"Tae....little brother~"

"Brothers do this, brothers love each other."

"Don't tell anyone, they won't understand. They don't want us to love each other."

"You don't want this to be the last time you see me, do you?"

Taehyung shot up in his bed, nearly slamming his forehead against the bunkbed hovering above him. His chest rose and nostrils flared as he sucked in a glob of stuffy air and scrambled back in the bed. The loose shirt he wore slipped to the side and revealed his exposed ribs through the low-cut sides. Taehyung's back brushed against the wall behind him and the duvet pooled around his hips. He shifted to the side and bent one of his knees, making the bed underneath his thighs creak at the movement.

The bony fingers of the darkness around him soothed him with each drag of its fingers against his scorching skin. The honey-glazing Taehyung's exposed arms melted and mixed with the pearls of sweat clinging to the seam of muscles in his arms. Strands of raven hair licked at his temples and wide obsidian eyes leaked into the darkness of the room and blended into one.

Taehyung's trembling fingers grasped at his shirt and pulled at his collar as if the collar was the reason he wasn't able to breathe properly. He squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled deeply - the breath was held hostage for a few seconds longer before he puffed it out and blinked his eyes open.

The moonlight leaked through the metal bars of his cell and asked him if he was alright. The answer he gave was in the form of pressing his fingers against the crease between his brows and dragging the pads of them down the slope of his nose. Taehyung dropped the hand back against his chest and pressed his palm right above his heart.

With each pump of his heart, Taehyung filled his lungs with sharper intakes of breath and tried to wave away the lingering traces of his dream. It wasn't a dream, not really, more like memories that decided to climb up his brain and show themselves just for their own cruel amusement.

Taehyung knew this would happen, he was aware that as soon as he came back, his fears and nightmares would too. Taehyung could lie to the others and tell them that the only reason he left was because of the sugary lies that this place will last forever. But only he knew that the reason he left, was because he couldn't stand the thought of ending up in the same place as his brother.

Taehyung wondered often when he was laying in his cell, staring at those metal bars. He wondered if his brother used to stare at the same concrete walls as he thought about what he had done, he wondered if he had stayed in the cell next door or even slept on the bed Taehyung was currently laying on. And despite knowing that his brother hadn't been kept in this specific prison, Taehyung was still aware that prison was a prison, and in the end, he ended up right where his brother used to be held for his crimes. It made him wonder, was he the same as him for ending up sleeping behind prison bars?

The silence hovering in the air above the bunkbeds was sliced in half by the creak of the bed as Taehyung pressed his hands against the mattress and moved to the edge of it. He grabbed the corner of the duvet and tossed it away before placing his bare feet down on the cold ground to stand up.

The coldness of the concrete seeped through his skin and brushed away the heat clinging to his skin. Taehyung's feet smacked against the ground and hand rose to scratch at the exposed gauze wrapped around his bicep. He walked over to the entrance of the cell and pulled the door open as quietly as he could.

The prison was swaddled in silence, only to get poked by an occasional snore or an echo of a creak somewhere in the block next to theirs. Most cells were shut and covered by a thin piece of fabric- all of the Woodburians now heard of what had happened in the Block next door and now all of them were too paranoid to sleep with their doors open, despite how much they hated to keep them shut.

Taehyung couldn't blame them, keeping the door open felt like he had fallen asleep in the middle of a field with a horde of walkers a few meters next to him. He felt safer with it shut since he knew that the walkers wouldn't be able to sneak in and take a chunk out of his throat, or if anyone died in their sleep, they wouldn't be able to leave their own cell and would be stuck there until someone found them.

Taehyung followed the path lit up by the moonlight, he walked past one of the cells and twisted his head around to peer into it through the bars. He could see a middle-aged Hispanic man turning onto his back before sinking into the mattress. Obsidian eyes bounced away from the sight and focused on the main room ahead of him.

Taehyung entered the room and walked towards the exit of the prison. If anyone saw him right now - dressed in loose shorts that reached just above his knees and a shirt that revealed his honey-glazed arms, collarbones and ribs - they would probably think that he was leaving again despite what he was wearing.

Taehyung briefly debated whether he should turn back around and at least grab a knife to defend himself, yet he pushed the thought away with a careless shrug of his shoulders. He just couldn't be bothered by it, if a Walker showed up, he'd either think of something or he'd get bit and die. Even considering the latest attack that had happened inside the prison, Taehyung doubted something like that would happen again.

