Chapter 28

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Jungkook couldn't see his surroundings. It was cold. His clothes were floating around him and he realized... he couldn't breathe. He was under water again and he couldn't breathe.

He had no idea how he had ended up here. Why he was underwater again, but it was so dark. Even when he forced his eyes open, ignoring how much they burned because of the salt water... he couldn't see anything.

There was nothing above him, nothing beneath him or in any direction he turned. He wasn't even sure if up was really up. There was nothing that could have told him. Desperate he started swimming into the direction that he had felt was up at first.

He was running out of breath, but he couldn't breathe in. Not underwater. So instead he felt the pressure in his lungs increase as he tried swimming higher and higher up, but there was nothing. He could feel himself growing desperate.

He had to breathe. But he remembered the pain of breathing in when Taehyung had pulled him under. The feeling of water filling his lungs. How he had choked on the water and breathed in, even more, when his body had automatically tried coughing it back up.

Taehyung. Why wasn't Taehyung here? He was always around Jungkook, so why was he suddenly no longer there? Jungkook felt dizzy when he opened his eyes again, searching the black void around him. He hadn't expected to see much with how dark everything was but he did.

Taehyung was right there. Weirdly visible in the darkness. With his pale skin and strongly contrasting black tail that practically melted into the darkness around him. The most unsettling thing by far were his eyes though. Glowing almost white even when everything else was swallowed up by the dark.

Jungkook's lungs burned as he stared at Taehyung. The two of them... they had talked. Taehyung had said he wouldn't kill Jungkook and that he'd try to make Jungkook comfortable. That meant he would help Jungkook, right?

There was no way Jungkook would make it to the surface before he ran out of breath, but if only Taehyung would help him... He reached out his hand, hoping that maybe Taehyung would take it and pull him up... but he didn't. He just stared at Jungkook with his scary eyes, floating in the water right next to him.

Jungkook couldn't read him at all. His expression was blank, body unmoving. The only thing that did move was his head and eyes as he followed Jungkook's movements.

It was then that Jungkook realized... Taehyung wasn't going to help him. He might have said that he wasn't going to kill him, but that didn't mean he would help Jungkook survive. Taehyung hadn't told Jungkook he wouldn't die. He had just said he probably wasn't going to kill Jungkook if he did what he wanted.

Jungkook fought the strong urge to breathe in and turned away. Back upwards to where he hoped the surface would be. Where the surface had to be. Jungkook couldn't die.

He forced his legs that were slowly starting to feel kind of numb, probably because of the lacking air supply, to kick so he could get up there. He couldn't allow himself to die. He wasn't ready to die yet and Taehyung wouldn't pull him out this time. He was sure of that.

He felt dizzy as he tried looking ahead, forcing his body to move and move, and then he saw a hint of light. Just a tiny bit... but it was clearly coming from above. Jungkook could make it. He just had to give it his all and then he would make it.

But then the light was gone again. Blocked by Taehyung's unmoving face right in front of him. Jungkook could feel himself being held in place, Taehyung's clawed hands holding onto his shoulders, the anxiety and fear rising in his throat again. Taehyung had promised he wouldn't kill him! As long as Jungkook did what he wanted he wouldn't kill him, so why was he stopping him right now? Why was he blocking his way to the air?

He tried thrashing around to get rid of Taehyung's claws on his shoulders, holding him in place, but he couldn't. He was holding him too tightly and Jungkook had to breathe. His lungs burned like hell and he knew, in a few seconds he would take in an uncontrolled breath. And then he would drown.

So he had to shake Taehyung off first. He had to get to safety. He would have screamed, but that would have used air. He felt sharp claws sink into his shoulders where Taehyung was holding him, the pain so sudden and so much worse than the one in his lungs.

Jungkook unintentionally opened his mouth, gasping because of the pain, but the expected feeling of water rushing into his lungs didn't come. Instead, his lungs filled with air, relief washing over him when his body was finally supplied with the air he so urgently needed.

He wasn't looking at Taehyung's cold face anymore either. Neither was it dark. Above his bed the lights were burning and Taehyung was staring right back at him... but not with the blank expression he had worn seconds ago.

Instead, he looked startled. Almost worried as he leaned over Jungkook, holding onto his shoulders. Had Taehyung woken him up? Why did his shoulder still hurt? As if he knew about Jungkook's dream and about the pain in his shoulders Taehyung's eyes moved there and Jungkook startled when Taehyung suddenly let go.

He must have shaken Jungkook awake, probably because Jungkook had moved around too much during his nightmare and then... his claws. Jungkook stared at them as Taehyung pulled away.

He had a pretty good idea why his shoulder was hurting. Taehyung looked pretty apologetic as he moved back to let Jungkook sit up properly before he inspected his shoulder. Two long cuts. One pretty surface level while the other looked was a little deeper. Not really worryingly deep, but it certainly painful.

Usually, Jungkook would have gotten angry at Taehyung, but it was clear that this hadn't been intentional. Jungkook had probably woken up Taehyung with how much he had moved around and Taehyung, who had been worried, had tried waking him up.

Maybe he had just forgotten or maybe Jungkook had moved around too much and had accidentally cut himself on Taehyung's claws. Either way, Jungkook was honestly just glad to be awake.

