taehyung focus
taehyung licks his lips as he surveys the almost domestic scene before him, lidded eyes assessing the state of his room with a small smile appearing on his features.
to his left, sharing the other side of taehyung's king sized bed, is his brother, seokjin, who continues to animatedly watch the film and manically shovel buttery popcorn into his mouth. draped over his feet is jae who's similarly munching on popcorn and enjoying the film. taehyung should probably also pay attention to the highly rated film that jae had suggested but his mind keeps straying to a certain boy named jeon jungkook — a boy who happens to unknowingly render taehyung into a dazed, lovestruck mess.
but this time it's different; rather than longingly daydream about jungkook's softly defined features or mellow toned voice, taehyung's torn between two sides of a debate occurring behind his aching temples. an ongoing internal debate which argues the increasingly irritating question: should i share about jungkook with hyung and jae or should i just stay quiet?
taehyung, if he wanted to, could actually suppress any knowledge of jungkook for as long as he wants — he's managed, for a long time, with refraining from expressing his reluctance to inherit the company from his father, so he finds it, almost overwhelmingly, easy to keep himself to himself.
still, it's getting a little lonely solely harbouring the fact he's dated— no, is dating an utterly amazing boy that isn't so amazing in other people's eyes. he just wants to share the fact that he's in love with someone without being judged mercilessly. it's the slightest bit upsetting too to hear insensitive police officers easily ask preconceived questions that portray jungkook in a bad light. (for example; "did your kidnapper ever pressure you into sexual abuse?" no, i was the one who actually instigated sex between us, officer).
hearing the same, tiring questions being asked over and over again drives taehyung insane — it makes him almost want to oust his secret to the world through an amplified megaphone, scream the fact that the prestigious heir to kim enterprises, has fallen in love with his captor and that the feeling is utterly mutual.
taehyung sighs now, the need to express his feelings amounting to a considerable amount of irritation bubbling within his body. he just wants people to know that he's not mentally unstable (as his therapists have described him to be), but in love, in love with a doe eyed boy who makes his heart ache painfully the further away he gets from him.
upon hearing taehyung's small sigh, seokjin tears his gaze away from the film and sends him a quizzical look, cheeks endearingly stuffed with sweet popcorn and retaining him unable to speak his concern. the younger of the two, taehyung, smiles apologetically and hurriedly glances away before his hyung could question his slightly off behaviour.
"you good? you don't seem particularly entertained by the film." seokjin comments, slowly chewing his way through his mouthful of popcorn, "if you want, we could always switch to one of your old favourites?"
taehyung, still pretending to look entertained by the scene depicted on the flat screen television, shakes his head, murmuring, "no, this is good, hyung."
seokjin looks unconvinced for a second but turns away nevertheless, retraining his gaze onto the television but not before he mumbles, "tae, if you ever wanna talk about what happened in the past two months or if you ever wanna discuss utterly random topics like the freaking weather, then feel free to." he murmurs, staring at the screen,"hyung's here for you. i might not always be here physically because of overseas business trips but im only a phone call away, tae. i hope you know that."
taehyung swallows thickly at seokjin's words.
his brother's always been supportive of him, always. ever since he first stepped foot into the kim mansions twenty years ago, seokjin's provided him with endless encouragement, always motivating him and making taehyung strive to be his best, to be like his hyung.
he remembers first meeting his seokjin hyung years ago, looking up with widened eyes at the neatly dressed boy who had smiled at him before wordlessly taking his clammy palm, encasing his hand with warmth. they were supposed to have met over brunch; a nice affair done calmly outside the house in the garden after scarfing down delicacies procured by the chefs. only rather than be eaten, the foods were ignored as daesuk and sooyeon engaged into yet another argument in front of their children, both spewing harsh curses that caused a small taehyung to meekly glance down at his folded hands sitting in his lap.
but he remembers the second sooyeon started directly cursing him, a hand slightly bigger than his had come into his line of vision and grasped onto the back of his hand, enveloping it whole. it was seokjin's hand.
twenty years later, taehyung knows, although not physically, that that hand still holds on to his tightly. the notion that his hyung's always got his back for him is perhaps the reason why he suddenly blurts out; "hyung, there's, uh, there's something id actually like to say. something ive been meaning to tell you for a little while now."
wh–what. . . what are you doing, taehyung?
seokjin flickers his gaze towards jae who's still strewn over taehyung's feet languidly, enjoying both the popcorn and the film thoroughly, completely unaware of seokjin's eyes boring into him. "d'you want jae to be involved?" he asks quietly, motioning towards the boy with his index finger.
no, no, no — i don't want anyone involved!
taehyung simply nods, knowing that jae similarly has his back for him. licking his suddenly dry lips, taehyung wordlessly watches as seokjin childishly flings a popcorn piece at jaehwa's head, effortlessly causing the latter to turn his head and frown at the two boys, already digging into his bowl of popcorn to return the attack. he's abruptly stopped however by seokjin.
taehyung, no, don't tell them about jungkook! they'll think you're delusional—!
