Comfort in strange places

The days past by excruciatingly slowly but eventually it's been months since the uprising in the collective.

Three months actually.

The collective was destroyed, Seokjin had taken over 613 and changed all its laws.

Not him alone, or course.

Unlike the collective, he gave a voice to the people and let them decide how they wanted to live.

Of course he couldn't say yes to everything, but he did try his best to accommodate everyone.

The jails on base are full of officers and civilians that refuse to change their mindset, even after all this time.

Security is still extremely tight, which is a common complaint from the people of 613 but it's not because Seokjin wants them to feel imprisoned.

Tension were still all too high between the insiders and the former outsiders.

"There are no insiders or outsiders, we are all one," Seokjin said in his first public speech after the uprising. "I am not your leader, or your boss. You do not work for me, and you do not owe me anything. Everything we do here will be for the good of the community, and its people. As one nation, we will continue to conquer the trials brought on by our habitation of 613. Until we are no more."

Taehyung wanted to roll his eyes at the speech but he couldn't, as he was by his side when gave the speech.

Seokjin asked him to stand with him behind the podium for some reason, saying that seeing a familiar face would make everyone feel better.

He still doesn't know if it worked.

All he does these days is help Seokjin administer medication for the outsiders that were showing symptoms due to the poisoned rations.

He hated it, but if he wanted to be considered a functioning member of society he had to have a task each day. And working with Seokjin meant he didn't have to leave headquarters more than a couple times week as opposed to going down every day like Jimin and Hoseok.

"You haven't coughed much lately," Seokjin points out as he and Taehyung set the table for supper. "Maybe the medicine's working."

"Or I'm still just casually dying while everyone watches," Taehyung chuckles. "Who knows?"

"Can you try to be a little more optimistic?" Seokjin asks.

"I gave up on optimism a while ago," The silverette says. "There's no point."

Seokjin doesn't respond, he was never one to indulge in Taehyung's pity party. "Go get Jimin and Hoseok."

Taehyung rolls his eyes but he goes. He knocks on Jimin's door first, pushing open without waiting for a response. "Jimin, Seokjin said~ oh my galaxy."

    "Taehyung," Jimin shouts in horror as he pushes Hoseok from on top of him. "Get out!"

Taehyung slams the door immediately, his eyes wide as he tries to make sense of the scene he just walked in on.

Jimin and Hoseok...Jimin and Hoseok!??

    "Uhm, yeah, s-supper's ready," The silverette stammers before rushing away from the door, practically running back downstairs.

    "Woah, slow down there," Seokjin chuckles. "Where's the fire?"

    "I just saw..." Taehyung cuts himself off, what kind of friend would he be if he exposed Jimin like this. "I-I saw Namjoon heading over...here. To the table..."

    "I got here a little while ago," Namjoon says in confusion.

    "You sure did," Taehyung says, sitting down in his usual seat at the table. "You sure did."

Seokjin and Namjoon share a confused look, Seokjin waving his finger by his head to indicate that the younger has lost his mind.

Hoseok and Jimin join them after a few minutes, sitting on opposite sides of the table.

Taehyung avoids eye contact, but neither of them notice as they too are avoiding eye contact.

    "Everything alright?" Seokjin asks as he starts to serve plates, looking between the three of them.

They each mumble different variations of 'yeah' and 'fine' before falling silent again.

It was an awkward dinner.

    "Uh, Seokjin, are we going down to the base tomorrow?" Taehyung asks, trying to get past the awkwardness.

    "No, I'm actually going to take Namjoon with me tomorrow," Seokjin says smiling at his husband before speaking to Taehyung directly. "You can have tomorrow off."

    "I'll probably go down and see if there's anything I can do~"

    "No," Seokjin says, catching Taehyung a bit off guard. "I mean you should use the day to rest, that's all. You're still sick, we don't know if it will progress."

    "I think the medicine is working," Taehyung says. "Or at least it's clearing up my symptoms."

    "You should rest anyway," Seokjin says. "Just as a precaution. It's just one day."

    "Okay," Taehyung says before falling silent. He glances at Jimin and sees his eyes on Hoseok, who is looking back at him. But they immediately break eye contact when they realize Taehyung is looking.

And the awkwardness intensifies.

