"Life is too ironic to fully understand.
It takes sadness to know what happiness is.
Noise to appreciate silence.
And absence to value presence."
In which a Kleptomaniac, Sadist, and Nerdy College Student find each other in the dead of night.
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"People are poison"
Taehyung's limbs were frozen by the time he believed - hoped and prayed - that the two mysterious men in his house were gone. From what he counted, Taehyung had been stationed on the ladder for fifty three minutes and thirty six seconds.
By then, cold had seeped through the little layers of clothing he had on and turned his bones to ice. From the waist down, blood had stopped circulating, leaving a very numb feeling behind. Taehyung, however, didn't hate the numb feeling because it provided a much needed distraction from the black crow sitting in a tree across the street that wouldn't stop letting out loud caws into the atmosphere. The caws were continuous from the time Taehyung stepped out the window and into the night. To make matters worse, the sharp, piercing eyes that the crow possessed were locked on Taehyung the whole time.
So, instead of running, because Taehyung had nowhere to go, he just pressed his body up against the ladder wanting to dissolve into it and disappear. Pushing his body into the ladder did nothing good for his overall body temperature, though, because the cold spread even faster, sinking into his skin and stopping his blood stream.
After reaching the one hour mark, Taehyung carefully untangled his frozen limbs from the ladder and heaved his body back over to the window. Like before, Taehyung used one arm to open the window and his other arm to stabilize his body. Slowly pushing the window up, Taehyung straddled the window before messily collapsing onto the table below it.
Laying on the table for a few seconds, Taehyung contemplated his life decisions. Why didn't he just ask Namjoon to pick him up? None of this would be happening if he did. He could be safe in his own bed, not standing outside and worrying about whether or not a creepy duo would be lurking around the corner waiting for the right moment to strike.
Deciding not to dwell on it until tomorrow, Taehyung gently pushed his cold body up and closed the window before locking it shut. Taehyung was so cold that he didn't even feel the warm heat that usually surrounded his house. Instead, he felt pleasantly numb all around and tried not to think about the possibility that his body sustained hypothermia from his expenditures outside.
Hopping off the table and silently landing on the ground, Taehyung looked over at the bed that seemed to be calling his name. Namjoon was still fast asleep, pros of being a heavy sleeper Taehyung guessed.
The sheer curtains swayed as moonlight streamed into the room casting Taehyung in a dim glow as he trudged over to the bed. Peeling the covers back Taehyung slowly laid down, engulfing himself in the warm sheets. Taehyung's body had started to heat up and now his whole body tingled as the blood started to circulate once again.
Sighing Taehyung buried himself in the covers until only his eyes and hair could be seen. Closing his eyes, taehyung felt like sleep couldn't come fast enough as he quickly gave in to the dark abyss that was tugging him down.
--
Taehyung woke up to someone softly shaking him the next morning. Groaning loudly, Taehyung tried to push the hands away only for the shakes to get more persistent.
Yawning, Taehyung squinted as he opened his eyes to look at the person who was shaking him. The sun streamed from the curtains and directly into his eyes as he opened them. This factor caused him to almost immediately regret waking up in the first place.
Sometimes he wondered why he couldn't just stay asleep for eternity. Yet that wasn't feasible unless he died and although Taehyung said he would welcome death on a daily basis, the words held no meaning behind them.
Glaring at the person before him, Taehyung took in their facial features and quickly recognized the person as Namjoon. Groaning once again, taehyung pushed his brother's hands away, who kept them to himself once he did.
Huffing slightly, Namjoon spoke up, "I was expecting at least a good morning and not groans, but this is fine too."
Shaking his head against the pillow slightly, Taehyung turned around in the bed away from his brother. "It's never a 'good morning' when you actually wake up," he responded, his voice coated with exhaustion.
"Well, can I at least get a 'thank you' because I just called your college pretending you were sick so you could have a day off today," Namjoon tutted as he crossed his arms. "I also made you breakfast that is getting cold as we speak."
"Thank you, dearest brother, what would I do without you," Taehyung stated sarcastically while fumbling with the covers that encased him. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he rubbed his eyes as his brother glared at him.
"Whatever. The food is on the table. I have to go to work so try to take it easy, okay?" Namjoon said in a softer voice as he padded over to the door and grasped the handle. Taehyung nodded his head absentmindedly at his brother as he tried to push away the tiredness that begged him to go back to sleep.
"I will. Have a good day," he said mid yawn. With that Namjoon walked out the room and left the door open as he did so.
Taehyung looked over at the night stand to see the mugs they used last night still there. Slowly getting out of bed, Taehyung's feet touched the carpeted floor as walked to the door of the room. Before he left, Taehyung looked over to the window and shivered slightly as he remembered the events that took place last night.
Quickly walking out, he briskly walked down the hall and to his bedroom. Entering the bedroom, Taehyung closed the door behind himself before collapsing against it. Taehyung leaned his head back on the cold wood as he recounted what happened last night. His golden curls messily splayed across his forehead as he did so.
After staying quiet for a little, Taehyung heaved his body off the door and steadied himself. Then, he lazily walked over to his bed. However, before he could get there, he accidentally kicked over his backpack that he left on the floor the night before.
The contents of his backpack messily spilled out onto the carpet and as Taehyung leaned down to clean it up, he noticed something peculiar.
Along with his usual school supplies layed a crisply folded note with writing on the top.
Gulping silently, Taehyung reached to pick up the note. Once he did, his skin paled as he read the handwriting that clearly wasn't his.
