𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟾𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟾
𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 𝟺𝟼𝟾𝟽

࿇ ═━━✥◈✥━━═ ࿇
𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐅 𝐎 𝐔 𝐑
࿇ ═━━✥◈✥━━═ ࿇

Jungkook stood there staring at the one in front of him, at a loss for words. The teen had never expected the stranger to come up to him, and was actually quite startled by him to say the least.

It wasn't that the male looked scary or anything, no. In fact, the intense look in his eye from earlier had since softened, which had given the male an overall friendlier appearance. But what actually startled the teen most about the stranger was his uncomfortable closeness, and not to mention his less than traditional introduction-both of which had slightly spooked him.

Jungkook cleared his throat, waving his thoughts from his mind. He knew he had better say something before things got even more awkward. "...m-my voice..?" Was the only thing he managed to spit out.

The male replied with a simple nod.

What's so special about my voice..? Jungkook thought, trying to process the stranger's odd choice of a conversation starter. But then something hit him like a ton of bricks-Jiyoo's words from earlier;

"May we hear a demo of your [singing] capabilities?"

Jungkook's mouth formed into an 'o.' "O-ohh. My voice...-but wait.." He stopped himself, a confused expression coming over his face. "...I...didn't even sing though." He mutters to himself.

right...? I'm not going crazy...am i?

"I-I know....it's a s-shame.." The male says, having overheard him. "...I b-bet it would have been very b-beautiful." He rubbed the side of his arm.

"Wait so...you were talking about my regular voice..?"

The male nods his head for a second time. "Y-yes. You see, we-...um I mean I...I've been listening t-to you speak all night l-long...and I t-thought I should.." The male fell silent as the stared into the teen's big, brown eyes-of whom was giving his full attention.

"I...t-thought that I s-should...in...in..-"

Jungkook tilted his head to the side and shoved his hands underneath his armpits, waiting patiently for the male to finish his sentence.

The male's lips were parted as he tried to force the words out of his mouth, but his stuttering had gotten to a point where he could only get the first portion of a word out-preventing him from even starting a sentence, let alone finishing it.

...

Concerned, Jungkook lifted his head back up upon seeing the distressed look on the male's face. "Are you ok..?" He asks, but the male didn't respond-instead groaning out of frustration.

As Jungkook was waiting for a response, he could tell that the male was getting increasingly frustrated with himself by his actions-the pinching of his eyes and the grabbing of his forehead being a dead giveaway of how he was feeling inside.

It didn't take long after that for the teen to come to the quick conclusion that the male must have been suffering from a serious speech issue-something that he had suspected upon hearing his stuttering after the first few times, but wasn't about to make assumptions. But now it was clear something was off, and he was pretty confident that was the case.

...

Upon feeling a gentle touch of a hand on the side of his arm, the male immediately opened his eyes back up and froze in place-his eyes widened and nostrils slightly flared as he held in his breath.

"It's ok...don't worry..." Jungkook says in a gentle, reassuring tone.

After hearing the soft tone of Jungkook's voice, the male broke out of his frozen state-his gaze travelling upwards from the floor, eventually meeting Jungkook's.

Feeling how tense the frustrated one was, Jungkook began to caress the side of his arm in slow, gentle motions to try and comfort him. "Don't worry about messing up...ok? Just take as long as you need."

The male took in a few deep, shaky breaths-trying to compose himself before his third attempt. "I...I..."

Jungkook continued to caress his arm, patiently waiting for the male to try again.

..

Focusing on the caressing of his arm, the male slowly felt his frustration start to subside, giving him the greenlight to try his sentence again.

"I...just wanted...to tell you that..." He starts off slow before he continues, "...y-you seemed like a l-lovely person by the s-sound of your voice...and that...I felt the need t-t-to introduce myself to you.." The male begins to shyly fiddle around with his earlobe. "so...m-my name is Taehyung...K-Kim Taehyung..."

