The walls around him are old and wooden, and Taehyung thinks that if he runs his hands over them he might get splinters. He closes his hands into a fist at the thought, the continues taking in the room around him.

It looks like whoever decorated the room had the best intentions. It’s all warm colors – maybe Taehyung would think it was cosy if the circumstances were different, but they’re not so he’s honestly not comforted at all. 

At least it’s quiet as he sits here and waits. He can hear the quiet buzz of people moving around the complex, but it isn’t as loud as he’s used to. He appreciates the peace, as short-lived as it’s likely to be. Closing his eyes, he waits for… he doesn’t know what he’s waiting for, really. He’s waiting for someone, he thinks, to come and collect him and tell him exactly what he’s meant to do from here on out. He looks down at the small tattered leather bag at his feet and thinks about the events that have led to his being here. He knows there’s no point thinking about it – he’s here now, he just needs to make the most of things – but his mind keeps taking him down this route and every time he does…

His thoughts are interrupted by a voice approaching him.

“...giving me stinking guide duty all the time. Like I want to pretend to give a crap about these newbies who don’t stick around long enough for me to even give a crap.”

The voice gets louder and louder until Taehyung sees the door in front of him open. A tall boy steps through the doorway with a scowl on his face.

“Kim Taehyung?” The guy says.

Taehyung nods mutely.

“Great, another quiet one. They should pay me for this .”

“I’m Jungkook. Follow me. I’ll give you the tour.” Taehyung stands up, grabbing his small bag and taking a few long steps until he’s stood by Jungkook. “Do you not have any other belongings? I can ask someone to bring them up.

“This is all I have...” Taehyung mutters, playing with a stray thread.

Jungkook’s eyes widen as he looks at Taehyung’s weathered satchel, but he doesn’t say anything… out loud, at least.

“What the.. who is this guy?”

“So the tour?” Taehyung prompts, wanting to move Jungkook’s thoughts away from the uncomfortable topic of Taehyung 

Jungkook nods. “Follow me.”

 

-

 

Sanctuary is a large place, Taehyung always knew that much, but being here in the old stone halls makes it so much more real. Taehyung realises that he underestimated just how big the place is. He thinks that he’s going to get lost in one of these corridors one day and spend the rest of his days wandering in loneliness until he ends up dying of starvation or exhaustion or something. 

It’s probably an over-dramatic way to look at things, but it’s all so overwhelming and Taehyung isn’t sure how he’s ever going to feel like he has a place here.

“And here are the classrooms.” Jungkook stops at the end of a corridor and Taehyung can see doors lining the walls. “Gifts are sorted into a number of categories and you’ll be assigned classes based on your gift. You’ll also have one-to-ones and core subjects to keep you up to date with the outside world so that when you’re ready to leave, you can integrate into society as easily as possible.”

Taehyung worries his lip for a moment before speaking up. “Does everyone here have a power?” 

“Yes, everyone in this building.” Jungkook affirms, then after a pause he continues. “We call them gifts.”

Taehyung doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to see his power as a gift – it’s always been so much more of a curse to him, but he doesn’t say this out loud. He knows the questioning look he’ll get from Jungkook and frankly he could do without the pity so he keeps his mouth shut and follows Jungkook as he points out the cafeteria and the different sets of dorms. 

“And you’ll be in...” Jungkook pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket and squints at it. “Wow, okay. Follow me.”

“Guy gets a room to himself? Lucky.”

Taehyung grimaces behind Jungkook’s back. He wants to tell Jungkook how much he’d love to be able to share a room but then he’d have to admit that he can hear people’s thoughts and that tends to make most people uncomfortable so he lets Jungkook come up with imaginary reasons why Taehyung has his own room. His personal favourite is that he breathes fire when he snores. He snorts a little when he hears Jungkook think that one.