"taehyung has something he'd like to tell us." seokjin says slowly, pointedly. the frown on jae's face is immediately wiped off.
taehyung gulps. fuck. no — don't do this.
"firstly, p–promise," taehyung gulps, "me that you won't speak about whatever im about to tell you to anyone else except us three."
"promise." seokjin replies easily, readily.
oh god, taehyung. you're really going doing it.
jaehwa, on the other hand, is less ready to bear the possible effects of taehyung's promise; "tae, if it's something that relates closely to you, i have to report it to your father. it's my job—"
"jae, you're my best friend before my father's employee." taehyung quietly reminds, his brown eyes flickering upwards at jae.
the aforementioned bites his lip hard in thought as he regards taehyung carefully, mentally contemplating his choices before sighing heavily seconds later. "alright, i promise."
"thank you. i, um, have another request to make," taehyung says in a tentative tone as he detaches his gaze from jae to look down at his fumbling, nervous hands, "and it's that i don't want to be, uh, distracted so no comments until ive finished. is that. . . is that okay?"
taehyung, don't—
"that's perfectly fine."
"yeah, yeah — that's okay."
taehyung takes a deep breath in, then a deep breath out as he glances upwards at his hyung and jae who give encouraging nods and small smiles — nods and smiles which encompass taehyung's nerves whole and calm him, making his weakly return their smiles.
thankful for the two not forcefully pressing him for information, taehyung decides to finally speak up.
"jeon jungkook." taehyung swallows, "is the name of my kidnapper—"
"taehyung, this is valuable information—"
"jae, you just promised taehyung—!"
"—and the name of my. . . boyfriend."
jesus christ, taehyung, you've gone and done the one thing you weren't supposed to do.
immediately seokjin and jae abruptly halt in the middle of their sentences, heads jerking to face taehyung and study the apprehensive boy with widened, unblinking eyes. having fallen into a stunned stupor, taehyung bites his lower lip to reprimand himself for already wanting to burst into tears at the looks on his brother's and friend's face.
"taehyung?" seokjin chokes out.
rather bawl like a baby, taehyung takes a deep breath yet again and continues, despite the hefty lump forming in his throat.
"i know what you're thinking already but it's not like that — jungkook didn't force me in any way to become, well, his. there was no emotional or physical abuse involved. . . just my feelings," taehyung whispers, balling his hands into determined fists, "i, i, don't really know how it happened but somehow, along the way, we fell in love with each other. it sounds like a shitty romance novel, i know, but listen guys. . ." and taehyung continues to describe his story from the start; from when jungkook had stepped into his bedroom, armed with a gun, to when he laid with him in tacky cotton sheets, spending the last few moments together in that rundown motel (keeping the explicit details to himself, of course).
+
"i, uh, y–yeah. that's it. do you—do you have any questions?" taehyung finishes bluntly and awkwardly once he's done, hands clenching and unclenching as he waits for his hyung's and jae's response. glancing upwards from where he's been staring hard at a small crinkle in his satin sheets, taehyung looks at the two, timidity obvious on his features.
seokjin thinks for a second before tiredly rubbing his eyes and murmuring out, "it's your life tae, you choose how to lead it. if you wanna love this guy, then love him. im not going to stop you."
"r–really? are, are you serious, hyung?"
seokjin, at this, shoots him a weak smile. "i do have my doubts and worries but from what you're telling me, this guy seems to genuinely care for you and i guess—i guess that's all that i want from him."
heart filling with warmth and positively beaming at his hyung's words, taehyung turns his attention to jae who stares into the distance, looking to be in deep thought.
"jae?" taehyung prompts, feeling immense joy overcome him.
but his evident happiness isn't shared: at taehyung's voice, a stony faced jae climbs off the bed and without sending a glance, let alone a few words, he tersely walks out of the bedroom, leaving taehyung and seokjin behind.
the former's warm smile slips off his face.
that was four months ago.
four months later and taehyung is still waiting for jungkook.
seokjin focus
taehyung rests his small lined notepad to the side of him, the black biro he'd been using to scrawl notes to jungkook follows suit, lying besides the third notepad taehyung had managed to dutifully fill with letters to jungkook.
sighing heavily, the boy falls back onto his pillow and lies there, staring upwards at the ceiling that towers above him and upholds the extravagant chandelier that taehyung's come to adore over the years. his lidded chocolate coloured eyes lazily study the beautiful ornamental piece as he sighs once more — his sigh, this time, sounds increasingly heavier.
