"tae, please? just a bite?" yoongi sat with taehyung in his kitchen, holding out a sandwich to his lips. "you haven't eaten in days. please?"

taehyung shook his head.

"i can't," he murmured, eyes filling with tears. "i'll throw it up anyways."

yoongi sighed, disappointment and concern evident on his face. "how about a strawberry?"

"just one?"

"just one," yoongi assured him, smiling when taehyung picked up a strawberry and put it into his mouth.

"just one," taehyung repeated, his mouth so filled that his words came muffled and unclear.

he swallowed, and then gestured to yoongi's wrist.

"what happened there?" he asked, eyes focused on yoongi's arm.

"what do you mean?"

"your bracelets rode up on your arm for a second, and there was a big scratch on your wrist."

taehyung's eyes looked so innocent and filled with viridity. he was asking with genuine curiousity, no suspicion or worry evident in the way he spoke.

"oh, i fell."

"you fell?"

"i fell."

and now taehyung did look suspicious, and he shot yoongi a short look of disbelief before getting up.

"where are you going?"

"let's watch a movie."

yoongi grinned, laughing lightly. "you're so random, tae."

and so they sat down on yoongi's couch, sleepy and lethargic, as taehyung turned on the t.v. and put a movie into the DVD player.

"what movie did you put in?"

"i don't know."

taehyung sat back down, snuggled into yoongi's arms with his eyes drooping as the movie went on.

it was halfway through the movie that the snakes came back.

yoongi nervously scratched at his arm, shutting his eyes tight and trying to lock away the whispers. it didn't work, and the voices only got louder and louder, whispering and then suddenly shouting. they made a crescendo and then diminished, and they did it over and over again until yoongi finally felt that it would drive him insane.

cut.

they said.

a little deeper.

the whispers.

slit your wrists, and then slit your throat.

yoongi stood up.

"where are you going?"

the snakes.

and then we'll be gone forever.

"bathroom. one minute tae."

yoongi went to the bathroom and shut the door behind him, opening his medicine cabinet and taking out the one thing that would make the voices stop.

and then he sat down on the cold tiled floor, pulling away the bracelets one by one, eventually undoing his watch and setting it on the bathtub beside him.

slit your throat.

die die die.

one cut.

the voices got a little bit quieter.

a little deeper.

he cut again, this slit a bit deeper than the first.

and we'll be gone forever.

tears rolled down his pale, cold cheeks, rippling into the blood that was on the floor.

slit your throat.

yoongi shook his head violently.

"no!"

die.

"no! no! no!"

he cut again.

deeper.

longer.

"yoongi? are you okay?"

die.

the whispers.

yoongi let out a horrifying shriek.

die.

the snakes.

"no!"

he sobbed.

"oh my god, yoongi!"

the voices stopped when taehyung nearly fell beside him, bony legs hitting the bloodied floor with a soft thump.

"what have you done?"

yoongi dropped the blade with a shaking hand.

"the snakes wouldn't stop."

his voice was weak and hoarse, and it was so clear how tired he was.

"snakes?"

"the snakes."

taehyung brushed yoongi's bangs from his eyes, wiping away tears with his other hand.

"what snakes?"

yoongi let out a sob.

"they whisper to me," he said, voice shaking with every syllable. "they whisper at first, and then they scream."

"what-"

"they tell me to die!" yoongi buried his face into taehyung's shoulder, forehead pressing against small bones. "they tell me to fucking kill myself! and they don't shut up until i slit my skin open to let them out!"

taehyung wrapped an arm around yoongi, tears flowing freely from his own eyes, because now he knew why the boy with the kumamon keychain always had that watch on his left wrist.

yoongi was hurting, and it broke taehyung's heart.

"i'll find you a way to make them stop."

yoongi shook his head. "you can't. they're inside. they're not even fucking real."

"what if i gave you a new reason to live everyday?"

"what do you mean?"

"like, for instance," taehyung murmured softly. "for today, i could tell you one reason you need to live."

yoongi's eyes flitted to taehyung's face, expectant.

"you need to live for me," taehyung said. "because i need you here, to help me get better too." he smiled. "and then i'll give you another reason tomorrow."

"you'd do that for me?"

taehyung smiled.

"oh yoongs, tell me: what would you be willing to do to help me get better?"

yoongi hesitated, eyes fluttering down for a second before he responded. "anything. i'd do anything."

"right? so what do you think i'd be willing to do?"

"anything?"

taehyung sat a bit closer to yoongi, and yoongi pulled him closer, feeling the warmth of his small, thin body.

"that's right. anything," taehyung said. "and that includes staying with you forever and ever until you're better, and staying with you after you're better forever and ever to keep you happy."

"you'll never leave me?"

"would you ever leave me?"

"no."

"then i won't either."

yoongi sniffled, wiping blood from his hand onto his jeans.

"never ever?"

"never ever ever."