Trigger warning: panic attack

°°°

"I can't believe you have the nerve to do that, Gyu." Jungkook pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyed by his friend who had decided it was a great idea to climb on a table. The table of course couldn't hold his weight and crashed, causing the commotion.

"Take him home, Wonwoo, he's wasted," Jungkook ordered Mingyu's boyfriend Wonwoo who nodded quickly and approached Mingyu who laid in between the broken table pieces, beaming up drunkenly to his boyfriend-

"Can't believe I left Taehyung alone for that," Jungkook huffed as he motioned the DJ to turn up the music again. Yes, as rich as he was, he had the money to hire a DJ for a mere celebration party of a football match.

Jungkook hurried to return to the kitchen and was very unpleasantly surprised when he saw the scene unfolding in front of him.

A few moments earlier

The guy smiled charmingly at Taehyung who used his glass as a protective shield against the stranger, smiling back nervously and glancing in the direction of the kitchen entrance.

"I've never seen you here, you new here cutie?"

Taehyung swallowed hard before nodding. "Y-yeah, I m-moved here three months ago," he confirmed, feeling very much uncomfortable with how the stranger leaned closer to him, eyes fixated on his face.

"Knew it. A face like yours isn't easy to forget," the man smiled, obviously flirting which freaked Taehyung out. He never knew when people had kind intentions with him or when they were making fun of him. This stranger felt like danger and Taehyung didn't like it at all.

"I'm Bogum. Football captain of the Moon High School," he introduced himself and extended his hand for Taehyung to shake. Taehyung didn't want to be touched by Bogum at all but his parents raised him to be polite so he tenderly shook Bogum's hand.

"I-Im Taehyung," he answered politely and tried pulling his hand back.

But the other, much taller than petit Taehyung, didn't let go of his hand.

"I've seen you at the game and wanted to talk to you since then. You're very pretty and I wanted to get to know you. What do you say, cutie, you wanna go somewhere else so we can have a more... private talk?" The last part was said suggestively, freaking Taehyung out. The grip tightened around his hand, making the blonde yelp

"P-please let go of my hand...," Taehyung breathed out softly, fear slowly overtaking him as a flashback edged close. He needed to get away from Bogum and out of the situation, find a place where he could be alone because he did not want to experience a panic attack in a public place.

"Only if you agree to come with me, cutie," Bogum insisted, pulling Taehyung closer by his hand and even daring to wrap a bulky arm around Taehyung's slim waist, capturing him in a hard grip.

"He doesn't have to do shit, Park!" Jungkook's voice boomed, coming to Taehyung's rescue and ripping Bogum's hand away from Taehyung's before pushing the blonde away from Bogum. The trembling male used the opportunity to bolt out of the room.

"Fucking hell, Jeon, let a guy shoot his shot with a gorgeous angel, will ya," Bogum had the nerve to complain, not caring at all that the gorgeous angel he was talking about ran away from him the first chance he got.

"And you should know when you're unwelcome somewhere. Get the fuck out of my house and never speak to Taehyung again, you fucking bastard," Jungkook snarled angrily, towering over Bogum who didn't like looking inferior and got to his feet.

"Not worth my time anyways," he sniffed obnoxiously, knocking into Jungkook's shoulder on the way out and taking his boys and his hurt pride with him as he left.

Jungkook rubbed a hand over his face annoyed before turning on his heels and going to look for Taehyung.

°°°

Taehyung crashed with his back against the cold tiles of the first bathroom he found upstairs. He thought going upstairs would give him much needed privacy. His fingers trembled as he unlocked his phone and tried calling Jimin. Then again. And again. But only the voicemail greeted him, freaking Taehyung out.

"J-Jiminie, Jiminie where a-are you? I-I wanna g-go home, I'm upstairs, p-please help me, I h-have a flashback," Taehyung whimpered into the phone, hoping Jimin would hear his message and come save him.

He buried his head into his hands as he sunk into himself, curling himself up in the furthest corner of the door as the memories hit him.

His ears were ringing from the noises, his nostrils flared because there was nothing familiar around him and he pressed his eyes shut.

"No no no no no," he whimpered, sobbing into his knees while he wrapped his arms around his head, protecting himself. He felt so unprotective here, so alone and scared.

