*taekook*

017

Yoongi was staring at Jeongguk with a look, the kind of look that made him feel guilty. The two of them stared at Jeongguk's cell phone, at the notification indicating that he had missed a call from Taehyung.

"You need to listen to the message," Yoongi scolded. Jeongguk flinched.

"Yoongi..." Jeongguk complained. He felt such an intense mix of self hatred and loneliness that he thought simply hearing Taehyung's voice would break him.

"You don't have to call him back, but at least listen to him," Yoongi growled. Jeongguk sighed, picking up the phone timidly and bringing it to his ear.

He nearly dropped it when he heard Taehyung's sob on the other end.

At first, he thought it must have been because of the breakup. Jeongguk didn't notice anything off until Taehyung spoke, voice unsteady and weak.

" Guk, I-It's Tae. I'm s-sor-sorry, I l-love you ," Taehyung's voice muttered, followed by hideous coughing and a pathetic whine of pain. Jeongguk's mind was racing, his body going into shock. Jeongguk didn't bother listening to the rest, dropping the phone and slipping his shoes on before bolting out the door, ignoring Yoongi's cries.

He drove to Minho's apartment way over the speed limit, body stiff and composed. He kept thinking that it wasn't real; that Taehyung had just used again, that Jeongguk would get there and Taehyung would be fine, he'd be smiling that stupid fucking grin that melted Jeongguk's heart, holding some weird drink he wanted Jeongguk to try and laughing. A deeper part of his mind was screaming that it wasn't going to be alright, Taehyung wasn't going to be there, that he'd show up dead in a ditch some days later, body already starting to decompose.

Jeongguk wasn't expecting to pull up to chaos.

Ambulances and police cars were swarming the building, the red and blue lights nearly blinding. Jeongguk parked hastily and ran to the front of the building, heart hammering in his chest.

A familiar head of orange hair caught his eye. Jimin was slouched on the front lawn, head in his hands, full-body sobs shaking him to the core. Two other men were kneeling with him, both of them crying too, not looking towards the building.

"Why h-him? Why did it h-have to be him?" Jimin was sobbing, his fingers grasping his hair so tightly that strands were ripping out.

The doors of the building suddenly opened, a grim group of paramedics holding open the doors.

"No," Jeongguk whispered, frozen on the spot, standing in the front of a forming group. Jeongguk started stumbling forwards, past the police officers telling him to stop.

"No, it can't- it's not- please, please," Jeongguk cried, watching as a stretcher was wheeled out of the building. A white sheet covered the body.

"Please, who- who- who was-" Jeongguk stuttered, eyes glued to that white sheet covering a familiar face shape.

"Sir, do you think you know the victim?" one of the paramedics asked. Jeongguk nodded frantically, unable to form words.

"Can... Can I-" Jeongguk tried, voice hardly audible. One of the paramedics in the front slowly pulled the sheet back, revealing the thing that Jeongguk was dreading most.

Taehyung's golden bronze skin was starting to pale, tear streaks painting his now-dull cheeks. Blood was crusting on the sides of his face and his neck, matted in his hair and soaking through the sheet. His beautiful eyes were wide open, a grey film starting to form on them as they stared up at nothing, eyelashes just as long and luscious as before. Some features were so fucking normal, like the slope of his nose and his fluffy hair and his full lips, but it was so eerily off, so haunting. Jeongguk sobbed, full-force cries that hurt his throat and made his gut feel queasy.

Jeongguk's words from earlier were replaying in his head, over and over and over, fucking harsh and rude and so mean. He would never be able to take them back, because Taehyung was gone. He was dead. He died alone, hurting, heartbroken.

"Did you know the victim, sir? Can you identify him?" the paramedic was asking. Jeongguk forced himself to stare at Taehyung, to take in every feature for as long as he could.

"Yes," Jeongguk whispered. "He was Kim Taehyung."

There was a pause.

"He was the love of my life."