Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It started off as just goofing around. Yoongi and Jungkook had both found a spare few hours in their day, free of schedules, dance practice, vocal practice, Yoongi was able to take a break from producing… since their popularity had started growing, the two had found they were not able to spend as much time with just each other anymore. They’d decided to use it the best way they could.

In the dance studio, just the two of them, half practising and half just goofing off, chasing each other around, letting themselves just be teenagers in love again without the worry of being found out by fans, without the worry of the rest of the group, bar Namjoon who already knew, finding out.

One of their latest songs, Mic Drop, blasted through the studio they sat in. They’d turned the volume up so high, the walls practically vibrated with the bass the song was giving off, but all that did was make Jungkook happier. He was so stuck in this moment, enjoying himself so much, that when Yoongi walked over and handed him a bottle of water, the youngest of the idol group took it, quickly turning the bottle towards the older of the two and squeezing it, blasting his boyfriend in the face with cold water.

Almost immediately, laughter erupted from the maknae as he doubled over, clutching at his stomach after not being used to laughing so much in such a small space of time. Yoongi glared at him for several moments, reaching up and wringing out his silver hair and watching as the small puddle on the smooth floor grew from the water dripping from him, but even he couldn’t hold a straight face for too long.

Even if he didn’t want to admit it, he hadn’t seen it coming that Jungkook would drench him, and he couldn’t help but see the funny side of the situation. Even if he wasn’t the happiest from just being blasted in the face with cold water, he could tell how happy and carefree Jungkook was feeling. And after all the stress they’d been through recently, Yoongi couldn’t help but be happy about it.

Jungkook needed this break away from everything, needed the break from the stress of idol life. And Yoongi was more than happy to provide him with that distraction.

Yoongi took a few steps towards the maknae, knowing his stance was a little threatening despite the small smile on his face, but Jungkook didn’t appear to care too much about it. In fact, he only laughed more.

“Y-you look like a puppy who got left out in the rain, hyung.” Jungkook managed to get out between the giggles. “You really should get a hair cut, its all drippy in your eyes!”

“Oh? My hair is dripping in my eyes?” Yoongi taunted, taking another few steps towards the youngest. “And who’s fault is that, huh brat? Who’s fault is it that I’m all wet now? Because I’m pretty sure that person isn’t getting any dinner tonight. I’ll tell Jin-hyung, don’t think I won’t.”

Only a moment later, Yoongi leaned forward, shaking his head roughly and spraying Jungkook with the water that still dripped. Chuckling a little as he did so. “Now who’s a puppy?”

Almost choking on his laughter, Jungkook smoothly replied with a: “Still you, hyung.”

The oldest then rolled his eyes, leaning forward and letting himself fall on top of the maknae, successfully pinning him to the floor under Yoongi’s weight. “Ah, I see. Now, you’re being quite the little brat today, aren’t you? Do you think you can get away with this?”

“I know I can, hyung. You wouldn’t hurt me.”

“No? Try me.”

Without wasting a second, the silver haired rapper leaned forward, grabbing hold of Jungkook’s sides and beginning to tickle him. Almost instantly, Jungkook erupted back into laughter, wiggling wildly to try and get away from the offending fingers, but finding himself unable to move from Yoongi’s weight above him.

“H-Hyung, hyung stop! Okay! Okay I give! I relent! Stop!” Jungkook begged through his laughter while tears formed in his eyes from the pressure, tugging himself slowly but surely away from Yoongi’s grip. “I surrender! I surrender! White flag! White flag!”

Smirking a little at the response he’d gotten, Yoongi sat up, taking his weight off from Jungkook with a smirk. “I won.”

“For now,” Jungkook retorted, getting up onto his feet and sticking his tongue out childishly at the other.

“We’ll see about that. First of all, stick that tongue out at me again and I’ll bite it off. Second of all, try that again with the water bottle and I’ll do more than tickle you to death.”

“Hyung, I’ve literally not been scared of you for years. Your threats do nothing.” Jungkook stuck his tongue out again, ignoring the irritated sigh from the older as Jungkook walked back towards the stereo and restarted Mic Drop, heading back to the centre of the room and beginning to go through the choreography while Yoongi stood to the side, watching him go.

“You know, today was meant to be us two relaxing, not practising.”

“Well maybe I want to show off, Hyung.” Jungkook grinned, before throwing himself into a back flip into the chorus. Watching him flip, Yoongi hummed appreciation deep in his throat, eyebrows raising a little as he watched.

Waiting a moment and preparing, Jungkook threw himself into another back flip, landing perfectly, before he chained it straight into another one.

If he noticed that he’d landed into the puddle of water when he’d finished the second before chaining into the third, he didn’t appear to take it as much of a risk.

Except it was, and when Jungkook launched off the floor again, his momentum was thrown off.

He could hear the bass vibrating off the walls, feel the air whistling past his face, and then there was nothing.

———

As Yoongi watched the other show off, he couldn’t help the spark of appreciation bubbling in the centre of his chest. He’d watched this kid grow up over the years, from the gangly teen that didn’t really know what to do with himself, to the confident, show off, sassy maknae he’d grown in to.

To say he was proud of Jungkook’s progress would be an understatement.

A slight chuckle escaped the older as he watched Jungkook throw himself into a small chain of back flips, but when he saw the other land in the water that he had thrown earlier, his heart skipped a beat.

Before he could even call out to the maknae, to warn him of the danger he was in, Jungkook flipped again. Instead this time, he didn’t arc beautifully like he had previously. His aim was off, foot having slipped in the water, and Yoongi felt himself freeze to the spot as he watched Jungkook fall in slow motion, before crashing into the hard dance practice floor.

Straight onto his head.

He could hear the dull sound of a skull hitting the wood even above the music, could only watch as his young boyfriend’s limbs fell into a limp pile. He hesitated for only a moment, waiting for Jungkook to get back up, to laugh and admit it was just one of his stupid pranks. But he knew he wouldn’t, Jungkook had fallen too hard, and as much of a brat as the maknae was, he wouldn’t purposely scare him like that.

“Jungkook!!” Yoongi exclaimed, slipping a little as he frantically made his way over to the young raven’s side, sliding on his knees as he got to the lifeless form of his boyfriend. “Jungkook! Kook, come on, listen to me. Wake up. Come on.” He yelled, leaning down a little in an attempt to see the youngster’s face.

The colour had drained from Jungkook’s normally lively cheeks, his face slack, eyes closed, and a small puddle of red was beginning to form beneath his head. He wanted to move Jungkook, to shake him awake and scold him for being so reckless, but with the way he’d fallen, Yoongi didn’t want to risk hurting him any further. So instead, he scrambled back to his feet, running over to the stereo and stopping the music before fishing his phone from his pocket.

He had a few missed texts, mostly from Namjoon questioning how their day off was going, but that wasn’t important. He could update the others later on. First, he had to get Jungkook help.

Calling the emergency number with shaking hands, a wonder he hadn’t actually dropped the phone in his rush, Yoongi pressed the phone against his ear, hurrying back over to Jungkook and blinking back the tears that had begun forming.

“H-hey, my friend, he slipped and hit his head while trying to pull a stupid stunt. He’s bleeding and he’s not awake, please send help.” Yoongi did his best to keep his voice steady as he spoke and gave the address of their dance studio, a sole tear slipping from his eye as he spoke past the lump in his throat. Once the emergency services had confirmed someone was on their way, Yoongi hung up the phone and reached forward, gently stroking a few stray hairs out of Jungkook’s face.

“I’m here, you’re going to be okay, I’m here Jungkook.”

———

When Jungkook finally began to come to, the first thing he was aware of was intense pain. His head throbbed, feeling as though his brain had been pushed through a meat grinder and was pulsing against his skull. His head felt warm and sticky, not at all like how he felt when he normally woke up.

And where he lay definitely wasn’t his bed.

A small, weak groan escaped his lips, and as he pushed his eyes open, fighting against the urge to fall straight back asleep, a figure came in to view.

Someone was leaning over him, and although his lips were moving, he didn’t seem to be making any noise. Or maybe the sound of blood rushing through his ears was drowning him out? Jungkook didn’t really know, nor did he fully understand.

The pull of unconsciousness was so strong on his eyes, but Jungkook continued to resist, slowly forcing his gaze to take in his environment.

He was in…a practice room? But why? Why had he been in there, and what had he been doing that had lead to him taking a very uncomfortable nap on the practice room floor?

Another spike of pain assaulted Jungkook’s senses, and despite his best effort, unconsciousness drew him back in within moments.

———

When Yoongi saw Jungkook pull his eyes open, when he heard the other give a groan of obvious pain, Yoongi’s heart leapt up into his throat. He’d woken up, that was a good sign at least. He’d been out for a little too long to be comfortable, but he’d woken.

“H-hey, Kook. How are you? How do you feel? Are you okay?” Reaching forward, Yoongi gently pushed back some more stray hairs from the other’s forehead, attempting to prevent them from being covered in blood as well. “You scared the shit out of me, kid. I’ve called an ambulance. Its on the way. Do you remember what happened?”

But if the maknae was able to hear him, he didn’t make any sign of it. Yoongi watched as Jungkook fought to keep his eyes open, and although the beautiful brown irises were on him, it appeared as though Jungkook was staring right through him, unable to focus his gaze on anything.

Then the gaze moved, pulling across the practice room while a look of confusion graced his soft features.

“Kook? Can you hear me?” And when the maknae’s eyes fluttered closed again, panic gripped at Yoongi’s heart. “Hey, no, wake up. You can’t fall asleep again, okay Jungkook? You can’t.” Reaching forward, Yoongi gave a sharp tap to Jungkook’s cheek, careful not to move his head too much with the motion.

“Come on, wake up, don’t go back to sleep. Its not safe for you to sleep right now. You hear me? Wake up, brat. Listen to your elder, you have to do what I say.”

Whether Jungkook could hear and understand him or not, Yoongi still didn’t know, but his words and motion had the desired effect as Jungkook peeled his eyes open again.

Moments later, the door to the practice room sprung open, two paramedics carrying a stretcher between them rushing in towards them.

Yoongi immediately got up and took a few steps back, trying to ignore the fact his right hand was slick with Jungkook’s blood.

“His name is Jeon Jungkook, he’s 20 years old, and he hit his head really bad. He woke up but he hasn’t responded to anything I’ve said yet.”

The paramedic nodded a little at Yoongi’s words, kneeling down in front of Jungkook and waving her hand in front of his face to get his attention.

“Hello, sweetheart.” The paramedic said in a soft tone, giving a smile when Jungkook slowly lifted his gaze to meet her eyes. “You appear to have taken quite a nasty fall, can you tell me what happened?”

Yoongi watched the interaction, his teeth gnawing slightly on his bottom lip with worry. He really should tell the others what had happened, but he wanted to know what was going on first. He needed to know exactly how bad it was before he worried them all with Jungkook being hurt.

Jungkook appeared to think hard for a few seconds, before going to shake his head, wincing harshly at the pain the slight movement brought. Instead, he slowly parted dry lips. “N-no, don’t remember…” He mumbled, although his words slurred slightly together.

That only made Yoongi’s heart hurt more. Jungkook must really be hurt if this was happening right now, Jungkook rarely ever slurred.

“Alright, don’t worry. Don’t move and try not to strain yourself. I’m just going to ask you a few other questions, okay? My coworker here is going to get you in a neck brace and then we’re going to get you to the hospital and see what we can do about that head of yours. First of all, what’s your name, sweetheart?”

“J…” Jungkook hesitated again, brow furrowing as he struggled to think, distracted even further by being carefully rolled to be flat on his back and a brace placed around his neck. “Jeon J-Jungkook.” He answered eventually, giving a small, weak smile when the paramedic smiled at him.

“Good, very good. Can you tell me where you are?”

Jungkook bit on his bottom lip, looking around the room in which he lay. Yoongi’s heart sank a little at how sad and confused their maknae looked. “A…a practice room?” He answered, although it sounded more like a question to the three others in the room. “Why am I in a practice room…? Only trainees who are definitely going to debut are allowed in this room…”

The woman Jungkook had been talking to then looked up, connecting gazes with her male coworker before looking back down again with a small, sad smile. “You’re in a practice room, that’s right. Are you a little confused, Mr Jeon?” She questioned. Jungkook purely groaned a little in response, trying again to keep his eyes open despite the struggle.

The woman then stood, turning towards Yoongi. “We’re going to take him to the hospital, I’m suspecting a major concussion but they’re going to want to do a few scans to fully make sure that’s all it is. Please try not to worry too much, he’s going to be very scared and confused, so I do ask that you take it easy on him and keep calm, or he’ll just get more scared. Okay, Mr Min?”

Yoongi frowned a little at her addressing him by name, knowing he hadn’t told her what he was called. But then again, they were getting more and more famous every day. It shouldn’t really be too much of a surprise that she knew who they both were.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“The doctors at the hospital will be able to find out more than we can. We’re going to take him to the ambulance now, feel free to join us and contact anyone you need to once we get there.” She then turned, going over to Jungkook and helping lift him steadily onto the stretcher.

“Y-yeah, I’ll join you, I don’t want to leave him.” Yoongi sighed, running a hand through his hair and causing it to stand on end as he watched the two paramedics get Jungkook onto the stretcher and lifted him up. The Maknae lying there whined a little as he moved, and Yoongi swore he could see the youngest turn a little green at the motion.

“Hey, I think he’s going to th-”

Yoongi’s warning was cut off by Jungkook leaning to the side a little and throwing up off the side of the stretcher, thankfully Yoongi was prepared enough to jump back and not be hit with the foul liquid, instead he hurried over once Jungkook was done and attempted to soothe him.

“Hey, hey it’s okay. Try not to worry, alright, brat? It happens, you’re concussed. It’s okay. Someone will clean that up in a bit.” When Yoongi saw a few tears slip down Jungkook’s face, Yoongi leaned forwards and gently wiped them away with his clean thumb, flinching a little as it came away from Jungkook’s face stained red.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the blood would ever come out of the floor.

Wasting very little time, the paramedics headed out of the building and onto the street, and the silver haired rapper let himself be relieved that no-one seemed to have caught notice of them yet. No reporters or fans were gathered around the building, trying to get an article or a picture of what was happening, and Yoongi counted his lucky stars for that. He didn’t want to have to talk to anyone right now, and he knew Jungkook would die from the embarrassment of the press seeing him like this.

When Jungkook had been situated in the back of the ambulance with the female paramedic, Yoongi quickly climbed in the back with them, reaching over and holding onto Jungkook’s hand with a gentle grip. He couldn’t be too obvious, even if the paramedic was a professional, she obviously knew who they were and he didn’t want to give their relationship away to the world just yet.

A few minutes passed and when the paramedic leaned over and hit the back of the window that separated them from the driver, the ambulance roared into life, pulling away with the sirens going and the lights flashing.

“It’s okay, Kook, you’re going to be okay, alright? The doctors will fix you right up.”

But as he spoke, Jungkook slowly dragged his gaze over to the older for the first time in a while, and while his sluggish pupils took a moment to focus on him, when they did, his brows furrowed.

“W-What…?” Jungkook questioned, and Yoongi simply smiled reassuringly.

“You’re okay, yeah? Rest up, but don’t go to sleep just yet. You can sleep later, hyung’s orders.”

“But…I don’t…”

“You don’t what?”

“I don’t know who you are…?”

Yoongi’s heart skipped a beat in his chest at the confession. Although, he should have seen it coming. The youngest didn’t know why he was in the practice room, he had said it was only for trainees who were going to debut.

Jungkook didn’t know who he was. He didn’t even know what year it was from the sounds of it.

“Jungkook, listen to me. What year is it? How old are you?”

“I’m…” Jungkook hesitated, frowning as he tried to think and focus to figure out the question Yoongi was answering. “I’m thirteen… its 2010…”

Yoongi bit his lip to stop the tears that threatened to fall from going.

“N-no, Kook. It’s 2018, you’re twenty years old. You’re really confused right now, huh? That’s okay. You’ll feel better soon, the doctors will help you, I promise. My name is Min Yoongi, I’m in your group with you, okay? I’m your hyung, and one of your best friends, so you don’t have to worry too much right now, I’ll look after you.”

If Yoongi’s voice shook as he spoke, neither the paramedic nor Jungkook commented on it, which helped Yoongi a lot, he was thankful for that.

It didn’t take long for the small group to arrive at the hospital, and when they did, Jungkook was immediately wheeled out. He hadn’t replied to any of Yoongi’s attempts to jog his memory. He’d simply lay there, staring at Yoongi with glazed over eyes, as if he didn’t believe anything the older was saying, or even hadn’t heard him at all.

But when they entered the hospital, they were immediately greeted by doctors who surrounded Jungkook, taking him far away from Yoongi while the rapper was held behind in the waiting room, not allowed to follow.

“H-Hey, I need to stay with him! He’s scared, please, let me stay with him!”

The doctor who had hold of Yoongi simply shook his head. “He’s going to go for a lot of tests to judge the scale of the damage. Try not to worry too much, stay here, contact people you need to. Someone will come and get you when he’s able to have visitors. He’ll be well looked after.” Once that was said and done, the doctor turned, leaving Yoongi stood in the hospital waiting room, one hand stained with Jungkook’s blood and a lump in his throat that he tried in vain to swallow away.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to steel himself, Yoongi headed to the small bathroom, locking the door behind him and starting the water running. Loading his blood soaked hand with soap, Yoongi started scrubbing at his hands under the hot water, attempting to get the blood of his boyfriend off him.

He’d heard before that head wounds bled a lot, but that was… extreme. He hadn’t expected quite that much, and although the fall was bad, he still hadn’t expected this to come of it.

The others were going to be so upset. He had to call the others.

Once his hands were red raw from friction rather than blood, Yoongi dried them off and headed back off into the waiting room, taking his mobile out of his pocket and, not without hesitating for a second, called Namjoon.

“Namjoon,” Yoongi greeted when the leader picked up the phone, sniffling lightly in an attempt to sound clearer. “Hey, we’re…we’re at the hospital. Jungkook fell when we were at the dance studio. He got hurt.”

“What?” Namjoon replied, and Yoongi could almost hear the frown on his face. “Is he okay? What’s going on?”

“He slipped and hit his head. There was a lot of blood, and he was unconscious for a little while. He was really confused when he woke up, told me he was thirteen and it was 2010. He’s been taken by the doctors for tests now, I just… I thought I’d tell you what was happening because I don’t know what’s going on or when we’ll be home.”

“I’m going to gather the others and come to you, okay?” Namjoon sighed, worry tinting his tone as he spoke. “We won’t be long, I’ll text you when we’re coming.” Without waiting for Yoongi to reply, Namjoon hung up the phone, leaving Yoongi to slump against the waiting room chairs.

