Work Text:
“oh, mrs. kim, it’s no trouble at all!” jungkook says, holding his phone in one hand and cracking the living room blinds with the other. he peers out at the rain bucketing down. “i don’t think i would be able to walk home in this weather anyway.”
thunder cracks across the sky as he says this, and the house shutters. lightning illuminates the night sky like a strobe light.
“yep! they went to bed at nine, no problem,” he says proudly. “oh, we carved pumpkins and made cupcakes. they were such good listeners!”
he lets the blinds snap shut and plops down on the sofa, filling in mrs. kim about what he and the kids did that day and reassuring her once again that he doesn’t mind spending the night.
the kims had gone to visit family out of town, and jungkook, being their go-to babysitter, had happily accepted the job. five year old eunjoo and her brother, six year old jiwon, were angels and he always had so much fun watching them. they had even been the reason he decided he would pursue a career in elementary education.
as it was the night before halloween, the kids were busy putting the final touches on their costumes, meaning they would tell jungkook what needed to be done and he would handle the hot glue gun and sewing needles. they made sure to closely follow the costume designs their older brother, taehyung, who was away at college, had sketched for them.
they also baked cupcakes, decorated to look like spiders with pretzel stick legs. jungkook measured everything out and handled the oven, while the kids were busy mixing and decorating. the cupcakes turned out delicious and adorable, and jungkook got a kick out of the amount of flour that ended up on jiwon’s face.
it started raining heavily while they carved pumpkins in the kitchen, but the rain quickly turned into a severe thunderstorm. jungkook checked the weather app, seeing flash flood warnings for both this area and the town the kims were currently visiting. the storm wasn’t going to let up until morning.
it was after he had put the kids to bed that mrs. kim called, explaining that the roads were all flooded and asking him if he would be willing to stay the night. he reassured her he didn’t mind at all, and she apologized for the inconvenience anyway.
it’s now ten thirty at night, and he’s all alone in a big house with nothing to do.
he decides to dig around the pantry, since the kims told him it was all free game, and grabs a bag of microwave popcorn. while it’s cooking, he switches the t.v on in the living room, flipping through the channels until he settles on a trashy t.l.c. reality show. the rain and wind outside drown out the aggressive pop pop pops from the kitchen.
once his snack is ready, jungkook fluffs up the pillows on the couch and settles in, content in drowning out the weather with love triangles and cheating scandals.
an hour later, though, he’s abruptly snapped out of his reality t.v.-induced stupor when a reverberant bass-boom of thunder shakes the house. the power immediately goes out and he’s bathed in a startling amount of darkness.
all the household appliances shut off, leaving only the eerie sound of rain violently pelting against the house and wind rattling the windows.
he sits still for a moment, conscious of his breathing, before another rumble of thunder prompts him into action.
he sighs and gets up to light some candles, using his phone’s flashlight to find his way around the house. he mutters curses to himself at having not brought any of his hair clips. his bangs are long enough to reach his eyes now, and it makes navigating through the dark harder than it needs to be.
taking extra care not to stub his toe on any furniture, he makes quick work of lighting some candles, and moves back to the couch, deciding to continue reading an ebook he started recently.
he’s wearing a big sweater and some shorts, the sweater big enough and the shorts short enough that it looks like he doesn’t have pants on, and the lack of heating makes him chilly. he pulls a soft knit blanket from the couch up to his chin and gets comfy.
+
a crash of thunder jolts him awake. he realizes he had been dozing off for the better part of half an hour, and his phone had been on the entire time. the battery is now on five percent, and he wants to smack himself. he gets up and makes a futile attempt to charge it, but, unsurprisingly, when the usb connects it does nothing. he sighs and plops back onto the couch, closing his eyes.
jungkook’s dozing off again when suddenly the metallic riiiiiiiing! riiiiiiiiiiing! of the kims’ landline phone cuts through his fogginess. he groggily makes his way to the kitchen, where the phone sits in its stand on the counter.
he assumes it’s mr. or mrs. kim calling to check up on everything, so he puts on a cheerful voice and answers, “hello! kim residence. jungkook speaking!”
he waits for an answer, but in those seconds all he hears is static. the constant white noise is broken up by bursts of what sounds like air hitting the phone’s microphone.
