"He just... left?" Taehyung asked. His eyes drifted to the now melted cake slice on the desk Hoseok was sitting at minutes before.
Jungkook nodded. "Yeah. He wished me happy birthday and then just left. I didn't follow him after that."
They were eating the rest of the ice cream cake. Taehyung swallowed and frowned. "Do you think he felt left out?"
Yoongi pushed his cake around on his plate. "More like he felt out of place."
"I'm pretty sure that's worse," Taehyung mumbled. He felt guilty. Namjoon sensed this and put a hand on Taehyung's shoulder.
"Tae, it's not your fault. We just gotta give him time."
-
The next day, Taehyung brought Hoseok back to their hangout after school.
"Hyung, you didn't eat lunch?" Taehyung asked when he saw the brown paper bag Hoseok was carrying.
"No," said Hoseok. He was trying to get enough happiness for the day before Taehyung brought him back here. Food could wait.
Hoseok stood away from the others as they listened to Yoongi play on the piano. He felt Taehyung's eyes on him, but didn't say anything. He studied the backpacks that were left carelessly against the wall.
Jungkook's and Jimin's were regular backpacks. Taehyung's was torn in places, the fabric was fraying, and — was that blood Hoseok spotted?
It became dark quickly. Clouds gathered in the sky.
Hoseok slung his backpack over his shoulder, gave a small nod to Taehyung, and left, trying to make it home before the rain started.
-
"He forgot his lunch," Taehyung said. He grabbed the paper bag and made his way to the door, waving at the others.
Taehyung almost caught up with Hoseok in the parking lot. Taehyung felt a small drop of rain hit his face. Hoseok must've felt one, too, because he pulled his hood up, and began walking faster. Taehyung followed silently, wondering where Hoseok's house was.
He always met Hoseok when he was walking to school, but Taehyung's apartment was closer to the school. That meant Hoseok left minutes earlier and Taehyung caught up with him later.
The rain fell lightly.
It took about twenty minutes to get to Hoseok's house, if Taehyung could even call it a house.
It was sitting alone on one side of the block, no lights on inside or anything. Taehyung doubted that Hoseok had electricity. There was a broken down For Sale sign on the ground, dirty and stepped on.
Taehyung swallowed. This was where Hoseok lived?
Hoseok turned around and looked Taehyung dead in the eye.
"Why did you follow me?" he asked. Taehyung didn't answer, and Hoseok turned around and entered the house. Taehyung took this as a sign to follow.
The house was empty and dark. There was dust on the counters and on the table. Taehyung spotted a few cobwebs.
Hoseok stopped in the kitchen, and so did Taehyung. Hoseok turned around and held his hand out for his lunch. Taehyung gave it to him.
"You have questions," said Hoseok. "Go ahead."
"Why do you live here? Alone?"
Taehyung noticed Hoseok stiffen at the word alone. He pretended not to notice.
"Ran away," he said shortly.
Questions sprang up in Taehyung's head. Why would Hoseok run away? But he didn't ask. It could've been the same reason he wished to run away, too.
"Where..." Taehyung clenched his jaw, trying to muster courage to ask the question. "Where are your parents?"
"Dead."
He said it without any trace of sadness, but his eyes betrayed his words.
"Do you have electricity? Or running water? Or —"
"Go home, Taehyung."
Taehyung blinked. "But — you can't just stay here. Seokjin's family is rich, maybe he could —"
"Go home," Hoseok said tiredly. "Please."
And for a second Taehyung saw the grey in Hoseok's eyes fade away into brown, the brown that it should be. It was dark, he could barely see, and there was almost no light coming from the window, but he stayed focused on Hoseok's eyes, and the rain slowed down. The look in Hoseok's tired eyes would engrave itself into his mind forever.
"Okay," said Taehyung, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'll go."
Taehyung turned and exited as quickly as possible. The sadness in that house, and in Hoseok's eyes, was suffocating.
Shakily pulling out an old flip phone, Taehyung crossed the street and dialed Seokjin's number.
"Hyung? C-can you come pick me up?"
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i'll be honest idk what that last part was about
idk if youve ever seen anyone look as hopeless as hoseok does here,, i dont think i have but i can imagine it vividly in my head
to clarify,, hoseok's eyes are brown and not grey, they dont change color or anything wild like that
