|| Hospital || [VKook OS]

H o s p i t a l

«baby love - i'm singing to you baby love
please don't tell me we're really giving up
i need you to be strong for the both of us»

                                   *

Taehyung's slow, tired steps echoed in the empty, hollow halls of the hospital. How often has he walked this way already? He had stopped counting a long time ago. All the countless times he had walked down this cold hall had engulfed any sense of time - or was it just the sharp smell of disinfectant that put him in a constant light-headedness whenever he entered that building?

He was tired of seeing white walls, smooth, white marble floors and high, white ceilings with bright, cold-lighted lamps. The aquariums standing in the waiting rooms were losing their calming effect more and more. He dreaded coming back to this place everyday, because he knew exactly that this was going to eventually make this whole situation even harder.

But he couldn't help it.
He couldn't just let him down.
He needed him.

Shaking, terrified by the sight awaiting him, he knocked at the heavy, wooden door. The plaque hanging on it read "palliative station", with letters fading ever so slightly. He knew that no one was going to answer him, but he still kept his hopes up that Jungkook felt well enough to speak to him. As he -as expected- received no answer, he slowly pressed down the cold, squeaking handle until the door opened, sending a creaking echo down the halls. Even though he was used to seeing him like this, he still shivered in awe and fear. His pale, gaunt cheeks emphasized his frightening bony shape. He had always been a pretty slim person, but this was extreme. You could clearly see his bones and veins stick out all over his body - not to talk about his sparse, thin hair which was once so thick and full of volume but is now just hanging down his scalp, lifeless.
Deep eye bags marked his delicate face, his lips being chapped and faded.

Taehyung could hardly recognize him.

With a sigh that meant much more than just simple sadness, he sat down on one of the chairs for visitors. It was cold, as always. It wasn't surprising since he was the only one that ever visited Jungkook. He didn't even know why Kookie's friends never came - he didn't talk about them that much.

But it didn't need more than a healthy human understanding to comprehend that something must have happened which made the young musicians go apart.

Taehyung found a small note on the tiny, rounded table -which was supposed to compliment the lonely chair-, that he had left there a few days ago just in case someone would find it. The paper was wrinkled from carrying it around in his pocket, but the ink embedded in it was still clearly readable.

«This is the part of the story where a daring rescue can thwart death's intentions just in time, perhaps when it looks like it is already too late. I don't want to focus my eyes on death, I don't want to study it and its slow progression. I know that its course is clear already.
But there is a glory coming. The glory of the life that may be possible for Jungkook, now that death is so close. Death is the given, but the miracle that could come, of him being free of pain and suffering, is something worth pursuing, worth risking everything to see it with my own eyes.

-Taehyung »

By now, he had kind of settled with the thought of losing the love of his life. Kookie was weak, very weak, barely ate and slept a lot - even though his sleep was light. It almost never happened that he was awake when Taehyung visited, but if he was, he was too weak and tired to talk most of the time.

But it was different this time.

Taehyung spun around as his ears made out his voice, the voice he hadn't heard in forever. It was brittle and raspy, yet you could still hear his typical tone.

"TaeTae...?"
Tears sat at the back of Taehyung's eyes. How long has it been since he heard Kookie say his name? He hurried to his bedside and gently rested his hand on Kookie's fragile fingers.
"How are you...?", he cautiously asked and smiled as if they'd never stopped talking.
Kookie dryly chuckled, looked at Taehyung and let out a small sigh before turning away his dark brown gaze.
"What a funny questio-", he coughed.

Tae's shoulders sank as Kookie himself took away the little bit of hope he had left. He fell back into the chair, strangely out of breath as everything around him began to melt together to a big blur of nothingness.

Kookie's continuous coughing soon was like a rhythm which sent Taehyung to a void, floating, whilst his hopes and dreams evaporated right in front of him.
People in white clothing entered the room, hastily took notes and wildly tapped on the display and several buttons of the machine to which Kookie was connected. They whispered to each other, sighed and then left one by one.

It was silent again, only the clock's soft ticking disturbed the atmosphere.
Jungkook's breath was flat and softly rattling; he was asleep again. Taehyung slightly smiled when he looked down at him. He slept so peacefully and blissfully - and this was obviously a lot better than laying down, curved, full of misery while he coughed his lungs out, trembling.

Taehyung knew how much he wished to die. How he secretly dreamed about being free.

People's conciliatory words of comfort, meant to reassure him and help him accept Jungkook's death, don't sit well with him.
They weren't offensive, not at all, he knew the heart behind them was good. But they were weak words, because to him, it was so obvious that death was the given. He didn't have to be ready for it, or accept it. It has been coming slowly for so long, he didn't have to be ready to understand that Kookie was dying. It was so obvious.
But heaven is amazing, so he wasn't worried about death. It would come regardless of where he stood and waited. But now death was circling close enough for redemption to finally feel closer.

Taehyung's only wish was for Kookie to be in peace.

And so it happened.

With a long-lasting, high-pitched tone of the machine, Kookie announced his homecoming. White-dressed doctors came in once again, gave Kookie a long gaze, shook their heads and eventually spoke pure freedom.

"Time of death: 19:47"

Tae stood next to his motionless body, reached out with one hand and tenderly wiped a strand of hair out of Kookie's face.
"You're free now.", he quietly whispered and giggled softly. The doctors looked at him in shock as he began laughing. He laughed and laughed, not being sure whether it was of joy because Kookie didn't have to suffer any longer, or if it was to hide how much it secretly hurt. Tae sunk to the ground, violently trembling, holding onto the bed with the last of his power. He swallowed - his laugh had transformed into sobbing. He just couldn't hold back how much it ripped him apart, as he finally let go of the words he wanted to say so incredibly long ago.

"I love you, Jeon Jungkook!"

~~~~~
Hope you liked my first OS. :3
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