Long fingers reached out and hooked around the edge of the metal door, Taehyung's muscles flexed - the sudden shift in them causing the moonlight to bump up in surprise and topple down the length of his arm. He pulled the door open, allowing the wind to prance through the slit in the door and tangle between his legs like an excited puppy.

Taehyung stumbled through the doorway and slammed it shut behind himself. The vines of the wind strung around his wrists and trailed up his exposed thighs, creating a trail of goosebumps along the surface of his skin. Taehyung tilted his head back and released a cloud of breath, his eyes drank in the stars littering the sky, watching them as they beamed back at him with a flirtatious twinkle.

The flick of a lighter brought Taehyung out of his thoughts and made him twist his head to the side. On top of the metal stairs next to the door, Taehyung could see Daryl sitting on the steps with a cigarette hugged between his lips. He held up a palm in front of the cigarette and flicked the lighter again. The flame swayed along the beat of silence between them and caressed the tip of the cigarette - leaving behind traces of fire.

Taehyung rolled his eyes and turned away, shifting on his bare feet. The coldness of the night seeped into his skin and replaced the fire crackling through his veins. Taehyung had hoped that he could last longer in the bitter winds of the night, yet quickly realised that the flimsy shirt and shorts weren't the best way to escape the ghosts of the past.

Daryl flicked off his lighter and shoved it into his pocket, he inhaled the smoke from the cigarette before releasing it into the sky. Taehyung's eyes followed the cloud of white before he huffed out a defeated sigh and walked over to Daryl. The latter didn't spare him a glance as Taehyung grabbed onto the railing and lowered himself onto the step above Daryl's.

Taehyung draped his arms loosely over his knees and lifted his head to stare up at the moon. He wondered once again - how many deaths had the moon witnessed and done nothing to stop it? How many lovers had it seen be torn apart and kept its lips sealed shut? How many families had it watched gather around and enjoy the last night spent together? All these questions, yet Taehyung only cared if the moon ever felt the grief of watching the world turn upside down and realising, that it could do nothing as the planet it guarded slowly decayed away just like the dead roaming it.

A strand of black hair waved in front of Taehyung's eyes and tugged on his lashes. He lifted his hand and flicked it away before sucking in his cheeks and turning his gaze back on the silent Daryl, "Can I have one?" The low rumble came from the charred depths of Taehyung's chest and dragged itself through the shards of the shattered silence.

Daryl spared him a small glance and released his smoke in Taehyung's direction before turning away, but not before eyeing his chosen attire. Daryl himself was dressed in his usual short-sleeved leather vest and some dirt-covered pants. The white wings on the back of the vest seemed to almost glow in the moonlight and stand out among the darkness swarming them. Taehyung observed the wings with interest, wondering if he could find something similar and perhaps make it his signature clothing.

Seconds like sand got scooped into the hands of time and sprinkled over their heads. Taehyung's brow lifted underneath his hair and lip curled at the corner when Daryl finally moved with a low grumble under his breath.

The nearly empty pack of cigarettes got thrown into his lap, followed by the lighter. Taehyung caught it between his fingers before the lighter could slam into his forehead and fall against the metal steps.

Taehyung took out a cigarette from the box and lifted it up to his lips. He shielded the lighter and cigarette with his palm before switching it on and allowing the flame to engulf the tip of the white stick. His cheeks caved in as he inhaled a lungful of air, and filled his lungs with smoke. The golden light from the fire stared up at Taehyung's features in awe and reached out to caress them with a gentle brush of its palm.

The lighter got switched off and the flame distinguished, allowing the light of the moon to scamper back over to Taehyung and hug his frame. Taehyung looked down at the golden lighter and brushed his thumb over the words carved into the side. He couldn't see what was written there but he could feel the sharp edges of each letter as if someone had carved the words with a dagger.

"You plan to run away?"

Taehyung looked up from the lighter to stare into the back of Daryl's head. His lips stayed pressed together as he leaned forward and gave Daryl his things back. The man took them wordlessly and allowed the question to hang between them lifelessly.

Taehyung pondered over the question and leaned back until his spine was pressed against the step behind him. He lifted the cigarette away from his lips and tilted his head back as he spoke through his exhale of smoke, "Why do you think I'll run away?" He questioned lowly as if the lightest touch of hostility could shatter the serenity between the unusual pair.

