Far away from Taehyung
"Hoseok, I'm not going." Jeongguk looks up from the papers he'd just signed, having finished Jimin's check up. Taehyung and Hoseok look like they're in the middle of a heated argument.
"Taehyung, I can't tell you enough times how crucial it is that you be at the conference," Hoseok tries.
"Then you go in my place!"
"It's you the press wants to see. You were supposed to make the speech!"
"Hyung, I can't. You know that. Jimin's still not awake. I need to be there when he wakes up!"
Hoseok looks at his wit's end. "Jimin is fine . Dr. Jeon and his team did a great job. He'll be up and running in no time," He steps closer to Taehyung. "But if you miss this event, the stocks are most likely going to drop. They're not going to write good things about you."
Taehyung cards a hand through his hair, laughing in disbelief. "You think I care what the press thinks right now?"
"You should."
"Well I don't, hyung. They can go to hell, because right now, Jimin needs me. And I'm not leaving him."
"Dr. Jeon--" Jeongguk's eyes snap away from the scene in the middle of the waiting room to look expectantly at the nurse. The lady says something, but Jeongguk doesn't quite hear it over the roaring of blood in his ears.
The scene feels achingly familiar and yet, so different-- Taehyung fighting for Jimin, though everything could go wrong. He wonders what would have happened if Taehyung had fought the same way for Jeongguk.
🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨
"Taehyung," Jeongguk says, jolting the man awake. Taehyung blinks sleepily, turning his head towards Jeongguk. He grips the coffee cup in his hand.
Jeongguk sighs. Taehyung's eyes are sunken in, his face is blotchy from crying, lips swollen from biting them too much. Jimin is lying on the hospital bed, unconscious, and Taehyung's got one of child's tiny hands wrapped around his own, clinging to it.
"Yeah?" Taehyung croaks. It's five in the morning, and it had been ten hours since Jimin had been admitted into the hospital. Taehyung hadn't left Jimin's side since he had been stabilized. His neck hurts from having fallen asleep at such an awkward angle, in a chair with his face down on the hospital bed at Jimin's side.
"Are you alright?" Jeongguk asks hesitantly. Taehyung blinks at him, as though he's surprised Jeongguk's asking.
"Not really," he replies honestly. He turns to Jimin, brushing back the sleeping boy's black fringe.
"He's on an IV sedative drip. We'll wake him up in a few hours. Maybe you should go home. Eat something," Jeongguk tries. Hoseok had pulled him aside, begged Jeongguk to say something to make Taehyung see clearly, but his focus was obviously only on Jimin, and nothing Jeongguk said could convince him.
Taehyung shakes his head. "It's fine. I'll stay here."
"I really--"
"I'm fine, Jeongguk. I just need to be with Jimin right now," Taehyung says irritably, glaring at Jeongguk, determined, and it makes Jeongguk snap his mouth shut. "If you're awake, then I can stay awake too."
Jeongguk raises an eyebrow. "I'm awake because this is my job. I'm used to it."
"I'm not some delicate little princess, Jeongguk," Taehyung snaps, and almost immediately regrets it. Jeongguk's eyes widen a fraction in reproach.
"I'm sorry, I just--" Taehyung takes a deep
breath, frowning like he's trying to collect his thoughts. "I really just need to be with him right now."
Jeongguk looks down at his feet, remembering the determination and conviction with which Taehyung had stood up to Hoseok last night. He still had a hard time connecting serious businessman Taehyung with playful, kind Taehyung.
For the last ten years he'd been so convinced that this man-- who'd cried over a small child, who spent all of his free time trying to use his wealth for good causes, who'd remained patient and kind with Jeongguk for so long-- was evil incarnate, and in this moment, Jeongguk realizes just how wrong he was.
About everything.
"He's such a good kid," Taehyung says softly, running his fingers gently over Jimin's hair. "H-he's my whole world. I see too much of me in him and-- I just want him to grow up and be a good person. Be better than me."
"He's going to be fine, you know," Jeongguk tries, then clears his throat. "Health-wise, I mean."
Taehyung just looks at him sadly.
"Yeah, but for how long? I went through this same thing, over and over again as I was growing up. It takes a toll on you."
"It didn't seem like it in high school," The words slip out before Jeongguk can stop them.
Taehyung looks taken aback, and Jeongguk wants to apologize, but doesn't. The first time Jeongguk had heard about Taehyung's condition was when Dr. Lee had asked him to take the case. He feels almost betrayed, having traded those words of love and shared all his secrets, when Taehyung hadn't done the same.
"I never talked about it because I didn't want to worry you."
Jeongguk bites back a snort.
"I spent all my time being miserable about it. Trying to overcompensate for it. But when I was with you..." Taehyung's voice goes quiet as he stares at the hospital sheets. "Maybe this sounds really dumb, but all I ever thought about was how beautiful the world was. You always made me forget about the bad things."
Jeongguk swallows thickly as the words seep into his skin. His entire being is trying to reject the words, tune them out because he doesn't want to believe them. But Taehyung's eyes are disarmingly sincere. Sad. Jeongguk shifts the weight on his feet awkwardly, skin suddenly feeling too tight.
"Here," Jeongguk says suddenly, holding out the cup of coffee that he had almost forgotten in his hands. "I thought you might need it."
"Oh. Uhm... Thank you," Taehyung says in surprise, taking the cup slowly. Jeongguk breathes a sigh of relief for having momentarily distracted the older man. If Taehyung had kept staring at Jeongguk like that, he doesn't know what he might do. Kiss him, maybe.
"I'm just going to..." Jeongguk points to the door awkwardly. Taehyung nods soberly, and Jeongguk nods before exiting the room and closing the door behind him. Once he's walked a suitable distance away, he lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
"You're such an idiot, Jeon Jeongguk," he whispers to himself, leaning his forehead against the cool wall. His head is throbbing from everything that had happened. Jeongguk doesn't know anything anymore. Everything he'd convinced himself about Taehyung for the last ten years had been a massive lie.
"God," Jeongguk groans, head colliding with the wall with a soft thump.
"Dr. Jeon?" Jeongguk jumps away from the wall, whipping around to see one of the nurses standing there with a clipboard in their hands, eyebrows raised in concern.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes... I just..." Jeongguk scratches his head nervously. "Sorry," Jeongguk bows, before turning around and walking briskly around the corner. He needs to get as far away as he can from Taehyung, and from his feelings.
~~~~~
