him | taekook

chapter 9

Taehyung is staring at the floor. Yugyeom is staring at him. Seokjin is staring at his hands. They've been like this for the last thirty minutes, lost in their own minds as they try to come up with words that keep on catching at their throats before they reach their lips.

"We need to do something," the oldest of them says after what feels like forever, voice loud despite the lump in his throat, the tears blurrying his sight.

"I can't just tell his parents like I did last time. It's different, he's a grown-up now," Taehyung replies without looking up, fingers tangled in a poor attempt to keep them from shaking.

"Well, we can tell doctors, right? Someone?" Seokjin asks grasping at straws, crossing his arms over his chest with a frown, cheeks red and eyes wide as he tries to keep it together. Yugyeom sends him a sympathetic look from his spot on the bed.

"They can't force him to eat," Tae's voice is so strained he wonders if the other two were able to understand him at all. They were.

"And if we just take him to the clinic?" Jin moves around the room, pacing with his fists pressing so hard that his knuckles turn white, his nails probably digging into his skin painfully.

"He's not that far gone yet. He doesn't need a damn hospital---and either way, they can't force him to stay longer than twenty-four hours. He's over eighteen," Taehyung explains because he's already been over all of the alternatives and that's why he came to them at the end of the day, exhausted and drained from his usual gleeful self.

The idea of taking Jimin back to a hospital, sickens him.

An specific memory that haunts him even today flashes through his mind.

"They told me they have cake here, but I figured you'd prefer your favorite on your birthday," Taehyung said, smiling at his friend who stared back at him with a blank expression on his face. He pushed the small strawberry and vanilla cake towards him from across the table. Jimin stared at the plate with disgust.

It was the second time he was visiting him at the hospital. The first one hadn't gone well...not at all. Jimin had immediately started yelling at him, asking for the guards to take him away and his face had turned so red that they had. Not that they'd needed to force him out, he was ready to leave if his best friend wanted so.

He'd been told to wait for a few weeks until his next visit, and he had; he'd actually waited three, ready to come on the day of his birthday. He knew his parents wouldn't come and the idea of Jimin spending that special day alone was heartbreaking. And he'd thought that perhaps he'd be ready to talk to him by then. But of course, he was still mad at him, blaming him for everything, not realizing that he was actually taking care of him, saving his life.

"If you don't eat it, I will," Tae chuckled trying hard not to let the sadness show on his eyes. When the older didn't respond, he tried again, "Please, Jimin. I'm---"

"What? You are sorry?" His friend asked, sarcasm laced on his voice, eyebrows raised expectantly. There was a darkness in his eyes he'd never seen before; it scared him.

"No, I don't regret what I did. I did it for you and---" Tae said, the cake long forgotten on the table. He was glad he hadn't bought a candle, otherwise it would've remained awkwardly lit even now.

Jimin's grey shirt and white pants made him blend with the rest of the teenagers on the clinic, which bothered Tae because Jimin was nothing like the rest. He had his own light, that one that shone through his eyes and made his hair sparkle. Or at least, it used to.

"Fuck off, will you?" Jimin cursed at him and he rarely cursed though lately it was becoming more of a habit for him. And it hurt Taehyung, it hurt him bad. But there wasn't much he could do by then, it'd all been a sacrifice for the other's health. Even if it meant losing his friendship, he'd taken the right decision.