road trip.

[28] bite sized clouds

. . . but the whole bucket list idea isn't something he does with his victims, he said so himself and i doubt "do a bucket list with kim taehyung whilst bringing the victim to our agreed destination." is part of the job description.

a 'normal' kidnapper wouldn't ask you to make a bucket list and then do them all with you. he wouldn't treat your bloody nosebleed, he wouldn't walk down a road and carry you (taehyung shudders) bridal style under the sweltering sun and he most definitely would not dance in the rain with his victim.

taehyung stares at the back of jungkook's head whilst he takes his call.
he certainly didn't do those things for money.

taehyung looks away, chewing on his lower lip whilst in thought.

but he's not always grudgingly nice; he's knocked you unconscious twice remember (he hit your head with the butt of his gun and another time, he full on fucking chloroformed you)? he kidnapped you, kept you in the boot of a car, tied you up, shot an innocent worker, forced you to wear disgustingly short shorts, held you hostage in unknown rooms and didn't allow you to contact your family at all.

but despite the previously stated bad things jungkook had done to or with taehyung, taehyung can feel something familiar flicker in his stomach — it's a special something that he hasn't felt since he was aged 13 and had went to japan with his father to see the cherry blossoms bloom, it's something he'd last felt when he first laid eyes on touma, a 16 year old beautiful boy and son of a japanese family friend of the kim's.
taehyung and touma hadn't spoken much during taehyung's stay, except say hi and nod to each other in acknowledgement during meetings — nothing mutual sparked between them but taehyung had considered the boy his first proper crush and had allowed delicate winged butterflies to form in his stomach every time touma smiled or looked at him with those hazel eyes.

taehyung smiles at the thought of touma — god, was he pretty. he had the most thickest and longest eyelashes that'd fan out above his eyes — lining them. and, fuck, his eyes were so damn pretty and——

wait.
what?
"delicate winged butterflies"?
butterflies at the thought of touma? understandable.
but butterflies at the thought of jungkook??what the fuck.

mildly horrified, taehyung looks over at jungkook with big eyes, his brown irises running over jungkook's features with shock whilst the other conversed on the phone in low tones.
jungkook must've felt taehyung's eyes on him, because he turns around to look at the boy with a questioning look on his face. "what?" he mouths.

under jungkook's sharp brown eyed gaze, a couple more butterflies appear. oh dear god, no, taehyung groans inside his head.

ive never really noticed but he's got pretty eyes, taehyung randomly thinks before hurriedly suppressing the thought to the back of his mind, squashing the idea of liking jungkook's eyes into a ball and shoving it into a corner of his head.

embarrassed at being caught staring by jungkook and the slow swarm of butterflies erupting in his chest, taehyung quickly shakes his head and looks away to hide the pink blossoming on the apples of his cheeks. jungkook frowns at this action but turns away, continuing to talk on the phone.

once jungkook turns away, taehyung thanks him mentally one more time; again, thank you for helping me out when you didn't need to and thank you for buying me food. please take back your butterflies soon though, they're starting to make me feel sick, a stressed out taehyung indirectly says to jungkook as he fiddles with the hem of his shirt, willing the butterflies to die down.

+

returning back to their allocated seats on the motorcycle, they drive down the road at a fast speed and down a busy highway, narrowly dodging and overcoming incoming cars — some things that should distract taehyung from his taboo thoughts but they don't. instead, he finds himself ignoring the wind brushing through his hair, the sights all around him and the deafening roar of the engine, and constantly thinks back to his earlier thoughts, the thought of possibly liking—

oh my god, don't say it.

because you definitely do not like. . .
taehyung gulps.
jeon jungkook.

he's your freaking kidnapper: you can't like him that way –– WHATEVER WAY, you just can't like him.

i just feel grateful because jungkook helped me out, i don't feel anything else. mhm.

a tiny sarcastic voice breaks into his mind, interrupting his thoughts, yeah, 'cause gratitude towards someone causes butterflies to appear in your stomach, right [!]?

taehyung swallows thickly, trying to rid the hardening lump sitting at the back of his throat.
those weren't butterflies — they were just the after effects of my panic attack. yeah. just after effects. mhm.
forget about it, taehyung.