"There's a party tonight at Izzy's place. Interested?" His classmate, Jimin, asks him one day, as they walk through campus after class.
Taehyung thinks through his plans for tonight, which consist of eating cup ramen and binge watching Friends. A party seems ten times more interesting, so he nods his head in response to Jimin's invite. "Sure."
"Really?" Jimin's eyes widen, sounding shocked.
Taehyung gives his friend a slap on the back. "What's so weird, huh?"
"It's just - you're usually too lazy to attend these things."
"Usually."
"Well anyway, I'm glad you're coming. I was kind of worried I wouldn't know anyone there besides Izzy. And you know my sister, she usually likes to ignore me whenever possible."
"This is me." Taehyung says, stopping in front of his building. "See you tonight, then."
"Alright. See you."
The party at Izzy's is nothing less then amazing. It's completely Izzy-like to throw a party to such degree, with balloons and pounding music and trunks full of alcohol. Taehyung doesn't know how Jimin manages having a sister who holds parties every week.
He finds Jimin immediately, as he had been sitting on the front porch patiently waiting for Taehyung to arrive. Jimin stands at the sight of Taehyung walking up the steps, and they knock knuckles in greeting. He's late, unlike him, but he didn't think he was missing out on too much.
"Fuck. Looks like a war zone."
There's garbage everywhere, empty cups and bodies. Taehyung thinks he spots Izzy in the corner chatting up a senior, but he blinks, and he can't see her figure anymore. Jimin catches his eye, and as if they were thinking the same thing, shouts over the music, "Hey, you wanna -"
Taehyung nods. "Yeah."
They breath fresh air again as they make their way outside onto the patio. Though it's not empty, the smell of alcohol and smoke isn't as strong, and Taehyung can speak without having to shout at the top of his lungs.
"Jimin, this is exactly why I hate partying."
"It can be fun. Sometimes. When it isn't so fucking loud and packed."
They sit on some lawn chairs, sipping alcohol out of their red solo cups, watching the party go on before their eyes.
Then.
"No." Taehyung whispers under his breath, setting his cup on the table. He leans forward in an attempt to get a better view. It's a girl - doe eyes, freckles, birthmark. He stands then, head cocked to one side, and Jimin notices.
"What are you doing?"
"Freya." he breathes. Seeing her in person, just feet away, makes everything seem so much more real than what Jungkook had told him. She wasn't a figure of Taehyung's imagination, she was living and all too real.
"Who?" Jimin's eyes follow his own to the girl. She's smashed, keeping a hand on the rail to keep herself upright, and she's talking to another girl. Her friend, maybe. In seconds, she's finished another shot, and heads inside for another.
"You know her? I don't think she should keep drinking." Jimin remarks. "She's going to pass out."
Freya's friend - Taehyung's seen her before...was her name Irene? - takes Freya's hand as she tries to get more drinks. "Wait, Freya -" Taehyung hears her says, and all his doubts are confirmed. It is her. "Hold on -"
Freya tugs free, and she's almost inside, when one of her heels catches on the cement and sends her falling forward, and before Taehyung knows it, his arms catch her before she hits the ground.
She looks up at him. It's that same look in her eyes again, the one Taehyung dreads every lifetime, the look that means she's falling for him. In this case, quite literally.
"Thanks." she mumbles, cheeks burning red despite the alcohol. She settles herself; the fall seemed to have sobered her up a bit. "Uh -"
He has to leave. Now. "Maybe you should go home."
"Yeah -" she has to stop to collect her thoughts. "My friend has a car. She's over..."
Taehyung's eyes wander in the direction of the last place he'd seen Freya's friend, and she's nowhere to be seen. He sighs. "She's gone."
Freya's eyes are drooping, like she could fall asleep standing. "Just - just."
Taehyung glances at Jimin, then Freya, then back at Jimin again. Jimin has this expression on his face, like you're not seriously going to leave her here right? and Taehyung knows Jimin's right. With a heavy sigh, he drapes Freya's arm around his shoulder and leads her out through the back gate. Jimin helps him open the gate, but doesn't follow as he actually lives there.
"Thanks, man." Taehyung tells him as Freya stifles a hurl. "I'll call you tomorrow."
"No problem."
Taehyung doesn't wait until Jimin leaves to help Freya into his car. She watches him in a dazed state as he leans over her, fastens her seatbelt and closes the door, before opening the door to the driver's seat. He can't help but wonder what happened to make her drink so irrationally, because the Freya he knows isn't like this.
"Where do you live?" he asks, trying his best to get her attention. "I'll take you home."
She leans into him suddenly, eyes shut and head drooping. Taehyung's heart skips a beat.
"Freya."
"Mm."
"Do you want to tell me where you live so I can take you home?" he tries again.
"Mm."
He ends up driving back his place. He lets out a sigh of relief when he finds the apartment empty, which means Jungkook's out late with friends or still practicing at Movement Lifestyle.
Taehyung grunts as he lays Freya on the couch, then goes to the kitchen to get some water for her. Freya's mumbling something incomprehensible when he returns, and Taehyung sits gingerly beside her.
"What made you like this, Frey?" he mutters to himself amidst the silence, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face. She is so fragile. He watches her as she slowly falls asleep, unable to tear himself off the couch. If he's lucky, she won't remember him in the morning.
At two am in the morning, Taehyung whispers three words to Freya, the same words he's said to her in Daegu and in New York and in Milan, then lets Jungkook find her when he comes home at the crack of dawn.
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what do you do when you have a major bio test on monday and you're so stressed you might cry?
you write fic :O
