Chapter Text
Taehyung stays unconscious for the rest of the next day, only waking up at about four in the afternoon. The instant he stirs awake, Yoongi is already by his side.
“Taehyung-ah,” Yoongi calls out, then immediately quiets, letting the younger slowly piece his thoughts together, coax his limbs into motion, and take in the unfamiliar room. The room’s pristine walls and curtains seem almost blinding to his weary eyes, while the sharp sting of disinfectant in the air only further assaults his senses. Wisely, Yoongi holds his tongue, letting Tae gather himself in silence.
For a full minute, Tae doesn’t utter a single word as he adjusts on the bed, wincing when he registers the pain from the various injuries on his body.
“Yoongi—hyung—" he tries to speak, but his throat is far sorer than he expected, each word a struggle to force out. Hoarse and harsh.
“Hey—hey, kid. I’m here, it's ok. You’re safe.” Yoongi takes a seat beside Tae on the edge of the bed. A hand reaching to settle on the younger’s blanket-clad thighs.
Tae, having his head hung low, lets out a pain-filled whimper as he bites down on his lower lip harshly, scrunching his eyes close.
“Hyun—g—” he whimpers again, causing Yoongi to scoot closer to him. And it doesn’t take more than a few seconds for Taehyung to burst into a heart-wrenching sob. Falling forward and into Yoongi’s arms, clutching the older tightly from the back of his jacket, Taehyung sobs and sobs.
Yoongi doesn’t respond immediately, he lets the moment sink in before circling his arms around Tae’s waist softly, cautious of the bandages but firm enough to let the younger know he’s safe where he’s resting.
“Hyun—g—” Tae hiccups again.
“Yes.”
“It—hurts—a lot. I—I didn’t do anything, hyung. I swear, I didn’t.” Shuddering with the tender wail, Taehyung admits, as if admitting to a serious crime. He is still hiding his face in Yoongi’s chest.
“I know, kid. I know.” Yoongi waits to ask something he’s been dying to ask all this time, but he's been holding back and trying not to get personally involved. It seems like he can't do that, not anymore.
“Does it happen often?”
Taehyung does reply, silently, but the silence was enough of an indicator for Yoongi to understand.
“He does it often, always. He used to hurt eomma too before her death. He never let us live peacefully. He doesn’t work, consistently wasting his money on alcohol. Hurt us every day. Hurts me.” Taehyung stops with a wince, sniffling as his breath comes in short, ragged intervals.
Hearing the usually gentle and cheerful boy hurting so badly, Yoongi’s danger instinct kicks in as his protective clutches around Taehyung tighten. However, he can't help but wonder why. Why is he feeling all this? Of course, sympathy is human nature—but this runs deeper, sharper, almost biting. He has seen worse. Why melt now? Why just for this younger boy? What’s so special about Taehyung that attracts Yoongi like bees to the nectar?
Yoongi usually never plays with young boys, but with Taehyung, he feels like playing with fire. Like a wax candle, melting severely under the small flame, harmless if not provoked, innocently lighting the space.
Despite this, he doesn’t want to stop till he melts away in the younger’s flaming presence. All he wants is to remain by the boy’s side, to guard him from any more wounds his father could inflict. He swears he’d get that man for this, marking his own words.
He urges the younger to tell him why, why is he letting that man hurt him anyway? Listening to Taehyung recount his past, he silently grits his teeth when the younger admits he deserves it for being an ‘abnormal’ child—willfully ignoring the truth that it never was, and never could be, his fault.
He understands that his father is the only family Taehyung has, and he doesn’t want to let go of that. However, for him, that man isn’t worth so much effort if the results are like this. His father doesn’t deserve Taehyung’s love and care.
And he knows that even though Taehyung understands this too, his exhausted, emotionally drained mind refuses to accept it—instead clinging to the fear of losing the only family he has left.
Yoongi wants to clear the fog of deception clouding Tae’s mind, to make him understand that what his father has done to him and his mother isn’t just wrong—it’s an inhumane crime. And more than that, he wants Taehyung to know that he is not some abnormal child.
“Let’s go home, and I’m promising you, for now on, I won’t let anyone and anything hurt you, ever,” he promises the younger.
-o-
Jin and Hobi have left Yoongi and Taehyung to have some privacy. Last night was tiring for all of them. Jin couldn’t hold his tears when he caught the ragged sight of Taehyung. To think that his father has done that to him is as disbelieving as it sounds.
