The Gift

Chapter 6: Intruder Window

The house is covered in darkness. The TVs, the house lights, everything shuts off leaving the house in an airy silence, illuminated from your laptop.

"The backup generator will kick in," you promise Taehyung, used to this sort of thing in winter, during powerful snowstorms, but nothing kicks in.

"No it won't," he tells you. "This isn't a normal blackout, I think someone cut the lights."

"Someone cut the power—?" You start to ask, but Taehyung holds a palm over your mouth and finger against his lips in the classic pose for "shhh."

You shut up but your mind is racing with questions while your heart pounds loudly in fear. The only reason you can think of for someone to purposefully cut the power... is if they're coming inside.

They didn't just cut the power, someone was breaking into your house! Danger. You're both in imminent danger and Taehyung clearly agrees because as you stand stock still in the middle of your open space living room and kitchen, Taehyung quickly grabs your laptop, unplugs the TV, and throws your used dinner dishes haphazardly in the dishwasher.

Taehyung takes your hand in his, squeezes it for comfort, and quietly you rush back to your father's home office... well it's your office now. Taehyung pulls you through the door, quietly shuts it behind him, and grabs the shotgun. Seeing him with a gun in his hands does weird things to your insides. He's not just an international superstar at this moment Taehyung is just a man with an unwavering need to survive and when his eyes meet yours, you know instantly you're included in his need. He doesn't just want to survive, he wants you both to survive, together.

"We need good places to hide," he whispers to you, it's your house, after all, you should know secure places.

Lucky for you both, your grandfather was a paranoid man. He didn't just build a house in the middle of nowhere, he built a fortress. There is a perfect place to hide and it's in this room but, it will be a tight fit.

Choosing safety over comfort, you tiptoe to the fat wall in the room, behind your father's old desk. Your heart races because you've only done this once before when your father showed you how at 12 years old. It wasn't for hide and seek your dad warned, not aware of the fact that by 7th grade you were over those sort of games. So you've never thought about it again, not until this moment as you urgently search the wall for the secret spot that only you know of... the subtle groove in the wall that is impossible to find with your eyes, but you quickly find it with your fingers, twisting your thumb in that way your dad showed you until the wall slides open.

Taehyung turns to you with wide shocked eyes as you reveal a trap door in the wall, a hidden compartment made for one person to hide in case of emergency, but in this particular emergency, it will have to fit two.

"False wall," you whisper to Taehyung. "Get in."

So you do. Facing each other, Taehyung stuffs you in the wall and silently slides it shut begins you. You're consumed by darkness, just you and him, bodies perfectly aligned as you stand cramped in this box of a space.

It's then that you hear the back door creep open. You let out a gasp, shocked that someone is actually honest to god breaking into your house. What if you had been alone when the power cut and were moving around alone in the dark as strange men broke in! But you weren't alone, Taehyung was here to recognize the danger and act quickly.

You want to be relieved, but suddenly the office door creeps open and you're hit once again with a cold frisson of fear racing up and then down your spine. You shiver, Taehyung pulls you even closer into his warmth, his silent assurances clear in the way he runs your back in circles and pulls you against the full length of his body. This is far from an ideal situation but you're suddenly sure you're in it with the ideal partner.