020519. namjoon & taehyung.

[lovestrippedbare]

WINTER.
February 5, 2019.

WHO namjoon & taehyung
WHAT about visiting hobi

WHERE phone call
TIMELINE cycle 1

NAMJOON He chews his lip as he stares at the group chat. Hoseok was in the hospital, and Namjoon hadn't known. He pulls out a cigarette, hoping that smoke will crush the heavy weight of guilt that settled in his guts. Leaning against the back wall of the gas station shop, he checks the time. It was late. Only a couple of people he knows would be awake right now. An urge overcomes him and he hits Taehyung's name in his contacts, putting the phone to his ear as it rings.



TAEHYUNG It's a rare occurrence; he's at the apartment by himself. No noona, blissfully, no father, just... himself. And emptiness, and silence, and the guilt that he didn't catch Seokjin before he went to the hospital. It was okay, he told himself. Hobi hyung would be out before he knew it, Taehyung told himself. He's sitting by himself when the phone rings, to his surprise, and he picks up, happy to look up from his homework that he's doing, for once, to keep his mind occupied. "Hi Joonie," he mutters, absently fond but mildly sulky.



NAMJOON "Hey." His breath catches. Are you okay? Namjoon stops himself from asking. The texts he missed from Hoseok had activated his imagination, and now he feels a little stupid. Of course Taehyung was fine. He wasn't the one in the hospital, alone. Or in jail, alone. Or otherwise in some sort of trouble. He exhales. "What are you doing up?"



TAEHYUNG "Homework." He snorts, staring derisively down at the math problem he's been working on, then tosses his pencil down on his work, blurting out. "Why am I doing this? I missed going with hyung because my phone was off for fucking yaja, and then I was doing homework. I can catch a bus out to see Hobi hyung tomorrow, I guess."

Fucking symbolic, he thought, that a waste of time like school would make him miss seeing a friend. Huffing, he falls back to bed. "Fuck school."



NAMJOON Taehyung sounds frustrated but Namjoon can't stop a smile that forms at the outburst. So perfectly Taehyung, it brings him back to reality and out of stressful imaginations. Why was he ever worried?

"Fuck school." Namjoon echoes. "Yaja is the worst. As if we don't have enough school." Admittedly, Namjoon attended yaja much less than his friends did, due to his work schedule, but when he had to, it felt like a heavy monopoly on his time. "And fuck work, for that matter. Coming back to texts like that is..." He pauses for a drag, but when he's done, he still can't find the words to describe it without ending up rambling. He abandons it for a new thought. "I don't know if they'll let him out in the morning or afternoon, but we can go out there together?"



TAEHYUNG "Yeah. Sounds good. But if it's the morning, we have to ditch class again. And I don't know how my boss - uh, the cops - will feel about that." He keeps his voice serious, staring idly at the ceiling. "Fuck all the hoops they make us go through that get in the way of all the things that matter," he grumbles.

It strikes him, how rare talks between he and Namjoon are these days when they're not out together. And even on those nights, they don't always talk that much. As annoying as the circumstances are, it's nice to know he has a second of Namjoon's night, even he knows it could be cut short at any time.



NAMJOON Namjoon snickers quietly. "You're not gonna report me, are you? I'm expecting special treatment with the law for keeping your secret."

He sighs, checking around the corner of the building to survey the cars in the station. None of them are familiar, so he stays in his spot in the dark. "Don't worry about the hoops. I'll call in for you and say you're still sick."


CODE BY TESSISAMESS