“hello?” he tries again, but the noise drones on. he hangs up and sets the phone back on it’s stand.
weird, jungkook thinks. but technology acts up during storms sometimes, right?
he decides to shrug it off and makes his way back to the living room. the silence of the house makes him feel obligated to tiptoe. when he’s back on the couch, he pulls his knees to his chest and shoves his hands under his feet, his thick knitted socks warming up his icy fingers.
he’s resting his cheek on his knee and thinking about how heavy the kids must sleep, since apparently the thunder hasn’t woken either of them up yet, when he hears it again: riiiiiiiiiing! riiiiiiiiiiing!
the shrill noise sounds persistent somehow, so he tiptoes back to the kitchen, reasoning that the kims are calling again, since the first call didn’t go through.
but when he holds the receiver to his ear and breathes out a tentative “...hello?” all he hears is the white noise broken up by what sounds like low hissing.
immediately he hangs up and, unnerved, starts searching around the house for more candles. maybe it’s just his imagination, but it looks a lot darker in here than it had been a moment ago.
jungkook skitters around the house in his socks, nervously humming some show’s theme tune, lighting candles and checking the doors and windows. he always double-checks that they’re locked, but a third time can’t hurt, right?
when every candle in the house is lit, he backs up against a wall and breathes in the headache-inducing aroma. he checks his phone’s battery: one percent.
shit.
he shifts his weight on his feet, feeling restless. he decides to shuffle upstairs and check on the kids.
peeking through the cracked door of their shared bedroom, he’s relieved to see jiwon and eunjoo peacefully slumbering away. he quietly tiptoes across the room, careful to not step on any of their toys, and makes sure their window is shut and locked tight. he gently shuts their door and feels relieved as he goes down the stairs.
but something feels off when he gets to the bottom of the staircase. he looks around the living room and kitchen, trying to think of what it is.
that’s when it hits him. it’s brighter than it had been. jungkook looks toward the small windows at the top of the back door and realizes that the outdoor sensor lights are on.
the ones that only come on when someone is walking around in the yard.
jungkook’s blood runs cold and he feels each individual thud of his heartbeat.
it was probably just a raccoon or something, he tries to reason.maybe the wind blew a branch. yeah! it was probably just the wind
but he knows damn well it’s never just the wind.
as he’s trying to come up with a list of logical explanations, he’s also rushing to the kitchen, grabbing the first knife he sees: a chef’s knife that they had used for carving pumpkins earlier. the leftover pumpkin guts along the blade makes him feel nauseous.
he creeps up toward the wall beside the living room window, taking a shallow, shaky breath, knife clutched to his chest. he cracks open the blinds.
all he can see are wet leaves flying around and a tree trembling in the wind.
he repeats the same drill for all the windows, finding absolutely nothing, until he peeks behind the curtains to the sliding glass door in the kitchen.
he surveys the back lawn, seemingly clear, until a gust of wind causes the heavy shed doors to swing open and closed, banging against the wooden doorframe.
jungkook’s knees lock in place.
he’d been in that shed before, helping the kims out with their gardening. he knew how secure the doors were and that they wouldn’t swing open unless someone manually turned the knob to unlatched them.
shit shit shit...
he’s frozen in place, eyes locked on the shed, when out of the corner of his eye he sees a dark figure moving to the side of the house, where there aren’t any windows downstairs.
his legs are unable to move and his brain clouds with panic.
of course this has to happen to me, it’s always the teenage babysitter... i knew it wasn’t a raccoon... i thought virgins weren’t supposed to die... this is so fucked up… he thinks with despair.
his palms are sweaty around the knife, and he tries to think of what to do.
