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❦

as soon as taehyung reached his gang building, he got into the elevator and clicked the twentieth floor. he leaned on one of the elevator walls and waited until it got to the needed floor.
he had to tell about this to yoongi, he had to see minseok's tattoo with his own eyes. what was that little snitch even doing? he must be somehow related to that creepy girl.

taehyung was so grateful that she hasn't followed him, although it looked like she wasn't exactly planning to. even though she was after janesser for some reason, taehyung believed she would now be after him as well. after all, he witnessed her threaten janesser back in the strip club, and murder him near his own house.
he was scared.
but would yoongi even listen to him?

taehyung stumbled out of the elevator, but before he could even reach yoongi's door, he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and dragged down the hallway.
he hissed at the pain he felt from being thrown against the wall.

"look at you." minseok laughed. "what is this?"

minseok ripped apart taehyung's shirt, revealing the trial of hickeys left by janesser before.
taehyung couldn't believe how unlucky he was today. he just had to meet minseok on the way.

"I see being a slut wasn't enough? now you're also a whore?" minseok lowered his voice and leaned in, his eyes dark. "how much are you worth anyways?"

"more than you will ever be." taehyung spat. he pressed himself into the wall, wishing to fall through it and disappear.

"you met up with jimin." minseok whispered. "what did he tell you?"

"first of all, I didn't meet up with him, we accidentally happened to run into each other during a mission. second of all, how the fuck do you know that?" taehyung asked loudly. "are you some secret spy or shit?"

"I think things like these shouldn't concern you. I asked you a question and you answer it, without any additional questions."

"who do you think you are? the god himself?" taehyung chuckled. "what got into you? suddenly acting like the world revolves around you. in case you haven't learned, it revolves around the sun and you are a spec of dust compared to it."

"the only spec of dust here is you, and do you know what dust does? piles up on unused objects down in the archives. go back to where you belong." minseok responded darkly.

"you think, that if you're yoongi's fling, you're special?" taehyung asked. "mind you, yoongi used to be with me as well–"

"you think I care? moreover, when he was with you, he was secretly fucking me. and trust me, he definitely found it much more pleasurable." minseok said. "look at you now. you mean absolutely nothing to yoongi. you've fallen in his eyes."

"I feel bad that a man like yoongi is being manipulated by a piece of shit like you." taehyung smirked. "I know you're hiding something. haven't you heard that all lies get out? sooner or later, whatever you're hiding now – everyone will know about it. and you'll pay."

"what are you talking about?" minseok played dumb and tae knew it. "I'm just yoongi's childhood friend. well... a little more than a friend, but you get the point. get out of my sight, whore."

minseok rolled his eyes and began to walk away.

taehyung glared at his nape and noticed the tattoo. how come he hasn't noticed it before?
"what's with the tattoo?"

"what tattoo? in case you haven't noticed I have many of them." minseok kept his back facing taehyung.

"the crescent moon."

"i-it's just a tattoo."

"oh now we're getting scared?" taehyung chuckled. "it seems like you really are keeping some secret, and it's quite a precious one, isn't it? what will happen when I find out what it is? you think I know nothing because there is no information on the tattoo? well you're wrong, I know more than you think I do, and it will only be a matter of time until your cover gets blown. just like that. poof!"

taehyung watched minseok stand still, his back still facing him. he lowered his head and clenched his fists.

"what's wrong with y–"
before taehyung got to finish his sentence he was slapped across the face. this time, much harder.
get fell onto the floor, holding his cheek with his hands. it burned.
taehyung lifted off his hands and saw a little of blood on them. minseok probably scratched it with the rings on his fingers.

taehyung didn't get time to breathe, he was brought back up to his feet and thrown against the wall, his head hitting the wall once again. that will leave a bruise...

"keep your mouth shut, slut." minseok spat out in a devil-like voice. taehyung felt shivers run down his spine. was this minseok?

"minseok-"

"shut the fuck up! don't call me that." the next punch was thrown into his face, followed by another one in the stomach. taehyung cried out and started sliding down to the floor.
minseok... or whoever that was, tried picking taehyung up again. he aimed for the face once again but missed, not because taehyung ducked, but because he couldn't hold himself on his feet and fell.

minseok chuckled.
taehyung looked up at him and saw minseok's head twitch... he looked like a psychopath. it was one of the things that taehyung never admitted, but he was scared to death of psychopaths and mentally unstable people. not like he didn't think of himself as one, he definitely knew that his love for murder was not something normal, but he meant other types of psychological problems.
bipolar people and stuff like that... but only when the case was severe.
he had no idea what happened to minseok... maybe he was actually bipolar.

his legs kept on hitting taehyung with full force, no mercy whatsoever. taehyung wondered what exactly triggered minseok, what did he find in his words?

