Chapter 8

Seventeen years

Taehyung silently watched Jin feed mushroom soup to the coughing boy before him. And somewhere in between wanting to feed him with his own hands and fearing that he would hurt the boy with his own clumsiness, Taehyung felt sad. No. He was angry.

Jungkook experienced another one of his panic attacks. It was the third one that week. And it was only a Thursday. Why? Taehyung thought.  Wasn’t Jungkook supposed to be getting better?

Jin wiped Jungkook’s mouth and turned to Taehyung. “Shouldn’t you be getting to school?” he asked. Taehyung wanted to shoot back that he wasn’t his mom but bit back his tongue. There was no use being cranky at the whole world. So he just stood up and straightened his uniform out.

“Take care of him please, hyung,” he said and leant down to Jungkook. “I’ll be back later, okay, Kookie?” he said in his deep sonorous voice, his hand lingering on Jungkook’s face a little longer than Jin would’ve thought. But Jin said nothing regarding it. Instead, he just muttered that he was Jungkook’s nurse. It was his job.

Jungkook gave a weak but wide smile. It was the kind of smile that made Taehyung’s insides melt. “Okay,” he said meekly.

Taehyung desperately tried to stop himself from kissing the younger boy on the bed. It’s weird because Jin hyung is watching, he repeated to himself. And besides, it would startle Jungkook. Ruffling his hair for one last time, Taehyung picked up his bag and gave Jin a half hearted smile before closing the door behind him.

Namjoon wasn’t the type to poke his nose into other people’s business. But being a hyung, he felt it his responsibility to at least figure out what was wrong with his dongsaeng.

“Anything bothering you, Taehyung?” he asked, looking at the pink/purple haired boy stare out the window while lying on his arm on the desk. He didn’t hear a reply.

“Taehyung?” he called again. Silence.

“Yah, Kim Taehyung,” he raised his voice a little. Taehyung let out a startled “Huh? I’m not sleeping!”

Namjoon knitted his eyebrows. “When was the last time you had proper sleep, Taehyung?” he asked. Taehyung rubbed his eyes and yawned. “What do you mean, hyung?”

But Taehyung knew exactly what Namjoon was talking about. Come to think of it, he hadn’t had proper sleep for four nights. Three nights because he was too busy worrying about Jungkook during one of his attacks and one because of worrying about if Jungkook would have one.

“How’s Jungkookie?” Namjoon asked out of the blue. Taehyung threw a cautious look which Namjoon caught. “Relax. I’m just curious.”

Realizing there was nothing to be worried about, Taehyung ran his slim fingers through his fluffy and perfect hair. “Aaah,” he sighed deeply and looked at the ceiling, fearing that tears might fall again. Lately all he had been doing was fight the tears that were threatening to fall whenever he saw Jungkook in pain.

“Hyung,” he said softly, almost whispering. “He’s fallen sick again.”

~*~*~*~

Taehyung folded a pink colored paper into a rose and handed it to Jungkook. The latter accepted it and placed it on his hair, giggling like a child. The older noticed that Jungkook was unnervingly pale and his movements were slower than usual but he decided not to mention it because he didn’t want to worry him.

He’ll be fine, he told himself. Dad said it’s just a cold, so he’ll grow better.

“Hyung,” he heard Jungkook call. Taehyung turned and saw that Jungkook had already spoiled the flower by sitting on it. He sighed.

“Why don’t you learn how to make one?” Taehyung said, his loving gaze resting on the younger boy’s flawless face. “That way you can entertain yourself if you’re bored.” Jungkook looked confused at first but slowly he nodded his head.

Making Jungkook sit in front of him, Taehyung took out a piece of blue paper and handed it to Jungkook. Taking a yellow colored one himself, he set it down in front of Jungkook.

“Start with something simple,” he said and began folding the creases of a paper plane. Jungkook concentrated with all his heart and tried to copy exactly what Taehyung was doing. But he couldn’t manage it.

The second attempt was another bust. While trying to fold the paper, Jungkook had torn one corner so he had to start anew. The third one was another failure because Jungkook had cut his delicate fingers on the paper.