Why hadn’t he told Jungkook to be more careful? Why hadn’t he scolded the maknae for showing off when the practice room floor was wet like it was? He had a responsibility for the younger with being his hyung, and he’d failed with that responsibility.

Yoongi leaned forward, threading his fingers into his silver hair and holding his head, waiting with bated breath for someone to tell him what the hell was going on.

———

It was only an hour later when Namjoon hurried in with Jin, Taehyung, Hobi and Jimin. Faces covered in masks and hair covered with beanies, Yoongi could tell their eyes were drawn with worry for their Maknae. Seeing them walking over to where Yoongi sat, the rapper stood, beckoning them over.

“They took him in about an hour ago, I still haven’t heard anything.” Yoongi admitted as a greeting, allowing Namjoon to pull him in to a tight hug before he sat down with him.

Sometimes it was hard to remember that Namjoon was the only one who knew just how much he and Jungkook cared for each other.

“He’ll be okay, Yoon-hyung.” Namjoon said with a small smile. “You know how stubborn Kook is, he wouldn’t let this get him down for too long.”

“W-What happened?” Taehyung questioned, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand as his voice shook. He and Jungkook were so incredibly close, of course this was going to be hitting him pretty hard. Jimin too, although the oldest of the maknae line seemed to be staying silent, eyes red and puffy from where Yoongi could see them above the face mask.

“We were just messing around, a little while before Jungkook fell, he’d blasted me in the face with water and it had left a puddle on the floor. Neither of us thought about it, and I know that was irresponsible of me I’m sorry. He started showing off and doing back flips and slipped in the water and landed on his head. He was unconscious for a few minutes while I called an ambulance but he did regain consciousness, he was just…very dazed and confused. He didn’t quite understand what was going on, but I’m hoping that was just from the initial shock. I’m sorry, I should have been more responsible.”

Jin simply shook his head, taking his backpack off and reaching into it, pulling out a soft, over sized sweater and a pair of jogging bottoms. “Here, Yoon,” Jin smiled softly, handing the clothes to the other. “Go get changed.”

Yoongi frowned for a second as he took the clothes before looking down at himself, eyes widening a little at the splatter of blood on his shirt and jeans. He’s noticed his hands, but he hadn’t noticed the fact Jungkook’s blood was on his clothes too. Nausea rose in his throat, but Yoongi was sure to swallow it quickly back down, to try and not focus on the fact his boyfriend’s blood was staining his clothes. “T-Thanks, hyung.” Yoongi mumbled, turning and heading back into the bathroom in the waiting room and getting changed into the fresh, comforting clothes.

Jin knew him so well, the rapper instantly feeling better at the soft, long sleeved sweater falling over the tips of his fingers, instantly feeling comforted by the familiar scent.

The sweater was Jungkook’s. Yoongi didn’t know if that was Namjoon’s doing, or whether Jin knew much more than he’d bothered letting on.

Taking a look at himself in the mirror, Yoongi hated how much of a mess he looked. Silver hair standing up in every direction, eyes surrounded by a puffy ring of red with bags of worry perched underneath. If he didn’t know better, he’d say he was sick instead of just insanely worried.

Taking a deep breath, Yoongi walked back out of the bathroom, back into the spot where everyone waited.

Only moments after Yoongi sat back down, the doctor walked into the waiting room, looking over at the group of idols that sat in various states of obvious worry.

“Jeon Jungkook?” He called out, causing Yoongi’s head to whip back upright and stumble into a standing position, the others not far behind him as he did.

“Y-Yeah, all six of us here. Is he okay? Can we see him?”

The doctor smiled pleasantly, nodding slightly. “Mr Jeon will be okay in time. He has sustained a severe concussion, but we found no further damage that would mean any major complications. We’re not going to have to operate on him, but he will be kept here for a few days as we monitor his condition. We are worried about potential amnesia, but he hasn’t been conscious since being brought in, so we will be unable to comment on that until he is. I’m happy to let a few of you visit, but I’m afraid we cannot have all six of you in there at once. It would be too over crowded and make the staff’s job difficult if they needed to get to your friend. I’d recommend a maximum of three at one time, and then you’ll be able to switch out in shifts so you all get to watch over him.”

Yoongi relaxed slightly at the doctor’s words, thankful it didn’t seem to be anything more serious than a severe concussion. “Thank goodness… please take me to him.”

If any of the other members had an issue with Yoongi going in first, none of them said anything.

The doctor nodded, leading the group through the halls until they got to a corridor filled with private rooms. “He’s in 168, just to the side here. Please be quiet and respectful in the room, any sudden noises or high volumes could scare him and cause more issues down the line. I’ll let all of you in for an hour or so, but then you will have to split into two groups.”

When the group nodded at the doctor, he gave a smile before turning and leaving, allowing the group to visit their youngest member.

Yoongi hesitated as he got to the door, hand hovering over the handle for a moment, but a small sniffle from Taehyung spurred him into action, giving him the strength to push the door open and head into the room.

On the bed, Jungkook looked better than Yoongi had remembered him looking. Despite being incredibly pale on the sheets and the IV lines connected to his arms, Jungkook looked quite peaceful. Raven hair spiked wildly against the pillow, pushed by the thick gauze wrapped around his head, and dark bags under his eyes. But…very much alive, and no sign of the blood that had soaked him only hours before.

“Oh Jungkook…” Yoongi sighed, walking over and sitting by the youngster’s side, reaching over and taking his hand carefully in his own.

“Why weren’t you more careful? Silly brat.” Although his words were harsh, his tone kept it soft.

Namjoon couldn’t help but smile lightly at the scene.

They sat in relative silence for a while, small mumbles transferring between the members as they kept their discussions quiet. None of them took their gaze off Jungkook, waiting for their youngest to wake and reveal just how bad his memory loss was. They didn’t discuss that, though. They wanted to pretend the issue hadn’t arisen, hadn’t even been mentioned.

Jungkook couldn’t forget them. They’d worked too hard, and come too far for something as simple as a bump on the head to take it all away from the small Jeon.

“Has anyone called his brother?”

At Jin’s question, Yoongi shook his head, wincing a little as he thought he probably should have done that. After all, Jungkook and his brother were really close, it probably would have been a good idea to tell Junghyun that his baby brother was injured.

“No, I didn’t think about it to be honest…”

“I’ll call him!” Hoseok exclaimed, at least looking a little sorry at the look he got from the others for being so loud. “I’ll head outside and call him now, see you in a bit!” The rapper then jumped to his feet, hurrying out of Jungkook’s room and down the hallways until he’d found the exit, stepping out into the fresh air outside.

Wiggling his phone out of his pocket, Hoseok took a deep breath. He’d been all happy to call Jungkook’s brother until the actual moment he was going to. This wouldn’t be their normal, flirting conversation, this was going to be much more difficult to get through.

Regardless, he opened up his contacts, clicking on Junghyun’s name, and put the phone to his ear, waiting. It only rang a few times before the older Jeon answered.

“Hoseok? What’s up?” Junghyun greeted, and from the sounds Hobi could hear behind him, it sounded like Junghyun was in a library. Probably studying, it was coming up to exam season.

“Ah, hey Junghyun! So, are you sitting down?”

“Yes…?”

“Cool, cool… so we’re at the hospital, Jungkook fell and hit his head while showing off and bled a lot and from what we know from the little time he was conscious afterwards he’s lost a lot of his memory, I just thought you should know the others thought I should call you, but thats it, okay bye!”

He knew it was a dick move, but Hoseok quickly hung up the call before Junghyun could even process the words he was being told.

Less than 30 seconds passed before his phone blew up with his ring tone, Hobi groaning slightly as he saw Junghyun’s name on the screen. To be fair, he deserved this, and he took a deep breath before answering.

“Hey, Hyun-hyung! Whats up??”

“What do you mean What’s up??? You just told me my little brother is in hospital with amnesia and a head injury and then you hang up on me?? The fuck Hoseok! What hospital are you at? I’m taking the next train down there!”

“No, no, its probably best to not come.” Hoseok tried, doing his best to calm down the other but he knew he wasn’t doing the best job at it. “He’s not allowed too many visitors at the moment, and he’s not awake anyway. Really, it’s fine, okay? Please don’t worry too much!”

“Not worry?! Hoseok he’s not awake and he’s badly injured of course I’m going to worry! Now tell me the damn hospital!”

Giving a small sigh, Hoseok caved and told the older Jeon the hospital they were at, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stop the older from turning up. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Yeah, see you soon.”

Hoseok slid his phone back into his pocket and headed back into the hospital.

———

Hours passed, and they all knew it would be hours more before Junghyun managed to get to them. Jimin and Taehyung had fallen asleep in the corner, Taehyung’s head resting on Jimin’s chest as they held each other in the uncomfortable chairs. Jin had taken to pacing around the room, while Namjoon and Yoongi sat by Jungkook’s bedside, waiting for any change in their youngest. Whereas Hoseok had headed outside, getting some fresh air and making sure he had signal to get the updates from Junghyun.

Then, the smallest twitch came from Jungkook’s hand in Yoongi’s grip, causing the rapper to quickly lift his head.

“Guys, I think he’s waking up.”

Almost immediately, Jin hurried over to the maknae’s side, reaching a hand over and brushing it gently through Jungkook’s hair.

“Yah, baby, can you hear us? Can you open your eyes for us?”

Jungkook let out a low moan at the words, before slowly tugging his eyes open, glancing around the room and flinching as the bright lights assaulted his eyes. Namjoon jumped to his feet, hurrying to the switch and turning the light off, smiling as the maknae seemed to relax.

“How’re you feeling, Kook?” Yoongi asked, squeezing the maknae’s hand lightly in an attempt to grab his attention. “You doing okay?”

Slowly but surely, Jungkook gave a slight nod, eyebrows furrowing as he struggled to focus on the older man in front of him. “I-I’m okay, Yoon-hyung…”

At the sound of his name being mumbled from the maknae, Yoongi let out a sharp sigh of relief, letting his hair fall against the edge of the bed as he swallowed down a sob. “Oh thank god, you little brat.”

“What…?” The youngest questioned, now struggling to look at his boyfriend who had dipped out of his limited field of view. “What are you talking about…?”

“When you woke up earlier, Jungkook, you couldn’t remember what year it was or how old you were. I think you scared Yoongi-hyung a little.” Namjoon told him with a soft smile. “He’s just relieved you haven’t completely lost your memory and it was just a spell of confusion from the concussion. I’m going to go get the doctor, okay?”

Namjoon then turned, heading out of the door and leaving the others in the room. He’d grab Hoseok too while he was at it, and tell him the good news.

Yoongi held Jungkook’s hand with both of his, not caring about the others in the room as he lifted it and pressed a gentle kiss onto the maknae’s knuckles.

“You’re going to be okay, Kook. You’re going to be okay.”

Chapter Text

The days seemed to all be merging into one.

Practice, rehearsal, show, fan meet, practice, rehearsal, show, fan meet, practice, rehearsal, show, fan meet…

It was constant. They barely had time to breathe. Barely had time to eat once a day.

Jungkook was proud of the work they were all putting in of course. Their tour was nearly over, and they were all getting to the end of their energy supplies.

But none of them complained.

This was for ARMY. They could keep going, they could finish this with smiles on their faces, jumping around and having fun on stage, letting their dedicated fans see them in their prime.

But once the stage was empty and the crowd had cleared, each member let themselves calm down. Going from running around on stage, laughing, smiling, dancing, to just a shell of the members that their fans knew.

They were just too exhausted to keep going with the high energy antics. They couldn’t keep it up. They all lay on the stage, still in their damp stage outfits that were starting to smell just a little bit too much, taking in deep breaths and letting their hearts settle and the room stop spinning around them.

“Alright guys,” Namjoon sighed as he pulled himself to his feet. If he noticed the fact he’d stumbled as he had, neither he nor anybody else had anything to say about it. They were all just as incredibly tired.

“We all need to go back to the hotel, shower, and get some sleep. Okay? We all need the rest ready for the fan meet in the morning. Let’s go, come on, get up.” Namjoon walked over to Jin, who had practically fallen asleep where he lay on the stage, and grabbed his arms, pulling the older to his feet. One by one, Namjoon made his way around the members of the group, pulling them up and congratulating them on a job well done that day, helping them regain their balance despite his own struggles.

Then he got to their maknae. Their precious, overachieving, high energy Golden Maknae. Jungkook lay on his side on the stage, face damp and shiny with sweat and a little pale under the low lights of the theatre, eyes gently closed causing shadows of his eyelashes to cast over his cheeks. Jungkook’s breath came in small, even pants, but Namjoon could tell he was deeply asleep, beckoning Yoongi over before kneeling down next to the young boy.

“Jungkook, come on.” Namjoon said quietly, reaching over and gently shaking the maknae’s shoulder. “I know you’re tired, we’re all tired, but its time to go back to the hotel, okay? You gotta get up. You can sleep once you’ve showered and you’re in a bed.”

But Jungkook simply gave a low moan, making no effort to move or to open his eyes. He stayed quiet and limp, refusing to join the land of the living again.

“Nuh uh, come on Kook.” Yoongi sighed, taking a place next to his best friend and pinching his boyfriend’s cheeks lightly. “Up and at it, come on brat. You can’t sleep here all night.” When Jungkook once again ignored the two’s attempt to get him up, Yoongi decided it wasn’t worth the battle, and instead leaned down, getting hold of Jungkook underneath his arms and dragging him up to his feet.

That seemed to do the trick as Jungkook whined but finally opened his eyes and glanced at the male holding him up.

Namjoon immediately stepped closer, taking hold of Jungkook’s arm around his shoulder in order to support him if the sleepy maknae fell and started helping Yoongi move Jungkook towards the exit.

“Seriously brat, stop working out and getting so much muscle, you’re getting too heavy. I shouldn’t need Namjoon to help me carry you.”

Jungkook simply gave a little laugh, feet moving along with the two older members but he knew he wouldn’t be able to walk alone, and though his exhaustion he didn’t have the energy to try and fight them anyway.

“Sorry, hyung, tell Jin-hyung off he’s the one I work out with.”

“Don’t worry, I will. I miss you being tiny and scrawny. It isn’t fair that you’re like this now you know. Not at all.” Yoongi knew he was rambling a little, but he was simply trying to keep himself awake long enough to get back.

They were all just so tired. Almost done though. The tour was almost over.

It took them a little longer to get to the hotel than it normally would have, everyone walking slowly so Jungkook could keep up and to spare their own aching limbs, but when they got in and split off into their rooms, Jin quickly called out a reminder to everyone to shower.

He didn’t want them all to stink for their fan meeting in the morning.

Jin headed off into his room with Namjoon and Hoseok, Jimin and Taehyung both split off into theirs, and Yoongi was left alone to drag Jungkook into their shared hotel room. Depositing Jungkook roughly on the double bed, Yoongi gave a little chuckle at how the youngest seemed to immediately pass back out, before turning and heading into the small bathroom and getting in the shower.

Despite Yoongi’s thoughts however, about Jungkook immediately falling back asleep, Jungkook could only wish that was the case. Even though the mattress was so comfortable underneath him, Jungkook wasn’t able to drop off. He sat up a little, peeling his dirty clothes off and crawling up the bed to rest against the pillow, hoping that would help, but his brain still struggled to find the blissful silence he had found in the theatre.

Even when the water from the shower shut off and Yoongi came back into the main room, dressed in pyjamas and ready to pass out, Jungkook couldn’t rest. When his boyfriend climbed into the bed next to him, mumbling about how Jungkook smelt bad and would have to shower in the morning, before promptly passing out himself, Jungkook couldn’t rest.

He kept his eyes closed, tried counting sheep, tried focusing on Yoongi’s soft breaths next to him, tried different breathing techniques to try and make himself drop off, Jungkook found himself unable to.

1am turned to 2am, 2am quickly turned to 3am, 3 turned to 4, and before he knew it, 4 turned to 5am and Jungkook began to see the creep of daylight through the curtains.

Why hadn’t he been able to fall asleep? He’d managed it so easily back on the stage, but now, despite being comfier, despite having Yoongi cuddled up beside him, he just… couldn’t.

Every bone in his body felt heavy, his heart racing in his ears from the exhaustion taking over his body.

Today he had to get through a meet and greet with some of the wonderful ARMY that supported them so much, then a rehearsal, then their final concert that night.

He could do it, maybe he’d be able to sneak a nap in somewhere, especially if he explained his lack of sleep to the others.

They’d understand. They’d have to. They’d let him rest.

Beep…beep…beep…

The alarm next to the two lovers went off, and Jungkook almost burst into tears with upset at the meaning it brought.

It meant it was almost time to get up and face the day ahead. To face the day with only the few minute nap he’d managed to get on the stage floor.

He heard Yoongi groan beside him and reach over, turning the alarm off and stopping the horrific beeping before his older boyfriend sat up, resting a gentle hand on Jungkook’s shoulder.

“Come on brat, time to get up and shower.”

Normally Jungkook would pretend to be asleep, to try and prevent them from worrying about how much sleep he’d gotten that night. But he didn’t have the energy to pretend.

“I’m awake, hyung, don’t worry.” Jungkook mumbled, before pushing himself upright and off the bed. Yoongi made a worried comment from the tone of his voice, but Jungkook didn’t catch it as he went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Hopefully the shower would wake him up enough to get through the day. He’d pulled all nighters before and been fine after all. Just take the day one step at a time and he’d get through it fine. Just one step at a time. Putting the shower on and allowing the water to heat up, Jungkook allowed himself to take a glance at himself in the mirror. The site that greeted him filled his stomach with dread.

His face was paler than normal, dark bruises sitting below his eyes and a thin sheen of sweat marking his forehead. There was no way he was going to be able to hide his lack of sleep from the others. But hopefully, he’d be able to hide it from the fans with powder and concealer. They didn’t have to worry about him, and he definitely didn’t want to deal with the articles that would come with having him be sick at a fan meet.

They didn’t need the negative attention, not right now at the end of a successful tour.

He’d get the makeup noona’s to cover his bags, and he’d lie to his hyungs for as long as he could. They didn’t need to know just how badly he’d slept, after all, they were all tired, they were all going to be looking exhausted.

Turning on his heel, Jungkook stepped into the shower, letting our an audible sigh of delight at the hot water pounding against his tired and tense muscles, loosening them easily as it washed the foul sweat from his body.

Grabbing a body wash - citrus it seemed - Jungkook poured it into his hands and ran it all over his body, hoping the bright scent would awaken his senses a little more like the bottle advertised. “Energise for your day!” Jungkook really hoped it stuck with that.

