Blue {DoTae} | complete

Twenty: Let me help you

Doyoung's in the middle of picking out an oversized t-shirt for the night from Taeyong's wardrobe when there's a sudden crash somewhere in the apartment. His fingers tense around the hanger, before dropping the item of clothing on the bed and holding his breath to listen for further noise. Silence.

One, two, three, four...

Still silence.

"What the...?" Doyoung mutters. He opens the bedroom door and steps out into the hallway, tapping the wall and running his tongue over his bottom lip then biting down as he tries to determine the direction the crash came from.

The living room, spare bedroom and kitchen are all empty, as expected given that Taeyong's in the bathroom taking a shower. But the bathroom is the only room left. And there's definitely no water running from the shower.

Doyoung pauses outside the door, hand stretched towards the handle but not quite touching it. When there's shuffling coming from the other side, he lifts his hand to knock on the white wood instead.

"Taeyong?" He calls out.

No response. A cupboard slams shut, the sound echoing off the tiles in the bathroom meaning Taeyong must be in there. Doyoung knocks again, throat tight. His mind begins catastrophising and he does his best to remind himself that he shouldn't assume the worst if he hasn't even had sight of the elder yet.

"Taeyong?" His voice is a bit louder now, but no more confident.

A voice whispers back to him, muffled, the syllables too blurred for Doyoung to be able to decipher what's being said.

"Can you speak a little louder?" Doyoung calls out. He traces his finger around the door handle as though that would summon some miraculous magic to make sure Taeyong's okay. Doyoung still gets the impression that he's very much not okay, and the silence is thick when it settles back into the air to suffocate them both.

"Go away!" Taeyong repeats. This time his voice is sharp and snappy, words biting at Doyoung and making his hand lurch back from the handle, blinking in shock at the sudden outburst.

Doyoung nearly obliges. But then there are alarm bells and his entire body is hit by a wave of chills. He reaches for the door handle again to attempt to pull it open, frantically knocking on the door despite the ache in his knuckles. His toes curl into the carpet but he feels like he's floating from the panic, too far from Taeyong to be able to help him when he needs it most.

"Are you okay? Is everything okay? What's going on?" Doyoung chokes out. His mind is unhelpfully supplying him with all kinds of awful scenarios, but he glares at the wood instead of shutting his eyes.

There's another slam of a cupboard, then a thump against the door as though Taeyong just collapsed against it and Doyoung's head is spinning, everything too loud even during the long silences between the shuffles coming from the bathroom.

"I'm fine." Taeyong says, a little slurred.

"No you're not." Doyoung replies back. His voice is strained, high-pitched even, and the words are disjointed as he croaks out a plead for the elder to open the door. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

His question is received by yet more silence. Doyoung waits patiently, always there for Taeyong, and he takes deep breaths to at least appear calm for the idol's sake.

"Leave me alone." Taeyong responds. Then, he bursts into tears. Doyoung tries the handle again, but it's still locked and his heart lurches into his throat, pumping fast and choking him up. "I'm... you... Doyoung, you're a f-fan. You... can't see me l-like this!" Taeyong wails. The door shakes when the idol kicks and punches at it in distress.