Jungkook did nothing but stare at the blood that began to drip down from his index finger. “How is it goi…,” Taehyung was about to ask when he saw the drops of blood on the green paper. Quickly grabbing his hand, Taehyung away the blood since he didn’t have a tissue with him.

Taehyung thought that there was nothing wrong at trying to clean an injury. But it did something grave to Jungkook’s weak heart.

The injured boy’s breath hitched as soon as Taehyung’s pink lips touched his finger. He felt something starting to beat rapidly in his chest and it was getting harder for him to breathe. He also felt himself getting hot all of a sudden until he felt his face become warmer than usual. And he also noticed that he couldn’t keep his eyes away from Taehyung’s face. What was happening?

Growing scared and unable to understand what was going on, he called out, “Taetae hyung.”

Taehyung’s dark but shining eyes turned to the confused looking boy. He noticed that the boy’s face was deepening in color. Widening his eyes in alarm, he immediately reached for his forehead. “Are you okay? Do you have a fever?”

Jungkook felt his hyung’s cold yet soft hands on his forehead. He let out a shaky breath as he looked into Taehyung’s eyes. The only word running through his mind was ‘sparkly’.

The older removed his hand. “You seem to have…” he stopped mid sentence because he noticed Jungkook’s unblinking gaze at him.

Time seemed to stop for Taehyung the moment he looked into those sparkly golden brown orbs. What was he saying again?

“Hyung, it hurts,” Jungkook suddenly said making Taehyung snap out of his daze. He quickly reposed himself and asked, “What hurts, Kookie-ah?” His arms reached for the dongsaeng but Jungkook pulled back in fear of feeling breathless again.

“Do… don’t kn..know,” Jungkook stuttered out. He honestly didn’t have a clue what hurt but he knew something was hurting. But it sent a warm and tingly chill through his spine; and Jungkook wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“You, uh, do you wanna go inside?” Taehyung asked not wanting to let Jungkook have another panic attack because of the cold. Jungkook shook his head and turned to the ground enabling him to hide his face. He quickly grabbed a red paper from Taehyung’s stack and started to fold it clumsily. He didn’t realize he was blushing but he didn’t think he hated the feeling of suddenly becoming warm and giddy. And that kind of troubled his already confused mind.

“Uh,” Taehyung was at a loss for words. “Okay then,” he said, not being able to see Jungkook’s face anymore. What just happened? Did I just see Jungkook blushing?

Then he remembered how he felt looking into the twinkling eyes of Jeon Jungkook. But he forced the thought out of his head. You’ll only end up wanting to kiss him again, idiot.

Kim Seokjin was the perfect image of an ideal wife (of course there was the sad truth that he was actually a guy but whatever). His feminine skills weren’t the first skills he would brag about in a talent show but he wasn’t ashamed of them either. So he was more than happy to help when Taehyung’s mother asked him to help her with grocery shopping since she was busy taking care of a kid in room number 9.

So there he was, in the grocery store, using his ‘spidey senses’ (or as I’d like to term them ‘umma senses’) to check if a fruit was ripe or not. Every passing man awed at his pretty face and every lady that saw him envied his smooth skin and perfectly angled eyes. Not that he noticed (awww, our Jin is a modest and ignorant ‘lady’).

If Taehyung or some other kids were there with him, they would probably call him ‘umma’ and would try to trick him into buying stuff for them. But they weren’t with him so there.

Taking in the scent of a grapefruit as if he were doing an ad on it, he savored the smell. His lips then curved seductively into a satisfied smile and he opened his stunningly gorgeous eyes. Yup. This was how he checked if fruits were ripe or not…

“Jin hyung?” he heard a voice call out. Where had he heard that voice before?

Jin turned to the voice. He saw an ivory haired boy standing a few meters away from him. He looked at him eagerly which made Jin want to recognize the boy.

“Ah,” he said, remembering the boy. “Namjoon ssi!”