Quickly washing and conditioning his hair, Jungkook then stood under the hot water, letting the pressure hit across his shoulders and wash the tension away.

He almost wanted to pass out, right there and then in the shower and sleep for the entire day, but he doubted everyone would be happy with that. Their fans would be disappointed he wasn’t there, ignoring the fact that sleeping in a currently running shower would have a very high risk of drowning. Yeah, his hyungs would definitely not be happy with him about that.

Steeling himself to stop the cry of loss, Jungkook stepped out of the shower and shut off the water, grabbing a warm, fluffy towel and beginning to dry himself off. Tears immediately filled Jungkook’s eyes.

He just wanted to go back to bed.

He was tired, so so tired, and his body wasn’t letting him rest. It wasn’t fair.

Why couldn’t he just go to sleep and pretend this whole day wasn’t going to happen?

He just wanted to rest.

Moments later, Jungkook heard a light tap of knuckles against the wooden bathroom door.

“Jungkook, come on you’ve been in there ages, we need to go get ready.” Yoongi called, and Jungkook quickly swallowed back his tears.

What was he, a toddler? Crying because he needed a nap. He couldn’t let the others see him like this, see him with this embarrassment.

“I-I’ll be right out, Hyung! Just a few more minutes!”

He heard Yoongi grumble in response before walking away from the door. At least he’d managed to avoid that conversation so far, of why he was stood in the bathroom sobbing.

Quickly rubbing his head with the towel until his hair was dryish and fluffy, Jungkook pulled a fresh pair of jogging bottoms and a sweater on, knowing that the Stylist Noonas were just going to get him to change later on anyway, and left the bathroom with a pang of sadness.

Yoongi sat on the double bed, scrolling through his phone but glanced up as Jungkook walked over.

“Kook, are you alright? You look like death. Are you sick?”

When Jungkook shook his head, Yoongi frowned.

“Yah, don’t lie to me maknae. You were awake before the alarm went off this morning, and I know from experience how awful it is to try and wake you up when you’re asleep. Did you even sleep at all last night?”

Jungkook wanted to argue, to say he was fine and Yoongi was worrying for no reason, but he couldn’t bring himself to lie to his boyfriend. Couldn’t bring himself to deny how awful he truly felt. So instead, he didn’t answer at all, which was answer enough for Yoongi.

“You didn’t, did you? God damn it Jungkook, lie back down and go to sleep. I’ll talk to Sejin-hyung about getting you out of the fanmeet, okay? You don’t have to worry about that right now. Just rest.”

He grabbed hold of Jungkook’s arm, pulling him towards the bed, and frowned when Jungkook resisted the pull.

“N-No, Hyung, I’m okay. I want to do the fan meet. I can’t let ARMY down by not showing up. There are people there who want to see me and I can’t just let them down like that. I’m sorry, okay? But I need to do this, please don’t tell the others.”

“They’re going to know, Jungkook. They’re going to know how unwell you feel just from your face. Honestly, you look like death. You don’t have to push yourself like this.”

“I’ll be fine, I wanna see our fans. I’ll take a nap in between the fan meet and rehearsal, I promise.”

Sighing and knowing he wasn’t going to be able to get Jungkook to change his mind, Yoongi nodded. He wasn’t happy about it, he’d much rather his younger boyfriend sleep, but he knew what it was like to have someone force you to let other people down.

“Alright, but I’m holding you to that nap. I need to tell the others too, just so they can keep an eye on you. Please, just take it easy. Lets go get ready, okay?”

Getting to his feet, Yoongi took a few long strides over to Jungkook, reaching forward and gently cupping his cheek with his hand and pulling him down, leaving a soft, chase kiss on the taller boy’s lips.

“I worry about you, you know. Try your best not to worry me more.”

With that said, Yoongi turned and left the room, Jungkook not far behind him with a light flush of pink decorating his cheeks.

The others were already in the hall, waiting for them, and when Yoongi and Jungkook approached, they all took on varying looks of concern.

“JK are you alright??”

“Kook you look awful.”

“Did you sleep??? Are you getting sick???”

“Do you need to sit today out???”

“I think he should, he looks awful.”

Jungkook groaned a little at the onslaught of voices immediately attacking him as they saw his condition, not having the energy to try and reply to all of them as he raised his hand in an attempt to make them stop. Thankfully, Yoongi saw his discomfort and slid in to the rescue.

“No, he’s not sick, no, he didn’t sleep, I’ve already tried to make him sit out, he’s refused to. He doesn’t want to let anyone down, but he has agreed to nap later on. Jungkook is being just as stubborn as he always is but he doesn’t want to upset ARMY, so lets just all keep an eye on him and keep going, okay? We need to eat something and go to the Stylists.” Yoongi told them, tone set so he’d have very little arguments in response.

Even if Namjoon was the only member to know that he and Jungkook were dating, thankfully, the others still knew just how protective the oldest rapper was of their baby maknae, so they didn’t really question the parental role that Yoongi had suddenly adopted in light of Jungkook not sleeping.

With various whines and groans of agreement, the group turned and walked towards the dining room where they would be given breakfast, sitting down at a large round table.

Yoongi quickly placed himself next to Jungkook, wanting more than anything to just send the younger back to bed. But their maknae was stubborn, and they’d just have to fight through it.

Seeing that Jungkook was most likely not going to stand and go get food himself, Yoongi gently squeezed the others shoulder before standing and going to get two bowls, filling both with cereal and milk before bringing them back to the table, giving one to Jungkook and placing the other in front of himself.

“Jungkook, I need you to eat all of that, okay? You need to keep your strength up or you’ll just end up regretting everything about today.”

Jungkook nodded a little in response and started eating. Yoongi, now satisfied, sat back down and started eating his own cereal, although his gaze didn’t leave the maknae for more than a few seconds during the process. He couldn’t help the winding nerves in his stomach that Jungkook really should just go back to bed.

Over the course of the next hour, Bangtan were rushed through their breakfast before being led to a different room where a group of Stylists sat them down, picking out outfits for the meet and greet and covering their faces with makeup. Some needed less than others, lucky people like Yoongi and Hoseok only really needing a smear of foundation and a light dusting of eyeshadow to make them look more alert and aware.

Where as less lucky people, such as Jungkook, had a lot more time spent on his face. Thick concealer was spread below his eyes, a layer of foundation on top of that, powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner… everything the makeup noona’s did just slowly made him seem more and more awake, but they couldn’t completely hide the bags under his eyes, couldn’t hide how sunken and tired his eyes were.

The noona gave a small sigh before stepping back.

“Thats as good as I can do, Jungkook-ssi. Please try and take it easy, we’ll have to touch it up a few more times later.” She told him, before gently patting his back in order to make him move out of the way, which the youngest did without complaint.

Before Jungkook was even fully aware of what was going on, the group was being pushed yet again out of the hotel. All of them were tired and grumpy, and despite Hoseok and Taehyung’s attempts to keep the whole group happy and keep the spirits up, there was only so much they could really do when everyone just wanted to go home to their dorms and sleep in their own beds.

Jungkook really wanted to go home to the dorm and sleep in his own bed again.

They were pushed into a large room, Jungkook hadn’t even really been aware of them getting to a building, and lead towards a long table with 7 chairs where they would be staying for the next few hours, meeting fans and having conversations with them.

Jungkook groaned in relief as he was led to his chair, body ready to drop as he sat down and allowed the tension to release from his body.

Just a few more hours and he’d take a nap. Just a few more hours.

They were prepped on the amount of fans who were coming, where the refreshments were, what was happening during this fan meet, but Jungkook found himself listening to none of it. Jin had ended up sitting on his left, with Yoongi on his right, and Jungkook allowed himself the small happiness that they’d been seated together.

The two would look after him, they always did. Jungkook never felt safer than being surrounded by the two oldest of the group.

Moments later, the doors opened and excited fans began to file in. Jungkook immediately changed his posture, sitting up straighter, a bright smile plastered onto his face.

One by one he saw the fans, held conversations with them, accepted small gifts and held their hands. Over and over again, he saw people with tears in their eyes, so excited to see him, so happy they’d gotten to talk with their idol.

Jungkook couldn’t regret not staying in bed. He wouldn’t have been able to see the delight he was causing for these people if he had. He wouldn’t have been in such a good mood afterwards if he’d just stayed in bed.

Granted, he’d probably be more rested, but nothing would compare to seeing such a happy group of people, so happy to have met him.

He’d made their day, and they’d made his.

The crowd was beginning to dwindle now, almost an hour later, the last few people of the fan event beginning to filter through to see the group.

But for Jungkook, the room was just getting far too hot. He could feel his breathing getting shallower as the room got hotter and hotter around him, he tried to keep the smile on his face and greet the last few fans with the same amount of enthusiasm, but it was getting very difficult to even focus his eyes.

Too hot, too hot.

He needed to get water.

Once the fan he’d just finished his conversation with had moved on to Yoongi, Jungkook quickly got to his feet to reach behind and get a fresh, cold bottle of water.

But as the maknae stood, the world narrowed and span around him, darkness fuzzing out the edges of his vision as the chatter and the excitement from their fans echoed around him.

He tried to get back to the table, to steady himself, but every movement just made the spinning grow worse and nausea to grow in his stomach.

He didn’t feel himself hitting the ground.

————

Yoongi laughed and smiled at the fan he was talking to, much more relaxed now the fan meet was beginning to come to an end. It wasn’t that he didn’t like meeting the fans that had got them this far, not at all, it was more he was insanely worried about Jungkook, even if he did seem to be handling the meeting as well as could be expected.

He doubted any of the fans had even noticed Jungkook wasn’t feeling his best.

He watched the maknae from the corner of his eye, watching as he stood and went towards the cooler holding the water, before turning his attention back to the fan and gently taking hold of her hands, reaching over and carefully wiping a tear off her cheek.

“Yah, don’t cry silly. You’ll make me cry, it’s okay!” Yoongi tried to comfort her, tried to make her feel better but he knew she was purely just overwhelmed. With a soft smile, Yoongi let go of her and began to say his goodbyes.

And then watched as the girl’s eyes widened and a frightened yelp escaped her, before a dull thump sounded behind him.

Yoongi wasted no time in turning and looking at the source of the sound, heart plummeting to the floor as he saw Jungkook in a limp pile of limbs against the tiles.

“Jungkook!” He exclaimed, quickly getting to his feet and rushing to the exhausted Maknae. Jin was directly behind him, swearing under his breath as he watched the situation take place.

“Jungkook, Kook can you hear me? Wake up.” Yoongi tried, gently tapping the back of his hand against Jungkook’s overly warm and sweaty face in an attempt to stir him. Jin stood between them and the crowd of fans, trying in vain to block the sight from everyone who made worried mumblings and teary shouts towards them.

The other members quickly caught wind of the situation, getting up and joining Jin in shielding Jungkook from the crowd, hoping to save at least a little of his privacy when he was feeling so incredibly rotten.

Jungkook gave a small groan after a few moments, dark eyes slowly peeling open but were so full of exhaustion and confusion that Yoongi’s heart ached.

“There you are, you’re okay. How do you feel? Does anything hurt?” Yoongi questioned, keeping his voice low.

“M’ head…” Jungkook mumbled, and Yoongi bit back a swear as he reached a hand behind Jungkook’s head, carefully feeling at the scar that lay underneath the maknae’s hair from their accident in the practice room only a few months before. No blood, so thankfully he hadn’t pulled it back open.

“Alright, okay. Lets get you back to the hotel, okay?” Yoongi gave a soft smile before carefully helping Jungkook back up into a sitting position, careful not to pull on him too hard.

“N-no, gotta finish the fan meet.” Jungkook mumbled, even having the audacity to glare back when Yoongi gave him an unimpressed look.

“No, Kook. You just fainted in front of everyone, you’re not staying. There’s only a few more people, I’ll get Sejin to take you back to the hotel and rest.”

“Exactly, theres only a few more people. I can last, Hyung. Please let me finish.”

Yoongi simply let out a small sigh, lifting his gaze to meet Namjoon’s, who was frowning at them with worry.

“You’re the leader, its your choice.” Yoongi told him, still sat behind Jungkook to support the maknae with sitting up.

Namjoon hesitated.

“Well… it looks like we’ll only be here for another 20 minutes or so… so if he thinks he can hold on for that time, he can stay if he really wants to. We’ll have to talk to Sejin-hyung about later though, I don’t really want him rehearsing and performing tonight if a fan meet made him pass out.”

At Namjoon’s words, Yoongi helped Jungkook to his feet, choosing to ignore the irritated grumble from the maknae that he was fine and he didn’t need to miss the rehearsal and performance.

The rest of the group begged to differ on that point.

Regardless, Yoongi helped his shaky boyfriend back to his chair, making sure he was secure when he sat before sitting back down in his place next to him. Namjoon stood, addressing the room and apologising for the delay, although none of the fans seemed annoyed considering they’d just watched their idol faint and then continue with the fan meet for them.

The group all took their places again, and the fan meet continued.

Jungkook didn’t try to hide his exhaustion anymore. After all, what did he really have to hide now? The fans knew he wasn’t well, but as long as he kept the experience enjoyable for them, he’d make it through it.

A few fans passed through, all smiling softly at Jungkook and wishing him well as they did, Jungkook smiling back and thanking them, telling them he was fine, really.

He wasn’t, but there wasn’t long left. Not long to go at all. He could do it. He had this.

A small girl approached with her mother after talking to Jin, and Jungkook felt his heart melt as she looked up at him with bright brown eyes. She couldn’t have been any older than 6 or 7, and yet here she was at their fan meet, her gaze so happy that it made the maknae want to cry.

“Hello sweetheart, what’s your name?” Jungkook asked her, giving a reassuring smile to her mother.

“Sarang!” The girl exclaimed, smiling brightly as she did. “Are you okay now Kookie-oppa? That was scary!”

“Nice to meet you Sarang! I’m sorry it was scary, but I’m okay, see?” Jungkook reached over, gently taking one of her small hands in his own. “I’m alright, I couldn’t just leave after all, I needed to meet you! Have you had fun?”

“Yeah! Jin-oppa was really nice to me! I can’t wait to see V-oppa, he’s my favourite!”

Jungkook’s smile just grew at that, glancing down the line to see how far away Taehyung was. He wasn’t next, but just after Yoongi, so the girl wouldn’t have too long before she got to see her bias.

“Really? He’s my favourite too! V-hyung is just so happy all the time, isn’t he? I’m sure he’s going to love meeting you! Have a good day, and I’m sorry again for scaring you!”

Sarang then gave a small bow, before straightening up and blowing a kiss towards Jungkook, hurrying over to talk to Yoongi next. Jungkook felt himself blush a little at the move, bowing a little back and waving goodbye to the girl and giving the mother a smile of thank you for bringing her.

Before long, the line of fans had ended, the last few just exiting the room, and Jungkook allowed himself to finally relax his posture and his smile as he slumped back, boneless in the chair, groaning a little.

“Will you stop being stubborn and sleep now?”

Jungkook simply nodded a little at Yoongi’s question, not having the energy to verbally reply while Jin and Yoongi both approached him, pulling one arm each over their shoulders to support the exhausted maknae.

“You guys go back to the hotel and get him to bed,” Namjoon started, pulling out his phone. “I’m going to call Sejin-hyung and see if I can get him out of the concert tonight. He needs the rest and if he does it he’s just going to pass out on stage.”

Jungkook groaned a little at the words, but thankfully didn’t argue them. He knew Namjoon was right after all.

Yoongi nodded, pulling Jungkook out with Jin’s help and listening as the others followed, Taehyung immediately speeding up to catch up with them.

“Kook, yah, kook, are you alright? You gave us all a heart attack there!”

Jungkook simply nodded, taking a deep breath as he began to speak despite the lack of energy. “Yeah, I’m okay. Everything was getting very hot and spinny so I tried to get water and then I was on the floor. I don’t remember a lot of it, but my head is killing me.”

“Its an exhaustion headache,” Jin replied, rubbing Jungkook’s chest a little in an attempt to soothe his baby. “You’ll be okay, but you really need to rest, okay? No arguing with us over this. If you don’t rest you’re at risk of getting more hurt and we can’t have that.”

“I’m going to rest, hyung, I promise. I just want to go to sleep. I miss our dorm and my bed.”

Yoongi frowned a little. “Is that why you didn’t sleep last night, you’re home sick?”

“I guess so? I dunno, I slept fine for that mini nap on the stage, but when we got to the hotel room I just…I couldn’t turn my brain off, I couldn’t make it shut up or zone out so I could sleep. I guess I am home sick…”

“We’ll be back at the dorm tomorrow, but you still need to sleep tonight. Okay? You can’t avoid it. I might have some medicine that could help…” Jin trailed off, frowning a little as he thought. He didn’t really want to drug their maknae into sleeping, but at the same time he definitely needed the rest and Jin doubted he’d be able to without help.

It didn’t take long before they were back at the hotel, Yoongi sliding the key card out of his pocket and opening his and Jungkook’s hotel room with ease, pushing the door open so Jin could get Jungkook in and on to the bed.

Once safely deposited on the pillows, Jungkook groaned lightly with comfort surrounding him. Yoongi watched him with a gentle smile, before turning to his suitcase and beginning to pull out various sweaters and shirts from the case.

“What are you doing?” Jin questioned, watching the rapper work.

“Surrounding Jungkook in familiar scents so hopefully he sleeps better.” Yoongi replied with a matter-of-fact tone, as he then began to pile the warm, thick fabrics around Jungkook.

Jin gave a small smile at the action, nodding in approval before turning and heading back into his own room, returning moments later with a small bottle of pills.

“I’m going to give you one of these, Jungkook. That’s half a dose, just to help you drop off. I’ll make you some calming tea too, so hopefully you’ll be out in no time.”

Heading over to the kitchenette, Jin made quick work of making the cup of warm, steaming tea for Jungkook, bringing it over along with the single pill from the bottle and handing both to Jungkook.

The maknae, who would normally complain about being babied as much as he was, accepted both with a small smile, downing the pill with a sip of tea once he was settled.

“Thank you, hyungs… I’ll be okay, really. Please don’t worry too much.”

“Worrying is our job, Jungkook.” Yoongi sighed back, reaching forward and mushing Jungkook’s hair around, knocking it out of the style it had been gelled in to. “You damn near gave me a heart attack, passing out like that. Please be careful, okay? We tried to make you sit out and you argued with us for it. Next time, listen to your hyungs.”

The raven gave a small nod, sipping more of his tea down and at least had the decency to look ashamed as he did.

“I’ll take it from here, Jin-hyung, go do what you need to.”

Jin nodded at the younger’s words, giving the two a sweet smile as he walked out of the room.

