Author Note: okay I'm warning now, this chapter is HEAVY, as clear from the tags. I just finished writing it and even I feel sad when it's not even real, so proceed with caution but know I didn't go into a ton of detail for obvious reasons <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoseok:

Operation: figure out what’s going on with Jimin. Hoseok decided this mission begins today, and he’s determined. Jimin has been acting off at random points of the day and he swears to Hoseok that everything is fine but Hoseok just knows it isn’t, and today the truth will come out, somehow. Hoseok hasn’t thought it through, but it will happen for sure. Jimin can’t hide it anymore. 

Hoseok sits at his desk, working away while waiting for Jimin to return from teaching a morning class. It’s 10:05am and Jimin should be back any minute now, hopefully in a low mood again so Hoseok can catch him feeling vulnerable enough to own up about what’s going on. He just wants to help. 

“Hey,” Jimin says quietly as he enters the room, shrugging the bag off his shoulder and hanging it on a hook by the office door. Hoseok leans back in his chair with narrowed eyes. 

“Good class?” he asks. 

“Yeah,” Jimin murmurs, eyes ever so slightly red again, a regular occurrence now. Of course Hoseok can’t just say ‘I know you’ve been crying, why?’ Jimin would leap into defensive mode faster than Hoseok could process. 

“Sure?” he quizzes. Jimin sniffs quietly, very obviously trying to pick his mood back up quickly. 

“Of course!” he smiles in a fake way that would have Hoseok fooled as genuine if he wasn’t so suspicious. Jimin strolls to the coffee machine behind the desk to start brewing, holding an empty cup up as to ask Hoseok if he wants one, who nods in response. Still watching Jimin’s body language carefully. His shoulders aren’t relaxed, they’re tensed up like he’s just been involved in confrontation. 

Confrontation. 

“Hey, so,” Hoseok begins as he gladly accepts the hot cup of coffee from Jimin, who perches down next to him, “you getting along with the other dance instructors?” Jimin’s breath hitched ever so slightly. Bingo. 

“Aw, yeah, they’re so nice,” he lies happily, focusing on sipping his coffee to avoid any eye contact with Hoseok who feels a small sense of progress having been made, and places his coffee down to continue working while he ponders his next move. Jimin opens the laptop in front of him on his portion of the desk, now competent enough to get on with most of the required business owner admin jobs, practically splitting Hoseok’s workload in half which is a relief. 

“Let’s have a half day today,” Hoseok announces randomly, Jimin turns to face him slowly, eyebrows raised in questioning confusion. 

“You what?” 

“I mean it, we work too hard, we can knock off at lunchtime today and go do something fun. I have a job for you to do this morning but as long as you do it by say 1 o’clock we can leave then and enjoy the day together,” he smiles smugly.

“Where’s this come from?” 

“Nowhere,” Hoseok shrugs, “just think we both deserve it.” Not a complete lie, whatever Jimin’s going through is clearly weighing him down, and if it’s work confrontation related like Hoseok now believes then Jimin really does deserve the break. He’ll take him to the mall, show him a fun time, then they can get a milkshake and Hoseok will ask him what’s happening with the other dance instructors. 

Jimin’s mood picks up and a genuine brightness fills his eyes, “okay deal, what’s the job you need doing?” 

Hoseok pulls up the emails on his computer and sends Jimin some document attachments. “I need you to make a job advertisement, I’ve emailed you instructions on how to do it. You just need to put it together and post it on jobsites. Everything is in the email.” 

Jimin opens the email on his laptop and browses all of the information. 

“An accountant?” he asks curiously. 

“Yeah,” Hoseok drawls, “I’ve been doing my own bookkeeping up until this point and honestly I’m tired of it, the amount of time I spend doing it is less cost effective than paying someone to do it faster and better than me, I lose so many hours in the day trying to figure it all out when I could be doing other things.” 

“Makes sense, so when I finish this we’ll go? Even if it’s not quite 1 o’clock?” Jimin smiles hopefully.

Hoseok laughs, “I sense someone is a bit cocky about how easy they think it is to post a job advertisement online.” 

“Am not,” Jimin retorts, already busy on his laptop reading all of the instructions for this task so he can get straight on it. 

After a few hours and many frustrated noises from Jimin, Hoseok watches in amusement as the boy fumbles about with this job advertisement at 1:14pm. Smirking to himself at being proved right. 

