Jungkook sighed, letting go of Taehyung's hand and leaning back on his haunches, fingers mussing his hair back into its fluffy shape.
"Oh, Taehyung..." He muttered to himself, quiet enough that if the man in front of him was somehow very good at feigning sleep, he wouldn't have heard Jungkook. He clicked his tongue, slightly annoyed at this predicament. "You're really making me do all the work, aren't you? It's a good thing you're so gorgeous." He rolled his eyes.
"Up we go," Jungkook grunted, sliding his arms under Taehyung's limp body, lifting him with relative ease, and awkwardly shuffling the poor guy around til his head rested in the crook of Jungkook's neck, and his weight was mostly against Jungkook's chest. Taehyung had really knocked the out after his ordeal; maybe he should do this if it meant getting a good night's sleep, Jungkook thought, huffing a quiet laugh.
Maybe another time, he had to focus on returning to his room without arousing too much suspicion.
Whatever Namjoo had done to the worked wonderfully.
@— ✾ ⋰ jungkook j. [] AJDKSLF YOU’RE GOOD BABE it happens < 3 that sounds good to me! I can envision him waking up hours later and panicking and having a big wtf moment
the fingers that run along the sculpture of his jaw caused taehyung to tilt his head in attempt to chase the coolness of them – so cool they were against the heat of his own dampened flesh, how refreshing. it’s as though the other male’s fingers were a fresh lemonade being consumed on the hottest day of summer. he couldn’t make out the words that he was saying anymore, all of them tied together in indistinct mumbles and a slew of empty nothing’s. it was like a song once again, except, taehyung wasn’t able to sing along. even if he’d try to, the only sounds that slipped through his newly swollen tiers was that of slurred together murmurs and incoherent words of appreciation, all in his native Italian tongue. within this moment, no other language was commit to his memory and his tongue followed the memory of it’s muscle.
the only words he was able to make out was the instructions given to him. “stay awake,” the man told him, and his hooded eyes overlooked the luminescent lights of the bathroom that blurred above him. actually, everything was blurry. there were no more hallucinatory images, no more lava, angel wings, halo, or talking door. it was just himself and the other male (who, he wasn’t certain was actually there) and a constant state of blurriness. it was giving him a headache, one so piercing that his visage contorts into a look of pain and causing his eyes to squeeze shut once more.
“bring you somewhere to sleep,” it took so much energy to press both of his hands against his pounding temples that they only fall to the floor once again shortly after, and his eyes flutter open in attempt to look at the man again but his dilated pupils are only met with a blurry frame looking down at him in what he would believe to be expectancy for an answer to his question. typically, taehyung wouldn’t be so rude to ignore, but his body suddenly feels as if it was sinking into the ground beneath it. it was like the earth was wrapping his body into a big hug, branches and dirt covering him as they all become one with each other. but he tries, he tries to speak against it or kick it away, except his body was completely paralyzed – disconnected from his spinal chord temporarily.
is this what death felt like?
it was the last question as he stared at the blurry lights shining down on him in the bathroom, only to go on to visibly nod off on the bathroom tiles.
@✻ ⋰ taehyung k. [] brain = dead. i figure JK would take him to his room next; if you want Tae to pass out, he'll just carry him!!
"There we go, good boy," Jungkook muttered, brushing the backs of his fingers against Taehyung's cheek, brushing away the stray tear that lingered on the sharp line of his jaw. This might've been amusingly cute if this wasn't such a tense moment, with Jungkook watching the other like a hawk for any sudden downturn. "You're OD'ing on something, I'm not sure what, but I'm going to guess either coke or meth. You're going to be ok, though. It wasn't too bad."
"I know you're tired, but stay awake for as long as you can for me. We're not in the clear just yet." He instructed. With Taehyung no longer on the edge of cardiac arrest, Jungkook can pick himself up off the floor, re-adjusting his arm until he holds Taehyung's hand, reassuringly squeezing it.
He was still too warm, Jungkook could feel, but his sweat was ice cold and slick. So now that was the following issue: keeping his body temperature regulated. Jungkook removed the wet towels carefully and dumped them in a pile by the sinks, not caring for whoever was on clean-up duty having to deal with their mess.
He's able to grab another- dry- towel with a bit of stretching and gently dry Taehyung's body off.
When Jungkook sneaks a peek at the clock, he sees they've been lying on the bathroom floor for a little over an hour. He's less surprised by the amount of time passing by and more that nobody seemed to come into the bathroom the entire time. Small fortunes, Jungkook thinks.
"You're mostly dry now," Jungkook explained, setting aside the towel. "I don't think it's safe for you to leave tonight, so I will bring you somewhere to sleep."
