“oh come on, are you serious right now?” namjoon stares at the object of his scrutiny with an expression of deepest disapproval, eyebrows furrowing further with every passing second.
“isn’t she adorable?” seokjin coos, wrapping his arms around namjoon’s waist from behind and tucking his chin onto namjoon’s shoulder. “i found her at a yard sale.”
“her? it looks fucking creepy. throw it away,” namjoon glowers at the pale, blonde porcelain doll seated in the center of their king size bed, glassy blue eyes staring blankly as if trying to steal into his soul. “seriously, i send you out to buy some eggs, and this is what you come home with?”
“don’t be so ridiculous,” seokjin smiles indulgently, coming around front to face namjoon with his arms still wrapped around his waist. “she can be like our little baby, for now.”
“we have kookie for that,” namjoon tries not to smile, failing miserably at maintaining a serious face. “you know, our dog? the one we feed, and take care of when he’s sick?”
“you’re a big baby yourself, you know that?” seokjin laughs, leaning in to peck namjoon on the lips.
“still taller than you,” namjoon teases in retaliation, wrapping his arms around seokjin’s shoulders and pulling him in for a hug.
“you’re such a nightmare,” seokjin shakes his head, but his tone is playful.
namjoon smiles, rocking their bodies from side to side. his eyes travel back over to the doll seated in between their pillows, scowling at the off white lace dress it wears with matching bonnet set upon a head of curly blonde hair.
sticking out his tongue childishly, an unexpected chill suddenly shivers down his spine, blood running cold in his veins. startled, namjoon frowns at the doll still staring lifelessly in his direction, blinking in confusion. he takes note of its small pale hands raised beside its head, one hand with thumb and forefinger pinched delicately together to form an o, the other with all five fingers gently curved but still open with palm facing front.
“that thing is going in the guest bedroom,” namjoon states seriously, unable to rid himself of the unnerving feeling that he’s being watched.
“fine, fine,” seokjin brushes off, rolling his eyes.
“i’m serious,” namjoon pouts, pulling away to look seokjin in the eyes.
“alright, you big baby,” seokjin sighs, unwinding his arms from namjoon’s waist and stepping back. “i’ll go put her in the guest room.”
namjoon watches seokjin pick up the doll carefully, cradling it in his arms as he heads out the bedroom door.
“thank you!” namjoon calls after him. and he faintly hears seokjin’s voice reply, “we’re naming you soojung.”
“jesus christ,” namjoon shakes his head.
–
tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
thump.
tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
thump!
seokjin’s eyes shoot open, blinking blindly into the dark ceiling above. his mind is still muddled by sleep, thoughts hazy as he tries to figure out what his own name is.
with one eye open, his gaze travels over to his alarm clock on the nightstand flashing 3:45 in red led lights.
why is he even awake right now?
seokjin turns over onto his side, coming face to face with a sleeping namjoon snoring heavily beside him. it’s a small wonder he’s even able to sleep through the rumbling noise at all.
now that seokjin thinks about it, maybe namjoon’s snoring is what woke him up.
pulling his sleep laden body into a seated position, seokjin rubs away the thin film of sleep from his eyes.
with the intention of making himself a nice warm cup of milk, seokjin hauls his heavy body away from the bed, feet dropping to the floor like dead weight.
he drags himself out of his room and down the hall, feet thumping loudly on the hardwood stairs on his way down.
seokjin doesn’t even bother with the lights, making a beeline for the kitchen in his half asleep state.
but before he can make it to the kitchen, something in his peripheral vision catches his attention. seokjin diverts his tracks towards the living room instead, following the sound of static as he comes before the television screen.
“thought i turned this off,” seokjin reaches down on the coffee table for the remote control. he picks up the remote, standing back up to turn off the tv but his eyes stray towards the couch where a silhouette catches his attention.
“huh, what are you doing here?” seokjin murmurs, slowing coming around the coffee table to the couch where the porcelain doll sits nestled in the center of the cushions.
