Third Person’s P.O.V.

Taehyung was in his cell reading a book, he had chosen Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye for today and with every turn of a page realized how long it had been since he had gotten a chance to sit down and enjoy a book.

Prison was kinda calm.

A week in here and he had felt that Hoseok’s warnings were quite unnecessary for no one even veered near him, his reputation preceding him as they kept their distance and addressed to him only in hushed tones.

Prison was kinda boring.

But that was until he had been summoned for the first hearing, the Judge had implored him to present his statements after reading out to him the multiple offences which he had been found guilty of, his attorney had set forth the information of him being an undercover soldier to infiltrate Axel and had began to assert how Major Kim Taehyung had been put on a covert mission and how he had succeeded in eradicating two of the top dogs of Axel.

It was going as planned and Namjoon, Hoseok and Jungkook sat stiffly with their breaths held in, faith growing greater than the worry that had been eating them from within.

If it hadn’t been for the information Byun had given them, things would have been just the way they had planned, or hoped. Now the Judge wanted the one who had been accused with the murder of Jeon Kai at court on the day of the second hearing.

Taehyung had gone livid the moment the information had been put forth, his deep enraged voice loudly denying the accusation against Jin and the guards had instantly come up to stop him from creating a ruckus at court. He had been taken away from court the same way he had been brought in, chains restraining his wrists and ankles while a number of guards surrounded him.

Prison had become typically cold after that.

Like the chill before a thunderstorm, and he was waiting for the time when lightning would crack.

He was ready.

The hushed addresses of the inmates began to get louder as the word of him being an undercover special force soldier spread around, making him a mutual enemy of every single criminal in that closed compound.

Namjoon had been trying his best to get the higher-ups to agree to shift Taehyung to a military prison, at least there they would be able to keep an eye on him as well as give him the dignity he deserved rather than plain out labelling him as a terrorist but his suggestions had been put on hold till the Judge gave any verdict.  

He wasn’t even given any visitation rights till now, and the only person who could meet him was his attorney.

The shrill bell rang through the echoy halls calling all inmates to dinner, and Taehyung set the bookmark in place setting the book down on his bed as he got up just in time when the warden unlocked the door.

He was thankful that they had not put anyone else in his cell, probably fearing his identity of being an assassin for Axel, it was this one time he was glad of the fear his status could instil in people. He walked to the dining space, not bothering to read into the hush that spread in the large hall the moment he stepped in, his eyes momentarily flickering around only to catch Byun’s eyes follow him and he looked away.

In the last couple weeks, after his dual identity had been revealed, Taehyung had faced multiple instances where he felt he was being safeguarded.

Every time he would get ready to fight against an angry fist coming his way they’d back off midway or disperse rather abruptly. Initially, he had assumed it was the cameras or the wardens only to realize later that he had been wrong, especially when someone referred to him as ‘Byun’s kid’.

And now as he walked across the hall to take his seat in an empty table he could feel all eyes on him, but he knew no one was gonna raise a fist against him because they were simply following orders from someone they considered powerful.  

Prison was becoming a playhouse of confusing silences.

He kept his eyes on his tray when he saw someone set their tray down and joined him at the table. This was another reason why Taehyung preferred the cell rather than being under the gaze of others these days. Byun has been trailing him around and he had no idea why the man was trying to suddenly protect him, or why had he even revealed the fact that he was his son, not like it’d make any difference to him. He was still ready to off the man the first chance he could manage.

“I told you not to take up boiler room work, that part is difficult to keep an eye on” a cold calm voice took over the table, and he stopped eating midway to pick his head up to stare at the silver head busy eating.

The minute he had come back from the court on the day of his first hearing, Taehyung had charged at Byun, grasping him by the collars and shoving him back into a wall, yelling curses at him for dragging Seokjin into this and punching him down till his rage was put to an abrupt stop when the wardens had injected him with sedatives and warned him of being put into solitary for a month.

