The rest of the evening was spent lounging around the dorm. Seokjin was in the kitchen preparing lunches for the following day, Yoongi and Namjoon were hanging late at the studio to do some more work, Jungkook was drawing with Jimin buzzing around him like the lovestruck little bugger he was. That left Hoseok and Taehyung, sitting together on the couch watching the latest episode of some drama that they dropped in on. 

    However, Taehyung found it hard to concentrate on the characters on screen as he felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness. From earlier that day he had been bothered by this constant ringing noise that no one else seemed to hear, followed by the echo of someone else footsteps following behind his own. This was common, seeing as he lived with 6 other people in a constant close proximity, but he noticed it even when he thought he was alone. 

    Taehyung, have you forgotten? 

    The hairs on the back of his neck as Taehyung felt a cold sweat sweep over his body. He hoped Hoseok hadn’t noticed how rigid he had gotten as his eyes shifted around, looking for the source of that familiar voice. 

    You can’t run from me.

    The same words rang through his head, and suddenly the noises around him faded into buzzing. Annoyingly loud buzzing that seemed to get louder as he tried to organize his thoughts. Who? Run from who?

    “Who are you?” he asked silently, his voice bouncing against the walls of his mind as he attempted to communicate with the voice.

    Don’t you remember? We used to play all the time.

    Taehyung was dumbstruck. The only people he played with when he was younger were his school mates, and he was sure that they wouldn’t have any reason to haunt him like this if they happened to have died and become a ghost. 

    “I don’t remember. Please leave me alone.” he asked, adamantly, squeezing his eyes shut to further drown out the buzzing in the background as he began to lose focus on the conversation going on in his head. When he opened them again, he was alone. 

    I can never leave you. I want to play, Taehyung. Play, play, play…

    The dorm was almost pitch black, as the boy strained his eyes to try and make out silhouette in front of him. In the darkness, he saw Hoseok. But it wasn’t the same Hoseok he knew. This Hoseok’s eyes were completely black, his normal cheery smile stitched at the very edges of his lips into something one could only describe as nightmarish. 

    “Play with me!” the figure said, his mouth unmoving as the voice echoed around the empty dorm. Taehyung brought a hand to his mouth, his eyes wide in horror as he looked upon his long term friend. The imitation reached out for him, offering his grey decrepit hand to the younger. Taehyung pushed himself as far back as he could, pressing his back into the sofa as his lips trembled, a scream getting ready to explode from his lips. 

    I want to play, Taehyung. Play with me. Play with me!

    And the being grabbed him, ripping it’s stitches as it opened his mouth wide, it’s teeth rotten and jagged as it reared its face towards him.

    Taehyung shot up in his seat, his mouth open wide as he shrieked, gaining the attention of the 6 other boys going about their daily lives. 

    “Are you okay, Tae?” Seokjin was the first to ask, rushing over to the panicked boy, of which was still panting as he tried to regain his breath. He whipped his head around, taking in his surroundings as he began to realize that he was having a nightmare; that none of the things he just saw were actually real. Sighing in relief, Taehyung let out a nervous chuckle, wondering how he could possibly manage to smooth this over and make it seem like it never happened.

    “Ah, I was practicing! I call it “waking up”, its a new acting technique I saw a sunbaenim do during an interview.” he lied, seemingly through his teeth. The members looked at him, their eyebrows raised as they individually shrugged, thinking it wasn’t too unusual for Taehyung to randomly practice his acting. Hoseok wasn’t convinced.

    “Tae, is there something bothering you?” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper as he draped his arm over the younger’s shoulders. Taehyung flinched, the image of that other world’s Hoseok flashing before his eyes, before he sighed.

    “Hyung, do you ever have nightmares that seem… too real?” he asked, gaining the courage to maybe talk to his best friend about this.

    “I think all dreams are like that, silly. But you know it’s not real though, right?” 

    Taehyung thought for a moment, pursing his lower lip as he recalled feeling physically threatened by these visions. Did he know that it wasn’t real? Or was the boundary between imagination and reality beginning to blur, causing him to fall out of touch with that was true and what wasn’t. He shook his head, forgetting that Hoseok was still trying to speak to him as he put his head in his hands, pressing the pads of his fingers into his temples as he tried to drown out the noise around them. He didn’t understand why this was happening, he didn’t understand if it had to. Was this natural? Did everyone experience this at some point?

    “Thanks hyung.” he said briefly, before getting up and retreating to his room, sliding underneath the covers and pulling them well above his head, as he breathed in deeply, the air seeming so dense he could barely pull in a breath. He heard the door open, light footsteps approaching his bed as he felt an overwhelming sense of fear envelope him. He saw the shadow appear over his sheets, his trembling fingers managing to hold them up before Hoseok pulled them off. 

    “Tae,” he spoke quietly, so much that Taehyung almost couldn’t even hear him, “You know you can tell me anything, right?” he asked, his voice full of worry as he sat beside the younger on the bed. Taehyung shook, crawling into Hoseok’s arms, the tears beginning to fall from his eyes as he confessed the visions, the voices, everything that has been haunting him since he was a little boy. The elder just sat there, his hand rubbing small circles into Taehyung’s back as he listened to the horrors he’s had to deal with for years, finally understanding just why he was so odd. When he was done, and all that could be heard was the sniffling of the tormented boy, Hoseok pulled away, brushing the hair out of Taehyung’s face and looking deeply into his eyes. 

    “Nothing will ever hurt you, okay? I’ll be here. Always. Do you understand?” He said, his hands firmly on the younger’s shoulders. Taehyung nodded, his face twisting into a frown again as he broke out into another current of tears, “Sh.. It’s okay… I love you, Taehyung. I will always love you. And I’ll protect you however I can. So you don’t need to worry anymore, okay? You won’t be alone anymore, Tae. So please, don’t cry.” he coaxed, his voice warm and gentle against Taehyung’s ears. He closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of Hoseok’s warm body, willing the voices away and for once…

It worked. 

End.

I'd like to say, I'm really really really really sorry for not updating this in the longest time. I got caught up in my other fic, and this story plot just wasn't bringing in any ideas for me anymore, so I just... decided to end it. I might pick it back up some day, but for now I'll be working on my other Block B fic as well as a Psychopath!Tae fic; which i PROMISE I won't just abandon (since I already wrote the outline for the first 14 chapters of it in one day... OTL)

Again, I apologize if I disappointed anyone with this ending, I hope you aren't too upset with me ;-;

-Celeste