Strawberries and cigarettes

15-Hoseok

Taehyung looked like he's been hit by a truck.
Staring at Yoongi his eyes wide open and his jaw clenched, Hoseok could see his knees start shaking.
He had to admit, his own mind felt completely blank just as well.
These words... he didn't know what he was saying, right? It could be what he truly believed, that would be too cruel. Sure, from the outside, Yoongi seemed like that was exactly what his mindset looked like but Hoseok knew better. They'd grown close enough for him to know that the older was actually a sweetheart, and it made him angry that he pretended otherwise.
What he just said... It went too far.

The brunette blinked when he heard the door slammed shut and looked around the dark room, surprised to see that Taehyung was gone. How come he didn't notice him leave?
Apparently, the blonde had stormed out after having understood what Yoongi said and Hoseok felt his rage build up again. Jimin was so innocent and had nothing to do with the rivalry between the two gangs in town. He must be so scared right now, tied up somewhere in the dark. An old factory maybe with a broken roof, the clear sound of water dripping in the background. Hoseok could imagine that too well and it made him clench his hands to fists.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!", he called out as soon as Namjoon had left to go after Taehyung and see if he was fine. Yoongi looked up, slowly and with a surprised expression on his face which made Hosoek even madder. How could he pretend he didn't know what was going on?
"He could be dying out there! He could be tortured, scared to hell and back and we have to help him!"
The brunette saw his eyebrows flinch upwards and the older got up from the couch with a defensive posture. Did he honestly think he could calm him down now? After what he'd just said?
"Look, there's nothing we can do-"
"Fuck you, Yoongi! If you really believe that then fuck you, you're an asshole and I don't want anything to do with you. And if you don't – and I hope that's the case – why the heck would you say things like that? You know that Taehyung is very sensitive but you don't care, do you? You just have to make it hard for him, even when he's at the worst place already."

He felt himself get more worked up by every second passing and interrupted his speech to clear his throat. Yoongi immediately used this moment to speak up, hands lifted in front of his body.
"I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I'm sorry! It's not that I want him to be kidnapped, like, the fuck, of course not! I'm not a monster but let's think about this, alright? If we give in to their threats – which we can't because we don't have that kind of money – we won't be able to save him anyway, but if we don't react, maybe they'll realize that Jimin is not a good hostage and just let him go."

They both stared at each other for a second.
"Are you serious right now?"'
Hoseok's voice was no longer upset. It was quiet and cold. Almost entirely without emotion and he was content to see Yoongi avoid his intense gaze. In a way, he wanted to stare the older to the ground, feeling so much hatred and disgust that he already knew he would regret it later. Even though he was really angry, he knew that he wouldn't feel that way later on. It was just the shock of the moment, but still, he didn't stop himself.
"Hoseok.", the older sighed and dropped his shoulders, already knowing that there was no harmonic solution to this argument.
"I don't want to hear it. I want you to change your mind because I know that you're better than that."
"But we can't do anything. Shit happens. I don't have anything left to give. Apart from that, it's true: Jimin is not important to me so why would I risk everything for him? He's annoying and a loose end anyway."

"Take that back.", Hoseok growled.
The grey-haired looked up at him, a questioning gaze in his bored face while he walked towards him with heavy steps.
"Take. That. Back. Now!", he repeated himself and stopped when their faces were right in front of each other. He could see his dark eyes starting to widen, understanding that the brunette was dead serious and worked-up like never before. His lips were slightly parted and Hoseok could see his breath going fast but he didn't care. Instead of calming down and backing off again, he grabbed Yoongi by his shirt and pushed him against the wall so that his head hit the stone. Hard. The brunette was so worked up that he didn't even think about how much that would hurt and since Yoongi only pressed his eyes shut instead of groaning or screaming or crying or anything else. He just swallowed, too proud to admit he was injured.
"The only reason you don't want to help is that you want to seem like you don't care. But you do, don't you? You care way more than you ever cared about anything else because you like him, right? Yoongi has fallen for the pink-haired and that's why you treat him like a piece of trash. Because you're scared.", he hissed against the older's ear, and the grey-haired clenched his jaw. Hoseok almost had to chuckle at how small he looked now, pushed against the wall with lowered chin and eyes closed, and for a second, he loosened his grip.