As much as he likes to think he and Taehyung are similar in more ways, they differ even more.
He doesn’t know a cruel father who has been hurting his own child, has been doing so forever, and who hurts his wife. Force them to do anything to survive on their own. He doesn’t, and he doesn’t want to know.
And he doesn’t want to stay here longer and look at the younger, unconscious, and hurting. So, he asks his younger brother if he can’t leave, because he’s not really feeling well. Yoongi nods softly, giving him and Hobi permission to return home. Seems like he is still not willing to burst his front before Taehyung. It's better that way, all of them aren’t ready to come clean in front of an utterly emotionally messed Taehyung.
Seokjin turns to leave. Hoseok’s already out in the car.
No words are being exchanged throughout the entire drive home. Hoseok seems most traumatized in all three of them for some reason.
They haven’t had anything to eat since dinner last night, and it's already evening.
When they finally sit down in the living room, glaring intensely at the ceiling aimlessly, a fake cough resonates in their surrounding.
Surprised to find Cheol-min sitting on the armchair resting parallel to them, which Hoseok and Jin have been occupying. Resulting in both the younger ones sitting upright.
“Good evening to both of you,” Cheol-min greets with a slight nod of his head, weirdly formal for a person sitting at home.
They both stare at him, but never meet his eyes. He is waiting patiently as they fidget in their seats, eyes going everywhere but him.
“Good evening, appa,” replies the two as awkwardly as their father did.
“I wouldn’t want to interrupt your—meditation, but you two,” he paused before leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, a serious expression took over his rather sweet-looking, handsome face.
“Are finally in my grasp. Now, I’ll only ask this once. What are you three up to since the last three months, and where did you two run to last night?” sternly stating his question, emphasizing every word clearly. He leaves not a shred of doubt or confusion, carrying himself with the same commanding certainty as Min Cheol-min, the head of the family.
For a fleeting moment, the two Seoks regarded Cheol-min in stunned silence. For a long moment, neither makes any move or tries to speak, but today, Jin has been feeling too emotionally drained to hold back any secrets, and his tears, too.
His eyes welling up, hot tears burning the back of his eyes, a dry sob on its way, resourced from his even dried throat. Jin couldn’t stop the sad whimper from coming out, hurriedly dashing the short distance between him and his father.
To say Cheol-min is surprised would be a pathetic excuse to hide the obvious. He quickly scoots aside a bit on the sofa and opens his arms to catch Jin in his warm embrace and settle him beside him on the spare space. Hoseok seems as if he’d like to do the same, but is restraining himself from doing so.
Cheol-min caresses the back of Jin’s head gently, letting his eldest quietly cry on his chest, rubbing his face till it's red and swollen from those angry tears.
“What happened to you, Seokjin-ah? Is there something you’d like to tell me? You know, you can tell me anything, yes?” Cheol-min softly asks Jin, his hands still patting the back of his head and shoulders. All the stern demeanor leaves his body as soon as he sees his eldest child so upset, so vulnerable.
“Appa, I thought I wouldn’t say it as it's Yoongi-ah’s matter, but I don’t think I can bear the burden, not anymore. I can’t.” Seokjin hiccups before he takes a deep breath, wiping the tears away harshly.
He begins recounting everything to Cheol-min from the very beginning—Yoongi leaving after dinner, the stabbing that followed, and finally, the most important part: Taehyung.
Cheol-min’s expression changes a handful of times throughout the confession. However, the most that can be seen is surprise. He seems extremely surprised.
“Calm down, Seokjin-ah, you’re going too fast for me to grasp the point here.” he stops Seokjin from going further. He gulps hard, the lump forming in his throat.
“So, Yoongi is living with a boy, who’s a florist, huh? And he’s going—uh—soft for him, and also the boy is a—carrier.” he gulps with an “ahem”, licking his chapped lips, coming to the conclusion. Hoseok and Seokjin nod in unison.
“Oh—kay.”
Hoseok and Seokjin nod like children every time he finishes one sentence.
“Soft Yoongi-ah, huh? Sounds unbelievable. Na, Seokjin-ah, do you—perhaps think—that Yoongi-ah, I mean. Is he and the boy—Taehyung-ssi—is something—going on?” Cheol-min falters several times, the question catching in his throat as he struggles to phrase it.
Seokjin shoots his father a long, incredulous look, as if he’s completely done with him.
"Well, yes. What else can happen? And to Yoongi-ah above all? Why would you think Yoongi-ah would go to such lengths for a random nobody walking on the streets? But that's not why we are sitting here, appa."
