❝hold on;
CHATTER runs through the apartment's corners and crooks as Jungkook watches Taehyung chug down the vodka, clear liquid splashing against the bottle's glass.
Hoseok, with a glint in his eye, tickles the side of the drunk brunette and out comes the vodka from his lips, sputtering and dripping down his chin.
"Hoseok!" Taehyung's rosy cheeks flush further and Hoseok doubles over, slapping his thighs and howling in laughter. The night's moon quivers through the curtains as the Christmas lights decorating the living room flicker dead and alive, highlighting their faces blue, red, and pink.
Jungkook watches Yoongi sip on his drink, flicking the lighter back and forth, staring at the trio, but not quite seeing. The youngest drapes a blanket over their legs, spreading warmth to the pink-haired male.
"Why do you have Christmas lights up? You don't even celebrate," Taehyung laughs to himself, his head swaying as he downs the bottle again.
"Jungkook!" Taehyung slurs and the males know an obscene joke is going to escape his wet lips. "Why does Santa Claus have such a big sack?"
The youngest thinks for a second, knowing that he didn't have enough of a dirty response to utter. So he shrugs, both scared and eager to know the response.
"'Cause he only comes once a year!"
"Idiot," Yoongi mumbles, but a smile tugs at his lips as Hoseok's head falls onto Taehyung's lap, slapping his hand in laughter on the wooden floor in front of them.
"Where's Seokjin?" Hoseok mumbles, staring at the clock ticking 2:34AM on the wall.
Jungkook's phone vibrates and he checks the caller ID, groaning. He swipes his finger on the screen, lifting the phone to his ear and ushering them to remain quiet.
"Hey, Namjoon," he bites his lip, afraid he'd ask about his report -- the one which he had barely started on. A familiar male had become the reason of it, but the brunette ignores the thought.
"Are you fini--"
"Yoongi likes to drink watermelon!" Taehyung shrieks into the apartment as the eldest throws a pillow at him, missing by mere centimeters.
"Uh, Namjoon, it's a little loud here, let me call you back." Jungkook hisses into the phone, glaring at his friends.
"Loud? I don't hear anything else."
"Sorry," Jungkook ran a hand through his hair, "my friends are over."
The line remained quiet and fear courses through the brunette, hoping that the older wasn't offended by the lack of professionalism.
"Anyway, I just wanted to ask you whether you're finished your report, but we can talk about that in my office tomorrow."
Jungkook agrees, mumbling a curse word as he hangs up. His bare feet skim across the cold flooring, careful not to trip over a snoozing Hoseok.
Taehyung runs his fingers softly through Hoseok's hair, staring at the strands escaping through the spaces of his joints. His eyes roll back as he takes another sip from the heavy vodka, hands shaking around the bottle.
"You should really stop drinking for tonight," Jungkook reaches down to grab the bottle from him.
"Nah," Taehyung responds, ushering away from the male. He sighs when he reaches the end of the content, letting the glass bottle escape from his hand and roll along the floor.
Jungkook sits down beside him, noticing a faint, purple bruise by his friend's jaw. He rests a light finger on it, testing the freshness of it. Taehyung winces and the younger knows his father had another encounter with him recently.
"I told you many times, just move in with me, bring your sister -- we'll make it work." Jungkook whispers to him, a sadness gnawing at his chest as he watches the misery ring around Taehyung's eyes.
Taehyung shakes his head, his speech disorganized and his features drunk off of each other's pain.
"It's part of growing up." Taehyung's tongue slurs, "no one said it would be easy."
He strokes Hoseok's face, smiling softly at the way his head lulls. "But no one said it would be hard, either."
"No one said anything," he closes his eyes, leaning down to brush his lips against the top of Hoseok's head, before collapsing backwards.
Silence curtsies around the edges of the four males' minds, and Jungkook climbs into the long sofa, resting his head in Yoongi's lap. The pink-haired male's finger flicks along the lighter, awakening and extinguishing flame.
With a soft blow of breath, Jungkook blows out the flame.
Yet, like always, Yoongi brings it to life again.
///
TWO males glare at each other, their stare holding years worth of regrets and misery.
Snowflakes fall from the evening sky, black pigment stretching for miles and miles along the vast sky, not a pinprick of cotton nor diamond. Namjoon's hand curls into a fist, but it remains at his side.
In the stillness of the cold night, two figures remain distraught and frozen, both unable to utter any words, in fear of what the other would say back.
The streetlamp shines a raw white light upon Jimin's hair, enjoined by the falling of cold flakes, yet he feels numb, numb of all senses.
"You sent him to me -- you knew." Jimin grits through his teeth, fractals of pain buzzing through his blood.
Namjoon stares at him, playing his card of silence and lack of emotion. But Jimin knows the tension which silently creases near the edges of his brows -- after all, they weren't strangers.
"I just wanted to see if you were still alive and not rotting in your grave," Namjoon replies nonchalantly, shrugging.
"Not like your--" Namjoon starts.
Jimin grabs his collar and slams him against the brick wall, sending stars down Namjoon's vision.
Fog escapes from their forlorn lips, wet eyes and jaws clenched at who would break first.
Jimin releases him, stepping away to grab at his own hair, shivering from the recollections in his head.
Namjoon watches him, after two years, truly sees him, and his bones grow weary at the sight.
"I cared for him too, you know." Namjoon says, sitting down with his back resting against the wall, his shoulders freshly sore from the impact.
The dark alley, brimming with melting flakes along the concrete, accepts the two males, calling them again to where they had been before, always had been before.
They feel hollow, so as dead as the night and as themselves, they stay still.
"I cared for you all."
"But it wasn't enough," Jimin stares at the wall above Namjoon's head, standing hollow, despite the large, pumping organs underneath his cold skin.
"We weren't enough; not for each other, not for ourselves."
///
to us.❞
a/n;
this book wont be that heavy on jikook btw , it'll focus more on the relationships that the characters have between each other so it's more 'bangtan' than 'jikook'.