“So this is your room.” Jungkook says after a while. They seem to be in an isolated part of the complex and Taehyung appreciates that, because he’d requested that. Still, he feels the familiar sense of loneliness wash over him at the necessity. He takes the key that Jungkook is holding out.

“Thank you.” He says.

“Do you need anything or...” Jungkook trails off, and Taehyung has a million and one questions he wants to ask about this place but he hears the pleading in Jungkook’s thoughts; “please say no I’m so tired and I need to rest and study for that exam tomorrow and-”

“I’m good.” Taehyung smiles a small smile and he hears the sigh of relief from Jungkook.

“Okay, well your class schedule and complex map should be in your room already and all accommodation blocks have a TA so if you need anything you can ask them.”

“But considering yours is Yoongi, I’d probably recommend that you don’t.”

Taehyung raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment.

Jungkook’s already walking away, so Taehyung unlocks his room and steps inside.

 

Home sweet home, he thinks, sarcastically.

 

-

 

Taehyung’s neighbour has issues.

He hasn’t met the guy, but considering Taehyung’s been listening to his thought’s for the last five hours he feels like he’s got quite an intimate connection with the man already.

It had started when Taehyung had dropped his little bag onto the floor and crawled into bed – he’d been travelling for eight hours and the last few months themselves have been pretty draining already so he needs a sleep and his bed looks so welcoming.

He crawls into it, and he closes his eyes and he’s just starting to fall into that state of rest he can’t remember feeling since the accident and then it starts;

“ing Hyonam and her ing arm. It’s her fault, she was the one throwing herself at me but of course it’s all my fault. It is all my fault. All I ever do is up.”

Taehyung groans and pulls a pillow over his head. It does nothing to stop the onslaught of noise in his brain. He wants to climb out of bed and pound on the guys door and ask him to think quieter but that tends to not go down well at all so he lays there and he listens to the guy next door pull himself to pieces in his thoughts.

“I didn’t want to hurt her but once again all I do is mess everything up. I can see it in everyone’s eyes, ing Yoongi did it again. Stay away from Yoongi he’s dangerous. I wish people would listen...”

Taehyung wishes he could switch off. It’s something he often wishes, but especially at times like these when he’s listening to something so personal and private. He feels like he knows more about this guy after a few hours than most people probably will in a life time.

After a while, the thoughts slow and quieten and then they come to a complete stop. His neighbour must have fallen asleep.

Taehyung breathes a deep sigh of relief, which quickly turns into a yawn. It’s the one thing he’s been thankful for since he came into his powers- he hates hearing people’s thoughts, but at least he can’t tune into people’s dreams. Nights are a respite for him, a break from the constant stream of words and ideas.

It could be worse, he thinks. His neighbour could have insomnia.

 

-

 

As expected, he gets lost on his way to class the next day.

He’s spent about ten minutes wandering around random hallways and opening doors to cleaning cupboards before he thinks that maybe his premonition is going to come true and he’s going to die down here when he hears a voice out of nowhere.

“Are you lost?”

Taehyung turns to see a tall boy wearing a pair of too big glasses peering at him.

“...A little.” He admits. “Was it that obvious?”

“Your aura is murky yellow, so I could see you were nervous.” The man pushes his glasses back up on his nose. “And you were walking around in circles, so I put two and two together. Where are you headed?”

“I’m going to erm… Coping 101?” He says.

“Same as me!” The boy smiles, “follow me.”

The boy is called Namjoon, and Taehyung learns that he’s twenty-three, so just over a year older than Taehyung himself, but that classes aren’t separated by age but by ability. “I see auras, but it’s really hard to switch off and it’s super dizzying and distracting.” Namjoon explains as they walk. “So I’m in Coping to learn how to switch off my gift.”

“I’m...” Taehyung hesitates.

“Oh, you don’t need to tell me your gift.” Namjoon quickly states. “Some people don’t like to say, and I get that. Mines not a big deal, and I tend to just say what’s on my mind.”