Once Jin had left, Yoongi leaned over, placing a gentle kiss to Jungkook’s cheek. “Don’t do that again. It was terrifying.”

“Sorry hyung…” Jungkook mumbled, and despite still having the cup of tea in his hands, Yoongi could tell the pill and the comfort around him was taking effect, sending the youngest to sleep quicker than he could drink it. Giving a small chuckle, Yoongi reached over, taking the tea from Jungkook’s hands and placing it on the bedside table as the maknae slumped further down into the pillows, eyes closed and breaths deepening.

“Sleep well, Kook.”

Chapter Text

Jungkook loved Yoongi. He really, really did. The past few months since they had gotten together had been some of the best months of his life. But what was really sucking was having to hide that love from the entire world.

They got to be alone so little, the other members always around, or fans watching their every move, cameras always on them. They had to be so careful, not even the majority of the people they lived with knew they were together, no-one but Namjoon.

They hadn’t been able to change any of their behaviour to each other. At least they had the little bit of skin ship that was expected of them as idols, as much as Jungkook didn’t tend to like it, but it wasn’t enough.

Jungkook hated hiding. He hated having to hide how much he loved Yoongi from the entire world, but the world wouldn’t accept them. They’d lose fans, they’d be articles everywhere. Would BigHit kick them out for the scandal? Would they be free to be who they were anywhere in South Korea?

Jungkook didn’t know, and it was killing him.

It was putting so much tension on the maknae. He knew why they were hiding it, it had been mostly his idea to, but craving that affection from his boyfriend and being unable to act on it just in case Seokjin caught them, Jimin or Taehyung figured something out or Hoseok finally put two and two together… it was killing him, slowly but surely.

To the world, they were still just bandmates, just friends who happened to live together in a dorm room and always share a hotel room when they could.

He wanted to scream to the world how much he loved Yoongi.

The tension had been building up for days, and now, at 3am, instead of sleeping, Jungkook had found himself in the living area of their dorm, lying on his side on the couch with some drama playing on a low volume on the TV in front of him. The drama hadn’t been the best plan now Jungkook thought of it, the gushy, happy love it showed only filling him with more regret of his situation.

It wasn’t fair.

He wanted to show off what he had, but the backlash would be too great for what the payoff really was.

Jungkook reached down to the floor next to the couch, picking up the sandwich he had prepared for his midnight snack. A few hours late, but still a midnight snack filled with comfort food. Thick slices of meat with cheese, not a vegetable in sight with the thickest cut bread he could find. Even a small bite was a mouthful, but after finishing their tour and preparing for their next come back already, he deserved the time to himself, the time to gorge himself on the biggest sandwich he could make.

The whole group had a free day tomorrow, which thankfully meant no schedule. The rest of the group were long asleep in their beds. He could take the entire night to sulk and mourn about their situation, to let himself feel awful and upset, and then be all fine and dandy for when he saw his friends and boyfriend in the morning again, to pretend he had slept fine and there was nothing bothering him.

Yoongi would be able to see through him, he always had, but Jungkook didn’t even know if they’d have the spare time alone for Yoongi to confront him about it. Probably not.

Taking another bite of the sandwich, Jungkook groaned a little as he knew he’d taken a bit too big of a bite, but chewed it up anyway, swallowing it down.

Before sitting bolt upright, eyes wide and scared as he realised the situation he’d now gotten himself in.

At first, he’d simply thought the sandwich had caught in his eosophogus, but now, he knew it was more serious than that, because he couldn’t pull air through his lungs anymore, throat clogged with the stupid bread he’d been so excited about.

Jungkook tried to force a cough from his throat, punching at his chest to try and dislodge what had blocked his breath, but found himself unsuccessful.

He tried to call out, to try and wake one of the others to get help, but still, he was unsuccessful, no sound escaping his lips but a weak gag.

He was going to die, sat on the couch with a dumb, lovey dovey drama on because of a dumb sandwich.

Trying again to cough, Jungkook felt tears fill his eyes as he once again failed, trying hard to punch his chest although he could feel his muscles weakening.

At the sound of footsteps approaching though, Jungkook found himself gain a little hope, trying again to unsuccessfully call out for help.

The blurry face of Yoongi filled his narrowing vision, dark eyes tired but concerned as they focused on Jungkook’s rapidly reddening face.

“Kook? What’s going on? Are you okay? Are you choking?”

Jungkook nodded a little, knowing he was unable to produce the words to answer verbally, and clutched at his throat, a tear finally falling from his eye and trailing down his cheek.

“Oh, oh shit. Okay. Uh, stand up, come on.”

Jungkook felt Yoongi reach forward and grab his arms, pulling him so he was standing and got behind him, wrapping his arms around the taller boys stomach.

Jungkook felt himself fading more now, his vision narrowing and blurring despite his attempt to fight it.

The first jolt to his stomach took Jungkook by surprise, giving him only a weak gag as he tried to cough through it, the second he was more prepared for, but even the strong abdominal thrusts were doing little to help the blockage be moved from his throat.

He could hear Yoongi talking to him from behind him, but Jungkook was no longer able to make out the words being said to him. Everything sounded like it was underwater, before the noise faded entirely, leaving Jungkook to slump over limply in Yoongi’s grip as his consciousness faded to nothing.

———

When Yoongi had woken to movement in the main room, he knew something was probably wrong. The whole group were excited to sleep as long as possible and most had even turned in early to capitalise on the oppotunity. They didn’t have to get up for anything the next day.

So why was someone in the living room?

It could have been because of a panic attack, that was a thing that quite a few of them suffered from quite a lot with the stress placed upon them all. After all, with all the pressure of their growing popularity, sometimes it just…cracked, and they had to let go somehow.

Regardless, Yoongi decided it was better to check on the person than just leave them to suffer alone, especially if it was a panic attack of an anxiety spike. He was quite used to dealing with his own, so dealing with someone else’s was just a skill he’d gained along the way.

With a small groan, Yoongi pulled himself up and out of the bed, wincing a little as his feet hit the cold floor beneath him, and got up with a stretch before walking out of his room into the hall and over to the main living area.

Seeing Jungkook on the couch confused Yoongi for a moment, before he noticed that something was very very wrong with the youngest.

Yoongi quickened his pace, still tired and half asleep but very quickly waking up as he took in the situation.

“Kook? What’s going on? Are you okay? Are you choking?” He questioned, reaching forward a little to take hold of Jungkook’s reddening cheeks. The youngest’s brown eyes were glassy and unfocused as they looked at him, nothing but a strained gag coming from him as he nodded.

Fuck, okay.

“Oh, oh shit. Okay. Uh, stand up, come on.”

Yoongi quickly tugged Jungkook to his feet, locking away a thought to apologise to Jungkook for how rough he was being later on. Right now, how gentle he was being didn’t matter as fear grew in his chest and developed into bubbling nausea.

His boyfriend was choking in his arms.

Getting behind Jungkook and wrapping his arms tightly around the thinner but taller boy, Yoongi quickly performed the heimlich, pulling Jungkook off the floor a little as he tried his hardest to help him cough up whatever was trying to kill him.

Before he could think too hard on it, Yoongi tried again, once again with very little success.

He could feel Jungkook getting limper and less responsive in his arms, god knows how long the maknae had been choking before he’d gone to check on whoever was in the living room.

Yoongi was very thankful he’d decided to do that after all, instead of leaving whoever he thought was panicking to suffer alone while he got more sleep.

If he’d left it, Jungkook would be dead.

A few more moments passed, Yoongi trying again to give an abdominal thrust to the youngest before Jungkook completely slumped in his arms, knees giving out and arms falling limp by his sides instead of gripping at his throat.

“Kook? Kook you still with me?” Yoongi tried, doing his best to hold back the fear overwhelming him.

At the lack of an answer, Yoongi let a tear fall, gently lowering Jungkook to the floor and jabbing his fingers into Jungkook’s throat.

There was a pulse there, it was weak and thready, but it was definitely there.

“Jin! Namjoon! Someone help! Someone call an ambulance!” He screamed out into the quiet dorm room, before moving so he straddled Jungkook’s legs, turning his head to the side before pushing up hard in Jungkook’s stomach.

He heard footsteps quickly approaching from the bedrooms, and Yoongi thanked his lucky stars someone had woken.

Within moments, Jin was by Yoongi’s side, watching with wide eyes as the rapper frantically pushed on Jungkook’s stomach.

“W-What’s going on?”

“He’s choking on something, he just passed out but he still has a pulse. Help me!”

Jin nodded a little at Yoongi’s words, kneeling by Jungkook’s head and opening his mouth a little, peering in to see what was going on. With one final push from Yoongi, Jin saw as the chunk of bread pushed forward to the front of Jungkook’s mouth, a puff of air escaping as he did so.

Yoongi relaxed into a weak sob as he felt Jungkook’s throat give, watching as Jin quickly scooping the offending bread from Jungkook’s mouth and gently tapping his face.

“Kook, Kook, wake up, come on.”

After a few more moments, waiting and watching, Jin felt the colour drain from his face.

“He’s not breathing. Yoongi, call an ambulance.”

Jin then leant down, pinching Jungkook’s nose and tilting his head back as he gave the maknae a long, deep breath, watching as his chest rose with the air then sank again as it released.

Jin gave him another breath as he heard Yoongi call the emergency number, pulling back quickly as Jungkook suddenly exploded into life, coughing and spluttering as he rolled himself onto his side, gasping desperately for air to fill his strained lungs.

“Kook, its okay, breathe. You’re okay. Deep breaths.”

Yoongi quickly put his phone away, kneeling back down next to his boyfriend and trying to ignore the way his hands shook.

Jungkook had almost died, right in front of him. It had taken so long for him to help, Jungkook had almost died.

“W-Well that sucked,” Jungkook groaned out, eyes mostly closed as he struggled to get his bearings right.

Yoongi gave a little laugh at the words, reaching up to wipe at his eyes.

“Will you stop scaring the shit out of us, Jungkook? Please? How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve just been hit by a bus. And drowned. At the same time.”

Yoongi looked up to Jin, expression questioning if he should call the ambulance like originally planned before Jungkook had regained consciousness.

“Do you need to go to the hospital, Jungkook?” Jin questioned, knowing his response would change their course of action.

After all, Jungkook tended to be the last to admit when something was really wrong. If Jungkook ever admitted he was hurt or in pain, it was enough to cause concern enough for an ambulance. But as stubborn and proud as the maknae was, he wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew his own limits, most of the time, and had just enough self-preservation to where Big Hit hadn’t scolded him too much yet.

“N-Nah, I’m alright. I’d really like a nap though.” Jungkook admitted while slowly sitting up.

“I dunno, Kook, you went quite long without breathing there. It was terrifying. Even when you weren’t choking anymore you didn’t start breathing on your own. Jin had to perform CPR.”

“Ew, Jin you kissed me??”

“First of all, thats Hyung to both of you. Second of all, it wasn’t a kiss, it was saving your life, and I’d appreciate a little more gratitude.” Jin smirked, showing that he wasn’t really angry with the two. If anything, he was happy Jungkook had the energy to joke around.

Yoongi stood, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to calm his own raging anxiety.

Jungkook was fine, he was awake, breathing alone and talking. He’d be okay.

“I need a drink, my throat hurts and my mouth tastes like Jin-hyung.” Jungkook said, before slowly getting to his feet, ignoring Jin’s irritated huff at the comment.

“You really should stay sat down, I can go get you some water, its not a big deal.” Yoongi said, taking a few steps towards Jungkook. “You’re looking really unstea-”

Yoongi didn’t have chance to finish his sentence before Jungkook’s knees gave out, the maknae slumping down and landing on his chest. Thankful that his reflexes had been quick enough, Yoongi quickly grabbed hold of Jungkook, cushioning him as they both fell to the floor.

“J-Jungkook!”

Jin hurried to the two, helping Yoongi carefully move Jungkook from his chest and back onto the floor, taking in the maknae’s pale pallor and the slight wheeze to his lungs.

“H-he’s okay,” Jin stated, although he didn’t seem entirely convinced of that himself. “He’s okay, looks like he’s just over done it by trying to move so quickly. His brain is a little fried from the lack of oxygen and he stood up too fast, he’ll come too any second, I promise.” Jin tried to convince, but Yoongi was already trembling as he held on to the younger.

“M-maybe I should call an ambulance…” Yoongi mumbled, pulling his phone out of his pocket once again and calling the emergency number, despite Jungkook’s earlier protests to the hospital visit.

Once he’d finished rattling off the information to the operator, and having it confirmed that an ambulance was on the way, Yoongi hung up and reached over, gently stroking Jungkook’s face, letting himself smile just a little as the maknae stirred at the touch, opening his eyes and looking up towards Yoongi.

“Fuck, again?”

“Language, maknae.” Jin scolded, but his own face held how relieved he really was. “An ambulance is coming now, I was going to let you off, but then you went and pulled a fainting act and we can’t ignore that. Yoongi will go with you, okay? I’ll wait here and let the others know what’s going on if any of them wake up. I don’t want them to panic while you get checked out.”

“Alright Hyung.” The lack of arguing from Jungkook worried his boyfriend a little, but he stayed silent on the matter.

He supposed even Jungkook could be mature sometimes, as scary as that thought was.

Yoongi continued sitting on the floor with Jungkook leaning against him, softly running his fingers through the younger’s hair in an attempt to soothe both himself and Jungkook. He knew the maknae was scared, after all, he’d just been through a terrifying situation and then fainted directly afterwards. Yoongi would be pretty freaked out and on edge too.

“Try not to worry too much, guys. They’ll probably just give you some oxygen to make sure your levels are where they should be then send you home. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” Jin tried to reassure them, but the words fell on deaf ears, neither one really listening to what they were being told.

When there was a knock on the dorm door, Jin hurried over, opening it up and allowing the paramedics into the dorm, leading them over to where the two sat.

“Hello again, Mr Jeon.” The female paramedic smiled as she knelt down. Jungkook simply frowned a little in response, not recognising the woman in front of him, but Yoongi did, giving a little smile back to her.

“Jungkook, this is the woman who helped you when you hit your head. You probably don’t remember, you were pretty out of it the little bits you were conscious during that time.”

Jungkook simply nodded a little now. “Yeah, I don’t remember, sorry.” He apologised, wincing a little as his voice cracked from the strain his throat had gone through.

“Not to worry. Now, I’ve heard you’ve had another accident? You choked?” At Jungkook’s nod, she continued. “We’ll give you some oxygen in the ambulance and see what your levels are doing, and dependant on what happens there, we’ll either take you in for some observation or let you stay home, is that okay?” When Jungkook nodded again, the paramedic smiled, standing. “Do you think you could help him to the ambulance? I don’t want him to fall but I also don’t think a wheelchair would be very helpful down all those stairs.”

Yoongi nodded at the question, reaching over and carefully getting himself and Jungkook to their feet. Jungkook swayed a little at the change of altitude, but thankfully, stayed upright during the move, walking slowly with Yoongi’s help as they exited the dorm and carefully made their way down the stairs to where the ambulance was parked.

With both paramedics help and his boyfriend’s, Jungkook thankfully made it all the way down without any hiccups, being sat in the back of the ambulance and the doors closed to protect his privacy from any fans or reporters near by. The paramedic motioned for him to lie down, which the maknae did without any arguments as an oxygen mask was strapped onto his face and a small device placed onto his finger.

The raven let himself relax at the soft breeze of pure oxygen now filtering into his system, drying his lips and throat out even more but thankfully clearing some of the fogginess in his head.

“Well, your oxygen levels aren’t brilliant,” The paramedic sighed, looking at the monitor beside where Jungkook lay. “But they’re not awful either. Lets give you 5 minutes on the oxygen tank and we’ll see where we are from there, okay?”

Jungkook whined lightly, not really wanting to have to go to the hospital, which just caused Yoongi to laugh a little in response.

“Look who’s coming back to us now, try not to whine too much, okay? We’re trying to help you here. If you have to go to the hospital, you have to go. Earlier you weren’t arguing that.”

“I was also a lot more dizzy and a lot more confused earlier.”

“That’s a good point.”

Jungkook laughed a little into his mask, relaxing back and taking deep breaths of the sweet gas to settle himself.

It didn’t take long before he was starting to feel a lot stronger, a lot more himself, even if his throat did hurt so badly he wanted to cry.

But it was fine, some water and he’d be fine.

5 minutes seemed to pass quickly as Jungkook lay on the uncomfortable bed, dozing in and out of consciousness and steadily feeling himself clear up when it came to the oxygen deprived brain fog that had been placed upon him.

Once they had indeed passed, the paramedic took another look at the monitor and smiled.

“Well, its still not perfect, but I’m going to let you stay home since it has climbed quite a bit. Any more issues, and please head down to the hospital. You’ll have to take it easy for the next few days, don’t push your lungs too much, they’ll have to recover and you will be quite sore for a few days.” The paramedic then leaned over, pulling the mask from Jungkook’s face and taking the device from his finger.

“You’re free to go! And please look after yourself more, alright? I don’t want to see either of you again any time soon. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jungkook mumbled, grumbling a little as Yoongi leaned over and rubbed his face, trying to smooth out the red lines the oxygen mask had left on his face.

“Please, don’t call me Ma’am. Goodbye, Mr Jeon, please look after yourself!”

Jungkook nodded a little, not knowing what to say after that as he got to his feet and climbed out of the ambulance, thankfully more steady on his feet as he went this time, Yoongi close behind him.

“Well, that was fun.”

“Fun isn’t the word I’d use.” Yoongi retorted, waiting until the ambulance doors were closed to reach over and grab hold of Jungkook’s hand in the hallway, squeezing it as if to reassure himself Jungkook was actually there. “That was terrifying.”

“I’m okay, hyung.” Jungkook smiled, reaching over and placing a kiss on the corner of Yoongi’s lips. “I promise, I’m fine. I could really use some water though. And a nap.”

“The sun is starting to rise, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be having more than a nap at this point. Jin will explain to the others what happened, please let’s just go to bed.”

Jungkook nodded at the request, letting go of Yoongi’s hand once they’d gotten to their floor and opened the door, heading inside. Jin was curled up on the couch, apparently the 10 minutes they’d been gone enough for him to fall deeply asleep.

Giving a chuckle, Jungkook pulled a blanket over the older and turned the TV off, before turning and walking to his room, halting and nearly falling over when Yoongi grabbed hold of his hand with such desperation that Jungkook was worried Yoongi was hurt.

“Hyung?” Jungkook questioned, turning to look at the older with a confused frown. “Are you okay?” The raven pretended to not notice the dampness on Yoongi’s face, and the puffy redness of his eyes.

