The absence of sound.

Utter still, utter quiet.

Silence.

The hum of the car engine is a screeching cacophony of noise in the black-turmoiled muteness of the interior.

Since you left the ruins of the house, no one has breathed a word.

You all rest inside the car,  stiller than mountains, weathered and eroding with misery but still standing strong.

The window of the backseat is cold beneath your fingertips, scenery and city passing in an indecipherable blur.

Jungkook is beside you, Namjoon on his other side, and Yoongi reclines pensively in the front seat next to Jin, who drives.

The middle two seats are occupied as well, but you can't look at the men occupying them.

You tried once, and almost wilted under the weight of their eyes.

It turns out that when their family and friends are threatened, the people with the most compassion and enthusiasm for life become the most terrifying.

You suppose that the space inside them that houses such massive capability for love and emotion can, in turn, house the same massive capability for vengeful desire.

You can't decide which one is worse: making eye contact with Jimin, or making eye contact with Hoseok.

Jimin's so easy to read as he sits in the middle row of SUV seats, evening light shouting your glimpses of his eyes that are tight at the corners, pinched in worry and insurmountable anger.

His pupils are dilated, the black almost swallowing the warm chocolate brown to leave a thin sliver of cold fury shining through. The full breath of his lips are set firmly, all the plushness fleeing in lieu of a tight slash tending the lower plane of his face.

His anger is a boiling one, bubbling just under the surface of his skin to where you can almost see the fiery red of it.

Hoseok's face displays a whole different kind of  temper. His eyes are deeper than anything you've ever seen, cavernous emotion yawning in their unmeasurable depths. Fierce, ravenous hunger dances there, black and deadly, and starving.

Starving for revenge.

For the first time since you've met him, catching Hoseok's eyes sends shivers of terror down your spine.

But, for all the rabid emotion frothing in his eyes, he's holding it back with insane force of will, the rest of his face mastered into blank, cool composure. On any given day, you would describe Hoseok as a bright, sweet, caring man.

Not today.

Today, he's revenge incarnate.

Today, Park Jimin and Jung Hoseok aren't men. They're much larger, much fiercer than any man could every be.

They're two Greek Titans, otherworldly, strong beyond measure, and consumed with a fury that could rupture galaxies at a single glance. A piece of them has been taken, and they're ready to watch the universe burn at their feet.

They're barely keeping it at bay.

If you don't get Taehyung back...

You don't even want to consider that possibility. The mere thought makes you shudder.

Every scrap of supplies and equipment that could be salvaged from the damaged safe house is piled into a lumbering tower of desperation in the trunk. That's two houses that've been compromised since you came on the scene, but at this moment of stand-still time, you can't bring yourself to care.

A figment of Taehyung's lovely, ethereal face is reflected back at you from the car window.

Stones and boulders could never weigh as much as the guilt that's crushing you.

He's gone.

Suddenly, Hoseok growls, shattering the silence.

"We can't go to the last safe house," he says. Incredible frustration with his own mysticism swirls like music through his gravely voice. "Something's wrong there. It feels bad."

Your insides are ready to shrivel up and die. It's sickening, how disgustingly vulnerable you feel. Helpless to forces larger than yourself acting in ways you can't predict.

In this moment, you're all just so disgustingly human.

You all just want Taehyung back, but you can't do that until you've got a plan and somewhere to retreat to.

Another beat of silence echos in response, then Yoongi slaps his hand against the dashboard, palm cracking like a whip against the plastic.

"Wooseok's place," snarls the man. His voice burns through the air like a wildfire. "That's the last freaking place we have. Just go."

Jin changes direction accordingly, long fingers gripping tight and white around the circumference of the steering wheel.

You sway with the motion of the car, your hip knocking into Jungkook's. It draws his eyes to where you sit, barely keeping your composure.

He's barely keeping his, too. In fact, the reason that the silence is so unending and weighty is because if any of you try to speak, you might lose it.

That's something that you can't afford right now.

