FLATLINE| JK

thirty one

"Dunno, figured I'd ask you since you're...tight with the very neuro god who summoned us with the page." Taehyung says, and I roll my eyes, particularly at his word choice. Tae isn't wrong, Dr. Jeon and I have been getting closer lately. Ever since last week's surgery, we've been finding discreet ways to spend time together. It has been hard due to my demanding intern schedule, but I ate lunch with him on a bench in the far end of the ambulance bay twice this week. We're set up right next to the dumpsters that mildly stink of tuna, but it's a blessing and a curse—it smells awful, but no one wants to come back there, so no one will see us alone and question anything.

"Hate to disappoint, but Jungkook's very intent on not giving me special treatment." I inform him, and Taehyung just pulls off his shirt with a melodramatic sigh.

"I don't know, Bong. If shacking up with Jungkook isn't considered special treatment, I don't know what is." Taehyung wiggles his eyebrows at me, and I blush uncontrollably. That only makes my best friend laugh harder, but I can't help it.

"We're not shacking up! We're taking things slow." I say, and saying the words aloud brings a fond smile to my lips as I pull on my scrub pants. I had been so afraid that Jungkook wouldn't want to go slowly, but when I asked, he abided willingly. I haven't kissed him since after our surgery on the GSW, and even then, the kiss was purely innocent. We've been taking the time to truly, properly get to know each other, and it has been amazing.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot. You're courting." Taehyung teases me, and I don't have time to defend myself before he's making an obscene fake-puking noise. "It's disgusting, if you ask me. First, I played messenger for him. Then, you start eating lunch next to the dumpsters, which really sets the ambience. Next thing you know, he'll start drooling at the sight of an exposed ankle like a Victorian woman. If I have to witness that, I might hurl all over your ugly shoes." He rants, before pausing in tying his shoe.

"You done?" I ask him, and he scowls, resuming tying the laces. Though I his words are dramatic and harsh, I don't take them seriously. I know he doesn't truly mean them.

"Yeah, I just realized my bitterness is showing. God, Min Yoongi fucked me up real good, and not in the way I wanted him to. I used to be so fun and supportive, but now I'm the bitter best friend whose gag reflex is triggered by the sight of your stable, functional relationship. I didn't even have a gag reflex before Min Yoongi!" Taehyung exclaims. "I hate that man." He declares, but he says it without the conviction he normally displays in everything he says and does. He says it wistfully, as if he wishes he could make himself hate Yoongi, but can't.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, he'll be gone for the next week." I inform Taehyung, and he looks up at me with wide eyes.

"Seriously? Why?" He asks.

"He didn't say, he just asked Jimin, Hoseok and I to cover his shifts. That's why I'm here and not asleep at home, I'm covering his stupid shift." I explain, and Taehyung frowns.

"He didn't tell me he was leaving. And, he didn't ask me to cover him, either." Taehyung says, dismay in his voice.

"Well, would you have said yes?"

"No! Of course not! I don't owe him any favors!" Taehyung replies, pinning one of his cute pins to his scrub pocket. I toss my hair up into a pony tail and put on my white coat.

"Well, he probably knew you'd say that, y'know." I remind Taehyung gently.

"Yeah, ugh...you're right. But him asking me and getting to tell him no to his face still would have been nice." He sighs, fixing his honey blonde hair in the mirror. I manage a small smile and connect eyes with him in the glass empathetically. Taehyung is so incredibly confident and sure of himself, but it's clear that Yoongi has made him question himself more than ever. Tae is used to commanding the power of a room, but Yoongi makes him feel powerless.