Jungkook's face softened and the side of his lip curled into a tiny smile-warmed by the teen's words. "It's nice to meet you, Taehyung.." He removed his hand from the teen's arm and began fiddling with his fingers. "No one has ever complimented me about my voice before...well not when I'm just talking anyways.."

The dark-haired male looked back up at Jungkook. "R-really..? Oh...s-sorry if it was w-weird...I just don't really talk to p-p-people that much.."

"No, no. Don't be sorry." Jungkook shook his head. "It was sweet. In fact...I like yours too. I wasn't expecting your voice to be so deep though, so it kind of caught me off guard at first." He chuckles.

"Y-you don't mind the s-s-stutter..? It doesn't annoy you?"

"Nope. Not at all." He gave the male a smile.

"I-I don't know why i-it got so bad out of nowhere like that...I'm r-really sorry.."

Jungkook waved his hand back and forth. "Don't worry about it. You don't have to be sorry...but have you ever considered going to a speech therapist..?"

"It d-doesn't help..."

"I see.." Jungkook rubbed the side of his arm. "So um...is that why you wouldn't speak earlier..? Because of your stutter?"

"P-partially..." The teen answered vaguely.

"Boys? What are you two still doing here?" Jiyoo says as she came walking out of the back room with her coat on.

"Oh, sorry Jiyoo...I was getting donuts and.." He looked down at the ground where the donuts were laying from when he had dropped them earlier. "..there was a bit of an accident...which lead to us talking."

Jiyoo raised her eyebrows, intrigued. "Oh! Talking? You finally spoke?" She asks as she looked over at Taehyung who was just standing there silently, scoping out Jungkook's facial features-showing no interest in her.

Jungkook glanced over at Taehyung, then back at Jiyoo. "U-uh yeah. But we were just leaving, so..." Jungkook turned around and quickly started replacing his ruined donuts-the other still uncomfortably close to him.

Jungkook turned back around to face the other, holding his donuts. "Did you want to walk out with me..?"

After Taehyung nodded his head 'yes', Jungkook began to carefully squirm out from between him and the table, trying not to get frosting on himself or Taehyung while he was doing so-as the other wasn't backing up an inch.

After finally freeing himself from being sandwiched, Jungkook let out a relieved breath and motioned for Taehyung to come with him by tilting his head over towards the door.

"Bye boys." Jiyoo called out as the two males were walking out of the room.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

9:15pm

As the two boys were walking down the sidewalk, Jungkook peeks over at the other who was practically glued to his side.

The teen thought it was strange how the other was so comfortable to get that up close and personal, when not even 2 hours ago, he wouldn't even look at him. But, even though he didn't really understand it, he didn't necessarily mind it, since, he was used to clingy-ness-thanks to Minnie who had always been clingy since childhood, and of course his little brother.

"So...what street do you live on..?" Jungkook asks.

"13th street.." He glances over at Jungkook. "H-how about you..?"

"6th...um, isn't 13th that way..?" Jungkook says pointing over his shoulder behind them.

"Yeah.."

"You realize you're only getting farther and farther away from it, right..?"

"I know."

Jungkook expected Taehyung to turn around at any second, but he didn't. Instead, he continued towards 6th street alongside him, his hands in his jean pockets.

-

The sound of heels on concrete was the only thing that could be heard as Jiyoo was making her way towards her car that was parked on the side of the street. As she came up close to it, she shoved her hand in her purse and began feeling around for her keys, all while whistling the tune from Jungkook's ringtone. "Ahhh there you are." She says as she pulled her set of keys out.

As soon as Jiyoo put her finger on the remote's button to unlock the doors, she gasps when she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

After quickly spinning herself around, Jiyoo held her car key out towards the black-clad figure that was standing behind her, as if it were a knife. "W-who are you and what do you want??"