Daryl switched on the flame of his lighter and stared at it, watching it twirl around and fight away the shadows trying to reach for it. He inhaled the last bits of his cigarette before grabbing it and pressing it against the steps, "I've seen you come outside during the night often. One of those times you had your bag with you and you didn't come back for three months." The archer pointed out while throwing away the cigarette stump and then leaning forward to stare at the stray walkers stumbling through the fields outside the prison.

Taehyung's eyes followed his line of sight and his face turned sour at the sight of walkers, "I think you should know more than anyone that I don't like the prison. I can see that there's a reason why you don't sleep inside the cells, but rather in the archway. Just like I know you know there's a reason why I can't stand this place and I had to leave." Taehyung grumbled lowly, feeling the walls of steel slowly rise around him as the feeling of defensiveness grew at Daryl's words.

The archer hummed deeply in the back of his throat and didn't say anything else. Taehyung looked down at the white stick hanging off of his fingers and watched the fire slowly eat it up - turning it into ash that fell to the ground in the form of grey flakes. He lifted the cigarette up to his lips and inhaled another cloud of puffy smoke just as the door behind them creaked open, revealing a disheveled Jungkook.

The younger boy stumbled through the slit in the doorway and quickly settled his Bambi eyes on them. A thick blanket, that was split into multiple colours was wrapped around his broad shoulders. The end of the blanket dragged behind Jungkook's soles as he approached the pair with a scrunched-up nose and puffy eyes.

Taehyung exhaled the smoke and dragged his eyes down the length of Jungkook's body. The bunny boy wore an oversized black hoodie and matching joggers, along with a pair of fuzzy lavender socks. His fluffy hair was tangled into loose knots and crusted drool was stuck to the corner of his thin lips.

Jungkook glanced between them in confusion as he stopped next to them before puffing out his cheeks and falling down onto the step next to Taehyung. His fingers tightened on the blanket and pulled it tighter around him, almost seeming to snuggle into it as he peered up at the sky and allowed the glow of the stars to shimmer against his cheekbones.

Taehyung's gaze lingered on Jungkook, noticing the way his eyes began to droop, only for Jungkook to shoot them back open as if there was something dangerous looming behind his eyelids.

Jungkook peeled his eyes open once again and placed his crossed arms over his knees, he rested his chin on top of his arms and turned to look at Taehyung, "Why aren't you sleeping?" He mumbled through a yawn, allowing Taehyung to catch a glimpse of his bunny teeth.

A smile curved at Taehyung's lips at the sight, he sunk his teeth into his lower lip and lowered his cigarette stump to put it out, "Nightmares." He grumbled through a shrug.

Jungkook's hand flung out and latched onto Taehyung's wrist, making him jump away at the sudden touch of Jungkook's warm fingers against his icy skin. Taehyung exhaled deeply and looked up at Jungkook with a question waving back at him through the windows of his eyes.

"Sorry, I just wanted that." Jungkook offered him a sleepy smile and gestured towards the glowing cigarette grasped between Taehyung's fingers.

The older boy hummed in understanding before shaking Jungkook's fingers away and pressing the end of the cigarette against the stairs anyway. Jungkook's lips smacked open and the protest on the tip of his tongue died out as he watched Taehyung look up at him with a smirk and throw the dead cigarette away.

"Oops?" Taehyung muttered between a husky chuckle, offering Jungkook an unapologetic shrug of the shoulders.

Jungkook's nose scrunched up and lips pursued, he swallowed the words twisting in the back of his throat and turned his attention onto Daryl, "Why aren't you sleeping?" He nudged the older man with his socked foot, earning himself a grunt in return.

"I'ma go." Daryl muttered in return, pushing off of the stairs before grabbing his crossbow and swinging it over his shoulder. He ignored the two pairs of eyes following him like lost puppies as he pivoted around on his heel and walked off.

"Right..." Jungkook breathed out, blinking in the direction Daryl disappeared. His fingers twirled around a thread of string from his blanket before he turned to look at Taehyung. His eyes immediately fell on Taehyung's exposed biceps and thighs- eyes lingering a bit on the honeyed skin stretched over the muscles, "Aren't you cold?" Jungkook mumbled through a frown of confusion, still keeping his eyes glued onto the goosebumps littering Taehyung's arms.

