BTS ONESHOTS

TAEJIN Paradise

Jin had a gift. A weird one. An unbelievable one. A dangerous one. Jin could go into his writing. I don't mean he got really into it, he went literally into his writing.

If he was writing about faeries, his eyes would roll to the back of his head and he was transported to to a land where pixies and fey creatures dwelled. If he was writing a mystery, he would be teleported smack in the middle of a crime scene.

At first, he assumed he went into a semi-conscious state -because the story he would be writing at the time would be finished by the time he woke up-, until one day he wrote about dragons and woke up being rushed to the hospital to get treated for third-degree burns.

That didn't stop him. Not at all. He even got some books published, turning him into a best-selling author. Critics praised the realism he incorporated into his books, and behind close-lipped smiles he mocked the irony.

Jin's success came to a grinding halt when he wrote his version of paradise, his personalized Utopia, because he never woke up.

Trapped in his ideal world, where he never aged, sickened or hungered, where he fooled himself into believing he was truly living, Jin was dying slowly.

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The first time he saw him it was dusk and Jin was walking through a forest, where the trees were as green as ever and the flowers at full bloom.

Jin saw a glimmer at first, almost like a mirage, except there was no heat. He got closer and he could just make out the faint outline of a creature with a humanoid figure, moving as if it was breaking out of an invisible shell. The more the sun set, the more visible it was and the more curious Jin got, moving as close as he braved.

The 'it' appeared to be a 'he', with a slender body and sandy brown hair that fell into his eyes. He was barefoot and he seemed to be wearing what Jin could only describe as 'rags', ugly grayish garments that were frayed at the hems and ripped at the knees and elbows.

At last, the figure was fully... formed? Jin wasn't sure if that was the correct term to describe what he'd just witnessed, but that was the best he could come up with at the moment.

"Who are you?" Jin asked him with certain contempt in his voice. The boy was staring at the sky with fascination, as if it was his first time seeing it. It was dark now, and the stars were coming out.

Breaking out of his trance, the boy turned to look at Jin and the sudden innocence he found in the boy's dark eyes threw Jin aback.

"My name is..." the boy looked confused for an instant, as if he couldn't quite remember, but then a smile lit up his face. "Kim Taehyung! Yes, Kim Taehyung." Taehyung looked nostalgic, kind of like he had found an object he had treasured as a child.

Jin was still confused. "I didn't write you"
"No you didn't" Taehyung muttered, once again distracted by the sky shining with millions upon millions of stars.

"Well...um-" Jin felt out of place, even in his own paradise, the stranger who came out of nowhere just standing there.

"Come with me" Taehyung said abruptly, not waiting for an answer, and took Jin's hands in his. Jin hissed at the sudden cold of his hands. They felt like someone had carefully sculpted them out of ice. The cold was almost burning.

"Where are we going?" Jin asked hesitantly. They were nearing the edge of the forest now. Taehyung was shoving brambles and branches out of their way as the trees got thicker and closer together.

Jin knew that the Grove of the Pink Daisies awaited right past the forest. He had created this place after all, but when Taehyung pushed past the last few briars, he was met not with the sight of the copse, but with a river cutting across a staggering expanse of land.