"s-stop..." taehyung said, but it came out as a whisper.

minseok crouched down to taehyung's level and picked his head up by his hair.
"shut that mouth of yours and never speak again or I swear I'll tear your tongue and shove it down your throat."

were these kinds of threats a common thing between people with the crescent moon tattoo?

"taehyung? what happened?"

who's voice was that? namjoon?

❦

taehyung noticed that he was in some unfamiliar place as soon as he opened his eyes. minseok didn't lock him up in some basement, right?

he flipped over to his side and immediately hissed at the pain that stroke through his head. he let his hands grab his head that to his surprise was carefully bandaged over, and so were his hands.
he realized he was lying shirtless on a leather couch, with bandages over his upper body. next to him, on the table, was a wet cloth previously soaked in water and a bowl with candies in it.

"you're awake." a voice said. "I thought I might need to call the nurse, but I'm glad you're conscious again. what on earth happened to you?"

taehyung looked up and saw namjoon who was standing next to him with a glass of water in his hand.
right, this was namjoon's new office.

taehyung stayed silent. what did happen to him? he remembered everything, but he couldn't make out why. what did minseok get so furious over?
he exhaled and closed his eyes. minseok was right before, everyone was on his side, so what would be the point? even now, if taehyung said that minseok beat him up, nobody would believe him.

"taehyung?" namjoon asked. "listen, I know you hate me, the feeling is mutual, but can we put the past aside at least for now. I saved you from fucking bleeding to death in the corridor, the least you can do is be nice enough to answer my question."

"sorry." taehyung whispered and sat up, leaning on the back of the couch. he let his bare feet touch the floor, which, to his surprise, turned out to be a heated floor.
"and thank you."

"wow, a double hit." namjoon laughed. "it's been years since you said those two phrases to me. feels like I'm back in time to the good old days."

good old days? taehyung thought. was he hinting towards something? does he want those good days back? before we started hating each other?

"hey, taehyung." seokjin entered the office with bags in his hands. "so what happened?"

"I uh... I just had a mission today and there were too many guards..." taehyung muttered.

"why were you in the hallway though...?" namjoon asked as he cleared off the table.

"well... I had the papers that I was supposed to bring to yoongi, and I thought I could make it, but... I don't know." taehyung knew his story sounded weird and probably very suspicious, but he knew it would be much more believable than saying that ✨minseok✨ was the one who beat him up.

"I told yoongi you're still not ready." seokjin mumbled. "even if you healed mentally, that doesn't mean your physical strength also came back after months of not using it. that stubborn brick."

"it's okay, I asked him for the mission." taehyung smiled.
it felt so weird. did he just smile? at seokjin? for a moment taehyung thought he was still passed out somewhere in the hallway and this was all a dream. or maybe people were just nice unlike him – a loner with a black heart who killed his own love.

"you didn't get... you know... nobody did anything to you, right?" seokjin asked, stuttering.

"what?" tae asked. "what are you talking about?"

"the hickeys..." seokjin said quietly. "you didn't get raped, did you?"

"oh- OH! no!" taehyung remembered about the hickeys that covered his neck and tried covering them with his hands, not like that would help. "no, this is just something... it's different."

taehyung blushed, he felt ashamed. he really let janesser do this to him? gosh...
namjoon gave taehyung a dirty glance. he knew namjoon wasn't fond of this, he never was. accepting taehyung's job as a stripper was hard enough, now namjoon definitely thought taehyung became a prostitute.
what a fucking disgrace you are, kim taehyung.
taehyung could literally hear namjoon saying that mentally. his gaze was enough to embarrass tae.
but namjoon exhaled and turned away, continuing whatever he was doing.

the bags jin brought had food in them. after cleaning the table, jin took out the food and placed it out on the table.
"this is from the restaurant my friend used to work at. I gave them my secret recipes, that's why they have the best food in town." seokjin told namjoon and namjoon smiled.

"you even gave them your special birthday cake recipe?" namjoon asked.

"no, silly, this is a meet restaurant." seokjin replied with a chuckle. "moreover, that special recipe is meant for only one special person."

"i wonder who that could be?" joon responded playfully. "definitely not me, is it?"

"nope, not you at all." seokjin laughed.

the table was full of delicious meals and side dishes. the two sat down on the floor and grabbed the plates.

taehyung watched seokjin hand him a plate full of food.
"are you going to eat, or not?"

"me? i- yes sure." taehyung stuttered and slid down onto the floor. he stuffed his mouth with food as if he hasn't eaten anything for years, and wondered...
is this how it feels to have a family meal?

❦

happy new year everyone 💜