Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/5525687.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      방탄소년단_|_Bangtan_Boys_|_BTS
  Relationship:
      Jeon_Jungkook/Kim_Taehyung_|_V
  Character:
      Kim_Taehyung_|_V, Jeon_Jungkook, Park_Jimin_(BTS)
  Additional Tags:
      Horror, Dubious_Consent, bff_vmin, Manipulation
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-12-25 Words: 10667
****** In The A.M. ******
by hailade
Summary
     “What?” Taehyung’s brain couldn’t work fast enough, still caught up
     in the fact that Jungkook, who had never even looked at him before
     this afternoon, was leaning down so that his face was less than four
     inches away from Taehyung's, and wow the kid was really tall how had
     he never noticed that.
     Jungkook literally loomed over him as he spoke the next words that
     sent shivers down Taehyung’s spine, “At three-forty-three tomorrow
     morning you are going to die.”
Notes
     dub con warning is cuz the character consents at the time of sex but
     he wouldn't if he knew the whole story if that makes sense
See the end of the work for more notes
Taehyung woke from his dream with a start, head falling from his hands onto his
desk with a bang. The teacher continued to lecture as if nothing had happened
while the kids around him giggled.
Jimin looked over worriedly and mouthed, ‘Are you ok?’
Taehyung nodded groggily, shaking off the uneasy feeling that lingered in his
gut. He couldn’t remember what he had been dreaming about but his nerves burned
with misplaced adrenaline so he could guess that it wasn’t an enjoyable
experience.
Unless he was getting laid, then it must have been a great dream and he was
disappointed that he had missed it.
Jimin shrugged and shifted his attention back to the teacher who was talking
about cells or something.
Taehyung wiped the drool from his paper with the sleeves of his sweater and
went back to doodling a picture of himself as Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
He felt eyes on the back of his head, probably kids still tittering about the
fact that he could fall asleep during class. When he turned around to shoot
them the bird his eyes met with another.
Fuck, that weird kid Jungkook stared directly at him.
The only reason Taehyung knew the name of the weird new transfer student was
because Jimin had been assigned to show him around the school as they had
similar ‘smart people’ classes. Jimin had been infatuated with the kid, acting
like an overzealous dog, even though Jungkook seemed to at best tolerate his
attention.
Taehyung had gotten creepy vibes that his mom would call bad omens and had
tried to stay clear of the guy, which was hard because Jimin kept bringing him
along and Taehyung had to hang around Jimin to pass his classes. Also, they
were kind of best friends and it would be an asshole move to ditch Jimin
because he was nervous about some random kid Jimin had been forced to hang out
with.
Jungkook didn’t look away after being caught blatantly staring, it unnerved
Taehyung into turning back around without confronting him. Something about
Jungkook was weird no matter what Jimin said about anxiety and shyness that
came with big changes.
The next thirty minutes of class went slowly, Taehyung ignored the weird
feeling in his stomach and finished his math homework while Jimin took color-
coded notes that he would let him look at later.
Finally the bell rang, eight seconds late Taehyung noted, and the teacher
dismissed them all with a sigh and reminder to turn in their homework to the
inbox as he went to sit at his desk to grade papers or hate himself or whatever
high school chemistry teachers did in their free time.
“Four days till the weekend!” Taehyung yelled, swinging his arm around Jimin’s
shoulder.
“No yelling in the hallways.” Jimin reminded him with a smirk, pointing at a
sign that said just that in 24 Arial font with a graphic of a smiley faces
shushing people. Mr. Min was notorious for not giving a fuck and being bad with
computers.
“Yeah, yeah. Hey, are you going to Hoseok’s on Friday?” Taehyung stopped at
Jimin’s locker, waiting for him to switch out the binders he needed.
“Nah, I have to cover for someone at work.” Jimin replied, offering a stick of
gum to Taehyung.
Taehyung checked to make sure it wasn’t mint before accepting it, he hated mint
gum, “Bullshit.” He pouted, “You never do anything fun.”
Jimin stuck out his tongue, “Everything I do is fun.”
“Yeah I sure love computer science, way better than getting drunk and laid.”
Taehyung joked.
The bell rang again signifying the last period of the day that Taehyung didn’t
have to go to because he made his schedule as easy as possible.
“Shit, you’re such a bad influence.” Jimin yelled as he sprinted away from his
locker, in an attempt to not be too late to his next class, leaving the metal
door wide open in his haste.
Taehyung laughed, slamming the door closed for him and redoing the lock, “What
would you do without me?” He said to himself as he turned around to head back
to his car and came face-to-face with Jeon Jungkook.
“Woah.” He said, backing up into the lockers to get away from the close
proximity.
“You’re going to die.” Jungkook said simply, staring into his eyes.
“What?” Taehyung’s brain couldn’t work fast enough, still caught up in the fact
that Jungkook, who had never even looked at him before this afternoon, was
leaning down so that his face was less than four inches away from Taehyung's,
and wow the kid was really tall how had he never noticed that.
Jungkook literally loomed over him as he spoke the next words that sent shivers
down Taehyung’s spine, “At three-forty-three tomorrow morning you are going to
die.”
“What the fuck dude.” Taehyung finally gained control of his muscles and he
pushed Jungkook away from him, “What is wrong with you?”
Jungkook didn’t answer, just started walking back down the hallway he must have
come from.
Taehyung felt a stab of anger at himself for getting so disconcerted at
whatever dumb bullshit Jungkook was playing, he turned the anger on Jungkook,
“Hey wait fucker! You wanna’ fucking go?” Luckily all the classroom doors were
closed so no one would give him detention for screaming cuss words down the
halls.
Jungkook didn’t acknowledge him as he turned a corner, Taehyung sprinted after
him but in true creepy kid fashion he had managed to vanish into thin air.
“Fuck.” Taehyung kicked a trash can over, a freshman standing outside of the
classroom raised an eyebrow but turned away when Taehyung glared.
Something was wrong, he felt it in the way his body had tensed itself and how
he couldn’t get his eyes to stop flitting around, trying to check all his blind
spots.
He stalked out of the maze-like school corridors, into the overcast day. It was
mid-December and on average the temperature was hitting freezing or below.
Taehyung’s car was parked in it’s usual spot underneath the oak tree, he was
too cheap to pay for a spot in the student parking lot and to proud to ask his
parent for money, even though they would have happily given him anything he
needed.
They were out of town right now, off to some benefit in some big city to raise
awareness for some rainforest or river or animal that needed their help this
week. Before leaving his mom had left him a check for two thousand to pay for a
week of gas and food, even Taehyung thought that was a bit excessive but the
left over would last him until Christmas so he accepted it.
As he turned his keys the radio blared to life, a DJ yelled about an upcoming
storm.
Taehyung winced at the sudden noise and changed the channel to a station that
was playing some indie bullshit he tried to pretend he liked to seem cooler.
