wish upon a dead star || taekook || completed

Chapter 24: The Plan

I'm so tireeeed

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Taehyung felt empty. He walked in silence, his heavy shoes scuffing against the cracked pavement, its sound reverberating off the tall industrial walls of the desolate city, the only sound he could hear besides the angry voices in his head. He followed Jimin mindlessly, trusting the older to lead the way, passing through endless streets and twisting down small alleyways. Whenever they crossed the main roads they didn't even attempt to stay in the cover of the lengthening shadows the falling sun created, braving the open street without a single thought.

Taehyung thought back to the last moment he had seen Jungkook. The younger had been limp, his whole body supported by these kidnappers clad in black, his face covered by a woven bag. Taehyung hadn't even been able to see his face. He clenched his fists by his side, allowing the hot tears that had stung his eyes to flow freely, his cries silent. He had let them take Jungkook. His precious Kookie. He had allowed them to rip him away from his sight without a sound and without answers. He didn't know who these people were or why they took the younger, let alone where. He had wanted to follow but Jimin had said they were long gone by then and he knew the older was right. But he had still lost him.

Never had his heart clenched more at that moment. It felt as if there was a dagger stabbed into his chest, it's blade slowly twisting round and round, carving a hole into his body where he used to feel so warm. He knew he liked Jungkook. He was aware of it since the first time his eyes landed on his face in that dark basement when he had first woken up. He had known the feelings had grown when the younger took him out at night before the first crash was heard and he knew that a simple crush had developed into something so much deeper when he found Jungkook crumbled on the floor in that small bathroom. He named that feeling subconsciously when he climbed in bed with the younger to comfort him after his nightmares. He just hadn't faced the reality of exactly what his heart was telling him, it's whispering drowned out by his thoughts. Taehyung realized then that heart always figured it out quicker than his head, and now he had nothing. He never told Jungkook... told him that he... that he lov-

No. Jungkook was not gone. He was lost, but not gone. They would get him back and when the younger was safe in his arms Taehyung would tell him. He should've learned by now that in this new world, life was way too short to hesitate. You could lose something beautiful and precious at the twist of your head.

They had made it back to the small back entrance of their base, the sun reaching its final destination and slowly dipping beyond the horizon, casting a blood-like haze across the sky, it's rays coloring the silver city in it's dying light. The yellow, orange, and reds belonging more to a horror movie than their own reality. Although Taehyung realized, what they lived was more of a horror movie than any reality they had ever lived.

Jimin hesitated at the door, raising his fist to the metal but never letting it fall. Taehyung watched his best friend as he slowly shuddered out a long breath, leaning his head against the door. Jimin's shoulders slumped forward and he looked so much older than what he should, his eyes dark and sunken and his forehead creased with worry. Tae slowly approached the older, pulling Jimin into his arms and clinging to him as if his life depended on it. They both had tears streaming down their faces, the droplets making paths through their dirt-caked skin and falling, wetting the concrete below. How were they supposed to tell their hyungs that Jungkook had been kidnapped? How were they supposed to look them in the eye and tell them they weren't able to get him back?

Jimin sighed before pulling away and ruffling Taehyung's hair gently, a forced smile playing at his lips. "Come on, Tae," he whispered before moving to the door and raising his fist to knock. The loud thuds rang throughout the alleyway and they only had to wait a few seconds before it was thrown open and they were met with the anxious faces of Jin and Yoongi. The four of them stood there for a moment, frozen, the older boys' eyes slowly sliding up Jimin and Tae's bodies, taking in their ragged appearance before checking over their shoulders to be met with empty space. A small frown formed on Jin's lips as he leaned against the door frame.