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“Hey this is Jungkook, you missed me but just leave the message at the beep.”
“Kookie call me back when you get this, I’m sorry I left you alone last night.” Taehyung said and cut the call, he sighed as he thought of the last time he saw Jungkook.
“Tae don’t go, stay here tonight.” Jungkook whined as he leaned against his door. Jungkook was still holding onto Taehyung’s hand.
Taehyung smiled at his boyfriend and leaned in to place a kiss on his forehead, “I can’t love, I have classes tomorrow morning. I’ll see you later okay.”
Jungkook pouted until Taehyung leaned down again and kissed it off, “Ugh fine but you better come pick me up for lunch tomorrow directly after class.” Jungkook warned.
“Yes sir, I will be at your doorstep as soon as class ends. Now if that’s all my prince I shall take your leave.” Taehyung said, bowing low.
“Farewell my brave knight.” Jungkook said, trying not to crack a smile.
“Goodnight babe.” Taehyung replied, smiling and placed a final kiss on Jungkook’s forehead.
Jungkook watched Taehyung walk out of the building and only then did he enter his own home, locking the door behind him.
Taehyung picked up his bag and rushed out the door, slamming it with much more force than required. He ran down the stairs and rushed across the campus to get to his school building. He walked into the building and the sudden close proximity with all the noise and the color and smells sent his senses into overdrive and he felt his head start to hurt.
He stumbled his way through the corridor until he finally walked into his lecture hall. He collapsed into his seat; sweat making his clothes stick to his body. His body was burning up and he couldn’t see straight, everything seemed to be sticking together or splitting up in ways they never should. Taehyung rubbed at his eyes trying to get rid of the illusions but they just wouldn’t leave him. He felt someone tug at his jacket.
“Tae, you okay? You look like shit man why did you come to class?”
“Who? Um where’s Jimin? Have you seen Jimin? I haven’t seen him all day.” Taehyung said, still rubbing at his eyes. He couldn’t clearly make out who it was who was talking to him, the person looked like they were split in three.
“Tae buddy um Jimin, he’s not in school. Hasn’t been for a week.” The person replied, confusion and hesitation lased through his voice.
“What? No I- I um saw him…” Taehyung grunted unable to string his sentences together, there was too much noise invading his mind, “yesterday when I went to pick up Jungkook, he was at their dorm.”
“Taehyung no…” the voice was cut off when Taehyung got off his chair and walked out of the room, stumbling over his own feet. His eyesight was still fuzzy and he couldn’t make out who was who.
Taehyung banged against a wall and slid to the floor, the people in the corridors had lessened considerably. Taehyung took out his phone again and dialed Jungkook’s number.
“Hey this is Jungkook, you missed me but just leave the message at the beep.”
“Kook pick up please, I need to talk to you I don’t… I don’t feel good and I’m sorry.” Taehyung said, apologizing again. Taehyung wasn’t sure why he was apologizing so much but he had apologized after every message he left him.
Taehyung called again, only a few seconds after he ended the first call but it went to voicemail again. He kept calling the number and each time it went to voicemail. Taehyung needed to see Jungkook so got off the floor, he gripped onto the wall and used it as support to lift himself up. He walked out of the campus and onto the grounds outside, the colors of the day and heat rushed upon him all at once and they once again overrode his senses but Taehyung kept walking, picking his footing carefully as he walked to Jungkook’s dorm.
Taehyung’s mind felt fuzzy as he walked, he couldn’t see straight and he felt like the floor was cracked in half, one piece higher than the other. Everything felt off and eventually Taehyung crashed to his knees.
Taehyung was walking across the grounds, his hands in his pockets and earphones in completely oblivious to the rest of the students. He was thinking about where to take Jungkook for lunch when he noticed that some people were running, he took out his earphones and looked around him, finally coming into focus about his surroundings.
He noticed that there most of the people around him were running towards he 12th dorm building, Jungkook’s dorm building. Taehyung squinted, he had forgotten to put on his glasses and he noticed flashing lights near the building, his eyes widened in fear. Taehyung dropped his book bag and ran to the building along with the rest of the student body.
Taehyung sat there with his hands in his hair trying to silence the screaming and trying to focus his mind on the floor or the sky or anything that was real, anything that wasn’t the blur of dark colors he was currently seeing.
“Tae. Taehyung. Kim Taehyung. Tae look at me are you okay?” came a voice and soon after his shoulders were being held by a boy with black hair, that’s all Taehyung could see, a mop of black hair and faded colors and shapes underneath.
He shook Taehyung again trying to get him to come out of his delusion. “Kim Taehyung open your eyes, you’re outside look around you. You’re not there stop it.” Came the voice again. The boy behind the voice kept telling Taehyung to open his eyes over and over until Taehyung finally got control of his breathing again.