The drive from the school to his house took him about fifteen minutes, and the
neighbor’s dog barked at him when he stepped out of his car.
“That’s why no one likes you Dandruff.” Taehyung informed the dog, he wasn’t
actually sure what its name was, as it’s owner were hermits who never left the
house, but it was always covered in white stuff so he had nicknamed it
Dandruff. It had tormented Taehyung since childhood, yapping at him whenever he
was in the front yard.
He hadn’t locked the door when he left because they had a fancy high-tech
security system which would send police officers if someone entered without
disabling it. He made the mistake of forgetting once when he was twelve and had
had to listen to a thirty-minute lecture about not abusing privileges or
something.
The air was cooler inside than it was outside and Taehyung shivered as he
turned on the heater.
His house was pretty big, both his parents were pretty successful, and most of
the rooms were empty or had whatever eclectic thing his mom was collecting. At
the moment it was African tribal masks, which kind of creeped him out so he
liked to keep those room doors closed. He much preferred the diamond phase she
had, but the masks were better than the antique dolls that blinked at him
whenever he walked by.
The kitchen light was on still from that morning, so he turned it off on his
way up stairs to his room.
Jimin always laughed at Taehyung’s room because he kept it neat, but Taehyung
much preferred it when everything was where it was supposed to go, clutter
stressed him out.
He pulled off his sweater and tossed it into the laundry bin in his bathroom
where it belonged. Jimin also laughed at him for having his own bathroom with a
fancy tub-shower thing that he called The Jacuzzi.
He decided he was going to actually catch up on some of his school work. His
grades were fine thanks to Jimin’s help, but he rarely turned in anything on
time, which would probably bring his C’s up to at least B’s, but more likely
A’s.
Jimin would be so proud of him Taehyung thought as he pulled out a couple
sheets of paper and sat down at his desk to get started on Min’s bullshit
homework.
Taehyung tried to do his homework, he really did, but he just couldn’t
concentrate. He found himself glancing at the clock every few seconds.
The storm he heard about on the radio had arrived about an hour earlier, and it
seemed that his dumb little town had gotten the worst of it according to the
late night weather man. Heavy rains, strong winds, and possibly even hail later
at night were all to be expected.
Of course there wouldn’t be any snow though so school would be open the next
day.
The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed two-o’clock and Taehyung sighed,
closing his textbook and leaning back in his chair.
His playlist had ended a while ago and he reset it, letting himself sing along
to Drake’s new song as he pulled up the essay that was already three days late.
Jimin had stopped replying to his texts for help about an hour ago, probably
fell asleep at his desk again, and so Taehyung was stuck with googling what
other people had to say about social effects of the Vietnam War in Asia.
It was slow going and Taehyung felt his eyes drooping but by the time three-am
rolled around he was done with everything but the conclusion and editing. He
could count on Jimin to help with edits, but he wanted to finish up all the
writing parts that night.
He got up to grab an energy drink from the kitchen, as he decided to stay up as
late as necessary to finish up.
The kitchen light was on when he got downstairs, even though Taehyung was
almost positive he had turned it off.
That hadn’t really freaked him out, his brain didn’t even process it as weird,
just as a mistake. What did set off alarms was that the refrigerator was also
open.
Taehyung knew for a fact that he hadn’t even looked through the fridge today,
choosing instead to dine on the snacks he kept in his room.
His heart felt cold as Jungkook’s words swept back into his mind, bringing with
them an irrational sense of fear.
No way Jungkook could know he was going to die unless he was going to kill him
himself. But there was no way that he could have gotten into the house, his mom
was always worried about her collections being stolen and had gotten the best
security money could buy.
It took his or his parents’ fingerprint, a pin, and a keyword to get inside
without the cops being notified.
He was being stupid.
It was impossible.
None the less he pulled out his phone to check the log that the system made
whenever anyone came in.
Dec. 04, 2:41 pm. Authorized, Kim Taehyung.
Today, 2:34 pm. Authorized, Kim Taehyung.
Today, 2:43 pm. .
Today, 2:54 pm. .
Today, 3:32 pm. .
Taehyung froze, fuck.
His hands shook as he dialed the police, it rang once before a female operator
answered, “This is nine-one-one, What is your emergency?”
“I think someone’s in my house.” Taehyung whispered quietly, making his way
back upstairs so he could lock himself in his room.
“We’re sending a car now to your location. Can you get somewhere safe?” She
asked in a professional tone that Taehyung hated and loved at the same time.
“I-I’ll try.” He looked behind him into the darkness of the dining room, the
kitchen light leaving shadows in every corner. Shadows perfect for someone with
a knife to be hiding in, waiting to jump out and pull his guts out through his
belly button.
Every single scene from every single horror movie he had ever made Jimin watch
ran through his head like a not so helpful powerpoint of screaming girls,
killers from hell, and macabre deaths.
His brain stopped flashing images when he reached the top of the stairs, it was
too busy trying to process what he was seeing.
Taehyung couldn’t force himself to move, couldn’t even scream. His brain
couldn’t comprehend that this was definitely a flight moment. (He had the most
ridiculous thought about his biology teacher being proud of him for that
reference).
A man(?) stood at his bedroom door, staring directly at Taehyung.
He was wearing one of his mom’s tribal masks.
Time slowed down as Taehyung gaped at the man and the man stood there as if
waiting for something. Taehyung couldn’t tell if he was looking at him or not,
it was to dark to see through the dark mesh that covered where the eyes would
be if it was human.
Taehyung’s cell phone clattered to the floor, the noise was followed by a flash
of lighting and they were bathed in light as the man reached forward to grab
his neck and squeeze. Taehyung couldn’t even fight, his body struggled meekly
on its own as a survival instinct but his brain had gone blank as he stared at
the white stripes painted onto the dark wood covering his murderer's face.
“Sir, sir please stay on the line. Are you okay sir?” The phone lady kept
talking in her tinny voice, seeming miles away from, and Taehyung felt his
world go dark.
Taehyung sat up in a cold sweat. His sheets were sopping wet and he fumbled
around for the light switch, trying to hold his screams in.
He died, he just fucking died, what the fuck?
Why couldn’t he turn the fucking light on?
Lightning cracked outside and there was one second in which Taehyung stared at
himself in the mirror across from his bed, his hair's a mess and his eyes are
wide and his sheets aren’t just wet with sweat because his sweat had never been
red before.
Taehyung jumped out of the bed like it was on fire and this time he did scream,
his parents weren’t home so it wouldn’t matter anyways, no one could help him.
He found himself scrambling towards the bathroom, locking the door and sitting
in the tub. He realized that the power must have been out because the light
didn't turn on in here either and so he sat in the tub, in the dark, sobbing
into his knees because of a bad dream like he was five.
He refused to see it as anything but a bad dream, if he was dead then he
couldn’t be here hyperventilating right?
It was just what that creep Jungkook said earlier in the day that freaked him
out, made him have vivid dreams.