Byun knew the reason of his enrage, but he had only replied to what he had been questioned to answer. That young brown haired boy was actually the one who had shot Kai dead, his statements as a witness were instantly taken further into consideration when they showed him a picture of Seokjin, the boy who had also been present at the abandoned construction site where Sunmi and her minions had been shot dead, and as the information aligned the boy became a very intriguing target.

“Change it with Jaewon” Byun spoke again, still not meeting the other’s eyes.

Taehyung watched him, trying to read into what the hell this cynical murderous man was playing this time, and Byun must have intercepted his line of thoughts as he spoke again.

“The world might hate me more than you, but here they hate you more than me” he finally looked up and Taehyung watched his blank eyes intently, this was probably the first time Byun was speaking to him but all he could register was the rage building within him some more with every word he spoke.

“If it weren’t for the fact that I want to get out of here, you’d have been dead by my hands by now” Taehyung spoke in an equally cold emotionless voice before getting up from his seat “consider yourself lucky, and stay out of my way”

“If you manage to get out, tell that boy that I admire his bravery. Kai was a fool to underestimate him, I guess I was too…he seems to have a lot of potential” Byun chewed on the words, he was still at the table finishing his bowl of rice. There wasn’t a hint of playfulness or evil as he said the words but Taehyung felt anger and fear run in his blood to hear Byun talk about Jin.

This wasn’t the kind of praise he wished to acknowledge, especially because it was coming from this man.

And that night Taehyung couldn’t sleep again, the anticipations regarding the hearing next day kept him from feeling at peace. But if he was being completely truthful, there was this small anticipation lingering at the back of his heart of how it’d be to see Jin tomorrow, yes it wasn’t what he had wanted, heck he’d give anything to keep Jin away from getting dragged into this but he just couldn’t deny the restlessness. He would get to see him, even if it might just be a pitiful sight to watch him being inquired, even if it’d be difficult to not be able to speak to him or go anywhere near him, at least he’d get to see him.

Given his current circumstances the option didn’t sound half bad.

Every heart knows pain, but to some it is a breaking down to lose oneself and to some a road to strength.

The next morning was the same routine, he woke up, followed the warden down the halls to take an early shower, dressed, had whatever he could of his breakfast and stood before the guards as they cuffed his hands and legs before leading him to the vehicle that would take them to court.

“It was self-defence” Jin repeated Jungkook’s words as they drove to the court.

“Yeah, and what do you say if they ask you about how you got to the abandoned building?”

“Lost my way?” Jin was confused as hell, jittery as fuck and he had no idea how to be calm although Jungkook kept telling him to take it easy. He was getting frustrated with all this pressure and was literally sweating like a pig although it was freezing outside.

“No, what did I just tell you” he gave him a serious look, one hand on the steering and the other checking Jin’s forehead probably for the tenth time since they had got in the car. “Calm down will you, you’re coming down with a fever I think, are you feeling sick?”

“I don’t know” Jin whined, heaving now “I hate this…what if I mess up?!” He whined again, face red with worry as he asked the other.

“Relax, it’s gon-“ “Oh don’t you dare tell me that it’s gonna be fine! This whole thing is anything but fine!” He grumbled loudly making Jungkook flinch at his outbreak, eyeing Jin with evident alarm now.

“I feel sick…stop the car” Jin fumbled at the car door, trying to get it open.

“Okay, okay..” and Jungkook hurriedly pulled over fearing he’d hurt himself in his exasperation.

He jumped out of the car, rounding it to see Jin puking his guts out by the side of the road. The minute Jin could finally breathe and sat inside the car after he had finished cleaning up Jungkook took the road to find Yoongi, assuming that Jin was sick and wasn’t telling him because of their need to be present at court.

“What the hell Kook?! What are we doing here? We’re going to be late!” Jin huffed in exasperation denying to get out of the car when he realized that this wasn’t the court.

“We have time enough to get a doctor to check you” he spoke driving into the parking lot, disregarding all of Jin’s whines about being fine as they struggled against each other’s protests to finally find Yoongi frowning at them for their sudden arrival.