“you should be in bed,” he gently gathers the doll into his arms, crooning soft words as he drops the remote onto the couch, static still sizzling into the silence of the night.
–
riiiing.
namjoon’s hand fumbles around under the sheets in search of his phone, shutting off his alarm with an irritated grumble.
“ugh,” he grunts, flinging his arms out in the hopes that he’ll melt into the mattress and never resurface.
then he realizes something’s missing.
his arm should’ve come into contact with a very much solid body, but it hadn’t.
namjoon glances over to seokjin’s side of the bed to find it empty.
“huh,” he blinks in confusion. seokjin has no reasons to be up so early on a sunday. where did he go?
stretching out the kinks in his muscles with a loud moan, namjoon tosses himself out of the bed, stumbling a few feet forward on jelly legs that threaten to fail. catching his balance, namjoon shuffles out the door and heads for the stairs.
“babe,” he calls out as he hits ground floor. “maybe he’s in the kitchen,” namjoon mumbles to himself as he walks towards the kitchen. but before he can get there, the static noise of the television catches his attention so he turns for the living room instead.
“what the hell?” namjoon frowns, turning the tv off. “babe?” he calls out a bit louder. he checks the kitchen and the dining room, both of which are clearly empty. no note, no sign of previous entry, nothing.
“what,” namjoon heads back upstairs. maybe he’s in the bathroom.
but seokjin is nowhere to be found.
right when namjoon is about to head back to their room and call seokjin’s phone, a soft murmuring voice whispers into his ears.
“seokjin?” namjoon calls out hesitantly, following the sound of the faint voice.
he follows the sound to the guest bedroom, cautiously leaning in through the door to find seokjin sitting on the floor in the center of the room, back turned towards him.
“babe?” namjoon tries again, stepping slowly inside the room. he can’t make out what seokjin is saying, but the elder is crooning a string of words in a soft tone. “hyung?”
namjoon gently places his hand on seokjin’s shoulder, giving a soft shake.
seokjin turns his gaze, and what namjoon sees has his skin crawling, a cold chill spreading through his veins.
seokjin’s eyes so blank, empty, devoid of life, with the freaky little doll nestled in his arms, rocking ever so gently, tenderly.
“shh, my baby just fell asleep,” seokjin whispers, voice flat and dead.
namjoon reacts on instinct, pulling the doll out of seokjin’s arms and flinging it as far as he possibly can in the opposite direction.
–
“why am i so tired?” seokjin yawns, sliding a few inches down his chair as namjoon places a cup of hot coffee on the table before him.
“why don’t we take kookie out for a walk today?” namjoon suggests, avoiding the question, however rhetorical it may be. the very thought of explaining to seokjin how he’d found him has a shiver running down his spine. “it’s really nice out. we can take him to the park.”
“yeah, i guess,” seokjin yawns again, reaching out for his coffee.
namjoon gives his head a mental shake, clearing his mind of the images of this morning. but it had just been so unnerving. it was as if seokjin had completely vacated his physical being, completely gone. and as soon as namjoon had tossed the doll, it was as if seokjin had snapped out of a trance, blinking at namjoon in confusion as to how he’d got there.
“we can head out as soon as we get ready,” namjoon smiles, taking a slow sip of his own coffee. “get in some early morning exercise.”
“why are you so pumped today?” seokjin smiles back weakly, following namjoon’s gesture and taking a sip.
“it’s a beautiful day,” namjoon shrugs nonchalantly, evasively.
–
“come on kookie! let’s go boy!”
“namjoon! do you have the keys?”
“yeah!”
“how about the-”
“yeah, i got it all! come on, let’s go!”
“okay! coming!”
slam!
click.
silence.
deep down in the dark, musty basement of seokjin’s and namjoon’s home, the porcelain doll stares blankly up at the invisible ceiling, the soft, intermittent plunk of water dripping onto the floor echoing loudly in the shrouding emptiness.
loneliness.