Wasn't drinking milk before bed supposed to make your dreams more real or
something? He knew shouldn’t have had that bowl of cheerios.
The grandfather clock chimed five times from the hallway as Taehyung finally
stood up, turning on the water and letting it wash over him, stripping out of
his now wet pyjamas as an afterthought.
He wasn’t supposed to use hot water to wash his hair with the dye still in it
but at this point, he didn’t care.
Taehyung left for school, at seven, which meant he still had two hours to kill
in the empty house. That thought filled him with a sudden dread and he quickly
turned off the water and grabbed his towel.
It took him less than ten minutes to throw on a pair of sweatpants and a
hopefully clean t-shirt, brush his teeth, and literally run out the door with
his bag in hand.
He found himself camped out in a cafe in the center of town, the old lady
behind the cashier had just opened when he ran in looking over his shoulder
like a crazy person.
She hadn’t questioned it, just taken his order and continued to wipe down cups
leftover from the night before.
Taehyung regretted doing all his homework last night because now he was stuck
with nothing but reading the book he had already finished over again for an
hour and a half.
As the shop got busier with the bustle of people heading to their early morning
jobs Taehyung took to watching them.
A group of middle schoolers in private school uniforms came in at six. They
shook off their umbrellas and wiped their feet before ordering hot chocolates
and scones in between giggling about some boy band.
A women in a suit talked loudly on the phone about stocks and a mailman ordered
fifteen drinks, reading each of them off of a little slip of pink paper.
Taehyung drank four cups of coffee and two triple shot espressos. His bladder
was killing him and he still felt exhausted when he got up to leave for school.
The old lady waved him goodbye.
Taehyung took that as a sign that he wasn’t dead if she noticed him leaving.
Taehyung knew that Jimin knew that something was up. He also knew that Jimin
knew that he didn’t want to talk about it, and so neither of them mentioned
anything.
Jimin rambled about some of the customers the restaurant he works at had had
last night, equal parts complaining and praising.
Taehyung listened to him talk and tried not to think about going home tonight.
He died again that night.
He took three times the recommended dose of Nyquil and fell into an uneasy
sleep at around ten after locking all the doors and making sure that the
security system was online and functioning properly.
The lady that answered his phone call to them informed him that it hadn’t been
deactivated last night but she would ping it as a high priority so that someone
would watch for any strange activity.
Taehyung had thanked her politely and hung up.
Then he threw a glass vase at a wall, he wasn’t crazy god damn it.
He didn’t even want to talk about the fact that his sheets were perfectly fine
and definitely not covered in blood. But that must have been a dream, after all
you didn’t bleed when someone choked you to death.
At three-forty he woke up from what was probably a bad dream and watched as the
shadow in the corner moved forward to stand at the edge of his bed, the painted
white lines of the mask glowing in the dark as he waited for three minutes
before going in for the kill.
Taehyung tried to get away this time, but it was useless.
Taehyung drove recklessly to school the next day, ignoring stop signs and going
twenty above the speed limit.
Second period had just ended so he had to park far out in the street and walk
in, he left his bag in the car.
He stormed over to Jungkook when the kid was at his locker, slamming his head
into the wall, “What the fuck did you do!?”
Some girl screamed as Jungkook punched him, sending him across the hall.
Taehyung spit blood onto the carpet, touching his jaw to make sure it wasn’t
broken before rushing back. He wasn’t sure who was winning when someone grabbed
his arm and pulled him back.
Hoseok, one of the cool seniors that Jimin tutored occasionally, struggled to
hold Jungkook’s arms behind him and Taehyung turned around to see Jimin holding
his own, “Fuck.”
“Calm down kid.” Hoseok said lightly, like he was enjoying the scene. Jungkook
shook himself loose and glared at Taehyung before stalking away.
“What the fuck Taehyung.” Jimin yelled, punching him in the arm. “You can’t
just start beating on people, you’re lucky a teacher didn’t see you.”
“Sorry.” Taehyung said, noting the crowd of people that had surprisingly not
dispersed after the fight was over, probably expecting Jimin to hit him.
“You’re sorry? Big fuckin’ whoop, you just punched Jungkook, that poor kid has
enough issues without you bullying him!” Jimin shouted, getting himself worked
up.
“I wasn’t bullying him.” Taehyung defended, Jungkook could hold his own in a
fight, the bruises Taehyung could feel forming on his face were proof enough of
that.
“Like hell you weren’t, you always call him weird and make fun of him but I
didn’t think you would ever go this far.” Jimin actually looked betrayed and
that was what made Taehyung snap.
“I died last night!” Taehyung yelled, not caring that everyone stared at them.
Hoseok whistled softly and pushed his way through the crowd, leaving Jimin to
deal with this alone.
Jimin looked nervous as he placed a placating hand on Taehyung’s shoulder,
“Okay, okay, don’t yell.”
“I’ve died twice and I thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t, it was real.”
Taehyung said, voice panicky as his brain decided that enough trauma was enough
and that it was time to spill his guts, figuratively of course.
He grabbed Jimin’s arm and squeezed, if he could make someone understand maybe
he could figure out what to do.
“Taehyung let’s take a deep breath, c’mon we’re gonna’ go get some frozen
yogurt, or something.” Jimin turned them both around, away from the snickering
kids who all thought Taehyung was crazy.
They got into Jimin’s strip-down model Mazda that used to be his mom’s, and if
Taehyung wasn’t so busy thinking about the fact that he had died then he would
be incredibly touched that goody-two-shoes-Jimin was ditching his third period
for him.
As it was he was kind of stuck on the fact that his entire school would think
he belonged in an insane asylum by the time lunch rolled around.
“God I’m fucking ruined.” Taehyung moaned, slamming his head into his knees as
Jimin pulled onto the highway. “I’m so fucking stupid.”
“No, everyone has... episodes?” Jimin tried his best to console him with a
hesitant hand on his back.
“I had a breakdown in the middle of the hallway, even Hoseok thought I was
crazy.” Taehyung couldn’t believe himself, two and a half years spent trying to
build a cool and collected image and it was all ruined in one day thanks to
Jungkook. It all rolled back to Jungkook.
“Hoseok doesn't think you're crazy, he just had to get to class.” Jimin said,
he still sounded a little nervous like he was expecting Taehyung to open the
car door and do a barrel roll off the bridge they were driving on.
“I’m never going to be able to show my face at school again.” He wondered why
that bothered him so much, he was fucking being killed every night by Jungkook
or a ghost or something.
“We’ll blame it on your crazy twin who escaped from prison?” Jimin said,
smiling when Taehyung laughed, “Or aliens that mind controlled you.”
“Or maybe the government cloned me.” Taehyung added, rolling down his window.
“Jesus Christ Tae, it’s freezing roll that back up.” Jimin yelled, hitting
Taehyung on the shoulder.
“It’s thirty-seven degrees which is actually not freezing.” Taehyung stuck his
tongue out blithely, hitting the down button every time Jimin tried to roll
them up.
