Hope ~ Taekook

the boys are here (reupload)

23:00.

Taehyung slowly opened the door. There he was. Jungkook, standing in the doorway with another boy at his back. Tae recognized him from a few pictures around the house. It was Min Yoongi, their old roommate.

Now that Tae was paying closer attention, he noticed that Jungkook wasn't really standing but rather leaning on the other boy who was carrying two bags, his own and Jungkook's signature leather one. Tae might have asked what was going on, except his gaze finally caught on Jungkook's face and he forgot his words. The boy's expression was blank and his stare empty enough to put a knot in Tae's gut but most noticeable were smears of blood all over his forehead and right cheek accompanied by a black eye on the other side.

Yoongi was the first to react. "Who are you?" He barked.

It took Tae all his willpower to raise his eyes up to Yoongi's face. His mouth moved soundlessly for a few moments but before he could answer Jungkook choked a quiet "Taehyung."

Yoongi gave him a suspicious look but didn't argue. He pushed Jungkook past him in direction of the living room while Tae floundered for a moment, unsure how to react. Those bruises and injuries were familiar. His mother had raised her hand against him one too many times, covering his body with marks of a hideous childhood, leaving scars, bruises, and blood-stained shirts.

Taehyung stared at Yoongi, blood rushing in his ears. "Did you do this to him?"

The other boy froze, in the middle of laying Jungkook down on the couch. "I did not, he fell down some stairs."

It was an obvious lie, but after a moment's debate with himself, Taehyung chose not to argue and simply looked down. Tae's sense of safety he usually felt in this house vanished the second he looked up again, because Yoongi had positioned himself right in front of him. He returned his stare, every muscle tense. If Yoongi really did this to Jungkook, Tae couldn't risk getting beat up, too. The other boy could barely move and really needed medical attention and if he was in the same state they would have to call Jimin or even an ambulance. That would throw up many questions Tae would not be able to answer.

"You will find the first aid kit in the cabinet in the bathroom upstairs if none of the other idiots moved it."

"What? Are you leav—"

Yoongi gave Tae a small push and rushed past him, bumping him from shoulder to hip, and headed for the door. Tae stayed behind, staring at Yoongi's back. He was starting to think Jungkook wasn't going to be his only problem in this house.

As soon as he heard the front door shut the boy rushed upstairs and found the little kit right were Yoongi predicted. He went through the items and sighed in relieve. It was surprisingly well stocked. For a split second he was unsure if this was the right thing to do but he figured Jungkook had too many secrets, he couldn't risk calling cops. Tae would have to stitch him up himself. He jumped back down the stairs, taking two steps at the time, but as he walked through the door to the living room, the other boy was nowhere in sight.

Instead Jungkook was standing in the kitchen, holding Namjoon's letter in bloody hands. He looked up when he heard Tae come in, his eyes narrowed as he turned around.

Jungkook's chin was pushed forward, his typical angry face "What the fuck did you think you were doing? Keep your shitty nose out of my business."

"You know, I would probably be scared of you in this situation but since you can't even stand without clinging to the table I will have to put you back together before you can beat me up. So, please sit down."

"I can still break your leg if I wanted to!" Jungkook's words were slurred, hardly understandable.

"Um, yeah, how about you do that in the living room. On the couch." Taehyung slowly slid his arm around his waist and as the other boy didn't protest he carried him back into the other room and carefully laid him down.

Taehyung had grown up around violence. Handling this would be easy, he would just have to be careful since he didn't know what kind of wounds he had to deal with. He started dabbing on the wounds with a washcloth soaked in water to see the extent of the injuries which caused Jungkook to whine quietly. Taehyung started humming a simple melody to calm him down. It was a habit from when he had to treat his younger siblings.

The facial injuries all appeared to be caused by blunt force and just caused some scratches and bruises which, even in the worst case scenario, would leave behind just a simple concussion. Tae carefully applied some ointment before paying closer attention to the rest of Jungkook's body.

The other boy had fully lost his consciousness, so Tae had to resort back to a pair of disinfected kitchen scissors to get rid of the other boy's shirt. He slowly cut the fabric, careful not to touch Jungkook's skin with the cold metal.

He slowly lifted the shirt to reveal Jungkook's chest. It was covered in blood. Taehyung thought he was ready, but his shoulders tensed at the view in front of him. Most of the blood didn't seem to be Jungkook's and most of the wounds were smaller than expected but his whole upper body was crisscrossed by faded scars. Along his abdomen were larger overlapping lines, almost white compared to his slightly tanned skin. Tae swallowed and forcibly focused on the task at hand. He looked him over, tracing his vicious scars and new wounds with a desolate gauze.

"Tae... is it bad?"

Taehyung's blood turned to slush. He hadn't noticed that Jungkook woke up again, but it wasn't the words that got him. It was the way he said them. It sounded like there was nothing left of him; His voice was flat and croaky, almost just a breath, nowhere near his usual sarcasm and roughness.

Tae swallowed hard, trying to clear the tightness from his throat. "It's nothing. Just a few scratches."

"You're lying."

Tae didn't respond to that accusation and his silence was answer enough. Jungkook sighed and closed his eyes, accepting his quiet response without sparing the other boy another glance. Taehyung slowly started cleaning up all the paper towels and parts of Jungkook's shirt and headed for the kitchen but turned around to look at the other boy another time. From where Tae was standing he was only able to see Jungkook's red hair which had the same color as the blood drenched tissues in his hands.

As he returned, Tae saw Jungkook dragging himself up the stairs. He gave him a few minutes head start. When he was sure the other boy had disappeared into his bedroom, he jogged up the stairs and secluded into his own. The room felt empty as Tae made his way over to his bed and shrugged out of his sweater. He went still with both hands on his shirt when he saw his reflection in the window.

Jungkook's blood looked almost black where it'd dried in small trails on his shirt. For a moment it smelled fresh: sharp and hot and sour. Tae couldn't stand the sight of it, so he closed his eyes while almost ripping the fabric from his body. Another glance at the mirror took his breath away. He tipped his head forward and pressed his forehead against the mirror. Tae counted his breaths to keep from panicking, but his gut was trembling so hard it ached. He didn't know how to explain the complicated feelings those scars, so like his own, on Jungkook's body stirred up. Tae dragged his blunt fingernail down his chest, watched pale red lines bloom on his skin, and slowly pulled up his stare to look at his own face. He swallowed once, twice, against the nausea that was crawling up his throat.

His meds. Tae had forgotten them again this night.

A/N some might recognize this chapter because I already published it once, but now it is edited and some parts are new so maybe it's better than before? We will never noe cause my first draft is deleted and erased for good

i also want to change my book cover because I feel like this doesnt fit anymore or will be unfitting in the future so heads up

have a good day or night or anything in between

:)