hide your heartbeat - vmon/taejoon

fact #6 + fact #7

925 words

The doorknob has come off.

"Is this a joke?" Namjoon mumbles, staring at the broken knob in his hand. Slowly, he turns towards Taehyung, who's sitting on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest as tightly as he can. "Um."

Taehyung's eyes fall on the doorknob, then on the knobless door behind Namjoon. "Fuck."

"Yeah."

"Fuck," Taehyung swears again under his breath.

Namjoon purses his lips. "It's alright. I texted my friend, she's coming to get us."

Taehyung nods shakily before resting his head on his knees, and Namjoon just winces at how small he looks — smaller than he already looked like when Namjoon first laid eyes on him today, drowning in a sweater at least three sizes too big for him.

True to her word, Soha comes a few minutes later, but she can't do anything. The door's lock is jammed since Namjoon broke the knob, and she has to get someone who can undo the screws.

"Can't we break it down?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm civilised."

"Kiss my fucking ass," Taehyung hisses. "It's your fault we're trapped here in the first place."

"My fault? The door just slammed by itself!"

"Why did you come here?" Taehyung asks. "You saw me so you went to hide in the fucking closet?"

"Why'd you follow me then?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Taehyung says like it's obvious. "But you're too fucking immature."

Namjoon barks out a laugh and crosses his arms. "Says the one freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out," Taehyung says, then buries his face in his arms again.

"You're pacing."

"I'm a little allergic to cleaning supplies," Taehyung says, his voice muffled. "And slightly claustrophobic."

Namjoon frowns.

"It's not immature," Taehyung adds, trailing off, "I just..."

6. He is not bad at comforting others.

Carefully, Namjoon uncrosses his arms and slides down against the wall, so that he's sitting on the floor right across Taehyung.

"It'll be okay," he promises quietly. When Taehyung doesn't reply, Namjoon says, "Remember the first time we got trapped together?"

Taehyung looks up, half a smile on his lips. "Are you tryna help or make it worse?"

"C'mon, it was funny," Namjoon whines, but he's grinning now. Then he scrunches his nose in disgust. "We kissed."

7. This was his first kiss.

Taehyung huffs out a laugh. "Then Coach saved us. And found us like that. You pushed me away so fucking hard I got a concussion."

"You didn't," Namjoon rolls his eyes. "Or, maybe you did. You haven't been mentally well since then."

Taehyung opens his mouth but instead of a shitty smart comeback, a series of dry coughs come out. Namjoon frowns and crawls closer towards Taehyung, and pats his back lightly. "Hey, breathe. Just breathe."

"I'm breathing," Taehyung rasps out, looking up at Namjoon. It doesn't slip Namjoon's notice how his glassy, red-brimmed eyes fall on his lips for a split-second. "I'm breathing. The air sucks."

"It's the chemicals," Namjoon says. Taehyung swallows and rubs at his neck lightly. "Coach turned into a die-hard LGBT ally that day."

"Remember the speech?" Taehyung grins. "'Love wins, and so must we because we are a team made of all kinds of love'?"

"He didn't say that."

"'We are a team with members who play for the other team,'" Taehyung quotes. Namjoon laughs and pushes Taehyung lightly.

"He definitely didn't say that," Namjoon says. "It was just 'we will win because love wins,' or something."

"Or something."

"It was something."

"It was," Taehyung agrees, resting his head on his knees. A strand of hair falls on his cheek, and Namjoon reaches out his fingers and brushes Taehyung's hair away from his face before he can stop himself. "Why did we do it?"

"Kiss?"

"Yeah."

Namjoon bites his lip. "I don't know. We were kids. And it was weird, being rivals and teammates. And we were trapped alone."

"It was two years ago," Taehyung says, and it's a whisper. Like he's telling a secret. "I still feel like I'm just a kid."

"So do I," Namjoon whispers back, and he knows it's a secret. "I miss how things were back then. I used to be angry, but now I'm just tired."

"You're always angry at me," Taehyung whispers. Namjoon opens his mouth to disagree, but it's true. It's true. "And you're avoiding me. You fucking went back to the closet just to avoid me when — hold on. Turn on Airdrop."

He pulls out his phone and sends a picture to Namjoon. "What's this?"

"The one posted on Instagram is filtered and cropped," Taehyung says. "This one's the original. I just wanted you to have it."

"Oh," Namjoon exhales. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me," Taehyung says after a cough. "Just stop being angry at me. I know why you're angry at me and why you're tired, and you know how to fix things."

The door opens, revealing a middle-aged man and Soha, and Taehyung is on his feet and out of the closet before anyone can say anything.

"Is he okay?" The man asks.

"He's allergic to cleaning supplies."

The man frowns, taking the broken doorknob from Namjoon. "How long have you been trapped here?"

"Ten minutes?" Namjoon guesses, and Soha agrees.

"Well," the man hums. "That's weird. The door can't be opened from inside because of this," he waves the broken knob, "but if your friend here tried harder, she could've opened the door."

"It was broken," Soha defends herself. "I tried. I still can't believe it just... opened. Just like that."

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