Seokjin tugs on his cap and face mask to cover his face, he then turns his body to hand one to Taehyung. The boy bows his head to thank him.
The group finally found their way to Seokjin's van and drove out of the park easily. Smoother that previously. Seokjin hopped in, Hoseok in the passanger seat to direct him. Namjoon sat behind Seokjin, Jimin behind Hoseok and Taehyung in the middle. Yoongi and Jungkook climbed in the back and sat there in silence. The wind blowing through their hair as they watched the buildings, cars and pedestrians move by.
Yoongi noticed Jungkook's beat up state. "Hangover?" He asked not looking at him. Jungkook faced him. He doesn't know how a hangover feels like. He's never had that before. All he knows at the moment is that his head hurts, he feels super thirsty and tired. He humed in response.
The boys opened their doors and stepped out infront of a gas station slash convince store. Before Taehyung could go any further, he notices something.
"Aren't you coming?" He questions Namjoon, Jimin and Hoseok.
"No money." Jimin speaks and the others look away meekly. Taehyung bites his lower lips as he stares at them. He looks towards Jimin. Their eyes lock. Jimin looks away.
"Its on me." He speaks, his eyes still glued to Jimin.
"N-no, we could-"
"I insist and I'm not taking no for an answer." He cuts Namjoon off. "Let's go."
He waits for them to get off and he extracts his wallet from his bag. They follow the others into the store. As soon as they enter, they are hit with the cool air conditioning prickling at their already cold skin.
"I'll get the pain killers and and water." Seokjin announces.
"I'll accompany you." Namjoon volunteers.
"Me too." Jungkook silently adds.
Jimin was about to move to Seokjin's side but Taehyung notices and tugs him back his t-shirt.
"Stick with me." He whispers in his ear from behind him. Jimin doesn't question him but nods.
"Okay, the rest go find something to eat with Taehyung."
They all nod and split up.
"So...what do you guys feel like getting?" Taehyung asks.
"Anything would be good at the moment." Hoseok scans over the shelves.
"Ramen?" He picks up a cup of one dollar instant ramen.
Taehyung observes it. He's never had food so...simple. Not wanting to seem like a over privileged snob, he nods. How bad could it be?
"Get some for the others too. Jimin, let's go look for some snacks." Taehyung pulls Jimin away by the elbow leaving Hoseok with Yoongi.
Hoseok grabs seven cups of the spicy food and moves to place them in the basket in Yoongi's hands.
"What are you doing." Yoongi raises a brow at him.
"I'm putting the ramen in the basket. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Not in my basket." He pulls it behind his body.
Hoseok lets out a burdened breath. "Fine then, Yoongi. Have fun walking around holding an empty basket like a weirdo."
"Fine then, Hoseok. Have fun walking around holding seven cups of ramen like a weirdo."
They both split up and try to get as far away from each other as possible only to both end up at the cash register.
"Oh come on!" The say in union and kick the ground.
"Jimin, how's your arm?" Taehyung asks, attempting to start a conversation.
"I-It's, okay. It does hurt from time to time but...it's all good." He answers not looking at Taehyung's face. It was still weird for him to be in the presence of Taehyung. He loved dancing to his music. One of his favourite artists.
"Hm." Why is he so interested? He has no idea. Ever since he met Jimin, he just felt like being close to him. Friends.
"Pick anything you want." He gestures to the shelves packed with various snacks.
Jimin is suddenly triggered. He looks at the foods and feels nauseau, his heart rate kicking up.
"I-I'm okay. No thanks." He looks down at his feet.
"It wasn't a question." Taehyung chuckles and grabs a bunch of different snacks from the shelve.
"Help me carry these." He extends some of the bags towards Jimin. The boys carries these with his only good arm as best as he can.
"Thanks, let's go now." Taehyung beams at him and leads him to the cash register where they reunite with the others pay for everything.
The group of boys then go around at the back of the truck and dump everything in there. They climb up and begin eating.
"I have found got hot water." Namjoon comes back with a kettle.
"Where'd you get that?" Hoseok asks.
"The cashier was kind enough to provide us with it." He says while pouring some in his own cup and handing over the kettle to the others. Seokjin takes the pills and closes his water bottle eyeing the food they got. Yoongi hands the kettle towards him and he's about the prepare his noodles when a voice screams in his head.
'hungry to bed hungry to rise makes Seokjinie smaller in size'
'put that away! How many times have I told you that you shouldn't be eating'
Seokjin snaps out of his thoughts and simply passes the kettle onto Taehyung.
"But you haven't used it Hyung." He tilts his head towards him.
"It's okay, I'll go after you and Jimin." He waves him off. Taehyung shruggs and pours the liquid into his cup.
"Here Jimin, letmme help you." He then grabs Jimin's cup and prepares the noodles for him.
"N-no Taehyung, it ok...ay." he trails off. Jimin takes a moment to just stare at the boy. Now that he's removed his face mask, he can now fully see his good looking face. He watches as Taehyung, who has no idea what to do, looks at the other guys and mimics their actions with such...care.
'why is he being so nice to me?'
"...min."
"Jimin."
"I'm sorry, what?" He snaps out of his trance.
"Here's your food, eat up."
He looks at the extended cup. He hesitantly brings his hands to it. Taehyung then hands him a pair of chopsticks. Jimin tries to use them but fails with his useless left hand.
'an excuse...'
"S-sorry. Can't eat with my left hand." He pushes the food away. Taehyung looks at his bruised up face a bit disappointed.
