namjoon wondered what he should start with: talking to seokjin, or apologizing to weisoo. of course the guilt weighed him down and the last thing he wanted was to apologize, but his conscience was eating at him and he didn't want that. however, he ended up in front of his own room, and opened the door without knocking, to find taehyung plopped down on the bed, legs wide open, with a book between them.
he's writing again, ever since that time namjoon first asked about the content if the book, he never asked again. and now, in an attempt of self-distraction, he found the need to ask about it again.
"what are you writing there?" he asked lightly, smiling at taehyung and trying to peer over his shoulder to take a look. namjoon knew that this wasn't something he should do, but the way taehyung was so secretive about it from the very beginning was very anxious. could he be writing some bad things that have influenced him? curse words? was he writing about how much of a bad brother he is? it could be anything and nothing.
taehyung suddenly closed the book with a harsh thud, and pulled away from namjoon, to look at him with wide, agitated eyes. namjoon found himself blushing despite the fact that his intention wasn't to make taehyung angry. he stood up straight by the bed, and tugged his t-shirt down.
"hyung!" taehyung whined and covered the book with his arms. namjoon didn't miss the pout that formed as his little brother turned away from him. "stop."
"can't you tell me what you're writing? it can't be bad, yeah?" namjoon asked in a voice much lower than before, feeling more embarrassed, but still inquisitive. he took a seat beside taehyung, but made no more to try and grab or peek at the book again. "you're my sweet little taetae, you won't write bad stuff! is it a story?"
"mnnnn." taehyung whined and kept his back facing namjoon. he didn't say another word. namjoon didn't comment, and leaned back against the headboard with a sigh. he picked up his phone from where it was on taehyung's other side, ignoring the hitch in his little brother's breaths. he unlocked his phone: no notifications. it wasn't like he expected anything, but taehyung could have swiped over something and read it by mistake. it could happen.
"did anyone call or text?" namjoon opened the call log to find it empty. no new calls, no new texts. taehyung let out a noise of denial while shaking his head. namjoon sighed, and then spread his legs straight in front of him. he opened a game on his phone, and began playing nonchalantly.
"alright."
and even though he felt weirded out by taehyung's antics, he couldn't find it in him to comment. and so they both stayed silent until dinner time.
¥¥¥
"so, yeah... uh... update me!"
it was safe to say that hoseok had no idea what he was doing. the detective leading the investigation alongside him and weisoo was kind enough to fill him in on everything they found out. chalk marks and permanent white markers outlined six bodies on the floor, but it was tough to do (according to the detective) due to the state of the office room. it was in a mess, with broken windows, torn curtains and chipped wood—even some of the floor planks were dislocated, and the chandelier hanging from the ceiling had fallen and shattered somewhere on the floor. it had been removed by the police crew for safety, leaving only mere shards as a sign of what happened.
"...and we found no contact information on their phones, not even a sim card. it appears that they took the "off grid" route. what were they hiding from? probably, as we can see, the murderer, which we aren't sure of, but it could be a possibility." the detective spoke smoothly, and hoseok squinted to read his tag.
"detective... kim taehyung?" he asked, the man nodded. he looked much older than he was, but as his face softened at hoseok's question, he looked almost as young as a teenager.
"you can call me j.seph," the detective answered lowly. he looked impatient, but his tone was very kind. hoseok was confused about the relation of the nickname to his actual name, but he did not comment. "i wanted my friends to call me joseph but they all got confused and made it sound like j.seph so, here we are. please feel free to be comfortable with me, i want this investigation to go as smoothly as possible, your majesty."
"of course... j.seph," hoseok said slowly, before clearing his throat. he tried to voice out his question properly, hence his speech slowed. "are we sure that... some of the dead bodies are from the victim's sides? maybe some of the murderer's accomplices died in the process?"
"anything is a possibility, but think about this, your majesty," taehyung—j.seph replied smoothly, as if he was expecting the question. hoseok felt embarrassed now. "if it had been someone from the murderer's accomplices, would you think they'd leave their body behind and risk being discovered? their accomplices could carry any information with them, for example their phone or wallet..."
"right..." hoseok, then sighed, and started pacing towards the broken desk located at the far end of the room, in front of the window. he listened as j.seph described the state the bodies were in. the bodies were taken for autopsy, hence their absence from the scene.
"most of them were lying on their backs, however one of them was lying on their stomach, reaching forward for something that wasn't there when we came," j.seph put his hands in his pockets and straightened up. "it could have been something to save that person, or—"
"they could have been reaching for a person? you said there were seven blood samples or something but only six bodies were found? maybe the dead person was reaching for the missing seventh?" hoseok interrupted quickly. weisoo stood by silently, watching everything unfold with a blank stare. j.seph nodded with a sigh, before trying to touch the desk.
hoseok saw papers peeking out from one of the drawers. he picked one of them up, as j.seph continued speaking.
"for all we know, it could even be self defence, we don't know if these people have any enemies, and we barely just knew their names..."
hoseok zoned out while weisoo listened to j.seph, unbothered. he nodded along to every word the detective said, listening intently with his brows furrowed. hoseok reached inside the drawers and picked up the pile of papers, and set them neatly on the desk. he picked up the first one, and to his luck, it was a list of names, some of which were of the dead bodies in this case!
wow, luck was truly on his side that day...
hoseok found himself grinning at the thought of solving the case so quickly, and the thought of bringing a smile up to namjoon's face with the same pace, knowing he had served yoongi's murderer justice. but as king, hoseok had several limits, one of which was to be unbiased, and doing this case without an ulterior motive. however, he couldn't help the swell in his chest at the thought of namjoon being proud... is that what love does? giving him thoughts of his lover 24/7?
he sure was enjoying it.