Midas Touch ➸ Taekook

- Fifth -

After that, Taehyung had to wait several hours before someone came knocking on his bedroom door. The person waited for him to give permission to enter, which meant it was neither Logan nor Hoseok. One didn't know the definition of private space, while the other just didn't give a damn about the rules, or about other people in general. Taehyung had always wondered how Logan had ended up at the Institute, when he was the worst kind of loner.

"Come in..."

The door opened softly, and the sound of electric rolling immediately told him who it was. In the whole Institute, there was only one person in a motorised wheelchair. Taehyung took a deep breath, closing his eyes for strength. He had a feeling this wasn't going to be a simple discussion. With him, discussions were never easy. It was like having coffee with a psy. Exactly the same feeling.

"Why are you here, Professor Xavier?"

The wheelchair stopped beside his bed, on which the teenager had been lying, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. When he didn't hear anyone answer, he finally decided to turn his head towards the man. Professor Xavier was there, looking at him with a gaze that was both calm and benevolent. You could see the weight of the years on his face, a man in his sixties at least. He was completely bald; Jin had once told him that it was a consequence of his psychic powers. They were so powerful that he had lost all his hair. However, he had never used them to do evil, on the contrary. Another reason why Taehyung had so much respect for him.

"Why are you here, Professor?" he asked again, this time in a whisper.

"I heard that the training didn't go exactly well."

Taehyung sighed and looked away.

"I passed the exercise. I think that means it went well."

"I know about Kitty, Piotr told me everything."

Taehyung refrained from rolling his eyes. Piotr, one of the students and X-Men, appeared to be a big tough guy, almost two metres tall with the biggest muscles Taehyung had ever seen, but he was a good boy. Literally. You'd throw the ball to him and he'd bring it back to your feet. So naturally, whenever there was a dispute, he'd tell the Professor so that he could sort it out.

"It was nothing, Professor. Really. So don't worry about it."

"I know, but you tend to run away from problems rather than solve them, Taehyung. All you have to do is talk to her and the situation will be resolved. Because you haven't done anything wrong."

"She doesn't need to know about my life. She has her own. She can think what she likes, and provoke me as much as she likes, she won't find out any more."

The Professor sighed in turn.

"I thought you'd say that. That's why I went ahead and said a few words to her. Don't worry, I didn't tell her anything about your past; that only concerns you."

"Basically, you assured her that I hadn't killed anyone."

Xavier didn't reply, so Taehyung concluded that he'd been right. Maybe with that, Kitty would leave him alone. He knew she wasn't mean, and that she was just worried, both for herself and for the rest of the X-Men, but she had too much of a tendency to meddle in things that were none of her business. Taehyung was the type to let things slide, but not everyone had his patience. For example, he doubted that if she behaved in the same way with Yoongi, the young man would spare her.

"Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well, not quite..."

Taehyung frowned at the Professor's concerned tone. He turned to him, seeing that the man had looked away.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I got a call from the hospital where Cody Robbins is..."

Just the name made Taehyung shiver. Memories of that horrible evening flashed through his mind, and he fought back tears. He still had nightmares about it almost every night, even two years later. It was a trauma that would never leave him.

"A-And?"

"Um... The boy still hasn't woken up, and... his condition hasn't really improved..."

The tears were really hard to hold back. It was also the reason why Taehyung couldn't let himself die. He had no right to decide to die when, because of him, Cody no longer had the right to live. The boy had simply kissed his high school crush, like any other teenager his age, and ended up in a coma. It wasn't fair. That was why Taehyung had to live for with the guilt.

"I see... And... And her?"

A sad, caring smile played on the Professor's lips.

"She's doing well. She's returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D., and there's no after-effects."

"Her powers?"

"Intact. Perhaps a little less powerful, but she can still use them."

Taehyung nodded slowly. It was good news. At least one of his mistakes had been righted. He would always feel guilty about it, but knowing that she was back to her normal life was a relief.

After that, neither of them spoke for many minutes. Xavier knew how hard it was for Taehyung, the boy was only eighteen, and yet he had been through suffering that a normal human wouldn't go through in a lifetime. That's why he felt he had to calm things down with Kitty. He couldn't tell her everything, but he had made her understand that Taehyung's past was much darker than she could have imagined. The young girl had felt guilty after their discussion. Children could be cruel to each other.

"Are you going to be all right, Taehyung?"

The boy nodded.

"Hm, don't worry. Thanks for letting me know. You know I'd never have dared to find out myself."

But I need to know. He had never visited Cody after that, but the professor had done it for him. Since then he'd checked on him regularly, because he knew that Taehyung still thought a lot about Cody. He blamed himself terribly for ruining his life, and he'd never be able to move on completely until the boy was well again.

"I'd like some time alone now, please. I need to... think."

"Of course. But please, don't forget to come down and eat. I don't want you to starve yourself."

Taehyung agreed, even though he knew he wouldn't do it. If he had his way, he'd lock himself in his room for at least a week, but he knew that Namjoon wouldn't let him skip school. So he would stay there at least until tomorrow morning.

He heard the wheelchair move away from his bed, then the bedroom door open and close again. The room fell silent again, and Taehyung gently closed his eyes, finally letting his tears escape.