“Having troubles?” He smiles sweetly. Jimin returns an overly sweet, fake smile in jest, making Hoseok lean back in his chair to laugh. 

“I didn’t realise how much nonsense there is to fill out when posting these adverts,” Jimin admits quietly, desperately working through each blank field to get to the bottom of the page to press the post button. Hoseok smiles fondly at his friend, then logs out of his own computer to get ready to go. Seeing as he could tell that Jimin is almost done with the job ad. He gets up and attempts a quick tidy up of his desk before gathering his things and walking over to the window to look out at the city while waiting for Jimin. The view is pretty good from up here, the building isn’t incredibly tall but it’s big, and the office blocks are raised higher than the rest of the building, giving him the view. Hoseok looks out into the jungle of buildings, pondering where to put a second academy one day because no doubt he’ll open another one as soon as financially viable, it’s profitable to have one in another part of the city so more clientele can travel to it easily. 

“Done,” Jimin announces proudly, Hoseok claps in mock patronisation earning a disapproving pout from Jimin. 

“Well done, Jiminie. Come on, let's go out and have some fun,” Hoseok gestures to Jimin to hurry up and follow him out. The pair leave the office and go down to the main portion of the building. It’s adorned with a lot of fake plants, even fake trees, and some benches for sitting. The front desk is big and modern, and a couple of dance teachers are standing next to it, leaning on the counter as they chat with the ladies working behind the reception. 

“Hey, me and Jimin are heading off early to enjoy the rest of the day. You two both have my number if you need anything,” Hoseok gestures to the two instructors. 

“Oh yeah? Where are you two off to?” Daeyeol asks cheerily, Jimin shifts uncomfortably on the spot. 

“Just to the mall,” Hoseok nods slowly, watching Jimin in his peripheral vision. Is he onto something here? Was it one of these two? 

“The mall?” Daeyeol asks with a look of thought, “was it just the one class today, Jimin?” 

Jimin shuffles on the spot, playing with his hands, “yeah.” 

Hoseok’s plan is working before even fully actioning it, this was definitely the right idea. Something’s up with him and Daeyeol; it’s so obvious to him now. Why couldn’t he see before?

“Wow, lucky for some!” Daeyeol jests, patting Jimin on the back overenthusiastically, “well have a great day you two!” 

“You two, Dae,” Hoseok mutters with a chuckle, making eye contact with Jimin and nodding towards the door. Jimin waves in fake happiness at the dance teachers before following Hoseok out to the car and they hop in to begin the journey to the nearest shopping centre. 

Jimin sticks his hand out of the car window cheerfully, basking in the breeze from the open window in the midst of a hot summer. “This was a good idea.” 

“That’s me, full of good ideas,” Hoseok chirps, one arm propped up on the car window ledge. Even though this is mainly a plan to get Jimin to open up- most likely about Daeyeol- Hoseok is truly having a good time already in his friend's company. It feels freeing to leave work like this, it’s the beauty of being a business owner. Not that he’s ever done this before, but it’s nice to remember that he can just leave work and enjoy the day providing all the work is done.

Jimin had done a good job on the advert too, now it was just the waiting game for applications and then the annoying task of interviewing candidates and hiring. Hoseok already knew he wasn’t going to be too fussy about who he hires for this role, as long as they have accounting experience they’ll do the job just fine. 

They arrive at the large shopping centre and Hoseok finds a space to park quickly in the vast car park, buried in the midst of a sea of cars. It’s fortunate that his car stands out so much, because it means he can always find it in a car park. 

The pair make their way into the mall, entering through the giant automatic doors to be greeted by a large jungle of people all going about their shopping happily. Hoseok pushes his sunglasses onto his head as they enter and begin to walk. Hoseok has always liked malls, they have a good vibe. A trip to the mall was a 50% shopping affair, 50% social affair, and there was always some sort of food involved that you wouldn’t usually eat day to day. Not to mention that once you’d purchased what you need- if you were even there with a purpose- you’d end up buying things for yourself purely for the novelty. 

