking the man again. “That’s, those are wings, why are there wings behind his back.”A moment of hot burst in his legs disrupted his questioning mind, shaking up to a point of snapping. “Oh, no. Don’t give up on me, legs. We’re still going to see Jimin.”He asked himself what was happening to him, why was his body acting like this when he wasn’t even thinking of anything lewd. To even say that he saw magical elements didn’t help him toning down the arousal. He also surely had no intention to stay there and do his business right there. He’s not yet ready in discovering his other kinks let’s say.Give him three minutes of focusing on his breathing he might as well managed to lower down his body temperature and moved to the side of the road. He could wish to die at this moment but it’s not really exciting for him. He just needed to relieve the pleasuring pain that was his body making.He’s like in a heat, well sort of. A mate he could have to sedate the cravings and to think that with the intensity, mentioned mate was probably near his foreground.Bingo. Right.Just a second flash of a memory frame popped up in his mind, and that pictured Jeongguk with his puffy cheeks.
Right. Why didn’t I think about that?
The reason behind all of this began to show and clarify his current status. It’s almost the same feeling of electricity when he got to know Jeongguk for the first time. That blazing hot of burst from his back running up his chest to warm up before settling down his stomach and even could go as far as to his dick and aching knees to bend.This could only mean that Jeongguk was here, near him. “Holy fuck. Fuck. No, wait, wait. I need to call…Jimin.”He rapidly searched for his phone and dialing Jimin.Two rings before he picked up, “Tae baby, where are you? Yoongi hyung and Jeo—”The silver haired man cannot help but whimper from the sound of Jimin’s affection, “Jimin, help me. I’m, I’m kind of stuck right—”His eyes had caught a familiar body shape, a very familiar shape he couldn’t really miss for the love of God, across the road, not so far and surely didn’t come from the direction of Jimin’s apartment.It was also just the floating black wing that had caught Taehyung’s attention. A wing, just a big black lone wing.Suddenly, his vision went dark, very much so the time for Lucifer to bring himself out because of the enticing aura: Jeongguk’s aura, pleading to be found and to be fucked.