“I hate you so much! I’m gonna’ get frostbite.” He whined, pulling into the
parking lot the frozen yogurt shop shared with a few department stores.
It was completely empty, most people at work or school and those who weren’t
were cozied up at the coffee shop two doors down.
The college kid behind the counter looked surprised to see them, he pocketed
his phone and greeted them half-heartedly.
Taehyung paid because he felt bad for making Jimin waste gas and therefore gas
money, plus he still had all the cash his parents gave him.
They talked about stupid shit that eighteen-year-olds normally talked about.
Video games, comics, girls, and parties.
It was nice, like getting back into a comforting routine.
And then it wasn’t so nice.
Taehyung’s heart dropped to his stomach, “He’s here.” He whispered, as quietly
as he could with it still being audible. Of course, he couldn’t even have one
hour of normalcy, Jimin was just beginning to think he wasn’t absolutely
insane.
Jimin looked around and then back at Taehyung, “Who's here?” he asked
carefully.
“Look he’s right there.” Taehyung jumped out of his chair and pointed at
Jungkook who didn’t look to be effected at all by his outburst.
“Taehyung, that’s just the cashier.” And then Jungkook disappeared and in his
place was the confused college kid, he looked at Taehyung like he was crazy.
“Oh my god, what the fuck?” Taehyung dropped his hand.
“Okay, obviously you're stressed out and stuff.” Jimin tried to reason with
him.
Taehyung felt his breath quicken, he wasn’t crazy, this had never happened
before. Why was this happening?
He needed to talk to Jungkook, the real Jungkook not a weird hallucination of
him, ask him why he had cursed Taehyung. That had to be it, Jungkook had cursed
him.
“There’s a school counselor, I think, why don’t you try talking to her?” Jimin
rambled, trying to calm him down.
Taehyung bolted, ignoring Jimin shouting behind him.
They lived in the city with over thirteen private and public schools, so most
people were used to kids running by at breakneck speed trying to make it to
class and no one questioned him when he dashed by.
He couldn’t deal with it anymore, now Jimin and even the dumb Happy Yogurt
employer thought he was insane. Was he insane?
Maybe this was all just an elaborate prank.
He shivered as he remembered what it felt like to die, there was no way that
was fake. He had stopped breathing, his heart had stopped.
He stopped to catch his breath at a park located about a mile from the school.
As far as he could tell Jimin hadn’t followed him, or if he had he wasn’t fast
enough to catch up.
Taehyung felt kind of bad because he knew that Jimin would just get twitchy and
nervous until he knew Taehyung was safe.
He had left his phone in Jimin’s car so he couldn’t call him for a ride back.
Walking would probably be a good thing anyways, he could clear his head in the
cold air.
An old lady stared at him from the bench she was sitting on her. She was
wrapped in a fraying quilt and had bird seed scattered around her. No birds
seemed to want to get close to her, though. A few braver ones grabbed some feed
that had been blown a little bit away, but most steered clear.
“You poor soul.” She said, her voice cracked on every other syllable and
Taehyung winced at how painful it sounded.
“I’m not in any trouble, just catching my breath.” He explained himself.
“Oh son, you’re in a lot of trouble.” She replied, a gust of wind blew her
tattered yellow scarf back around her neck. Taehyung wondered if she was cold,
didn’t old people get cold easily.
“I’m really not ma’am.” He sighed to himself and wondered if it would be
impolite to just walk away.
“You know if I was in trouble I would talk to someone who knows about the
issue.” She said, and it looked like she was going to stand up and Taehyung
really didn’t want to get any closer to her.
“Thanks, I have to go now, have fun feeding your birds.” He nodded to the
pathetic display and stood up from the curb he had sat on, heading down the
street in the general direction of his school.
“Good luck with your problem.” She yelled, and when Taehyung went to turn
around she was gone.
It wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened today so he played it off as a
batty old lady that could apparently move quickly.
Jungkook was just standing there when Taehyung walked onto the soccer field.
He’s not even sure why he went there, the school was closed already, even the
teachers had gone home by now. Nobody liked to stay out late when there was a
possibility of a snowstorm, and with the temperature dipping and the storms
blowing in one after the snow was a high possibility.
Everyone had abandoned ship except Jungkook apparently, who stood at the edge
of the grassy field, staring at Taehyung as he walked closer.
Taehyung didn’t blink as he stalked forward. In a strange parody of the
morning's events, he grabbed Jungkook’s collar and shoved him against the cold
metal of the chain link fence.
“Why am I dying every night?” Taehyung growled, he knew that Jungkook was
stronger than him, knew that he wouldn’t be able to pin the younger boy if the
boy wasn’t letting him do just that, and it made Taehyung even angrier.
“It’ll happen again tonight.” Jungkook said easily, swallowing the mint he was
chewing so that he could speak clearly. His breath smelled sharp, it stung
Taehyung’s nose.
“Why!?” He yelled in desperation, “Why are you doing this to me?”
Jungkook didn’t laugh like villains did in the movies, he didn’t look
sympathetic or angry. He was as blank as ever and Taehyung wondered if he
really was just imaging all of this if somehow nothing was real.
“Because I didn’t want it to happen to me.” Jungkook told him stoically with
his breath smelling like ice and his collarbones poking from his paper-white
skin like knives and Taehyung knew then that even if it wasn’t physically
Jungkook that killed him every night it was Jungkook that caused his death.
He could blame Jungkook.
Taehyung dropped his arms to his side, felt his knees kiss the pavement as he
held his face and cried like a child, the unreal reality sinking in.
Jungkook shifted so that he was squatting and put a hand on Taehyung’s
shoulder, the cold seeped off his skin like a disease.
“It’s nothing against you really, you were just at the wrong place at the right
time.” Jungkook said, rubbing little circles into Taehyung’s back as he sobbed,
“It could have been your short friend that talks a lot or that dude who got
held back twice that you buy weed from, or even the baseball coach, but it was
you. What bad luck.”
Taehyung didn’t respond at first, allowing, with a sense of defeat, Jungkook to
touch him even though it was the last thing he wanted right then.
“What is it?” He asked finally, not raising his head or speaking above a
whisper but Jungkook heard him.
He could feel a water seeping into his jeans from the grass but he couldn’t
find it in himself to stand up.
“Who knows. The devil maybe, a demon or a ghost? Maybe it’s just good-old-
fashioned human paranoia.” Jungkook dropped his hand to his own knee,
straightening himself until he stood tall above Taehyung.
“It’s real!” Taehyung yelled this time, “I’m not crazy, it has to be real.”
Jungkook laughed then, sympathy mixed with malice, “You’d rather it be a
monster than have it be you.” He didn’t pose it as a question, more of an
insight.
“I’d rather not have anything to do with it.” Taehyung finally pushed himself
off the ground, he’d had enough breakdowns already today, and he refused to
have a conversation like that, and like it or not he had to have this
conversation.
