Staegma ✧ taejin

29

Less than five hours left

"Remember what?"

"What you just said. . ."

Oh, crap, Taehyung mentally cursed. "Um, forget it. How's Yoongi? I heard he's making money off his music?"

Taehyung didn't intend to make anyone worried about him — he didn't intend to slip out the fact that he had to be gone here within those ten hours. He didn't want to think about what was going to happen next.

Besides, he cared about Yoongi. He hadn't seen him since he got here.

"Yeah, he is." And the conversation fell smoothly towards the aspiring musician Min Yoongi. Taehyung would laugh slightly at Jin's jokes here and there, his negative thoughts being a hindrance to his current emotions.

What now?

Taehyung didn't know if this was their 'closure.' Was this enough? It seems like they were getting along. Jin was not an asshole as he pictured him to be. People might say that the end doesn't justifies the means (the intentions won't make up for the effect or impact), but Taehyung disagrees — Jin had just proved it wrong. Why stop here now, right?

But then, how are they going to communicate after this? Taehyung had formulated two options while talking about Yoongi (he's trying to multitask), either he would permanently stay here by doing the process, or he'd ask Jimin for the box back. . .

"We've been walking for so long. Aren't you tired?" Jin asked suddenly. Taehyung spotted a bench not so far away, and Jin did too. "Hey, there's a bench, Taehyung. We should sit."

They sat down, and resumed their conversation.

". . . I hope you won't get offended, though. Yoongi just wanted to stay away from all the confusion and forget about everything."

Oh. That sucked. "None taken. Say hi to him for me."

"Sure. He'd say the same."

There was a period of silence between the two, and it affected Taehyung more than the muffled sounds of vehicles roaming around and footsteps of people walking to and fro. He ignored some of their short glances, but paid attention to them.

One of them was a tall person in work clothes, walking tiredly towards somewhere. He still had his work nametag on — Yugyeom — and Taehyung feels bad he couldn't do much to ease the pain.

"Excuse me," Taehyung said, getting Yugyeom's attention. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, sir," Yugyeom replied in a high-pitched voice, as opposed to Taehyung's. "Just tired." He gave a short wave goodbye before resuming his walk before Taehyung could reply.

From behind him, Seokjin was just thinking. Thinking of the same thing Taehyung was just a few minutes ago — what will happen after this?

-

There was an agreement between them before Taehyung left.

Seokjin would get the box again.

And then they will play.

Taehyung kept his self-promise that Seokjin would never know the risk of going through a different universe or world. So he left, will all smiles, knowing that he would meet Seokjin back in the game.

(And while he was ignoring the fact there was a burn on the left side of his stomach, because he traveled from another universe.)

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