"H-hey, stop!"

-
Two pairs of eyes shoot up to stare at him.
One shows fury, a pool of rage hot rage in his soulless irises.
The other is filled with tears, fear and a glint of hope. Those fearful eyes watch as the small boy hesitantly walks up to the pair, his whole body glowing under the luminescent lights shining above them. Almost like an angel.

Taehyung stares worriedly at the scene, a dark pit of emotions settling in his gut.
He takes a deep breath and looks up at his oh-so-familiar bully.
"Let him go," Taehyung states, fisting his hands to stabilise his hoarding nerves.

The blond-haired boy seethes, his pearly white teeth clashing together harshly as he grits them in irritation. "Get lost, fag," he spits out viciously, his tone akin to the poison in venom.

"N-no, you're hurting him," Taehyung says while pointing to the beaten up boy.

Yoongi glares harder at him. "You don't know what he fucking did so get lost, it's got nothing to do with you."

Taehyung looks down at the other male and notices him looking away, losing hope. Taehyung knows that feeling. 

The feeling of having no one to save you. The feeling of being alone. 

All the feelings that Taehyung is accustomed to. 

"No," the blue-head shakes his head firmly, pushing aside his fear and continuing to talk. "I-it doesn't matter what he did. Y-you shouldn't hurt him like this."

Yoongi is silent. He stares at the boy in front of him with no emotion what so ever. Then he simply follows the prolonged silence with a cruel laugh. There's nothing joyful in the humourless chuckle except for the sinister mirth it carries. 

"Okay," he says while letting the other boy go. The brown-haired male scurries away, holding onto his battered rib cage and not once glancing back at the two boys. 

Now Yoongi and Taehyung stand face to face. Yoongi stares at the other with a blood-chilling smile while the smaller cowers away in fear. 

"U-uh, I'll get going then," Taehyung states as he starts to shuffle off. His actions are halted by an iron-like grip clutching onto his arm. 

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice is almost pleasant, almost soothing.

 But a lion never roars before he attacks. 

He simply smirks before harshly pulling the boy by his thin arm. 

Taehyung gasps as he trips and falls onto the cold tiled floor. Thud. 

He wants to groan over the pain but he can barely open his mouth before Yoongi throws a violent punch onto his stomach. 

"Since you didn't want me hurting him, I assume you were offering yourself as his replacement."

Taehyung shakes his head frantically but it's to no avail. The boy starts harshly kicking him, plunging his steel hard shoes into the tiny body in front of him. 

Taehyung struggles to get up, to get away. He thrashes around but this only seems to only rile his tormentor even further. 

Yoongi leans down and crashes his knuckles onto the delicate skin of Taehyung's face. The small boy winces in pain as his lip splits open and his pale skin blemishes with scarlet blood. 

"You shouldn't have stopped me, fag, cause now you're going to get it." 

"Pl-please," Taehyung tries begging. His doe eyes glisten as he stares desperately into the eyes of the other. A silent message begging for mercy. The lion's meal begging to be set free. 

But the cruel lion is too greedy to let him free, he wants to hear his prey cry out in pain as he rips him to shreds. His pleas go unheard and the blond continues to beat him up. 

At one point, Taehyung stops trying to fight back. He just lays there taking in all the punches and kicks. He stops pleading and he stops wincing in pain. His battered face stays emotionless as the other boy wrecks his weak limbs. 

It is like killing a dead body. No harm done. Right? 

Soon, exhaustion catches up with Yoongi, he slows down and eventually comes to a stop. He stares down at the mess beneath him, a small smile tugging his lips. 

"Next time, learn not to mess with me, you filthy fag," and with that, he leaves with one final kick to the other's stomach. He leaves behind the breathing corpse of a boy.

alone/əˈləʊn/

Adjective

having no one else present.

This school is filled with thousands of people, thousands of faces that belong to thousands of bodies. 

Yet here, laying almost lifelessly in this over-polished hallway, Taehyung can't help but feel so 

alone. 

