Five

Yoongi doesn't question anyone anymore. For two days straight, he pretends like everything is normal. No drama is happening, his friends definitely aren't still giving dirty looks to the other friend group, Yoongi most absolutely doesn't feel the stare in the back of his head when he's in class alone with Jimin.

It's all in his head. Imagination.

He does this and that in his house, which his parents are now back at. Watering his mother's plants, lounging and eating tangerines, settling in the school library with a coffee at his side and a book in his hand, doing schoolwork, and not worrying about anything else. After all, that is what he's meant to do, right?

So then why does he feel so mistaken?

Why does Yoongi always feel the need to intrude? His friends don't have to explain a thing, but Yoongi wants to help. He doesn't like that his friends are alone in whatever they're having to battle with right now. Is Yoongi not good enough? Would he be in the way? Do his friends not trust him to support them?

How come his friends all of a sudden started to whisper to each other? Why do they deliberately leave Yoongi out of the conversations they have? Why do they become silent when Yoongi sits at the lunch table to merely eat? What discussions could Yoongi possibly be walking in on?

For two days now, Yoongi had tried so hard not to question it all. If his friends don't want him to be involved, then Yoongi won't involve himself. He'll be left out. He'll force himself to leave the cafeteria early. He won't try and pry in and get information. He'll leave it be. There's no point in trying.

So be it.

He doesn't question anything, but he doesn't stop himself from wanting reassurance that he isn't a terrible friend and they all hate him. He just needed to know if they're okay and that they aren't secretly talking about him. It sucks, thinking his best friends would do that to him, but they won't communicate.

As he puts on his jacket to walk to Seokjin's house, he doesn't think about the sting in his heart. He merely tells his mother that he'll be back, that he's going to Seokjin's house.

He usually doesn't mind walking alone. The sun hadn't set yet, the evening nearing slowly. Only a few grey clouds could be seen, a given considering it is winter and it's cold outside, the wind stinging against him, skin was cold as he strolled on the sidewalk, but he shoved his hands inside his jacket pockets and ignored it as much as he could.

A weird feeling was settling inside of him, though. He couldn't quite recognize what it was, but the air around him was heavy. He feels like something was near, whether it be intuition or maybe even a person.

Yoongi looked around the streets, only seeing a few cars parked around. It was cold, so most people hadn't been walking outside lately. Instead, a car or two would pass Yoongi every once in a while. When he finally saw Seokjin's house in his view, he felt relieved. He sped up, stepping over a few tree branches that had been blown off of the trees by the wind.

Seokjin's house was nearly isolated, with a bunch of trees and only a few houses surrounding the area. Yoongi usually takes a path from the trees to get to Seokjin's back door, so he slowed down in his tracks, looking around suspiciously before he ran into the trees. If a serial killer were to follow him, he would already be at Seokjin's back doorstep and into the house before they reach him. There's no way a killer could outrun Yoongi if he knew exactly where he was going.

Surely.

The next thing Yoongi knew, he was standing in Seokjin's backyard, face to face with that same angelic face, staring right back at Yoongi with a devilish look on his face. His heart dropped as soon as he saw Jimin. Jungkook was there, leaning on Seokjin's back door and merely watching as Yoongi halted in his steps, scared to see them here so suddenly.

"Min Yoongi."

Now, if Yoongi's friends had only warned him, or even just trusted him a little bit, he wouldn't have found himself face to face with either of the two standing in front of him. He never would've come here for reassurance. However, here he is, frozen to the muddy dirt, not even turning to run back into the woods. He couldn't even think about running.

"Your friends aren't at home." Jimin chuckled lowly, joy on his face as he stepped towards Yoongi. He tilted his head, signaling Jungkook to come down with him. Jungkook did, jumping down the steps and smirking as he approached Yoongi, who was panicking.

He can't do two versus one.

"Yeah," Jungkook muttered out as he strolled behind Yoongi, daring to come closer. "They're out eating," he snickered.

Jimin took a step closer, to which Yoongi tried to finally step back. But as he stepped back, Jungkook wrapped his arms around him, keeping him in place. "Where are you going, angel?" Jimin asked. He reached his hand to Yoongi's chin, lifting it with his finger, then completely clamping onto his chin, forcing his head to turn as Jungkook yanked his jacket off of him, giggling at his own action.

Yoongi was straining against Jungkook's hold. "P-Please don't touch me," he said.

He could hear Jimin chuckle. "We don't plan in touching you like that, silly," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "I'm not that inhuman." He let go of Yoongi's chin, watching him, their eyes meeting. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Jimin narrowed his eyes. "Why did Tae even save you? Pathetic."

Yoongi frowned at the mention of Taehyung saving him. "I- I don't know," he answered truthfully. "Ask him, not me. I did nothing." He tried to pull away from Jungkook, but Jungkook was suddenly screaming, shoving Yoongi into Jimin, who caught him, but grimaced and tossed him to the ground out of anger. He fell to the dead grass, looking up to see Taehyung— of course. Taehyung had ahold of Jungkook, biting hard into his shoulder. Jimin was alarmed, but Taehyung let go of Jungkook, who cowered towards Jimin.