“Too late.” Jungkook hummed.
“How do I get rid of it?” Taehyung ignored the comment.
“Do what I did.” Jungkook said, “Give it to someone else.”
Taehyung scoffed, giving was such a nice word, it didn’t belong in this
conversation.
“I could give it back to you?” Taehyung squinted his eyes in confusion, someone
yelled somewhere in the distance, both of them ignored it.
“Not exactly.” Jungkook laughed.
“Than who do I give it to?”
“We don’t get to choose, you’ll hear this noise when it see’s someone it wants
to move to.” Jungkook pulled a box of cigarettes from his shirt pocket.
Taehyung hadn’t even known that he smoked.
He watched quietly as Jungkook lit the cigarette with a cheap orange zippo
lighter. Such a small normal movement looked almost theatrical when Jungkook
did it.
Everything about Jungkook was big like God had tried to make something better
than a human when he created him.
Jungkook laughed, “God didn’t create me.”
“What?”
“You were thinking out loud, a common symptom of insomnia.” Jungkook explained,
taking a long drag and blowing smoke into the cool winter air around them.
Taehyung tried not to stare at the way he pursed his lips.
Something felt wrong, his heart was beating faster than it should be.
“Are you an atheist?” Taehyung tried to change the subject, he wasn’t sure why
he was still standing here, trying to make conversation with the boy that
ruined his life, that was still ruining his life.
“I guess.” Jungkook replied idly, leaning against the chain-link fence that
separated the school from private property.
Taehyung definitely didn’t stare at the way his jeans clung to his legs and his
sweater framed his chest and broad shoulders. His yellow scarf hung loosely,
wrapped around his shoulders only once. It was old and tattered and looked out
of place on the otherwise fashion-conscious teenager.
Jungkook cocked his head like he found something interesting, gazing into
Taehyung’s eyes and Taehyung couldn’t force himself look away.
They kissed.
Taehyung wasn’t sure if it was himself or Jungkook that leaned forward first,
but they met in the middle.
He wasn’t exactly not interested in boys, he had just assumed he preferred tits
to dick up until this point. Jimin would have cringed at his word choice but
Taehyung definitely couldn’t think of Jimin right now because nothing killed a
boner like imagining your pseudo-brother lecturing you on the many reasons you
shouldn’t be getting hard for Jungkook, who had apparently passed on some crazy
demon virus onto you and was just generally a creepy dude.
He could blame it on teenage hormones.
And damn were his hormones firing off synapses like crazy. He thinks that
sentence made sense but science was never really his strong suit.
Jungkook pulled away and licked his lips, they were chapped and tasted like
mint chewing gum.
“That was nice.” He said as he straightened himself out and walked away,
throwing his still smoking cigarette on the ground.
Taehyung was left, mouth still gaping stupidly and brain still trying to catch
up with what he had just done.
“Motherfucker.” He said aloud, touching his lips like a fucking love-struck
preteen girl.
The sun was just beginning to set and Jungkook had effectively disappeared as
per usual, he had no phone, no car keys, and was going to die again tonight
unless he heard some strange noise and did to someone else what Jungkook had
done to him.
He wasn’t even sure what the noise was, or what to do when he heard the noise.
In summary, he was screwed. So why was he still standing here thinking about
how good Jungkook’s lips felt?
The walk home was hell, especially knowing that Taehyung was literally walking
himself to his grave.
It had been cold and his dumb sweatshirt didn’t do him any good when the wind
had started to pick up, it whistled through the trees like it was from a dumb
horror movie. That’s what his life was now, a dumb horror movie.
He had wasted at least two hours trying to break into his own car, and then
another three waiting for the freshman girls to get out of volleyball practice
so that he could get them to lend him their phones. They had flirted for a
while before one mentioned a crazy senior who was tripping on acid and claimed
he died. Taehyung came up with some excuse to leave and realized he had
forgotten to borrow any of their phones.
Eventually he had resigned himself to walking, it only took fifteen minutes by
car because you could take the highway, but on foot, it would take at least two
hours through sketchy neighborhoods.
Along the way he got hungry and stopped at Jack in the Box for a reprieve from
the cold and a quick dinner, all he had eaten that day was half a cup of frozen
yogurt.
He took a shortcut, cutting through the park that bordered his back yard and
when he finally saw the lights of the houses in his cul-de-sac he breathed a
sigh of relief.
It was short lived, he must have taken longer than he thought because before he
could even reach his fence a shadowy figure jumped in front of him.
Taehyung screamed, maybe one of his neighbors would hear him and call the cops.
If people saw his dead body they would have to believe him.
The figure laughed, and it was the first time Taehyung had heard it make any
noise. It sounded eerily familiar but he wasn’t given any time to process as it
darted forward and broke his neck.
And so Taehyung died looking up at the stars, which was a much better view than
his ceiling at least.
Jimin was asleep in the wicker chair on Taehyung’s front porch when he stumbled
into his front yard.
His neck wasn’t broken, but his clothes and hair were messy as if he had spent
the night in the park. Which he had, he had woken up exactly where he had
fallen.
“You scared the crap out of me.” Jimin yelled after Taehyung shook him awake,
“God, I thought you killed yourself or something!” He cried and Taehyung tried
to feel sympathy but he couldn’t find it within in.
This was Jimin, he best friend since preschool, the kid who always brought over
soup and crackers whenever Taehyung didn’t show up to school, who took color-
coordinated notes that he let Taehyung copy when he slept through lessons
because he was up all of the previous night playing video games.
And yet Taehyung could only remember the feeling of his neck snapping in two.
What did Jimin know? He thought Taehyung was crazy, he thought Taehyung wanted
to die.
In the end, the only person who Taehyung could relate to was Jungkook, as sick
as that made him.
“Sorry, I just had to figure some stuff out.” Taehyung lied, trying to fake
being okay, “I’m better now, though, want a bagel?”
And Jimin followed him into his house, tears tracks streaked his cheeks and red
marks pressed on his arm and neck from where the chair dug into his skin all
night. The last time Jimin had been over was after a party during summer,
Jimin’s mom got mad if he came home drunk so he spent the night most of the
time. They had made it to the living room before passing out on the ugly purple
couch his dad kept from college.
“Don’t do that again.” Jimin hiccuped, “I was so worried.”
“I won’t, sorry. Can I have my phone back?”
Jimin stared at him strangely for a second before handing over Taehyung’s new
generation over priced smartphone. Taehyung ignored it, popped two bagels into
the toaster and grabbed the cream cheese from the fridge.
“Where did you go?” Jimin finally found the courage to ask, Taehyung knew that
Jimin knew that he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Around the city.” He kept it vague on purpose, and Jimin scrunched his face up
like he had tasted something bad.
“I’m going to use your shower.” He said, standing up suddenly and walking from
the kitchen just as his cinnamon raisin bagel popped up with a buzz.