"if you want attention, just say so, taehyung."
taehyung smiles weakly at his brother's words and sits up with a groan, lazily pushing his hair out of his line of vision. his eyes find his amused seokjin hyung lying across his armchair, lazily tapping away at an ipad and sipping on his lukewarm green tea.
"i don't want attention, i want prince eric." he sighs.
"who?"
taehyung ignores his hyung's question and continues inaudibly speaking with a tired expression on his face; "it's been four months, hyung, and he's still made no indication of him coming back for me. just how long should i wait?" taehyung asks seokjin rhetorically, "another month? maybe more? a year? . . . forever? maybe, maybe he's not even coming." taehyung sighs heavily, "or maybe im thinking too much into this, maybe he's on his way but he's just got a little delayed? i just. . . im just worried about him." taehyung finishes, sounding defeated.
jin thinks for a second; whilst he believes taehyung words when he claims this jeon guy is caring, loving, sweet, handsome, kind hearted, adorable, etc, he's hesitant towards their relationship — after all, taehyung's supposedly dating his captor, not the best combination in seokjin's eyes.
still, this is his baby brother he's talking about, so when taehyung stutteringly and nervously announced that he's in love, seokjin, being the best hyung, had simply smiled and put on a supportive front for taehyung. the front conceals the back well though, the back of his mind which is exhaustively worries about taehyung.
i think i should let him down easily — no bullshit, just simply explain to him that you don't think he's going to be coming anytime soon and he should start thinking about moving on. it's the best for taehyung right now, seokjin thinks, yeah, that's—
seokjin's thought track gets abruptly halted when he momentarily glances at a quiet taehyung who sits on the edge of the bed, looking expectantly at seokjin with hopeful eyes, gnawing on his lower lip and reddening the soft flesh as he waits for his brother's response.
immediately seokjin's sure decision diminishes into thin air.
look at him, he looks so fucking lost. fuck, i can't do this, i can't do this to him. i don't want to be the one who douses all his hope and breaks his heart. that's not my job, no, i can't break it down for him. not when he's looking so vulnerable.
but he wants advice. what do i advise him?
put yourself in taehyung's shoes and think, jin — think about what taehyung would like to hear, think about what he needs.
careful, seokjin switches his ipad off and sets the device flat on his lap before taking a slow sip of his green tea.
"what, what i think is that you should do is stop the poor damsel in distress act and take the reins instead. you should go get your stupid prince charming," seokjin murmurs pointedly, "or in this case, prince eric."
"don't feed him bullshit ideas, hyung," a stern looking jae mutters as he steps into the room, folding his arms in a determined fashion and leaning his upper body against the open doorway of taehyung's bedroom.
unlike seokjin, jaehwa's been the opposite of accepting and warm — he tries to, he really does try for taehyung but he can't help but feel immensely hostile towards this unknown jeon jungkook guy. after all, this guy is a criminal, a criminal who's murdered, kidnapped, extorted and done so many more acts of law breaking. you really can't blame jae for having his suspicions of naive taehyung being abused into thinking he loves his captor through either substance (drugs, alcohol, etc), mental or physical abuse.
jin shrugs nonchalantly as he continues taking sips of his green tea, "it's only a small suggestion."
"a suggestion which your parents and i won't allow you to take, taehyung." jae mutters in warning, "you've only just got back to us, im not letting you go back to this possible psycho." jae crudely puts but the assertive tone his voice possesses doesn't match at all with his tired, lidded gaze.
taehyung focus
"i know you won't." taehyung mumbles almost inaudibly, looking down at his slipper clad feet, "and mom and dad won't even bother to listen to me — they'll just think im delusional and send me off for more therapy."
jae doesn't protest, knowing that taehyung's premonition about his parents would certainly come true if he were to tell them about jeon jungkook.
seokjin heaves himself up from off the armchair and stands up. "then make them listen." he hums before walking out of taehyung's bedroom, ipad tucked under his arm and green tea warming his left hand.
"hyung, i just said not to—" jae argues upon hearing seokjin's words but taehyung fails to hear what his bodyguard/best friend says next, his mind too busy with processing his brother's words.
(you should go get your stupid prince charming)
(make them listen)
taehyung looks down at his fumbling hands and chews on his lower lip, thinking.