"Oh no. M-maybe I could...feed you?" Taehyung fumbles for the cup. Jimin's cheeks flush.
Why is he so insistant on helping?
He thinks about if for a while. He wants to say no. Reject the offer but...he's too nice. Jimin would come off as mean if he were to hurt Taehyung like that.
"Jebal?" Taehyung pleads. He just wants to see Jimin, healthy and well.
'this is not going to go well.'
Seokjin has already prepared his meal. Now comes the hard part...eating it. If he rejects it, it wouldn't be nice to Taehyung who cared enough to buy them something to eat...
"Seokjin?"
"Hm."
"Are you alright?" Namjoon worries.
"Yeah. I'm okay."
"Hm. Eat up."
He nods. He picks up the noodles and brings them to his lips. The scent nauseating.
He looks around to see the boys looking at him.
'okay Seokjin, you can do this.'
"Come on, open up." Taehyung thrusts the food infront of Jimin's lips.
'okay Jimin, you can do this.'
The boy opens his mouth up. The food enters his mouth. His eyes are closed tightly.
'just chew and swallow Seokjin'
'just chew and swallow Jimin'
And they do so.
"I'm sorry." Jimin whispers to Taehyung with tear filled eyes and quickly gets up, followed by Seokjin. They both hop out of the van and bolt to the bathrooms in the convinient store.
The remaining boys look at each other with wide eyes and confusion.
The duo enter two different stalls and shut the door. Throwing themselves to the ground, on their knees they surrender, spilling the contents into the bathroom.
"Someone should check on them." Namjoon says.
"I'll go."
"Me too."
Taehyung and Hoseok hop out and run to the store bathrooms. When they enter, they hear pained groans and gaging sounds.
"Hey, guys. Are you alright, what's happening?" Hoseok panics.
"Go away!" The boys manage in union.
"What do you mean 'go away'? We can't do that. You're clearly unwell." Taehyung speaks.
Jimin breaks into sobs. Everything hurts.
His ribs.
His chest.
His stomach.
His head.
His heart.
The last part? He has no reason why.
"You get Jimin, I'll get Hyung." Hoseok instructs.
"Jimin! I'm coming in."
"Hyung I'm coming in."
"No!" They cry out.
"Yes."
Hoseok slams the door open. There, he finds Seokjin leaning against the wall, his knees to his chest. Slow tears move down his beautiful face. Hoseok doesn't know what comes over him but he throws himself at the older and engulfs him in a hug.
"It's going to be okay." He mutters. Not that he knows what's happening but it feels like the right thing to say at the moment.
Seokjin shakes his head no against his chest. 'its not. It'll never be'
"Jimin, look at me." He tilts the said boy's head up to meet his eyes. Jimin can't seem to stop his hiccups, his tear stained face breaking a small part of the other's heart.
"Everything is going to be okay, hey." He moves the strands of hair away from his face.
"No it's not. Why do you even care anyways? Why don't you just leave me alone?"
Taehyung bits his bottom lip and sighs. Why does he care anyways? Good question...
"Because. I-I just care...about you."
Jimin looks at him shocked. Why would anyone care about him. Especially Taehyung, a celebrity like him shouldn't even be sparring him a single glance. He's ugly, uneducated, tiny, messed up. Is what he thinks of himself.
"Ugh. I don't know. But please just talk to me. Tell me what's going on, maybe it'll make you feel better."
"Famous Kim Taehyung shouldn't be concerned about a nobody's problems."
Taehyung is silenced for a while and sighs.
"Fine, I guess you're not ready to speak yet but just know..." He cups his cheek gingerly. Jimin flinches for a while but relaxes into the touch when a wave of emotions attacks him.
"I'll always be here for you whenever you're ready."
Seokjin blinks up at Hoseok's smiling face.
Lie.
He won't always be there.
They'll have to go their separate ways eventually. Hoseok might have a family to reunite with and for some reason Seokjin doesn't want that. Maybe it's because he doesn't have a family to go back to...
But for now, he just nods and wipes his tears away.
"G-Gomawo." He looks up at the boy with a slight pout.
"Gwaenchana." Hoseok extends a hand to help him out.
"I bet on my non existent one hundred dollars that they went to do the nasty with each other, Taehyung and Hoseok knew and went to watch." Yoongi tosses a chip in his mouth and says dryly. Jungkook chokes on his noodles and Namjoon widens his eyes.
"I-I don't think that's precise." Namjoon says.
"Oh, yeah. And how would you know Mr I dress like I'm going to a job interview as a fucking accountant?" Yoongi tugs at Namjoon's black tie. Namjoon rolls his eyes at him.
"Stop." He sways his hand away. "There must be something wrong with the two."
"Yeah, it's called ranging hormones." He points out still sticking to his previous statement. Namjoon face palms and sighs.
"No. Think about it. Haven't you noticed how hesitant they were when food was mentioned. When Jimin didn't seem keen on the idea of going to get food and tried to go with Seokjin. Seokjin avoiding being hesitant to eat. And as soon as they swallowed their first bite, they went to the stalls." Namjoon points out. "And plus, not to be rude but both of them are quite tiny in size."
Yoongi thinks about it.
"So, what you're saying dork is that they're..."
"Living with eating disorders." He nods and a tiny gasps is heard from the maknae.
"Well damn." Yoongi tilts the potatoe chip plastic up and shakes the remaining bits into his mouth.