Gaze Detection | Jikook |

Chapter 19: His Dreamcatcher

After whispering those words to himself, Jimin suddenly began to doubt; his mind would travel back to the idea of Jungkook's voice erupting within his mind every time and that alone didn't help the lie he tried to set for himself.

"I can't put myself through this again... I can't... What if it happens again? What if I fall for him and he leaves? What if I lose him? What would be the point of talking to him now... if...if I-"

Just then, Jimin heard the sound of his front door shut. This alone caused his body to freeze and the confusing thoughts of Jungkook suddenly went away at that brief second. Jimin remained silent and kept his eyes fixed onto the door, of course, his first thought went to Jungkook and he almost longed to step outside to greet the android, however, he couldn't be so sure, at the end of the day, Jungkook was recharging and whoever stood outside that door was someone other than the one he had rather hoped.

Seconds turned into minutes. Jimin could now hear his own heavy breathing followed by the sound of his hands constantly fidgeting with the bed sheets above his trembling body. His mouth became dry and the hairs on his ghostly pale skin began to stand. Now, Jimin just wished Jungkook stayed a little longer.

Heavy and cold footsteps hitting the ground consistently as it approached. Jimin could only hear his heart pound rapidly like bullets being constantly shot out the nozzle of a loaded gun. The first thought Jimin had was to grab his phone and call the authorities, there was someone in his house and due to the constant stares of the unknown, he became paranoid and believed that this had to be the one who caused it all.

Abruptly, the door swung open and caused Jimin to freeze up. However, that moment didn't last long enough for his heart to pound out of his chest. The second Jimin's eyes fell onto who pushed the door open, he let out a relieved sigh and fell back onto the bed after his blood went cold for a second there.

"Hello, Jimin," Taehyung said with a bland stare as he approached the bed where Jimin laid. "Why do you look like you've just seen a ghost?"

"Fuck, Taehyung! You almost killed me!"

"Impossible. Androids are not programmed to kill."

"I didn't mean- Ah..." Jimin caught onto his own breath and closed his eyes to collect his thoughts once again. "How... Did you get in here?"

"The door was left unlocked. You should be more careful, Jimin. Androids won't break into your home but humans with the bad intentions, will."

"I locked the door and I-" before Jimin could finish his sentence, his mind instantly thought back on Jungkook and in order to comfort himself, he just knew it had to be Jungkook who must have left the door open by mistake. Of course, it has to be him, right? "Oh... it must have been Jungkook..."

"Jungkook? What was he doing here?" Taehyung asked and watched Jimin become silent. "What's going on?"

"He... spent the night..." Jimin answered and watched as Taehyung stood there with no emotion to display. "B-But it's not what you think! He stayed because I... I feel like I'm being watched... and he comforted me and kept me safe! I would have asked you, but you kept hearing something each time you stepped foot in here..." Jimin replied and instantly rambled right after. "Now... I see that you don't face that issue, do you?"

Taehyung took a second longer to process Jimin's words and tilted his head right after. "Okay... Well, first of all, I didn't expect to walk in here and not pick up another random frequency. I can't hear it, but before I get into that, why... was Jungkook able to sit here and protect you without hearing it too?"

Jimin remained silent at the question. He longed to tell the android that Jungkook was made differently and that he was not like any other android, however, he recalled how much the two bonded over secrets and just knew that telling another android would only cause things to stir up badly between the two. Jimin just wanted to keep the secret between them and no longer wanted to tell Taehyung about it. The care Jimin had for the android next door was something so small but was growing into something so beautiful, Jimin stopped himself from answering and looked away from Taehyung's bright blue eyes.

"That was an ultrasound frequency, androids are able to hear it... why couldn't he hear it?" Taehyung wondered and watched Jimin shrug.

"Maybe it stopped when he arrived...?"

"Impossible, it only happened when I was there but when another android shows up, it magically stops? This is very confusing..." Taehyung said and brushed his front bangs back to expose his forehead. "Now I can't hear it... and Jungkook isn't here so maybe it is gone... even if I won't hear it again, that still doesn't hide the fact that the frequency fried a part of my system..."

"What?"

"I have to head to the nearest department for androids to get a few wires arranged. I blew a fuse after I left your place. I'm feeling well now, but some aspects of my personality are off; I can't carry emotions or behave the way I'm supposed to...and it takes a while for me to recharge. My energy lessens faster than before and then I begin to glitch when I'm running out of energy, that's normal for us androids to have a glitch in our voice but only when we are running low on charge. Although, it shouldn't be happening so quickly for me..."

Jimin noticed the bland tone to Taehyung's voice and that alone caused him to grow concerned. Normally Taehyung was very excited and carried a bright smile, but now. He held no smiles on his face and his eyes no longer lit up a room with the brightest colors of the ocean within his irises. The sight of the emotionless creation standing before him just left the young man curious about the mysterious sound that caused these issues to Taehyung's system and if they were intentional in the first place. That alone was a mystery Jimin was too scared to confront along with the thought of being watched in his sleep.

"I need to scan Jungkook..." Taehyung mentioned and looked Jimin in the eyes. Jimin just couldn't tell if this was another one of the Android's jokes, but he knew for sure that it wasn't even if he was incapable of displaying emotions.

"You can't... you can't take too much of your own energy right now, Taehyung!" Jimin desperately found an excuse just to keep Jungkook safe. In no way did he hope to have Taehyung find out about Jungkook's differences and have him taken to the nearest android department. Jimin just didn't know what the creator himself would do to an android that was so different from what he initially made. Of course, Jimin was too afraid to even find out what Jungkook was, so he hoped to keep the android next door safe.

"You're right... I'll have to do it after, but no matter what, I'm keeping that in my database so I won't forget after my issue is resolved," Taehyung replied and began to pace around. Even his steps were consistent but carried no anticipation or mood. It was as if he was an emotionless soldier walking on command. Jimin just didn't know how important an android's personality type meant to its entire system.

"Taehyung... since the noise is gone... will you stay with me tonight?"

"You know I would love to, but I'm in no shape to protect you and stay here with you. Who knows if I might blow another fuse and shock you? I don't want to harm you, so I must maintain my distance," Taehyung assured and looked around the room silently. "Anyway, I'm sure that sense of gaze detection is nothing. You must be losing sleep so maybe it's just-"

"Ah, that's not helping... Jungkook said that as well! I'm sure someone is watching me... it happened again but then..." Jimin fell off his own train of thought and began to think of Jeon Jungkook again. "But then..." continued the human as the hues of pink began to appear over the apples of his soft cheeks. "Then... Jungkook... showed up... and it went away as if nothing happened in the first place. It was as if it was all in my head and it was just a bad dream. He helped me forget about it because... he protects me. Here we were laying in each other's arms, as if there wasn't something watching me before. All my fears went away like it was a bad dream and he was my dreamcatcher..."

Jimin spoke again into details in order to help Taehyung understand, but even like this, Taehyung could never understand how important Jungkook became to a boy like Park Jimin. Only Jimin was able to know what he meant when he depicted his greatest fear as nothing when Jungkook was around to save him from those nightmares like his very own dreamcatcher.