It didn't concern him that he had an upcoming class to be at. Not in the slightest.

After seeing the looks on those students' faces at the sight of his arm, all that concerned Taehyung was getting away. So that's why he ran, not caring that he left his car behind - he could always get that later.

He arrived at his apartment, still panicked and out of breath. Hastily unlocking the door, Taehyung rushed inside and slammed it shut, locking it again.

He pressed his back against the door. His breathing needed time to even out, but right now, all it wanted to do was tremble.

"Not again..."

With those unsteady, distraught words, Taehyung's tears surfaced and would have spilled over if not for his hand wiping them away in frustration. The blood that had escaped from the cuts had made its way down to that hand, and thus now became smeared over his eyelid. But he didn't care. He just needed to be alone.

It was for the best. It had always been.

"Yoongi, I'm so sorry..."

At the sudden knocking from behind the door, Taehyung jumped in fright, getting to his feet faster than his heart was beating right now.

"Taehyung?"

The voice sounded familiar. There's no way.

"T-Taehyung, it's me, the guy who sat next to you in class today?"

Now Taehyung swore his heart stopped. The blood drained from his face. "W-what on earth are you doing here?!" He cried. "Did you follow me??"

The boy on the other side was noticeably hesitant. "W-well, yes, but-"

"You're a stalker! I'll call the police, I swear I will-"

"No, please don't!" The boy called out in protest. "I...I just came to give you back your phone, you left it at your desk-"

"So you followed me all the way to my freaking apartment?!"

"You weren't responding when I called your name earlier!"

"So?! Just-" Feeling his blood pressure rising, Taehyung took a moment to breathe deeply before replying in exasperation, "Just slide it under the door or leave it outside or something."

"...no."

He stopped again. "...what did you just say?"

"I...I said 'no'."

He couldn't believe his ears.

"I...won't give you back your phone unless you open the door-"

"What kind of nonsensical reason did you have for following me to my apartment to give me my phone if you aren't actually going to return it?!"

Taehyung couldn't see the boy's face at the moment, but he was certain that if he could, it would only infuriate him more.

"I-I will return it, I just want to talk."

"Talk." He glared at the wall with enough internal rage to wear a hole through it. "What are you, some kind of undercover paranormal researcher??"

"What? Undercover—no, I'm...I'm just Jungkook."

"Give me back my phone."

"Not till you let me inside."

He wasn't winning this argument. And he knew he wouldn't, not with the obstinance this boy had already displayed, and put together with how utterly drained Taehyung felt at the moment, there was no hope for him.

He unlocked the door and yanked it open.

Surely enough, there stood Jungkook, the boy from earlier, with his eyes wide, curious, and alert, and his hand tightly clutching Taehyung's phone at his side.

And he just stared. He stared at Taehyung, at the smear of purple on his eye which he knew at this point was blood. And since his cuts hadn't been treated and covered up, they could still be seen, and still bled, even though just faintly.

"...so you're really not going to give it back?"

"...not till y-"

"Alright, alright! Just go!" Groaning in annoyance, Taehyung stepped aside and furiously gestured for Jungkook to enter the apartment. So he offered a slight bow and a 'thank you' as if he were being openly invited.

Taehyung shut the door behind them.

He turned around, facing an internal battle whether or not to start yelling at this boy again or just physically fight him for his phone back, then kick him out.

Honestly, he was just too tired to do anything.

So he simply slid past Jungkook and made his way to the kitchen table, where he just collapsed onto one of the chairs with his head in his hands.

"...are...are you okay-?"

"Does it look like I'm okay??"

"You're still bleeding, you should really bandage t-"

"You're right, Jungkook," Taehyung snapped, raising his head again, "I am bleeding. Which is why I don't understand why you're here right now."

The boy just stood there, eyes still cleaving to that same expression from before, but now they acquired a sense of puzzlement. "I...don't know much about treating wounds," Jungkook began in a quiet voice, scratching the back of his head as he slipped Taehyung's phone into his own back pocket. "...but I can help you if you'd like."

It perplexed Taehyung, to no end, why this boy was gazing at him with greater concern than fear - rather, he couldn't even sense fear, not even as Jungkook so clearly stared at the blood stains on his arm and eye.

"I'm a freak."