~

Taehyung limps back to his dorm, eerily silent. His harsh injuries don't seem to urge any noise from the male. He should at least be whimpering in pain but he's not, in fact, he's quieter than he's ever been. 

There's something in the way he walks that is breathtaking. Not in a joyful way that expresses any serenity but rather breathtaking in a dreadful manner. Like watching an infant walk along the edge of a cliff. Your breath gets snatched away in absolute terror. 

The boy stumbles towards his dorm and opens it. He looks over at his roommate who is peacefully sleeping and then at his own empty bed. With slow, excruciatingly painful steps he edges towards his bed and climbs in. He takes his shoes off and lays on the soft mattress. He doesn't bother cleaning his wounds or changing his clothes, just simply lays flat and stares at the white dull ceiling. 

When you put too much air in a balloon, it will pop, letting out all the air it once collected. 

Just like that balloon, Taehyung feels his pent up emotions finally explode, the tight lid to the bottle finally coming undone. He doesn't know when the first tear comes out but soon a waterfall follows, cascading down his bruised face in an effortless manner. The prolonged sorrow he's felt wracks his body in the form of violent sobs and he desperately tries to muffle the sound with a quivering hand.  He turns towards the wall and pulls in a pillow close to him, crying into that instead and he tries to control his breathing.  

The minute he stepped into this school it's been literal hell. He was treated like a rat on the side of the street, tossed around and deemed as disgusting. 

He tried to stay positive, he tried to smile and laugh and be grateful for even existing. But this cruel world, this cruel school, his cruel parents, they make him question his measly existence, the point of his dreadful life. 

He's like a lonesome soldier fighting the great war. His life is just a hopeless journey of misfortunes. He hates his life and he hates himself. 

It makes him wonder, is this life worth living? 

-

Jungkook is resting in bed, trying to fall asleep when a figure stumbles into the room. He can tell that it is Taehyung. 

Why was he out so late? He thinks to himself briefly. 

He listens as the boy shuffles into bed. 

Hmm, that's weird, isn't he going to change?

The room is dead silent for a while and Jungkook thinks that his roommate has fallen asleep. He turns around to try and sleep himself when he hears it. 

The muffled sob that resounds through the room. 

Jungkook tenses up, listening intently to his roommates cries. Something about the way the other desperately tries to muffle his sobs makes Jungkook's cold heart clench. He doesn't even realise when his feet slowly push him off his bed and he slowly edges towards the blue-haired boy. 

With cautious steps, he slowly approaches the smaller boy. He stops in front of his bed and stares and his hunched form. 

"T-Taehyung?" He calls out quietly. The small boy immediately tries to quieten down his cries but it's to no avail. 

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows and slowly takes a seat next to the shaking boy. "Uh, a-are you okay?" Jungkook asks rather awkwardly. 

Taehyung hiccups while nodding, "y-yeah, 'm fine."

Jungkook hesitates before slowly reaching towards the other's shoulder and turning him to face him. Taehyung tries to resist but his weak body can barely move a muscle. 

Jungkook freezes as his eyes meet Taehyung's. 

Bloodied and bruised, cuts on his rosy pink lips and his small face deeply swollen. 

Jungkook doesn't know why but a deep sense of rage floods through his body. He feels his eyes darken as his fist unintentionally clench. 

"Taehyung, who did this to you," he asks lowly. 

Taehyung shakes his head, "n-no-one."

Jungkook fumes, his blood boiling. He slams his fist on the bed," I SAID, WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!" he shouts with a growl. 

Taehyung curls in on himself and cries harder, his head cowering away in fear. 

At the sight of the frightened boy, Jungkook slightly softens. He takes a deep breath and gently pulls the tiny body onto his lap. Taehyung whimpers in pain and Jungkook once again feels himself get riled up. 

"Bambi," the ravenette calls out softly, trying to calm his wavering voice. "Who did this?"

Taehyung sniffles and lets his head fall limp against Jungkook's chest. He doesn't speak for a while and only the sound of his sniffles and hiccups are heard. Then the boy takes a deep breath, closing his eyes tightly as he speaks. 

