Knowing - jikook au

Bang.

Bang. Taehyung flinched. It took about five long seconds for him to realise he was still alive. It took a further three seconds for him to open his eyes.

The sight that they met was a trembling Jimin, gun shaking madly in his grip as he stared, wide-eyed, at just over Taehyung's shoulder, still standing waist-deep in the lake water, away from Taehyung... Too far away to have his gun pressed to Taehyung's head. Then why could still feel the cold metal of a gun on his temple?

Trembles shook Taehyung's body, broken breaths slipping past his wobbling lower lip, sheer will and determination keeping his knees straight, rather than buckling under the weight of knowing that his life could be over with the simple squeeze of an index finger. Tears clogged up his eyes, misting his vision as his heart pounded into overdrive, the last of his sense, which he had managed to claw back whilst trying to calm Jimin, leaving him.

Taehyung didn't know what to do, and even if he did, he was too scared to move. The only thing he could think was that he wished he never went to Busan - wished he was in his apartment, cuddling in bed with Namjoon, giggling and kissing and basking in each other's comfort until the early hours of the morning.

The blogger couldn't work out what had happened, why there was a gunshot and why there was a stranger pressing the hard metal of their gun into his head. He couldn't understand why he had been the one to reach Jimin first, when there were other people more qualified to deal with that situation. He couldn't decide whether he should give into his legs and flop into the water, or fall back against whoever was holding his life in their hands. Either way, he was too weak to stand anymore. He had reached his limit. He gave in, his knees buckled, his back falling against that of his captor, who wrapped a strong arm around his stomach to keep him standing. Taehyung whimpered as the gun was pressed harder into his skin in a warning to stay still, sure that if he somehow got out of that situation, there would be a massive black bruise against his temple.

Taehyung tried to breathe. He tried to clear his mind, and think about what Namjoon would do in his situation. All he could think, however, was one question - What had he done to deserve it? Not only was he going to die, he couldn't do anything to prevent his attacker from finishing Jimin off after he was gone. He was so pathetic, standing there, blubbering like a baby in the arms of a gunman, instead of being a man and standing strong. His hand were desperately gripping the arm around his stomach in attempt at getting free, the last of his dignity leaving as a fear frenzy built up inside of him, ready to explode out of his mouth in the form of screams and begs and pleads for his life, for freedom, for Namjoon. But he couldn't. All that escaped his lips was a desperate whimper before he gasped for oxygen, barely noticing that words were being spoken, unable to focus on the voice or the meaning behind what was said.

"...promise, nothing will happen to you, Jimin. I've got him. I've got my gun to his head. He can't do anything now."

Who was it? Taehyung recognised the voice, but he couldn't conjure a picture of the person's face as his eyes slipped shut once again, letting his body go completely weak, his captor the only reason why he was still standing as his arms fell down in defeat, trying to accept the fact that he wasn't going to escape. His death was there and then, that was his end, and he was going to have to face it.

"Let me ask you something, Jimin. Do you want to kill Kim Taehyung? Do you want to end Kim Taehyung's life?"

However, accepting it was difficult, especially as rejection of reality was rushing through Taehyung's mind, the idea that his life was dangling from a thread completely alien to him. He didn't do it. He couldn't do it. Putting his life on the line to help others wasn't something Taehyung did. It was Namjoon's job. Namjoon was the hero of the two of them. Namjoon was the one who trained hard to be a police officer. Namjoon was the one who had the badge and the gun. Namjoon was the one who put his life on the line to protect people. Taehyung didn't do that. Taehyung sat at home on his laptop and tapped away at his keyboard, writing about this, that and the other. Taehyung couldn't do it. Taehyung didn't want to put his life on the line for Jimin. He didn't.