Taehyung nodded, “You remember where the towels are right?” He asked but Jimin
had already left the room.
Taehyung shrugged to himself, buttering Jimin’s bagel and eating it himself.
Jimin couldn’t be that hungry if he skipped breakfast for a shower, and
Taehyung had gotten murdered last night so he figured he deserved the extra
food.
Jungkook kissed him and Taehyung let him. His mouth tasted sharp, like winter
and metal.
“Are you going to do it?” He pulled away to ask, Taehyung groaned at the loss
of contact but Jungkook just chuckled.
“You said I had to wait.” Taehyung explained.
“But you’ll do it right?”
“Of course, it’ll probably be some random stranger right? I don’t wanna’ keep
dying for the rest of my life.” Taehyung mouthed along Jungkook’s collar in an
attempt to get him focused on the task at hand again.
“Good, you’re my favorite.”
“What?”
Jungkook pushed him into the wall, kissing Taehyung like he meant to suck out
his soul.
Taehyung bit back a moan and Jungkook growled, “Don’t do that.” He bit down on
Taehyung’s collarbone.
“Don’t do what.” Taehyung managed to ask breathily.
“Don’t hide from me, I want it all.”
Taehyung felt himself get harder, because of course, he would, “Shit.” He
cursed.
Jungkook chuckled, “So you want a blow job?”
Taehyung almost choked, almost.
“Or you could give me one, doesn’t matter to me.”
Taehyung coughed, blushing furiously, “Uhhh.” He managed to get out before
Jungkook laughed at him.
“Are you a virgin?” He asked, unzipping Taehyung’s skinny jeans slowly,
sensually.
“No.” He wasn’t, he had slept with Sooyoung three times and had been sober for
one of them.
“First time with a boy then.” Jungkook smirked, shoving his hand down
Taehyung’s pants. His fingers were cold as they touched Taehyung’s burning
flesh.
Taehyung had a sudden moment of questionable clarity, what the fuck was he
doing? He had been murdered in the park where he had his third through twelfth
birthday parties last night and here he was getting a handjob from the dude who
made that happen.
“Stop thinking.” Jungkook said moving his hand and Taehyung came apart, his
head fell forward onto Jungkook’s shoulder as he moaned.
He would have fallen if Jungkook hadn’t grasped his thigh with his other hand,
hoisting him up farther into the wall and pulling down his jeans and boxers.
“I hate it when you think.”
“What’s that even mean.” Taehyung laughed a little, but it was cut off by the
moan he gave when Jungkook’s hand suddenly wrapped around his dick.
Jungkook just grinned sharply and Taehyung felt a strange sense of unwarranted
fear shoot through him.
“Good.” Jungkook whispered.
“Keep it in your pants Kim Taehyung.” Jimin laughed from behind him as Taehyung
ran forward to stare in awe as the monkey’s greeting him with screeches.
“I’m no monkey fucker.” Taehyung yelled back and a mother glared at him,
ushering her child away as Jimin apologized and tried not to laugh.
Taehyung had been awakened this morning not by his blaring alarm but by Jimin
shaking his shoulders and exclaiming that they had to go now to miss the
commuter traffic because everyone knew that tired businessmen hyped up on
caffeine were worse drivers than old people and teenagers combined.
Taehyung hadn’t even questioned it, too tired to do much of anything but
struggle with the zipper on his pants and spray some deodorant as if it was
cologne.
Jimin had looked disgusted but hadn’t made a comment as he dragged them both
out to the driveway.
The sun wasn’t even up and the little dashboard clock in Jimin’s car read 4:56,
which meant that he had been brutally murdered a little more than two hours
ago.
Jimin hadn’t given him a chance to mope, though, turning the stereo on and
plugging in his phone to play the playlist Taehyung knew was called,
‘Taehyung’s in a bad mood and we’re driving’. Jimin liked to make playlists for
every type of situation, it was weird but endearing like most things about Park
Jimin.
Singing along to Beyonce and Usher while driving too fast down the highway
actually did wonders for making you forget about your deaths of the past and
future.
It wasn’t until they pulled into the parking lot that Taehyung realized where
they were headed, “Park Jimin you are actually the best ever.” Taehyung lept
out of his seat before Jimin finished parking and dashed towards the entrance.
“Wait up, you don’t even have money for a ticket.” Jimin had yelled from behind
him, cursing his supposed monkey fetish with a joyful tone.
Taehyung had always liked monkey’s, had stuffed animal ones as a kid and
throughout elementary and middle school his school supplies were always monkey
themed. His favorite place ever was the zoo, but he couldn’t even remember the
last time he had been able to make the trip, in between school and parties
there was just no time.
“No time to wait, the monkey’s are waiting.” Taehyung yelled behind him,
barreling over a group of elementary kids lining up outside of their bus.
“Watch it.” An older woman, presumably the teacher, yelled and Jimin apologized
before running after him.
“You asshole.” He wheezed when they finally reached the gate, “You ran over
kids.”
“I’m sure they deserved it.” Taehyung bounced on the balls of his feet
impatiently as Jimin showed a printed code to the tired looking man in the
ticket booth.
The rest of the day was a total highschool-feel-good-movie cliche. They annoyed
the animals, got yelled at by the zookeeper, bought ice cream and fries, and
angered mom’s and teachers alike with their (Taehyung’s) language.
In the end, they were kicked out for trying to feed the hippos granola bars,
but the park was set to close in about fifteen minutes anyways.
“That was fucking awesome!”
“You had fun?” Jimin asked sounding a little nervous.
“Yeah it was the best, god seriously when was the last time we went to the
zoo?” Taehyung unwound his window as Jimin pulled the car out of the parking
lot.
It was already starting to get dark, they had missed the sunset but a little
bit of pink lingered in the clouds.
“Seventh grade? Didn’t your mom take us after we got an A on that one science
project?” Jimin remembered.
“Oh yeah, she was so proud even though you did all the work.” Taehyung laughed
and turned on the radio, Jimin’s phone had died after he was on it all day
taking pictures and so there would be no specifically named playlist.
“Nah, I’m sure you helped.”
“Probably, I am a genius.” Taehyung stuck his tongue out.
“Yeah, I’m sure the way you spilled orange juice all over the first draft
really helped.” Jimin replied with a snort.
“It was cranberry juice!” Taehyung replied indignantly, but he ended up
laughing too as Jimin chocked and spilled water on his lap.
where are you?
hey
i’m bored
wanna hang out ;)
k nvmd
seriously where are you?
Taehyung frowned at the messages on his phone, all but one were from Jungkook
(his mom had asked if he was doing okay and Taehyung sent a quick yes).
stalker much? chill i was with jimin
He sighed as he tried to decide what to make for dinner. Canned chili, frozen
pizza or ramen, when his mom wasn’t home he ate like a poor college kid.
In the end, Taehyung decided on leftover pasta, he had accidentally made three
times the amount he had wanted. At least he hadn’t burned it, though, he was
notoriously bad in the kitchen.