 "Y-Yoongi did. B-but it was my f-fault. I-I got in his w-way when h-he warned me."

Jungkook tenses, "what did you do?"

"H-he was h-hurting this boy and so I told him to s-stop."

Jungkook's grits his teeth, his rage threatening to explode. "So he beat you up?" He asks, his hands curling into tight fists. 

Taehyung simply nods against the boy's chest. 

Jungkook takes a deep breath to calm himself down before looking down at the boy. His lips are even poutier now that he's crying and he looks so small and fragile in Jungkook's arms. It makes him furious every time he sees the boy's injuries and Jungkook can't help but ask himself, why? 

Why does he care? 

But he can't answer it and he can't deny it either. He does care for this little doe-eyed blue-headed boy and he can't seem to do anything about it. He sighs deeply before lifting him up. Taehyung startles and slightly yelps.

"W-where are we going?" he asks fearfully. 

The ravenette doesn't answer, instead he carries the smaller to the bathroom and sits him down next to the sink. 

~

Taehyung winces as Jungkook gently presses the cotton disinfectant wipe against his cuts. The stinging sensation claws painfully at his bleeding flesh. 

"Does it hurt?" Jungkook asks, eyebrows furrowed. 

Taehyung shakes his head 'no' but the small pout on his lips give him away. 

Jungkook feels this urge in the back of his mind to kiss that pout away but he dismisses it and tries to focus on the task ahead. 

Jungkook sighs and takes out a bandage. He slowly wraps it around the boy's cuts as gently as possible, looking up to see his reaction every time he tightens it to make sure he's fine.

Taehyung should be confused and alarmed by Jungkook's kind gestures but he's in too much of a daze to realise. The boy just simply watches as his roommate selflessly aids to his injuries in the middle of the night. 

"Why didn't you go to the school nurse? She's there 24/7."

Taehyung gloomily shakes his, his matted blue hair falling over his eyes as he does so. "S-she would have called my parents."

"So? I'm sure they would want to know if their son is getting beat up."

Taehyung sighs, looking up at the ceiling with a dejected expression. "Yeah, but their son's getting bullied for being g-gay. They already hate me for it and have punished me enough, I-I don't want them to get angrier."

Jungkook looks up with a frown. "They punished you for being gay?"

Taehyung nods, "t-they are no longer financially supporting me."

Jungkook's eyes widen, "then how the fuck are you still at this school? The food alone costs around $250 per week."

Taehyung looks down, face glowing with a trace of a smile. "I got a job," he announces proudly.

"Where?"

"At this cafe, uhh what was the name? Lim Cafe? Yeah, Lim Cafe."

Jungkook stops his actions and slowly looks up at Taehyung. "Y-you work there?"

"Yeah," Taehyung states happily, proud of himself for finding a job. "Even if they only pay $5.45 per hour, still better than nothing. And they also have these cute kitty decorations in the corner of the room and also oh my god this adorable baby was there today and oh, also, when I was working today I dropped this-" 

"Stop working there," Jungkook orders abruptly, interrupting Taehyung's rambling. 

"What, why?" Taehyung asks confusedly. "I know it's little pay and all but I still need a j-"

"Taehyung please," Jungkook begs, shocking the smaller boy. Jungkook stares at him with raw emotion circling his dark eyes, urging Taehyung to listen to him. The ravenette looks at him desperately, his voice sounding almost fearful as he says, 

"S-Stay away from that place."

-

A/N: My period cramps were literally killing me while I was writing this. I hate being female sometimes. Also, this chapter didn't turn out how I wanted it to and I'm sorry if I disappointed you guys. I don't know why but I'm really struggling to write these chapters recently and I just want to be able to write again. 😣

But anyway, thank you for reading. I love you guys, you make me so happy. Legit when I see your cute ass comments I squeal like a goat. That's what y'all do to me, y'all make me a goat. 😣✊❤️