the phone isn’t working and his cellphone is dead. there is someone walking around outside that most likely has a chainsaw from the shed. there are children upstairs, oblivious to the imminent danger.
fight or flight. either go upstairs and hide with the kids, or stay down here and confront whatever maniac breaks in. his thoughts turn muddled and his breathing gets faster and faster.
but even in his panic, one thing is very clear to jungkook: he is the closest thing to an adult and whatever happens tonight is his responsibility.
the thought sobers him up and he brushes his bangs out of his eyes, determined. he needs to get it together for these kids.
he decides to get the kids and hide. the phones weren’t working, but even if they were, it was useless. the roads were so badly flooded police wouldn’t be able to make it in time.
it's up to him to stop the attacker, if it comes to that.
he’s starting quietly up the stairs when he hears a loud thud followed by a crash coming from above. then the security alarm starts screaming.
his heart leaps into his throat and he almost trips with the speed he sprints up the rest of the stairs.
trying to hear over the sound of his heart banging in his ears, the sounds seem to be coming from the bathroom at the end of the hallway. the kids’ bedroom was closest to the stairs, and furthest from the bathroom.
he moves in terrified autopilot. there’s no time to hide with the kids. a sneak attack is the only option jungkook can think of. he hopes it will scare the intruder off, even though he’s doubtful. he’s desperate, and if it doesn’t work and he does end up getting murdered, at least he’ll be going down with a fight.
he dashes into the linen closet beside the bathroom and waits. it’s near impossible to concentrate on anything with the alarm blaring, but his senses focus in for a faint click of the doorknob, blocking any other sound out.
he stays silent. he feels sick at the thought of anything happening to jiwon and eunjoo, and that sets his resolve. his determination overpowers his fear. he takes a shaky breath.
then he hears what he’s been anticipating. the bathroom door knob finally clicks and the floor’s eerie creaking slowly draws nearer.
when the intruder is right in front of the closet, jungkook takes one last breath and dives out, using his full body weight to tackle the figure. they both go crashing to the ground and the intruder, a man, lets out a startled groan.
it happens in a painful blur. jungkook maneuvers them so that he’s holding the man’s head down, sitting on his legs, with his arms pinned behind his back. to his relief, the man doesn’t seem to have any weapons, but he is struggling, trying to break free.
trying to hold the man still, jungkook yells for the kids, hoping the alarm is loud enough to wake them up.
after a long minute, eunjoo blearily opens the bedroom door and peeks out, frightened.
“eunjoo, i need you to go downstairs and grab the phone!” he rushes out, struggling to keep the man under him. she doesn’t move and he’s about to say it again, letting her know how serious the situation is, but then…
“jungkookie, why are you fighting taehyungie?” she asks simply.
at first he thinks she’s confused, or overwhelmed, because of the dark or the earsplitting alarm.
but then he hears it: a pained “jungkook-shi!” coming from under him, muffled from the floor.
in his shock, his grip loosens and he’s immediately flipped over and thrown to the ground. he lays there, dazed as a bewildered kim taehyung stares down at him.
“what the fuck did you do that for?!” he yells.
jungkook is frozen, one arm still weakly gripping the knife, and the other in a loose fist, like a baby sleeping. he can’t process all the things taehyung’s saying, yelling, to him. all he feels is a mixture of relief, fear, confusion, and anger.
catching sight of the knife, taehyung scoffs and grabs it out of his shaking hand. “what? you were gonna stab me?!” he exclaims in disbelief.
he’s staring at jungkook expectantly, wearing a drenched black sweatshirt, his fading red hair peeking out from under the hood.
jungkook weakly sits up. his lip wobbles. “t-taehyung-shi,” he stutters, “i’m s-so sorry… i, i thought someone was breaking in, and there were these phone calls,” he tears up. “then the light outside, and the noise, and, and,” he was sobbing now, gasping for breath.