“Then for what?” Cheol-min questions softly, cautious like a kicked puppy after the surface-level scolding from Seokjin.
“Taehyung-ah is in the hospital right now. He is—hurt severely by his appa. And I think he’s probably been doing it since he was young.”
“He does what to a kid?” Cheol-min snaps his head to the side, eyes going wide as much as the narrow shape of them allows. No one says a word, just a nod in affirmation.
A long and disappointed sigh escapes Cheol-min’s lips as his eyes go back and forth from Seokjin to Hoseok.
He gestures for Hoseok to come close, only to gather both boys in a big family hug.
“Thank you two for telling me, however, I would’ve liked it better if you had told me all this sooner. Now, do we have to do something about this abusive man?” he asks. A strange kind of seriousness clouds his features, one they know from the days spent inside the dungeon when they all were way younger than today.
He lets out a breath to lighten the decidedly thick atmosphere. This causes Hoseok to smile tightly, while Seokjin mirrors the same look as his father.
“You don’t have to do anything, appa. You know how Yoongi is, he’ll take care of that man one of these days. Just don’t let Yoongi-ah know we told on him. And also for Tae, we don’t know Yoongi, he freeloads in Tae’s house. We’re nothing more than bakery owners, not Min Cheol-min the business tycoon, nor the son of a future national assembly member. You understand?” Seokjin grabs Cheol-min’s face in both his hands, emphasizing everything clearly, nodding after with Cheol-min mirroring the nod at the same time.
“Oh, Jin-ah, you’re no fun. But I’ll visit my Yoongi-ah one of these days.”
-o-
Taehyung never thought he’d ever tell anyone about his entirely messed-up life and abusive father, let alone Yoongi. Notably, not to a freeloader in his house, who somewhat exhausted him.
However, these past few days have proven to be the safest days of his life, strangely in Yoongi’s embrace.
Since the bathroom incident, Yoongi has become soft toward Taehyung. He no longer invades his personal space, hasn’t bothered him all week, and even keeps his secrets—whether it’s about being a carrier or that expensive shopping trip earlier in the week.
Tae can feel himself going soft for the elder boy, too. Yoongi’s doing a lot for Tae without even realizing. Taehyung feels his gratitude for Yoongi has grown beyond what words can express. And Taehyung has started feeling something utterly weird for him, slowly but surely.
Is it because he never had anyone to take care of him since his mother passed away? Is it ok to feel this way for a total stranger? Yoongi has been living with him for three months now—and that feels like a long time, doesn’t it? And what should he consider those significantly awkward moments when Yoongi slips his arms around his waist in the kitchen, or when he follows him to the shop every day, or when he had pecked the space behind his ear that day? What might those be? And what about Tae’s own reaction to all of these? When he goes slack in Yoongi’s arms or when his heart pounds loudly as if it has shifted to his ears from his chest, thumping noisily, blaring his senses, causing them to go haywire.
Does this mean Jimin was right? Has he stopped caring for Namjoon? Is he being selfish? Ungrateful? Why? What’s wrong with him?
Actually, he knows what’s wrong with him, but does being a carrier mess someone’s emotions up? He needs to confirm with Chanhwa.
However, right now his senses and emotions are getting overwhelmed, choking his throat as trading a single breath without feeling suffocated is getting harder.
Eyes brimming willingly, sob stuck right in the middle of his throat.
But before he could let the dam break, the door to his hospital room unlatch with a soft sound.
“Taehyung-ah, we’re going home.” Yoongi raises his head from his phone to look at the younger, only to find the younger’s eyes reddened with tears, about to cry audibly. Yoongi does nothing but frantically dash across the room.
“You’re crying? Taehyung-ah, what happened? Why?”
One look at Yoongi and Tae couldn’t help but let the dam let loose, falling slack in Yoongi’s arms, again, like all the other times.
Yoongi gives him all the time to lighten his heart by wailing as loud as he can. Caressing Taehyung’s sides as he has his back bandaged thickly. He doesn’t interject in the younger’s outburst, supporting anyway as he can.
Almost half an hour of crying, Tae’s crying subsides into low hiccups. Still, his grip doesn’t loosen on Yoongi’s back.
Yoongi moves his head a little to look at his face.
“Let’s go home now, Tae-ah.”
Rubbing his tear-stained face with the back of his hand, Tae nods his head like a little child. A scared child.