Jungkook turned his head towards the ground. He seemed dissatisfied with Taehyung's self-deprecating words. "I don't think that's true," he spoke softly, as if afraid to be heard. "I don't think that's true at all."

"And why not?" Taehyung scoffed in spite of himself more than anything. "What reason do you have to stick up for me? You might as well be honest and tell me you're disturbed. Everyone else is. Everyone always is. I don't blame them. I'm a freak. I'm just a freak..."

His breathing grew unsteady again as his tears threatened to resurface.

"It's gonna be like high school all over again..."

"Do you have bandages anywhere?"

Certain he misheard the boy, Taehyung shot Jungkook a questioning glance, his brow deeply furrowed. So Jungkook spoke again.

"Bandages?"

"What?"

"For your arm. Or would you rather go to the hospital-"

"NO!"

A piercing exclamation. Jungkook flinched harshly. Taehyung's eyes were open to their full capacity now, evidently triggered by that eight-letter word. The other boy shrunk into himself.

"Okay, bandages it is. Now where-"

"They might be in the cabinet under the sink, I don't know," Taehyung blurted. His nerves were acting up again.

Jungkook turned around and immediately saw the cabinet Taehyung was referring to, so there he checked for the bandages first. "Ah, they're here," he announced, but soon after stopped himself. "Wait, it's probably best to clean off the blood first, right? Do you have a rag or something? Or do you have something else you normally do with it? I don't really know if there's some sort of special treatment for different colored blood..."

Too overwrought to come up with something to say, Taehyung just shook his head as Jungkook looked over his shoulder at him.

"Ah, you have a rag by your sink here. I'll grab that."

So he rinsed the rag with water and rang it out, then took both the rag and the roll of bandages over to Taehyung and sat next to him.

"Could you...uhm, hold out your arm?"

"What are you doing?"

Jungkook blinked at the sudden question. "...trying to help?"

"Because?"

"Because you looked sad and scared and hurt and that isn't fair?"

"Jungkook, I know you have a class to get to."

"I'll be late at this point. There's no point in me going now."

Defeated. More than anything, Taehyung just felt defeated. He could yell at the boy later, perhaps, but now, he just gave up and held out his arm.

By the looks of it, the cuts seemed to have stopped bleeding - or at least were gradually in the process of doing so. Jungkook sighed in relief and began to wipe away the blood stains.

"So, have you been like this since you were born?"

"Been like what?" Taehyung mocked. "A freak?"

"No, someone this beautifully unique."

It caught him off guard, to say the very least. Taehyung shifted his attention over to the boy. Jungkook had his head down at the moment, but he looked up just then, only to look down again once he was met with Taehyung's strong gaze. His ears turned red.

"I...I won't pressure you to tell me more about you, but I'd love to hear your stories."

"I don't have...'stories'..." Taehyung replied, bitterly so. "I'm not some hero, okay, I don't have superpowers, I just have this freakish feature about me that just makes people scared and disturbed. I don't know anything else about it. I'm afraid to know more about it..."

His throat felt sore from straining not to cry.

"You could get infected for all either of us know. You're an idiot for not taking your chance to leave."

"Maybe."

That was all he said. Just that one word, and it seemed to hold such a lack of interest in what Taehyung had just spoken.

"You want me to wipe off the stain on your eye or would that make you uncomfortable?"

Taehyung didn't reply this time. Letting out a shaky breath, he turned his head slightly to the side, conveniently so that that the blood-smeared eye was now closer to Jungkook. So he took this as Taehyung's silent approval and carefully applied the damp rag to the boy's eyelid.

He had a better view. Being up close, Jungkook could see that Taehyung's eyes had become the faintest shade of purple, much lighter than the boy's blood, but Jungkook knew he wasn't just imagining it.

It must happen whenever he's bleeding, he thought in wonder. It's beautiful.

"You're beautiful..."

The color faded as Taehyung blinked, turning again to stare at Jungkook in confusion. This time, Jungkook was too distracted to look away in embarrassment - at first. After a few seconds he registered his words had slipped, though he didn't try to take them back or come up with an excuse, but rather picked up the roll of bandages and started to work on covering those scratches.

Taehyung, on the other hand, tired enough in that moment to fall asleep, closed his eyes.

They intrigued one another. In more similar ways than they knew.

*
*
*

end of chapter two.