Hoseok entered the house with a cheerful gait despite the chaotic day he had at work, wanting nothing more than to enjoy a cold beer, which always brought him tons of relaxation.

“Hey, man.”

“Hey. How was work?” Yoongi asked as he turned down the volume of the TV.

“Tiring as usual, but okay. You want a beer?”

“Yes.”

“What about you?” Hoseok grabbed two beer bottles from the fridge and headed to the living room.

“It was good. We’ll finish the logo we’ve been working on by tomorrow, I think.”

“Great! So your payday is coming. What are you gonna treat us?” A kittenish smile sprawled on Hoseok’s lips.

“You mean what am I gonna treat my boyfriend?”

“Tsk, boomer.”

Yoongi released an amused chuckle at his complaining tone and miffed expression, and playfully jabbed his finger into his ribs. “I’m kidding. We can all go out on Saturday and I’ll treat you whatever you want.”

“Seokjin and Namjoon won’t let you treat us, anyway, since they’re our hyungs. But the thought is what counts.” They both chuckled at his last remark before sipping their drinks. “Is Taehyung in his room?”

“No, he hasn’t come home yet.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Well, I’ve been here for more than an hour so,” Yoongi stated with an idle shrug.

“That’s weird, right? He usually gets home even before me sometimes since his workplace is closer.”

Yoongi gave his observation a thought and indeed it was weird that Taehyung wasn’t home yet. “Should I call him?” He received a few nods from Hoseok and reached for his phone from the table.

It rang for a while, but he got no answer, something that alarmed Hoseok and mystified Yoongi a tad. “I’m sure he’s fine. Maybe they kept him for a little more after his shift because they had a lot of customers or something,” Yoongi said, hoping he was right.

And they sat there waiting for Taehyung either to pick up his phone or appear, but he did neither of these things.

“I think we should call his boss to check. Jeongguk will be home soon and I’m pretty sure he’s gonna freak out just like us, not to say even more,” Hoseok said, clear disquiet coating his voice.

“Yeah, you’re right. Do you have his number?”

“We have the cafe’s number.” He swiftly opened the drawer to search for the flyer with the cafe’s information and dialed the number.

“Hello?”

“Hi, I’m Taehyung’s friend. He’s one of your employees.”

“Oh, hi. What’s up?”

“Taehyung isn’t there, right?”

“No, he left like an hour ago. I asked him to stay for thirty more minutes because we were swamped.”

“Oh, I see. Was everything okay with him? Did he say anything about if he had plans or something?”

“Hmm, he seemed a bit skeptical throughout his shift, but other than that, he was fine. And he said nothing about where he was going when he left. Is everything okay?”

“We don’t know, actually. He hasn’t returned home yet. Anyway, thank you for your time.”

“I hope he’s okay. If you hear from him, please let me know.”

“Okay. Goodbye.” Hoseok waited until he said goodbye as well and hung up the phone, his worry now going through the roof since he didn’t receive any answers. “Okay, what the hell? He’s still not picking up?”

“Yeah.” Yoongi heaved a deep sigh while he continued to call him, but then his eyes popped when he heard the door opening.

Both jumped to their feet, praying to see the violet-haired boy enter. Instead, they saw Jeongguk, who stared back at them with obvious confusion painted on his face.

“What are you doing?”

Hoseok shut his eyes in disappointment and sat back down. “Nothing,” he muttered, unsure if they should tell him about Taehyung.

The younger approached them as he considered Hoseok’s fretful expression, an awful feeling curling up in his gut. “What’s going on?”

Another agitated sigh emitted from Yoongi’s mouth before he laid his eyes on him. “Okay, don’t freak out, please. Taehyung hasn’t returned yet and he doesn’t answer his phone.”

Jeongguk blinked a few times as his brain analyzed the words he just heard, finding it frighteningly difficult to digest the situation. “Did you call his boss?”

“Yes, he said he asked him to stay for thirty more minutes and then he left like usual.”

His heart rocketed, thumping so hard it hurt his chest. “What about Jimin? Maybe—Maybe he knows something,” he stammered while pacing, his eyes losing focus as they watered.

“We were already texting and he doesn’t know where he is. Neither do Seokjin and Namjoon.”

“Kook.” Hoseok pushed himself to his feet and held the panicked boy by his shoulders to steady him. “I know you’re worried, but let’s not worry more than we have to. Maybe he’s okay. Maybe he met a friend and got a little carried away talking to them.”

“And what if he’s not, huh?” the younger snapped at him as he lurched back, unable to contain his frenzied emotions. “What if something happened to him? We have to do something. We have to do something to find him!”

“What can we do?” Yoongi asked, an edge of frustration in his voice. “You want to go around and search for him? It hasn’t even been two hours since he left work. He’s not a kid. Yes, it’s weird and concerning that he doesn’t answer his damn phone, but that doesn’t mean something bad happened.”

Deep down, Jeongguk knew his hyung was right, but in that distressed condition, he couldn’t accept it. “What about his parents? Do we have their number?”

“No. Let’s just wait for a little more,” Yoongi answered.

“And then what?”

“And then we’ll see. Stop freaking out. Just go vent your worry on your punching bag, take a shower, and pretend everything is okay for a few more hours.”

Jeongguk tried his utmost to follow Yoongi’s instructions and retreated to his room, forcing his body to stop trembling in pure consternation. He’s okay. He’s not a kid. He’s okay. He’s okay.