Jiyoo watched in terror as the male glanced down at her key, then back up at her. "I-If it's money that you want, then I hate to break it to you, but you just came up to, quite possibly, the brokest bitch in town. I just paid my car p-payment and-" A male's deep laughter cut her off.

Jiyoo blinked a couple times, her heart racing quick as she watched the male reach up and adjust the fedora atop of his head, revealing his eyes-one of witch was grey with a vertical scar running from the top of his eye lid, ending near the top of his cheek.

"I don't want your money. In fact, I've come to you for your help...a mission, if you will. A mission that will pay off quite nicely, if you choose to accept."

Jiyoo stared at him with a confused expression on her face, trying to process the situation. "Wait...what are you even talking about? Who are you??"

"You can call me Mr. M."

"Well "Mr. M" tell me what you want or I'm going to call the police."

"You said you were low on money, correct? Or in your words..."a broke bitch"."

"Yeah, but-" She stops and widens her eyes upon seeing the male pull a wad of cash out of his trench coat pocket.

Jiyoo lowered her car key and swallowed her saliva. "W-whoa...that's a lot of money you have there.."

"Yes. And it can all be yours if you're willing to work with me."

"W-work with you..?"

"Yes. If you would like, we can go somewhere private and discuss about it in greater detail."

Jiyoo looked back up at him. ""W-wait a second...I know what you're doing.."

The male raised his eyebrow. "Oh, do you now?"

"Yeah. I do." Jiyoo takes both of her hands and pushes the male as hard as she could, making him stumble back a couple feet. "YOU THINK I'M A PROSTITUTE!?"

"W-what?? No!"

Jiyoo walked up to him and poked him harshly in the chest with her index finger, causing the male to take a few steps back until his back hit the side of the building. "You disgusting man! Do I really look like a whore to you?! Are my tits hanging out for all to see? No! Am I wearing a short shirt that barely covers up my ass cheeks? No! I'm a respectable, proper woman! And I am quite offended!"

"Listen, Lady! I didn't think you were a prostitute, alright?! Calm down!"

Jiyoo removed her finger from the male's chest and backed off, smoothed out her shirt. "Oh...well...what else was I supposed to think when a random man comes up to me, offering money?!"

"Like I said, if you would come with me to a more private place, we can talk about it."

"Oh yeah, like I'm just gonna go somewhere with a strange man who I have never met before." She said sarcastically.

"Look, I know you're probably really confused, but trust me...I'll explain everything. It's just...I need your help gathering some information about someone."

"And who is that someone?"

"There was a teenage boy who went into that building that you came out of earlier. Brown hair, earrings...about this tall.." He raised his arm. "He was wearing what looked to be a school uni-"

"Wait, what do you want with Jeon Jungkook??"

"Oh so you know him?"

"Yeah, he's a memb-" She shook her head. "That's confidential information and I'm not going to say any more."

The male used his thumb to flick through the wad of cash that was still in his hand. "Hmm...that's too bad...I guess I'll just have to find someone else to give all this money to.." He shook his head.

Jiyoo swallowed her saliva and crossed her arms, staring down at the money.

"Well...sorry for bothering you then. I guess I'll be on my way-"

"U-um..!" As the man went to turn around Jiyoo, grabbed onto the male's shoulder. "Just out of curiosity...h-how much money is that..?"

"₩5,556,750."

Jiyoo's eyes widened and she let go of the male's arm. "O-oh my goodness...t-that's a a lot of m-money.."

"I know. That's why I thought for sure you'd be interested...but if you aren't willing to help-"

"W-what do you want to know about him..?"

The male's lip curled into a smirk and he held his hand out towards the coffee shop across the street. "How about we talk over a drink?"

Jiyoo shoved her hands under her armpits and nibbled on her lower lip, staring down at the money.

-
...

Jungkook and Taehyung were still walking, side by side. They hadn't really spoken at all, and instead, were silently enjoying the scenery as they walked down the path lit with pink globe lights that were strung from pole to pole-lights that were unique to this street alone.