Obsidian eyes peered down at his own exposed arms and two shoulders lifted into a small shrug, "Why aren't you sleeping?" Taehyung chose to ask instead, pressing his palm against his forearm and dragging it down until he reached his wrist. With each bump a goosebump nudged against his palm, causing a small shiver to nip at his spine.

"Just like you." Jungkook exhaled with a roll of his eyes, visibly slouching into himself and wincing as if the demons lurking in his mind had snickered at him, "Nightmares."

Taehyung's head snapped towards him and brows pinched together, "Nightmares? Is it only this once or..." Taehyung trailed off, guiding the question with a string of wariness and uncertainty as he stared at the side of Jungkook's face.

The boy's face visibly soured at the question as if a droplet of lemon juice was injected into his features. His eyes lingered on the pavement in front of the stairs before he allowed his shoulders to sag, "They started a while back, some were even before the Woodburians came here, but most of them were after. Most of them started after I found out..." Jungkook cut himself off with a stuttered exhale and a roll of his shoulders.

"I couldn't sleep one of the first nights after they came to the prison, so I decided to go for a walk to tire myself out. But I heard...I saw this woman just crying on her bed during the night and whispering something to herself." Strings of guilt and grief tied Jungkook's words together, his eyes were hazy and filled with pain as he recalled what he had seen. Taehyung watched him carefully - fingers twitching in his lap and begging to reach out and hook around Jungkook's own, "I didn't do anything. I walked away." Jungkook breathed out, shaking his head a bit to swat the bad thoughts away from tugging on his hair.

Taehyung's lips peeled open to say that he shouldn't feel bad about a woman crying, that she probably just missed her home, but Jungkook continued to speak before he could say anything, "I asked Karen about her the next morning and she said...she said that the woman had recently lost her son. She said that the governor had ordered him to go out on a run and he didn't come back. No one knew what had happened to him, only that his body had been recovered from the forest by a woman named Katelyn."

Jungkook's head lifted, revealing the wall of glass stopping his tears from escaping and rolling down his cheeks. He twisted his head around and stared into Taehyung's eyes with raw pain as he breathed out, "I...I killed him, Tae, I'm the one who murdered her son without any remorse and brought her so much pain."

"I realised...that he wasn't the only one though. I have killed a lot of their loved ones, a lot. They live under the same roof as the killer of their loved ones, and the worst part is that they don't know that the person they're always greeting, that the person they're praising every time I bring a boar back, is...it's the murderer of their children, siblings, even..friends." Jungkook sucked in a sharp breath and pressed his fingers against his trembling lips, "They don't know, but I..I know."

Taehyung's lips were parted in surprise and words were hiding in the back of his throat. He sat frozen on top of the stairs, staring at Jungkook's glassy eyes and the guilt that escaped him in the form of pearly tears. They rolled down Jungkook's slim cheeks and hung off of his sharp jaw.

Emotions dragged themselves out from the depths of Taehyung's heart and clawed at the insides of his chest. He could feel each cut of their nails against his lungs as he inhaled and exhaled steadily. Taehyung's tongue was limp in his mouth, yet he still managed to reach out to Jungkook with a husky murmur,

"Come here."

Taehyung took the edge of the blanket and pulled it away from Jungkook's shoulders. The younger boy snapped his head towards him and watched him in confusion, yet still complied and shuffled closer to Taehyung until their shoulders were squished together and their warmth reached out to intertwine their limbs.

Taehyung rose his brow until it disappeared under his hair and eyed Jungkook with an unimpressed twitch of his lips. He placed the blanket down on the step behind them before leaning forward and grabbing Jungkook by his sides.

A yelp cut the night in half as Jungkook was lifted and placed down on the step in front of Taehyung before the latter reached his hand behind himself and grabbed the blanket, "Uhm.." Jungkook uttered, turning his head back to blink owlishly up at Taehyung, only for Taehyung to wrap the blanket around his own shoulders and then wrap his thick arms around Jungkook.

Both boys were swaddled in the blanket with Jungkook laying between Taehyung's muscular thighs. Jungkook was eerily still- eyes wide and breath stuck inside his throat- the only indication that he wasn't a statue was when the wind twirled a lock of his raven hair between its fingers.

A chuckle bubbled inside of Taehyung's chest and escaped through his parted lips. It nipped at the shell of Jungkook's ear, while Taehyung placed his palm on Jungkook's left peck and pushed him back until his shoulder blades were pressed against Taehyung's stomach.

