Brighter Days || Taekook

Part 21

He doesn't give Taehyung time to process his words, let alone to answer. He rolls the window up again, waves one final time and then becomes one with the flow of the traffic. Taehyung stands glued to the pavement and watches him disappear into the distance, mulling over what Jin has just said. The idea is absolutely ridiculous.

It's long after midnight, but Hoseok, Namjoon and Yoongi are still awake when Taehyung returns back home. They're all curled up on the couch, each of them clutching a mug, all of them filled to various degrees. Coffee. They're not randomly awake. They meant to stay awake to wait for his return.

Taehyung looks warily at Hoseok, who's too busy taking a sip from his mug to notice.

"We didn't tell him," Yoongi says when catching the look, and Taehyung blushes for being called out. "But he suspects things, and right now he knows more than Namjoon and I do because he found you. What the fuck happened, Tae?"

"I don't want to talk about it and I'm really hungry," Taehyung deflects and tries to make a beeline to the kitchen.

Yoongi's obviously not having any of it.

"I don't care if you want to or not. This is for your safety, Taehyung. You expect Namjoon to tell you about anything going on. It's not fair to keep things to yourself then. And it makes Namjoon's and everyone else's life who's trying to get you out of this mess a hell of a lot easier."

Taehyung grits his teeth, looks back at Hoseok, who's watching the verbal exchange with barely concealed interest.

"You don't want me to know," Hoseok eventually says, after keeping eye contact and taking a prolonged sip from his mug. "But I know what's going on. Not the details, but enough. Mr. Kim, right? You have a past. I'm assuming he hurt you. Or he told you something really upsetting. Blackmailing, maybe? But then it's got to be something really bad to make you crumble like that."

"Like being blackmailed after having sex with him in exchange for money?" Taehyung asks, voice rid of all emotions.

Hoseok snaps his fingers and then points at Taehyung, and agrees that it would have to be something exactly like that, then shakes his head as he proclaims that the thought is too ridiculous. Taehyung looks at him wordlessly. Namjoon sighs and buries his face in his hands, and Yoongi's eyes dart between Hoseok and Taehyung nervously, as if Taehyung was a wild animal ready to pounce at his prey any second. No one says anything, and Hoseok senses the sudden mood shift in the room, how it is even more tense than before.

"What?", he asks and looks at the three others in confusion, before his facial features move from confusion to shock to pure terror. "You're fucking kidding me!"

"It wasn't just Mr. Kim. I fucked others as well for money. But don't worry, it's only Mr. Kim that blackmails the company to keep control over me. After all, he's the one that got me into the company. Sucked his dick, got a meeting with Bang PD-nim. It's a great story, really," Taehyung says bitterly, voice cold as ice.

"Taehyung," Namjoon scolds him. "That's enough."

"I'm just saying how it is," the youngest in the room defends himself and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "He wanted to know, and now he knows."

Hoseok looks like he's seen a ghost. He's pale and he's looking at Yoongi pleadingly, as if hoping that his hyung would tell him that he's been pranked. Really badly pranked, but pranked nonetheless. Yoongi just shakes his head sadly, and Taehyung can see how Hoseok swallows hard, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat.

"You all knew?" he asks directed at Yoongi. It pisses Taehyung off that Hoseok doesn't even look at him, but at the same time he's relieved. He just wants his peace. Crawl under his blanket and sleep, not wake up for a long time. After a shower though. He feels dirty. Used.

"Namjoon knew from the beginning. He told me because he didn't know whether to give Taehyung a chance given the complications this might bring for us if his past came out. Jin found out when Taehyung learned about Mr. Kim being our sponsor."

"I didn't want any of you to know," Taehyung murmurs. Hoseok's eyes flit over to him briefly, but he looks away again immediately.

"If people find out," Hoseok says.

"We're working on that," Namjoon jumps in.

Taehyung's stomach drops. That's the question. What happens if people find out. They'll be ruined. They'll meet their end before they've even begun. Hoseok has a right to ask that question. He has a right to demand Taehyung be kicked out of the band.

"Jungkook?"

"He can't know," Taehyung blurts out, and that's what gets Hoseok to finally look at him. "Please. He's too young. I don't want him to know. None of you should have known, but you all do. At least give me the dignity to have him look at me without pity."

"We don't look at you with pity," Namjoon tries to assure him, but Taehyung knows it's a lie. There's the glances they exchange; the way they treat him like a glass vase that could break when being touched by a gentle gust of wind.

"I have so many questions," Hoseok says at the same time. Yoongi snorts: "Get in line. He doesn't answer any of them."

"But he's going to tell us what happened between him and Mr. Kim today," Namjoon demands, and the way he says it leaves no room for argument.

Taehyung cracks. What's the point of it anyway? He sits down on the floor cross-legged and looks up at them, and answers any question about the night that Namjoon throws at him. He thinks there might be relieve on Yoongi's face when he tells them that Mr. Kim said he's not going to touch him, and his stomach coils whenever he can't make eye contact with Hoseok.

Eventually Namjoon lets him go, and Taehyung all but flees into the bathroom, scrubs his skin too hard under cold water. When he comes out again, the others are still on the couch and talking with each other quietly. They hush immediately.

"I know that you're talking behind my back either way, so there's no need to keep quiet in front of me," he mutters tiredly as he makes his way past them into the bedroom.

Jungkook's curled up on his mattress, and for half a second Taehyung considers slipping under his blanket, but tonight instead of comfort that thought fills him with dread and he climbs up the ladder to the top of his bunk bed.

He tries to fall asleep, he really does, but too many thoughts are racing through his head and he ends up staring at the ceiling instead of closing his eyes. There are a few minutes of silence, before Jungkook starts shuffling around restlessly, tossing and turning. Taehyung looks down after a while, but only glances Jungkook turning to face the wall before finally settling down again. As Taehyung's head hits the pillow, he wonders if Jungkook's having a bad dream.