Taekook Oneshots

Water

"I need, I need you like water..."

There's a silence in the air between the two of them, one that could be sliced with a knife. They're alone, which could  be good, it could be bad. And their hearts are frozen with fear, burning with hidden desire to just shatter the tension hanging over them like wet clothes drying on a line.

The water is still, covered over by a thin sheet of ice, and they can't bear to break it, for fear of drowning or hypothermia. If this ends, it will kill them. But saying nothing can't fix the situation. How can they melt this frozen atmosphere without trying?

But then again, it can't ruin things either, however.

The younger male shifts uncomfortably in his chair, glancing down at his interlaced hands, avoiding eye contact with the other. He's scared, of course he is. They both are. He's always seen himself as the physically stronger out of the two of them, but now he wishes that his muscles applied to social situations as well as physical or violent situations.

The older male looks away, over his shoulder, wondering when his parents are due home. Maybe they can break the silence with their bright personalities and loving smiles. But then he imagines the confusion at the sight of their son sitting there, seemingly terrified of nothing. And he shudders at the thought of it.

A heartbeat passes, and another, in an endless cycle that reminds them of how much time is being wasted here. But still they can't bring themselves to endanger the peace - no, it's not peace. There's tension. A conflict waiting to start like a poisonous gas. But it cannot start.

That would break the ice, and they would both drown.

The clock keeps ticking, hands constantly following a never-ending cycle, and eventually the sound of every second begins to bleed into the younger's head. Suddenly it's too loud, too crass. And he realises that the silence never truly existed. The ice is merely in their minds.

With a noise that loud in their ears, how could they possibly be in silence?

And so he lights the first candle.

"Tae," he says softly, his gentle voice holding none of the anger that the other expected from him, "we need to talk. You know we do."
"What is there to say?" Taehyung replies hopelessly, finally meeting Jungkook's eyes, revealing a hollowness in his soul that's never been there before. "Honestly, what is there to say?"

The younger male sighs, a melancholic sound that lowers his flame until it's barely there, and the tiny melted circle in the ice seems to freeze over once more. But then he continues, suddenly determined to make things right, and his candle grows once more.

"Please just listen to me, I'm begging you," he pleads, and something in his words clicks with the elder. In that moment, he's not the stranger that he appears to be right now. He's the person that Taehyung knows better than the back of his hand, the best friend that he never really had. "I knew about it from the beginning, but there was nothing I could do."

Taehyung nods slowly. "So you said nothing? If I knew, I could have-"
"Cast me out?" Jungkook finishes for him, shaking his head at the other.
"No, I would never-"
"Your own mind would force you to. If I'm not real, then you're insane, as everyone always says. Why do you think I never talk to you unless you're alone?"

The older male nods slowly. "So now that I know, I'll forget you?"

Jungkook shrugs. "I don't really know yet, this is an unexpected thing. I should really have told you when you were about ten, but I simply couldn't. You needed me more than ever. I became less of a playmate and more of a supporter, someone who could just be a shoulder to cry on when the world treated you like shit."