Taehyung hummed, allowing Jungkook to feel the vibration against his back. The bunny boy exhaled slowly, trying to calm down the heart slamming against his ribcage until, finally, the tension seeped out of Jungkook's shoulders and he melted into Taehyung with a dust of redness sprinkled across his cheekbones. He could feel Taehyung's breath puffing against the back of his head and moving away strands of his raven hair, just like he could feel Taehyung's grip tighten around him and thumb brush against his clothed peck.

"You shouldn't tell anyone what you just told me." The seriousness in Taehyung's voice made Jungkook tilt his head back in order to make eye contact with him. The usual sprinkle of mischief that sweetened Taehyung's intimidating facial features had been lost among the words.

"People deserve to know." Jungkook muttered under his breath, breathing life into the tension between them with the emotion lurking between his words.

Taehyung's thumb momentarily stopped brushing against Jungkook's chest and eyes narrowed down at him, "Maybe...." Taehyung reluctantly admitted, only to continue a second later, "But you still shouldn't say anything. It's been almost a year, and these people have begun to heal from losing their loved ones. Telling them would not only reopen old wounds, which would end up with them going through the grieving and healing process again, but it would hurt them even more since they have taken a liking to you and have learned to trust you."

"They'll feel like they betrayed their loved ones by becoming fond of you, which would make them seek justice or vengeance, not only for the ones they lost, but for themselves too." Taehyung's whisper pranced through the air, hand in hand with tenderness and concern as it reached Jungkook's ears and knocked on the doors of his eardrums.

Jungkook allowed his head to drop and chin to touch his chest, his eyes fluttered shut and fingers reached out to clutch at Taehyung's forearm, "They deserve to know." He repeated, not hiding the guilt and grief laced through his words, "I want them to know." Jungkook breathed out, blinking his eyes open and allowing his lashes to brush against his cheeks.

"I bet you do, bun." Taehyung hummed in return, placing his chin on top of Jungkook's fluffy locks. His nostrils flared as he inhaled a lungful of the honeysuckle shampoo Jungkook had used to wash his hair, "But you also have to remember that you weren't in your right state of mind when you did what you did. I know you blame yourself, but you have to remember that most of us have been through hell, it fucks with your mind and you lose sight of who you are, most of us have been in the place you were - so don't hold it against yourself."

"How can I not when I look at their faces every day while knowing I killed their loved ones?" Jungkook whispered back and hesitantly curled his fingers around Taehyung's forearm to glide his fingers across the hair on his arms.

Taehyung exhaled against Jungkook's hair before tilting his head back to peer up at the moon, "There are a lot of horrible people in the world now, monsters who don't care who they hurt. But you're not like them, you haven't lost sight of your humanity and you're still here with us. I know this judging only by the guilt and remorse you feel about killing those people, monsters wouldn't feel that. They also wouldn't want to tell anyone the truth and they sure as hell wouldn't cry about it." Taehyung murmured softly, tightening his hold on the younger boy.

"You're a good person, Jungkook. Yes, we've all done shitty things, but you're here - trying to do better by the people you've hurt in the past. You've changed, so it's time to let go and move on."

Jungkook swallowed the lump in his throat and squeezed his eyes shut to prevent more tears from rolling down his cheeks, "What if I can't?" He croaked softly and leaned his head against Taehyung's chest.

The corner of Taehyung's lips curled into a gentle smile - almost as gentle as his voice as he parted his lips and exhaled softly, "Then we'll do it together."

"Alright." A small smile boomed on Jungkook's lips at the words whispered into the breeze before it was clouded by the memories swarming his head, "Then you have to promise me that if you want to leave again, you take me with you. Because I know there's another reason you ran away, I know you face your own problems and you don't have to tell me about them, just..." Jungkook sucked in a deep breath, "Just allow me to be there for you too, even if it's in silence, let's face this world together."

A small, barely there chuckle rumbled through the back of Taehyung's throat - the laugh working as a mask to cover the flutter of his heart and the warmth spreading through his stomach, "Then you have to promise me that everything we just discussed stays between us. No one can know."

Jungkook sighed and pressed his tongue against his cheek before slipping his hand out of the blanket to offer Taehyung his pinky, "I promise." He mumbled with a hint of reluctance - not wanting to agree to keep his murders a secret.

"Good." Taehyung curled his own finger around Jungkook's paler one, "I promise too."