Jackson sat by himself inside the kitchen. Jinyoung was speaking with the doctor in the hallway about both the conditions of Jackson and Jaebum. The leader had yet to wake up after two hours after he fainted and in that time, it had given the blonde boy time to think.
The musty air that usually inhabited a funeral home had now suffocated everyone in the mansion, making it very difficult to even breathe without thinking of something that had Youngjae's large smile plastered on.
As he played with the phone that was in his hand, he had been thinking hard enough for his brain to hurt. He was slowly drawing a conclusion, something that he didn't want.
Jinyoung bowed in thanks to the doctor and the doctor turned to leave for a moment, saying, "Please give my regards to the boy about his friend."
The younger of the two nodded and saw the man out, closing the door and walking through the living room.
Mark was picking at threads in the pillow in his arms, his hood up and his body language screaming that he wanted everyone to stay away. He had come back after his father's men had collected Youngjae's body and taken it to see if they could know when their friend died.
He hadn't been surprised that Jaebum fainted, it was easy that Jaebum was going to be the most distraught out of anyone. After all, Mark knew that Jaebum loved Youngjae years before the leader knew it himself.
Hoshi and Dino had run away, the boys had refused to tell them anything that had happened and both metaphorically and physically slammed the door in their faces, and later the gates. Eric had even tried to contact the boys and got shut down.
All four that were still up had thrown their phones into the game room in the basement and locked the door. Mr. Tuan had left a while ago to deal with the authorities.
Jackson hadn't, Jaebum hadn't and Youngjae...
Yugyeom had fallen asleep on the couch next to Bambam, the elder of the two running his hands through the boy's locks as he slept. Bambam was contemplating everything.
No one felt safe enough to even go outside.
Jinyoung entered the kitchen and Jackson looked up, waiting for him to start talking.
"Jaebum should be awake soon. The doctor said it was only from shock," Jinyoung explained, sitting down next to Jackson, "He also said that the drugs are out of your system and if you have any symptoms that you should call him as soon as possible."
The blonde boy nodded in thanks at Jinyoung and rubbed his thumb along the black screen of the phone. He knew what he should do but the idea that he was going to do it was personally terrifying to him.
There were soft footsteps as Jinyoung leaned his head against Jackson's shoulder, a hand grabbing the frame of the door as he looked in at the scene.
"This is your fault."
Both boys looked up instantly to see a distraught and rather angry Jaebum standing there with a blanket draped over his pale figure.
"This is all your fault! If we had just sent you to LA, Youngjae would still be alive!" he yelled, shaking Yugyeom awake a few rooms over.
"Jaebum--"
"If you had just seen your father for the asshole that he is, none of this would have happened! You! You killed my Youngjae!" he barked, the poisonous words flying through the air and stabbing Jackson close to home.
"Jaebum, that's enough!"
"And you!" Jaebum turned to Jackson's protector, "You couldn't leave his side, could you!? We could all die because you two decided to play hide the salami!"
"Jaebum!"
"What Mark?!"
He snapped his head around to look at the eldest.
"They already killed Youngjae with that stupid fucking couple shit, why would any of us be any different?! We are hiding out in your mansion, protected by national security, because Jinyoung's not ballsy enough to go throw that old bastard out the window!"
Jaebum stopped yelling and scoffed, looking around the room, his voice turning quiet, "We're down to six. Who knows which one of us will be next? We can't even go outside."
Jackson looked at Jaebum with pity and guilt building up on his back and pushing the air out of him faster. He wanted to cry but it wasn't his place.
Yes, Youngjae had been his friend but he didn't love him like Jaebum did.
He lost a friend, not a lover. He lost a brother from another mother, not a soulmate.
Jaebum had every right to react the way that he did. After all, everything building up to this point had been his fault, right? He wasn't even smart enough to pass high school without Jinyoung's help. Who was he to cost his friends their lives trying to protect him?
Jackson stood up, the room going tense with the dry air that had been so stale only moments before, and he walked over to the cabinet above the fridge with five pairs of eyes watching him with confused looks.
He reached into the far back of the cabinet and pulled out something black, hard, shiny. Something that was related to the weapon that caused Youngjae's eyes to go dark.
Jackson held the gun close with one hand and the phone with the other, lifting it up and turning on the screen. He speed-dialed someone while his friends waited with fear lurking in the very depths of their dark thoughts.
"Dad. We need to talk."
