in order to survive ; taegi

five

no taegi in this chapter but there's vmon to make up for it :)

"fucking eight hour shift."

taehyung leaned against the wall and rubbed his back, sleep deprived and hungry. he had come straight to work after school, only to work until closing. he needed it, yes, but it was awful, especially since he hadn't eaten since dinner the day before.

the running around was starting to take a toll on him.

"taehyung! you need to run out another order."

"coming!"

he rested his head against the wall for a brief moment, letting the cement relieve his face of the intense heat seemingly radiating off of it. god, he was sweating so much, but he felt so cold.

another hour into his shift, and taehyung knew that he was definitely not okay. he desperately took a bottle of water from the back, downing it quickly and throwing the empty bottle in the trash before his manager saw him.

as he continued waiting tables, he found that his vision began to grow blurry, black spots taking up the vast majority of what he could see of the diner by the time he was six hours in. he'd stumbled a few times, nearly dropping plates full of food, but managed to keep himself upright regardless. he couldn't pass out here, not in the middle of a fucking shift.

it didn't go as planned.

taehyung stumbled his way to a table, drinks in hand, only to fall against the table with a heavy breath.

"are you okay?" the customer was an old lady. she kneeled down beside him, her husband trying to hand him his glass of water.

"i'm okay," taehyung murmured, trying to breathe: trying to see. "i'm... i'm..."

he passed out cold.

* * *

he woke up in the hospital with namjoon and seokjin sitting in chairs beside him.

"shit," taehyung breathed. "i passed out, didn't i?"

namjoon nodded. "you did, and i'm sure as hell not giving you a new job now."

"no, what the fuck!"

"tae, you've exhausted yourself," seokjin nagged, using an arm to restrain taehyung to the bed when he tried to sit up. "lie back down. you need to rest."

"if you need food, we have plenty," namjoon added when he saw the panic on taehyung's face. "if you need help with rent, i just need to lay off on the weed a bit and i'll have plenty left over to chip in. i'm not letting you take on another job and land yourself in your grave this early."

"don't you dare lay off on the weed. we all need that shit."

taehyung relaxed for a moment in defeat before panicking again as it more clearly dawned on him where he was and what that meant.

"the hospital bills," he said, sitting back up despite seokjin's protests. "how the hell am i gonna pay for this?"

"jimin's mom took care of it, calm down, tae." seokjin sighed. "you need to stop worrying and let us coddle you for a day or two. the doctor said you need to rest up."