"You cannot escape me, Taehyung! You think running away like a coward will save you? I will fucking find you!"

"Please, no," Taehyung sobbed as the memories hit him full force, knocking him out and making it impossible for him to properly breathe.

The nightmare of his past still held power over him, still frightened him despite being thousand of miles away from him. The man who terrorized him for two years, who had caused his social anxiety to blossom, who made Taehyung fear ever stepping out of his room ever again, who made him feel unsafe and unprotected everywhere he went, like he was still watching Taehyung from afar or close by, ready to hurt him again.

"Taehyung? Tae, Sweetheart, are you in here?" a voice managed to move past Taehyung's flashback, flashing recognition through Taehyung's brain as the blonde tried to realize who the voice belonged to. A minute passed before he recognized the voice to be of Jungkook.

"I couldn't find Jimin, are you okay?" Jungkook's voice sounded from behind the wooden door and Taehyung sobbed loudly upon hearing that. He was all alone. Jimin promised he would never leave but now Taehyung was all alone.

"C-can I come in, Sweetheart? I want to make sure you're alright." And maybe it was the last sentence that caused Taehyung to unlock the door, trembling when he moved back to his corner, the wish for security causing him to shrink back into himself.

Jungkook came inside quickly, locking the door behind him before taking the scene in. His eyes immediately softened as he saw the stage Taehyung was in.

"Oh Sweetheart..." he breathed out, carefully crouching down in front of Taehyung. The petit boy was obviously having a panic attack, eyes staring blindly ahead of him, right through Jungkook.

"What do you need, Tae?" Jungkook asked him gently, remembering what he has read about panic attacks.

"T-talk to m-me, d-don't w-wanna b-be a-alone," Taehyung managed to choke out, his face twisting from pain as he hid his face from Jungkook, sobbing silently into his hands, his shoulders shaking from the forceful sobs yet only shuddery breaths left him. As if he trained himself to cry completely silent.

"Okay, I can do that. C-can I touch you?", Jungkook proceeded to talk gently to Taehyung while looking at the blonde like he was going to snap, awaiting his answer with worry visible on his face. Taehyung didn't reply except for an almost unnoticeable nod that Jungkook almost missed.

Approaching Taehyung carefully, he narrated his every movement to the boy so he wouldn't be surprised but Taehyung still did flinch back a bit when Jungkook wrapped his arms tenderly around him, pulling him into his chest as he sat down next to Taehyung.

The jock pulled him onto his lap, protectively curling himself around Taehyung who was still holding his head in between his arms, looking so tiny and vulnerable in Jungkook's embrace that it broke the blue-haired's heart.

He wanted to know so badly what had caused Taehyung's panic attack, assuming it had something to do with Bogum but he saved the questions for later, only focusing on calming Taehyung down.

They seemed to spend an eternity on the bathroom floor, time not relevant, lost in each other's arms and only Taehyung's trembling inhales for air were heard next to Jungkook's quiet voice talking about anything that came to his mind.

Taehyung visibly calmed down, allowing one hand to drop from his hand and curling itself around Jungkook's shirt, now pressing his cheek against Jungkook's chest and listening to his heartbeat. Jungkook let him.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing Taehyung said, wiping his tears embarrassed with the toilet paper Jungkook offered to him. He held his head lowered, not daring to meet Jungkook's eyes, not wanting to see the pity.

But Jungkook surprised him by pressing a kiss to his locks, feeling the jock shake his head. "You've got nothing to apologize for. I'm just glad I was there to help you. Are you feeling a bit better?" His words were void any pity, instead he was kind and understanding, causing Taehyung to blink back more tears.

"Y-yes... thanks to you," he whispered, his voice breaking in the end. Jungkook didn't comment on that, only stroking Taehyung's back and drawing little circles onto his back. Soon, the exhaustion of a breakdown took over Taehyung and he let himself fall into the abyss of sleep by Jungkook's gentle fingers. He barely heard Jungkook humming a song to him before he lost the war against his body and fell asleep.

~

These two *sigh* also, Jungkook really is the biggest green flag in this book and I love it, I love my lil boba ball :3

Elaboratae