the blonde male shut the door perhaps a little too harshly, the hinges of his bathroom door shook from the pressure, but he didn't care. he looked through the bedroom a final time, sucking in a deep breath before going back to the living room area. he led himself to the kitchen almost in a trace, ignoring three black shadow figures leaning against his counters. they didn't matter.

he wasn't too sure why, but jimin's hand reached out towards the handle of his fridge, almost as if curious as to what could be inside. his nostrils flared at the rotten stench as soon as he pulled the door, the seal keeping in the putrid aroma releasing instantly making him feel nauseous. his eyes followed the scent, three sunken in apples sitting on one of the shelves. of course. jimin shut the refrigerator door uncaringly, only to find himself stopping in his place.

a single picture hung on his fridge with the help of white circle magnets, a photo he seemed to have forgot about by the way it took him by complete surprise. he was young in it, perhaps five or six years old. before all this started happening.

he was sitting on a seesaw on the ground with a giant grin on his face made up mostly by teeth, a small peace sign lifted up on his tiny fingers as if that moment in time the photo was taken had been the best moment of his life. on the other end of the seesaw in the air he could see another boy, probably about the same age he was. he had dark black hair covering one of his eyes and an ugly stripped blueberry shirt on. he held the same teeth-filled smile as jimin's, but his was far more gummy.

jimin felt a weird sense of remembrance inside, but he had absolutely no memory of the moment of his youth. it was clearly before all these nightmares started. back when he was able to apparently have a best friend he could smile with. it was almost hard to believe he really lived like that at one time. as if he was genuinely happy.

deciding to ignore the nostalgia he couldn't seem to push away, jimin stepped away from the photo. what was the point on reminiscing of the old times? it couldn't help him now. that little smiling bright kid from the past was dead now. not even an empty shell of who he once was, but rather a ghost.

"he used to smile"

"not anymore"

"we like sad jimin"

jimin walked away as a few of the person-shaped black masses in the room stepped towards his childhood photo. he ignored the mocks they excitedly spit out, pretending not to hear them even though they knew he did.

the blonde teenager took a final look around, reaching into his pocket where his keys were and throwing them on the couch. he didn't even bother locking his apartment as he stepped out to the familiar area of the hallway. he didn't even mind that he left the door almost wide open, not caring in the least about any of his personal items. right as jimin was about to take a step into the open space, he heard that all too repetitive ear-piercing shriek.

"hide! hide! hide!"

"why's he coming, nothing is happening?!"

"just shut up and disappear!"

jimin closed his eyes as he leaned against the wall beside his opened apartment. fear rumbled so deep inside of himself that he could feel his knees buckle and his skin crawl. as much as he was over all of this, over his suffering and trepidation, jungkook always had an effect on him. even now at his numbest state, his head was spinning and his hands involuntarily started to shake as if by routine.

a cold hand wrapped itself around jimin's in a light manner, a thumb sliding over the soft fabric of his white sweater in a comforting way. in reality, it just made his lungs squeeze together painfully, forcing him to skip a breath he had to shakily let out. the hand held his firmer, but nothing uncomfortable by nature, just in an insistent grip.

finally being able to catch his breath, jimin forced his eyes open, not wanting to just stand here forever. as soon as the young blonde did however, he didn't meant the gaze he was expecting. the devilish brown irises that usually stared down at him from inches above were a soft black, basically at the same height as his own. his lips parted as if to call the name of the male he was actually expecting, but instead remaining silent as he studied the completely different face in front of him, vibrant blue strands of hair covering the stranger's forehead.

"are you okay?" an unrecognizable voice questioned carefully, the hand holding his wrist redacting back to the owner and off of his body. "you looked like you were going to pass out."

jimin looked down at his white sneakers before looking back up at the man standing face to face with him. to say he was confused was an understatement, but he tried not to pay too much mind to it. the person who grabbed him wasn't jungkook, but the man was here somewhere, and judging by the way he had decided to appear out of nowhere unprecedented, he was sure he knew this encounter with the stranger was going to happen.

"hello?" the stranger asked, waving a hand in front of the younger's face.

"oh," jimin realized he had been lost in his thoughts while staring directly at the soft spoken man. "i'm okay."

the stranger looked at him curiously, stepping up to him until their close distance was cut even more than it already was, the tips of his shoes touching this man's boots. "park jimin?"

at the mention of his name jimin felt himself stiffen. "have we met before?" he was sure he would remember that vibrant blue hair on the floor of the apartment he's lived in for quite awhile now, but who really knows.

"many times." the blue haired man answered happily, lips raising up to show off a gummy smile. "unfortunately it's been too long."

jimin's mind thought back to that photo on his fridge for a moment at the unique grin. the more he thought about it the more this man did resemble the face of that little mysterious child's.

"oh, were we close?" he knew something was off. it was a feeling he knew quite well. yet, it didn't feel bad. he knew their encounter here today was more than a run of the mill's stranger, but he didn't know why. all he could think of was that photo.

the man laughed at his question, playfully hitting his arm. it wasn't rough or anything, more like a friendly action. that didn't stop jimin from secretly flinching never the less. "we've been best friends since you were born. we hung out almost every single day as you were growing up. we spent six years together, but i suppose i can't blame you for not remembering. we haven't been able to see each other for a long time." the man looked towards their right, giving an indifferent pointed stare before focusing back on him.

as if on que, a deep growl echoed from the stairs getting jimin's attention.

he whipped his head over not so subtly, finding the man who was missing from this whole picture sitting impatiently on the steps of the staircase where his claimed 'old best friend' looked over. jimin could almost swear the man had seen jungkook there even before himself, but that would be impossible. what was very blatant however, was the murderous gaze jungkook had fixated on the blue haired man whom now looked at jimin only, making him think the whole noticing jungkook was a coincidence.

"appearently not." jimin breathed out, deciding to just ignore the huffing brunette but taking steps to the side to put some distance between the stranger and himself for his own sake. "if we were so close why haven't i seen you in so long? i seem to have forgotten you in our time apart."

the man gave him a complicated smile. he never dropped the easygoing happy expression on his face, but his eyes held so much sadness it was almost evident he felt awful for not being around. "because you haven't wanted to."

jimin looked at the stranger feeling his head spin. he wasn't too sure what was happening, but it felt like a lot. for some reason he felt so heavy. he was almost about to question the male again, but as if he had read his troubled expression, the man answered before he managed to piece any words together.

"i've waited so long for you to call out for me, but you never did." the man's eyes started to water despite the shining gummy smile refusing to leave his lips. "why did you never call me, jimin? we could've smiled so much. things wouldn't have turned out like this."

jimin didn't know why, but he was starting to feel this man pull at the strings of his heart. it had been so long that he didn't even remember him, but he had no doubt he was that kid in the photo. he didn't understand so much, but he didn't even know how to go about questioning them.

when a hand gently took ahold of jimin's another deep growl reverberated though the whole building this time. he gave a nervous glance to jungkook who was now standing up, his dissatisfaction unhidden and very prominent. was this man the reason jungkook was so against him having friends all this time?

"jimin, i wish things were different, but it's too late." the blue haired man looked deep into his eyes, unnaturally smiling lips quivering with every word. "we could've been so happy, but you let the darkness consume you. you called for them instead of me. i'll never blame you for that, but i just wish you can smile in the end. just one last time."

jimin didn't even have enough time to process the words when the blue haired man removed his hold of him. he gave him a final fairwell grin, identically matching the two children in the photo before walking away and leaving him to cling onto his words as he walked off and out of sight down the dim wooden hallway leaving jimin by himself, dark brown eyes staring him down the entire time.