Taehyung gets that, he’s noticed that he doesn’t really hear any thoughts from Namjoon, but he realises that’s because Namjoon seems to say every thought out loud as quickly as it enters his head. He is starting to hear the thoughts of other students, he realises as he sits down at the desk Namjoon motions to. He winces, wondering how he’s going to be able to concentrate on any kind of class with the buzz going on in his head.

 

“I can’t believe I got 20% on that last test-”

“I’m going to do it. I’m going to ask him out.”

“Who the hell wrote my name next to Park Jimin’s in the toilets, I’m not even-”

“Noodles or pasta for tea? Or I could buy pizza in...”

“Who’s the new kid with Namjoon, he’s so-”

 

All of a sudden, it’s like a radio silence in his brain. His eyes widen and he turns to Namjoon. 

“What-”

“Your gift suddenly stop?”

Taehyung nods.

Namjoon beams. “That will be Hoseok.” He motions to another boy who’s walking towards them.

“Namjoon!” Hoseok says. “And you must be Taehyung?”

“How do you know?” Taehyung’s eyes widen.

“I’m psychic, I foresaw your arrival-”

“Don’t listen to him.” Namjoon cuts in. “He rooms with Jungkook, who I guess gave you your welcome tour?” Taehyung nods. “Yeah, that’s how he knows. Hoseok isn’t psychic. His gift is much better than that-”

“I stop other people’s gifts from working.” Hoseok beams. “I’m like a human skip zone.”

Taehyung nods. “That explains why mine has stopped.”

“Exactamundo, my ickle Taetae!” Hoseok laughs. “Now you may be wondering why I’m in Coping 101 if my skill is so… nondescript.” Taehyung nods. He had wondered why Hoseok had to learn to switch it off, but he gets it when Hoseok starts to explain. “So say I’m in a fire, or something, and water enchanters are there but my skill stops them from using their magic. Or I cut off telepathy so they can’t locate casualties? My gift is a threat...”

It still amazes Taehyung that there are people in the world who can use their powers for good. All Taehyung’s has ever been is a curse and he’s starting to feel like everyone in this place feels the same as him.

Of course, nobody would be in this place in the first place if they had control over their powers. Sanctuary is exactly that; a safe place for young people who didn’t naturally develop the ability to control their powers. Through his life he’s heard stories of teenagers who have just come into their powers and have accidentally set fire to buildings or called tornadoes or stopped time in whole cities, they all end up here.

 

Taehyung never thought he would be here, but he knows the reasons he is and he knows he belongs here. Even if he doesn’t feel a sense of belonging at all.

“You okay, Taehyung?” Namjoon’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts and Taehyung’s head shoots up.

“Yeah, just… thinking.”

“I thought I could smell something burning.” Hoseok sniggers and Taehyung smiles at the joke. He may not feel like this place is home, and he may wonder how he can ever be happy here, but at least it seems like he’s got some friends already. That’s a comforting thought.

 

-

 

Coping 101 is just a theory class, it turns out. Taehyung isn’t sure what he expected – maybe somewhere where they try coping mechanisms in class, not where a teacher just stands and talks at them. 

He has his one on one session next, it’s with the same teacher, a young looking man called Jin.

“Taehyung, right?” The teacher says as Taehyung approaches his desk. Taehyung nods. “Today’s your first day.”

“I arrived yesterday.”

Jin nods. “We’ll be meeting at least once a week for hour long sessions. In these sessions we’ll try to put the coping mechanisms we discuss in class into practice. These one-on-ones also function as counselling sessions. Most students come to Sanctuary with things bigger than just their gifts to deal with...”

“And your issues are bound to be worse judging by your records...”

Taehyung raises and eyebrow and Jin coughs. “Sorry… I’m trying to control my thoughts but your the first mind reader I’ve ever worked with and it’s difficult.”

“It’s fine.” Taehyung replies. “You’re right, anyway.”

