A New Era of Heroes || BTS x Reader

Death of a Hero

Ch.38

Lunch was quieter than you wanted it to be. There was always a television in the cafeteria, but no one ever turned it on. There was no time to just sit down and watch something. Except this time the three musketeers insisted on turning it on out of curiosity. They even ran here early to watch something. Namjoon told them to at least make it educational and switched their cartoons into the local news. The boys whined at the silver hair but were quickly told to eat their food if they wanted the TV to stay on. Everything would have been fine if the news of Hae's death wasn't everywhere. Everyone in Korea was speechless to hear such a legend passed away.

The only sound was the television playing. The older trainees were quietly eating their lunch as the woman spoke. She told the same information Heechul told Yoongi and you. Heechul's words were still in your head. He didn't believe that Hae died of natural causes. Heechul said a lot of crazy things, but this one sounded plausible. It gave you a strange feeling in your stomach. You wondered if Yoongi felt the same when he heard that. The three musketeers weren't eating at all. Jungkook had his hands in tight fists, a deep frown on his face. He was a big fan of old heroes, so you knew this was hurting him a lot. Meanwhile Jimin looked over at Taehyung sympathetically.

Taehyung was playing with the corner of his napkin. He didn't reply when Jimin asked if he was okay. The pink hair rubbed his friend's back to comfort him. You were going to ask if Taehyung was a big fan of Hae until you noticed a tear slid down the boy's jaw. Hoseok set down his spoon to look over at Namjoon. What were they going to do? Yoongi and Seokjin let out heavy sighs, the eldest turning off the TV. The mood was already so low this early in the morning. Namjoon glanced at you to see your frown growing as well. At this point, no one was really in the mood for training. That put Namjoon in a tight spot with the schedule. He sighed as he stood up, walking over to Taehyung who was crying harder. Once the first tear slipped, he began to let it all out.

Hoseok whispered for Jimin and Jungkook to give the two some space. Both boys left their seats to sit down with the orange hair. You slid away from Taehyung, feeling bad for him. You didn't know Hae meant so much to him as a hero. It was painful to see your friends hurting like this. Namjoon placed his hand on Taehyung's shoulder. The poor boy hiccupped, his big eyes looking up to Namjoon. Seokjin tapped your shoulder, telling everyone to start cleaning up. All of you were heading to the training room and would wait for Namjoon's instructions. Nodding your head, you got up as Namjoon bent down slightly to speak to Taehyung.

"You can step out of training if you want." Namjoon suggested.

"..." Taehyung shook his head. He was too choked up to speak but didn't want to continue lacking.

"Are you sure?" Namjoon asked one last time. You were walking out of the cafeteria, following the others to the training room. To be honest, you were far behind. You wanted to stay to check on the two. Taehyung nodded his head, sniffling and wiping his nose. A napkin near the counter began floating over to the two. Namjoon grabbed it with his hand and gave it to Taehyung.

"I...I want t-to train." Taehyung held the napkin close. "Thank you..."

"I care about you, Taehyung. I'm not going to force you to do anything." Namjoon pursed his lips. "I know what a hard worker you are, but don't push yourself too hard."

"...o-okay." Taehyung nodded before using the napkin to clean himself up.

Namjoon stood back up, placing his hand on Taehyung's purple head and ruffling the boy's hair. Your heart melted at the sight. You couldn't see Taehyung's face from where you were standing, but you could imagine the shock. Namjoon has never shown this caring side to him. Not even through all the time they've been training together privately. You smiled and went off to catch up with the others in the training room. You opened the door, seeing them raise their brows at your late entrance. Chuckling awkwardly from the sudden attention, you made the excuse of getting distracted. There's no way they bought that though. Rushing over to sit on a pile of mats, you waited with others for Namjoon and Taehyung to enter.