Chasing Butterflies

Blazer

"Suits?" Taehyung questioned. "I didn't know there was a game coming up."

"Yeah, it's tonight," Namjoon confirmed. "And apparently it's a big one, the buy-in is fifty grand." 

"Should we really do this tonight?" Yoongi cut into the conversation. "It's not like we need any more money. Besides, we can't leave Izzy alone here and we can't take her with us."

Izzy stared at him in disbelief, "And why the hell cant you?" She knew that she'd messed up but that didn't mean that she needed to be watched twenty four hours a day.

"Izzy," Yoongi leveled his stare with hers and she caught the seriousness in his eyes.

"Please don't make me stay here," she pleaded with them. "I haven't been outside in days, I'm going crazy."

The boys exchanged concerned glances between themselves as Jimin just sat quietly and glared at his knees.

"Izzy—"

"Just take me with you!" She interrupted Namjoon's sentence in a rush. "You'll all be there the entire time to keep an eye on me, and being out with you guys is far safer than being here by myself." Izzy crossed her fingers and silently pleaded with any deity she could think of for them to say yes.

Namjoon took one last glance around at the boys before his eyes landed on Izzy and he sighed in defeat. "Fine, you can come with us."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She shrieked in joy and tackled Namjoon into a back-breaking hug.

"Okay!" He struggled to breathe after having the air knocked out of his lungs. "You don't need to strangle me!"

"Oh shut up," she waved him off, grinning madly as she clambered off of him. "So what time do we leave?"

"Probably around eight," Namjoon mumbled while rubbing his sore shoulder—which was sore due to the fact that he'd been tackled by an overexcited, squealing girl.

"Awesome," as Izzy was standing up so she could go to her room and look for something decent to wear she was yanked back down by Namjoon's hand on her wrist.

"If you're coming with us then I'm setting up ground rules," he glanced around at the boys to make sure they were listening as well—they were. "First, don't talk to anyone but us," he waited for Izzy to nod in understanding before he continued. "Second, don't go anywhere without one of us with you," another nod. "And third, do not come near the game table. Do you understand?"

Izzy didn't understand why she couldn't come near the game table, but she nodded anyways, because she'd do just about anything to get out of the apartment, even if just for a few hours.

Izzy grinned and placed a swift kiss on Namjoon's dimpled cheek before running to her sunny bedroom. She didn't notice the way Jimin's jaw twitched and fists clenched. 

***

"Izzy come on! We have to go!" Namjoon called from the couch where the boys had been waiting—fully dressed and ready to leave—for the past twenty minutes.

"What even takes so long to get ready?" Jungkook sighed and let his head hang back and closed his eyes.

"Sorry sorry! I'm ready." Izzy finally yanked the bathroom door open and hurried out into the living room where the boys groaned in relief before they looked up at her.

"Woah, you look hot!" Taehyung blurted out, and earned an elbow to the ribs from Hoseok.

Izzy's eyes went wide as the skin of her cheeks grew hot. Maybe the dress was a bit too much. It was the same one that she'd worn to dinner with her parents a few weeks ago, and it was also the only nice dress she had. It was a fairly simple black dress but it looked nice enough to go out in. And Izzy knew that the boys didn't see her in that way, so she chose to believe that Taehyung only said what he did because she was wearing makeup and her hair was out of its usual sloppy ponytail. It's what Izzy chose to believe, but Jimin wasn't impressed just because she'd put on a dress. He liked her best in jeans and one of his t-shirts, but she definitely looked nice. He wanted so much to snap and just pull her close, but it wasn't the time. Izzy was finally doing better, he couldn't let that stop just because he missed her.

"Hey! That's my baby sister you're talking about!" Hoseok was quick to swing his arm around Izzy's shoulders and pull her towards the door as the boys shook their heads in amusement.

"Let's go! We're already late,"

Hoseok steered Izzy out the door while the boys trailed along behind them. Jimin was the last one to walk out the door, and he kept a safe distance from Izzy and Hoseok, staying a few feet back from everyone. He knew that Hoseok and the boys could keep her safe but he wanted to keep an eye on her just in case.

"Gentlemen," their driver held the limo door open for them.

"Thank you Mr. Kang," Namjoon spoke and motioned for Izzy to slide in first. The boys climbed in behind her and Mr. Kang shut the door before taking the drivers seat and heading for Dongdae Central Hotel.

Quiet music floated through the car as they all sat silently. There was tension hanging in the air and none of them were quite sure how to relieve it. Izzy sat stiffly and played with her fingers that were laying uselessly in her lap. Hoseok had an arm wrapped comfortably around her shoulders and wasn't planning to let Izzy out of his sight for the night, none of them were. Jimin sat at the far end of the limo, closest to the door and furthest away from Izzy, but his eyes never left her even for a second.

The distance between them was slowly killing him, it was eating away at his flesh and bones and he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand it until he finally broke. She was his drug and the withdrawal was torturous. Jimin watched as Izzy played with the bracelet around her wrist and when that got boring she moved on to scratching at the skin of her bare arm. She always did that when she was having her own withdrawals, but it wasn't what concerned Jimin the most at that moment. He noticed now that Izzy wasn't wearing a coat. They had rushed out of the apartment so quickly that she didn't even have a chance to grab a jacket. Jimin's fists clenched. He should have payed more attention. It was freezing outside, how could he have not thought to bring a jacket for her? Izzy's warm brown eyes glanced up from her lap and they aimed directly for him, but Jimin was quick to look away. He knew that if he looked into her eyes he'd be helpless.

The limo rolled to a stop outside of Dongdae Hotel, the shining lights seeped through the car windows and cast the cabin into a dim blue glow. The car door was pulled open by Mr. Kang and Jimin was the first to step out onto the brightly lit streets of the Central city. The boys were in no rush, so they slowly climbed out after him. Izzy was the last one of them to leave the safety of the car. The boys had filed out but she stayed behind for one hesitant moment, she wasn't sure who she would see in that hotel, but she hoped to god it wasn't Youngkyun. A welcoming hand extended outside of the car door, waiting for Izzy to take it. With one last deep breath, Izzy grabbed the hand and joined the boys outside the car. Jungkook's hand holding hers was helping Izzy to stay balanced in her towering heels and she really appreciated it in that moment. The boys began to walk towards the hotel entrance but just as Izzy was stepping away from the curb something heavy and warm was placed around her shoulders.

Her fingertips grazed over the silken blazer that had just been draped around her and glanced up to see who it belonged to. Izzy's eyebrows furrowed when she saw that the boys around her all had their blazers in place. But then she noticed an familiar orange-haired boy walking swiftly ahead of them, his torso bare of any jacket even though Izzy knew for a fact that he'd been wearing one just a minute ago.