Twisted Every Way || Vmin/Yoonmin {Complete}

11 -- Run

Jimin obeyed, thinking hard. He certainly wouldn't have called his sympathy for Yoongi love; but was it? He shook his head a little, not able to accept it. Perhaps it was attraction, or a deep sense of pity or guilt. But he couldn't say, in terms of any definition, that he loved him. He remembered the hatred he briefly felt upon being first being conned into the dinner date; he'd never felt such resentment toward Taehyung, not even now, nor any other time where he had been offended by him. But he certainly had cried over them both, for separate reasons.

"Taehyung," he said at last, more calmly, but with boldness, looking the man straight in the eyes. "There's good and evil in all of us; my ability to see the good in a man who otherwise seems evil does not make me love him." Taehyung's stare softened, and he gulped as he listen to him speak. "Of course I love you, and nothing could stop me from that. The truth, Tae, is that I'm too kind for my own good. You should know that much about me by now."

Before they could exchange any more words, a sudden scream caught their attention. Jimin's eyes shot back toward the other room, and he quickly dashed to peek; Taehyung turned on his heels to take off after him. Both of their eyes locked onto what the fuss was; coming down the staircase, parting the crowd as he descended, was a man in black. He wore leather gloves, boots, and tight pants paired with a long, sleek trench coat. Over his face was a haunting steampunk styled gas mask, making him all the more sinister. All of the staff nearby watched him with suspicion and fear--particularly Seokjin, who watched the man from beyond the railing on the second floor. A gas mask in itself didn't mean anything, but the coincidence of such a haunting figure sneaking around while everyone was in costume was a trying one. However, Jimin knew who it was immediately; he recognized the slenderness of the man and the way he moved as he came down the final few steps.

The man in the mask seemed to notice Jimin from across the room, and he reached out as if to beckon to him. Jimin's eyes widened; though a part of him wanted to run away, he thought of Taehyung, who stood just behind him, just as open-eyed. Filled with a sudden terror of what could happen if the man was displeased, especially with his lover so near, Jimin stepped forward, his body feeling numb and his eyes ever filled with horror. But no one was as horrified as Taehyung, who watched Jimin move toward the ghost the moment he was enticed to and not understanding why. He, too, had recognized the man the moment he saw him, and watching Jimin be so immediately submissive to him made his blood boil. The ghost moved to close the distance between himself and the blond, and the crowd parted for them as they  approached one another.

The man in the mask reached out to raise Jimin's chin the moment he was in arm's reach; Jimin started to him with pleading eyes. He couldn't bear to hurt him, as he was warned against doing, yet in a way he resented him for testing his loyalty in front of Taehyung. He wanted to beg to him, yet he was unable to find the words in the shock of the moment. Yoongi began to lean in, toward Jimin's ear as though he was going to whisper something, but was immediately interrupted.

"Get away from him!"

The voice cut through the room's silence, causing Jimin's eyes to shoot open wide and the ghost's gaze to shift just past the blond before him; Taehyung was running toward him with blood lust in his eyes. The ghost acted quickly, and in only a moment's time threw down a metal bomb that erupted immediately, enveloping the area in a dense black smoke. Jimin covered his face and Taehyung immediately shifted his priorities, throwing his arms around the blond and spinning him around. He pulled Jimin in,  pressing his face protectively into his chest to shield him from breathing in any more of the smoke. Yet as he looked to see where the ghost had gone, even though he had been just feet before him a moment ago, he was nowhere in sight.

The crowd screamed as the black smoke quickly filled the space, and Seokjin's eyes went wide as he watched the disaster unfold. There was no doubting it now: that man had been the Studio Ghost. The smell of the smoke was bitter, and though it didn't seem to be causing any fainting spells, it had an effect closer to pepper spray. People coughed and screamed as they ran to escape; Taehyung, too, coughed violently as he worked to get Jimin away from the source, his eyes with tears in them as he squinted through the cloud of black around them, looking for the man in the mask. As fate would have it, just as they made it to the outskirts of the billowing smoke, Taehyung caught a glimpse of the man sneaking away, down a hallway. Jimin looked up at Taehyung as he was released, still coughing a little as his lover took off running; just in time, Jimin saw Yoongi's figure disappear as Taehyung bolted away.

"Tae, wait--!" he shouted, but there was no stopping him. Still trying to regain his breath, Jimin sprinted after them.

Taehyung ran like a freight train, with such intense speed as he pursued the man in the mask that he slid into the wall, slamming his shoulder against it as he tried to turn around a sharp corner. Regardless, he kept running and picked up his speed in an instant. The ghost had realized rather quickly that he was being chased, and had also broken out into a full sprint. But it wasn't quite fast enough; Taehyung was determined and vengeful as he reached out, nearly caught up to his prey. He just barely managed to grab the man's arm, though the plan backfired when the ghost skidded to a stop and twisted around--dragging Taehyung with him--causing the redhead to slam his back into the wall. Taehyung's fingers, from the shock of the collision, loosened just enough for the ghost to get free. It was right then, as the man in black broke free and began to bolt away, that Jimin slid around the corner to see them. Taehyung, not even noticing Jimin, quickly caught his breath and jumped forward to chase the ghost again, only to be grabbed at the wrist by the blond.

Taehyung's eyes widened at the weight pulling back at his wrist. As he turned to look at Jimin, with his brain not quite catching up with his movements, he tried too hard to escape; he succeeded as Jimin lost his grip and stumbled toward the wall, only just managing to put out his hands to stop himself from crashing into it head-on. Taehyung froze in place with horror at his own actions, and for a moment, all that could be heard was the sound of their hard panting. Taehyung turned to look further down the hall; the ghost was gone.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Jimin asked, slowly looking over his shoulder at Taehyung. He'd lost his hat somewhere in the chase and his hair was disheveled; he could feel his hands burning as he pried them off of the wall. Taehyung turned back to him, his guilt-ridden eyes meeting Jimin's eyes of fire.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said, still breathing hard. "But if you can't let yourself do something about him, then why did you stop me?" Jimin glared up at him, balling his sore hands into fists, but his lips were sealed. "Answer me!" Taehyung shouted.

"I don't know!" Jimin yelled back, raising a fist and pounding it against the wall beside him; it was a wonder his hand didn't go straight through it, but the wall seemed to shake for a moment afterward. Taehyung felt his stomach twist at the boy's honest uncertainty, perhaps also feeling his heart start to break again. "All I know," Jimin murmured, "... is that I don't want to see either of you hurt." In that instant, both boys felt their eyes watering over.

"Well," Taehyung said quietly, "Maybe we shouldn't talk until you figure it out."

"Yeah," Jimin replied, his voice shaking. "Maybe you're right."

They looked to one another with eyes full of misery; Jimin took Taehyung's hands in his own for a moment, and squeezed them tightly. Yet as they both only began to break down further, Jimin bit his lip and closed his eyes tight before releasing him to turn around, bolting down the hall from where he had come. Taehyung watched him go and stood frozen for a long while before turning the opposite way, glaring toward where the ghost has disappeared.

"If I ever get my hands on you again," he shouted with agony, "...you're going to regret it!" Yet he felt fear and a tightness in his chest when a sound of ominous laughter echoed around him.