Jungkook has always found the bus ride home after work to be peaceful. Something about the passing city lights and buzzing chatter of people always brought him comfort. He savoured the moment, as simple as it was.

But now he's lost that sense of peace, his grasp of isolated tranquility. As he sits rigidly in that posh car, seated next to his body guard as they make their way to his house, he struggles to find that same sense of comfort, of familiar ease. Instead an oppressive sensation of discomfort tugs at him .

It feels too tense, the atmosphere weirdly suffocating. The car is too silent, void of any white noise. Deafeningly silent. Jungkook finds it unsettling. Unnerving.

And so in a reach for comfort, in a desperate attempt, he gathers his thoughts, sets aside his inner shyness and his nerves and decides to speak. "Um, how long have you been a body guard for?"

Seokjin looks at him, his expression hidden behind his tinted black shades. "Around 5 years now. How long have you worked under Mr Kim?"

Jungkook's surprised by the man's attempt at continuing the conversation. He smiles timidly. "A few months, feels longer though."

The older nods, "Are you liking it so far?"

The brunette looks down at his lap, frowning in thought. "Sometimes. I like working but... but Mr Kim can be difficult at times."

"Is that so?" Seokjin asks, a small smile on his face. "I must admit, he was rather intimidating when we spoke."

Jungkook nods furiously at that. "Y-yeah!I was terrified the first time I met him..." he pauses, shuddering slightly as his mind flashes back to his and Taehyung's first encounter.

Seokjin chuckles at the boy's expression and Jungkook finds himself smiling at the warm sound, having not expected such thing from a stoic man like him.

They fall into a sort of conversation, chatting about trivial things, small talk. It's nothing major but Jungkook prefers it over the silence.

When they finally approach his house, Jungkook smiles at the man. "Thanks for -um-, taking me home..." he states awkwardly.

Seokjin smiles as he watches Jungkook take his seatbelt off. Jungkook opens the car door and is about to get out when Jin speaks up again.

"Mr Jeon," he starts, voice sounding serious once again. Jungkook looks back at the man, eyes questioning.

There's a small pause, something about it making the younger anxious.

"Be careful," the older finally says while staring into the younger's eyes. He then smiles again, that professional smile of his.

Jungkook blinks at the man, feeling something inside of him waver for a second. " I will, thanks." He says meekly.

He then watches as the car drives away, zooming into the distance. He stares at it with a flurry of thoughts in his head. Finally, when the black car fades off into the darkness, Jungkook lets out a ragged sigh, the weighted breath forming a misty cloudy amongst the frozen air.

Jungkook turns to his gate and quickly rushes inside, not wanting to stay out in the cold any longer, not liking the threatening breath of fear that the cold brings him.

"I'm home," he announces, walking into the tiny warm house.

"In here," a familiar voice calls out. Jungkook furrows his brows and heads towards the kitchen. A familiar blond greets him, a small smile on his face as he holds the small sleeping child in his hands.

"Hyung?" Jungkook asks, confused as to what brought him here in the depths of the night.

"Hey kookie," Chim says while walking up to him and ruffling his hair. "Give me a minute, I'm gonna put Seonnie in bed."

The shorter male walks off and then comes back a moment later. Jungkook looks around and then back at him, "where's Bri? Where's Momma?"

Jimin smiles and pulls out a chair from the kitchen island. "Bri called me saying she didn't feel well and asked if I could take care of Seonnie. She didn't want to call you since you'd be busy. Your mum's in bed. The doctors said her medication will make her tired most of the time."

Jungkook nods and lets out a small sigh. "Right. Thanks for coming over, Hyung."

"You know I always will, Kookie, you don't have to thank me."

Jungkook feels his heart clench at the other's warm smile, the ever-existing pool of guilt that lays dormant in his stomach now stirring to life. The guilt only grows more intense when the older approaches him and worriedly stares into his eyes.

"You look tired, Kook. I know things must be rough with everything going on right now but it will be okay, okay?"

