Those Who Are Dead | KTH 🔞

43| Tear You Apart

He's not in a good mood. That's for sure.

"Yeah. I'm alright. This was just the weirdest most fucked up thing that ever happened to me and I've been through a lot of weird fucked up things."

I imperceptibly smile, shrugging.

"Honestly... It makes a lot of sense. Those two idiots being in love..."

Jungkook turns to me, eyebrows raising.

"You think they're in love?"

"Yeah... why wouldn't they be?"

He doesn't answer for a while, pondering. Long fingers fidget with the sleeve of his coat, pulling feathers out of it while he stiffly walks along my side, quickly glancing away.

"Because they were friends first? It makes things weird," he speaks.

I let out a quick laugh.

"What are you talking about? Friends falling in love is a common thing. You're a writer for god's sake. Friends to lovers is the oldest romance trope in the book."

"Yeah, but they're both men..."

"And that changes things how?"

He doesn't answer, shrugs before hiding half of his face in the collar of his coat.

"I don't know. They were raised together like brothers... they're like non-related cousins. I find it kind of gross. Don't you?"

I think about Sage. How we basically grew up as siblings when we were kids.

"I definitely don't think it's gross. They're not actually related."

"True..."

The rest of our walk is silent, only the sound of our boots on the soft layer of snow breaking the calmness of the night. The distance between us grows as Jungkook hastens his steps, seemingly in a rush to get home. He looks tense, shoulders rising with the quick breaths forming clouds of steam in front of his nose and I decide to leave him be instead of prying, taking my time behind him and admiring the Christmas lights glowing softly into the night, creating golden halos around every house. The dark mood of my best friend isn't an isolated incident, and I think it can be explained by the college applications he needs to work on and his upcoming swimming competition. Nevertheless, I still find myself enjoying the walk, appreciating the crisp winter smell biting my nose as well as the crunches of the snow under my feet.

Jungkook's house appears at the end of the road. It's the same size as Jimin's and made of the same red bricks. The door is painted in blue and the large bay windows are dark, announcing that his parents have already gone to bed. Thick smoke elevates from the chimneys, making me ache for the warm glow of the flames.

I absolutely love that place, and although I try not to get too comfortable anywhere, it feels a lot like home.

Jungkook pulls his key from his pocket and we make our way to the side of the house where a door directly leads to the basement. I sigh as soon as the warmth of the inside hits my body. Jungkook still hasn't said a word as he quickly leaves the entrance to run downstairs, removing his boots to throw them on the carpet and brushing a rigid hand through wet strands of hair as he makes his way to the other side of the room. At this point, I know that something is definitely wrong, but I would rather wait for him to talk to me than to try to break his walls, which usually just end up with him shutting me off to an even greater extent.

Jungkook's basement perfectly represents what he likes. There is on the right a gym section with all of the equipment needed to workout; benches, barbells, and kettlebells neatly lined up on metal racks. Also on the right, there is a huge library where books rest on wooden shelves, their spines neatly organized in alphabetical order.