Give it to Me

36. Stigma

✯TAEHYUNG✯

He watched him sleeping like a babe on his couch; he hadn’t moved since Taehyung dropped him on there a few hours earlier. He never thought Jung Hoseok would show up at his apartment unannounced, and he would have never imagined the man coming to him to seek help. They weren’t exactly on the best of terms. Eyeing each other during the Tournament and politely bowing heads to salute from a distance wasn’t something Taehyung considered a sign of friendship. So why would he be there? What was he running away from?

He couldn’t help but to be cautious. Ever since he’d put the finger on Hoseok’s potential culpability on the Seoul attack and his use of occlumency during the Triwizard Tournament, Taehyung felt uneasy and suspicious about Hoseok. Everything he had uncovered lead back to him – though his motive remained unclear and evaded Taehyung’s grasp entirely.
The sudden twitching of Hoseok’s limbs surprised him – he was awake. Snapping up from the couch like a broken string, he immediately looked around in utter panic,
    “Where—”

    “At my apartment,” Taehyung calmly answered, arms folded on his chest and wand in sight between his fingers,
    “Don’t you remember coming here?”

Hoseok turned round, facing him,
    “I—I do now,” he paused as his palms cupped his face and brushed his hair back,
    “I wasn’t sure you’d still be living here, I had to try…”

    “How did you know where I lived?” Taehyung chuckled in surprise as he hoisted himself from the seat, heading towards the minuscule kitchen and bringing back hot tea. Spiked with Truth Serum, of course.
    “Here, you don’t look well,” he passed the special tea to his guest, who accepted it willingly.

    “I used to keep an eye on you,” Hoseok explained, sipping and cupping his hands around the warmth of the mug,
    “After our mentor died and we parted ways… I wanted to make sure you were okay. I kept tabs on you for a while, then progressively… I simply forgot about it.”

    “Why would you check on me? It’s not like we were friends, Hoseok.”

Hoseok lowered his eyes to the ground. Taehyung wasn’t trying to be rude; he was just being sincere. He carefully eyed the clock. The potion would take effect in a few seconds. Anything the man would say would be sincere.

    “You’re right, we’re not friends, and we won’t ever be,” Hoseok finally exhaled,
    “I guess you’re the only person who knows what I’ve been through, thanks to—” he paused,
    “Thanks to Seok-jun. I knew how hard recovering from him was. I wanted to make sure you were, indeed, recovering.”

Hoseok’s words meant something to Taehyung. He, too, felt as if Hoseok was the only person who could truly understand him. What Seok-jun had inflicted on their bodies and souls was a stain too deep, too rooted within – it wasn’t something that could be easily washed off. Taehyung remembered the oppressing silence forced onto him by the mentor. How he had wanted to speak against him, countless times, denounce every single thing he had done to them – but silence was all there was; any time he tried, no words, not a breath escaped his lips. Though Hoseok’s words moved him, he still harbored suspicions – he knew they couldn’t be false, due to the potion. Still, he remained stoic; Hoseok was his primary suspect, and he would treat him as such.

    “Why did you come here?” he asked,
    “How can I help you?”

    “Do you remember what Seok-jun did to me?” Hoseok’s voice trembled softly.

He remembered bits and pieces. Taehyung mostly remembered his own wounds.
    “I don’t,” he lied. He wanted to know what Hoseok was getting at.