TASTE | KTH

sanctuary and salvation

"No, I'm not worried about your ability at all, Yura. Don't worry, I just--" He turns to Namjoon. "I really need to be here." The way his espresso eyes look into Namjoon's show there is something more than the desire to work motivating him. There's a kind of desperation that is so raw and real that Yura can see it, and that Namjoon gives in.

"Okay. Okay, fine. But, Yura gets the night shift tonight. Deal?" Namjoon says, voice authoritative. Taehyung breathes a sigh of relief, nodding.

"Deal. Thank you." He says.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Namjoon sighs, turning to Yura. "Will you take him to get some caffeine in his system, please?" Yura nods, managing a small smile at her supervisor before he leaves them alone. She glances over at Taehyung, who's clearly still not fully awake yet.

"Rough night?" She asks, gesturing to the phones. Sighing, Taehyung rolls his neck and shoulders, attempting to stretch the fatigue and soreness that lingers in his joints.

"You could say that." Taehyung responds, attempting to smooth his messy dark curls. "Shall we?" He says, and Yura nods. The two make their way out of the station and onto the street.

"Where do you want to go?" Yura asks. She still can't quite read Taehyung, but she can tell one thing—he's eager to get back to the phones. She wonders what makes him so attached to the tip line—she's seen passionate people in this line of work, but never to this extent. They've hardly been outside a minute and he's checking his watch.

"Uh, wherever. Somewhere close. I don't really drink coffee. Too bitter." He says, and Yura hums, beginning to walk towards the closest coffee shop she knows of down the block, Taehyung following.

"Gotcha. You're a tea person, then?" She asks, attempting to make conversation. Taehyung shakes his head again.

"Mm, no. I'm just a get-enough-sleep kind of person." He says, and she chuckles a bit. That's very fitting to his personality, she thinks. Very straightforward and focused, no deviation from the path. "A night with eight hours of sleep and I'm set for the day."

"Those are rare in this line of work, huh?" She says, and Taehyung nods.

"I guess they are." He says, and Yura raises an eyebrow. Noticing, Taehyung coughs a bit. "I mean, um, yes they are. No guessing here. At all. I work late all the time." He rambles, and Yura only is more confused.

"Okay?" She says. When Taehyung just smiles a megawatt smile at her, she decides to drop it. "Well, we're here." Taehyung lets out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. He needs some sort of caffeine in his system, he's been awake for less than half an hour and he's already almost blown his cover. The coffee shop is small and home-y, coziness only adding to Taehyung's exhaustion. If he could just buy a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle up on the couch in the corner, he would. But he couldn't bring himself to. He had to get back to the station. Last night's tasting episode was worse than ever before—it lasted longer, and the taste of blood was impossible to rinse out. He needs to find his soulmate, because things are only going downhill from here.

"I'll take a double espresso, please." Yura asks politely, before glancing behind her at Taehyung. "Do you know what you want?"

"Whatever she's having, please." Taehyung informs the cashier, despite Yura's surprised expression.

"Doubles are strong. Bitter, too." She warns him cautiously, reaching into her bag for her wallet.

"It's okay. I'll drink whatever will wake me up quickest." Stopping her with a hand on her wrist, Taehyung reaches into his pocket for his own wallet to pay. Yura visibly flinches when his hand comes in contact with her own, and he immediately lets go. Sending her an apologetic look, he brushes it off. Yura doesn't seem like someone to be a fan of shinship, let alone from someone she just met yesterday. He hands the cashier his card and pays.

Yura slowly walks away to find a table, head reeling. She knows Taehyung would never hurt her, but the factor of surprise behind his touch gave her vivid flashbacks of the previous nights this past week. No warning, no signs of anything close to anger, and then boom. She'd see something flying towards her in her peripheral vision, but before she could process, it would come in contact with her skin and she would see stars and feel pain bloom across the place he touched like a piece of paper curling up before disintegrating in a flame. The sensation was too similar for her not to jump when Taehyung touched her.

He walks over to her table and sits down across from her, placing one of the two tiny mugs down in front of her. The scent of coffee floods into her, soothing and sobering her.

"I mean, it probably won't taste good, but the cups are cute." Taehyung attempts to find the silver lining. Yura smiles at that, and whatever happened earlier in line seems to be long forgotten.

"It's not that bad, and it gets the job done." She says, taking the cup into her dainty hands, and looks up at him over the rim. Under her gaze, Taehyung follows suit, his large hands and deft fingers making the cup look even smaller.

"Promise?" Taehyung asks. He eyes the dark brown liquid that matches the color of his eyes like a child would regard cough medicine.

"Promise." She says. "We'll drink them at the same time." Taehyung nods, but she can tell he has an idea by the way his eyes light up.

"Or, we can race." He says. "First to finish wins."

"Okay." Yura says, grinning wryly. "We can do that. If you like losing." She says, and Taehyung scoffs, clearly competitive.

"Bold of you to assume I'll lose." He says, and she lets the small grin fully take over her face. Taehyung can't help but smile at the sight of hers. Something about her smile is so contagious that he can't help but join in.

"Challenge accepted. On three?" She says, and Taehyung wiggles his eyebrows at her expectantly, earning a giggle that melts his heart a bit. When Yura isn't zoning out while they work, she's quite adorable. She's growing on Taehyung.

"On three. One, two..." Taehyung says, but can't finish due to the overwhelming, almost childish laughter uncontrollably spilling from each of their mouths. Neither knows why this is so funny, but they can't stop. "Three!" Taehyung finally chokes out through his own giggles, and suddenly, they're both all business. They each lift the cups to their lips and let the liquid energy flow down their throats, bitter taste tempered by the sweetness of the sound of the other's laughter echoing in their ears. They slam their cups down on the table in sync, only to groan when realizing they tied. "You've gotta be kidding me." He groans, and Yura laughs a bit.

"You did well, though. That espresso was strong today." She says, and she means it. For some reason, the flavor was more intense than usual. Taehyung shrugs.

"It wasn't that bad." Taehyung says, attempting to act unfazed despite the unpleasant expression on his face the aftertaste left him.

"Okay, tough guy." She teases, and stands. Taehyung's smile fades a bit as he realizes what she's doing. Now that the thought of the tip line has returned to his mind, he knows he has to go back, but it was nice not to think about for a little while. Yura was good company, despite her quirks and intricacies. "You ready?" She asks, and he sighs, standing up.

No. He's not, and deep down, neither is she. For their own incredibly different yet somehow similar reasons, they don't want to go back to that police station. But both know they have to.

"Yeah. Let's head back." Taehyung says with a sigh.

And with back, the two return to the police station conference room with the two phones, a pencil and a notepad. A sick and twisted kind of sanctuary for Yura, and a form of mentally draining salvation for Taehyung.