“Please,” Yoongi cleared his throat as his voice cracked, attempting to prevent it happening again. “Sleep in my room. I don’t want you to be alone right now.”

Jungkook simply smiled a little at the request and nodded, turning and starting towards Yoongi’s room, pulling the older along with him as he went. “Fine, but I’m going to fight you for the blankets.”

“You’ll do no such thing.”

“Fight me, Yoongi-hyung.”

Chapter Text

“Something Somethinggggg~” Jungkook shouted out as he danced to the famous song in front of the TV, his cheeks flushed red from the alcohol in his system, shirt tied up to it showed off his stomach as he body rolled in front of the live performance of the Girls Day song.

Now, this funnily enough, wasn’t a rare occurrence in the BTS dorm. Several members of the group enjoyed singing and dancing to girl group songs, but it was rare to see their youngest so…intoxicated.

Hoseok and Jin had a little to drink too themselves, but nothing like Jungkook had managed to put down. It had started as just a drink or two to distress from the day, but before they knew it, Jungkook was very… very gone.

When they’d decided to put some music videos on, Jungkook had been first to scream out, very excited, that they had to perform to them as they went and it would be a competition.

Winner would have to do the dishes.

Why Jungkook thought that was a prize to be won, none of them knew, but Jin wasn’t mad about it either. So, they all agreed to the dance off in front of the TV.

Then promptly sat down on the couch behind Jungkook and watched as he danced alone.

After all, Jungkook really wanted to win for reasons unbeknown to them, all they were doing were letting him get his wish of being the winner and getting to do the dishes.

As Jungkook continued to dance, screaming out the lyrics in a slurring blur that could only just count as singing, Taehyung was trying his best to not film the younger. He wanted the world to see this, to see the carefree, drunk maknae who they all loved so much, but Namjoon had stopped him uploading it to their twitter.

Something about upholding an image, whatever that meant.

Instead the group sat behind and watched, Yoongi unable to keep the fond smile off his face at his boyfriend making a complete fool of himself.

Finally, the song finished, Jungkook quickly turning around with bright eyes and stumbling feet to look at the others.

“So? Who won?!” He demanded of the others, who hadn’t moved once during the entire duration of the song.

“You did, Jungkook,” Jimin smiled, feeling a little guilty at their amusement at the maknae’s expense, but not enough to actually stop it. “Hey look, the next song is coming on, you better get ready!”

Jungkook gasped with joy at the thought of winning, quickly turning back to the TV and watching as Up & Down by EXID started.

“Quick guys! Get ready!” Jungkook yelled out at them, causing a snigger to travel through the group before he launched into the slightly raunchy dance in front of them, completely sold by the idea he was competing with no-one but himself.

Watching as Jungkook nearly fell from his own drunkenness, Yoongi laughed a little and got to his feet. “Alright brat, time to stop.” He announced, walking over and grabbing hold of Jungkook and pulling him towards the couch to sit down, ignoring the disappointed whines from the other two members of the maknae line.

“You’re very drunk, aren’t you Jungkook.”

“Nooooo,” Jungkook whined, reaching forward and sloppily putting his finger over Yoongi’s lips. “You’re very drunk!”

Taehyung once again had to bite his lip to stop himself bursting into laughter, and Hoseok wasn’t too far behind them. Namjoon and Jin, however, were wincing a little, realising at the same time how awful of a hangover their baby was going to have in the morning.

“We should probably get some water in to you.” Yoongi smiled, turning a little towards the other members. “Taehyung, will you go get him a glass of water please?”

“I’ll do better than get him a glass of water!” Taehyung grinned, jumping to his feet and hurrying to the kitchen, only to return a few moments later with a glass filled with what appeared to be water.

Yoongi’s eyes narrowed.

“Taehyung, what have you done to it?”

“Nothing hyung!” Taehyung denied, handing the glass to Jungkook who began to drink it down with ease. “I just put some vodka in before topping it up with water!”

“Tae…did you just spike his water?”

“Yeah!”

“I’m going to kill you.”

Hoseok could no longer hold in his laughter, but at least covered his mouth to try and mask it as he turned a little, watching as Jungkook happily guzzled the glass of water and vodka, which must have tasted vile, despite Yoongi’s attempts to get it from the youngest.

“No no no, Kook, don’t fi-…don’t finish it.” Yoongi sighed, taking the now empty glass from Jungkook and setting it down while he ran a hand through his hair, trying to quell the stress which admittedly was tinged with amusement.

“Oh I love this song!” Jungkook announced, standing up as Red Velvet’s Ice Cream Cake started playing and hurrying back to the TV, ignoring Yoongi’s attempts to grab him. “Yoon-hyung! Come dance with me! Lala lalala lala la la!!”

“Taehyung,” Yoongi said again, making direct eye contact with the second youngest. “I’m going to kill you.”

The threatened member then threw himself behind Jimin, using him as a human shield to save him from Yoongi’s wrath. “Chimchim! Don’t let him hurt me!”

“I can make no promises.” Jimin admitted, laughing a little.

“I’m going to go get him actual water,” Namjoon announced, standing and heading towards the kitchen with Jin hot on his heels.

“Hey! He’s already had water!” Taehyung called after them, only to burst into laughter again as Yoongi flipped him off.

“Hyunngggg come dance with me, please!” Jungkook whined from where he danced happily to the girl group song, and although the movements were sloppy and out of time, they were at least the right movements, which Yoongi was a little amazed by. He doubted he’d know the dance to their own songs if he was as wasted as Jungkook seemed to be.

“Oh…” Jungkook suddenly stopped, frowning a little as if he was trying to figure something out.

“Kook?”

“I don’t feel good.”

“Oh god, please do not throw up.” Yoongi then stood again, pulling Jungkook back over to the couch and sitting him down, making sure he was leaning down in case he did vomit. “Jin-hyung, Joon, please bring back a large bowl!”

Moments later the two did return, Jin holding a tall glass of water while Namjoon carried a large mixing bowl, which hopefully would not have to be used by their youngest any time soon.

“I think the nausea is hitting him now.”

“Lets open some windows!” Taehyung announced, jumping to his feet to do so only to be dragged back down by Jimin.

“Please don’t, if fresh air hits him he’ll be so much worse.”

“Thats what’s so funny!”

Jimin rolled his eyes a little, but didn’t release his grip on Taehyung’s arm, thankfully saving Jungkook from being hit in the face with fresh air.

After the nausea had passed, Jungkook lifted his head up, looking over at Yoongi with glazed eyes.

“Hyung?”

“Yes Kook?”

“You’re really pretty.”

Oh lord, this is what Yoongi had been worried about. Almost immediately, his cheeks flushed red, unable to prevent the rush of blood that gathered in his face.

“Thank you, I guess?” Yoongi replied, thankful he hadn’t stuttered around his words while everyone else was watching them so closely.

“Come on Hyungggg, you normally like me calling you pretty!”

“Jungkook, please stop.” Yoongi mumbled into the others ear, watching as the members of the group began to look at each other knowingly. “Jin-hyung, the water please?” He said, reaching over and taking the glass and putting it to Jungkook’s lips.

“Please drink this.”

“But I just had water!”

“You need more water, water that isn’t spiked with vodka.”

“Ooooh Vodka, yes please, more vodka!”

“No, no more Vodka.”

Yoongi sighed as he forced Jungkook to take a few sips of the water, thankful he was accepting it even if it was with complaint.

“Come on, its getting late, I think its time for bed.”

“Nuh uh! No bed!” Jungkook exclaimed, pushing himself away from Yoongi and standing back up, although the world tilted dangerously as it did and Yoongi had to quickly reach up, grabbing the maknae’s waist to stop him immediately tumbling over.

Namjoon, however, who was able to see Jungkook’s face and unlike Yoongi, didn’t just have a face full of Jungkook’s ass, quickly grabbed the bowl from where it had been on the floor and put it under Jungkook’s chin, just in time as well as the youngest violently vomited in to it.

“Ewwwww…!” Taehyung whined, turning away and covering his nose as Hoseok went a little pale.

“To be fair, Taehyung, you did just give him more vodka when he really didn’t need it, this is kinda your fault.” Jin scolded, grabbing a wash cloth from the kitchen and dampening it quickly before hurrying back to the others, helping Jungkook sit down once again, this time onto Yoongi’s lap, and beginning to gently clean around his mouth.

“Oh, baby, you’re really going to feel rotten in the morning.” Jin sighed, folding the cloth over and wiping it over Jungkook’s sweaty forehead. “Why did we let him drink so much again?”

“Because its the funniest thing that has happened in a while? Look at him, Jungkook couldn’t be happier!” Jimin smiled, pointing out Jungkook’s happy sleepy face as he sat on Yoongi and got doted on by Jin.

“It may have been funny but he’s going to feel so ill in the morning.”

“I’m going to get him to bed,” Yoongi announced, slowly but surely standing up with Jungkook leaning against him, supporting his weight.

Jungkook whined a little at the motion, turning in the older’s grip and leaning so he had stuffed his face in Yoongi’s chest, reaching over and cupping his hands around Yoongi’s butt as he did.

“Nooooo, don’t wanna move hyung. You’re comfy. Don’t move.”

Once again, Yoongi flushed bright red, reaching down and trying to move Jungkook’s hands off his ass, but the younger just clung on tighter, making his boyfriend yelp a little.

“O-okay, Kook, let go. This isn’t appropriate, come on now.”

“Whyyyy? No-one is around.” Jungkook said in what Yoongi assumed Jungkook thought was a whisper, reaching his head up and beginning to suck on the pulse point in Yoongi’s neck. “Its just you and me, right? No-one else knows.”

“Uh, Jungkook, literally everyone is here.”

Taehyung was sat, staring in shock at the two and Jungkook’s very obvious actions towards the older, Namjoon simply covering his eyes, whether from shame, to give the two some privacy or from pure embarrassment was anyone’s guess. Hoseok was wiggling his eyebrows at Yoongi, obviously having caught on to exactly what was happening, and Jimin looked slightly hurt from what he was seeing, but still at least a little happy for the two. He’d probably have a lot of questions in the morning, but he could deal with that.

They were bound to find out sooner or later, Yoongi just wished it wasn’t because Jungkook had gotten incredibly drunk and decided to flirt with him. In front of everyone. While apparently thinking they were alone.

“Oh, they are?”

“Yes, Jungkook, they are. Come on, bed time.”

Jungkook whined a little, especially when Yoongi pulled his hands away from his ass and turned him around, but Jungkook allowed himself to be lead to the bedroom, away from the confused glances and worried mumbles, and pushed onto the bed by Yoongi.

“Hyunnggggg, don’t be so rough.”

“I mean you did kinda just out us to everyone.”

Jungkook simply pouted at the other. “I didn’t know I was outing us!”

Yoongi simply sighed, flopping down on the bed next to Jungkook.

“I’ll stay in here with you tonight, to make sure you don’t choke to death on your own vomit in your sleep.”

“I choked before, that wasn’t fun.”

“I know it wasn’t fun, I was there, Jungkook.”

“Oh yeah! You were!”

Yoongi couldn’t help but laugh a little at the other’s antics, the irritation he felt at being outed to the others being outweighed by the amusement he was getting from his very intoxicated boyfriend.

“Yeah, I was. How’re you feeling, Kook?”

“The room is moving.”

“Right, got it.”

Yoongi sighed, sitting back up and reaching over, brushing Jungkook’s hair away from his eyes in an attempt to see the glassiness better. He definitely was very, very gone, and didn’t really show any signs of sobering up any time soon.

“You really should have some more water.”

“Noooo, no more water, I gotta pee.”

“Then go pee.”

“I don’t think I can stand up.”

Yoongi then rolled his eyes a little, at least Jungkook was aware of how wasted he was, and in his own way, Jungkook had just kinda asked for help, which was a step in the right direction when it came to their stubborn, dumb maknae.

The stubborn, dumb maknae who had stolen his heart and kept such a vice grip on it that sometimes Yoongi thought he was going to suffocate under the love he was feeling.

It really was a terrifying thought.

He’d had little side flings before, but nothing as serious as this with Jungkook had gotten. Once the group knew, which they now apparently did, how long before the company knew? How long before it got out to reporters?

Hopefully a long time. He didn’t want their jobs in jeopardy just because of something as stupid as being in love. He really didn’t.

“Hyunngggg,” Jungkook’s whine snapped Yoongi out of his thoughts again, and when he looked over, Jungkook was squirming uncomfortably on the sheets. “I’m going to peeeeee.”

“Please don’t pee. Come on, lets get up.”

Yoongi quickly reached over, getting hold of Jungkook’s arms and pulling him to his feet in one smooth movement, helping support the maknae’s weight as they went to the bathroom. Yoongi tried hard to ignore the murmuring voices in the living area, the music that was playing now turned low to not disturb the others. Thankfully, he mostly succeeded, only managing to hear a few words from them, two of those words which were both his and Jungkook’s name.

Maybe Namjoon was telling them, diffusing the situation and the hurt before the members got to Jungkook and himself. After all, it would suck if they were super hurt by them hiding it.

Hopefully they’d understand.

Getting into the bathroom, Yoongi turned his back and closed the door, letting go of Jungkook’s arms and letting him take himself over to the toilet to do whatever business he had to do.

After a few moments, and a disgruntled grumble from the youngest signifying he was done with what they’d set in there to do, Yoongi walked over and helped support Jungkook out of the bathroom and back towards their bedroom, once again depositing him onto the bed with ease.

“There, now please drink some water and go to sleep.”

“I can’t go to sleep, I’m not tired!”

“You are tired, and very drunk, please sleep.”

“I can’t drink any water either, I’m full!”

“You literally just went to the bathroom you’re not full, please drink some water and sleep.”

“Nooooo!”

Yoongi sighed in defeat, before placing himself beside the youngest and lying back on the bed, wrapping his arm around the maknae so he could cuddle up to him, which Jungkook quickly did, resting his head on the older’s chest.

“This is nice, hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I love you.”

Yoongi stopped moving, stopped thinking, stopped breathing for a second, before he turned, looking down at the maknae on his chest with shock.

Was this really how their first ‘I Love You’s were going to go? With Jungkook so drunk he could barely walk and just having outed them to everyone?

Apparently so.

“I love you too, Jungkook. Get some rest.”

Jungkook simply whined a little before snuggling closer to Yoongi’s chest, burying his face away and letting himself fall into dreamland.

Yoongi stayed awake for hours after Jungkook fell asleep, replying that final conversation in his head, before he too, eventually, dropped off to sleep.

———

When Jungkook awoke, the first thing he was aware of was how much his head hurt, the second was how nauseous he was.

Giving a small groan, Jungkook slowly peeled himself away from Yoongi, trying not to wince at how sweaty they’d both gotten in the night and the hair plastered into his cheek, leaving thin lines of red indent in his skin. On the bedside table beside his head, Jungkook spied a glass of water, two pills and a note, simply reading:

“Jungkook, please drink this and take these aspirin. When you feel a little more alive, please join us with Yoongi in the living room, we need to talk. - Jin”

Whining a little at the thought, and dreading whatever trouble he’d gotten himself in to, Jungkook did as he was told and swallowed the two small pills before downing the water, only now realising just how thirsty he really was, and how cotton-y his mouth felt.

Wow, he really drank too much.

Giving another groan as his stomach revolted at the cold water hitting his upset insides, Jungkook jumped to his feet, hurrying to the bathroom and just about making it to the ceramic bowl before he threw up the remains of the alcohol he’d had the night before, coughing a little and wiping the tears from his eyes as he did so.

“Aw, baby,” A soft voice called from the doorway, which Jungkook had left open in his attempt to get to the toilet in time. The maknae then turned a little, coming face to face with the oldest member of the group and resident Eomma. “You’re feeling pretty bad, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jungkook replied, wincing at how the sound made his throat ache and the words cracked. “Pretty awful, hyung.”

“Well it is to be expected, you drank way too much last night, a lot more than any of the rest of us did.” Jin then took a few quiet strides over to him, gently resting a cool hand on the back of Jungkook’s neck. “Yoongi still asleep?”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Once you can move without vomiting, please make your way to the living room. I’m going to go get him up.” Jin announced, before turning and leaving Jungkook to wallow in his own self pity.

Reaching up and pulling the chain of the toilet, Jungkook got to his feet and started running the tap in the sink, leaning down and rinsing his mouth out before grabbing his tooth brush and quickly brushing the foul taste from his mouth.

Quickly checking himself in the mirror, Jungkook could see he looked incredibly gross, but it was also one of the biggest hangovers he’d ever had, so he couldn’t really blame his body for rebelling how it was.

Quickly running cold water over his face again and tapping his cheeks to wake himself up a bit, Jungkook dried off and headed towards the living room, wincing a little at the fact everyone was sat cuddled together, Yoongi sat on the edge of the couch looking half asleep.

“Jungkook, you okay?” Jin asked from his spot on the couch, when Jungkook nodded, Jin smiled a little. “I know thats a lie but I’ll accept it, its your own fault you feel gross anyway.”

“And Taehyung’s.” Yoongi piped up.

“Yes, and Taehyung’s.” Jin confirmed, before letting out a small sigh and making a motion towards Namjoon to continue.

“Right, yeah, so… Kook, you said some pretty… odd stuff last night to everyone, and I think we all need to have a discussion about it to clear the air. I don’t want this to build up and cause conflict, so we need to talk it out now, okay?”

Jungkook nodded, staring towards his feet. Was everyone angry with them? Would they be upset? Tears filled his eyes at the thought, the last thing he wanted was to upset everyone, especially when he didn’t exactly know what he’d done to cause this conversation. They all got drunk sometimes, but they’d never had to have a group scolding discussion afterwards.

“You and Yoon-hyung are dating?” Jimin questioned, his voice small.

Jungkook quickly whipped his head up, looking at his best friend with wide eyes.

Shit. He’d outed them to everyone.

“Y…Yeah…” Jungkook mumbled, reaching up and wiping at his eyes. Jin had to physically bite his lip to stop himself hurrying over to their baby and comforting him, hating the tears falling from the maknae’s eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell us, Kook?” Taehyung, understanding, lovely Taehyung was upset with him.

“B-Because I didn’t want it to cause issues. We didn’t want people to hate us for it, or for you to feel left out for whatever reason, or to have a situation where people felt like a third wheel when with me and Yoon…we didn’t tell anyone but Joon-hyung.” Jungkook admitted.

“But we would have understood…!”

“But they didn’t know that,” Hoseok sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair. “They didn’t know how we’d react, and they didn’t want to cause group conflict or put our jobs in danger.”

“Exactly, Hobi.” Yoongi replied, giving a small smile to the other rapper. “That’s exactly it. It wasn’t to keep everyone in the dark, it was to protect us and you guys.”