His phone buzzed right as the microwave beeped.
sorry for being worried
Taehyung smiled dopily, then got annoyed at himself. He wasn’t even really sure
if they were dating or not but he kept acting lovestruck.
sorry for not texting u back, i got caught up
it’s cool can i come over??
Taehyung checked the time, it was only twelve. Plenty of time before his daily
dose of death.
ya sure, i’ve got some pasta wanna bring dessert?
i already said i was coming ;)
Taehyung paused for a moment to let the joke sink in before blushing like a
virgin.
not what i meant >:-( i want cake
The pasta sat unattended on the counter as Taehyung realized he hadn’t showered
since last night and probably smelled like sweat and zoo animals, not the
greatest combination for wooing someone who you hoped was your boyfriend.
Taehyung had always zoned out in the shower, they had a really nice one
according to Jimin. The type with jets and a built in speaker system.
Right now he had one of his mom’s playlists going, it was the one she used when
she was relaxing and consisted of mostly orchestral tracks. It was nice but
Taehyung would never admit that he enjoyed it.
“Nice music.”
Taehyung nearly jumped out of skin and he screamed just a little bit, “What the
fuck?!”
“Woah, sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” Jungkook pulled aside the shower
curtain looking slightly amused, “Just wanted to compliment you taste in
music.”
“How did you get in here?” Taehyung asked, trying to grab the curtain back.
“Through the front door? How do you normally get into your boyfriend’s house?”
Jungkook smirked as he yanked the curtain away.
Taehyung knew he was blushing madly as he scrambled to turn off the water and
grab a towel to wrap around himself.
“I didn’t have any cake lying around but I bought popsicles.” Jungkook said,
playfully pulling at Taehyung’s towel, “Or you could have your other desert.”
He winked.
“You’re the worst.” Taehyung stumbled out of the bathroom and into his bedroom
where he tried to pull his boxers on.
Jungkook pushed him onto the bed once he had one foot in and he lost his
balance easily, toppling over in a heap of limbs, “Hey!” He shouted as Jungkook
slunk on top of him and nipped at his collarbone, “Seriously we have this like
high-tech security system I have to disable it before the cops show up, that
would be awkward.”
“It’s fine, I don’t think it was on.” Jungkook mouthed his way down Taehyung’s
bare stomach.
“It’s always on,” He moaned despite himself. “Come on I know half the force
personally I would prefer them not to see this.”
“I took care of it, just chill out and let this happen.” Jungkook looked up
with a smirk.
Taehyung groaned as he kissed him, teeth clacking together in what should have
been painful but was anything but. He felt his common sense slowly drip out of
him as Jungkook’s hand moved lower.
“It wasn’t even on, the little light was red.” Jungkook whispered as they
pulled away, “Trust me I wouldn’t want anyone to see you like this either.”
“Fine.” Taehyung said breathily, “Just keep going.”
Jungkook laughed as he pulled off his sweatshirt and t-shirt in one go.
Taehyung let his hands trail over his defined chest, “You work out?” He asked
between pants.
Jungkook shrugged, “Good metabolism.” And he kissed Taehyung again as he pushed
them both down onto Taehyung’s embarrassing spiderman comforter that he’d had
since third grade.
Taehyung was already almost fully erect as Jungkook kicked off his shoes and
bit little hickeys on his chest.
“You wanna top or nah?” He asked and Taehyung blushed even harder.
“I d-don’t really know.” He stuttered as Jungkook finally finished undressing
while he cradled Taehyung’s cock with his hand and left little kisses along his
thighs.
“I’ll make it good for you.” Jungkook promised hopefully and Taehyung nodded.
Jungkook smiled widely and Taehyung felt that weird flash of fear again, but it
was gone in the next second as Jungkook left to grab something from his pocket
and Taehyung moaned at the loss of contact.
“Cherry or grape?” Jungkook asked.
“Jesus Christ you think I care?” Taehyung cursed as Jungkook laughed at him.
“Don’t use the lord’s name in vain.” He teased as he moved back to Taehyung,
“You’ve never been fucked so this might hurt a little.” He warned before
tearing open the little lube packet and coating his fingers in it.
“My bed.” Taehyung whined as some of it got onto his sheets.
Jungkook laughed again, “That’s what you’re worried about?”
“Hey you aren’t the one who has to do lau--” Taehyung blinked as something
entered him, “Thanks for the warning.” He breathed out.
Jungkook pat his head, “See doesn’t hurt too bad right?”
“Your dick’s the size of your index finger?” Taehyung asked and then moaned as
Jungkook started to move said finger.
“Wouldn’t that be disappointing.” He hummed as he added a second finger and
Taehyung saw stars at how stupidly good it felt.
They were quiet besides Taehyung’s occasional breathy moans and Jungkook’s
light chuckles as he scissored the two fingers inside of Taehyung and added a
third soon after.
“I’m gonna use my dick now.” Jungkook said finally, he pulled his fingers out
and Taehyung tried not to get embarrassed at the way he groaned.
“That’s a really dumb way to say that.” Taehyung giggled as Jungkook leaned
down to kiss him as pulled a condom on and pushed his way in.
It really hurt.
Jungkook’s dick was much bigger than an index finger and even though he was
going slowly Taehyung still winced in pain.
“Chill.” Jungkook said.
“Easy for you to say.” Taehyung hissed back at him, biting his lip in
concentration as he tried to relax.
Jungkook laughed a little and Taehyung bit his shoulder as payback.
It took a while but eventually Jungkook was moving at a steady pace, his hand
pulling on Taehyung’s dick in synchronization with his thrusts.
“God.” Taehyung yelled, he thought for a second that it really was a blessing
that his parents weren't home before Jungkook growled and bit his collarbone
again.
“I’m going to--” Taehyung screamed as he came, Jungkook groaned and it was only
a moment before he followed suit.
They lay there panting for a solid ten minutes before Taehyung shoved Jungkook
onto the ground, “Look at how messy my bed is now!” He yelled.
Jungkook laughed again, “Like none of that was your fault?”
“You’re the one who brought lube and condoms.” Taehyung stuck his tongue out
and then yelped as Jungkook pulled him onto the ground with him.
“Let’s watch T.V. or something.” Jungkook whispered, “I don’t wanna’ go home
yet.”
Taehyung kissed him, “You do laundry, I watch T.V.” He said.
“Deal.” Jungkook replied, but neither of them moved.
“You should go.” Taehyung said finally.
They had been watching a marathon of Dance Moms in between other activities.
Jungkook had decided it was a terrible show but he really likes the minimal
scenes in which the girls actually danced.
“Is it already three?” Jungkook asked sleepily from where his head was pressed
into Taehyung’s thigh.
“It’s almost three-thirty.” Taehyung said, running a hand through Jungkook’s
tussled hair.
“Okay, good luck.” Jungkook sat up and kissed Taehyung again.
