journeys ⚣ kth + jjk

iii

— ride three
— arms

— 05;21am, 161213
the orange lights of the station illuminated jungkook's tired and drawn face. he looked around, waiting for a certain figure to appear at the entrance. it was still dark, the sun wouldn't rise for another two hours. it was lightly snowing, the cold atmosphere making jungkook shiver and pull his scarf tighter around his frozen face. he promised he'd always wear it now, until the spring, for taehyung.

it was almost a routine between taehyung and jungkook that had been occurring for the last few days, and jungkook enjoyed it. they would meet in the mornings, five minutes before the train, and then ride the train together, from mangwon to itaewon, and then part ways from there. they talked about everything to nothing. jungkook couldn't help but be a little proud of himself; he'd made a friend in taehyung, but then again, he hardly knew anything about the older male. he didnt know what he worked as, or if he had any family. all he knew is that he was kim taehyung, 23, from daegu, his favourite anime was free!, and that he was a dog person. jungkook hated to say taehyung was the first 'friend', or close to a friend, he'd made in a year of living in seoul. but that was just jungkook, and he thought he was meant to be alone.

it surprised jungkook that he enjoyed taehyung's company more than his own, and he regretted to admit that 5:20am, the time when taehyung arrived at mangwon station was his favourie time of the day. jungkook was used to the loneliness, used to spending days without uttering a single word to another human being, except the other artist who he shared his workspace with, seokjin, but they didn't speak much, except for the odd 'have you seen my charcoal pencils?' or something of the sort. seokjin seemed like a nice guy, he was always kind to jungkook, but jungkook was too shy and awkward to make proper conversation with him. he also didn't see much of a point, he was at the studio to paint, he didn't have time for chatter.

"jungkook!" a familiar voice called from further down the platform. "sorry i'm late!" taehyung jogged towards jungkook, his beige trench coat flying behind him. he pulled down his black face mask and smiled at him. jungkook loved his smile. jungkook returned it with one of his, seemingly half-hearted, small smiles. jungkook smiling widely was rare, simply because jungkook didnt have much reason to smile widely, his life was a dark cycle, the only colour being his art, and now, somehow, taehyung. but it would take more than a few days for taehyung to get jungkook to smile like that, like his art does. taehyung's smile faltered momentarily, and he opened his mouth, as if he was about to speak, but the train to itaewon pulled in, bringing noise and confusion to the quiet platform.

the two boys boarded side by side, as always. jungkook more slowly than usual, according to taehyung. they sat down beside each other, and jungkook covered his face with his hands, sighing deeply. he was just so fucking tired. "jungkook?" taehyung asked, reaching out to take jungkook's hands. he took hold of jungkook's wrists and gently pulled his hands away from his face. jungkook looked up at him. this wasn't the happy, flirtatious and funny taehyung that was normally calling him pet names and pondering the meaning of life, it was a serious and worried taehyung. taehyung looked at him right in the eyes, and jungkook stared back, mouth slightly open. taehyung's hands were so warm against his pale skin.

taehyung took a deep breath, never breaking eye contact with jungkook, like he was afraid that if he let jungkook go that he would fly away forever. "jungkook, why do you always look so tired? you- you look like you haven't slept in weeks, and you're as thin as a fucking stick and when you smile you never look like you're actually happy and i can't help but worry because you're my friend and we've literally known each other for a few days but you just seem really fragile and i just want to protect you and make you happy and smile like you mean it and it doesn't seem like anyone else will and i-"

"taehyung." this was yet another side to taehyung that jungkook hadn't seen before, he was flustered and his green bangs were falling in his eyes and he wasn't pushing them away. he was talking quickly, his words tripping over each other. "thank you," jungkook was surprised at how strong his voice sounded, he felt like crumbling into taehyung's arms and pouring out every emotion he had ever felt. "i- i don't know, i never realized anything, i- i know that i've never exactly been the best at looking after myself, but i never-"

"hey, kookie." jungkook looked up at taehyung, his eyes widened once more, but taehyung didn't say anything else. taehyung let go of jungkook's wrists and simply put his arms around jungkook, enveloping the younger in a warm embrace.

jungkook loved it. taehyung was so warm, and jungkook was so cold, taehyung's arms around him just felt so right. he buried his face into taehyung's black shirt, and he could smell that scent that jungkook loved so much.

neither noticed that they missed their stop, and just giggled with each other when they noticed that they had pulled into hangangjin, realizing that they'd been sitting there, hugging, for 20 minutes.

jungkook was late into the studio that day. he was there after sunrise with a smile on his face, much to seokjin's surprise. and that day, jungkook's paintings were full of warm colours, of pinks and yellows, which contrasted to the grey cityscapes he normally painted. jungkook smiled for the rest of the day, and it was all thanks to the pretty boy with mocha-coloured eyes and soft green-tinted bangs.