The friends enjoy a little while of general window shopping and browsing, fulfilling the obligatory need to just mess about a little too. They play a game in an overpriced clothes store where they both guess the price of a simple piece of clothing and would be shocked every time it’s way more expensive than they guess. Jimin comments about how he keeps forgetting that Hoseok could probably afford to buy one of everything in this store which makes Hoseok laugh humbly. Feeling like he’s truly fulfilling his goals of not being ‘the rich friend’. He hates being that friend with a passion, he just wants to be Hobi, the friend. The funny friend, the down to earth friend. He likes that Jimin even forgets that he’s rich, it means he must be doing something right and that Jimin’s here for genuine friendship. 

After a solid hour of fun and laughing, Hoseok suggests a milkshake break. Feigning about how it’s one of those things you just need to do when you go to the mall, but really he just wants to get Jimin to sit with him during a wholesome day and open up while his mood is high. 

Hoseok arrives at their table with a delicious looking milkshake in each hand and places the pink one in front of Jimin and chocolate in his own spot at the table, he sits down and clasps his hands together in front of him on the table, taking a long sip of the sweet drink. 

“This is a fun day, right?” he asks the smaller boy, and he can’t resist smiling about how much he looks like a child, sitting there sipping the pink milkshake innocently with bright eyes. Jimin nodded enthusiastically, mouth still around the straw. 

“Yeah thanks for this,” he beams. Hoseok bites his lip and utters a soft ‘you’re welcome, Jiminie’. 

Hoseok thinks for a minute, trying to approach the topic without it seeming obvious that it was planned. Hoping that having fun for a while alleviated any suspicions. Jimin seems to be having an innocently fun time so it seems like it worked. 

“Hey so, when we were leaving earlier I sensed some tension between you and Daeyeol? Wanna talk about anything?” Jimin tensed up at Hoseok’s query, losing eye contact quickly to stare at his milkshake like it’s suddenly the most fascinating thing in the world. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jimin mutters, stirring the drink with his straw. 

“Yes you do,” Hoseok argues, determined to get some truth out of him. Jimin huffs, taking another sip of milkshake to stall time, most likely realising he’s been caught out. 

“Look, it doesn’t matter it’s just stupid and you’re too busy, I’m not going to bother you with it. Me and Daeyeol are big boys, we can handle it,” Jimin stirs his drink again awkwardly. 

“Oh you can handle it? Is that why you come back up to the office all teary?” Hoseok says honestly, making heat rise to Jimin’s cheeks in embarrassment, turning them a hot pink. “Jiminie, I don’t mean to interrogate you but I wasn’t born yesterday. I own a company, and I see everything. I’ve known something’s been wrong for a while and as much as I’m your friend I’m also your boss. And as your- and Daeyeol’s- boss, I need to know what’s going on. So please talk freely, we’re in a safe space here.” 

“Is that why you brought me here? To butter me up to get me to talk? You’re my best friend until it’s suddenly convenient to pull the boss card?” Jimin snaps, Hoseok scoffs and Jimin instantly recoils backwards, realising what he just said. “Sorry,” he whispers. 

“Hey!” Hoseok snaps back, “I brought you here to have a nice time and also a much needed heart to heart with my friend. I’m not playing any cards, I’ve got a business to run and if something’s going on I need to know, so don’t you dare pull that one on me,” Hoseok knows he can be scary when he gets annoyed, mostly because it’s so rare. He doesn’t mean to be harsh, and Jimin already knows he said the wrong thing anyway. 

“I know, I don’t know why I said that,” Jimin admits. 

Hoseok sighs, “let's start again, yeah? I’ll forget all about that because I really am your friend, and I realise you’re feeling sensitive about whatever this is.” 

“Thank you,” Jimin says timidly, still avoiding eye contact. 

“So, Jimin, I can sense some tension between you and Daeyeol, want to talk to me about it?” 

Jimin nods slowly, going back to stirring his milkshake shyly. Hoseok extends his hands out in a gesture to say ‘talk’, and Jimin takes a deep breath. 

“I’m warning you now it’s incredibly stupid, but...Daeyeol’s a bully. He acts so cold to me all the time, and then acts overly sweet with me in front of other people. I ended up alone in a room with him once and it was horrible. I've avoided him ever since and just have to deal with cold remarks in passing, and I’m sick of it, it’s getting me down. I’m trying to pretend it’s not happening but it’s killing my mood constantly,” Jimin explains, Hoseok sits and nods in understanding. It’s all starting to make sense now, coming together like a jigsaw puzzle. There were just a few pieces missing now. 