Yoongi gives him his very rare gummy smile.
Aside from everything, Taehyung decides he likes having Yoongi around, and he’d like to keep it that way. Even closer, if he’s allowed to.
-o-
Yoongi had decided he won’t let anyone harm Taehyung, not anymore, especially not his father. And Yoongi will make sure of it.
He’s taking Tae home, and he’s not gonna leave his side no matter what. Tae’s not in a condition to handle university or his shop, so he’s not letting the younger do anything, even if his father forces him to.
Yoongi intends to introduce himself to Taehyung’s father soon. But for now, his priority is caring for the younger boy—who has this strange, irresistible way of sending his heart into endless somersaults.
“Hyung, who paid the hospital bills?” Taehyung asks innocently as they’re making their way out. Yoongi supports half of Taehyung’s body in a side hug, with his own thick winter jacket wrapped around Tae’s shoulders as the younger is still in his pyjamas. Tae clings to Yoongi with an intensity that suggests he wouldn’t let go, even if God himself demanded it. Truthfully, he’d just be afraid he might fall if he tries to stand on his own, and yes, Yoongi seems reliable, squishy, and comfortable.
“I did?” Yoongi replies in a gentle tone, withholding any further detail. He allows his hand to smooth a gentle stroke on Tae’s side, as he glances into the deep, wide, innocent eyes.
“How, hyung? You didn’t have money on you?”
“I had some, that was enough for the bills.”
Bright brown eyes dim the instant as the younger worries his lips between his pearly white teeth. Casting his eyes down on the pavement, he looks ashamed.
“I’m sorry, hyung. For always being a burden on you.”
“Hey, Tae-ah, look at me. And hear me out because this is the last time I’m saying this. You are not a burden, not for me or anyone else. You’re so independent. Most kids your age can’t even decide what to do the next day, yet you’ve already come halfway toward achieving your dreams. And that’s not what being a burden is. You hear me? Now, let's go home, you need rest.” Yoongi enunciates every word with precision, determined to clear away the fog of doubt and disgust his father spent years embedding in his innocent mind. Slowly, little by little, he’s gonna remove that mindset from Tae’s head.
And the first and foremost step to do so is to stop the abuse, and that would require a meticulous introduction with the boy’s father, personally.
Guiding Taehyung out of the hospital premises, Yoongi makes way to the parking.
“Why’re we here, hyung? We don’t own a car.” Tae wonders, allowing his eyes to go back and forth in the parking lot.
“I asked Jin hyung to drive us home.” Yoongi absentmindedly answers while his brain is busy concentrating on the “we” Taehyung just said. Again, the weird thing is bubbling inside his stomach, creeping up to his chest, making him feel fuzzy and swollen. Is that acidity? Yoongi is worried about his health for the first time in his 25 years of life. Are these side effects of being utterly leisurely all the time? He doesn’t know, and right now, he doesn’t want to. Taehyung is his priority, who is giving him an extremely incredulous look with the same innocent puppy dog eyes.
“You told him?”
“I’m sorry, Tae-ah. I had to. My brain was not working, he’s the only one I could ask for help.”
“But, hyung?”
“Don’t worry. He wouldn’t judge. I promise you that.”
Looking at Yoongi’s super confident remark, Taehyung shuts his mouth, but the fearful tension on his face gives him away.
As soon as they reach the parking, a strong gust of wind comes their way.
And Taehyung finds himself engulfed in a strong but warm embrace.
“Taehyung-ah, dear. How are you? I’m so sorry. I couldn’t help you.” Jin almost cried. His legs go slack, but before he could fall, Hoseok manages to break the fall, catching Jin in his arms.
“Jin hyung,” Tae whispers, about to tear up too. Taehyung muffles his cry behind his hand over his mouth, shaking his head, choking and wailing on his sobs.
“No, hyung, it's not your fault. No one’s fault. Please stop crying, please,” he slowly strides towards Jin, coming to hug the elder with his frail and injured arms.
Seokjin, straightening up on his legs, fits Taehyung snuggly into his chest. Careful of his bandaged areas. Letting Taehyung and himself cry till their hearts' content.
Hoseok and Yoongi stand aside, watching both of them with fondness in their eyes. They give the emotional club some time to settle before leaving for Tae’s home in Jin and Hoseok’s car.
Hoseok and Yoongi can’t deny the fact that Jin has some utterly different connection with Tae, as if he has gained one more brother, the youngest of all, who is in dire need of being taken care of.