~

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh...yeah, sure,"

Jimin walks into Jeongguk's old charging station, where Taehyung happened to be when he went looking for him.

"Why do you just sit in here all the time?" The older asks, pulling the chair from the desk in the corner and sitting in front of Taehyung.

"I don't know," The younger shrugs, pulling his legs up and wrapping his arms around his knees. "What'd you want to talk about?"

"W-Well, I wanted to talk about what you saw earlier," Jimin says, breaking eye contact as he fidgets anxiously with the sleeves of his shirt.

"Oh," Taehyung says. "Well, what about it?"

Jimin forces himself to meet Taehyung's eyes again. "I know it probably seems weird that'd Hoseok and I would...well, that we would find interest in each other."

"I mean I get it, I guess," The younger says. "I was just caught off guard earlier."

Jimin nods, biting at the inside of his lip as he tries to figure out what to say next. "We started talking a few days after we got here. I was just trying to be a shoulder for him to cry on after Yoongi, and...I guess we realized we had more in common than we thought."

"So are you, like, dating or something?" Taehyung asks.

"I don't know," Jimin shrugs, a sad smile forming on his face. "I don't think so. After everything that happened, everything's too fresh right now to trust either of our feelings really."

Taehyung nods even though he doesn't fully understand. "Either way, I'm happy for you guys."

Jimin shrugs. "Thanks I guess."

Taehyung nods again, falling silent as he picks at the broken skin around his nails.

"How are you doing lately?" Jimin asks. "I feel like we haven't really talked in a while."

"I'm fine," Taehyung shrugs. "Seokjin runs blood tests every week to monitor the results of the medication~"

"No, Taehyung, how are you really?" The older says. "Mentally, emotionally."

    "I don't really know, honestly," The younger says. "I don't know if what I'm feeling is grief, it feels different than when my parents died. You and Yoongi were the only people that ever looked out for me, and now he's gone. And Jeongguk...I guess I was more attached to him than I thought."

    "Seokjin told me he thought you were in love with him," Jimin says. "I didn't tell him that he was modeled after Jeongguk, but considering that it doesn't seem too far fetched that you loved the android version of him."

Taehyung looks away, trying not to let any emotions show on his face. "Maybe I did let myself feel too much for the android version. I think what hurts the most is that they both died trying to protect me."

    "Do you genuinely feel like Jeongguk, the android, was alive?" Jimin asks. "I'm not judging you, I'm just asking."

    "I know he wasn't alive," Taehyung says rolling his eyes a little. "But he was real to me, Jimin. I felt a connection between us."

    "Maybe you were just feeling old feelings," Jimin says. "He looked and sounded exactly like Jeongguk."

    "Even if I was does that invalidate my feelings completely?" Taehyung asks. "Does that mean I can't grieve losing him?"

    "No, Taehyung, it doesn't," Jimin says. "I'm just trying to see where you're at in the process that's all."

    "It's been a few months,"

    "You only had Jeongguk for a few days,"

Taehyung shakes his head, looking away. "I don't even know why you talk about him. Your feelings haven't changed. You still see him as a dangerous android and he's not. He took care of me all those days we were together, he comforted me, and he kept me safe. That's all I wanted, and that's what I had. And now he's gone, he's broken and he's missing. And I'll never see him again."

    "I'm sorry~"

    "You don't have to be, just don't talk to me about him ever again, Jimin. I mean it."

Jimin nods, looking down at his hands and falling silent for a moment. "...I'll leave them."

Taehyung doesn't respond, keeping his eyes directed away as Jimin stands and pushes the chair back to it rightful place.

    "Goodnight," The older says, not waiting for a response as he leaves and closes the door behind him.

Taehyung sighs, bringing his hands up and pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes.

He didn't know if he was grieving the loss of Jeongguk or if he just felt lost and empty without him.

Either way, he was feeling too many things all at once right now and he just wanted to disappear.

He wanted to go back in time and not even fix the stupid android. Maybe if he didn't fix him he wouldn't be feeling like this.

He quickly shakes the thought, the entire reason any of this happened was because he had second thoughts about fixing Jeongguk.

He didn't regret fixing him, he just regret not trying harder to protect him.

~

a/n: sorry for the wait, i've had such a hectic week. i hope you're enjoying the book so far!! 💜