"and that's why i think this is more of an emotional feeling more than an aesthetic feeling," taehyung ended off graciously, fiddling with his fingers shyly.

but, time was the opposite of shy; it was bold and forceful, yet quick and unforgiving. so when taehyung decided to check his pocket watch, he didn't expect it to be so late. he began nervously walking back towards the doors he came through originally to enter. jeongguk furrowed his eyebrows at his movement.

"taehyung?"

the brown haired boy looked back in a shock, realizing that he was about to leave jeongguk without any notice whatsoever. "oh! i'm so sorry! it's getting late, and i don't want to disturb you!" taehyung shouted rather profusely.

he waved his hand to signal that he was going, and he rushed to the doors to exit, even tripping on air at some point. jeongguk watched as he raced off, sighing at his clumsiness. a sudden feeling of melancholy washed over him, as he realized taehyung was providing him quite the company and entertainment.

the pristine man was about to exit the museum, as he found that taehyung was right: it was getting quite late. the night sky was peeking itself through the transparent entrance doors, and moonlight was just beginning to shine brilliantly, creating a wondrous scene. it always amazed jeongguk how little things such as this could show such wonders.

however, his astonishment was quickly interrupted as his brain went back to reality, telling him that he really should head home now. his employees were definitely not immune to sleep, and the museum was about to close for the day. he watched as people finished packing up their things and exiting, some in a hurry and some in a relaxed manner.

jeongguk was the latter as well. his steps weren't brisk, but instead nonchalant and casual, like a stroll through the park. he was looking around the rooms, taking one last look at his works as he neared the doorway.

suddenly, his right foot felt something as his ears heard metal clink. he looked down in curiosity, and slight surprise came upon him as he picked up a pocket watch. he realized this was taehyung's, as he saw the boy pull it out earlier. he picked it up, inspecting it thoroughly.

the cover was a gold sheen, almost blinding, in fact. when jeongguk opened it, he saw that the design of the clock itself was almost antique-like. anyone could tell that this was indeed a prized possession to have, and jeongguk chuckled to himself as he imagined the precious item falling out of the mere pockets of taehyung's pants. 

jeongguk also saw a photo of a lady plastered on the other side of the clock. the photo looked quite old, but he could see that the woman was clearly hugging a baby in her arms, smiling with a wide grin. jeongguk could feel the charisma pouring through that woman even though he hadn't even met her.

he closed the pocket watch and decided not to simply store it within the depths of his pockets, but instead hold it tightly, like it was his own heirloom. except, it wasn't, because he planned on giving it back to taehyung, should he ever meet him again.

then again, he wondered when he would even meet taehyung again. the instance of meeting him today was simply a coincidence; perhaps crossing paths in the future would never occur again. he wondered how important the pocket watch was to taehyung, and he wondered why the watch had fallen out of taehyung's possession in the first place, since there was a chain attached to it. 

he exited the building in a wondering mood. 

wondering, wondering, wondering.

he wondered where taehyung was.

➴

taehyung vigorously ran, like all the known and unknown natural disasters were chasing him in a flurry. there was no time to take the bus, since he didn't want to risk waiting when he could already be at his destination.

'please let my high school years of taking track pay off,' taehyung chanted in his mind.

his feet were essentially running a marathon. in fact, his whole body felt like it was running ablaze anyways. some curious passerby's stopped to stare at him, as if he were a madman escaping from some invisible force they couldn't see. at least, that's what taehyung thought those curious passerby's were thinking of when they saw him, but he could care less if they thought he were an escaped patient from a mental asylum.

'i mean, i don't look that bad, right?' taehyung suddenly thought right after he conjured up the escaped-mental-asylum-patient scenario. 

he was running for what felt like a century, wanting to desperately get to his desired location already. it was actually, in fact, only 13 minutes and 30 seconds. oddly specific, but that time was what taehyung thought was how long he ran when he came back to his senses. he decided to pull out his pocket watch to see if he was right-

wait.

where the fuck was his pocket watch?

he patted his pockets once, twice, thrice, in hopes of finding it. his mind flew into a panic as he raced throughout the memories of his day, thinking of all the scenarios where it might have fallen out.

'fuck, it probably fell while i was running,' taehyung concluded, rolling his eyes at himself for how easy of an answer it was. 

he retraced his footsteps a little ways, making sure to keep his destination on his point of view. he looked everywhere on the ground for it, even asking a few people if they had seen it. however, no matter how vivid his descriptions of such a prized item it was for him, they always gave him the same answer as they shook their head and politely followed up with a "sorry." 

'i don't want your stupid sorry's, i want the pocket watch, god damn it!'

he jogged further back, leaving the place he was supposed to arrive at earlier. he didn't care at this point; he just wanted the pocket watch back. all the people he kept questioning probably would've turned into a hefty crowd if they had all bunched up together. the same answer, the same reply, the same reaction he knew they would give him but he didn't want to believe was given to him.

after more than 20 minutes of retracing steps and failed responses, taehyung miserably trudged back to the building he was supposed to enter when he ran like a flashing demon there. actually, a building wouldn't cut it; it was a mansion.

and he wasn't necessarily at the the doorstep of said mansion, but instead the gates of it. he rung the doorbell sat in front of the metal bars, and a small intercom answered him back.

"park residence, how may we help you?"

"it's me," taehyung replied in a monotone voice.

"right, sorry, taehyung."

taehyung remembered that he was told the security cameras were turned off due to maintenance, so he had to use the doorbell and intercom instead. he watched as the gates creaked open, and he stepped on the pathway, admiring the way the decorative bushes were exquisitely pruned and how the abundance of potted flowers were carefully aligned.

he stepped past security guards, trying to greet them with a smile, but even that seemed like it was too hard to do.

he walked through the doors two buff security guards opened for him, and he was immediately greeted by an overwhelming hug.

"taehyung! how are you? it was getting late, and i started getting worried about you!" a familiar, cheerful voice rang throughout taehyung's ears, and he would be lying if he said it didn't make him slightly, no, much more happier.

taehyung tightly gripped the arms wrapped around him, sinking into the person's embrace. this was the reason he rushed all the way here in what he thought was 13 minutes and 30 seconds. this was the reason he left even the great jeongguk behind with little to no explanation at all. he didn't want this person to worry ever, so he always rushed back here simply to not worry him if he was staying later than taehyung at the mansion.

"sorry, jimin," taehyung apologized in a heartbeat.

➴

uwu

bungo stray dogs is a pretty lit anime please watch it and the movie if you've got the time

i'm actually proud of this chapter i like how it turned out. the old plot was legit horrific, taehyung was asking to go the gguk's house already

what was my writing back then, my god

also, lights made me so :)))))))) <33333

i hope you all enjoyed this chapter eeeeeek <3

thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and is still reading this even now <33333