“I’m sorry he’s like that, I didn’t know you were dealing with that,” he sympathises. “What did he say when you were alone with him?” 

“Uh, I don’t know if I should say, might be slander or something I don’t know, or I’ll feel like a snitch,” Jimin mumbles, looking down at his hands. 

“Are you officially reporting this to your boss Hoseok or are you just telling your friend Hobi off the record at the mall, outside of work?” 

“So you won’t do anything?” 

“Not actively, no, but I’ll keep a close eye on Daeyeol quietly,” Hoseok explains, reassuring Jimin that he can talk. 

“Well, he said that I can’t just walk in here and think that I’m special because you decided to make me your new pet and that he’s surprised I’m not wearing a collar and barking for you. Also he said that you’ll drop and replace me faster than you could replace your Porsche. And that you’ve forgotten about the instructors that have been working for years, oh and he wants a raise,” it was all pouring out now, and Hoseok is angry. 

“Seriously?” 

“And then he told me to get the out,” Jimin adds pettily. Hoseok can tell that Jimin’s been desperate to release this bottled up information, and honestly it’s worse than he expected. Where did this all come from? He’s been nothing but good to Dae and the rest of the staff, is he the only one thinking like this? Is this what they talk about in the staff room? Daeyeol is a gossip, he must be conferring with the other instructors about this, surely. 

“Thank you for telling me,” Hoseok sighs, kind of wishing Jimin would complain about this to  him officially, on record, but he knows that’s an awkward position to put him in. He’s just frustrated that he can’t do anything with this information unless he hears it himself. Could he set it up? If he gets Jimin to deliver coffee to Daeyeol again and he can listen from outside, then enter the room saying he heard something happen while walking past. Daeyeol will know it’s a set up, but he can’t prove he was set up. 

“It feels good to have told you,” Jimin admits. 

“See! I knew it would, it’s always better to talk,” Hoseok tries not to feel too hurt by the things his staff say about him, he knows he has to be objective as a business owner, he just wishes he could be everyone’s friend. He really thought he gave that vibe off, though, he thought he really was everyone’s friend. This is a harsh reminder that apart from Jimin, who really is a close friend, he’s really just a boss. 

“So what now?” Jimin asks.

“We’ll sort this out, we’ll have to be smart about it, but I promise he won’t get away with treating you like that, Jiminie.” 

 

Jin:

Taehyung’s sofa is definitely too small for Jin to sleep on, he can feel the ache in his neck from the awkward position he slept in, but he doesn’t care. It’s better than being home. He stretches his legs out so his feet are now dangling over the end of the small sofa.

“Morning sunshine,” Taehyung mumbles tiredly, padding barefoot through the small living area to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. 

“Morning,” Jin returns, peeling off the sofa and joining Taehyung in the kitchen area to make coffee. 

“Are you working today?” Taehyung asks, refilling the bottle of water from the tap to put back in the fridge to chill again, on the same wavelength as Jin: that bottled water is too expensive when you make the kind of money they do.

“I’m not, for once!”  

“No way, Jin finally has an off day,” Taehyung says groggily, voice low and husky. 

“He does indeed, what about you?” Jin asks. 

“Later. We’re filming nighttime scenes tonight so we will be working after dark, it’s extra money too because of the hours” Taehyung explains. Jin nods along, happy to hear his friend will be making much needed extra cash tonight. He waits for his coffee to brew so he can pour a large mug of caffeine to wake himself up more. 

After pouring, he sets the coffee down on the small dining table and goes to the sofa to grab his phone and bring it back to the table to check. One text from his Mother. 

‘I love you’ it reads. Sent very late last night, no wonder he missed it. Random, she doesn’t usually text him nice things like that. 

Things had been rather sensitive recently with the money, and Jin doesn’t want to feel angry about it, so he replies with a quick ‘I love you too’, wondering if she managed to pay those men off. She must have done it. He pulls up his bank account statement on his phone, seeing his savings at a glaring zero and acknowledging that she must have done as he instructed, which was paid the men and then used the rest to get by while Jin stays at Taehyung’s for a while. 

Jin sits at the table to begin sipping the fresh coffee, Taehyung joins him at the table in the seat opposite, elbow on the table, resting his chin tiredly on his hand. 