[ THREE WEEKS LATER ]
for the past three weeks, taehyung's been apprehensively and carefully considering seokjin's words: should he put an end to this damsel in distress act he's created for himself and climb his white maned horse, grab a sheathed sword and take on the role of prince charming?
a part of him, an increasingly large part of him, wants to becomethe prince charming, wants to desperately put a stop to his pitiful pining for jungkook. but another part of him, a more rational part, refrains him from hurtling towards his walk in closet and hastily packing his things. a part of him that doesn't want to cause his family grief by leaving again.
he finds it too difficult to decide by himself and finds himself yearning for someone's fair, just opinion on what he should do, to have someone gently push him in the right direction, guiding him.
that someone seems to have sensed his helplessness because a few seconds later, taehyung vibrates loudly against the oakwood surface of his bedside table.
reluctant with idea of getting up, taehyung groans out loud as he lifts his back off the well crumpled bedsheets and reaches for his mobile phone.
YOU GOT A NEW MESSAGE FROM
SEOKJIN HYUNG!
VIEW MESSAGE?
YES | NO
seokjin hyung: tae💗💖💘💝💕💞💓💗💖💕💘💞💝💞💗💖💕💘💘
seokjin hyung: what's the name of your kidnapper☠🗡🔫💣again?⁉️❓⁉️❓
you: jungkook
you: and what the hell hyung
seokjin hyung: and his surname?🙄
you: jeon
seokjin hyung: okay, hold on🤗⏰
you: ??
you: hyung?
seokjin hyung: hm🤔
seokjin hyung: okay, what were the names of your friends👬 again? what's the name of the guy who won all those street races?
seokjin hyung: 🚗🚕🚙🚗🚕🚙
you: huh?
you: hyung
you: what're you doing?
you: and stop adding emojis to your texts
you: i feel like im messaging an eleven year old
seokjin hyung: they're so cute though 😥
seokjin hyung: be nice
seokjin hyung: and im helping you find your "prince eric"
you: what
seokjin hyung: your popular hyung has a friend from college who's coincidentally the head of data at the police department!! and ive got her to help me out a little by searching criminal records for your kidnapper's/boyfriend's name
seokjin hyung: oh but don't worry, i made sure to not mention you and your relationship👨❤️👨💖😘👬 with him
seokjin hyung: she just thinks im trying to look for the criminal history of some of our company's employees
seokjin hyung: you can trust her👍😋
seokjin hyung: oh
seokjin hyung: no names have come up for jeon jungkook
you: try hoseok, jimin and yoongi!!
seokjin hyung: dawon can't find him
seokjin hyung: it literally comes up blank when you search his name in
seokjin hyung: if you google him too he doesn't come up with any webpages
seokjin hyung: she thinks it's because someone's been hacking into the database and erasing his details
seokjin hyung: and dawon tells me that searching for those people will be incredibly hard because there's a million yoongis👦 and jimins👧 in the world🌍
you: oh no
you: i don't know their surnames :/
you: by the way jimin's a boy
seokjin hyung: she says she needs a surname otherwise it's futile
you: oh
you: oh!! hoseok hyung had a street racer name he uses
you: could we track him down using that?
seokjin hyung: she says she could find his real full name if he's registered under "aliases"
you: uh
you: i think
you: i forgot his street racer name
you: fuck
you: i forgot it
you: fuck, i remember it was really simple
seokjin hyung: think
seokjin hyung: and no swearing😡❌
you: i can't hyung
you: i can't believe this
you: how can i remember ten paged speeches but not remember someone's simple name?
you: god this is so frustrating
seokjin hyung: dawon can't help if you don't give her solid names
seokjin hyung: don't beat yourself up taehyung-ah!
seokjin hyung: maybe it'll come to you later on and once you do well find your guy
seokjin hyung: it's okay
you: sigh
you: yeah
you: ill try and figure it
you: thanks hyung
you: i really appreciate the help — you're super super busy and yet you're helping me out :')
seokjin hyung: don't sweat it kid
seokjin hyung: gotta go, i have work to attend to and dawon does too😋😋😋
you: oh tell dawon-ssi i said thanks too
you: talk to you later hyung
[read at 8:43PM]
you: hyung hyung hyung omg
you: hyung!!
you: please tell dawon to try "jeon junghoon"
you: jung with a HOON
you: !!!
seokjin hyung: who's jeon junghoon
you: ill explain later just please try it!!
seokjin hyung: she's searched and she's found two results
seokjin hyung: one lives in japan and got arrested for shoplifting four years ago
seokjin hyung: and the other one lives in busan and got arrested for multiple things
seokjin hyung: DUI, arson, kidnapping, extortion, possession of drugs, fabrication of false evidence, escape from lawful authority, forcible entry, public inebriation, underage inebriation and the list goes on
seokjin hyung: wow it really does.
you: the second one's him
seokjin hyung: you sure?
you: sounds like him — so yes
you: so can we track him?
seokjin hyung: dawon says "we sure can"
[A/N: this was rewritten!]