–
“see i told you, you’d feel much better,” namjoon laughs, catching seokjin before he trips over the leash as kookie scampers towards the pordch with his tail wagging frantically.
“ugh,” seokjin groans, shoving the leash into namjoon’s hand. “what are we feeding him, crack? why does he have so much energy?”
“we feed him a healthy mix of wet and dry f-,” namjoon jokes, and seokjin stomps on his foot. “ow!”
“i was kidding,” seokjin huffs, crossing his arms. “now open the door so i can get lunch started. i’m starving.”
“same,” namjoon smiles, glad that seokjin is somewhat back to his normal self. “what are you making?” namjoon asks as he unlocks the door. he unhooks kookies leash, letting the happy dog scamper and bark his way into the house first.
“well, how about we just do something simple?” seokjin suggests as they follow inside.
“simple,” namjoon prompts for further explanation as he follows suit and closes the door. and when he turns around, he collides into seokjin’s back, the elder halted right there with his feet rooted firmly to the ground. “really,” namjoon catches himself before they both go sprawling on the floor. “what-”
“oh my god,” seokjin whispers, voice dying in his throat.
“what the fuck,” namjoon frowns, running into the house. “what the hell happened here?”
the best thing namjoon can think of in way of explanation is that the house seemed to have been hit by a tornado, every chair upturned and photo frame shattered all across the wooden floors, vases, dishes, everything lying in thousands of broken pieces.
“keep your shoes on,” namjoon’s voice carries over from somewhere inisde the house. “there’s glass everywhere. hyung, call the police.”
“oh my god,” seokjin repeats in a daze, shards of glass crumbling under his feet as he steps inside the house. he trails his fingers over the deep grooves scratched into the walls as he slowly heads up the stairs.
“oh,” his voice is faint as he walks in through his bedroom doors, the porcelain doll nestled happily in between his and namjoon’s pillows.
–
“no sign of forced entry,” namjoon grumbles as he forcefully shoves the tenth bag of trash into the garbage can beside the house. “no substantial evidence to go off of. are you fucking kidding me?”
namjoon stomps back up the porch steps and into the house, slamming the door shut as he finally finishes emptying out every bit of damaged property they own.
it had taken all day, and all afternoon of combined effort to clear out all the glass and set back every furniture in its proper place.
“could you slam the door a bit harder?” seokjin grins as namjoon stomps into the kitchen, waving a paper plate of delivery pizza under namjoon’s nose. “you know, if you swing it just a little bit harder, the door might actually come off its hinges.”
“i still can’t believe the police aren’t gonna do shit about this,” namjoon takes a vindictive bite of his pizza. “argh, hot!”
“slow down,” seokjin shakes his head, pouring namjoon a cup of ice cold soda. “you’ll burn your tongue.”
“i mean,” namjoon continues as if seokjin hadn’t said anything. “what are they trying to say, we destroyed our own house?”
“namjoon, calm down,” seokjin rubs his hand soothingly up and down namjoon’s back. “what’s done is done. there’s nothing else we can do.”
namjoon pouts, taking a slower bite of his pizza.
seokjin pats namjoon on the cheek, namjoon leaning in to seokjin’s touch.
“it’s just not fair,” namjoon breathes, putting down his plate and placing his hand over seokjin’s on his cheek. “all of our stuff, our house.”
“i know,” seokjin smiles sadly, bringing namjoon’s forehead down to place a soft kiss. “we’ll figure it out. don’t worry about it.”
“yeah,” namjoon nods, lightly bumping their foreheads together. “of course we will.”
–
“baby, have you seen kookie?” namjoon shouts up the stairs, stretching his neck to peer around the corner to see if seokjin heard.
“no, why?” seokjin muffled voice replies from out of his line of sight down the hall.
“he hasn’t touched his food since i left it in his bowl before work,” namjoon frowns, kicking off his shoes and climbing up the stairs. “it’s not like him.”
namjoon automatically heads for their bedroom, but finds no seokjin in sight.