“So today lets just talk, okay? The first step to coping is coming to terms with your circumstances.” Jin explains. “It’s what helped me most when I was a student here.”

“You were once a student here?” Taehyung questions.

“Yeah, I came when I was a little younger than you. I thought I would never control my gift, I thought it was a curse. I thought nobody could help me. Four years later and… look at me.” Jin smiles. “I know you must feel the same way, but trust me Taehyung… we’re here to help, and within no time you’ll be able to switch your thoughts off. Nothing bad like the accident will ever happen again.”

Taehyung swallows, the reminder of the accident that had led to him being here bringing back memories that he wants to wash away forever. A burning wreck, screams in blackness, smoke – so much smoke. He rubs at his wrist. The break has healed, but he still feel twinges sometimes. Reminders of something he would much rather forget.

“Poor kid.” He hears Jin think.

“I don’t need your pity.” He mutters.

“Taehyung-”

Jin sounds like he’s about to say something inspirational, maybe try and perk Taehyung up but as he opens his mouth the door slams open.

“Jin. Are you-” A short boy stands in the doorway, looking from Jin to Taehyung, dark hair flopping in his face. “Oh. I thought this was your free block-”

“New student.” Jin replies. Taehyung waves weakly.

“Hi.”

He’s glad for the interruption, the conversation was going in a way that Taehyung isn’t sure he’s ready for.

“Are you okay, Yoongi?”

 

Yoongi…

The name rings a bell, and within a second the pin drops. Yoongi, Taehyung’s dorm TA that Jungkook had thought about… Yoongi is also what Taehyung’s emo neighbour had called himself.

He looks up at the short boy, and he realises that this must be the same guy he heard beating himself up mentally last night.

“If Yoongi’s here, it must be an issue...” Jin thinks.

“I can come back later.” Yoongi replies.

“I really needed to speak to you...”

Taehyung stands up.

“It’s fine, we were done.” Taehyung stands up.

“No, we weren’t. Taehyung-”

He’s out of the door within a second, slamming it shut behind him and leaning against the cold brick wall. He can hear the thoughts from within the room,

“What the hell was that?”

He doesn’t care to listen in on the conversation, so he decides to try and find his way back to his room. Most other students still have classes, but Taehyung is one of the rare students here who studied past high school. He had just started his degree when his powers came out. As soon as he realised that he couldn’t switch it off, he switched to a distance learning course but he still came out with a degree. As a result, he doesn’t need to do the basic core classes that the other student have.

It’s a relief for him, even walking past the classrooms is giving him a headache from the buzz of people in the room. The thick brick walls do a little to keep out the noise, but it’s still there in the back of Taehyung’s mind.

 

Where is Hoseok when you need him?

 

-

 

“Eh, isn’t that the kid from Jin’s office?”

Taehyung is just unlocking the door when he hears a noise from down the hallway.

He turns to see Yoongi walking towards him.

“Taehyung, right?” Yoongi says.

“Yes...”

“This is your room?”

“Yes.” Taehyung frowns. “Aren’t you a TA here?”

“Yes...”

“Aren’t you meant to know who’s living in your section?”

“Smart kid.”

Yoongi smiles a little. “I’m a TA, but I never claimed to be a good one. There’s barely anyone in these rooms anyway. Me, you now, and there’s a guy down the hall who never leaves his room because he farts uncontrollably.”

“Were you meant to tell me that?”

“Probably not.” Yoongi shrugs. “But like I said, I’m a ty TA.”

Taehyung laughs a little. “Okay then, noted.”

“I was hoping I’d run into you.” Yoongi says. “Just because I want to say thank you for the other day, in Jin’s office. I thought he was in free hour and I needed to speak to him so...”

“Anytime.” Taehyung replies. “And I mean it, anytime. Please. I don’t really want any counselling so come anytime.”

Yoongi stares at Taehyung for a while.

