taehyung focus
"c'mon everyone — breakfast's ready! rise and shine!" taehyung's awoken to sharp bangs on his room door and the shrill voice of someone outside, probably the voice of granny yoo's younger sister and the owner of the b&b.

he yawns, blinks and lies in bed for a couple of minutes, half-heartedly mustering the will to get up (c'mon tae, it's another day you've got to get through in order to stay alive. and who knows, maybe today'll be the day you'll come up with a good as fuck escape plan and leave jeon to handle korea's entire police force?). and eventually with another yawn, taehyung sits up in bed and stretches his limbs. he surveys the room, looking for any signs of jungkook but he can't find the boy anywhere. he's not sleeping on the cramped couch and he's not in the balcony smoking his cigarettes; so he must've left to go somewhere, taehyung concludes as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

thank god, i don't wanna see him after what happened last night, taehyung thinks, shuddering as he remembers the strange feeling of jungkook's arms wrapped around his waist.

shaking his head and pushing any thoughts of jungkook out of his mind, taehyung scratches his head and slides off the bed, gingerly landing on his left foot to see the condition of his swollen ankle. the swelling and the bruising's gone down considerably, thanks to the ice pack and the hours of rest he received so he can manage walking with a limp.
he limps now over to the bathroom door and tugs the door open, careful not to yank the door into his chest and knock himself out or something like that (because knowing taehyung. . .).

the older wants to cry with relief when he spots the state of the bathroom; there are no stains on the toilet seat or dodgy looking puddles on the floor, the walls aren't covered in green grey mould and there aren't cigarettes butts littering the area where the bin sits. he's thankful for granny yoo's suggestion of a bed & breakfast because unlike the motel bathrooms he's been forced to use ever since he got kidnapped, the room is sparkling white and clean; the floor and toilet seat look useable and the walls are painted a nice shade of periwinkle blue. the only thing littering the tiled floor is a soft looking bath mat which taehyung relishes under his feet, wriggling his toes into the individual strands and enjoying the softness.

he sighs happily when he spots the shower — maybe jeon'll let me take a shower? taehyung thinks as he catches sight of himself in the bathroom mirror, crinkling his nose in disgust at the dirt smeared shirt he dons and the salty scent of sweat that lingers around his upper body.
he pads over to the shower, eager to strip and stand under warm water and cleanse the odour that surrounds him with the b&b's complimentary body washes and shampoos.
but confusion strikes him when he notices the bath directly under the shower; what's this? is this a shower–bath thing? shath? bower? why's a shower head directly over a bath? taehyung frowns, standing back a little to eye the shower bath duo. is it so you can sit down whilst showering? he wonders, perplexed.

he's never seen this shower/bath crossover before — back at his home, in his own bathroom, he owned both a luxury bathtub and a walk in shower that could probably fit six people max, but here it looked like people alternated between showers and baths or something.

huh, taehyung thinks as he studies the hybrid shower/bath with awe. his eyes drag over the porcelain bath and up the wall's tiles to a small window set into the wall, most likely to use to air the room after a shower. his gaze lingers a little too long on the window, thinking about using it to escape and climb out but he forces himself to look away, the last time he resorted to using a window hadn't worked out; he was stuck on a mini mart's roof for half an hour, for gods sake — this time he'd like to escape with a different method.

but maybe this window has a drainage pipe right next to it — i could use it to climb out and down? taehyung's hopeful.

no, tae — knowing you, this'll fail badly and get you into more trouble. best to just find a phone and contact jae. taehyung nods to himself, agreeing with his final choice.

it wouldn't hurt to open a window though — it's a little stuffy in here, taehyung thinks as he leans haphazardly over the bathtub to try and reach the window. when his hands don't meet the window handle, he places a flip flop clad foot into the bathtub without thinking, and hoists himself up using the shower head. a small but sudden amount of water dribbles out of the shower head, alarming taehyung and causing him to wince when splatters of cold water land on his exposed right thigh.

he edges to the left of the bathtub slightly to avoid the random droplets of ice cold water from the leaking shower head but he squeals when his foot accidentally curls around the moist shower curtain, making him squirm as he tries to unravel the curtain off of his ankle. he tugs his ankle away a little too hard, however and ends up slipping on the little water pooling in the bathtub, falling backwards and ripping the shower curtain down with him.

"ow, fuckfuckfuckityfuck." taehyung groans loudly, pain erupting in his back from colliding with the bathtub. he puts no refrain on the string of curses that leave his mouth as he wrestles with the shower curtain, the slightly damp material wrapping round his body completely and covering his face, almost suffocating him.

oh my god, i can't fuckinG BREATHE, he wheezes internally, AM I GOING TO DIE? AM I GOING TO DIE LIKE THIS? taehyung thinks, panicking as he flails his arms in all direction. all he can see and feel is cream coloured shower curtain and wet material slapping his cheeks.

IMAGINE THE FUCKING HEADLINES, taehyung thinks with despair,"ceo candidate, kim taehyung is found dead in a bed & breakfast accommodation on the outskirts of daegu. cause of death; was strangled and suffocated to death by a cream IKEA shower curtain."

suddenly, the shower curtain lifts off of his face and taehyung stills, stopping his frantic motions at the movement. he blinks blankly when the curtain's moved out of his vision, allowing him to see clearly again.

immediately taehyung notices jungkook towering above him, glowering at taehyung.
"what the hell are you doing?"

"u-uh, i, uhm, slipped." taehyung quickly mumbles, looking away hurriedly.