“where’d you go?” namjoon calls, spinning back around to head out.
“i’m right here,” seokjin answers. and namjoon’s heart inexplicably sinks as he follows the voice to the guest bedroom.
namjoon finds seokjin seated on the floor, carding his fingers carefully through the blonde locks of the doll’s hair while humming tunelessly.
“i thought we agreed to throw that out,” namjoon whispers, a chill running through his entire frame when seokjin glances up, that familiar, blank expression on his face.
“but she’s so lonely,” seokjin croons as he gazes back down at the doll, eyes completely devoid of life, glassy. just like the doll’s. “she just wants to be loved.”
namjoon tries to say something, but the words catch in his throat with a lump that refuses to allow air to pass into his lungs. namjoon chokes, gasping for air.
not taking any notice of namjoon’s panic, seokjin begins to hum a lullaby, gently rocking the doll in his arms.
“hush little baby, don’t you cry. papa’s gonna sing you a lullaby.”
unable to handle anymore of seokjin’s strange behavior, namjoon rushes into the room and yanks the doll away from his arms.
“give me that,” namjoon grits through his teeth as he stomps down the stairs with the doll’s hair clutched in his fist.
namjoon quickly glances over his shoulder to see if seokjin is following, but he doesn’t see him anywhere.
continuing on with long, quick strides, namjoon runs down the porch stairs and to the side of the house where the line of garbage cans sit.
“get this creepy shit out of my house,” namjoon hisses as he dumps the doll into the bin and slams the lid back shut.
breathing heavily through his nose, namjoon stomps back into the house and locks the door.
–
tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
click.
creak.
tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
seokjin’s eyes shoot open, staring blankly up at the dark ceiling above, moonlight casting long shadows through the window.
he sits up, gaze turning to the side before slipping quietly out of the bed and heading for the door.
–
namjoon isn’t even completely sure why he’s awake right now, grumbling as he rubs his face tiredly with his hand.
his phone says it’s still three in the morning, which means he should still be dead to the dworld. but he’s not.
why is the question he’d like to answer as he forces himself out of bed, heading off into the darkness in search of his missing boyfriend.
there is no reason seokjin should even be out of bed at this hour.
“seokjin,” namjoon calls into the darkness, hand tracing along the walls in search of the hall lights.
click, click. click.
“damn it, what the hell?” namjoon glares blindly, trying to let his eyes get accustomed to the dark.
“baby!” he calls again, blinking as he proceeds to move forward. “hyung, where are you?”
a loud thump bounces noisily through the hall from somewhere downstairs. and namjoon’s heart leaps into his throat, stumbling a few feet back against the wall..
“fuck, hyung, is that you?” namjoon shouts, unable to move forward.
“hyung, this isn’t funny!” namjoon inches a few feet along the wall, eyes slowly getting used to the dim lighting of the moon. he takes carefully measured steps down the stairs, blood thundering in his ears and heart pounding against his rib cage as if trying to escape free.
“hyung?” namjoon peers through the darkness as he carefully scans the living room, the dining room, then the kitchen.
“hyung.”
a dark silhouette stands before the kitchen counter, seemingly staring out the small square window.
“hyung?” namjoon’s hand shakes as he steps forward, arm outstretched. but his voice is firm. “hyung, you should be sleeping.”
his hand gently slides over seokjin’s warm shoulder, giving a soft, comforting squeeze.
“hyung.”
and something solid comes flying at his head, followed by a sickening crunch as namjoon’s eyes water. his vision begins to blur, then fade as the blunt object makes repeated contact with his skull, his knees giving way and collapsing onto the floor.
his entire world fades to black, the sound of seokjin’s name dying on his lips.
–
silence.
–
“damn dog was fucking loud,” seokjin stares blankly out the window once again, running his fingers softly through tangled, matted blonde hair as the doll gazes its glassy eyes to the side, a soft, satisfied smile quirking the corners of its painted lips.