“He reminds me so much of me… I should tell the kid he should give Jin a chance but he must have issues to be in Jin’s session… I’m not getting involved.”

What’s with everyone saying he has issues these days? Taehyung wonders. Like, sure, he hates the fact that he’s here and he knows that everyone back home hates him and hearing people’s every thought is both humiliating and debilitating but why does that mean he has to have issues.

“Okay, so I’ll keep that in mind.” Yoongi replies carefully.

Taehyung nods. “Okay.”

“So bye.”

Without another word, Yoongi pushes open the door to his room and lets it shut behind him, leaving Taehyung alone to wonder about the weird interaction he’s just had.

 

-

 

He’s got a stack of books on his desk, most of which he’s already read, but he has an evening free and there’s not a whole lot that Taehyung can do which doesn’t end with him tackling a headache from hell. He could always go track Hoseok down and hang out with him, but he knows Hoseok and Namjoon never actually finished college and therefore have a lot more studying than him so he resigns himself to rereading a book.

He hears small thoughts from Yoongi’s room, but nothing too loud. Over the last few days, he’s gotten used to the noise in his head from Yoongi. It’s happened before where he becomes attuned to someone, but never so quickly as this. Sometimes, Yoongi’s thoughts are really loud, and those are usually the days where he’s angry at himself over something. Sometimes, it’s an almost comforting background train of thought about anything and everything.

Today, Yoongi is thinking about a coping sessions he had which hadn’t gone very well, it’s a loud angry topic and Taehyung realises that he isn’t going to get much reading done so he tries to tune it out. He tries to use the methods he’s been learning in class but he’s not been practicing them all that much so he doesn’t manage to tune Yoongi out.

“...want to ever show my face again. Every time I think I’ve got it and then I just blow up. I’m going to be in here forever. This is why people don’t like you...”

Yoongi is a lonely person, Taehyung quickly realises.

So many of his personal thoughts are about where he’s lacking or the way people see him and whilst Taehyung can’t deny that he finds Yoongi a little intimidating, he also realises that Yoongi is deeply misunderstood. He isn’t sure what Yoongi’s powers are or why they lead him to be as ostracised as he seems to be, but everyone else’s thoughts about Yoongi’s seem to be worry or fear or just… a sense of unease. It makes Taehyung feel sympathy for Yoongi.

He wishes he could take a little bit of that loneliness away.

 

-

 

“Hey.”

Taehyung is leaving his room one morning a couple of weeks after he arrived at Sanctuary when he hears Yoongi behind him.

“Oh, hi.” He says. “Good morning.”

“I wanted to catch you.” Yoongi says.

“Which is why I’ve been stood here for twenty minutes waiting for you to get here so I could corner you.”

Taehyung blinks. “What’s up?”

“Jin told me you’ve been skipping your one-to-one sessions?” Yoongi replies.

Oh, that’s not what Taehyung had expected.

“I mean… I haven’t been going, no.”

“He asked me to ask you to go. He told me to speak to you and try and covertly convince you but I’ve never been one for mind games so...” Yoongi shrugs. “Will you go?”

“I don’t… I don’t think they’ll help me.”

Taehyung swallows at the thought of having to sit down and talk about things. The past few years have been awful, the last few months even more so. He doesn’t want to have to let that out. He’s not sure what might happen if he does.

“You were sent here, weren’t you?” Yoongi says. “You didn’t come voluntarily.” Taehyung nods. “If you want a chance in hell of getting out of here, you need to go to your one-to-ones. Trust me, Taehyung, they help. I promise.”

“If they can help someone like me… you’re not a lost cause.”

Taehyung can’t say whether he’s reassured by the words Yoongi says out loud or the thoughts he keeps in his head., but he does feel reassured.

“I’ll go.” He says.

“You will?”

“That was easier than I expected.”

Taehyung nods. “I’ll at least give it a shot, though I make no guarantees.”

“That’s good enough. Jin’s great, after a few sessions you’ll notice the change straight away.”