“Should I check on her?” he asks Taehyung, whose eyes are beginning to close again, he doesn’t look like he slept so well last night. Jin hopes it isn’t because of him. 

“Your Mother?” Taehyung asks bleakly, eyes still shut. 

“Yeah.” 

Taehyung opens his eyes, “I mean, that’s up to you, but I think you should. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want but maybe dropping in would be a good idea, she’s still your Mother after all,” Taehyung says thoughtfully. Jin knows Taehyung is estranged from his own parents and realises he shouldn’t take his Mother for granted, regardless of how much she’s put him through. 

“You’re right. Will you come with me? I can’t get into staying there if you’re waiting for me to come back here with you,” Jin reasons. 

“Sure,” Taehyung smiles, he immediately gets up and disappears into his bedroom to get ready, leaving Jin to get ready in the lounge. 

Jin takes his coffee over to the sofa and places it on the coffee table so he can find something to wear in the bag he had packed quickly. Black jeans and a pink t-shirt were pretty much all available so he slips into the outfit quickly before necking the now warm coffee so he can go to the bathroom and brush his teeth. 

Jin goes back into the living room and takes a seat on the small sofa to wait for Taehyung to be ready. He pulls out his phone to check his bank account once more, staring depressingly at the big fat zero in his savings account, mentally convincing himself that it needed to be used. It just so much. He had worked so hard for that money, slaving away at the restaurant for years, now he’s back at square one. 

Taehyung emerges from his bedroom, looking presentable enough and grabbing his shoes to slip them on. Jin follows suit and grabs his shoes too, holding the sofa for balance as he slips some trainers on, laces already tied. 

“Bus is in 10 minutes,” Taehyung waves his phone, signalling that he checked the timetable already. Jin hums in agreement and follows Taehyung out of the apartment and to the bus stop that’s pretty much just outside of Taehyung’s apartment. 

The two wait patiently for the bus, the summer breeze blowing their unstyled hair a little. Jin feels relieved to not be at work for a day, no doubt Sunghoon will text him later during lunch rush wanting help, but Jin got better at saying no recently. Besides, his savings are wiped anyway, overtime feels even more depressing now considering that. Considering there’s no goal anymore, nothing to work for, nothing to live for. He sweeps those thoughts under the rug, he can’t keep thinking like that, he has Taehyung now, plus 5 other friends who he has his entire life to get to know and become close with. 

The bus arrives after 8 minutes of waiting and the pair get on, happy that there’s two free seats next to each other seeing as it’s not a peak travel time right now, being late morning and all. 

“You okay?” Taehyung asks when he notices Jin staring out of the window a little solemnly. 

“I guess,” Jin says without looking around. Taehyung stays silent. “It just , Tae.” 

“I know,” Taehyung whispers, patting Jin’s knee in an attempt at comfort, which Jin appreciates silently. He’s lucky to have formed this unexpected friendship, and it makes life a little less. The Seoul Landscape shoots by the windows of the bus, and Jin watches as all of these people just go about their daily lives. He wonders if life as much for anyone else around here but mentally kicks himself for the selfish thought. His life isn’t that terrible, he got to sit with his 6 new friends at the restaurant after work last night and that’s something to be grateful for. Jin just needs to get this morning over with and then he can figure things out from there.

“I worked so hard for that money and it’s all gone, I have no clear goals anymore. I didn’t have a goal before really but I had my savings and it gave me a sense of hope, what now?” 

“I don’t know what direction I’m going in either, we can stick together, you’ve got me,” Taehyung replies. 

“You want to be an actor, that’s your goal, and you’re good at what you do,” Jin points out, Taehyung chuckles in disagreement. 

“And you want to own a restaurant,” he remembers from a text conversation, “that’s a whole lot more realistic than being an actor. I know what you mean though, neither of us really have a direction right now, but we have each other and we have the other guys,” Taehyung talks about them like they’ve been friends for years, and Jin finds it a rather charming habit. 

The bus arrives near Jin’s house and the pair exit the vehicle, glad to step out into the summer breeze, a welcome relief from the hot bus. They make the short walk to the house and Jin pulls his house key from his back jeans pocket, sighing heavily as he unlocks the door. 

“Home sweet home,” he mutters as he opens the door, beckoning Taehyung to follow him in. The two walk straight into the living room, Taehyung looking around at his surroundings while they do. 

