Bet
Jeongguk stumbles to school in the morning with shaking hands. His eyes are probably puffy from crying so much, and he doesn't know how he's going to explain the scratched up voice to Taehyung either.
It was a few days before graduation, and he supposes he'd been off his guard at the orphanage, so ready to leave the nightmarish place after graduation that he'd almost forgotten just how terrible it could be.
He was making breakfast for the younger kids when the fighting started. The warden was on another bender, and Jeongguk could see the white powder on the coffee table in the living room-- remnants of lines of cocaine that hadn't been snorted up. His stomach twists.
Sojin had rushed down quickly, blocking her mother from entering the kitchen and getting near the children in her state. There had been screaming, pushing, and Sojin had bashed her head against the kitchen counter. It wasn't until Jeongguk saw the blood that he knew something was wrong.
She couldn't open her eyes, Jeongguk remembers. The kids had been crying, gripping to his legs as everyone stared at her limp body on the floor, red seeping onto the cracked and dirty linoleum.
The warden had just stared, eyes glazed over, and it had been Jeongguk who had to dial for an ambulance. It had been Jeongguk who had to wipe the blood from the floor. It had been Jeongguk who had to get the younger kids dressed and in their rooms before he'd allowed himself to cry.
He couldn't remember being so scared in his entire life. There were only two people he knew who he loved more than life itself-- Sojin and Taehyung. And Sojin was currently in Intensive Care at the hospital, with a brain hemorrhage. And Taehyung... Taehyung hadn't answered his calls in the last day, and hadn't shown up to tutoring. He should know better than to be upset by this, but he'd never felt so alone.
He stumbles onto the campus grounds, keeping his head down and trying not to sniffle, because his bedraggled state constantly attracts attention anyways, he didn't need to add to the pity party. Today, however, the atmosphere seems different.
Jeongguk is used to the whispers and the stares, he'd dealt with them all year. But there's more staring than usual. People are pointing at him, laughing. Snickering openly, instead of covering their mouths with their hands. Jeongguk looks down and notices a small blood stain on the corner of his white uniform shirt.
Is that what they're laughing at? Jeongguk wonders, brushing his finger over the fabric with his thumb and forefinger. it didn't seem that noticeable, and Jeongguk hadn't had the time, nor did he care, to make himself presentable today. He just wanted to find Taehyung and ask for a hug.
"Pathetic, right?" Jeongguk hears someone whisper as he walks through the hall. He looks up, but suddenly everyone's turning their attention away, ignoring him, and his skin heats up.
Jeongguk had been dealing with the constant jabs and sneers his whole life, but it was always
exhausting, and today, he didn't have the strength to brush this off.
"Does he know how hard he was played?" A stab of fear runs through Jeongguk, and he wonders what they're talking about.
"He should be thankful Taehyung paid attention to him in the first place."
There are alarm bells ringing in Jeongguk's head at the mention of Taehyung's name, and he knows he needs to find the older boy quickly. He can't be sure if people knew about their relationship, whether Taehyung had said anything or not. His phone goes off, and he sighs in relief, knowing Taehyung had texted. No one else bothered.
He slips his phone out of his pocket, running his finger over the screen to remove the smudge on the corner of the glass, before unlocking it and opening his messaging app.
1 unread message from taehyung
Jeongguk smiles, despite everything that had happened this morning. He clicks on it, and sees all the pictures Taehyung had taken of the two of them together in the hotel. His smile melts off, wondering why Taehyung had sent the photos again. Then he notices that the pictures hadn't just been sent to him. It had been sent to two hundred other contacts. Which was approximately all of Bangtan's graduating class.
Jeongguk's blood chills, and he stops in his tracks. There's a new message that pops up.
won the bet! and got a little extra on the side ;)
Jeongguk's hand goes limp, and the phone almost drops from his slackened grip. Taehyung had told him about the bet. He had said it was over. That it didn't matter anymore. So why...?
"Guess you're that desperate, aren't you, whore?" Jeongguk stumbles forward as someone slams into him from behind, hissing the words as they walk past. Jeongguk's entire body is burning, and he can feel himself going into shock.
"Jeongguk..."
Jeongguk's eyes snap up, and his stomach swirls with a disgusting mixture of relief and unadulterated fear.
"Taehyung."
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O my my my
😭😭😭😭😭
