Taehyung was living the dream.
Loving family. A day away from debuting as an idol, living his dream.
The best part? He had the love of his life right by his side. Sure he was a little rough around the edges, but he loved Taehyung and Taehyung loved...
The surgery had gone well without any complications, and the doctors said that Taehyung would be free to leave the following day. He would have to come back for some mandatory physical therapy every day for a week, until he was allowed to go to a different physical therapist to finish through his recovery.
Taehyung had only had his knee done, something more simplistic that a regular hospital would be able to handle.
But next week, Taehyung would be getting surgery on his vocal cords, and Jungkook had tracked down and hired the best surgeon in the world for Taehyung. He wasn’t going to risk anything.
For now, Taehyung was subjugate to sitting in his hospital room, eating crappy hospital food and watching tv. Jungkook came and visited often, but the most they ever did was cuddle and maybe exchange a word or two. They didn’t know what to really say to each other anymore after the revelation Taehyung had declared.
So they just sat and enjoyed each other’s company, Jungkook taking Taehyung to therapy every day and helping him through his exercises. Taehyung blushed most of the time when Jungkook helped him, but it always sent butterflies scurrying around in his stomach.
Currently, Taehyung was in his bed, curled up with Jungkook, watching some new drama that seemed pretty good, but was already half way through the season, so neither of the two even knew what was going on.
“Hey, Jungkookie?”
“Yes, love?”
Taehyung blushed at the name. “Can we talk?” He finally managed to mumble shyly, after hiding his face into Jungkook’s side, trying not to show him his blushing face. Jungkook laughed quietly, but nodded,
“Sure, love. What did you want to talk about?”
“You. Us…” Taehyung mumbled. “But I wanna start with you.”
“With me? What do you want to know?”
“W-What did you do...y-you know…” Jungkook sighed, biting his lower lip and looking away.
“Taehyung—“
“I don’t want to bring up any guilt or anything.” Taehyung said, suddenly looking at Jungkook, his voice firm. “I just...I wanna know what you did, I wanna know how you became successful…” his voice lost its confidence as it went, and he slowly lowered his eyes. “S-Sorry…”
“No. It’s fine, I’ll tell you if you really want to know.” Jungkook sighed and looked out the window for a second, searching for a place to start. “Well, you already know that I was a part of a street gang. Well, the gang actually answered to a syndicate, they ran drugs and weapons for a bigger boss. I was climbing the ranks within the faction I was in fast, and some of the higher ups took notice. They offered me a place in their inner circle. First as a bodyguard, then as an actual leader. I refused at the time, since their base of operations was located in Japan. I told them I wanted to finish out school, maybe see I I could take over as leader in my area.
“That caught the attention of the big man himself. He thought of it as ambition, that I was looking at a bigger picture in the long run. He told me that if I had just jumped right into the main base of operations, it would’ve taken me years to climb the ranks and get the experience, as there would be so many holding me back, wanting the positions I would also be pining for. He was impressed that I would hold off on the opportunity to jump to a slightly higher position and first get experience so that I could reach something higher sooner rather than later. He...approached me himself. Told me that he would make me his heir, since his sons had died long ago, and his daughter had no interest in the family business. I was hesitant at first...but well, I looked at you, and everything you had accomplished and I guess I just...wanted to be up to your standard.
“So I accepted. I was leaving the day after your debut to start, but something happened and I had to leave before. I was going to go to your debut stage no matter what though...but then I heard it was canceled, and I got swamped with work and training, and then we got attacked and the leader was killed before I was even ready to take over...but I was already named him, so I had to step up and do the work.” Jungkook’s voice grew quiet. “I was selfish and forgot about you on my quest to be your equal. The only reason I left was the one thing I forgot about...I will always regret that I never checked up on you, saw how you were doing. I never would’ve—“
“What happened happened. It wasn’t your fault, Jungkook. I know you think it is, and I know I didn’t help with that, because I did blame you, I will admit it. But at the end of the day, it still wasn’t your fault.”
“But they were my brothers, my gang. We never….we never hurt our family like that. And they...they just did it because they thought you were a distraction and wants to get rid of you in some way. And….and they thought that I would instantly promote them to a high status once I took over.”
“Did you?”
“I couldn’t. As much as I loved them...I couldn’t because you have to earn it. I don’t play favorites, I can’t. Because then I wouldn’t have any trust in any of my other men, and nothing would be done, we would’ve collapsed in on ourselves. So I had to leave them where they were, and if they wanted a position in my inner circle, they would have to do it themselves.”
“I guess they weren’t really happy to hear that.”
“They...they went searching for you...Taehyung.” Taehyung shot up, his eyes wide as he stared at Jungkook in horror.
“T-they did what?”
“They went searching for you. Found out you had lived...the wanted to exact revenge on me by finishing the job...t-they were going to do the same thing to you again...but they were going to make sure that you were dead that time.” Jungkook’s hands curled into fists as he continued to speak. “I-I know you said not to...but please, let me keep you safe, let me kill them—“
“No.” Taehyung said firmly. “I already told you no, Jungkook. I don’t want you to engage into any unnecessary conflict.”
“But—“
“I’ll leave.” Taehyung said. Jungkook froze, his eyes widening. “I’ll leave.” Taehyung repeated. “If you so much as go after then without my permission. I know what they deserve, and I know they’ll eventually get what’s coming to them, but I’m still healing, and I don’t want to think about it, about them. I just want to heal and become better. But if you do anything behind my back, or anything at all, I’ll walk away from this...from you, and heal myself, because if you do anything towards them, then that means you hold no respect for me. No trust. And that’s what I need right now...Okay?”
“Okay.” Jungkook whispered back.
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