“It’s not fair! How long have you been dating???” Taehyung then asked, getting to his feet and grabbing hold of Jungkook’s hands with tears in his own eyes. “You didn’t even let me wingman you!”

Giving a teary chuckle at the words, Jungkook clung to Taehyung’s hands tightly. “I promise I’ll let you wingman at some point.”

“There’s no point now that you already have a guy! I didn’t even know you were in to guys!”

“To be fair,” Yoongi commented. “I didn’t know he was in to guys either.”

“I’ve not known for long,” Jungkook sighed, pulling a hand away from Taehyung to wipe at his eyes as much tears fell. “I don’t know if it’s all guys or just Yoongi.”

“That is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” Jimin commented with a smile, standing up as well and joining Jungkook and Taehyung, wrapping the two others into a large hug.

“Now please stop crying you’re breaking my heart a little bit we didn’t want to make you cry we just wanted to know what was going on now please stop crying or I’ll have to tickle you.”

“Please don’t tickle me.”

“You have two seconds to stop crying…one…two…”

The rest of the conversation was drowned out by Jungkook screaming at Jimin to stop as wiggling fingers attacked his sides.

Chapter Text

Yoongi had been in a foul mood all day. To say he’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed would probably be an understatement.

It wasn’t even fully anger, it was more just…sadness. He knew depression hit him in the face quite a lot, and normally he was able to fight through it and keep going, or just take a day to himself if he had to, lying in bed and ignoring the world until the spike passed.

But today he couldn’t, they had too many schedules, too much to do for him to wallow in self pity.

Starting with an early morning interview that they’d had to get up far too early to be comfortable for, followed by a several hour long practice, a meeting with the higher ups that were asking how his producing was coming along, and then Jin had decided they were going out for food instead of cooking at home.

Normally, Yoongi would be quite happy with eating out, it was a rare treat for them. But today, he just wanted to go home, he wanted to lie around and do nothing instead of stay outside with everyone, keeping up appearances and worrying about reporters seeing them or taking anything they were doing out of context just to get the next click bait article title.

Jungkook was obviously able to tell Yoongi wasn’t okay. It wasn’t that he was acting too differently than normal, after all, after having depression as long as he had, it got pretty easy to mask it.

But Jungkook knew him better than that, he’d seen him at his highest point, and at his lowest. He knew the signs, and normally he knew the little things to do that would make the older feel better.

But today, for Yoongi, it just wasn’t working.

Jungkook had reached under the table while they were eating, tangling their fingers together out of sight from the rest of the restaurant. The others might already know now that they were together, but they’d still made the decision to try not to throw it in their face and be incredibly obvious, especially in public.

But Yoongi had flinched at the touch, pulling his hand away and shying away from the contact.

Jungkook had tried to talk to him softly when they’d had a few minutes alone, tried to figure out exactly what was bothering the older.

Yoongi had simply glared at him, in no mood to talk or have Jungkook try to analyse his mood, walking back to the others so he didn’t have to talk about it.

Really, Yoongi knew he was being a bit of an ass hole to Jungkook, and he’d apologise for it in time, but right now, he just wanted to be alone.

When they finally got back to the dorm, Yoongi felt as though it had been weeks since he’d been in his comforting room, rather than just far too many hours.

“I’m going to get everyone some ice cream, I think we deserve it after the past few days.” Jin announced as they all funnelled through into the dorm, throwing his coat against the rack as he went. “Yoongi, do you want strawberry?”

“I don’t want any, hyung, its fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Yoongi’s words were short and tart with the oldest, yet another person he’d have to apologise to when he was feeling less…angry, sad, anxious, whatever it was going on in his head.

“I’d… rather you stay with us for a bit, hyung. Please?” Jungkook piped up, grabbing hold of Yoongi’s hand as he tried to storm away towards the bedroom.

Yoongi ripped his hand away as if he’d been burned, turning around to Jungkook with fire in his eyes.

“Don’t you get it, Jungkook? I don’t want to spend time with you today. I know you’re worried but you’re all over me and its infuriating. I just want to be alone, I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want you to touch me. Why don’t you understand that? Just leave me alone!”

At Yoongi’s outburst, Jungkook froze, hand still outstretched from where he’d had hold of Yoongi moments before. He knew Yoongi was feeling bad, but the words still struck hard. Yoongi had snapped at him before for being a brat, but never like this, just for worrying about him.

“H-Hyung, I…”

“I don’t want to hear it. Leave me alone.” Turning on his heel, the oldest rapper left the living area, heading back through to his bedroom and ignoring the stares of shock following him.

He was allowed to lose his temper every now and again, he’d apologise tomorrow.

Getting to his room, Yoongi threw himself on the bed and closed the door, pulling the blankets over his head and allowing himself to simply wallow in the self pity he needed to.

Hours passed before anyone checked up on him, and to be honest, Yoongi couldn’t really blame them for not bothering to, even if it was a little bit of a shock.

But the fact it was Jungkook checking on him, if anything, just made Yoongi more angry, more upset. The kid shouldn’t be so forgiving to him, he should be mad for being yelled at, not checking up on his depressed boyfriend before going to bed.

“Yoongi-hyung…? Are you okay…?” Jungkook asked from the doorway, not quite letting himself completely into the older’s room but popping his head around to look at him.

Yoongi simply rolled over, turning his back to the maknae in an act of defiance, showing that he really didn’t want to talk to Jungkook. He knew he was hurting his boyfriend, but right now, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Yoongi-hyung, please, talk to me. I hate seeing you like this.”

“Then leave. I don’t want to see you, you don’t want to see me, so leave. I thought I made that clear.” Yoongi’s voice was cold from the blanket pile he’d hidden under, causing a shiver to roll through Jungkook’s spine.

“Hyung…”

“I said leave, Jungkook!” Yoongi once again snapped, but didn’t turn to look at the younger. He couldn’t, because if Jungkook was tearing up like Yoongi suspected, he’d break, and he didn’t have the energy to cry himself. He just needed to be alone.

“…O-okay, Hyung, I’m sorry.” The maknae mumbled, and Yoongi heard the door close moments after. Guilt crept up Yoongi’s chest, settling deep into his heart. Jungkook didn’t deserve how Yoongi was treating him, not at all.

He’d apologise tomorrow, and treat Jungkook like the prince he deserved to be treated as. Tomorrow.

Closing his eyes and trying to ignore the pain in his chest, Yoongi allowed himself to fall into an uneasy sleep.

————

The thick smell of smoke pulled Yoongi from his sleep, instantly attacking the back of his throat and causing the rapper to choke and gag at the sensation. Wasting no time, Yoongi quickly sat up, looking around the room and heart skipping a few steps at the thick, dark smoke filling it. A fire? Probably, after all, he could already barely breathe, and the dorm was much much warmer than he was used to.

Quickly getting to his feet, Yoongi slid into some slippers and hurried out of the room, wincing a little as he felt the heat even stronger in the hallway in front of him.

He got to Jimin’s door first, banging hard on it before moving to Jin’s, screaming at them.

“Guys! Get up! There’s a fire! We have to go! Come up, get up! There’s a fire!”

What followed was a blur of faces, doors opening and closing, dressing gowns being grabbed, Jin’s worried face blurring all around them as he grabbed every member he could see, dragging them towards the exit.

It didn’t take long to find the orange telltale glow of flames, already having engulfed the entire kitchen and travelling around the living room quickly.

Jin managed to escort everyone to the door with minor burns, even as every member he held gagged and coughed in his grip before they got out and ran down the stairs, straight out into the cold night air.

Yoongi stumbled a little as he gasped in the clear air, hacking and coughing to get the ash out of his lungs as he did so. He could hear Jin behind him doing a head count.

“1…2…3…4…5…I make 6…”

Hearing those words from their oldest, Yoongi quickly looked up. Someone was missing, who was missing?

Yoongi took a glance around the pale and grubby faces of his group mates. Jimin, Taehyung, Hoseok, Jin, Namjoon…

“Jungkook!” Yoongi suddenly screamed, stumbling up to his feet and rushing back towards the burning dorm, only being stopped by Namjoon’s arm wrapping around his chest, stopping him in his tracks.

“Yoongi-hyung, you can’t go in there! The fire brigade are on their way, they’ll save him!”

“They’ll be too late!” Yoongi screamed back, struggling to try and get out of Namjoon’s grip as tears gathered in his eyes. Jungkook was trapped inside the dorm, their dorm that was on fire. Either he hadn’t woken from the commotion and the smoke, or he was physically unable to leave.

And they’d just…not noticed until they’d gotten outside and done a head count. How had all of them not realised their baby was missing? How had none of them checked they were all together before making their escape?

Fighting a little harder against Namjoon’s hold, Yoongi yanked himself free of the leaders arms, running back into the building and rushing up the stairs back to their dorm floor. Pushing the main door open, Yoongi almost fainted just from the heat that hit him, the whole main living area now full of the flames that were still destroying everything in its path.

And Jungkook’s room was the closest to the living room.

Avoiding the flames as well as he could, barely flinching from the light burns he was experiencing on his ankles as he went, Yoongi rushed towards Jungkook’s bedroom, banging harshly on the wooden door.

“Jungkook! Jungkook can you hear me?!”

It took a moment, but a choking voice shouted back at him.

“H-Hyung…! I-I can’t get out…!”

Yoongi cursed a little, thankful that the other was at least conscious, but it still filled him with panic as he reached down to the handle, twisting and pushing it in an attempt to open up the door, only to find it stuck tight.

“I-I locked i-it, H-Hyung, I-I was upset…! T-the lock w-won’t co-come free…!” Jungkook attempted to talk through the coughs overwhelming him, but the sound just filled Yoongi with hope.

Jungkook was still talking, was still with him, there was still a chance.

Yoongi himself was beginning to get dizzy with the smoke overwhelming his senses and cutting off his oxygen, and he could hear the others screaming from outside, but he wasn’t going to leave Jungkook to burn to death in his own home, he couldn’t.

Especially not as the last thing he’d done was scream at his boyfriend for just trying to help.

“S-Stand back from the door, I’m going to try and break it down!” Yoongi called back, taking a few steps backwards before running at the door and pounding into it full force with his shoulder.

The wood seemed to splinter a little, but not enough, nowhere near enough for him to get Jungkook free.

Taking another few steps back, Yoongi attempted again to break the door, taking a running start and barging into the door, biting back a scream at the pain emanating from the now injured joint.

Inside the room, he heard Jungkook’s coughing splutter and stop, the distinct sound of vomiting replacing them as the smoke began to overwhelm the youngest.

“H-Hold on, Kook, almost there!”

If Jungkook had replied, Yoongi had been unable to hear him. In fact, all he was really able to hear now was the sound of his own heart pounding in his chest and the roaring of the flames around him.

Another few steps back, Yoongi tried again, swearing at the door cracked but his shoulder gave against the pressure.

He knew it was probably dislocated, but Yoongi couldn’t bring himself to care as he kicked at the remains of the door to get it out of the way, squeezing himself through the gap.

Just in time to hear a solid thunk as a body hit the floor.

Using one hand to cover his mouth and nose in an attempt to filter some of the smoke out of the air he was breathing, Yoongi hurried to Jungkook’s side, heart pounding in his throat at the fact the maknae had passed out.

There were burns on the maknae’s pale face, dotting below his jaw and up his cheek, as well as almost the entirety of his left arm and leg from where it seemed his pyjamas had caught fire. Jungkook had put them out, but not without damage to his own body.

“K-Kook, Jungkook wake up.” Yoongi tried, carefully shaking the younger’s unburnt shoulder. When Jungkook didn’t react, not even a twitch in his brow, Yoongi swallowed back a sob and coughed a little more.

He didn’t have time to panic or try to wake Jungkook, he had to get them out of there.

Grabbing hold of Jungkook’s burnt arm while apologising, Yoongi swung it over his shoulders and flinched a little from the pain radiating in his own shoulder.

Although, Jungkook didn’t even flinch at the pain of his burnt arm being moved.

Slowly but surely, Yoongi began to make his way through the dorm, coughing and choking at the thick smoke assaulting the back of his throat as he went.

He had to stay conscious, he had to keep going otherwise they’d both die.

He couldn’t let them both die, he just couldn’t.

Head spinning and lungs burning for clean air, Yoongi managed to drag Jungkook out of the burning dorm, and started making his way down the stairs. It was slow process, and he wanted to cry at how little Jungkook was reacting to his feet dragging on the floor and burnt skin hitting against the stairs every time they went down.

Jungkook was going to be fine, he had to be fine.

After what felt like hours of wheezing breaths and struggling steps, Yoongi managed to get to the front door of the building their dorm was situated in.

He saw the faces of paramedics and fire men, his worried members behind them with tear streaked faces and gaping mouths.

They’d made it, they were safe.

Yoongi didn’t bother to try and cushion his fall as he fainted on the spot, taking Jungkook down with him.

————

Jin didn’t know what to do as he paced back and forth in the hospital waiting room. The other members joining him. They all looked a mess, dressed in various states of pyjamas, some with slippers, some with dressing gowns, some with neither. They hadn’t been able to grab anything in their desperate attempt to escape their burning home.

But Jin couldn’t sit and wait calmly like the others were doing.

After seeing Yoongi and Jungkook, so limp and unresponsive after Yoongi had been in there for so long, saving their maknae.

Jin couldn’t swallow down the guilt filling him.

How hadn’t he noticed Jungkook not leaving his room while they were escaping the first time? Why hadn’t he done a head count before leaving?

If he’d been the better hyung, the two members wouldn’t be injured.

He’d let them down.

Yoongi had suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation, but from what the doctors had said, he was going to be completely fine. The cause of his fainting had mostly been exhaustion from the lack of oxygen, and shock from the adrenaline drop.

Even so, if Jin had been a good hyung and made sure they were all safely out together, there would be less of an issue. Yoongi wouldn’t have been taken to the hospital in an ambulance at all.

Let alone Jungkook, their poor baby maknae was in such a bad state. They could all see it even without medical professionals.

When Jin had seen the angry burns covering their youngest, he’d wanted to throw up.

When paramedics had gone over and started moving the two, Yoongi thankfully reacting to their calls and stimulation to try and help him wake, but Jungkook not even twitching from their attempts, Jin had thrown up.

Was it his fault the dorm had caught fire? The fire brigade had said it had appeared to start in the kitchen, and Jin had been the last one in there. But he hadn’t cooked that night, they’d gone out for food, so there was no way he’d left a device on by accident.

But who else’s fault could it be? A fire had started in the kitchen that was possibly taking their maknae away from him, and if he’d just checked, if he’d been more careful, if he’s tried harder to keep everyone safe… maybe Jungkook would be sat with them and Yoongi, in a police station finding out what to do now instead of in a hospital room waiting to find out if their maknae would even survive.

“Jin-hyung, please, sit down. You’re going to exhaust yourself.” Namjoon called, although his own voice was filled with exhaustion. It had been such a long night for all of them after all. They’d already been in the hospital for hours, it had to be close to 6 or 7am at this point.

“I can’t, I can’t until I know they’re okay.”

“You won’t be any help to them if you’re in a hospital bed too.” Taehyung said, although his voice was thick with previously shed tears.

Jin couldn’t judge, they’d all spent some time that night sobbing.

“I’m not going to help by just sat doing nothing either.” Jin retorted.

“But what help is pacing around going to do? Sit down, Seokjin-hyung, you’re making everyone more anxious.” Namjoon sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Jin huffed a little but made his way over, sitting down next to Namjoon and resting his head down on the shorter man’s shoulder, closing his eyes tightly in an attempt to hold back the tears that threatened to overflow. Namjoon moved from running a hand through his own hair to running it through Jin’s, in a weak attempt to soothe the oldest a little more. Even the slightest bit of relief.

“This isn’t your fault you know,” Namjoon tried, wanting to be a leader although he was just as terrified as any of them. “There’s nothing you could have done. You got everyone out you could. None of us noticed until we were outside that Jungkook wasn’t with us. You couldn’t have known, please don’t feel so guilty.”

“I can’t help it,” Jin admitted, voice small and cracking as he got closer and closer to tears. “I really cant. The fire was started in the kitchen. Thats my space, its my area. What if this whole thing is my fault? Yoongi is exhausted and his feet are burnt, we have no home, and god knows what state Jungkook is in right now. It’s not fair. It isn’t.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Jin.” Hoseok piped up, sounding just as exhausted as the rest of them. A smile was no longer plastered on his face, he didn’t have the energy to keep up the happy-go-lucky sunshine vibe he normally held, he couldn’t. “The firemen said it was more than like an arson attack. They couldn’t find anything to say that the fire was electrical, or something being left on. They’re still investigating, but right now, they’re saying someone set the fire on purpose.”

As awful as it was, Jin felt a little of the guilt lift away, just a little bit. “Arson…? You mean, someone tried to kill us?”

“Looks that way.”

Jin took a shaking breath, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand.

It shouldn’t make him feel better, knowing someone had tried to kill them, but it did. Because it meant it wasn’t fully his fault. It meant that all the blame didn’t lie on him.

“Min Yoongi?” A doctor called from the hall ahead of them, all five boys instantly standing up and walking over despite their own exhaustion. “Are you all here for him?”

“For him and Jeon Jungkook.” Jin corrected. “Do you have news on the two of them?”

The doctor checked his chart. “I only have news about Min Yoongi, you can see him now.”

Although it scared Jin that there was still no news on their youngest, he was at least a little relieved that they were able to go see Yoongi now. Allowing the doctor to lead them, Jin kept a tight hold of Namjoon’s hand as they walked through the hallways.

Being led into a private room, Jin relaxed a little as he saw Yoongi lying on the bed. He was still unconscious, but he looked a little more alive than when they’d seen him collapsed in the doorway of their building. Colour was back in his cheeks, and although his feet were bandaged and his arm was in a sling from what they were told was a dislocated shoulder after trying to save Jungkook, he looked relatively unharmed all things considered.

“I’ll get someone to come here to find you when there is news for Mr Jeon.” The doctor smiled. “Mr Min is going to be okay, his injuries will take a while to heal fully, and he will more than likely be a little wheezy from the smoke inhalation for a few weeks, so he will have to take it easy. That’s no dance practices, no vocal practices, no running around. He has to take it easy to heal.”

“I-I’m sure that’ll be no problem for him,” Taehyung huffed with a small laugh. “Yoongi loves his sleep.”

“That’s good, I’ll leave you with him now. He should wake soon.” The doctor then bowed a little to the group before turning and leaving.