The drive to Wooseok and Mina's house is an unfamiliar one. The last time you were headed here was right after you and Jungkook took a tumble from that tree. You were cold and hungry and stranded, traveling on foot through chilly forest. Somehow even then was less horrific than now.

You'd give anything to go back to then.

It's dusk outside when you finally arrive. Exhaustion and a weary soreness make your body feel like lead. Your eyes are barely staying open as Jin maneuvers the SUV along the sidewalk.

A familiar iron gate is there in front of you, rusting a little but efficiently blocking the house from the outside world.

Jin pushes it open and steps aside, keeping a wary eye out as you all file past him towards the front door.

This time, at least, you don't think you've been tracked.

Yoongi doesn't bother to knock. He just swings the door open and strides inside, aura ten feet taller than his physical height.

At the sound of the entry a figure emerges from the shadows at the back of the living room, his tall shape looking out to meet you.

Wooseok's eyes alight on your motley group as he steps out into the light.

"Oh," he says, depthy timber rumbling through the air. "Oh, no. What happened?"

Without a word, the men start dropping like flies across Wooseok's living room, flopping limply onto whatever couch, chair, or carpet that they come too.

Too exhausted to move. You're all just so tired.

"What can I do?" Wooseok asks when he sees that no one's in any condition to speak. The sound of conversation summons Mina from the  hall, in sweatpants and a T-shirt with no makeup on her face.

If possible, she's even more beautiful naturally.

"You're here again?!" she asks in shock when she sees all of you here. When her gaze falls on you, Mina's eyes widen infinitely. "Okay, what the heck is going on? No way you guys are just 'passing through' again. And why is freaking Y/N with you?"

"Shut up," Jimin says, a shocking change from his normally calm demeanor. He's slumped in a chair, punching the bridge of his nose like he's in pain. "We aren't dealing with your crap right now. Talk one more time and I'll tape your freaking mouth closed."

You don't blame Mina for shutting her mouth obediently and scurrying back to where she came from.

You kind of want to do the same thing.

"Stay as long as you need to," Wooseok murmurs. As he speaks, you stumble further into the room. Jungkook's on the couch; you sit beside him, and lean back when he lets his head and torso fall into your lap.

Hoseok is on the floor and sprawled out while Jin inspects his injured leg, the alternate reality of his pose right before the bomb went off.

Everything's just gone wrong, so so wrong.

Just when things were starting to go right.

You card your fingers through Jungkook's hair, not caring or considering this overly-affectionate behavior. You're all in the middle of a crisis, and you won't deny him physical comfort if he feels like he needs it.

"Where's Taehyung?" hedges Wooseok softly.

Yoongi flips him off, and Jimin cusses.

Wooseok wordlessly leaves the room as black depression consumes it, escaping before the vapid vortex of your loss. In your lap, Jungkook shifts too look up at you.

"We're going to get him back," he says, less to you and more to all the men who are listening silently. "If we die. If we have to go to hell and claw our way home, we'll get him back."

"He's family," Namjoon says. "Of course we will."

"Of course we will," echoes Jin. He stretches Hoseok's leg out, backing off the pressure when the other man whimpers in pain.

Jimin closes his eyes, and doesn't open them again. Then goes Namjoon, and Yoongi. Jin massages Hoseok's leg, then leaves him alone in lieu of the waiting carpet.

In minutes, both of them have drifted off into a fitful slumber borne of emotional devastation and physical exhaustion.

Jungkook's black eyes are also slowly disappearing beneath his eyes lids, which drift closed like they're weighted down. He's fighting sleep, eyes locked on your face while his head is pillowed by your thigh.

You stroke his jaw soothingly. "Go to sleep. You need it. You all need it."

As if all he needed was your reassurance, the man's passed out almost instantly.

It isn't long before you follow then into the escape of your dreams.

[A/N]
Unedited
Pointless
Where even is the dialogue
Guys I'm sorry this took so long 😭 and it really has no significance to the story and it's boring but Happy Thanksgiving I  love y'all and I'm so thankful for you

❤️PB