And seeing Taehyung being worried instead of wearing that scary, emotionless face... was almost comforting. He looked at Taehyung, who was still staring at Jungkook's shoulder, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Jungkook couldn't help but smile a little. Taehyung was clearly different from when he had first come here. Before Jungkook hadn't consciously noticed, but now that he had the comparison right in front of himself the shift was blatantly obvious.

"Taehyung."

The siren blinked, his eyes coming back up to meet Jungkook's. "Ah... I'm sorry. I-" Jungkook waited, but Taehyung just closed his mouth. Maybe he had decided that he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say after all.

"It's okay. Thank you for waking me up." He moved his fingers up to his shoulder. It hurt, but he would survive. This was... weird. Even though he had just woken up after a nightmare where Taehyung had once again tried to drown him, his shoulder cut open by the real Taehyung, and still felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen he had experienced when he had actually held his breath in his sleep... he felt oddly warm right now.

Waking up from scary nightmare Taehyung to trying to be careful Taehyung was quite the shift... and Jungkook was glad that it had all just been a nightmare.

"I will go put something on that..." He pointed at the cuts on his shoulders "...and then go back to sleep again. Sorry for startling you... and I appreciate you waking me up." Jungkook smiled, scooting over a bit so he could climb out of the bed, but before he could, Taehyung's hand wrapped around his arm. Still clawed but this time his grip was a lot more careful.

"I can heal it."

Taehyung looked him straight in the eyes. Still, with the same scary grey eyes he had had in that dream. But they no longer felt that scary. Not when Taehyung was frowning and expectantly looking at Jungkook. This was way better than his dream.

This Taehyung wasn't as scary because it felt like he was slowly warming up to Jungkook. Showing him how he felt and seemingly also... somewhat caring about Jungkook. Jungkook wondered if this Taehyung would just let him drown like he had in his dream.

Would he really just watch Jungkook struggle until he died? Or would he do something because in some weird way... they might have connected after all over the last two months.

Maybe asking this question was stupid and Jungkook wouldn't like the answer he was going to get... but he had to ask.

"If you don't want to answer you don't have to, but I want to ask you a question." Jungkook declared, continuing when Taehyung expectantly looked at him.

"Would you just let me die if you saw me drown even if you could do something about it?" Jungkook had to know if there was some truth to that dream. Would Taehyung just watch... would he actively stop Jungkook from getting back to the surface, just like sirens usually did, or had they gotten a little closer? Where did they stand?

For a couple of seconds Taehyung just stared at Jungkook. His expression unreadable while Jungkook couldn't help fidget around a little. His shoulder hurt and he needed that answer.

"No. I wouldn't.'

For a second Jungkook had to rethink his question to find out what Taehyung wouldn't do.

"So you wouldn't just let me drown?"

When Taehyung nodded Jungkook felt warmth flood him. That was... really nice to hear. With how things were right now they had gone from Taehyung wanting to kill Jungkook to him possibly helping Jungkook if he were in danger.

Of course, it wasn't that black and white. Jungkook knew that, if he did something that would displease Taehyung, the situation could change pretty quickly. But hearing that was relieving nevertheless.

"That's... good to hear." Jungkook chuckled a little awkwardly, but he meant it. His dream didn't seem too real anymore.

He startled when Taehyung suddenly moved closer. A lot closer than he was comfortable with and when Jungkook moved suddenly Taehyung froze, staring at him too. They were so fucking awkward.

"Uhm... what are you doing." Jungkook was half expecting another awful hug, but then Taehyung pointed at his shoulder. Jungkook opened his mouth in surprise. He had almost forgotten about that.

"Oh, right."

He tilted his head a little awkwardly, trying to get away from being too close to Taehyung because it felt so wrong. After so many weeks of trying his hardest to not do anything that would make him move into Taehyung's comfort zone. Jungkook was so used to thinking that being close to Taehyung was bad that now he felt awkward every time he was.

Just like the hug the day before.

He hissed when he felt Taehyung touch the cuts on his shoulder. It burned and felt weirdly numb at the same time, but then Taehyung pressed his lips against the skin and just seconds later Jungkook could feel relief wash over him everywhere Taehyung slowly licked the blood away, leaving clean, flawless skin. Like there hadn't been a wound in the first place.

When Taehyung moved back his skin looked like nothing had ever happened to it. Jungkook wondered why sirens were able to heal that way. Maybe for themselves? Just like cats licked their wounds clean?

"Thank you." Jungkook rubbed his shoulder hesitantly. "Thank you for doing this... and thank you for trying to be nicer to me. I really appreciate it."

For a few seconds, Taehyung looked at him, his expression not really readable, but at the same time he looked like he wanted to say something. But then he just moved over, back to his side of the bed, and slipped back under the blanket, turning his back at Jungkook.

Jungkook waited a couple of seconds longer just in case Taehyung would say anything after all, but when he didn't he turned around to turn the light off. It was okay that Taehyung hadn't said anything though. Jungkook was still appreciative of how things were slowly developing.

He felt almost safe in his own home again when he laid back down, pulling his blanket over his body. "Good night."

Taehyung didn't answer, but somehow Jungkook knew that he wasn't angry. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about Taehyung's behavior felt more like he didn't know what to say.

"Sleep well." With that Jungkook closed his eyes, drifting off to the sound of Taehyung's breathing in the bed right next to him and right into a this time nightmare-free sleep.

A/N

I really love this chapter😔💕

Really really really love it😖

How do you all like the story so far? It's seriously my favorite story out of all the ones I have written so far