“Mum?” Jin calls out, getting no response back, he sighs, “must be passed out in her room.” Jin habitually tidies some clutter up that has been left about the house. The house never looked great but it’s particularly messy today. Taehyung watches as Jin picks up random clothes and belongings from the floor, attempting to stash them away in drawers and cupboards so the place looks a little bit more presentable. 

“It’s not usually this bad,” Jin says sheepishly. 

“It’s fine,” Taehyung assures, not quite sure where to put himself in this situation but waiting patiently for Jin, who is tidying hurriedly, feeling stressed about how messy it is. 

The house is dim, the dark old fashioned wallpaper is the same wallpaper that had been here when Jin was born, he had always hated the way it made the house look. The carpets need cleaning, in fact Jin swears they’ve always needed cleaning. 

Taehyung meanders around the room as he waits, glancing around at the various childhood photos of Jin and his parents, noting how happy they all look in the old photos. He knows Jin’s Father isn’t in the picture anymore, and his Mother didn’t handle it well, but Jin doesn’t like talking about it too much. 

Taehyung picks up a piece of paper left on the side table near the door, reading it out of curiosity in case it’s new and meant for Jin. 

“I-Uh,” Taehyung stammers, Jin continues to tidy up, humming a ‘sup?’. Taehyung’s breathing quickens, alerting Jin that something’s wrong. He spins around from the spot of the living room that he was tidying up. 

“Tae?” 

Taehyung steps backwards into the side table clumsily, a couple of trinkets fall over noisily from the impact. Jin can feel something inside of him start to panic at Taehyung’s sudden strange behavior, glancing at the small piece of paper in his hand. 

“Jin, I’m- I’m so sorry,” Taehyung breathes heavily, holding the note out with violently shaking hands. Jin strides over to snatch the paper quickly, eyes skimming over it with urgency. 

‘Jinnie, I don’t know how to admit this to you, so I’m writing a note and then leaving this world behind. I paid the debt, then I spent the rest of your money on more.  I didn’t mean to, I know you’ll be so angry, and I can’t face you. This life is too cruel, addiction is cruel. I can’t ruin your life anymore with it. Live a good long life, all my love, from someone who should have been a better Mother.’

“Jin-” 

Jin could swear the world just stopped spinning right there and then. He sprints to his Mother’s room without even thinking, bursting into the room and standing in shock at the sight before him. His legs want to give out but he wills himself to stumble back out of the room, having seen plenty. He slams the door behind him, then falls into the closed door face first. Jin brings his right fist up to slam the door hard, the sting from hitting the hard wood not even feeling like a real sensation, he screams loud into the dark brown oak, causing Taehyung to let out a loud sob from behind. Still stood frozen by the side table. 

Jin pulls his phone from his pocket to open the text he received from her last night, wishing he could turn back time and reply, phone her. Why did he have to be asleep and miss it? Where does life go from here? Jin doesn’t know what to do right now let alone from now on. He turns around to slide down the door and sit with his back against it, knees pulled to his chest. He wants to cry but he still hasn’t shed even a single tear. There’s only shock, and he doesn’t know how to process it. 

“I’ll call the police,” Taehyung sniffles, retrieving his own phone to take action, which Jin feels hugely grateful for considering all he feels like he can do right now is sit with his back to this door, staring dumbly at the text from last night, rereading his own reply from this morning a few times and wondering why he didn’t at least write a proper message to her. She wouldn’t have seen it, but Jin could live more comfortably knowing that he’d cared enough to write a proper reply. Something meaningful. He should have been awake last night, or he should have been woken up by the sound of her texting. Jin starts to give himself a headache trying to remember if he had in fact heard his phone last night but ignored it and went back to sleep, he convinces himself that this happened, and throws his phone angrily across the room, watching as it hits the opposite wall. Taehyung stops talking on the phone briefly, shocked as he watches Jin’s phone screen smash against the wall. 

Jin continues to sit against the door, staring at his broken phone on the other side of the room. Taehyung gets off the phone, mumbling that they’ll be here in a few minutes and walking to retrieve Jin’s broken phone to inspect it. 

“It’s still working,” he says, walking over to give it back to Jin. 

“I don’t want it.”

“That’s okay,” Taehyung pockets the phone, knowing he’ll want it back later. “Can I sit with you?” 