"Fucking asshole!" Jungkook held the bite on his shoulder, blood on his hand as he looked back at it, whining at the touch. "Dick! Asshole! Shit, you piece of—"

"Oh, shut up, you big baby." Jimin rolled his eyes at Jungkook. "What the hell are you doing, Tae?" Both Jimin and Jungkook backed away as Taehyung walked to Yoongi and held his hand out to him. Yoongi took his hand, his own shaking. He obeyed as Taehyung pulled him towards the woods, stopping in front of a tree that wasn't too far away from the others.

He wrapped his arms securely around Yoongi, holding him. "Stop fucking touching him," he told his friends. Jimin took a step forward, but Taehyung pushed Yoongi behind him. "Stay back," he warned Jimin. Yoongi didn't understand what was happening, but Taehyung was yet again protecting him.

"Why—"

"Stay back," Taehyung repeated. "If you kill or hurt him, the others will kill us and you know it. This is their territory. Yoongi is theirs. And so is this house. Are you guys crazy?"

Jimin furrowed his eyebrows. "Why do you even care? You don't even have a beating heart, you asshole." He turned back to Jungkook and pet the hurting boy's head calmly as if Jungkook wasn't bleeding out of his shoulder, as if Taehyung hadn't taken a chunk out of him. Yoongi frowned as he looked at the muscles of Taehyung's back, thinking.

Beating heart?

"What?" Jimin spits angrily. "You wanna be a part of their little family or something?"

"We wouldn't take him even if he was fucking planning on it, Park Jimin." Seokjin suddenly appeared from around the corner of the house, Namjoon and Hoseok following with worried looks on their faces as well. "What the fuck is he doing with Yoongi?" Seokjin pointed at Taehyung, furious.

Jimin smirked at Seokjin. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" he asked.

Namjoon stepped forward, ready to reason out whatever was happening between the groups considering Hoseok, Taehyung, Yoongi, and Jungkook were going to be the silent bunch. "Can't we work something out?"

Jimin shook his head as he stepped up to Seokjin, daring and brave, running his hand dangerously on Seokjin's chest as if it was a normal thing to do. "Your pet has apparently caught the attention of ours." He gave a mischievous smile to Jin, who merely glared up at Taehyung. "Can't you see?"

"Give me Yoongi," Seokjin demanded. "Now, unless you want Jimin to kill him."

Yoongi's heart beat loudly in his chest. What the fuck do they want him dead for? He did nothing. Why is this so ordinary for them to speak about? What is happening?

Taehyung shook his head. "If you kill Yoongi, then I kill myself," he warned.

Yoongi's pounding heart stopped for a second at those words. His eyes were frozen open, hands making their way to the cloth against Taehyung's back, clenching tightly onto the fabric in confusion. He could only hear silence from the rest of everyone else. He didn't have to see them to know they were surprised, perhaps lost like he is, probably looking at Taehyung like he's crazy or something for what he had just said so confidently.

Suddenly there was a yell, and Yoongi peeked from behind Taehyung just in time to see Jimin attack Seokjin, anger evident in the way he picked up Seokjin and ran at the speed of lightning, slamming Seokjin against his own house. Jimin was pissed now but Seokjin jerked Jimin off of him, not needing help from Namjoon or Hoseok, who were about to attack back as well. Jin reversed the game on Jimin, slamming him into the wall, hand fastening tightly onto his throat.

"Taehyung," Jimin let out strangled noises to him. "Let the fucking boy go. He's theirs," he growled, suddenly using Taehyung's own words against him. "I'm surprised he's even still alive. Let me go, asshole." He shoved Jin off of him, glaring hard at the taller. "Come on, Jungkook. We're leaving this mess."

Jimin and Jungkook disappeared in front of Yoongi's eyes. He thought he was seeing things at first, but they actually vanished. Yoongi stepped next to Taehyung, amazed.

"Yoongi, come on," Seokjin said. But Yoongi looked up at Taehyung, too scared to even move away from the person who had him so deeply protected all this time. "Yoongi, come on." Jin was still mad. "He'll hurt you."

Yoongi frowned, not liking how his best friend was suddenly speaking so lowly of the person who saved him. Taehyung is maybe a stranger, but he sure as hell wasn't harmful, not to Yoongi at least.

"But he saved me," Yoongi muttered out, his voice cracking from not having spoken for a good minute. Seokjin gave him a confused, still angry expression. "Taehyung saved me at— at the party that one day."

Seokjin squinted at Taehyung, stepping forward to assert just how angry he was. "He what?" he asked, voice stern. Namjoon and Hoseok looked at each other, lost. Namjoon came forward as well, but Yoongi stepped behind Taehyung again, biting his lip.

"I want Taehyung to explain to me," he said louder, wanting to hide forever, but Taehyung moved to the side to pull him forward, wanting Yoongi to stand his ground. "I- I want that." Yoongi stared at the ground in worry. "And then you guys can as well—"

"Are you fucking crazy?" Seokjin's harsh tone made Yoongi cower back into Taehyung, secure arms wrapping around him. Yoongi held onto Taehyung's arms, clearly flustered as Taehyung pressed his chest against him.

"He's not a child," Taehyung spoke after what seemed like years. "He's going with me."

Yoongi hated the heartbroken look on Seokjin's face, but Taehyung was already pulling Yoongi back, dragging him away before he can apologize or even speak again.

He just let Taehyung take him away.

~