Reaching over, Hoseok gently took a hold of Yoongi’s uninjured hand. “Hyung? Can you hear me? Come on Yoon-hyung, wake upppp…” He called, tapping the back of Yoongi’s hand gently. “We gotta tell you how brave and how much of a hero you are, even if you were an ass hole all day yesterday.”

“Hoseok.” Jin scolded, glaring over at the rapper.

“What? It’s true! Yoongi would probably agree with me anyway.”

“I do…” Came the weak, croaked voice from the bed, causing Hoseok to quickly look over with a grin.

“You do? See, he does agree he’s been an ass hole all day!”

“Hoseok, enough. He’s hurt, don’t kick him down more.”

Yoongi gave a soft laugh at their small argument, before cracking his eyes open a little, gazing around the room. His eyes felt dry and irritated, but he assumed that was probably from the smoke, and the same with his throat.

“Where’s Kook?”

None of the rest of the group knew how to answer that, gazing down at their feet and avoiding looking at Yoongi. They knew the question was going to come, they’d just hoped it hadn’t been right away before they knew themselves.

“He’s… we don’t know. We don’t have any news for him…” Jimin admitted, sniffling a little and wiping at his face. “We haven’t heard anything…”

Hoseok then jumped harshly as a loud ring emanated from his pocket. Wiggling it out, Hoseok paled a little at the name on the caller ID.

“It’s Junghyun,” Hoseok told them, before standing and answering the call, stepping out into the hallway. “H-Hey, Hyun…”

“Hoseok,” Junghyun started, and the pain in the older’s voice almost made Hoseok’s heart shatter right then and there. He sounded so scared, so upset. “I’m at the hospital now, where are you guys? Are you with Jungkook?”

“N-No, we’re with Yoongi though…” Hoseok admitted, before reading off Yoongi’s room number and directing Junghyun through the hallways towards where they were.

When Hoseok saw the older Jeon, it made the urge to cry even stronger. Jungkook was the spitting image of his older brother, the same eyes, the same nose, even very similar lips. But you could tell Junghyun was older, it was written in his face.

As Junghyun approached, Hoseok opened his arms out, ready to comfort the terrified Jeon.

And thankfully, Junghyun understood immediately, rushing over and grabbing hold of Hoseok, burying his face in the sunshine’s neck.

“What the fuck is going on?” Junghyun questioned, and Hoseok did his best to ignore the dampness soaking into the neckline of his pyjama shirt.

“We don’t know.”

“It’s not fair, he’s just a kid.”

“I know.”

Once Junghyun had gathered himself again and he’s managed to will the tears to stop, he sat back up, looking over at Hoseok. “Sorry, I kinda cried all over you.”

“Its what I’m here for, your brother is in hospital after all, and you just travelled ages to get here. I’d expect you to be a little emotional.”

Junghyun simply nodded, wiping at his face before turning and walking in to Yoongi’s room, ignoring the stares he got from the others.

He didn’t visit the group as much as he wanted to recently, what with university taking over his life and the group themselves being so busy. In fact, the last time he’d seen them all for more than just a passing chat, it had been not long after debut.

“Hey.” Junghyun waved, with no smile on his face as he sat down. “So, Yoongi here stole my brother’s heart did he?”

Yoongi huffed a weak laugh, looking over at the Jeon. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“He would, he doesn’t shut up about you.”

Normally, that would make Yoongi oddly happy and proud, but at this moment, it just seemed to hurt more.

Jungkook was so happy with him, and Yoongi had treated him like shit for the whole day.

Treated him like shit, and then left him trapped in a burning dorm.

Yoongi turned his head away a little, blinking harshly to try and will the tears gathering away. Instead, all he seemed to manage to do was dislodge them, Jimin quickly reaching over and wiping the stray tears away for him.

“He’s going to be okay, guys.” Junghyun sighed, acting as if he hadn’t just been crying into Hoseok’s neck minutes before. “My brother is stubborn and strong, this won’t get him down for too long.”

“I guess so…” Taehyung agreed. “But we can’t be sure of that until we hear something from the doctors about him.”

Junghyun simply nodded a little, turning a little towards Hoseok.

“Can we go ask the doctors about him? Maybe they’ve just forgotten to tell you guys.”

Hoseok nodded a little before standing. “I guess so, I mean, I doubt that, but let’s go ask anyway, there’s no harm in trying.”

Junghyun stood too, and the two left the hospital room with a leaving wave towards Yoongi. Once the door was closed, and they were once again in private, Hoseok reached over, grabbing hold of Junghyun’s hand.

“You know, we were so mad at Jungkook for hiding him and Yoongi from us, doesn’t that make me such a hypocrite?” Hoseok mused with a little smile, looking up at the other Jeon.

“A little bit, yes. You can’t be mad at him for hiding his relationship and then not even tell him you’re dating his brother long distance.”

“I mean, you have a point, but you haven’t told him you’re dating me either.”

“Good point.”

Hoseok couldn’t help but laugh a little, quickly letting go of Junghyun’s hand as they got towards a more crowded area of the hospital, just in case he was recognised by anyone.

Junghyun quickly found a doctor and grabbed his attention. “Excuse me? My name is Jeon Junghyun, I’m looking for information on my younger brother, Jeon Jungkook? Neither me nor his friends have heard anything, and it’s been hours.”

The doctor nodded a little, looking a little shell shocked before hurrying over to a computer terminal and typing in Jungkook’s information, tense as Junghyun looked over with an intense gaze.

“Jeon Jungkook…admitted due to smoke inhalation and severe burns. Has yet to regain consciousness… he’s in the ICU, and unable to receive visitors at this moment.”

Junghyun froze as he processed what he was being told.

“He’s in the ICU? As in… the Intensive Care Unit? My brother is in Intensive Care and none of you thought to tell us?”

“We can’t let you visit him until he has stabilised, sir, I’m sorry. From what the file is saying, he went into cardiac arrest not long after arriving and is currently not breathing without help. I’m sorry, I cannot give you any more information at this time. I hope you understand.”

Junghyun blinked back the tears that gathered, taking a deep breath to try and settle him.

“So… my brother’s heart stopped, and you didn’t think it would be a good idea to contact me and tell me about this?” Junghyun ignored Hoseok grabbing his hand and squeezing lightly, as if trying to calm him. “I want to see him now. I don’t care if he isn’t allowed visitors. He’s my baby brother and I want to see him.”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that sir,”

“Now. Let me see Jungkook or I’ll go and find him myself.” Junghyun’s tone was dangerous, his temper rising as Hoseok tried again to squeeze his hand, trying his best to soothe the older all he could.

The doctor sighed a little, turning back to the terminal for a moment. “Let me talk to my superior. If he lets you, it will only be you allowed to see him, the others will have to wait until he’s more stable.”

Junghyun didn’t bother to reply verbally, just giving a small nod in response and watching as the doctor went to go get him permission to see his brother.

“…He died, Hoseok. Jungkook’s heart stopped and he’s not breathing. My brother died.”

“Please try to not think about it, Hyun.” Hoseok mumbled, although he was struggling to control his own emotions. “If you get too angry, they’ll kick you out and you won’t be able to see him at all, yeah? Just…take deep breaths, it’ll be okay. Kook is strong, he’s going to be okay.”

Another nod, and finally, Junghyun squeezed Hoseok’s hand back, watching as the doctor came hurrying back over to them.

“Alright, Mr Jeon, you’re able to see him for a little while. However, it will only be you allowed for now, and you’ll have to follow what the doctors and nurses in ICU ask you to. It’s in your brother’s best interests, and if they ask you to leave, you will have to do that, or we’ll have to remove you. Is that understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good, Follow me. Your friend will have to go back to Mr Min’s room.”

Junghyun let go of Hoseok’s hand, giving a small sad smile to the other as an apology, and began to walk away, following the doctor towards the ICU and leaving Hoseok behind.

The resident sunshine took a breath, trying to steady his upset about not being able to see Jungkook himself, and started his walk back to the others.

He was going to have to tell them that Jungkook was in a worse state than any of them thought, and his heart ached at the thought of their reaction.

It didn’t take long to get back to Yoongi’s room, Hoseok quietly letting himself in and going back to the chair he’s previously been in.

“Hobi, what’s going on?” Jin questioned, unable to make eye contact with the rapper while he held on to Yoongi’s hand for comfort.

Yoongi however didn’t lift his gaze, he didn’t look at Hoseok, he couldn’t. If he did, and the news was bad, he wouldn’t be able to control his emotions. After all, Junghyun wasn’t with Hobi now, which meant they’d learnt at least something.

“Um…” Hoseok started, trying to find the right words. “Junghyun’s been allowed to see him, but only because he kicked off a little… Kook is in intensive care. He went into cardiac arrest earlier. A machine is apparently breathing for him right now. We won’t be allowed to see him until he stabilises.”

The pregnant silence that filled the air around Hoseok from the news was almost overwhelming. No-one knew what to say, and it just made the tension in the room thicker.

“Kookie…Kookie is dying…?” Taehyung questioned, voice cracking from the tears he wasn’t bothering to try and stop.

“N-no, I wouldn’t say dying!” Hobi tried, tried so hard to calm everyone down. “H-he’s just…”

“Dying.” Namjoon’s voice was blunt, his face blank as he responded. Hoseok felt awful for the leader, after all, he was probably feeling just a responsible as Jin had been.

Taehyung wasted no time in getting to his feet and pushing his way out of the room, doing nothing to hide the deep sobs that were exploding in his chest. Jimin was on his feet seconds afterwards, following after the younger while the others just watched.

As much as they wanted to help Taehyung, there was very little any of them could do.

They couldn’t tell Taehyung that Jungkook would be okay, because they didn’t know that for sure. They couldn’t tell him to have hope when they barely had any of their own. Jungkook was Taehyung’s best friend, they’d been inseparable for years, and now life was threatening to ruin that.

“J-Junghyun is with him now, I’ve asked him to text me updates if anything happens…” Hobi said, running a hand through his hair and taking deep breaths so he didn’t burst into tears as well.

Yoongi still lay in his bed, silent as he processed the information he’d been given.

“I’d been such an ass hole all day.” Yoongi started, and when Namjoon went to go and cut Yoongi off, to tell him it was okay, Jin stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm. Yoongi needed this time to vent it out, otherwise he’d just keep everything locked away. “He’d done everything to try and get through to me, he kept trying to talk to me even when I kept snapping at him. He came to check on me before he went to bed and I yelled at him again. If I hadn’t upset him, he wouldn’t have locked the door. I kept telling myself I’d apologise to him tomorrow. Everything would be fine tomorrow. We’d be back to normal tomorrow. Now he might not even get a tomorrow.”

There was little emotion in the oldest rapper’s voice, as if he’d just decided this was it, this was the end.

“I know we’re all blaming ourselves a little right now…” Jin started, unable to look at Yoongi. “But this isn’t your fault, Yoongi. Jungkook is the one who locked his door. You risked your life to get him out of there, you were a hero, okay? I didn’t make sure we had everyone when we were first getting out. I’m just as much to blame as you are, if not a lot more so. So please, don’t beat yourself up. He’s… he’s going to be okay, you’ll be able to apologise to him. First, you need to focus on healing yourself. You’ve messed your lungs up quite bad and the burns on your feet are nothing to laugh about either. Just…rest… recover, and we’ll take things as they come.”

“Roll with the punches as they say.” Namjoon said with a small smile, although there was no humour in it. It was sad, his eyes tearing as he spoke.

How would they keep going without their maknae to fill them with joy every day?

From: Hyun
To: Hoseok
Message: He doesn’t look good, but he’s not awful either. They think he’ll be okay if he can start breathing on his own again. His arm and leg is a mess though, they’ll be scarred.

Hoseok looked up from the text he’d gotten from his boyfriend, sniffling a little.

“Maybe…maybe we can hold a little hope? Junghyun says that the doctors think he’s going to be okay if he can start breathing on his own.”

“The fact we have to hope he’ll start breathing on his own again is bad enough.” Yoongi mumbled, wiping at his eyes. Normally he’d hold back the tears, but he couldn’t help himself, and he couldn’t exactly climb out of bed and go and hide with Taehyung and Jimin.

He’d just have to sit and wait.

———

From: Hyun
To: Hoseok
Message: He’s breathing.

Three days later, the text Hoseok had received from his boyfriend had been the best thing to happen in that time.

Jin was asleep next to him on the hard hospital chair, Yoongi had been dozing in and out all day, and Namjoon had taken the two remaining Maknae Line members home to rest in their own beds.

“H-Hyung, Jin-Hyung! Wake up!” Hoseok reached over, shaking Jin’s shoulder and only feeling a little guilty at the oldest’s groans. “J-Jungkook is breathing alone…!”

At Hoseok’s words however, Jin quickly sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes and stretching a little as he did, but he was automatically wide awake.

“W-what? Are you sure?”

Leaning over, the rapper showed the text to the other, trying to prevent tears from falling from both relief and excitement. “H-he’s breathing, Jungkook is breathing… maybe we’ll be allowed to see him soon…!”

Jin took a deep breath, and the brunette didn’t miss the way Jin’s eyes had gone glassy and teary. “Okay, this is good, this is really good… has Junghyun left the room at all since he got here?” When Hoseok shook his head, Jin just sighed. “He’s going to have to go and rest at some point. He can’t sleep in the ICU with Jungkook forever. I might have to interfere…”

“I tried to make him go back to our dorm with Joonie, but he refused. He didn’t want to leave in case something happened, but he might now be a bit more open to leaving. I bet he really needs a shower too.”

Jin laughed a little at the words, of course Hoseok would focus on something that insignificant when their maknae was beginning to get better. Leaning over however, Jin gently took hold of Yoongi’s shoulder.

“Yoongi, Yoon, wake up for me, yeah?” Jin called softly, not wanting to jolt the smaller too much, but still needing to tell him the good news. After all, Yoongi wasn’t recovering as well as he was meant to, but they were all pretty sure that was due to stress, upset and stubbornness rather than his body’s inability to heal. “We need to tell you something important.”

Yoongi groaned a little, slowly pulling dark eyes open and turning to face Jin with a little glare. “What…? Jin I’m tired.”

“Jungkook is breathing on his own again.”

Yoongi immediately sat bolt upright, instantly coughing and gagging as the movement disrupted his still wheezing lungs. The oldest’s hand was quickly on his back, rubbing and soothing gently in an attempt to calm them other down. “Come on, you need to breathe too you know.” Jin joked gently, but his tone was fond.

“H-he’s okay? Jungkook’s okay?” When Jin nodded a little, Yoongi promptly burst into tears.

“We only know what Junghyun has said, but he text just now saying Jungkook is breathing. I don’t think he’s conscious yet, but this is still an improvement. It’s a good sign, Yoongi. Jungkook is going to be okay.”

“I-I need to talk to him, I need to apologise.”

“You need to recover enough on your own first before any of that. Besides, you need to wait for him to regain consciousness anyway. It will happen, Yoongi, in time. Focus on getting better, and once you’re allowed, we’ll take you to see Jungkook. We’re all excited that he’s getting better, but you need to recover too.”

Yoongi simply nodded a little, not having the energy to argue with the older and rested back into his pillows and watching Hoseok text Junghyun back.

From: Hobi
To: Hyun
Message: He’s breathing alone again? That’s such good news! Can we come see him yet? Is he awake? How’re you? You need to leave the hospital and rest somewhere! Okay? Listen to me for once!

From: Hyun
To: Hoseok
Message: No, he isn’t awake. I can’t go home until I know he’s okay and I can’t overstay my welcome at your dorm. I’m fine sleeping here. See you later.

At the blunt message from the older, Hoseok sighed a little, running a hand through his hair repeatedly.

“Hyun’s being stubborn, he doesn’t want to go to the dorm and he won’t go home until he knows Jungkook is going to be okay for definite. I don’t know what else I can do.”

“You’ve done all you can.” Jin reassured with a small smile. “He’s a protective big brother, its understandable he’s struggling with this. We all are, but Junghyun is actually blood related to our Kook, he’s watched him grow up even more than we have, I don’t blame him for not wanting to leave. I’ll bring him food when we’re allowed to go and see Jungkook, I bet he’s barely eaten anything in days.”

Hoseok nodded, before standing and stretching his legs. “Yoon, take another nap, I’m going to go and find a doctor or something to see if we can go see Kook yet. Jin-hyung, wanna call Joonie and let the other babies know?” When Jin nodded in confirmation, Hoseok started to leave the room, before another text from Junghyun distracted him.

From: Hyun
To: Hoseok
Message: He’s awake. Kinda.

Immediately Hoseok stopped walking, colour draining from his face. How was he meant to feel? Happy? Excited? Scared? God knows what state Jungkook would be in, how much pain he’d be in… whether he’d be angry at them for leaving him behind, even if it wasn’t on purpose. Turning on his heal, the brunette walked back in to Yoongi’s room, stumbling over his words as he tried to find the right ones.

“H-Hyun just told me Kook is awake.”

Jin was instantly to his feet, hurrying out of the room with Hoseok hot on his heels, leaving Yoongi behind in the room as they went to find a doctor together, the Eomma of the group having gone pale as well at the thought.

They had to see him, they had to see Jungkook.

“Excuse me?” Jin grabbed a doctor’s attention with a charming smile, although it didn’t reach his eyes in the slightest. “I’ve been here for a few days for Min Yoongi and Jeon Jungkook, Jungkook’s brother just told us he’s awake. Can we go and see him? Please? We’ve been waiting for days and we really need to see him, he’s like a brother to all of us.”

The doctor smiled pleasantly at him, before turning to the computer terminal like the other had done days before. “Jeon Jungkook…ah, yes. Its just updated that he’s woken, he’s being taken to a private room to recover now. He’s still very unwell and on a lot of painkillers, and he’ll still be under close observation, but he’ll no longer be in the Intensive Care. If you’d like to wait in Min Yoongi’s room, we will come and get you once he is situated and comfortable.

“We’re done waiting.” Jin suddenly snapped, causing both the doctor and Hoseok to flinch with shock. “We’ve been waiting patiently for days unable to see him, we’ve not complained or made a big deal out of it, but this is our brother, he’s our best friend, and we need to see him. I don’t care if we have to sit in his empty room for an hour or two while they move him in, but none of us can sit and wait in Yoongi’s room any longer. I want to be taken to where Jungkook will be, and I need Yoongi and Junghyun taken there too.”

The doctor stayed silent for a second, before giving a small nod. “Of course, I will take you to Jeon Jungkook’s room, but it may take a while for him to be moved in to there.”

Jin simply nodded, all sign of the charming, charismatic man the Doctor had been speaking to previously completely gone. Jin was tired, scared, worried, relieved and so many other things that he couldn’t put a name to.