Secretly, Jungkook had been enjoying the other male's company, as he always hated walking home alone at night-especially during fall when the days were much shorter, and nights strangely seemed quieter.

After a long, silent session, Jungkook finally decided to speak up.

"Interesting fact about this street..." He gently nudged the male's arm, who then looked over at him. "See that apartment complex over there..?"

Taehyung glances over towards the big, dreary looking apartment building and nods his head.

"There was a lady and her children who lived in an apartment on the 3rd floor." He pointed. "See the one all the way at the end there..?"

Taehyung followed his finger towards a window and balcony at the far end of the building-it decorated with flowers and and a tattered, patched blanket hanging from the balcony railing. "Y-yes."

"That's the apartment that they lived in."

"What h-happened to them? W-why are there so many f-flowers? And why is there a b-blanket hanging t-t-there?"

"It's a shrine."

"A s-shrine?"

Jungkook nodded his head. "People leave things in the apartment lobby for the apartment resident, and she places them outside on the balcony for all to see."

"But w-why?"

"Because that's where the woman who once lived there last stood before she jumped."

"Y-you mean...she j-jumped off of the b-balcony?"

Jungkook nodded his head as he stared up at the building, the two now completely stopped-facing towards it.

"W-what happened to her c-children?"

"One of them is in heaven."

Taehyung looked over at the teen who's eyes were still fixed on the building.

"A baby girl. She died in her mother's arms." He pointed up to the blanket. "That blanket is actually a bunch of baby blankets sewn together."

Taehyung looked back over towards the building. "T-the child's blankets?"

"Yes."

"What h-happened to her o-other child..?"

"He survived. Apparently as she scooted off the railing, the baby's onesie got caught in between the railing. And rescuers were able to use a ladder to climb up to him."

Tae's mouth parted. "Whoa...t-that's amazing.."

Jungkook took in a deep breath and nodded his head. "Yes, it is. It guess you could call it a miracle." He glanced over his shoulder. "And...see those lights over there?"

Taehyung turned around and looked up at them. "Y-yeah."

"Someone started a petition to string up those lights."

"Why? W-what do lights h-have anything to do with it."

Jungkook looks back over at the building. "They wanted to add them as a reminder. A reminder to anyone who looked at them to remember that, even though things might seem dark in your life at the moment, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel if you just look hard enough."

"But...w-what about the p-people who don't k-know about w-what happened?"

Jungkook wiped a small tear in his eye and looked back over at Taehyung. "Then I guess it's just a nice decoration that helps you so you don't trip in the dark and fall on your ass." He chuckled a little bit.

Taehyung lips started to form into the smile, but he bit onto his lip and looked away from the teen, shyly.

Jungkook started to continue walking down the street, motioning him to come along. "Are you going to come with me the rest of the way?"

Tae nods his head and hurries over to the teen, taking one last glance over at the building before they turned the corner.

9:45pm

As the two boys were coming up on 6th st, Jungkook asks, "So, how old are you Taehyung..?"

"I-I'm 18.."

"Do you go to school?"

"Um...no.."

Jungkook looked over at him, shocked. "Really?? Why not??"

"I-I got expelled from my s-school.."

Jungkook fell silent, not really knowing how to react. He knew he probably shouldn't ask why though, since, that would be getting way too far into his personal business-and the teen seemed pretty standoff-ish as it is. "Oh um...wow that's too bad. Education is very important.." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you...planning on enrolling into another school..?"

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders. "I d-don't really k-know...I haven't r-really thought about it.." He glances over and down at the emblem on Jungkook's school uniform.

"I would probably be murdered if I got expelled from school." Jungkook let out a nervous sounding laugh. He clears his throat when Taehyung doesn't join along-not like he was really expecting him to, though, but it was still awkward.

As the two boys came up to a small house, Jungkook let's out a sigh and stops in place, the other stopping alongside him. "Well...this is my place."