Jungkook forces a smile and nods. "Yeah, I'm fine Hyung. Just a lot of work and stuff." His voice is expressionless, the words meaningless, but he perseveres with pursuing the white lie, not wanting to trouble the older.

Jimin stares at him, unconvinced. "Okay well, you should still be getting proper rest, okay? Don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Jungkook smiles again, brightly. A Jester's gesture, "of course, Hyung. Stop worrying too much."

Jimin sighs, staring into the younger's eyes, something in his own eyes betraying his sadness for the younger. "I always worry about you," he says, ever so softly while patting the boy's head.

Jungkook pushes down the wave of guilt rising up his throat and leans into the older's touch. "I know you do," he whispers back. But I'm not worth your worry... I never was, Hyung.

~

It's still awfully tense between him and Taehyung as they stride through the halls towards the meeting room. The interaction feels...too practiced, a veil of professionalism that Jungkook finds suffocatingly uncomfortable.

Yet again he wonders if he made the older upset somehow, if he had done something to receive his shiver-evoking coldness. But no matter how many times he rakes through his brain, he can't think of an event that could have set of his boss's hardened front. Was it because he left him the other night, with a half-hearted nod of departure? Jungkook sighs, perhaps it's that.

Before the older enter's the office room, Jungkook tugs at his sleeve, looking into his eyes rather desperately. Whatever it is, he needs to clear things up, perhaps apologize for whatever it is he did and remove this stifling tension between them.

But it's when he notices Taehyung's eyes flicker down to his hold on his blazer, the way his expression flashes with a mild look of discomfort before he shrugs him off, does he realize that no, things are clearly worse than he anticipated.

"Urm, Jungkook, it would be best if you don't -uhm- stay too close to me in public places. Y'know, to prevent any more scandals from occurring."

Jungkook almost flinches away from the older, nodding his head as a bright flush runs across his cheeks. "Y-Yes, sir. I'm sorry."

No, this isn't just some trivial thing that has made the older slightly cross with him, this must be bigger. So much so that Taehyung is willing to avoid him at all costs. Because both him and Jungkook know that this isn't about avoiding scandals.

But only one of them knows the bitter truth.

The other is left to wonder, to imagine what could possibly have gone so wrong, and so of course he imagines the absolute worst, leading him to the dire conclusion that; Mr Kim must absolutely despise him.

~

Jungkook and Taehyung enters the meeting room, now with greater distance between their bodies. Taehyung walks over to his seat, looking rather tired, a little fed up. Jungkook has his head bowed, looking meek. His vulnerability is a sight for the watchful eyes of the hungry lions, who await with cunning smirks, ready to pounce, ready to shred their prey apart.

"Good evening, gentlemen," Taehyung speaks up, his voice void of its usual flare yet nonetheless intimidating.

The older men, with their greying hair and wrinkled skin, respond with curt nods, a few grunts and some even opt for silence as they glare up at the man. Taehyung ignores it, either too tired or too accustomed to fall prey to their patronizing antics.

The meeting starts, drifting through time rather slowly and Jungkook's mind is slightly elsewhere. That is, until, there's a loud unfiltered scoff from the other side of the table.

"You say this new phone you're to release is revolutionary..." the man starts, eyes glinting as he stares up at Taehyung. He smirks, something mischievous, sly, about the action. "Well, how exactly are we supposed to trust a cocksucker like you."

Jungkook's eyes blow out wide in shock, the man's crude words ringing repeatedly in his head. Cocksucker. The word leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

But in contrast to him, the receiver of such harsh words, Mr Kim, is rather calm, looking almost amused by this sentiment.

"Cocksucker, huh?" The ravenette muses, a small dangerous smile playing on his lips. "Haven't heard that one in a while, Mr Kolgier."

Taehyung then looks at the few other men in the room, his calculating gaze settling on each of them for a brief moment. "And how about all you? Do you feel the same way?"

There are a few nods, some looking a little anxious. "I mean, Mr Kolgier is right, Kim. If you have such deviant tendencies, it's rather difficult to trust your word on something as important as this phone you propose."

Taehyung nods, as if thoroughly taking their words into consideration. "Mhm, I see your concerns gentlemen." He states while plopping down on his chair and casually stretching his legs onto the table.