Taehyung opened his eyes and looked up to see Yoongi, he was on his knees as well next to Taehyung. Yoongi’s eyes looked tired and they were filled with worry, his lips were pursed and his cheeks were pulled upwards. There were wrinkles on his forehead and Taehyung noticed each and every detail of his face. Mere seconds ago Taehyung’s mind wouldn’t let him focus on anything but now here he was counting the faint freckles under Yoongis eyes. Taehyung studied behavioral psychology, he knew Yoongi was worried and he knew Yoongi was afraid, not of Taehyung but for Taehyung.
Taehyung continued to look at Yoongi for a while and then stood up, it was a quick movement. He grabbed onto his bag and shot upward. He stood at full length and before Yoongi could ask anything further Taehyung took off running towards Jungkook’s dorm building. He ran up the stairs taking two at a time until he came to a stop on the third floor. Taehyung couldn’t move his feet, there was something holding him there. His head started to spin again. He needed to hear Jungkook’s voice; he dialed him.
“Hey this is Jungkook, you missed me but just leave the message at the beep.”
“Jungkook please where are you? I’m sorry.” Taehyung said and cut the call. His voice was tired but it was getting quicker, his breaths were getting shorter and his movements more erratic. Taehyung couldn’t move from the top of the staircase but his entire body was shaking as though he had a fever, he was sweating profusely and the pain in his head became worse. He felt like blades were piercing through his mind and he collapsed to the floor again.
Taehyung races up the stairs, curiously he didn’t have to shove or push people, when they saw who it was they gave way. He made his way through the corridor until he was caught by someone, he looked away from the scene in front of him to see that it was Namjoon with Yoongi nearby.
“Hyung what’s going on? Where’s Kookie and Jimin? This is their floor and I don’t see them.” Taehyung asked.
“Um Tae, let’s go. Not here, not right now.” Namjoon said, still holding onto Taehyung and shielding him from viewing the door.
“Hyung no fucking move.” Taehyung said, trying to get out of Namjoon’s grasp. He was scared and confused and he wanted to know what was wrong. He needed to know that his best friends were okay.
“Sir I need you to move” Someone said and pushed Namjoon aside. A group of people came walking past carrying a hospital stretcher with a boy on top of it. Taehyung turned his head downward to see who it was and he felt his knees go weak, Jimin was laying atop the stretcher hooked up to a portable air mask and one of the attendants was applying pressure on a bleeding wound just below his rib cage.
Jimin held Taehyung’s hand weakly as he was carried past and whispered, “I’m sorry.” They took Jimin out of the corridor and down the stairs as the students made a wide path for them.
Namjoon had grabbed hold of Taehyung again, a little softer so that he wouldn’t hurt him but tight enough to hold Taehyung up. Taehyung’s mind was racing at the speed of light, Jimin had been shot that much was clear but he would be okay. They were taking him to the hospital and he would be okay, Taehyung kept repeating that to himself in an attempt to calm himself down until realization hit.
He had not seen Jungkook. Taehyung’s breathing got erratic and the panic built up in him, seeing Jimin strolled out of there was what tipped him. Taehyung’s fear escalated until he couldn’t see anymore but he needed to know. He needed to know if his baby was okay so he pushed hard, he summoned any power he had left and pushed Namjoon away and walked forward. He had barely been able to walk a few paces before he saw it.
Taehyung looked up from his hands, there were tears streaming past his eyes spilling onto his knees and onto the floor. He had never gotten this far, Taehyung remembered why Jimin wasn’t in class, he was still in the hospital, Jimin was still recovering. He forced himself off the floor and dragged his own feet to the door, he banged against it until he didn’t have the strength to stand anymore. He collapsed against the door, his head and hands still pressed against it.
“Jungkook open the door please, I need to see you.” He yelled.
“Jungkookie please I can’t do this alone, I need you. Jimin’s in the hospital and I need to see you.”
“Nothing’s making sense angel, I can’t see straight or walk straight and I know I didn’t take anything. Help me please.”
“Jungkook please.” Taehyung begged through the door.
Taehyung looked through the door and saw it. The yellow bag covering a stretcher, covering a body. The lights and sounds around him faded as he fell to the floor. Taehyung fell to the floor as his world crashed around him. He knew who’s body it was, there was only one other person who lived in that dorm, there was only one person who Namjoon would shield him from, there was only one person Jimin would apologize to Taehyung for.
Jeon Jungkook, the light of his life, the boy who put the smile on Taehyung’s face, the boy who showed Taehyung what it was like to be happy again. He was the boy who Taehyung loved with every inch of his being. He was the boy who brought Taehyung to life again and he was now being carried away in a body bag, dead and colder than ice.
The tears were flowing like a raging river now, they wouldn’t stop for anyone but Taehyung didn’t notice all he could think about was his need to hear Jungkook’s voice talking to him or see his eyes staring back at him, all Taehyung could feel was the spiking pain in his head and his heart beating too fast. Taehyung dialed Jungkook’s number again.
“Hey this is Jungkook, you missed me but just leave the message at the beep.”
“Please come back I love you.” Taehyung whispered, his voice broken and desperate.
He dialed again.
“Hey this is Jungkook, you missed me but just leave the message at the beep.”