Chapter 17 – My Secrets
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It's time to spill, but I'll try my best to let it flow nicely. 

     Jimin tapped his fingers together as he sat on his bed with his lamp light on. It was almost one in the morning and Taehyung hadn't returned. He sniffed softly as coldness began to sink in. The door of the dorm finally clicked and Jimin raised his head in motion with it swinging open. Taehyung entered; his steps slightly wobbly and his head slightly dizzy. Jimin stood up and walked towards him, eyes turning horrified when he saw the blood on the right side of Taehyung's face. He gasped and slammed his palms onto the boy's arms, stopping him from moving any further as he examined the wound. 

"Oh my god, what happened to you?"

Taehyung suddenly realised what Jimin was referring to and backed away hesitantly. "O-oh...it's..." nothing. No. Taehyung knew he may never get a chance to properly explain everything to Jimin, so tonight was the night. Jimin lead him to sit down on the younger's bed. Taehyung chucked his bag - that was almost half its previous weight - at the end of the bed and sat as Jimin the main lights and fetched a towel, tissues and a box of assorted bandaids. He rushed inside the bathroom and ran the towel under warm water before squeezing it and rushing back out again. He plopped himself down besides Taehyung and began wiping the blood away as gently as possible. He remained silent as all his concentration fell on the wound, which was bloody, dirty, but above all else, intriguing; the slit in the skin was so clear and straight, nothing but perfection if it wasn't painful. 

"Jimin, I need to tell you something." Taehyung winced lightly. 

"Sorry. What is it?"

Taehyung's lips bounced off each other lightly as he blinked. "The truth."

He felt Jimin's movement stop and then continue as the elder paused for thought. He gulped, only hoping that the elder would be able to take it all in. "My secrets... You're the first person I'm ever going to tell, but you have to swear not to tell others because a secret like mine is kill-worthy. If they find out you know, something bad would happen to you."

"They?"

Taehyung nodded slowly, "My family."

Jimin pulled his arm away and he lowered his head. "Actually, I have something to confess as well. On the night of New Year's Eve...I visited. I ran into your mother. She helped me out." A small smile found its way to Taehyung's lips. "I know." Jimin's head shot up and he look into Taehyung's eyes with surprise. "Really?"

He nodded. "Do you know why she tried to get you out of there?"

Jimin shook his head. Taehyung gave him a serious look - one Jimin had never seen before - and leaned in so that his lips were so close to Jimin's ear he could kiss it if he wanted to. "I'm a contract killer." 

Taehyung expected Jimin's breath to stop, or even quicker, but it didn't hitch a bit. It was surprisingly calm, and Taehyung seemed to be the more oblivious of the two for a second. With a moment of silence, Jimin let out a small chuckle that took him back a bit. The elder raised his head and glanced up into Taehyung's eyes, still finding them as beautiful as ever. "I have another thing to apologise for. I went through your bag the other night, and I saw the...knives..."

"So it was you who untied my dagger casing..."

Jimin nodded, apologising again. Taehyung let out a sigh that wasn't really all that depressing. "Well, that just made my explanations a lot more...believable."

"So...how many have you...you know."

Taehyung blinked. "Three: Zelo, Chunji, Myungsoo...and..."

"...And?" Jimin asked with curiosity.

The younger gulped. He turned so his upper body faced Jimin better. "Can I...start from the beginning?"

Jimin nodded and listened intently to Taehyung's life story - a story that was almost surreal even hearing it come from the 4D orange-haired. Taehyung mentioned almost everything, leaving out the part about finding out what had happened to Jimin's real parents. It seemed like a telling for another day. He paused once his anecdote had reached roughly the present, realising Jimin's thumb was running over his clean cheek with light pressure. "Wow, Tae...I had no idea you'd had so much happen to you." Taehyung wrapped his hand around Jimin's. "Hyung, I know of what you've been through too, and it's no less painful than what I've experienced. You don't have to hide your past from me anymore. But...you can never tell anyone about my past. I don't want anything to happen to you, do you understand?"

Jimin smiled. He finished cleaning the wound and kept his eyes on it as he placed a bandaid on softly. "I could do that, but I kinda have a favour to ask."

"What?"

"Please don't put your lips so close like that if you don't plan on kissing me."

Taehyung gulped, but he didn't blush. That's weird; usually he'd be red in the face right now. It's like a phase, and the two of them are changing at the same time, like they're adapting to accept the lives they have. And it's nice, because in a way that was more good than bad, they were okay with that. 

"I mean..." Jimin fiddled with his fingers lightly, a small giggle leaving his mouth, "you know I like you, right?" He raised his fingers to brush over the bandaid on Taehyung's face, then floated them lower down his cheek, like small raindrop trickles that both tickled and amused Taehyung's skin. Jimin's eyes fell on the boy's lips, and Taehyung gazed back over Jimin's features with no less adoration. Temptation was running through him like no tomorrow and he waited no longer before pressing his lips onto Jimin's, shutting his eyes naturally as he wrapped his arms around the shorter's waist. He pulled Jimin in closer and the elder responded immediately, doing the same with his arms around Taehyung's neck. The kiss was passionate, hot and it lasted for a good while. Taehyung felt his blood shoot around his body, heating it up all over with an overflow of feelings tingling through him. The kiss broke but the two were no where from done. Jimin pushed Taehyung down on the bed first but the younger quickly took dominance, spinning over so he was on top. Their lips crashed together again and they kissed with the utmost enjoyment. Jimin let Taehyung's tongue slip through and he rubbed his palm up and down Taehyung's neck as heat transferred between them. 

They broke away again, disappointment flashing across their faces in less than two seconds. "The lights." Jimin whispered, sliding his hands off Taehyung as he let the younger leave the bed to switch the main lights off. When he returned he simply lied down beside Jimin; they had only kissed so far and he honestly wasn't sure how fast they should go. He wanted to take his time in loving Jimin and he wanted to do it properly. Days and chances to fully take him would come. He was patient.

"So who made the cut on your face?" Jimin asked, his voice a lot softer as they tried to keep their volume down even if they knew no one had heard them this whole time. He shuffled closer to the wall to give Taehyung more space. 

"My brother. He took articulacy as well."

Jimin silenced. He was still on his back facing the ceiling, picturing patterns on the plain wall above him. "So what now?"

Taehyung moved closer and wrapped his arm tightly around Jimin's arm, tugging it to signal seriousness. "I'm not going to hurt you Jimin. I would never even think of it and  I would rather hurt myself than let something happen to you." 

"But then...what happens to you?"

"I don't know. I really don't. But I'm no longer the hunter now. You're the hunted, I'm the guardian."

"What?"

"I'm going to protect you from my brother, Jimin. You don't have to be scared."

Jimin wrapped his fingers around Taehyung's chin and lifted it so their eyes would meet. "Neither do you. And technically, this isn't really your fight anyway. It's between me and him, and I'm sure he'd be more focused in using me to play games with you than actually getting rid of me, which means you just have to stay...I don't know...cool?"

Taehyung rolled his eyes at Jimin's lame wording. The elder nodded at how stupid it was too. "Sorry."

Taehyung moved higher and brang his forehead to the side of Jimin's head, breathing by his neck as he tried to calm himself down. No matter what Jimin said, he would never stop worrying about it. He was going to do everything he could to stop anything bad from happening, even if he had no idea where to start. The days ahead seemed unpredictable and in his sleep he trembled, dreaming of articulacy threatening to contribute in taking Jimin's life by a bridge in pitch silence and darkness, the only figures in sight being himself, Jimin and his deadly brother. 

He slipped his arm under Jimin's arm and over his stomach, hugging him to sleep.