It was 11 pm in the night as quiet footsteps approached the bus stop. Taehyun was glad he remembered to pack his coat, it was freezing out here. Of course he stayed back at the library yet again to finish his last report. Literature majors. He watched as his breath came out fogged up in the cold air.
As he finally reached the bus stop, he expected it to be empty, as usual. But this time there was someone else inside. A boy sat hunched over on the corner of the bench, slightly long hair covering his face. Taehyun thought he looked a little creepy but regardless didn't seem to be harmful. He quietly took a seat on the bench with a respectable distance from said boy who hadn't even looked up yet. He assumed the boy had seemingly fallen asleep.
Two buses were scheduled to arrive at this time. One at 11.30 and the other at 12. Taehyun was glad he got here in time for the first one. He pulled out his phone and found two texts from his sister asking if he'd gotten home yet and another from his best friend asking him about an assignment. He sighed, replying to both and pocketing his phone. He glanced to the side once again at the boy hunched over, almost looking away until he noticed the boy's pale hands were slightly blue.
Taehyun's eyes widened. There wasn't any sight of blood nearby but the guy's hands were turning blue at an alarming rate. Without wasting any more time, Taehyun got up and rushed over to the guy trying to shake him awake. Turns out he wasn't asleep. His eyes were very much open as he stared at the floor with a blank expression. Taehyun's mind was buzzing with so many questions. The minute he shook the guy, he looked up at him.
"What's up?" He asked with the most calm expression possible.
Taehyun gave him a confused look. "You're turning alarmingly blue? Don't you realize?" he asked, a little frustrated.
The guy laughed. "Oh this? Don't worry, I just swallowed 12 sleeping pills at once, maybe its the side effect."
Taehyun wanted to cry. "I- what!? Why would you swallow 12 pills?" he asked, now starting to feel a little concerned as well as scared.
The guy rolled his eyes. "To die, obviously. But looks like it isn't working yet again." He shrugged and got up, stretching out his arms. Never in his life had Taehyun encountered such a bizarre situation. Was this guy being sarcastic or for real? Either way, if he died right now, Taehyun did not want to deal with false murder charges. He had more than enough stress going on with his university right now.
"Uh, I really hope you're joking right now. 12 sleeping pills could be really dangerous for you. I suggest you throw them up before they cause serious side effects." He said, starting sound more scared than concerned.
The long haired guy clicked his tongue before raising an eyebrow. "I'm aware they're dangerous pretty boy. That's exactly why I took them." he said, with a slightly annoyed tone now. He put his arms behind his head and turned to face Taehyun completely, slowly looking him up and down.
'Pretty boy' certainly didn't go unnoticed by Taehyun. Of course he had been complimented by people a lot before because of his elegant features. But in this situation? He was plain weirded out.
"Um- I suppose you should seek help then. This isn't norma-" Before he could finish his sentence, the guy's vision glazed over and he began to fall. Taehyun immediately lurched forward, catching the boy before his head hit the floor. He internally thanked his quick reflexes. He also cursed his luck to betray him at the worst of times.
When he wished for a balanced life, this is certainly not what he meant.
The boy's head lolled over to the side in his arms, freaking Taehyun out. He quickly checked for a pulse and let out a relieved sigh when it felt normal. The boy's breathing was a little erratic which was definitely the side effect of the pills now acting up. His body must have been forced into complete exhaustion all of a sudden.
Right at that minute, the 11.30 bus arrived. Taehyun unironically wanted to die right now. How much worse could this situation get. The bus was pretty much empty, and he contemplated just leaving the guy laying on the floor and boarding the bus, as he seemed to be fine enough but he couldn't bring himself to. The bus driver gave him an annoyed look muttering something about stupid drunk teenagers who couldn't take care of themselves.
"He's not drunk! He passed out after a....concerning act-" Taehyun tried to explain but the bus driver brushed him off saying if his friend was as drunk as if to pass out, he'd rather not have him board the bus. The engines roared as the bus sped away.
Taehyun was 5 seconds away from screaming but he controlled himself. There was another bus in 30 minutes. He would board it, no matter if the guy woke up or not. He was not going to have a meltdown in the middle of a Friday night.
Oh right, the guy. He looked down at the unconscious face of the boy in his arms. He looked so at peace, and was also strikingly good looking. Taehyun's mind wandered around every possible question. But right now the best he could do was sit the guy upright and try to force some water down his throat.
He pulled out his bottle from his backpack and slipped a gulp of water into said boy's mouth, gently trying to shake him awake once again. When he didn't budge, Taehyun began contemplating if he should call an ambulance or not. He slipped some water into the boy's mouth again, pushing up his grey sleeve, silently feeling his pulse. His eyes widened at the large amount of cuts littering his hand, some looking pretty old and others looked fairly new.
Taehyun sighed, slowly rolling the boy's sleeve back down. He felt as if he was violating him by looking at them but couldn't help but feel concerned for him at this point.
After a few minutes, just as Taehyun was about to dial the ambulance, the boy gave a few violent coughs as if choking on air, and opened his eyes wide with a gasp startling Taehyun. Chest heaving, he looked around before locking eyes with the latter.
"You- you're still here?" He asked, words slurring a bit with a confused tone.
Taehyun gave him an annoyed look. "Of course I'm still here. You said you were fine and then just outright collapsed. And because of that I had to miss my bus." he said angrily.
The boy smiled sheepishly. "Well, we're strangers ya know? You could have just left me here, not like anything would matter to either of us anyway."
Taehyun huffed in annoyance. "Well unlike you, I've got some basic human decency in me, not to leave someone in need unattended."
The boy smiled again with a cunning tinge to it. "Well decent human, since you care so much about me, how about you introduce yourself. I'd atleast like to know the name of my savior."
"I'm Taehyun. Kang Taehyun. I'm a university student and I'm quite intrigued and annoyed by you right now." He said, clearly unamused, making the boy laugh.
"Nice to meet you Taehyun. I identify as kilometers per second." He smiled.
After looking at Taehyun's quizzical face, he laughed even more. "Man if you didn't get that, we can't be friends for sure."
Definitely wasn't looking forward to it, Taehyun thought.
"Anyway, I'm Choi Beomgyu. Also a university student except I don't remember when I even last went there and actually learned anything." He said shrugging. Taehyun stared at him in disbelief. How could someone be this nonchalant and yet intriguing at the same time?
"Wait, do you happen to go to HYBE as well? As far as I know, this bus stop is the closest to it." He asked.
Beomgyu nodded. "Pretty and smart? That's a great combo there Taehyun-ah." He said smiling, making the shorter boy look away huffing. "Let's board the next bus together then. Guess the world still needs me." Beomgyu said with a half smile before turning away to check if the bus had arrived yet.
Taehyun was still wary of the guy. He'd never seen him around HYBE in these past 2 years. But then again, it had 3 buildings and Taehyun's classes all occurred in the first one, so he wasn't sure about the other batches either way.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Beomgyu's voice interrupted his thoughts, making Taehyun look back at him. "Nothing, I was just thinking about university." he answered.
"What about you? What's on your mind right now?" Taehyun asked.
Beomgyu smiled as the headlights of the second bus approached.
"Death."
Taehyun groaned.
This was going to be a long night.