“Good kid.”

 

Taehyung smiles faintly, and then he turns and walks into Coping 101 and all of the buzz is taken away by Hoseok’s presence.

He has some time in that class to think about Yoongi. He thinks about the older boy’s words – his pure belief in Jin. It makes Taehyung wonder how bad Yoongi was before he came to Sanctuary. Taehyung has heard Yoongi’s thoughts, he knows how much self-hatred the man holds, if this is him after benefiting from his sessions with Jin then how much of a mess he must have been before any of this.

It makes Taehyung sad to think about.

 

-

 

“You came.”

Taehyung looks at the floor.

“I came.”

“Did Yoongi speak to you?”

“Yeah… though it was more the things he didn’t say that made me choose to come.”

Jin laughs lightly. “Well either way, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Do you really believe that talking about it will help me find the off switch?”

“I think it’ll be a realistic place to start.” Jin says carefully. “I can’t promise that it will work quickly, but the sooner we start working at this the sooner we’ll be able to figure out the best method.”

“Okay. I’ll talk then.”

Jin looks proud as he sinks into one of the comfortable chairs in his small office. Taehyung sinks down opposite him.

“Tell me about the accident.”

Taehyung looks up. It’s a heavy place to start.

“I… I...” He feels his voice cracks as he searches for the words to start. He’s never put it into words before, and he’s not quite sure he knows how. He doesn’t even know if he can.. 

“Taehyung. Taehyung, breathe-”

Taehyung can’t. His throat feels like it’s closing on him. His heart feels like he can’t draw enough air. He feels sick. He knows that he’s sat in Jin’s office, but his head is somewhere else. Somewhere dark and hot, so hot – it burns, it burns so much. His arm hurts, and he can’t move it. The smell of acrid smoke invades his nostrils and he coughs, he tries to breathe but more smoke is pulled into his lungs. He can’t breathe, he’s suffocating-

“Taehyung listen to me. You’re going to breathe in and out. You’re going to come back from wherever you are and you’re going to calm down, okay? Look at me.”

Jin’s voice pulls him out of his memory. Taehyung looks up at Jin, their eyes meeting. Jin’s eyes glow slightly as he continues saying soft and calming words. “You’re okay. You’re here in Sanctuary. All of that is in the past. You’re going to continue breathing, one in, one out. Squeeze your fists, tense your feet. Concentrate on the chair beneath you. You’re okay.”

Taehyung finds himself doing exactly what Jin says. He concentrates on the feeling of his limbs, the chair beneath him. He takes long breaths in and out and then he’s back.

“What… what was that?” He asks Jin, voice weak as he finds words.

“That was my gift.” Jin smiles. “They call me the sweet talker. I have the power of persuasion.”

“I bet that was a nightmare before you learned to control it.”

Jin grimaces. “I discovered it when I told a guy I didn’t like to jump off a bridge...”

“Did he..?” Jin nods slowly. “Oh my… oh.”

“We all have our stories, Taehyung. You don’t need to be ashamed of your own.” Jin says softly. “But I won’t make you speak about it until you’re ready.”

“I’m sorry...”

“Don’t be.” Jin smiles, and it truly is the most genuine thing Taehyung has ever seen. Maybe Yoongi was onto something. “We’ll start somewhere else. Tell me about when you discovered your gift.”

 

-

 

Taehyung wakes up one morning with a headache.

That’s nothing new, he’s been studying like hell for finals and he was bound to get burnt out at something. What is new is the sounds surrounding him. There are words coming from everywhere. He hears someone talking about breakfast above him and someone talking about through the wall beside him.

He groans as he pulls himself out of bed and pulls on a t-shirt.

Yawning, he pulls open the door and walks to the kitchen where Bogum, his room-mate, is muttering about the exam he has today.

“I think my power just appeared.” He states.

Bogum spins around with a bright smile. “About freaking time, Tae! What is it?”