“He is coming down with a fever and has been puking his guts out, I think we should appeal to the Judge for a postponement of the date of hearing” Jungkook voiced quite decidedly, while Jin’s eyes widened in absolute shock “what?! No! I’m fine, there’ll be no postponement of anything! Are you crazy?! I need to get Tae out of there as soon as possible!”

Jungkook glared at him, assessing his zeal as stupid and completely based on his emotions “stop acting like a child, you’re not the only one who is concerned about him, all of us are trying to get him out but that doesn’t mean you gotta act like a complete blockhead and not take care of yourself!”

“Will you two stop yelling, this is a hospital for Christs’ sake” Yoongi grumbled at them as he tried to understand the issue they were fighting over.

“Well I’ll stop yelling the moment you get us a doctor to check on him!”

“There’s nothing wrong with him, heat flashes and morning sickness are completely normal symptoms in a pregnancy” Yoongi spoke still not understanding the need for the whole ruckus.

Jungkook was about to say something again when he stopped, eyes widening ever so slightly at the words till the realization dawned on him and his mouth stayed open in blank shock, till all he could say was a soft ‘oh’.

Things seemed to freeze around them as Yoongi watched him suddenly fall into a spell of silence, and saw that Jin had fallen equally silent, realizing then that Jin had not told the other about the happy news but decided to hold onto his silence and watched as they soon left in slow but decided steps.

Neither of them said a word as they got in the car, and headed back towards the court. But the silence between them was deafeningly loud and Jungkook could almost feel the way Jin was getting desperate to say something, he could trace his fidgety hands on his lap, the way he was looking at him and then snapping his head away to stare out of the window the next moment. So, he decided to break the tension himself.

“Well, congratulations”

Jin flinched and looked back at him, pulling a half smile “thanks, I guess”

“I bet everyone else knows about it, right? Why didn’t you tell me? Don’t tell me you still think of me as a traitor…” Jungkook didn’t want to sound accusing but he couldn’t control the meanness in his voice, he was hurt and the pain only came out as anger, it was just the way he was built, controlling it was beyond him.

Jin didn’t give an answer making his grip on the steering go tighter.

He begged his mind to hold onto its sanity, telling himself over and over again that he couldn’t lose his shit like the last time he had with Jin, he had ended up pushing him to danger and had even drugged and kidnapped him, he had promised himself that there was no way he would ever be that insensitive ever again.

“No, not everyone” Jin’s feeble voice speared through his overtaking enrage and he remembered that he had to breathe.

“I need to tell him but I have no idea how to”

Jungkook finally realized what he was talking about, and as he let his eyes glide over to Jin’s, all anger flushed out of him to see how teary those soft brown eyes were. It pained him to see the tears, as his brain reminded him of the time when those eyes had shed tears for him, no he wasn’t sadistic but it had made him feel terribly loved and important, a prideful rush spread through him as he told himself that Jin had saved him and although he was facing all this trouble of going to the court today just because of that impulsive day, he wouldn’t deny that he had never felt that valued and needed as he had seen Jin try to protect him.

It was more than what he could expect, way more than what anyone had ever done for him. He had vowed that he’d owe his life to Jin till the day he breathes his last, do anything and everything to protect this human being by his side, so how could he get angry with such a tiny fault on his part?

“Kim Seokjin”

“Yes” Jin tried his best to control his shaky voice, fighting his instincts as best as he could to keep his eyes away from staring at Taehyung, who however wasn’t making it easy as he blatantly gaped at him, taking his fill of the minutes he could stare at Jin.

“Is it true that Col. Kim and Col. Wang had rescued you that day from the site where the murder of an Axel member had taken place?”

“Yes”

“And you were completely unharmed, unlike the rest who were present there before Chief’s units had arrived?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t the only one unharmed..” Jin cleared.