The two males stood outside the grocery store, looking up at the sky. “So you’re visiting Taehyung,” Jin said, trying to make conversation. He noticed that Namjoon wasn’t the talkative type unlike the other boy, what was his name, aish, he forgot. Instead Namjoon listened to him talk about how things were with Jungkook and Taehyung even though they were strangers.

“Yeah,” Namjoon replied with a deep dimpled smile. “Taehyung seemed down these past few days. So I thought I’d drop in to check if he was doing okay.” Jin could only reply a simple “Oh”. He was a little distracted with those damned dimples.

The pair walked awkwardly beside each other, keeping a safe distance away. “So,” Namjoon initiated, “Explain something, hyung. Are you Taehyung’s cousin or something? Because the both of you seem close. Also, you’re both smart and freakishly good looking…” Did he just say that?

The perfectly stunning hyung laughed while covering his mouth with his free hand lest he looked indecent. “You’re a funny person,” he said (Yeah. Soooo manly). “But no. We’re not related.”

Jin decided to tell Namjoon something which he had never told anyone else before (besides Taehyung’s household). “Actually, I was an orphan too,” he began. Namjoon widened his eyes in shock. “No way!” Jin smiled and punched him lightly on his shoulder. “Yup. Mr. and Mrs. Kim took care of me until I got adopted at the age of ten. I got along with Taehyung before I left the orphanage so basically close.” Jin didn’t know why he told Taehyung’s friend basically his life story. It wasn’t that this was a secret but the thought of telling this to a random person whom he didn’t even know properly seemed exciting.

“Oh,” Namjoon simply said. Jin continued, “I realized I did well with kids so I took up nursing and ta-daa! Here I am, helping Mr. and Mrs. Kim as a sign of gratitude.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, aren’t you a little young to be a…?” Namjoon asked, intrigued by the story. “Ah! I graduated early, if that’s what you mean. But I’m still taking weekly lessons about it.”

Namjoon wanted to facepalm. Another genius, I see. He’s definitely related to those people in one way or another.

“Well, here we are,” Jin said, taking the paper bag from Namjoon’s hand. They reached the Kim’s residence in no time much to Jin’s disappointment. “I’m sorry for letting you carry half…” Namjoon interrupted awkwardly, “No, no. It was not a problem.”

Jin smiled a small smile. “Uhhh, I’ll just head up and keep these in the kitchen. Taehyung’s probably in Jungkook’s room now so…”

“Oh, yeah!” Namjoon exclaimed, remembering why he came there in the first place.

Jin thanked him for carrying half of the groceries and for listening to his stories. “I guess I’ll see you some other time?” Jin said, suddenly shy. Namjoon felt his face heat up a little to see the guy’s, was that aegyo? “Uhhh, yeah,” he said stupidly and walked away after yet another awkward wave.

“Namjoon,” Jin said and tilted his head while watching the mentioned boy walk away. He let a small satisfied laugh escape his lips and turned to open the door. Namjoon, on the other hand, giggled like a little girl as he balled his fist and slightly punched the air in excitement (Jin fortunately didn’t see this). Thank goodness he stopped at the grocery store on his way to meet Taehyung.

Taehyung softly tucked away the lock of hair that was covering the sleeping male’s eyes. Jungkook seemed to be getting less pale than the previous day. So his heart could rest a little.

Then his gaze fell on a red paper plane on the table beside the bed. It was very shabbily made; the creases were loosely folded, the nose of the plane was blunt and the wings were uneven in size and shape. Also, the paper had turned from a rich scarlet to a pale red which indicated the sweaty and clumsy hands of the maker of the plane.

But Taehyung just picked up the paper and smiled at the many imperfections. It’s unique, he reasoned and caressed his fingers on the wings of the plane that Jungkook had painstakingly made for him. 

A/N:

*Sharing my undying Taekook feels with the world* (Plus a little NamJin for the Namjin shippers) *wink wink*

Comparatively satisfying chapter, I should say... ( ^w^) Thanks for the comments and subscriptions and upvotes... Loving you guys indefinitely... (EXO, BTS hwaiting!!!)