Glancing at the backseat, they smile in affirmation as they look at Taehyung snuggly hugged in Jin’s chest, dozing off, while Jin keeps stroking his head lovingly.
-o-
Yoongi lets Taehyung settle comfortably in his home, however, the younger can’t help but fear the obvious presence of his father. Flinching and shaking every time he hears footsteps.
Yoongi doesn’t leave his side for even a fraction of a second. Almost about to raise his hands on Tae’s father, who once tried to come close to Tae in such killing intent that Yoongi had come so close to revealing his real identity.
During that week, Yoongi kept Tae on strict bed rest—likely for an extended period. He never let the younger out of his sight except for brief bathroom breaks, while he managed all the household chores and even dealt with his bastard of a father. If it's not for Taehyung, Yoongi wouldn’t be tolerating that fucker for a sole second, he would have ended his already forsaken life.
“Only for Taehyung, only for Taehyung.”
Chanting this mantra over and over again in his head.
He was busy preparing dinner on a slow Wednesday evening. Almost half of the week had gone by with Yoongi shielding Tae from his father, to an extent, that he was even sleeping in Tae’s room, on the floor.
It didn’t matter to Yoongi, not like he was an old man with back pain. It doesn’t matter to him as long as he’s close to Taehyung. As long as Tae is safe in his presence.
Taehyung’s father stumbled home drunk yet again, just as he always did. Yoongi wondered how this man hadn’t died from liver damage already. Maybe, just maybe, his death has been written on Yoongi’s hands.
Yoongi scoffed, watching the man tumble inside, his ragged and disgusting appearance on full display. To think this man is Tae’s biological father is ridiculous in itself. Where is Taehyung with his angelically ethereal looks, and where is this man with his fucked up appearance?
However, there’s a hint of the angled face structure and strong jawline, as well as the thick eyebrows, telling the miserable tale of his rather charming youth. There’s a fraction of Taehyung in him.
He could have become so much more if only he had valued the blessings in his life instead of giving in to self-destruction.
Continuing his chopping, Yoongi didn’t spare another glance at him. Till—
Till he called out for Taehyung heatedly, moving to reach Tae’s door, and he did reach, kicking the door open, revealing a shell-shocked and very well frightened Taehyung squirming on his bed like a fallen leaf, barely awake from the loud noise of the door unlatching.
But before he could enter the younger’s room completely, Yoongi stopped the slowly unlatching door in the middle, his hand on the door handle, right over Tae’s father’s.
Yoongi allowed his gaze to search for Tae’s expression, which was frightened to the core. Without another word, his face expressionless, he slowly pulled the door shut. Taehyung slipped from his peripheral vision, disappearing only once the door was slammed and he was safely locked inside. Yoongi stood face-to-face with the seething old man.
“What’re you trying to do, Yoongi-ssi?” The man all but growled right on Yoongi’s face, however, that didn’t faze Yoongi, and it wasn’t enough to threaten him, not even 0.01%. If only this man had known. But maybe soon.
“I guess, saving a kid from an abusive man? Isn’t it?” A very, very devious grin quirked one corner of his lips, but never reached his blank eyes. Provoking the older to do something he’d regret later. Well, he already has—after hurting Taehyung.
The old man inhaled sharply through his nose, gritting his teeth. Angry, extremely angry at Yoongi for ever daring to stop him.
“And who are you to tell me that? He’s my son, I’ll do whatever I want with him. If you know him as much as I do, you’ll know he deserves it for what he is?”
“He can be whatever he wants, all I care about is his safety. And you’re not safe for him. Don’t say he deserves it because he’s a bit different than your normal, because he doesn’t need to be deserving to have his father’s love and care. It comes naturally, you should know, you’re his parent.” Yoongi spat back, anger bubbling in his chest and about to burst out. He was going to throw his hands for real if the old man wouldn’t shut up.
“I swear, Min-ssi. If you don’t—” he was about to mention what he’d do, but Yoongi cut him off mid-sentence.
“And I swear if you touch a hair on Taehyung-ssi's head again—” he trails off before continuing. “Then you don’t know I truly am.” This threat was so potent that Taehyung’s father couldn’t help but falter in his steps. His legs buckled up as he stepped away, as far as he could go away from Yoongi this very moment. Backing away from Yoongi, from Tae’s door.
Alas, he didn’t understand the clear threat in his drunk state and was still trying to reach Tae throughout the week. However, Yoongi wouldn’t leave him next time for real.