“I agree another member of Axel was present there who was completely unharmed, just like you” the attorney affirmed, “I have only one question for you”

There was an absolute silence as they waited with rising palpitations, and Jin was almost sure he wouldn’t be able to hear the question clearly with how loudly his heart was hammering against his ribs.

“Why were you there?”

He gulped loudly, eyes flickering ever so slightly to Taehyung who sat stiffly staring back at him, mouth pressed in a line and Jin looked back at the man standing before him with heavy inquisition in his eyes.

“I had been kidnapped”

“Why?”

“If you don’t remember they’re the criminals, I think it’d be better if you ask them the questions” Jin replied through gritted teeth.

“I understand Mr. Kim but what intrigues me is that you have no relation whatsoever with either the criminals or the team who had been working covertly to infiltrate them, yet very suspiciously your name keeps popping up every way we try to investigate” he raises his brow at him making Jin visibly stiffen “care to explain?”

From the corner of his eye Jin could see Hobi trying to get up to come to his aid and Namjoon telling him to calm down, while Kook was glaring at a lost Taehyung.

“I was ki-kidnapped” “After you had killed Sunmi?” The words were decided and accusing, making Jin’s eyes fly wide and breath hitch.

“He didn’t kill Sunmi, I did! I already accepted to the murder of both Sunmi and Kai!”

Almost instantly the guards were around Taehyung, holding him down as he thrashed.

“If so, then I’d like to implore what was this man doing at the abandoned construction site the same afternoon that Sunmi was shot dead” the lawyer asked turning to the Judge now “and most importantly, why is he being defended by a possible terrorist?”

Jin felt his blood run cold, he was this close to breaking down right there as he felt an immense weight and fear weigh down on him, he watched helplessly at Taehyung being held down at his place, equally exasperated.

“He saved me” his voice was but a mere whisper but the lawyer instantly turned towards him with query thick in his eyes.

“Pardon?”

Jin gulped drawing his eyes from Taehyung to set on the man in front of him, he steeled his heart and decided it was time to take things in his hands for the sake of all of them.

“Photography is my passion, and call it whimsy or stupidity I had taken on the idea of acquiring information on Axel, initially the idea seemed very thrilling and I was trailing the members I had come to recognize, being too stupid to realize the danger I was playing with.”

The court had turned silent as he spoke, and hence he decided to carry on “soon my foolish whims paid off as I found myself trapped in that abandoned construction site one afternoon, Sunmi had used a fake call to lure me in and I hadn’t anticipated the danger until she was holding a gun at my face"

He turned to stare right at Taehyung seeing him frozen at his place staring back at him.

“He saved me that day”

“According to Kim Taehyung’s statement, he was told that Sunmi had gone at the site to take care of some work and he had taken the chance to eradicate her” the lawyer read out.

“Protecting a civilian is an appreciated cause, then why would he try to hide that he had saved you Mr. Kim?”

There was another silence, till Jin decided to speak up again.

“Because he needed me to stay hidden, I have proof in the pictures I had clicked that could accuse him of several murders, many more than Sunmi and Kai’s”

A hush fell upon the court and he could almost feel Hobi, Namjoon, Kook and Taehyung watching him wide-eyed, and completely startled.

“Every cursed thing that Axel had made him do, every single way those monsters had tried to make a criminal out of him, every drop of blood he was made to shed against his will till he was made to be ‘a possible terrorist’!” Jin almost spat the words back at the lawyer and fumed as he felt tears prickle his eyes.

“So, that’s the reason he kidnapped you when he realized you could be a possible threat to him? And you seem to have developed something akin to the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ Mr Kim, praising someone you had watched murdering several people? Tell me that isn’t absurd!”

Jin smiled at those words, he didn’t feel anything but remorse at the moment as he began to realize that they would never see what he had seen Taehyung go through and to be called crazy wasn’t something new for him, he had told that to himself so many times when he couldn’t figure out how to not care about a man he had watched staining his hands with blood only to finally realize it wasn’t insensitive cruelty neither was it rage of revenge as Taehyung had said when he had told him that he had to let go of what they had.

