Work Text:
“stop moving,” yoongi says as he reaches over to the sink to grab the bottle of antiseptic, pouring it onto a cotton ball. “i’m almost done.”
taehyung sits still but hisses as the mint haired boy gently presses the cotton onto the cut along his cheekbone. yoongi kisses him sweetly to soothe the pain, while still being careful of the bruises scattered along taehyung’s body. the brunette leans his forehead against yoongi’s, despite their height difference even when sitting.
“‘m sorry, hyung,” he whispers, closing his eyes as a lone teardrop escapes down his cheek. yoongi thinks the other boy was beautiful, even like this. even with cuts and bruises and god knows what else littering taehyung’s thin frame. too thin, yoongi thinks, too thin for a boy of seventeen who’s nearly six feet tall. he’s so frail.
“don’t be,” the older presses his lips to taehyung’s forehead. “you could always come with me, taehyung, you know that.” he doesn’t push, doesn’t keep asking, simply lets the idea stand, despite already knowing taehyung’s answer.
taehyung doesn’t say anything. he doesn’t need to.
-
taehyung doubles over in laughter, high pitched giggles streaming out as he tries (see: fails) to form coherent words.
yoongi is laughing too, just from the sheer ridiculousness of this all. he doesn’t even know what crazy story taehyung was trying to tell, the boy having broken out into peals of laughter within ten seconds of recalling it.
it’s 3 am and he has a paper due tomorrow, but there’s nowhere he’d rather be than laying on his roof and seeing the younger’s boxy grin light up the night sky.
-
it’s 3 am again but this is a different 3 am. a three am where yoongi finds himself ushering his sobbing boyfriend into the bathroom, desperately trying to calm him down while ransacking his medicine cabinet for the first aid kit.
when taehyung shows no signs of quieting, the mint haired boy drops them down onto the cold tile and rocks him, shields him from things that aren’t there, from his father, from every goddamn thing this world has to make a boy so precious call him sobbing at 3 am, begging to whoever’s on his side of the phone to please, please, he’s sorry, he didn’t mean it, please, he’ll do better, he promises --
yoongi squeezes his eyes shut as he sways, petting taehyung’s hair and smoothing a hand down his back. “tae, baby, deep breaths, deep breaths ok? like hyung, listen to hyung,” he exaggerates his breathing in an attempt to get taehyung to do the same. “look at me baby, it’s me. it’s hyung, there’s no one else, no one else but me, it’s ok, just breathe.” taehyung drags in a shuddering breath, hands digging painfully into yoongi’s shoulder blades, but he pays no mind.
“i need to clean your cuts, ok taetae?” taehyung nods, pulling back, and only then does yoongi see the ring of purple finger-shaped marks around the boy’s throat. he inhales sharply and quietly curses as he stands up to retrieve the first aid kit.
the older’s hands shake with held in anger as he roughly digs around in the box, searching for bandages and cotton balls. yoongi looks up and is shocked to see hesitant fear in taehyung’s eyes, suddenly realizing with a jolt that the brunette thinks that yoongi is angry at him.
“oh, tae,” yoongi says softly, tucking a lock of brown hair behind the younger’s ear, internally cringing as he flinches at first. he’ll kill the bastard that does this to him, he swears, one more time and he’ll fucking --
“it’s fine,” taehyung murmurs quietly, “i’m fine, hyung, r-really, i didn’t mean to wake you up, i-i’ll just--”
yoongi pushes him back down without a word and begins treating the brunette’s wounds with unfortunately practiced ease. when he’s finished he stands up and leads them to his bedroom, letting taehyung get in first and then coming up behind and holding the boy to his chest, whispering nothings and reassurances. among them lies a quiet, “ you don’t have to go back there.”
taehyung is asleep.
-
“hyung! hyung, i passed!”
yoongi turns around to be met with an armful of taehyung and he instantly knows what this is about. they’d been studying hard for the past weeks in order to pass this final, in the short hours before taehyung has to rush home to be there before his father arrives.
nights of missed sleep and careful cleaning of cuts and gashes and bruises has left taehyung with less than stellar grades, and it irks yoongi so because he knows, he knows just how smart and talented the younger is.
teachers spare him sympathetic looks when he arrives late to class and takes his seat beside yoongi, avert their eyes when his sleeves ride up and dark bruises bloom grotesque flowers across his skin. but sympathetic glances and pitying gazes don’t help his failing grades and dropping gpa.
yoongi doesn’t give a shit about the stares they receive as he spins his boyfriend around in his arms in the middle of the courtyard. he stops spinning long enough to look into taehyung’s eyes and finds them glossy with happy tears.
as if they weren’t already causing a spectacle, taehyung leans right down and kisses yoongi on the lips, too happy to give a damn about intolerant schoolmates.
after all, he’s done it, he’s going to be free, finally. free of this school, free of his household of violence, and free to love yoongi with all he has.
even yoongi has tears in his eyes now, although taehyung knew if anyone asked, the shorter boy would vehemently deny it.
they don’t even spare taehyung’s house a glance as yoongi drives his beat up car past it towards his own home, where he lives alone. but not for long, because they’ve been saving and saving for this moment. for the moment taehyung can finally leave and never look back.
they’re laughing as they step into the apartment. near the door stand packed suitcases. taehyung opens his mouth to ask, but yoongi cuts him off.
“run away with me?”
-
tears once again are flowing down taehyung’s cheeks, but yoongi isn’t concerned. because these are happy tears, tears of relief. the car is reaching the city limits now, and taehyung doesn’t look back. instead, he looks to the side and sees yoongi, his eyes focused on the road with one hand on taehyung’s knee, smiling. taehyung is finally living.