 
Almost an hour flowed by with Jeongguk savaging the punching bag with turbulent fists, the flesh over his knuckles blood red, ready to tear apart. The thought of something happening to that precious boy had him on the verge of crying, but despite his massive need to unleash all the apprehension and sorrow searing his heart with a myriad of tears, he strongly resisted.

It was another hour and a half later when his hyungs’ voices blasted out through the entire house, and he sprinted with all his might towards the living room.

There stood the two boys clasping Taehyung in their hug in a suffocating grip while the latter seemed far enough perplexed.

And the galaxy of relief that nested inside Jeongguk was like no other, just like the outrage it brought with it.

“Where the hell were you?” he growled, voice hair-rising cruel that had all three flinching, and teary eyes darkening.

“Um, my dad came to pick me up—“

“Then why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I didn’t know! He just showed up.”

“Then why didn’t you pick up your damn phone?” Jeongguk questioned with a furious fling of his arm, his whole body tense and his forehead puckered so hard he sensed a headache crawl into his temples.

“Because—” Taehyung exclaimed, but the words died down in his throat as a flutter of guilt thrummed through his veins. “Because I had it on silent mode and I forgot about it.” Unlike before, his voice was small, scarcely above a whisper, and his shoulders sank with gloom.

“You forgot about it?” Jeongguk scoffed in absolute disbelief. “You didn’t think to let your fucking roommates know that you’re going to be late? You didn’t think we would be worried sick about you? Are you fucking kidding me?” he spat each question with more ferocity than the previous one, ending up hollering at him as all the frightening emotions he experienced while the violet-haired boy was nowhere to be found rampaged inside him, overruling any fragment of his rationality.

“I’m sorry, okay? Why are you being like this? I’m not a child, and you’re not my father or my—“ Taehyung ranted thoughtlessly, but his mouth pinched shut once the recognition of what he was about to spout off thundered down on him.

“I’m not your what?” Jeongguk’s fierce eyes bored into him as he waited for a response with the scant patience he had left, but the older kept his head firmly curved downwards, nipping at his bottom lip nonstop.

He jolted forward then, his determination to get his answer well defined in his vehement march.

“Kook.” Yoongi slid in front of him with a brisk movement and set a hand on his chest, only to be thrown out of the way with ease from Jeongguk’s shove.

The moment he stood a breath away from Taehyung, he grasped his chin with two fingers and yanked his head up, compelling him to meet his gaze. “I’m not your what?”

Taehyung’s heart dropped to the ground in full upon looking back into his flaming red, overflowed with tears eyes and the despair that was hived inside them. “M-my boyfriend,” he drawled, hardly audible and craven.

Jeongguk was driven into a whirlwind of havoc, madness, and stark disbelief with those two plain words. “You’re right. You’re so damn right.” He erupted in a fit of demented laughter that fizzled out as fast as it flew off his mouth, and instead, sadness seized his features and whole entity. “Why would I be so worried about you if I’m not your fucking boyfriend, right?” The crack in his voice was unbearably dolorous for the three boys to hear, as well as his bottled-up tears that came rushing down his face.

Before anyone could make even a sound, Jeongguk had vanished towards the hallway, and a door slamming closed was what shook them out of their agonizing daze.

Letting his tears fall without end, Taehyung charged behind him, staggering along the way by his blurry vision and tremoring legs. “I’m s-sorry, Kook, I didn’t—I didn’t mean it like that. Please open—open the door,” he forced the words out through choked sobs as he alternated between hammering at the door with his fist and twisting the door handle in vain.

A gleam of hope bloomed in his belly when Jeongguk unlocked the door a few seconds later, but it died in a heartbeat as he stormed off without sparing him a glance.

“Jeongguk, no! You’re not going out at this hour—” Yoongi pounced on him, endeavoring to obstruct him from leaving the house, and even Hoseok had to join as the younger thrashed about in his efforts to free himself.

Too exhausted and confused with all these new, heart-wrenching feelings swirling inside him, Jeongguk stopped fighting little by little, letting his head fall as if it were lifeless on his hyungs’ shoulders. “I’m scared,” he whispered through his crying as he clawed at their shirts, clenching the material for dear life.

“Why, Kookie?” Hoseok asked, rubbing soothing patterns on his back.

“I don’t—I don’t like this.” He took a series of deep breaths, bringing the calming oxygen he needed in his lungs to cease his sobs.

Heartache petering into numbness, he brushed off his wet cheeks and drew away from the hug, gazing at the floor for a spell before he riveted his eyes on the still crying violet-haired boy. “Being so worried about him. Crying my eyes out at the thought of something bad happening to him. Being so mad just because he didn’t answer his phone. It suffocates me. And I hate it.”

Silence washed over them, heavy and torturous, as Taehyung kept his eyes on him. A faraway look seeped into them, and the contracted muscles on his face from his weeping melted into emptiness.

As if they turned into icicles, the three boys could only stare while Jeongguk pivoted on his heel and crept away, shutting the door with the softest thud and leaving Taehyung’s torrent of unspoken words to drown in his mouth.

⚜✳⚜

Oh, angst. Bet you didn't expect that😅

So I took a bit longer to update because this chapter was too long and I decided to split it into two parts. But probably I'll have to split it into four parts because I have a few ideas I want to include here. And that means I'll have to leave you with cliffhangers, which is something I hate, but I have no choice.

Do you prefer to update a chapter when I finish it, or wait a bit more and update them all together? Vote here!

I hope you enjoyed this! The next chapter is probably gonna be ready tomorrow because I've already written about half of it💜