“Do you know why honeybees bite?”

The attorney turned to him with a shake of his head, a smirk playing at edge of his mouth “Mr. Kim I have never been that interested in bee-keeping”

Jin decided to overlook those haughty words and spoke “do you know that they usually die after they bite, they don’t have anything to acquire from the bite either. It’s a sheer reflex out of the fear of feeling cornered”

His soft brown eyes looked inflamed at the moment as he stared at the man “humans aren’t that different when it comes to reflexes, it’s in our nature to retaliate. The murders that happened by his hands weren’t perfect, imagine an amateur photographer like me had caught him on camera. But those would have been perfect murders with zero proofs if he was a perfect criminal, just like every Axel member was, and you would know how good they are given the fact that none of them could be convicted for several years, and they actually needed a covert mission and an enlisted Major had to sacrifice his dignity and peace to infiltrate the group. Yet here we are, accusing the very man of being a criminal.”

The man suddenly looked offended as a frown creased at his brow.

“Mr. Kim you almost sound like you are accusing the court for condemning a murderer who has surrendered himself for his crimes, not a healthy attitude I’d say” the lawyer’s voice was borderline threatening now.

“I only said what I believe to be the truth. If there are no further questions then I have nothing more to tell the court Your Honour” he turned to speak to the Judge.

When Jin was finally allowed to take a seat, he held his head down and tried his best to even out his breathing and his loud raging heart. Picking his head only to lock his eyes with Taehyung peeking at him from a distance, concern as well as gratefulness filled his eyes and Jin had to dig his teeth into his lip to stop himself from crying.

God what he’d give to take him away from there, tell him about the happiness that was coming their way but he just stared at him and felt his eyes brim to have that fond gaze on himself.

He couldn’t give him the news that day.

He could only helplessly watch as the guards nudged Taehyung to walk as he kept stealing glances, felt Hobi and Kook pulling him out of the courtroom as he sought for one last glance, and Hobi rebuked him telling him to stop being too obvious!

Although the court had been adjourned and a third hearing had been called Namjoon looked quite satisfied, at least the Judge didn’t straight up declare Taehyung ‘guilty’ and they still had a chance to hope for the best. The praising words of their defence attorney about how adeptly Seokjin’s words could help their case had made quite an impact on him as well and he was rather glad the way Byun’s testimony had ended up becoming a boon rather than a bane for Taehyung.

And although he could see that Seokjin wasn’t very happy about leaving the court and heading back home with no Taehyung, Namjoon assured him that what he had spoken at court today and the way he had delivered the information it was easy to say that it would most definitely have a positive effect on the trial as a whole.

That had somehow, even by the slightest uplifted Seokjin’s moods as they saw a smile grace his lips.

That night after dinner as Taehyung sat on his bed, reading the book with the night light he had secretly managed to snag from one of the inmates, he found himself stuck on a set of lines as he kept reading and re-reading those, almost learning by heart as the words slowly seemed to spill over into his blood as a slow realization burned through him.

“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
  
Jin’s voice perforated his senses as he remembered how his heart had yet again spilled into his words at court today and Taehyung had found himself thanking his stars for giving him what he didn’t deserve to have as he had sat listening to Jin defending him with all his might.

He had been so damn foolish to have gone in search of revenge, telling himself he’d happily embrace death if he could avenge the lives of the ones he had lost and had not realized what he had been gifted to cherish and hold close to himself.

He swore to make it up to him if he got the chance.

He swore to fight and not accept his fate in the shit hole he was currently trapped in, to fight for the one who was waiting ardently for him to come home.

He swore to choose only his peace over the war that had been waging within him.

And all he sought for was to go away to a tranquil place far from here, build a humble home miles away from all the hatred he had fought through and live in love.

á na márië

[A/N] hey...sorry if  it's too long n shitty, it's difficult terrain for me as well...n I'm only trying...

Stay safe and healthy...I purple you all💜