in a second all the anger in taehyung’s face melts away and is replaced with a look of concern. he puts a hand on jungkook’s shaking shoulder. “whoa, calm down, breathe.”
jungkook struggles to steady his breathing with tears still falling from his eyes, while taehyung’s quietly telling him “it’s okay, it’s okay…”.
after a minute, jungkook quietly says, “and then i heard the crash and the alarm went off.” he sighs and looks down, ashamed. “i’m so sorry.”
jungkook doesn’t even realize how much he’s been crying until he feels taehyung’s sleeve wiping the tears off his cheeks. well, he tries to wipe the tears off his cheeks, but his sleeve is soaked, so he only succeeds in spreading them around a little bit.
“sorry…” he mumbles, pulling his wet sleeve back. “don’t cry. you didn’t know. look, i’m the one who should be apologizing for scaring you.”
jungkook’s looking at taehyung through dewey eyelashes, a pout still on his face.
eunjoo and jiwon, now both awake, silently move over to jungkook and give him a big hug. although they’re not sure what’s going on, they do know their jungkookie is sad, and that just won’t do.
after a minute his shoulders stop shaking, but the kids continue clinging to him.
jungkook sniffles. “b-but i almost stabbed you,” he says, pouting.
taehyung sighs. “okay, true, but if i really were an axe murderer what else are you supposed to do?”
jungkook gives him a weak shrug.
the alarm is still blaring, assaulting everyone’s eardrums, so taehyung quickly runs downstairs to turn it off. when he comes back, jungkook looks much better, smiling and even softly laughing at something jiwon said, his nose pink.
he’s about to head to his bedroom to change out of his soaked clothes, but then he notices how wet jungkook’s clothes got from their little scuffle.
“do you want to borrow some dry clothes?” he asks.
jungkook looks down at himself, taking in the pitiful state of his outfit.
“yes, please. if it’s not a bother.” taehyung nods toward the direction of his room and jungkook gets up and follows him down the hallway, hands covered by his sweater sleeves.
he’d only met taehyung once before, a few weeks ago.
jungkook was babysitting and taehyung came home early. they played board games together with the kids and taehyung vigorously complimented the homemade soup jungkook cooked for dinner.
before then, jungkook had only seen the school pictures of taehyung that the kims kept on the mantle along with the rest of the family’s pictures. in jungkook’s mind, taehyung was frozen in time as a skinny, awkward teenager. it was a shock to his system to see taehyung, in all his sculpted-marble-glory, out of the blue on a random tuesday afternoon.
he’d grown into himself, in an almost inhuman way. his shoulders were broad and his jawline was defined. he had an intense natural expression, and his eyebrows set in a way that made it hard for jungkook to look him in the eye when talking.
but when he interacted with his little siblings or cracked jokes to jungkook, the warm smile that spread across his face melted any intimidation away. mostly.
when they go inside taehyung’s room, the power is still off, and taehyung uses his phone to light the way. he tells jungkook to watch his step, shining his light on a laundry bin in the middle of the floor.
jungkook waits, playing with his fingers, while taehyung searches through his dresser.
he’s handed a folded pile of clothes. “these might be a little big,” taehyung says.
he says his thanks and walks to the bathroom to change. one of those battery-operated candles in the windowsill provides just enough light to see.
the dry clothes he changes into, a worn-out university t-shirt and gray sweatpants, are soft and warm, especially compared to the little shorts he’d been wearing. he can tell they’d been sitting in the dresser for a while. the detergent scent is faint and he can smell a hint of wood from the dresser. it‘s surprisingly comforting.
he rolls the pants legs up a bit, before splashing cold water onto his face to try and clear away the blotchiness, though the dark makes it hard to tell where his face even is. he assumes that did the trick and walks out.
eunjoo and jiwon are still in the hallway, now bickering back and forth about something. jungkook apologizes to them about waking them up and scaring them.
“but now you two have to go back to bed,” he says.
eunjoo pouts. “that’s not fair. you and taehyungie get to stay up.”