Jin shrugs, eyes having not moved from the spot that his phone was until Taehyung picked it up. He walks over slowly to sit next to Jin on the floor, Jin can tell he’s not sure what to say in a moment like this. Taehyung opens and closes his mouth a few times like a fish, having absolutely no clue what to say, where to even begin. He chooses to just sit quietly with him for a minute, letting him process events in his own time while the pair wait together for the police, knowing the next few hours will be hell. 

 

Yoongi:

As the day draws to a close, the evening light fades quickly, and Yoongi is sleepy. Yoongi is always sleepy, but the sky going dark is making him very sleepy. He had a busy day, teaching too many piano lessons in one day, and working a bit on his new song, and still managing to make time for iced coffee at the mall with Namjoon at lunch time. They had run into Hoseok and Jimin on their way in while those two were on their way out, running into each other for a quick catch up at the entrance. Namjoon told them about how he was job hunting and Hoseok informed him of an accounting position at his company, to which Namjoon looked eager. Yoongi  was happy to see some hope in the boy’s eyes for once regarding work. He’s smart, and did a course in accounting once. He told Yoongi about how boring it was, but he was good at it. No surprise. 

Yoongi feels himself drifting off, knowing he should get off the sofa and actually get ready for bed and go to sleep properly. 9:30pm just felt too early somehow, don’t most people start watching TV at this point? Why does Yoongi have to be so sleepy all the time? The anxieties of the world weigh him down too much, that’s why. 

Yoongi’s phone ringing loudly on the floor next to the sofa pulled him straight out of his almost reverie as he reached for it quickly. He had forgotten he gave Taehyung his number at the restaurant last night. The group had almost parted ways without leaving any form of connection between the three sub-groups until they had remembered and Yoongi had given his number to Taehyung and Hoseok respectively. 

“Hello?” Yoongi asked into the phone, slightly confused at Taehyung’s sudden calling at this hour. 

“Hey,” Taehyung says in a low voice over the phone, talking as if he doesn’t want to be heard.

“Everything alright?” Yoongi asks. 

“Not really. Look, I don’t know how to say this subtly, so I’ll just tell you. Jin’s Mother died today, she killed herself, Jin found her earlier on,” he explains. 

Wait, what? Yoongi breathes shakily into the phone, unsure of the best response, feeling horrible for the guy already. 

“I need to go to work,” Taehyung continues, “Jin’s here, I’ve insisted that I stay home but he’s too smart, he knows I need the money and I can’t lose this gig. We went back and forth for a bit, and I’ve given in, he won’t let me miss this so I’m going to go. I’m just wondering if there’s any possibility that you’d be able to come over. I also don’t know how to say this easily, and don’t tell Jin you know but he himself was about to do the same thing a few nights ago at a bridge but I stopped him. I don’t want him alone, I know this might be awkward for you, so you can say no. I just know I trust you, you seem like someone who would understand.” 

Yoongi stays silent on the phone for a minute in disbelief. Poor Jin, of course he’ll go round. And Taehyung’s right, Yoongi understands this sort of thing. He knows that people get that vibe off him, either that or they’ve heard his song lyrics: which tell all. 

“Of course I’ll come round, I’ll leave now, do I have time to run to the store on the way?” 

“Yeah that’s fine. Also he doesn’t know you’re coming because I know he’d protest but I can’t bear to leave him alone right now. And I know once you’re here he’ll appreciate the company too much to say no,” Taehyung admits, Yoongi swallows hard. Knowing he was going to be in a social anxiety battle from now until he gets to Taehyung’s house. He hasn’t really spoken to Jin yet except in the restaurant, of which he was mostly working. He knows his want to care for people will override the awkwardness, but he feels nervous about going over. Especially in such a sensitive time. 

Taehyung reels his address off to Yoongi before hanging up the phone with a sincere ‘thank you’ and Yoongi leaves immediately to go to the store for snacks, planning to leave comfort food out in case Jin feels like it. Plus he knows full well that Taehyung can’t afford the luxury of unhealthy snacks right now, so it’ll be nice for both of them. He feels bad for Taehyung in this situation also. 

After a quick trip to the store and a bag full of treats, he’s on his way to Taehyung’s apartment, the walk was reasonable but not long, and he could walk fast despite his little legs. He pushes away the anxiety over this, knowing he needs to keep it together for Jin, and it’ll be fine once he gets there, or will it? Jin must be feeling all sorts, Yoongi’s never dealt with anything like this before. 

