"i- i can't leave," taehyung says. he nearly cries again as he says it. he wants nothing more than to be with jeongguk, but he can't he can't he can't. "he said h- he would hurt me if i d- did."
"he what?"
"he thinks i'm cheating on him with jeongguk..."
hoseok laughs. it's colder than usual. there's no real humor behind it at all. "you're making it really hard for me to just stand here with you instead of going upstairs to kill that bastard."
silence.
"i'm bringing you to him," hoseok says finally. "you don't need to be here. you can stay with him. hell, you can even stay with me. we'll protect you, okay?"
"b- but."
"shh," hoseok pulls on taehyung to get him out of the house. the blonde panics and shakes his head profusely. "come on, tae."
"i- i need to get something." he rushes back inside to get jeongguk's shirt and the small bag of the torn off buttons, because yes he did stay up later to clean up the mess. he goes back to hoseok and mentions that he's ready but his pants are upstairs.
"i have sweats in my car from gym," he says as he pulls the boy out of the unsafe house. they walk together to his car and hoseok tries to cover taehyung as much as possible. "they're a little gross but they'll have to do."
__________
on the way to jeongguk's house, the red haired's phone goes off and he picks it up in one ring. he can hear a familiar, soothing voice behind the other line and he already feels safer. "yeah, he's with me. i'm on my way to your place."
taehyung tries to hear what the younger is saying through the phone but it's a fail.
"he said that jihun thought that he was cheating on him with you," hoseok says like it's not a big deal. he hears louder rambling on the other line and taehyung holds back a smile. he saw that coming. "no, it's not your fault—"
wait, what?
taehyung grabs the phone from hoseok and can hear the last of jeongguk's scared rant: "hyung, he saw my fucking phone and tae's face was all over it. it's my fault. if that didn't happen, he would've been fine—"
"gukkie," taehyung interrupts. jeongguk shuts up in an instant. "i am fine. it's not your fault."
"from what hyung says, you're not fine."
"i am now."
"why didn't you answer any of my calls?"
the blonde looks down at his fingers. "h- he broke my phone."
"fuck tae..."
"i'll be home in a few minutes, gukkie. see you soon."
he hangs up before he hears his response.
at jeongguk's place, all the younger can think about is the fact that taehyung called his apartment home.
__________
by the time the two boys arrived at jeongguk's apartment, taehyung had fallen asleep again. it wasn't a long drive by any means but now that he's back in the safety of his friends presence, he feels lighter. he feels more secure.
hoseok doesn't bother waking up the boy as he turns the car off and puts the boy into his arms the way a mother may hold her baby. the blonde is still holding the shirt and bag of buttons. he feels like he's apart of some cheesy scene where he's a superhero bringing the victim home safely.
he wouldn't be too far off on that one.
he opens the door with one hand and jeongguk is already sitting in the front room eyeing the door like a hawk. "he fell asleep after the phone call," he whispers softly after laying the boy down on the couch. jeongguk kneels next to his friend and moves a curl out of taehyung's eyes. "he's really shaken up, guk."
jeongguk watches as the gentle boy laying before him breathes silently to himself, he watches as his lips quiver every few seconds like he's fighting something in a dream, he watches as taehyung's hands find jeongguk's forearm to hold onto. his heart breaks at the sight.
"i don't want him going back there," jeongguk says suddenly. "it could get a lot worse than it is and i'm not willing to risk it."
hoseok makes a noise of agreement. "i'm going to go take care of a few things at my place, alright? are you okay here?"
"yeah," the younger says. his fingers trace along taehyung's closed eyelids. "i'm going to take care of him."
"i know you will."
and with that, they were left alone.