"Do you think you can lean on me or do I need to carry you?"
@— ✾ ⋰ jungkook j. this floor, quite literally, was lava. his head quickly turns to look at the nearest door and it’s not a door, it’s a portal opening from a volcano with red hot lava quickly pouring out and consuming his body the way the earth does when any being – whether it be man, woman, animal or plant – dies. and the heat of it, god.. every centimeter of taehyung’s being burned, and he trembled beneath the pain with no way to get out.
and then, all of a sudden, there’s an angel flying above him. a man with dark wings, and he thinks to himself, “oh god, i’m going to die. this is the angel of death, here flapping his wings and coming to collect me.” a whimper is earned from his parted tiers, eyes squeezing shut. his own death wasn’t given much thought, and if he were to be completely honest with himself and everybody else, there had been many times when the darkness felt too consuming, where there was no light at the tunnel to guide him through. those many times were accompanied by that of an unspoken wish to put an end to it for good.
now he lay here on the floor in the vicinity of a brothel, knocking on death’s door, and he wasn’t ready. all of those wishes were no good, put towards nothing, because within this moment he’s audibly begging to whatever god there was above to not let him die, and audibly at that.
“no……. please no…… go away, ‘m not ready…”
the words are slurred together with the weight of his head shifting from side to side in an attempt to shake it but he can’t, because his chin is held within the angel’s fingertips. unbeknownst to him, the song that had been playing in the background this entire time wasn’t a song, but all of the mutters and words spoken to him by the angel of death. it had gotten so hot that he was cold, the entirety of his body thrown into compressed convulsions in the form of shivering. it rooted from the towels across his shoulders and chest and if he were to look down, he knew he would see the beginnings of frost bite. but he doesn’t look down, because he’s too distracted at the sight before him. the angels wings were black at the beginning, but they were slowly transitioning to white from the very tip top, to the bottom. it’s not the distraction that really controls his breathing and instead, is the hand of the other and encouragement that his conscious recognizes.
“what is happening to me?”
he manages to croak to the other male with a single tear simultaneously falling from each eye. one finds a path down the side of his nose and onto the floor whilst the other trails down his previously sweat soaked cheek. when something is held out to him, taehyung overlooks it without much attention and just nods his head in approval before parting his tiers to collect the drug from his fingers. taehyung swallows it with ease and his head falls back against the cool floors with a gentle thud, body exhausted. his clothes are now damp from his own sweat, even his hair was sticking to his face and neck as he finally manages to catch his breath with his heart rate managing to slow down from the valium.
“thank… you….” he pants out, his hand finding one of the other male’s arms to grasp at with his eyes fluttering shut. “…tired.”
@✻ ⋰ taehyung k. [] There are only so many times I can use 'the other' or 'the other man/male', so I'm just gonna use Tae's name lmfao it's also helping the stalker factor that he knows it already.
". Alright, um,"
Jungkook's hands are in his hair, twisting around his long curls and tugging as he stares at the sight before him. Walking in on an overdosing patron wasn't on his to-do list for that night, especially not so far from La Pharmacie and from the.
"sh, it's ok," Jungkook hushes, keeping quiet to avoid causing any more undue stress. He knelt beside Taehyung, hands hovering as he debated what to do, his lower lip trapped in between his teeth. It'd been a while since he'd had to do this, and Jungkook couldn't call for help. Alright, cool them down, slow their breathing and heart rate, and ground them. He could do that, right? Yeah, he could definitely do that.
"on your side, sweetheart, come on, you can do it." he encouraged, helping Taehyung twist onto his side. The last thing he needed was for the coked-out man to choke on his vomit while Jungkook tried to save him. He was overheating, which was a worry, but the cold tile floors would hopefully help remove any edge. "Need to get you cooled down. Can you stay there?"
Jungkook was slow to pull away, his arms stretched out in case the other man decided that he wanted to run away. When he was confident that the other wasn't going to make a run for it, Jungkook hurried over to the bathroom sinks, the slosh of running water drowning out the panicked groans behind him; thank goodness the Lounge used towels rather than tissue paper for their restrooms, Jungkook thought, dumping as many as he could into the one sink. He soaked them in cold water for as long as he dared, wringing out the excess water from deep purple fibres(he wasn't trying to waterboard the poor man) and bringing them back over.
"Focus on your breathing," Jungkook instructed, kneeling down and guiding Taehyung to look at him; he placed his left hand on his chest and exaggerated his breathing. In and out. In and out. "Keep going," he encouraged, "I'm going to take off your tie now and your shirt. You're very warm still, but we're gonna fix that."
