misfits. bts ot7

nine

taehyung and jungkook sat down in a corner of the top floor of the building.

"i wasn't really pissed at jin."

a beat.

"i know."

"can you tell him that? that it wasn't his fault and i'm not angry?"

"yeah."

"kook, you remember what you said about the stars?"

jungkook's heart lurched.

"yeah. why?"

his head swarmed with a million thoughts. no, no, he doesn't want to. no. he's fine. he's okay. he's-

"i want to go up there."

taehyung's eyes flashed with pain and hurt and sadness that shouldn't have been in his eyes.

his eyes were supposed to be starry and bright. they were supposed to be filled with galaxies, the glistening of everything he saw reflecting back were supposed to be stars. he wasn't supposed to have those eyes.

he wasn't supposed to be in the stars. the stars were supposed to be inside his eyes.

"no."

jungkook felt tears fill his eyes to the brim. he felt them run down his cheeks and drip into his lap and he wanted to scream.

"no. no, tae, no." his voice faltered. "you can't. you're not going to. tae, please."

"kook, there's nothing left for me back home. i don't want to go back," taehyung was crying too now, wiping his starry, galaxy eyes furiously. "all that's left for me is living on the streets and running away from my dad. kook," he paused. he took a deep breath. he looked away from jungkook's face. "i... i don't want to grow up anymore."

jungkook was shaking. his breaths were uneven and quick, latching onto every syllable that left taehyung's mouth.

"i want to be a kid again. and if that isn't possible, then i don't want to grow up."

"taehyung, please-"

"i'm sorry."

and then, out of shock and heartbreak and despair, jungkook got up and dashed out of the room.

he sprinted as quickly as his legs could carry him, down the broken stairs and through the sand and shallow water swallowing up the coast line.

he wasn't sure why he ran.

half of him felt that he was running to get the others, to tell them that taehyung was thinking something dangerous and that he needed them to help him stop him.

but the other half of him was simply afraid. he didn't want to face taehyung and he didn't want to be with him, trying to talk him out of whatever he was about to do to himself because that meant looking into his galaxy eyes and seeing the hurt and sadness they carried. he was selfish and scared. he was a coward.

he stopped when he finally got to where the other boys were.

"jungkook, what's going on? where's tae?"

jungkook couldn't breathe.

"tae... he's going to kill himself."

a few seconds of absolute silence.

it took time to process, and jungkook's words hung in the air like the heavy aerosol of cigarettes.

jimin got up and ran, yoongi running after him.

and then they all started running.

they had run before for amusement.

they had run through a tunnel from police cars for absolutely no reason at all.

they had run for their sanity.

they had run for their lives.

they had run for each other.

but they had never run like this.

never in fear and desperation like this before.

they were up the stairs in seconds to the top floor that overlooked the beach from a balcony.

they were met with darkness.

silence.

their breaths filled it; six heavy, broken breaths latching onto whatever sound there was and only stopping when the sound hit a wall.

but silence wasn't right.

they were supposed to get up there and see taehyung rolled up in a corner.

they were supposed to hear crying.

they were supposed to hear taehyung go "what are you doing here?" or something like "what the fuck?" and then they were supposed to get taehyung and take him to seokjin's pickup truck and sit him down and talk to him and look into his starry eyes and look at the galaxies decorating his skin and help him see a point to his life again.

but taehyung wasn't in the building.

and no one said it, but they knew why.

the dusty old curtains by the window in the back of the room were opened wide, torn apart. a single brick lay on the ground in front of the window, as if someone had jumped atop the wall and kicked it away.

kim taehyung had blown away by the hurt of youth and life like meager petals in a snowstorm. youth had taunted him for so long, slowly eating away at him since he was merely thirteen like a phantom parasite. and just like that, he was gone.

like the winter swept away by rain and sun.

to anyone else, it was as if he had never been there in the first place.

"no. no. no."

jungkook was crying.

they all were.

because if taehyung wasn't in the building, then they were too fucking late.

taehyung was gone.

taehyung was gone.

he was gone.

and he was never going to grow up.

he would be a child forever.

jungkook's eyes fluttered to the view of the stars from the balcony.

they glistened brighter than they should have. they, in fact, shouldn't have glistened at all, because if taehyung's eyes didn't possess them anymore, they shouldn't have even been in the sky.

i think we'd all be dead by now if we didn't have each other, and you know why that's okay?

because we do have each other, and that means we aren't gonna die.

a/n ; there'll be an epilogue.

i'm sorry ;-;;;