jungkook clenched his fists as he watched a stretcher with a large white cloth draped over it being carried across the road and past all the interviewers at the scene. but before he can register the unwelcomed burning sensation on the back of his eyes, he hears a familiar voice calling out his name.
whipping his head to the side immediately, he sees taehyung weakly reaching up towards him from the elevation of his own stretcher.
the younger boy grabs the hand without any hesitation. "how are you feeling?" he questioned despite not being sure if he even wanted to know.
"i'm scared," taehyung hoarsely let out with a shaky breath.
"you'll be fine, tae," jungkook reassured, finding the courage to gently placing his lips against the other's hand as a tiny form of comfort.
"r-really?" taehyung struggled to speak, throat still aching from not being able to drink any water for the continuous 2 days of being holed up. "am i finally s-safe? please tell me, jungkook," he says, tone wavering slightly.
"yeah," jungkook replied while slowly placing taehyung's hand back down. "yeah, you are. i promise you."
taehyung, despite suffering the agonizing torture of his own father as well as the shock of his best friend's sudden death, still managed to pull a small smile up onto his face — a smile comprised of so much remaining gratitude and affection that it threatens to rip open jungkook's now fragile heart.
"thank you, kookie," the older male whispered and finally let his heavy eyelids fall. within seconds, jungkook sees taehyung being lifted up onto the ambulance by the paramedics.
a female paramedic who was busy writing down information onto a clipboard hastily turns to jungkook to ask him if he was going to come along, to which he instantly nodded. however, as the ravenette gets ready to board the vehicle himself, he catches a glimpse of a familiar male being shoved inside a police vehicle in the distance.
at that moment, jungkook wished that taehyung actually killed him back there.
the captured male briefly looks behind him, locking his cold eyes with jungkook's unfazed ones one last time. jungkook then scoffed, turning his head away and climbed onto the ambulance, muttering a soft 'serves him right'.
a/n: the banners are back! also, daehyun didn't actually die because yes, taehyung shot him but he didn't have the heart to legit kill him lol