"O-oh..." Taehyung rubs the side of his arm, looking sort of bummed out.

"Yeah..." The two boys were quiet, Jungkook fiddling with his fingers.

"...but thanks for joining me." Jungkook says shyly. "I enjoyed your company."

Taehyung sheepishly glanced up at him. "R-really..?"

Jungkook nods. "Mhm...to be honest, I was a little scared to walk home by myself tonight.."

"W-why were you s-scared?"

Jungkook waved his hand from side to side. "Oh it's not really important.."

"N-no, please...t-tell me what scared you."

"Well...there was a weird guy who was following me earlier. When I was walking to the session."

"W-what did he l-look like?"

"I don't know...he was wearing a lot of black. And his face was covered so I didn't really get a good look at him." He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe he just thought he knew me or something...it probably wasn't any-"

Jungkook widened his eyes when he seen a car coming down the street. "O-oh, I-I have to go!" He starts to turn around, but he stops and looks over his shoulder. "I-I'm sorry! T-thank you for walking with me!" He quickly waves and runs through the yard towards the house.

Taehyung stood there with his hands in his pockets and watched as Jungkook squeezed through the front door. After Jungkook disappeared into the house, he turns around and starts walking back the way he came from, a black sedan passing him as he made his way down the sidewalk.

"So...Jungkook, eh..?" He mumbled. "Well didn't we find ourselves a cutie.."

-

"JUNHA!!" Jungkook put his hands on his head after seeing the living room completely trashed-chips everywhere, teen's passed out on the couch, Junha's rottweiler laid out in the floor beside some torn up cushions.

"O-oh my god! M-minnie!?" Jungkook frantically went around the room, searching all over for his friends when he spotted a table that had sheets over it and a light emitting from underneath it.

He quickly walks over to the table and pulls the sheet up, spotting Minnie who was sitting underneath it, lazily messing around on her phone.

"What are you- get out of there!" Jungkook grabs onto Minnie's leg and drags her out from underneath it, pulls her up and puts his hands on her arms. "W-what the hell happened??" He asks as he turned around, looking over at living room.

"Oh Kookie..!" She glanced tiredly over at the other teens who were still there. "I dunno. The dog got out of Junha's room and I hid under the table because it was acting crazy. I think it may have eaten some of those special cookies.."

"M-my uncle is-" He widened his eyes and gasped. "KYU!" He let go of Minnie's arms and darted up the stairs, frantically pushing past all the toys in the hallway that still weren't cleaned from Kyu's last play session.

Jungkook went running into Kyu's room. Seeing that the bathroom door was open, Jungkook hurriedly went over to it and pushed the door open-spotting Kyu who was sitting in the tub, holding onto himself and shaking.

"Oh my God, Kyu!" He ran over to him with his arms held out and quickly snatched him out of the tub, the boy dripping wet. "A-are you ok??" He touched the shivering boy's cold cheeks, then pushing his wet hair away from his eyes.

"I-I-I'm cold, K-Kookie.."

Jungkook's mind going one hundred miles an hour, he hurriedly grabbed a towel from the cupboard and wrapped the young boy in it, carrying him into his room. "Where's Junha??" He says as he grabbed some clothes from the drawer and set Kyu down onto the bed.

"H-He t-t-told me he w-would b-be b-b-back.." Kyu says as Jungkook was putting a long-sleeved shirt into him, followed by a pair of long pants.

"JUNGKOOK!! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!"

Jungkook's heart dropped upon hearing his uncle yelling from downstairs. He quickly pulls Kyu's socks up and over his feet and yanked the blanket over him. "I-I'll be back Kyu...cuddle up in this okay?" He placed Mr. Fluffbunny next to him before heading towards the door.

"K-K-Kookie! I-Is uncle Y-Y-Yunseok mad at you?"