“Super good hearing, it seems.” Taehyung says.

“Typical… that means I have to have quieter .”

“Ew, Bogum.” Taehyung wrinkles his nose. “Trust you to start talking about at a time like this-”

“Tae...” Bogum says slowly. “I didn’t say that out loud.”

“What?”

“About quieter … I didn’t say that out loud.”

“...For real?”

“Watch my lips.”

Taehyung’s eyes go to his friends lips, and he watches in awe as Bogum’s lips don’t move… but Taehyung still hears the words;

“I think you’re a mind reader, Tae.”

“I don’t think so…” Taehyung mumbles. “Mind readers can only hear the thoughts of people they can see. I could hear the guy above us as well...”

Bogum’s mouth opens in a little ‘o’ of surprise.

“Holy man. You can hear people’s thoughts.”

“Taehyung gets to hear people’s thoughts and I can carbonate water with a touch. How is that fair?”

“I don’t make the rules.” Taehyung shrugs with a smirk.

“Turn it off dude, you’re making me uncomfortable.”

Taehyung tries, he really does, but no matter how much he tries to turn it off he can still hear Bogum’s thoughts.

“I can’t… I can’t stop it.” Taehyung blinks. “How do I turn it off?”

“You just do it.” Bogum blinks. “You just know how...”

“I can’t...”

 

-

 

“Did Bogum stop being friends with you?”

“No...” Taehyung replies. “But most people did. People don’t like thought readers at the best of times, but one whose constantly switched on? Nobody can have secrets around me… and to start with it was hard to isolate thoughts from words, so I was replying to people’s thoughts… that never goes down well.”

“I get that.”

Taehyung truly believes that Jin understands. He smiles.

“I had to drop out of classes. I finished my degree online but it wasn’t the same. I became a hermit. I couldn’t go out because all of the voices hurt my head. I’d go to the store and by the time I got home I couldn’t move for hours...” Taehyung shrugs. “I’m sort of used to it now, but back then it was so painful.”

Jin nods. “It must be a relief for you having Hoseok in class.”

Taehyung laughs. “Relief is an understatement.”

"Poor kid..."

Jin slams his notebook closed and lets out a sigh.

“You did well today Taehyung.” He says. “I’ll end this session here.”

Taehyung smiles. He’s exhausted from all this talking and thinking, but he can’t deny that despite his panic attack or whatever it was, he feels a bit better. It’s like a tiny bit of weight has been lifted. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

He pushes himself up from his chair with a groan and grabs his bag. He’s about to step out of the door when he turns back.

“Jin?”

“Hmmm.”

Taehyung isn’t sure what drives him to say it, it’s not his business and despite the curse he has he’s not really one to stick his nose in where it doesn’t belong but he can’t stop himself from opening his mouth.

“What’s Yoongi’s power?”

"What the..?"

Jin looks at him sharply. “It’s not my place to say, Taehyung. If you want to know, ask him.”

“Okay...”

“Taehyung?”

"Why did you bring him up?"

“It’s just… his thoughts are really sad. He’s not doing well.” Taehyung shrugs. “I thought as his counsellor you ought to know.”

“I’m not his counsellor.” Jin replies quietly. “I’m his best friend. We came to Sanctuary at the same time… he’s the reason I even stuck around when I learned to control my gift,”

“Why-”

“I’ve already told you more than it’s my business to.” Jin cuts in, his voice is gentle but there’s a finality to his words that makes Taehyung slam his mouth shut. “Thank you for your concern.”

Taehyung nods and steps out of the room, but not before hearing Jin's final thoughts.

"Why does he care?"

Taehyung can't answer that question, he doesn't know why he feels this sense of curiosity about Yoongi?

It must just be the fact that Taehyung hears Yoongi’s deepest darkest thoughts. Nobody should feel that way about themselves. Nobody should feel as lonely as Yoongi clearly does… as much as Taehyung feels as well.