To What Was Ours

xiv (jimin)

The task hadn't even begun. The transportation was not even final, his body still a translucent blur of white. Yet sobs were already hiccuping out of Jimin's throat, cruel, devastated, cries. The hardest thing he'd ever done, ever would have to do, and still, the mission awaited.

The last sight he had seen was Taehyung, smiling reassuringly at him, completely alone, vulnerable to whatever danger may be sent his way. Jimin had begged the sky to allow them to go on together, but no response ever came. Eventually, Taehyung coaxed him on, promising their inevitable reunion.

"Go on, Jimin-ah, it's okay," he encouraged in a soft, low, voice, holding Jimin's limp arms. "I'll be okay. You have to go."

Jimin could hardly make out his solemn, worried, features with the tears swishing in his eyes, falling over onto his cheeks in fat, wet, drops. He could not reach his level of reason, mind clogged with the vulnerability of their forever at hand. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This isn't fair."

The blurred lines of Taehyung's brow drifted closer, tightening with the deepest type of concern he'd only ever showed Jimin. Only one of the special faces he was the exclusive viewer of. His sole desire at the moment was to freeze time right then and there, uncaring of whether it ever started back up again.

"Hey," Taehyung coaxed, looking as though an idea came to mind. He wiped his cheeks with a gentle thumb once, before reaching into his pocket. "Hey, look."

The convulsions of his face paused at the sight of hot pink. What he had on a chain, stored in a careful corner of his jewelry collection. He did not remember ever telling Taehyung that he kept it, the arcade tag, always felt a sense of embarrassment at his connection to something so cheap and tacky. But he kept it close. Searched for it on lonely nights. After many busy years, he didn't think Taehyung even remembered.

He voiced his confusion, cheeks a little warm. "Where did you get this?"

Taehyung only smiled, genuine, beautiful. "When I was with Jin-Hyung. You never told me you kept it."

Every part of Jimin crumpled, beginning from the quiver of his lip.

Enclosing his larger palm over his smaller, he placed the tag in his possession, lingering a bit, before pulling away. Jimin's fingers unconsciously curled around it tightly. The acronym imprinting onto his skin.

His best friend held each side of his face, pretty doe eyes staring into his with a type refined determination Jimin could not attempt to defer, even if he had the will too. "I'm with you. Alright? You have to go. I'll meet you, at the other end, I promise."

A goodbye should have slipped from his lips as Taehyung's hands fell to his shoulders, tenderly turning him towards the awaiting door, but it was lost somewhere between his aching chest and the clench of his jaw.

Taehyung didn't say a farewell, either. To him, it must have meant that he didn't believe it was necessary. They'd make it back to each other inevitably, surely. But for Jimin, it was different. A world-ending scenario. The last possible chance to say something, anything - you're my best friend. I want you to be in my life forever. No matter what, it's always going to be you and me, to the end. Here they were, in the end, and Jimin could not manage to part his lips.

Their eyes remained on each other's, Jimin putting his back to the unknown waiting on the other side, in favor of a long, last, look. The only thing he was sure of at the moment was that Taehyung's face being the last he'd ever see was a tremendous measure of good karma. He managed to keep it together, hold back the tears so that they couldn't obstruct his vision, and fool the younger into thinking he was just as strong as he.

The terror that had been freezing his blood took him in a blitz the moment no one was there to witness his calamity. Sobs burst out of him, expiration date historical. In his woe, crumbling with every darker turn of events, he thought the compression around him was his panic bringing the walls in.