iris

[40] remember

Taehyung thought he was used to pain. He thought after everything he'd been through that the feeling of someone twisting a knife in his gut would be like a simple paper cut. But as he struggled to even open his eyes with out feeling every inch of his body flare up in large amounts of piercing pain, he concluded that maybe not quite yet was he used to it.

Though he was easily distracted from the anguish he felt, because as he was wriggling his fingers it finally clicked something.

He was alive.

Not only was he alive, he was safe. He could see sun through his clamped shut eyelids, could feel warmth wrapped around him and comfort was just below him. He could make out that he was on a bed in a house. But whose?

With as much effort as he could muster, Taehyung finally managed to get his eyes to flutter open. He kept them squinted to block out the blinding light that gave him a splitting headache. Though he could still see quite clearly around the room. It just looked like an ordinary room with a bedside table next to the bed, a desk in the far corner - which he noticed was really far away and was stacked with an overload of paperwork and books - lastly a cupboard with a mirror to it's left. He noticed how everything was antique and was far more elegant than his own room had been.

He opened his mouth to speak, but it hurt as breath passed down his throat into his lungs. So he didn't speak, instead propping his head up in the pillows as he felt a stabbing feeling in his abdomen and what seemed to be his ribcage. He lifted his shirt that looked annoyingly familiar, but he couldn't place who he had seen wearing the yellow and white polka dotted sweater that he seemed to fit perfectly in. Under the shirt he found bandages that wrapped around his torso. Out of curiosity he poked them, hissing in pain when that only worsened his state.

"Fucking..." he bit his lip, wanting to punch himself for how stupid that was. Of course it was going to hurt if he poked the injury. Instead he tried to unwrap the bandage, taking a few moments to wiggle it under him before peeling back the final layer. His eyes widened at the sight of two large stitches that crossed his torso, one down his chest and the other across his abdomen. Feeling sick at the sight, he laid back against the mattress that was extremely comfortable. Anything was better than the dirt he had thought he'd die on.

That brought up the question, how had he ended up in a fancy house with fresh clothes and a bed to sleep in? When he should've been dead under his own house.

It was soon answered.

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As Taehyung gazed around the room, he noticed some things were familiar. Though his thoughts were too fuzzy to give a definite answer to his questions. He could still find familiarity in the house design and the objects laid around the room. He just wished he could place a name.

"I'm just checking on him now, call me for dinner," Taehyung opened his eyes when he heard the distant voice, looking towards the door to see a shadow outside the closed room. He suspected people had been in the house, but hadn't seen anyone  until now. The voice was familiar once again. He shut his eyes quickly when the door handle turned and the wooden object slowly creaked open. The soft padding of footsteps were the only thing he heard, that was if he tried to ignore his deafening heartbeat in his ears. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a soft hand rested on his arm, but he stayed still on the outside. Inside, his whole body was quaking. The pinched pull of something against his forearm drew him over the edge. His eyes shot open and he stared with wide eyes at the person standing above him, injecting a syringe into an IV that was attached to his forearm. He jolted away, losing any sense of rational as he yelled,

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He scrambled backwards, nearly falling off of the bed as he was pulled back to safety by the one who'd been touching him. His chest erupted in overwhelming amounts of pain as he gasped slowly for breath. He sat waiting for his eyes to clear so that he could see something that wasn't diluted by his tears of pure pain.

"I'm saving your life you idiot. Now I have to get another syringe..." the stranger huffed, walking over to a bag that was sitting by the door and shuffling around as he searched for something. Taehyung rubbed his arm, looking down at the redness of the IV he'd caused by moving whilst the syringe had been attached. He shuddered at the discomforting image. "Look, stay still will you. I didn't expect you to be awake." The stranger spoke as he returned, holding his hand out to ask for the other's arm. Taehyung didn't give it straight away, eyeing the black haired male in front of him.

His face was so familiar to Taehyung, but he once again couldn't remember why. He gave his arm after a minute of inspecting the other with no hope of recognition. His face screwed up uncomfortably as the IV needle moved under his skin for the second time the person began administering some yellow liquid through a syringe. It felt odd as a cooling sensation seemed to flood his veins, eyes fluttering shut as his thoughts went all fuzzy.

"Thank you, now lie back down you're still healing. We're slowly reducing your dose because you'll need to start walking around soon." Taehyung didn't bother to argue, he did agree that sitting up was still too painful, but whatever they had given him settled the pain as a strange haze washed over the rest of his senses. So he rested his head back on the soft pillows, looking up with pure confusion as he opened his mouth for a few seconds before actually voicing coherent words.

"Your face, I know you," he mumbled, the boy nodded, frowning slightly.

"You don't remember me? This is the first time you've actually spoken to me since you came home. You've been high as a kite." Taehyung panicked as he thought he'd lost his memory. What if this person was his best friend and he'd forgotten about them. But no, Jungkook and Jimin were his best friends, not this man who, now that he inspected the others features more, he noticed had a rather definite resemblance with the fifteen year old.

"Oh, Jungkook, you're his ... brother?" He asked softly, earning a nod and what seemed like an utterly relieved smile.

"Thank fuck you still remember him. I would've lost it if you forgot Jungkook. He's been going on and on about you for weeks now." Taehyung furrowed his brow as he looked around the room, everything coming together. He was in the boy of current conversations room, in his bed. and... in his clothes. His cheeks turned a light pink as he softly whispered,

"Where is he?" Hoseok, who Taehyung now remembered sighed deeply as he filled a cup of water and handed it to him.

"He's in Busan at the moment, but he'll be back tomorrow actually. Hopefully in a better mood than when he left..."

"Why? What happened?" Once again, another sigh. This time, Hoseok stood up, placing the empty syringe in a plastic bag before throwing it in the rubbish bin beside Jungkook's desk.

"I don't know if it's fit for me to tell you, I'll let him have the chance to explain. But yeah, just bear with him. He's been through a lot these past two months." Taehyung nodded, biting his lip as he had a feeling it was his fault the boy was in ruins. "Oh please don't feel like this is your fault. I've had enough of Jungkook's guilt, I really don't need yours."

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