Jungkook eyes him warily, feeling slightly anxious by his boss's calm demeanor.

"Well then, that's okay. We can cancel the deal if you feel like i'm untrustworthy."

At this, all the men in the room stare at the younger male with an expression of disbelief. They aren't quite expecting this, this dismissiveness from him. Why isn't he fighting for them to stay? Begging them? No, instead he is being almost careless, letting the deal go so easily. It's unnerving; his utter nonchalance.

The man from earlier, Kolgier, raises a messy brow. "Is there a particular reason why you are letting this deal go so easily, Kim? Are you that uncertain about your own product that you find it worth not fighting for?"

At this, Taehyung replies with a crooked smile. "Ah no, not at all Mr Kolgier. Quite the opposite actually. I've tested my phone, seen its abilities. I know it's worth." He pauses, his eyes glinting now with something dark, a piercing black flame. "I've tested it with a live audience, received their positive regards." He says while pushing a document towards the men.

"From the data we've collected, the sales of this phone is estimated to be double that of my previously released smartphone. That's billions and billions of dollars in revenue for both me..." he starts, looking around the table. "And my investors."

The men visibly shrink back into their seats as they take in the abundance of data, documented proof of how successful this phone is ought to be. "Well say we were to -urm- invest in this deal, Kim, how do you-"

"Oh no, that's not necessary anymore. I have many awaited investors who are willing to accept this deal," Taehyung says as he starts packing the files back into his briefcase.

Jungkook observes, with a sense of wonder, as the once cocky arrogant men, who served to demean Mr Kim's abilities, now turn panicked, their expressions rather desperate as they watch the young man clear away his proposal. He can almost imagine how they must feel as the younger clears the table and stands up to his height, taking with him what would essentially be billions of dollars in profit.

"A-Ah no, actually, Mr Kim, I think we can reconsider the-"

Taehyung shakes his head dismissively and gestures for Jungkook to stand up. "As I said, there's no need for that now. I have plenty of clients who will be willing to take my offer and who will trust me, regardless of me being a, y'know," he drops his tone to an almost exaggerated whisper. "cocksucker."

He thens begins to stride out of the meeting room, Jungkook rushing to match his pace. The older men look at each other desperately as they see the younger approach the door and just before he can leave, one of them calls out to him.

"Wait, Mr Kim," it's Kolgier, looking rather sheepish. "Look we didn't mean to offend you by any means, right men?" He says while turning to the others in the room who all nod in unison. "We were just joking around," he says, forcing a croaky chuckle. "We- we are willing to accept you're offe-" he's cut off as Taehyung sighs, turning around to continue his departure. The man's eyes widen, now looking a little frantic, desperate.

"W-Wait, Mr Kim. Certainly, there must be something we can do for you to give us this deal?" He asks, trying to push down the humiliation of practically having to beg the man to give them a proposal.

At this, Taehyung turns around, eyebrow quirked up as if he's actually considering the proposition. "Oh, actually Mr Kolgier, there is," he says after a moment, looking down at the man.

The man nods eagerly, moving back slightly as the younger leans in closer to him, hovering over his figure. Taehyung tilts his head, his lips quirking into a playful smirk as he whispers,

"You can suck my cock."

And with that, he finally turns around and leaves the room. Leaving behind a bunch of fuming, red-faced, humiliated men.

~

Regardless of how nonchalant the older looks, regardless of his calm facade, Jungkook can sense the older's stirring fury as he leaves the room, he can sense this fury in the way Taehyung clenches his jaw as he walks. Jungkook gulps at this, now feeling even more intimidated by the older who he believes is already upset with him. Given this notion, teamed with his boss's unleashed anguish, Jungkook opts to keep his distance liked asked of him, walking a meter behind the older with his head bowed down as they approach the elevator.

When they both enter the metal machine, Taeyhung's anger is only emphasised to the younger by the way he punches in the floor number before leaning against the wall and letting out a ragged deep breath. Jungkook moves to the other end of the elevator and looks down at the marble floor, just wanting the tense downward descend to finish as soon as possible.