"what—," jungkook starts but shakes his head, changing his words, he mutters out a quiet "whatever" under his breath and outstretches a hand in taehyung's direction.

taehyung (who's still sitting in the pool of water and allowing his short shorts to get soggy) visibly flinches and cowers away from jungkook's hand.

jungkook frowns at taehyung's actions, "what?" he asks, retracting his hand and studying his palm with confusion.

taehyung regards him warily as he pulls his knees to his chest, hugging himself protectively whilst keeping an eye on jungkook for any sudden movements.

"what?" jungkook repeats, exasperated.

"you might play octopus with my hands now." taehyung suspects, clutching his hands tightly whilst giving jungkook the 'dirts'.

jungkook focus
jungkook's eyes are narrowed into thin slits when taehyung mentions the word 'octopus', the single word triggering the dark memories made last night, to flow through his mind again.

"im not gonna play octopus — whatever the hell that is — with your hand. last night was an accident; i thought you were someone i knew and subconsciously did stuff and i apologise for that but i definitely did not intend to play "octopus" with you." jungkook hisses, "and i don't intend to do it now either, so can we please ignore last night and forget about what happened?" jungkook questions. taehyung opens his mouth to reply but jungkook cuts in without listening to taehyung's word, "okay, thank you."

"but—"

"— now that we've discussed last night—"

"we didn't discuss—"

"— you should probably change out of those clothes and shower." jungkook proffers, ignoring taehyung and looking pointedly at the aforementioned's messy appearance.
"here, i went out and got a bunch of shit for you to use; toothbrush, clothes etc. have an ten minute top shower and change." jungkook orders tersely whilst impatiently waiting for taehyung to take the plastic bag from his hands. taehyung looks up and only then does he notices the plain plastic bag in jungkook's hand.

taehyung, still suspicious about the whole octopus ordeal, takes the plastic bag after giving jungkook a warning look, a look that says "play-footsie-with-my-hand-and-you'll-get-it" (he, himself doesn't exactly know what "you'll get it" means but whatever, he thinks).

once taehyung takes the plastic bag in his own hands, jungkook turns on the balls of his feet, and walks briskly towards the bathroom door.
"hurry up and shower, the owner of the b&b's sending up breakfast for us and if you're not quick enough, ill eat yours." he yells over his shoulder before slamming the door shut, leaving taehyung alone once again.

                                        +

fresh from the shower and smelling like 'warm vanilla and shea butter' (as stated on the body wash), taehyung rummages through the plastic bag jungkook had given him. he struggles with the soft towel wrapped around his waist, the material threatening to fall from the curves of his hips, as he unfolds the thin garments placed inside the bag. he lifts the clothes jungkook had purchased into the air and inspects the cheap clothing with mild distaste; the top was a hideous mix of pastel blue and aquamarine and the bright yellow shorts that accompanied the t-shirt was painful to the eye.
stylist noona back at home, would've had a fit, taehyung thinks as he scrutinises the t-shirt. nevertheless, the shorts were longer than the shorts from the love nest so he was grateful that he was covered up even just a little bit more.

letting the towel around his waist drop to the floor, taehyung starts to pull the clothes onto his body, shivering slightly at the lack of warmth the items emanate.
once he's done, taehyung lifts his head up and catches sight of the boy that stares back at him in the mirror. he blinks at the sight, confused.

that's me? he thinks as he allows himself to run his gaze over his appearance. his eyes catch onto the mere minuscule details –details he's never seen before – on his face, on his body. there's a healthy red tint on his cheeks, his eyes seem brighter than usual (or maybe it's just the bathroom lighting?), his hair's messily ruffled from drying it violently and there's a pimple sitting on his right cheek. and his skin is much more tan from spending the last couple of days wandering round in the sun.

i look. . .taehyung thinks, trailing off whilst staring at his form in the mirror. i think i look nice, he thinks as he raises a hand to his pimple, letting his fingertip graze the spot with interest. he looks his age for once: he looks like a normal twenty one year old, and not some airbrushed ceo that practically lives in burbery suits and eats, breathes, lives and poops business.
he likes it.

although he has a pimple on his skin, bedraggled hair and a too shiny forehead, he thinks he looks good. he looks 'normal' and basic — like an alternate universe taehyung.

he thinks he likes this taehyung over the one in the other universe, the universe where taehyung runs for ceo.
if jungkook hadn't kidnapped him, taehyung thinks he'd probably be holed up in a two hour long meeting with his father and 'important people', sweating nervously as several business partners ask questions about stocks or some shit like that, expecting taehyung to reply with an educated answer. when he replied cleverly, his father would beam proudly at him from his allocated seat at the head of table, and when he replied not so cleverly, his father's smile would slip just the tiniest bit and a slight hint of disappointment would pass by quickly on his face.
it was enough for taehyung to wallow in self hate.

"hey kim, if you're not out of the bathroom in 0.2 seconds, im gonna all eat your breakfast." jungkook calls out from behind the thin bathroom door. taehyung shakes all thoughts out of his head and crouches down to hurriedly shove his dirty clothes into the plastic bag — eager not to miss a valuable meal.

as he quickly pads over to the bathroom door, bare feet smacking the polished tiles, a fleeting thought passes through his head, a thought that he forces out of his head as quickly as it had entered.

im glad im not over there.
im glad im here; im free to eat, sleep, talk and act without having judgemental people breathing down my neck.

__________
taehyung's new outfit is the colourful one down belowwwwwww,