“we’re older,” he says, nudging them along as they trudge back into their bedroom.
jiwon plops onto his bed, snuggling under a dinosaur-print comforter. “only by seventeen years.”
jungkook decides to ignore his mathematical errors and folds eunjoo’s glasses, setting them neatly on her nightstand.
“goodnight,” he says, tucking jiwon’s beloved stuffed octopus under the covers with him.
they both mumble out goodnights, already getting sleepy again, and he makes his way out of the room, shutting the door with a soft click.
when he turns around, taehyung is standing there looking at him. he’s casually drying his hair with a towel, leaving a disheveled mess in its wake.
“i will say, you have some duality,” he says, grinning. “first time we meet you share a nice, warm, home cooked meal and the second time you try stabbing me with a knife.”
“okay,” jungkook mutters, pointing a finger at taehyung. “you have some explaining to do.”
taehyung, as if anticipating this, nods and leads them downstairs to the living room. he makes a point to ignore the excess of candles everywhere.
taehyung sits on the sofa, casually resting his arm against the back of it. jungkook sits at the other end facing him, holding his knees to his chest.
taehyung sighs. “so it all started when i got off the train…”
+
taehyung decided to surprise his family with a visit. art school was very overwhelming and took up the majority of his time, but he had a three day weekend, and wanted to make the most of it.
he was halfway home from the metro station when it started pouring down rain. another block later he realized he forgot his house key. not knowing his parents were out of town, he called the house phone, but hung up after realizing the rain and thunder were too loud to be able to hear anything anyway. he then tried texting his mom, but the rain messed up his phone’s touch screen. it had acted on its own accord and redialled the house phone while in his pocket.
he decided to sprint home, but upon arriving he discovered his family’s car was gone and porch light was off; no one was home.
as his parents were super strict about keeping the doors locked, he decided to use the old tricks he learned from sneaking out in high school. he knew the upstairs bathroom window had a broken lock, so he got a ladder from the shed and leaned it against the side of the house.
(“and i was shitting myself, because it was slippery and windy,” he adds.)
he then slowly climbed up the ladder and shimmied the bathroom window open.
(“i wasn’t aware my parents installed a security system, though.” he shakes his head. “it scared the hell out of me. i almost fell off the ladder.”)
he finally climbed through the window, accidentally pushing out the screen and knocking over a fake plant on the windowsill in the process.
+
he looks jungkook in the eyes. “and next thing i know, i’m being tackled to the ground by a cute boy holding a kitchen knife.”
jungkook’s hope that his blush is hidden by the dimness of the room is squashed when the power turns back on. the furnace starts buzzing and he tucks his hair behind his ear.
“okay, i feel a little bit less dumb now.” jungkook says thoughtfully.
taehyung nods. “yeah, i literally broke in. i think your reaction was completely understandable.”
he watches jungkook, curled up in a ball so as to not take up space, looking so small in his old clothes.
kind jungkookie, the boy who bakes cookies for everyone’s birthdays, and pins his bangs back with clips shaped like butterflies, and sends handmade cards out to taehyung’s family every holiday, jungkook, the sweetest little thing ever…
was ready to kill a man defending taehyung’s siblings. it takes taehyung aback, the amount of courage and protectiveness the sweet, unassuming boy had in him.
he also keeps thinking about how easily jungkook was able to tackle him.
taehyung coughs and crosses his arms. “honestly my parents should give you a raise.”
jungkook giggles and moves to sit cross-legged. his hands are resting on his ankle and it causes him to slightly lean forward.
“you going to sleep soon?” taehyung asks.
jungkook shakes his head. “i don’t think i’ll be able to fall asleep. honestly, i’m still a tiny bit shaken up.”
“i’m not that tired either.” taehyung grins. “guess we better stick together. you’ve seen the movies. we don’t wanna let our guard down.”
“right…” jungkook smiles and tries not to look too happy.