Jungkook's voice was soft as he explained what he was doing, careful not to jostle him too much as he ed the first half of Taehyung's shirt, pushing the sweat-soaked fabric past his shoulders. Jungkook grimaced, Taehyung's skin boiling to the touch, and he lay as many cold-soaked towels across his shoulders and chest as he could without weighing him down too much. "Ok..." He muttered to himself, fussing over the towels that kept slipping until he was satisfied.
Jungkook shuffled to lie beside Taehyung, facing him; "Pay attention to me, copy what I'm doing. Whatever you're seeing isn't real, only me". He made the exaggerated breathing motion again, the hand not pinned against the floor lifting as he breathed in, then lowering as he breathed out. Jungkook repeated this motion, only stopping to take Taehyung's hand and bring his attention back to Jungkook if it seemed like he was slipping and encouraging him to focus, to talk to Jungkook about anything and everything. He wasn't sure how long they lay there like that, but when Taehyung's pupils weren't as dilated as before and his breathing slightly less panicked, Jungkook finally stopped.
He dug around his pockets til he found his little plastic baggie filled with pills. Jungkook didn't need to look as he felt for the drug he was looking for, pulling it out carefully.
"When you're ready, I'm gonna need you to take this, yeah? It's going to help you feel better." Jungkook soothed, a small yellow pill inscribed with a '5' balanced delicately on his fingers as he held it out to Taehyung. "It's just Valium; it will help bring your heart rate down."
He held the pill out to Taehyung's lips but didn't push, waiting for the other man to give him permission to help swallow.
an itch in taehyung's gut spoke to him, screamed even, that something was wrong. perhaps it was (unbeknownst to him) the changed dosage of the white drug contained in the little baggy given to him by his pearl. it fit so nicely within his palm, yet weighed as a ton of bricks. was a heavy responsibility, yet thrilling and reckless all at the same time. the exchange of the two 0ne-hundred-dollar bills and the single gram was swift, just a shift in fingers and gentle grips. although this would be the place to see such an exchange, it still felt... dangerous, for someone so new to the business. like it should be hidden, just as he had been in the past.
"be right back," he whispers into the ear of his pearl, shoulders brushing as he ventures into the restroom nearby the quiet hallway.
there was probably somewhere more sanitary for a bump, and perhaps becoming more familiar with the amount of the dosage, taehyung could even sneak it in public. it would take time for him to reach being so comfortable to do so, however. so, his trembling fingers pour the contents of the baggy carefully onto the steel trash bin connected to the wall of the stall he'd entered moments before excitedly, having been needy for a next bump. perhaps this is what kept him coming back now. a heavy, black american express credit card urges the powder into two parallel lines and his upper body leans down, middle finger pressing upon his right nostril as he expertly breathes in the drug that hits oh-so-quickly.
it's exhilirating how he inhales the second line, upper body slumping back with both eyes fluttering shut momentarily. this drug seemingly made an independent man so dependent on the thrill of it all, but most importantly, the feeling of being on top of the world. it gave him something to live for, this feeling, rather than the emptiness that had previously consumed him. this feeling though, it's different than all of the other times before. instead of being on top of the world, taehyung felt as if his entire world had been rocked.
his heart had quickly began to race as he remain slumped against the back of the toilet seat, which had seemed normal at first, but then it started to pound quite literally within his chest. it was as though his heart had two hands formed into fists, pounding and pounding on the door of his chest like it wished to get out of the cage it was in. in the process of raising a hand to press over his heart, his eyes catch the shaking of his hand - the first trigger of what seemed to be an onslaught of paranoia. although from the outside looking in they were their normal ivory, he saw trembling hands covered in blood. "what...." a paranoid whisper as his head tilts down to desperately rub his hands clean against his white button down. it wasn't going away, and he wasn't feeling any better as all weight shifted to his feet.
unstable it was, and soon his fingers were gripping at his shirt that filled and emptied with irregular breaths. none of this was right. too much -- too much was given to him, and he hadn't even noticed. his muscles trembled beneath taut skin and his face contorted in pain. the stall door is swung open, and both palms find a grip on the nearest wall, guiding him through the extending walkway of the bathroom. with each step forward, the door laughs at him and takes two steps further. taunting him, it was, breaking a hefty sweat on his forehead. " you," he curses to the door, squeezing his eyes shut. a door couldn't have been laughing at him, right? but it was, in all of it's glory. when he finally manages to reach the door, his body follows the gravitational pull to the floor and he stares at the buddy cloud above him, suddenly nauseous. to make it worse, his pearl had disappeared after waiting on him for a long period of time.
so here he lay, paranoid and hallucinating with invisible blood coating his clothing as he attempts one too many times to get off of the damn floor.