He almost got caught up again, but the grandfather clock reminded him of the
time and so he pushed Jungkook away and stood up to help him look for his
clothes.
“I think the time should come soon.” Jungkook said as he stood in Taehyung’s
doorway, neither of them wanted him to leave.
“I know that’s why I’m making you leave.” Taehyung said.
“No, the time when you can get rid of it.” Jungkook informed as he took a
backwards step onto the porch.
“How do you know?” Taehyung called after him but Jungkook was gone. He blended
into the shadows as if he had come from them and Taehyung decided against going
after him barefoot in just his boxers.
Jungkook hadn’t done laundry despite his promise and so Taehyung quickly
stripped off the blankets and pulled his sleeping bag from the closet. He was
too lazy to make the bed again but it was too cold to sleep without anything.
Then he went down to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of cheerios and waited
for the red numbers on the oven clock to change to three-forty-three.
“But mom, I don’t wanna’ go to school.” Taehyung whined as Jimin bodily dragged
him out of his house.
“You are not leaving me to present this alone Kim Taehyung.” Jimin growled,
throwing Taehyung into the backseat and running to his own open door, he had
had the foresight to enable the child lock before he had practically kidnapped
Taehyung.
“You suck.” Taehyung pouted, climbing into the front seat as Jimin pulled into
the street.
“I’m mad at you don’t talk to me.” Jimin replied, “How could you not tell me
who your new girlfriend is?”
He had found Taehyung naked in his bed with hickeys everywhere and jumped to
some conclusions. After Taehyung had promised he hadn’t had sex with Sooyoung
again he had been desperate to know who it was.
Taehyung silently cursed Jungkook, “They’re shy, I’ll introduce you guys
later.”
Jimin stuck his lower lip out but dropped the subject in favor of grilling
Taehyung about the presentation they were supposed to give second period.
“I’m going to forget everything if you keep hitting me over the head with it.”
Taehyung finally snapped as Jimin nit picked.
Jimin sighed, “Fine I’ll stop, but seriously I need this A.”
“Don’t worry, when have I ever let you down?” Taehyung knew that Jimin didn’t,
in fact, need this A, his grade had never dipped below a ninety-eight and
wouldn’t go below ninety-five if they failed this. It was Taehyung who needed
the A to keep a B in the class, which was the only reason Jimin had paired off
with him instead of one of the smarter kids who were doing much more difficult
reports.
Jimin laughed but didn’t say anything else.
“Do you hear that?” Taehyung asked as a strange buzzing sound started, he
looked around for the fly.
“The radio?” Jimin asked, turning it up.
Taehyung felt himself grow cold as the buzzing in his ear got louder and the
countdown started.
No. He couldn’t do this.
Jimin was humming along to whatever song was playing on the radio and it wasn’t
fair, it just wasn’t fair. He couldn’t do that to his best friend, the same guy
that had helped him through his grandma’s death and had been there to watch him
like a nervous mother the first time Taehyung decided he had to get high even
though it was Jimin who got yelled at.
The noise crescendoed like some kind of terrible orchestra.
Jimin had always been there for him, he slept on his lawn for three days one
summer vacation when Taehyung got mad at him for something that was probably
Taehyung’s fault and had threatened to never talk to him again.
“You’ll die tomorrow.”
“What?” Jimin turned his head, looking confused. Jimin had two kid sisters, and
he worked eight-hour shifts on school nights because his mom couldn’t work
after an accident that landed her permanently in a wheelchair and his dad left
them to run away with a pretty rich girl eight years younger than him from
another country when he was in elementary school.
Jimin wanted to be a doctor, not for the money, but because he genuinely liked
helping people. He had cried over a dead bird in sixth grade and all the other
kids had laughed at him and he had punched the kid that had stolen Taehyung’s
new phone that he had gotten for Christmas, and had apologized to the mean old
lady when Taehyung broke her dumb fountain.
“At four-fifteen tomorrow morning you’re going to die.”
Taehyung felt like puking.
Epilogue:
“You did it.” Jungkook said cheerfully four years later.
Taehyung was at a bar with faux-leather stools duct-taped together and bathroom
stalls that didn’t lock, drinking himself to death because he’s a horrible
person who didn’t deserve to live. He didn’t want to see Jungkook, he never
wanted to see Jungkook ever again.
“Pretty fucked up though,” Jungkook hailed the bartender with a loose wave of
his hand, “Bloody Mary please.”
The bartender looked at him like he was crazy, “Kid I don’t know how you got in
but we don’t do that girly shit.”
Jungkook smiled, pearly teeth glowing in the dim lighting, the bartender
visibly gulped, “But I got some vodka and cranberry juice?” He tried.
“Just the vodka then.” Jungkook sighed heavily like he was incredibly
disappointed at the lack of gourmet cocktails in this particular dive-bar.
He looked no different than he had four years ago when he ruined Taehyung’s
life.
“He killed himself you know.” Jungkook said once the bartender turned away.
Taehyung already knew, he had watched the news coverage from some other bar
some other place. He hadn’t even cried.
He was a monster.
“Left his crippled mom and two sisters all alone, but really he was being a
good guy. I told him how to get rid of it after you ditched, and he refused to
do that to another person,” Jungkook paused as the bartender placed his drink
in front of him grunting at the snarky thanks Jungkook shot him, “Thought that
if he died he would drag it back to hell or something.” he finished, taking
downing the shot in one go.
The bar was too loud and too crowded with people wrapped up in themselves for
anyone to notice the two monsters amongst them. Even the bartender had already
forgotten they existed and had gone back to flirting with the pretty girl with
bleach blond hair and bright red lips.
“He doesn’t blame you either even though he knew it was your fault, he’s a
better person than you’ll ever be.”
Taehyung refused to respond.
“Your mom misses you, she got rid of all those creepy masks ‘cause she knew you
hated them, collects dead bugs now.” Jungkook pulled a piece of mint candy from
his pocket and popped it into his mouth.
“Your dad drinks, I guess it runs in the family.” Jungkook laughed as he
gestured towards Taehyung’s fourth bottle of beer he was drinking then, five or
so empty shot glasses surrounded him like miniature gravestones.
The noise of the bar washed over them as Jungkook finally went quiet. The world
moved around them but they remained still, trapped in their own world.
“He was wrong.” Jungkook whispered, getting too close to Taehyung. Close enough
that Taehyung could feel his breath on the shell of his ear.
Taehyung waited for an explanation but it soon became clear that Jungkook would
want something in exchange for that.
He wanted to ignore him, to let Jungkook get bored and move on, to go torment
someone else.
“About what?” Taehyung hoped a two-word prompt would be enough, he didn’t know
why he even offered that much. It just felt right to ask for whatever reason.
“You can’t get rid of me.” Jungkook said with mirth evident in his voice and
Taehyung downed the rest of his beer in one swig hoping that maybe this time
the alcohol really would kill him.
End Notes
     what even is pacing
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!