"N-no Kyu...just listen to your music ok?" He presses the play button on Kyu's boombox before shutting his door and heading downstairs.

Upon stepping down the last step, Jungkook looks over at Yunseok who had his hands on his head-looking to be in shock as he stared into the living room, Jihyun standing next to him with her arms crossed.

"My house!! Who are these people?!"

"Junha b-brought his stupid friends over and-" Jungkook widened his eyes when Yunseok began aggressively walking towards him.

The teen tenses up after the elder harshly placed his hands on the sides of his arms-squeezing them. "How could you let this happen?!!"

"I-I left for a little bit! I-I thought they would be gone by the time I came back!"

As soon as Jungkook finished his sentence, Junha came walking down the steps, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "What the hell is going on?" He says and looks around the living room. "Whoa."

"Look what your stupid friends did!" Jungkook yells at him."

"Oh shit, how long was I out for?" He yawned again.

"You idiot! You left Kyu in the bathtub! I trusted you!"

Yunseok tightened his grasp around the teen's arm and jolted him to look back at him. "You what? You knowingly left Kyu alone in this house with those fools?!"

Jungkook blinked. "I-I.."

"Was our agreement just a big joke to you?!"

"N-no sir!!"

"Apparently it was! Because if you had taken it seriously, then none of this would have ever happened!"

"I-I was only going to be gone for a couple hours!"

"A couple hours?! Where the fuck did you go for a couple hours?! You have no friends! You have no life!"

"I-I do have a life! Whether you believe it or not!"

"I trusted you." Yunseok says through gritted teeth.

Jungkook squeaks after being shoved into a wall, freezes as he was pinned to it.

"H-Hey!" Minnie calls out. "W-what are you doing?! Let him go!"

Jihyun walks over to the girl and gently grabs onto her arm. "Come on, let's get you home, darling."

"What? No! Let go of Jungkook!"

Jungkook looks over at Minnie with a fearful look in his eyes. "J-just go with her Minnie.."

"No!" She tried pulling away from the older.

"Please just go!" Jungkook yelled, tears beginning to form in his eyes, but he managed to hold then back. "I-I'll be fine!"

Minnie's face softened as she stared at Jungkook-Jihyun taking this time to slowly lead the teen towards the door.

"B-but Jungkookie..!"

"I-I'll be fine, Minnie..." Jungkook repeated, but this time quieter. He continued to repeat this over and over again until Minnie was completely out of the house.

"I brought you into this house, and this is how you repay me?!" Yunseok yelled. "By going back on your word?! I asked you to do one simple thing for me, Jungkook! One simple thing!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Jungkook pinched his eyes shut and slumped his head down.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it!" He yanked Jungkook away from the wall and pushed him towards the living room.

"Get these fucking people out of my house! Now!"

Jungkook nodded and hurriedly walked over to the couch where the teens were lounging around, not giving a shit about anything around them.

"And then when you're done, I want this house spotless!"

"Y-yes sir.."

"Useless I tell you!" Yunseok threw his hands up in the air and went storming towards the kitchen. "Fuck I need a drink.."

Flashback

"I know how wild Junha can be, so I expect you to be the one to keep an eye on him whenever I'm gone and am not able to."

"I-I don't know if I'll be able to, sir...Junha is-"

"I brought you and your crazy brother in my home and let you live here for free. And if Junha isn't allowed to live here too, Jihyun will move. And I can't have that. So you owe me this peace of mind...for everything I've done for you. Do we have an understanding?"

"Y-yes sir.."

"Good. From here on out, you are responsible for Junha's actions within these walls.

I'm counting on you."

••••

Hello! Quick thank you to ElisaAnas for this awesome fanart of 'Junha'. ♡♡ thank you so much, I love it!

WAIT, ONE MORE THING:

(no one besides ElisaAnas is going to understand this.)

my son says hola to yours and wonders when their next smooching session will be.

👀
👃
👄
*mwah*