Dead Man Walking (TaeKook / VKook FF)

Chapter 5: Mind the Gap

Jimin spurted around the corner with ease and scammed the objects in front of him in a millisecond.
A bench. An empty street. A housing complex. None of those creatures which are chasing him. Trash on the street. Blood on the paseo. No other objects which could distract his run.
Without stopping himself he sprinted on and dodged the blood and garbage. In a fluent movement he gripped at the backrest of the bench and swung himself over it like it was a tiny wall.
The groaning behind him was still steady even if Jimin's sprint provided him an advance.
The boy had no idea what those things were, but they had chased him, weren't able to communicate with him, behaved like animals and were opposed.
That was enough of estimating his situation into a dangerous one and he fled. They had been too many, fighting would have led into an even more dangerous situation, even if Jimin was strong due to his steady training.

The boy kept his running on, breathed controlled and saved his energy by taking a bit of his pace away, while still calculating the speed for his advantage.

Hoseok had seen him. He was good.

Jimin spotted a door opening, was already prepared to dodge as he saw a seemingly-human man. He was waving at him.
"Come over here!"
Jimin scammed him, decided that he looked like the only option he had at this moment and sidestepped quickly.
He arrived at the house and the man let him pass through the door. Jimin panted a little bit but caught himself very quickly while the other male shut the door.
"Thank ... you" Jimin pressed out between breaths.
"No problem" the young man mumbled and looked through the glass in the front door just to spot a few of those things.
"Come with me into my apartment" he ordered and Jimin nodded, took every offer he was given right now.
The male gestured at him to follow him up the stairs and Jimin jogged in a firm tempo.
"Weren't you scared?"
The male didn't turn around to him and Jimin exhaled deeply.
"No, not right now. I guess the shock will come later. The rush had me"
"Yeah, I guess I get what you mean"
The brown-haired male arrived at a door, pulled out a card and let it slide through the card-reader at the door.
"I hope you will be able to run after having this shock"
Jimin was still lightly panting as he followed the young man into the apartment. It looked like a student apartment. A little bit messy and simple.
The brunette turned around.
"Excuse me, I haven't introduced myself yet. The name's Hoseok"
"Jimin" he responded and shook the offered hand.
"Seems like you've saved my ass, huh?" Jimin laughed nervously. Hoseok had something intimidating from this near, even if the look on his face was relaxed.
"Yeah" Hoseok smiled and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Seems so"
"Uhm" Jimin began and scratched his neck.
"Maybe ... can you ... can I ... crush here for the night and get new energy for tomorrow? I don't know what happened. I was jogging my morning round and that was when I suddenly almost bumped into one of these ... things" Jimin made a face at last word.
"Yeah" Hoseok mumbled. "Explains why are you like that" he gesticulated shortly at Jimin's short and tight jogging trousers and the tank-top.
"No one is running like that through the street in the middle of October"
Jimin chuckled nervously and scratched his neck once again.
"Yes, seems like you're right ... anyway ... do you think it's okay if I can stay the night?"
Hoseok smirked.
"You can stay as long as you want"
The brunette stepped closer to Jimin, lend for and inspected the smaller boy's face.
Jimin held his breath.
Hoseok let his gaze slide down Jimin's body.
"You're working out"
Jimin just nodded.
"Your thighs and calves look muscular. Mainly you are jogging and training your condition, am I right?"
Jimin nodded again.
"You're good" he mumbled and Hoseok took a step back, smiling cockily.
"I know"
He breathed through. "Listen, Jimin. I meant it like I said it. You can stay as long as you want. I don't know when this will be over, but I noticed this things running outside since this morning. And they don't look really human at all"
Jimin chuckled und joked around to make up the tension between them. Whatever tension this was.
"Sounds like a zombie apocalypse"
"Don't be stupid" Hoseok became serious again and Jimin stopped his laughter.
"Dead histoid is dead. The cells are destroyed and without any working function. And dead histoid and muscles can't just be reanimated by shit flying through the air. Dead bodies can't just crawl out of their graves. Not even a fungus can do this. That's stupid"
Jimin kept silent.
"You're smart"
"I'm studying science" he shortly explained.
"Okay" Jimin mumbled and kept his tone lowly. Hoseok's presence was dominant and Jimin had respect for his knowledge and that he let him stay here as long as he wanted.
"Whatever" Hoseok got back to the main topic.
"I let you stay here as long as you want ... as long as you agree to ..."
He was searching for the right words.
Jimin became curious.
"What do you want? I guess I'd do everything to not go back outside without an aim. My home is too far away and I can't risk it to go back"
Hoseok's eyes widened.
"You would do ... everything?"
Jimin nodded and smiled lowly. "Guess so, yeah"
Hoseok thought about it for a short moment and smiled.
"Alright. You can stay here as long as you want. And ... you look very sporty. I'll take this at my advantage. You're going to do me a favour. On a daily base. That'd be the only price to pay if you want to stay here"
Jimin liked Hoseok. He didn't know why, usually Jimin would find such offers too mysterious, but Hoseok was a smart guy.
"The only price? What's it, tell me"
A victorious smile tugged at Hoseok's lips.