But of course. Of fucking course, the complete opposite to what Jungkook wishes happens. Before the younger can even process, the said downward descent suddenly comes to a halt and the once well-lit elevator now washes over with a foreboding layer of darkness.

Before either of them could speak up, a crackling noise is heard from the intercom above before a rather robotic voice speaks out to them. "Good evening. We seem to be experiencing technical difficulties with the elevator due to harsh weather conditions. The maintenance team will tend to the problem and we assure you the issue will be fixed within an hour or so. Until then, we advise you to please remain calm. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."

At this, Taehyung lets out a string of curses, his already existing frustration now worsening. He harshly grabs out his phone and starts calling his brother.

"Namjoon," he grumbles out, agitation evident in his voice. "You won't believe it but guess where we are right now? Fucking stuck in an elevator, that's where."

Jungkook can hear Namjoon's muffled response from the other side of the phone but he tunes it out. His mind instead focuses on his frantically beating heart that begins to palpitate with each passing second in that dark, confined elevator.

Jungkook's never liked elevators, they always feel too claustrophobic to him. And now, the sheer darkness inside the small space doesn't help, the only light being that of the measly city lights squeezing in through the small glass panel at the very top of the elevator. Jungkook fidgets with his fingers, trying to remain calm. He doesn't want to panic and possibly piss off Taehyung even more. Taehyung would probably yell at him if he starts to make a fuss about being in the elevator so Jungkook tries his best to tame his accelerating heart.

But it serves to be futile. Not when the darkness, and the cold air and the blurring white noise forces him to drown in his own memories, to relive his poisonous past that causes his lungs to shrink in.

"Please," the small child screams, banging on the closet door. "Please father, let me out."

He hears his father's chuckle, a sinister, humorless sound. "You need to be taught a lesson, boy. Do you think you can be some sort sissy and not face any consequences? If you're gonna act like the cocksucker you are, I'll be sure to treat you like one. Understand?"

The boy, in the stifling darkness of the closet, can only respond with a sob.

And he continues to sob as he sits, isolated in that eerie lightless closet, feeling those thick suffocating walls closing in on him, crushing his tiny form and squeezing at his organs, his lungs, until... until he can't breathe. He can't breathe. The child gasps for air, letting out a choked scream, scarping his blunt fingernail across the locked door in sheer desperation to escape, to get out, to see light, to seek air. But his screams, as shrill as they may be, are useless, going unheard as they fall on deaf ears, as his desperate cries are consumed by those crushing walls.

Jungkook clenches his fist tightly and squeezes his eyes shut, trying to control his breathing. Breathe, he chants to himself. But it's hard to listen to your inner voice of conscience when your whole body feels like it's breaking apart, when the notion of functioning ceases to be simple and the air entering your lungs is steadily depleting. The space feels freezing yet it's simultaneously burning, scratching at his skin, gripping onto his airway and squeezing, hard. Those metal walls creep in on him and through his blurry vision his mind plays sickening tricks on him because those metal walls now resemble those of the closet he was once trapped in. He shudders, his stomach feeling hollow, feeling sick. He's breathless. He wants to scream. Wants to scream, begging his father to let him out. He-he wants out. He needs air.

Taehyung, who was occupied on his phone, slightly freezes upon seeing the younger, pressed against the very corner of the elevator, visibly shaking with a sheen of perpiration on his forehead.

"U-Uh, Hyung, I have to go, I'll call you back." He mutter's hurridely as he rushes over to the smaller boy.

"Kook, are you ok-"

He doesn't get to finish as the boy suddenly clings onto him, digging his head into the crevice of his neck. It slightly startles Taehyung but he still carefully wraps his own arms around the boy, opting to hold his shaking figure.

"S-Sir," Jungkook mutters, voice tiny, fragile, trembling. "I-I don't l-like it in here." Taehyung gulps, eyebrows furrowing in both concern and confusion.

"Koo...hey, we can get out of here soon, okay? It's going to be okay. The elevator will start working soon, okay? I promise."