Yoongi reaches the apartment, and Taehyung buzzes him in through the door. He walks up the stairs and knocks softly on the door. Taehyung opens quickly with a sad smile and tear stained cheeks. 

“Thank you so much for coming, I know this must be strange,” he says apologetically. Yoongi waves his hands quickly assuring him that it’s absolutely fine. It’s not, it’s very strange, but that’s just Yoongi being unreasonably nervous. 

“Who’s that?” he hears Jin call from the living room. 

“Uh,” Taehyung stalls, pulling Yoongi gently into the apartment and pushing the door shut behind him. “I asked Yoongi if he could come over and chill with you, while I’m at work.” 

“I don’t need babysitting,” Jin says bluntly, staring at the TV but not actually watching whatever is on. 

“I’m sorry,” Yoongi whispers. Jin’s older than him and all. 

“Look, my concern is valid right now, Jinnie. He’s just going to chill with you for a few hours while I go to work,” Taehyung says slightly desperately, Yoongi can tell he’s exhausted from the day. 

“I understand,” Jin sighs, succumbing quickly to the situation. Yoongi can tell he’s easily adaptable. He can work with this. Taehyung tells Yoongi he’ll be back by 1am and hurriedly grabs his keys and leaves for work, leaving Yoongi standing awkwardly near the sofa, holding the shopping bag. 

“I bought snacks, just in case,” he holds the bag up before placing it down on the kitchen counter and walking slowly towards the sofa. Jin, rather unexpectedly, bursts into tears right there, like a tap has just been without warning. 

How does Yoongi deal with grief? 

“Jin-” he breathes, walking towards him tentatively, one step at a time. Jin sits on the sofa sobbing loudly into his hands. Yoongi’s not sure he’s ever seen someone so upset in his entire life, even in movies. This is heartbreaking. 

“I’m sorry,” he manages to splutter in between sobs. 

“Shh, why are you apologising? This is natural,” Yoongi soothes, taking a seat next to him on the sofa and placing a hand on his back. He notes the almost empty box of tissues on the coffee table in front of them, no doubt a lot of tears have been shed today. 

Jin sniffs, wiping his face with his sleeves, something he’d clearly also done a lot today judging by the dampness of both his hoodie sleeves. Yoongi sits beside him quietly, letting him release his emotions. 

“Why does life so much?” Jin asks rhetorically, Yoongi hums quietly. 

“That, I can’t answer. Just know that time heals,” he says wistfully. Jin nods, wiping his eyes with his sleeves again. 

“She texted me last night, it was late. I was asleep. She said she loves me. I read it in the morning and didn’t understand why she sent it all of a sudden, until later on. I keep trying to remember if the sound of my phone woke me up last night and I just ignored it and went back to sleep. I think I did hear it, I think I remember, but I just went back to sleep. I should have just checked my phone, I could have phoned her,” Jin opens up to Yoongi, pouring his heart out to a man he barely knows yet.

“I think...you’ve just convinced yourself that this happened. If you’re not sure if you remember hearing your phone, you probably didn’t. I bet you were sound asleep, which is a completely normal thing to be doing late at night, and you didn’t hear it. Now you’re trying to convince yourself things happened differently, and there was something you could have done to prevent this, but I think you’re fooling yourself out of anger,” Yoongi finishes, watching Jin nod slowly, drinking in the advice. 

“What snacks did you get?” he asks innocently, making Yoongi giggle at the subject change. He gets up to grab the bag of treats and pours it all out onto the coffee table. Yoongi loses his appetite so easily upon being even slightly sad, so it warms his heart to see Jin wanting comfort food, wishing he could be more like that. 

The pair sit quietly, now both paying attention to the surprisingly interesting documentary that was being played on the TV. Jin sits mindlessly shovelling snacks, and it’s pretty clear this is the first time he’s eaten today. Yoongi feels like he’s done a good job of comforting tonight, and formed a bond with Jin while doing so. He hopes that he is now someone that Jin can trust with anything. 

Jin tiredly rests his head on Yoongi’s shoulder, who wants to flinch back habitually at the contact, but lets him carry on. Yes, Jin does trust him.