Jeongguk 

Yoongi lied only a few feet away from us. He died last night. Peaceful in his sleep. Hoseok told them that his condition was rapidly getting out of control, they couldn’t do anything.

“We now say out last goodbyes to the beloved Min Yoongi, son, brother, friend.” The priest tried his best to keep it short, the rain that fell over us made it hard for people to stand in place. Yoongi’s family stood closest to the casket, his mother wept, her face buried into his father’s chest.

Taehyung’s fingers twined into Jeongguk’s. he and Yoongi got incredibly close in the short time they knew each other. The first time he even heard of the man, Yoongi yelled at him.

“Stop whining you, little ungrateful brat.” Yoongi yelled into the phone, met with small whimpers from the other side.

Jeongguk tried to take the phone away from Yoongi, but failed.

“What are you going to do?” he asked into the phone sounding so threatening both Jeongguk and Namjoon felt uncomfortable. “Cry that someone you jerked off to had died? Are you really going to do that, Kim Taehyung?! What kind of an idiot are you to not be able to realize that your idol chose to die?” his words were like venom, slow one that crept under your skin and tingled. “You’re alive, cherish it fool.”

When they met in person Taehyung couldn’t help but shiver. He sounded so intimidating, so scary that the younger boy felt shocked to see a small, pale boy lying on the bed, introducing himself as “Min Yoongi, I’m sorry I yelled at you.” And he even smiled.

The tension between was obvious. Taehyung liked the elder, and the elder liked him back. It was beautiful. The lingering fingers and stolen glances and Taehyung offering himself to help Yoongi to the bathroom, and his smile when they’d walk into the room every afternoon at five. It was beautiful, as long as it lasted.

“I’m going to miss him,” Taehyung murmurs, his fingers gripping tighter at Jeongguk’s. “He was nice.” Jeongguk expected him to mourn Yoongi’s death just as loudly as he did Seokjin’s. But what happened no one could explain. Taehyung was calm. He didn’t cry when Jeongguk told him, only asked to be alone for a few hours and disappear from the town.

“I’ll be dead soon, Taehyung,” Yoongi whispered against the other’s chest. Taehyung snucked out of his house in the middle of the night to come and meet Yoongi at the hospital. The other sounded so distressed over the phone. “I want you to be strong.” The teen’s breath hitched in his throat, his grip around Yoongi tightening. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to mourn me for years, not even days.”

It was weird. The two of them, they weren’t even friends, less boyfriends.

“Promise me you won’t be that idiot that I yelled at?” Yoongi looked up, his fingers moving up to Taehyung’s neck.

The teen’s eyes sparkled, tears filled them.

Taehyung shook his head and pulled Yoongi up into a chaste kiss. The elder’s lips were so cold, and chapped, but Taehyung didn’t mind. He didn’t mind it because their lips fit perfectly and he wanted to stay like that forever.

Jeongguk nods curtly. “Yeah, he was.”

Hoseok was at work, Namjoon stood by the tree, his fingers wrapped around the umbrella handle so tightly his knuckles had turned white. He was crying. The interaction between him and Yoongi was always, weird. He would scold him an awful lot and would tell him he’s an idiot at least six times a day. Hoseok said they knew each other from before, but Jeongguk never got around asking.

-

The coffee shop they stopped by once Hoseok joined them was warm and cosy. Jeongguk could swear he even saw a grey fluffy cat rummaging around.

Hoseok had his fingers wrapped around Namjoon’s; he held the other one close to his chest.

“You alright?” he asked once the silence between them got unbearable.

Taehyung was lost in his mind, eyes focused on something outside the window.

“Yeah,” Jeongguk spoke, softly as if he was trying not to scare someone, himself probably. He doesn’t know why that matters, but the words simply glide down his lips. “This is the first funeral I’ve ever been to.”

Hoseok gives him a small smile. He opens his mouth intending to speak, but nothing comes out. He presses his lips into a tight think line and looks away.

Silence falls back between them. Jeongguk can feel just how weird it is.

“I need to meet my mom,” he says, finishing his drink. “She said she’ll pick me up after the funeral.”

Taehyung jumps to his feet, his eyes wide. “You’re leaving me?” he asks rather loudly. “You can’t leave me here. I—” he doesn’t know how to justify his small outburst, but instead of trying he rushes out to the street, into the pouring rain. His hands are wrapped around his head and he runs in the direction to, Jeongguk supposes, his house is. What he knows is that it’s opposite to both the cemetery and the hospital.

The three that were left behind quickly rush behind him, after paying up for their drinks. Hoseok says it’s probably a way to avoid paying up for his drink, but Jeongguk has been out with Taehyung before and the other teen paid for both of their drinks more than not.

“Let’s just find him,” Jeongguk mutters, swear under his tongue. “He can’t be far.”

Hoseok took Namjoon’s hand and guided him through the streets. It seemed like the whole thing was amusing to him.

“You’re wasting time,” he says, a small smile evident in the corner of his smile. Jeongguk is sure his eyes have already curled up into crescents beneath the sunglasses. “He’s gone to say goodbye to Yoongi. Let him be.”

Hoseok raises a brow. “You sure?”

Namjoon nods and tightens the grip on Hoseok’s palm. “Let’s just go home. Taehyung will be fine.”

The two are reluctant to leave Jeongguk alone, but the teen manages to persuade them to leave. He wonders where Taehyung might be, it’s cold and he probably got wet. He just hopes the other one doesn’t do anything stupid because he lost people already.

He lost Jimin, the incredibly sweet boy whom he thought could beat his heart, and who had the smile that could light up the whole room; especially Hoseok’s heart. He wondered how long has it actually been going on since Namjoon once mentioned him when they talked.

Seokjin wasn’t the one he wants to remember. He could still see his hands bandaged and his pained smile.

Just as abruptly as he disappeared, Taehyung ran up to Jeongguk. His breathing was heavy and his eyes were puffy. There was so much Jeongguk wanted to tell him, he wanted to ask him why he ran, but the other one cut his words.

“Let’s go home, Jeongguk-ah.” Taehyung said, a warm smile on his lips, and intertwined their fingers. "Home," he repeated.

All Jeongguk could do was bite back the grin.

seventh chapter done. 

i over edited this, i know it's bad.

the story is complete but i want to thank you all properly, so i'll write a short epilogue and a proper thank you. 

gif cr: x