Jungkook laid his head in his hands. The phone rang six times before finally giving up and sending whoever it was to voicemail, Jungkook’s cheerful voice in his inbox recording mocking his current state and causing anger to pulse through the now ruined Jungkook who was sat still as the tone sounded and someone cleared their throat.

“Hey kid it’s me, your old boss. I know you quit about two weeks ago but we are running out of good cops and you were a great one…” there was a pause. The silence stabbing more memories into Jungkook than the sound of his old captain's voice. “I know you still haven’t forgotten it all and we don’t blame you but we really need you here. Consider it. Alright… bye”

Jungkook let out a bitter laugh at the awkward end to the message. The red light on the answering machine taunted Jungkook by constantly blinking. No matter how many messages Jungkook ignored, how many days he sat in his underwear and his shirt, the time he spent mourning and looking at old pictures; the reality was that it was all over. Jungkook was no longer the playful Kook he had been before. He would never be that kid again.

He was the one who made Jungkook feel young again, feel invincible and on top of the world. With his dumb smirk, his box smile, and his stupid deep voice that never failed to make Jungkook shiver with excitement whenever he heard him speak. He was the only true excitement Jungkook ever had. Even as a cop where Jungkook saw everything from the good in people to the downright nasty he was the only one that could make Jungkook go through every emotion with only a couple simple words.

Jungkook’s hand touched the small box. The box from that night. It’s velvet insides and hard outsides represented the man who gave it to him so perfectly that it hurt. He was so kind and caring, so perfect and beautiful but he couldn’t look that way.

Stupid gang.

Stupid cops.

Stupid everything. It was everyone’s fault. Tae shouldn’t have been there that night, Jungkook had made him come. Jungkook should have made sure Tae was safe, maybe thrown himself in front of the bullet? Done something.

A stray tear ran down the premade tracks on the boy’s cheeks and Jungkook did nothing to stop it, didn’t bother wiping it away.

Jungkook’s jaw clenched as sudden memories popped into his head.

Taehyung ran ahead of the younger boy across the beach, reaching the other end with barely any effort whereas Jungkook huffed and trailed far behind the older. When Jungkook finally reached the kid with the box smile he wrapped his arms around his friend and hugged him tight sudden emotions arising in him.

“I’ll never be as good as you Taehyung… I’ll never be fast like you are.” before Jungkook could stop it tears were traveling down his cheeks and soft sobs were escaping his lips. It was pathetic for him to be crying in front of Taehyung like this especially over something so small such as a race. But Taehyung thought differently and pulled the younger away from him placing his hands on the slightly smaller shoulders and grinning wide.

“You don’t ever have to be fast like me Kook!” Taehyung moved a hand and rubbed the back of it over Kook’s face, wiping away the tears. “I’ll always protect you so just be fast enough to keep up with me okay?”

“Stupid liar…” Jungkook pushed the box away from him as the tears flowed faster from the memory. “Where the are you now? Just when I had become fast enough to keep up you decide to up and die?” Jungkook was sobbing again for the nth time just today. “Why did you leave me you stupid idiot!” Jungkook screamed out his last words before slamming his head on the table he sat in front of and openly sobbed while whispering small insults.

The buzzing of the doorbell going off awoke Jungkook who must've fallen asleep after crying his eyes dry.

Rubbing his eyes lightly Jungkook stood, not bothering to change or try to fix his hair and look decent as he walked to the door and opened it. Should he have been so careless while opening the door? Probably not. This city was crawling with crime and it could have very well been a murderer with a gun. But it wasn’t. It was people Jungkook thought he would never see again.

“The you want?” Jungkook wasn’t going to start with a hello, he wasn’t one for pleasantries or beating around the bush anymore. The two gang members looked at one another before the taller cleared his throat.

“It’s been a month since Ta-”

“Don’t say his name” Jungkook cut the man off only to receive a nod as the same man continued

“It’s been a month since the incident and we were instructed to show you Ta- our leaders will. There’s something very important for you in it.” Jungkook let out a humourless laugh and leaned against the door still blocking the two from coming in.

“What could you two ever give me that I would want?” The question was meant to throw the two men off their guard but instead the shorter spoke up with confidence.

“The truth.”

Tae stared at Jungkook, Jungkook