TASTE | KTH

tip line

Taehyung went to the party, but he couldn't shake the feeling. And his underlying suspicions were confirmed again the following day, when right around the same time of night he tasted blood the night before, he tasted it again. And the same occurred the following day. And the day after that. And the day after that. By the fifth time, he was convinced he needed to do something. So, Taehyung knew there was only one thing to do: talk to Jimin and get him to help him.

Sure, it was one in the morning, because Taehyung couldn't manage to sleep after tonight's episode, but, Jimin wouldn't mind, right?

"This had better be good." Jimin snaps, after opening the door. But upon seeing the distress on Taehyung's face—the red rimmed eyes, the trembling hands and wrecked hair—he immediately softens. "I'm sorry, that was rude. Come in, Tae baby. What's the matter?" Jimin takes his best friends hands in his, and leads him inside. Taehyung doesn't speak until he's sitting down on Jimin's comfy couch, with Jimin's fluffiest blanket thrown over his shoulders. "Let me get you some tea. Try to relax, we're gonna talk about whatever's upsetting you and we're gonna fix it, okay? Just like we always do, right?" Jimin tries to reassure him. Taehyung nods, but he has a feeling this problem won't be as easily fixed with just Jimin's magic cuddles and advice.

"I keep tasting blood." Taehyung murmurs, cup of chamomile tea in his hands. Jimin's brows furrow.

"Well, they could have just had another nosebleed—"

"Jimin, this is the fifth time in five days." Taehyung interrupts him, voice choked by the lump in his throat.

"Oh, god." He breathes out, and Taehyung nods, lower lip trembling. "That's every day since the first time, isn't it?" Taehyung nods again.

"They're not safe. They're in trouble, and I don't know how to help them, Chim." Taehyung says, voice on the edge of breaking. Jimin takes the tea from his trembling hands before he can spill it and sets it on the coffee table.

"Tae...I know you're not gonna like this, but I'm afraid there's nothing we can really do." Jimin says quietly. Taehyung can't help but let a sob wrack his body then. He knows Jimin would never sugarcoat anything to spare his feelings, that's just the type of person he is, but this truth is too real for him to bear.

"We have to do s-something! They're just out there, getting beaten night after night after night! And I could very well be the only person that knows!" Taehyung cries. Jimin tosses his arm over Tae's shoulders comfortingly.

"I know, babe. But, we don't know who your soulmate is. They could be anywhere. We have absolutely no way of finding out." He says, trying to deliver the truth to Taehyung as gently as possible so as not to hurt the hurting man even more. "This is something you can't control, Taehyungie."

"I need to try, Jimin. I need to at least try to do something, or I won't be able to live with myself." He says desperately. Jimin knows just from the look in Taehyung's teary eyes that he's already set his mind to helping his soulmate, and now they just need to figure out how. "Please."

"Okay. Okay, honey. Let's think, then." Jimin says, and then the two proceed to sit on Jimin's couch, bouncing ideas off of each other every now and then only to be shot down. Nothing they came up with had even a slight chance of doing anything but wasting their time.

Until Jimin lets a gasp escape his mouth. He hops up from the couch, startling Taehyung. "I think I have something. But, before I tell you, I need you to promise not to judge me." Taehyung raises his eyebrows.