When the doctor started walking, leading them to the room Jungkook was going to be in before too long, Jin followed. Hoseok hurried after him, talking quietly to the doctor about getting Yoongi moved into that room too, but keeping his tone low in order to not disturb Jin’s vile mood.

Once they were in the room, Jin quickly found himself a seat and called Namjoon, explaining what was going on to him with short, to the point sentences, while Hoseok text Junghyun, telling him exactly where they were and what was happening.

And then Hoseok sat, rested his head in his hands, and waited.

———

It was only half an hour later before the door to the private room opened, Jungkook being rolled in on a bed with porters pushing him and Junghyun stood on the far end, watching with tired and worried eyes as Jungkook was put against the wall and his machines were connected to power.

They’d been told Yoongi would be brought in soon too, they were just checking him over and seeing if he was well enough to get brought over in a wheelchair, but Jin was pretty certain he’d be fine.

Jungkook however, looked less so. His face was so pale, an oxygen mask placed over his mouth and nose to assist with his breathing a little despite the fact he was breathing on his own again, IVs were attached to his arms, an oxygen monitor on his finger, a heart monitor attached to his chest.

Their youngest really looked like he was dying, and it was a painful thought to have, but he was here, he was breathing alone even if they were still monitoring him, and his burnt arm and leg were hidden from view with protective bandages.

“Jungkook…” Jin breathed, swallowing back tears as well as he could.

“You wouldn’t believe me, but he looks a lot better than he did a few days ago.” Junghyun admitted, dropping himself into a chair by Jungkook’s bedside with a sigh of exhaustion. “He’s improving quite quickly really, even if that isn’t believable.”

“I just…feel really guilty.” Jin admitted to the older Jeon, unable to meet his gaze.

“Do you really think Jungkook is going to be mad at you? He isn’t. He knows you didn’t leave him in the dorm on purpose, he knows you’d never do anything to hurt him like that. As soon as you realised he was missing, you all tried to get him, even if it was Yoongi who actually went in there. If you all had, he’d be angry then. In fact, if he’ll be angry with his boyfriend for putting himself in danger like that. So please, don’t feel guilty, it’s not actually going to help anything here. Alright?”

Although Junghyun felt exhausted, Jin could tell he was definitely an older brother. Despite how angry Junghyun got, and how easily his temper flared, he was still an older brother, supportive and calm when he needed to be, reassuring and eager to help even if he himself felt awful.

Then the door pushed open again, Yoongi being wheeled in to the room, looking healthier and more alive than he had since getting in to the hospital.

“Jungkook…” Yoongi mumbled, reaching over and grabbing hold of the youngest’s hand and being careful to not disrupt any of the IVs as he did. “You’re an idiot, you know that? Gave us all a heart attack, pulling a stunt like that. If I got away with just minor burns and a little wheeze in my chest, you should too. Little attention seeker, having to be all dramatic and stopping your heart just so we felt bad for you…”

Yoongi trailed off as he spoke, but no-one else said a word. They knew he didn’t mean the harsh words, simply trying to bring humour to the situation at hand.

But even as he spoke, tears filled Yoongi’s eyes. He didn’t know whether it was from relief or anxiety, from fear or happiness, but the tears came and Yoongi was powerless to stop them from overflowing as they did.

“Hey…” A quiet groan came from the bed, “Stop it…”

Jungkook’s voice was weak and airy, and the maknae was definitely high on the cocktail of painkillers they were pumping in to him over his burned arm and leg.

“J-Jungkook…!” Yoongi then exclaimed, clenching his jaw and shutting his eyes tight as his body threatened to burst into sobs. Not only did he want to avoid that for his own image, but he doubted his wheezing lungs would be entirely happy over what the harsh sobbing would bring.

“Holy shit you’re awake.” Junghyun stood, leaning over and brushing Jungkook’s hair back from his forehead. “You going to manage to stay awake for more than a minute this time?” He teased, although there was no malice in his tone.

“’M gonna try…”

“No, Kook,” Jin smiled, walking over and completely surrounding the maknae on the bed. “Don’t force yourself to stay awake. Hearing you talk is enough to relax us all, okay? It’s enough, just try to relax and recover. You’re going to be okay, but you definitely scared the hell out of all of us. I hope you understand how grounded you are when we get back to the dorm. And I’m taking the lock off your door, you’re never allowed to lock it again. Ever. I don’t care if Taehyung walks in on you changing clothes every day for the rest of your life.”

Jungkook gave a soft laugh at that, flinching as the chuckle turned into a harsh coughing fit. Junghyun was instantly at his brothers side, rubbing and patting his back in an attempt to help him stop, before helping his brother roll onto his uninjured side. “There you go, get it up, you’re okay.” Junghyun smiled, trying to soothe the younger. “Got a frog in your lungs or something?”

When the coughing turned harsher, Jin instantly grabbed a small bowl and darted between the two brothers, getting there in time as Jungkook gagged and vomited a little.

“’Ot a frog…” Jungkook mumbled, although the coughs had thankfully stopped, the maknae now looked exhausted. The bags below his eyes were deep and dark, and it was obvious to anyone looking that his eyes were fighting to stay open for any longer.

“Go to sleep, Kook.” Yoongi said softly, ignoring the way his voice wavered. Normally he wouldn’t be one to cry as much as he was, but he assumed this time he at least got a slight pass. “We’ll all be here when you wake up again, in face the others probably will be too. You scared the hell out of all of us, Taehyung and Jimin couldn’t stop crying so Joon took them home, well, to the new dorm, but I’m sure they’ll be coming to see you soon. And now you’re awake, we’re going to force Hyun to go to the new dorm and sleep at some point. Hoseok will probably drag him there, they seem to be texting a lot at the minute.”

Even as Yoongi’s voice continued speaking to the youngest, Jungkook heard next to nothing of it, even as early as being told he’d scared them. His eyes had unfocused and slid closed, although the light breaths fogging up the mask and the slow, steady beep of the monitor kept them all happy and calm.

What Yoongi said stood true, Namjoon arrived with the two other maknae line members after long, both having a good cry over Jungkook for a few minutes before being ordered to calm down and relax, to let the youngest sleep, Junghyun was dragged away by Hoseok to the dorm to rest, very much against his will, but he fought less than he would have if Jungkook hadn’t woken yet.

It was going to be a slow process, and it would take them all time to heal from the event, but they were getting there regardless, and every member would support the others through their own recovery.

Chapter Text

Today’s photo shoot was long. Too long. Between an array of technical problems, wardrobe problems, concept problems and a whole host of issues arising from dealing with an outside photo shoot, everyone was exhausted and just done with everything.

What had started as a fun day, where the group were playing at the beach and just taking pictures every now and again when everything was ready turned into the camera breaking and having to be replaced, then Taehyung had tripped and snagged his shirt on a rock, snagging and ripping it, the clothes they’d brought for Namjoon were too short and tight, so clothes had to be changed, concepts had to be moved around, cameras had to be triple checked.

An hour turned into two, before turning quickly into three, and the photo shoot still hadn’t started. The group were beginning to get tired, hungry, irritated with the whole situation. They were used to issues coming up after all, it happened all the time, but everything happening all at once was a little less common.

Jungkook sat by the water edge, close enough for the waves to lightly lap at his toes, but not too deep to where his actual clothes were getting wet. Not yet at least, they wanted him to get soaking later, but as of right now, he had to stay quiet and dry.

Yoongi had sat next to him, the blonde trying his best to keep his calm throughout the whole debate. Really, they all just wanted to go home, want to rearrange the photo shoot for a different day where everything was going to go right instead.

But apparently that wasn’t an option, so they all sat and waited as patiently as they could for things to finally continue.

“You feeling okay?” Yoongi asked the other, snaking his hand over and linking his pinkie with the maknae’s own. He tried not to make the motion too obvious, after all, the staff still weren’t clued in to their situation, and he didn’t want to push it too much.

“A little sore, but I’ll live.” Jungkook smiled in response, pushing dark hair from his eyes but gratefully hooking their pinkies together. Since the fire, they’d barely had any time for each other, with arranging the new dorm, sorting out replacing their stuff, dealing with the rehabilitation the two had both had to go through.

And as much as their company worked hard to get to the bottom of what exactly happened, no evidence had been found, which left them with no closure from the event. They’d been told to try and hide just how bad it had really been… which meant for Jungkook, it was long sleeves and long jeans for a while as his scars still showed brightly.

It had made Yoongi angry, even if he did vaguely understand why he was being asked to hide. But it was fine, if they were making it look a little more natural with what Jungkook was wearing.

“Guys,” Jin called, walking over to meet the young couple by the water. “They’ve brought us all a change of clothes, they’re changing concepts on us again. Just…get changed, okay? We really gotta try and get this over with, Jimin is getting hangry on us and I don’t think Tae can keep him distracted for too much longer.”

Jungkook nodded, accepting the pile of clothes from Jin and unfolding them to see exactly what he’d been given. When he saw the t-shirt with one long sleeve and one side with no sleeve at all, and a pair of jeans with one long leg and one as if they were only shorts, his heart dropped a little.

They’d purposely designed his clothes to hide his scars.

When Yoongi glanced over, he couldn’t hold the anger back. “The hell is that?”

“I know, Yoon, I know.” Jin sighed, not looking any happier over Jungkook’s given outfit than Yoongi looked. “But we have no say in it. Let’s just… get on with it. Okay?”

“Yoon, it’s okay.” Jungkook smiled, leaning over to kiss Yoongi’s cheek before climbing to his feet and carrying his clothes with him. “I’ll just go get changed, back in a moment.” Jungkook then turned on the sand, heading towards the changing rooms and disappearing into one of the small cubicles.

“Whichever stylist decided to put him in that I’m going to kill. He’s already self conscious about those burn scars and now they’re going out of their way to capitalise on the fact they’re there? Like two long sleeves, yeah sure whatever, but just one to cover the scars? It’s going to look weird and just stress Jungkook out more, there’s no need.”

“I know, Yoongi, but there’s nothing we can do. Namjoon knows too and he’s going to talk to people later about it, but right now we just need to get through this shoot and go home. Jungkook seems to be taking it well externally, so lets just… get on with it and deal with the fall out later.”

Yoongi huffed, but said nothing else as he took his own change of clothes, a simple tank top and long jean shorts, and went towards the changing rooms too, quickly stripping and putting the new clothes on. They were a little weirdly fit, but not enough to cause him too much annoyance.

But Yoongi could hear Jungkook getting changed in the cubicle over, and when he heard the small hiss and whimper of pain from the youngest, his heart dropped a little.

He knew the burns were still hurting him, it just came with how badly his skin had been damaged, but the constant moving fabric over the wounds, the sun and the salty sea water wouldn’t be doing any favours either. His heart really ached for his boyfriend, but he couldn’t do anything, not yet.

He’d support him later, when they were at home and alone, kiss the tears away and comfort him that the scars didn’t change who he was in the slightest, no matter what the stylists were trying to do to him.

For now, he’d pretend he didn’t hear Jungkook’s show of weakness, and walked out of the cubicle, waiting for the other.

When Jungkook exited the small room, Yoongi gave him a smile, trying not to show just how much he really hated the outfit. “It looks…good on you, Jungkook. Come on, lets go see what they want us to do.” The blonde then turned, starting to walk to where the staff had set up with the cameras, Jungkook hot on his tail.

“Yah, is this shoot going ahead or what?”

“Yoongi-hyung,” Namjoon sighed. “Have patience.”

“No no, it’s alright.” The photographer smiled. “We’ll be getting started now. Everyone’s outfits are finalised and fit better now, and we’ll only have a few more hours of light to get through this all, so we may as well do everything we can with the sunlight we have. First, Yoongi, this is what I need you to do…”

The next few hours were spent watching everyone else have their shoots taken. They were being made to play in the shallows of the water, pose in the sand, look like they were having an incredibly fun time at the beach even if it was all an act.

They got Yoongi to go first, leaving the oldest rapper grumbling and unhappy at his water-logged clothes. While Hoseok was doing his shoot, Yoongi quickly went and changed back in to his own, casual clothes.

After Hoseok was finished, they shot Jin’s, then Jimin’s, Taehyung’s before doing Namjoon’s. Yoongi didn’t know why they were leaving Jungkook to last, but the maknae didn’t seem happy about it, especially with how uncomfortable his clothes were for him.

It just wasn’t fair at all for the youngest, they all just wanted to go home, and the situation they were being put in was causing so much pain for him that Yoongi’s heart ached.

The rapper watched as Jungkook was called over to the photographer and given his instructions, the blonde not quite able to hear what he was being asked to do, but he noticed Jungkook didn’t look happy about it either way. He looked like he was about to burst into tears.

But regardless, Jungkook steeled his gaze and started walking towards the ocean.

They were making him play in the sea? His scars were already irritated, and the salt water wasn’t going to help that at all. If anything it was just going to cause more issues and more pain for the youngest.

Not long now. Not long and they could go home and cuddle up in a big bed, Yoongi could kiss away the soreness of his arm and leg and then they could sleep for however long they wanted without anyone else disturbing them.

Yoongi let himself smile a little at the thought, after all, it wasn’t often they got to do that, and it made the day they’d had so far worth it if it meant they could spend the rest of the day together later.

The blonde sat patiently with Hoseok and watched as Jungkook splashed around the sea, face bright and happy despite the uncomfortable situation he was in. Now it was getting later, the sun hadn’t quite begun to set, but the temperature was dropping, so the water must have been so cold on him too.

Regardless, Jungkook looked happy, it didn’t even look faked as he watched the maknae jump and dance around, in progress pictures being taken of water splashing at his face, of Jungkook getting soaking wet, the denim of his jeans sticking uncomfortably to his legs.

They’d get there, it would be fine, not long to go.

Yoongi turned a little to Hoseok. “Any idea why they left Jungkook til last?” He asked the other rapper, worry swelling in his chest.

“No clue, Jin said something about since he was going to get so soaked, doing it last was the best plan so he could just go home and shower. I think Joon tried to argue it since he was obviously unhappy with the clothes but the staff stood their ground and there wasn’t a lot we could do to fight against it really.

“I see…” Yoongi looked up again, dark eyes locking onto Jungkook’s figure in the water. The director was telling the youngest to go in deeper, the maknae doing as he was told until the water was at his chest, the tide pushing him a little and making him rock. “Why are they making him go so deep?”

“I don’t know, Yoon…” Hoseok got to his feet, looking over at the others who were watching with equally concerned stares as the camera zoomed in on their baby, focusing on the maknae beginning to tread water with a grin despite being pushed and pulled by the current.

Then they could do nothing more than watch as Jungkook’s head dipped below the water, coming up just a second later spluttering and struggling to keep his breath steady.

Yoongi was on his feet in a second, hurrying over to the edge of the water. “Get him out of there!” He demanded, looking over to the staff who watched with wide eyes as Jungkook sank below the water once more. “Someone do something!”

A blur moved past Yoongi, the blonde rapper looking over to see Jin rushing towards the water and stripping his t-shirt off as he did, running through the shallows until he’d gotten deep enough to swim properly.

Yoongi could only watch with his heart in his throat as Jungkook sunk under the waves of the water again, barely moving to try and surface this time.

Then his fighting stopped, and Yoongi had to bite back a scream as he hurried towards the water himself.

He felt someone grabbing the back of his shirt and keeping him on the sand, the rapper looking back a little and glaring at Namjoon who had hold of him.

“Let go of me, he’s in trouble!” Yoongi yelled at the younger, trying to tug his shirt out of Namjoon’s grip, unsuccessfully.

“Jin’s gone to help him, if you go too there’s too many people to worry about, okay? Just calm down and trust Seokjin!”

Yoongi still struggled, but his movements were lesser now as he saw Namjoon’s point. If he went and got in trouble too, that was two people Jin would have to pull out of the water.

“Please get him, Jin…” Yoongi mumbled, staring out where he could see Jin’s head dive below the water.

———

When Jin had looked over and seen Jungkook struggling, his heart had stopped for a second. Jungkook was a strong swimmer, but after everything he’d been through recently, it was no surprise that his stamina had dropped. After all, he was exhausted pretty much constantly.

Jin wasted no time in getting to his feet and running towards the water, pulling his t-shirt off as he went and fighting against the water to get deeper into the sea, never once taking his eyes off where Jungkook fought, head dropping below the water for several moments before popping back up and sliding back under again.

He couldn’t keep this up, he couldn’t keep himself up, Jin had to get him.

He heard Yoongi shouting from behind him, the staff shouting at each other, but Jin ignored it as best as he could, pulling himself through the water in long strides before sinking down and beginning to swim.

Just as he noticed Jungkook hadn’t surfaced again.

Heart in his throat, Jin sped up as much as he could, trying hard to get to their baby. Just hold on, Jungkook. You can do it. Hold on.

Getting to the spot he’d just watched Jungkook sink from, Jin dived down, keeping his eyes open against the salt that stung them and looking around for the familiar mop of dark hair.

It took him a moment, his lungs burning for air the longer it took, but Jin managed to spot the maknae being dragged further out by the under current, body limp, eyes closed.

It took two harsh strokes to reach Jungkook’s side, the eldest wrapping his arm around the raven’s waist and pulling him up to the surface, gasping in a deep breath of salty air as he did.

In his arms, Jungkook didn’t gasp in air, in fact he didn’t move at all. He stayed slumped, raven hair obscuring his eyes from sight, lips slightly parted and tinted blue.

Jungkook wasn’t breathing, Jin didn’t need to try too hard to notice it.

Trying to swallow down his panic, Jin began to swim, keeping tight hold of the youngest and making sure he didn’t dip below the waves again as he went. It was exhausting, fighting against the current as the sun began to set behind them, Jungkook and his own clothes sodden and heavy as he tried to pull the both of them towards safety.

It took longer than he would have liked, Jin’s chest wheezing for breath against the exhaustion, but before too long he’d gotten to the shallows, climbing to his feet and pulling Jungkook up by his underarms, dragging the limp maknae further onto the sand.

“Someone call an ambulance!” Jin screamed out, pushing a little on Jungkook’s stomach and tilting his head to the side as water trickled from the youngest’s lips.

Yoongi was by his side in a second, hands shaking as they hovered over Jungkook, unsure of where to put them, terrified of touching his boyfriend.

“Yoongi, listen to me,” Seokjin began, his voice shaking with anxiety but still full of authority. Even if Namjoon was the leader, Jin was the oldest, and when he demanded someone listen to him, they did. “I need you to breathe for him, okay? Pinch his nose, and breathe into his mouth. Twice. I’ll do chest compressions. Do it, now!”

Yoongi didn’t even have time to process what he was being told before he leaned forward, gently pinching Jungkook’s nostrils closed and locking lips, blowing as big a breath as he could into the youngest, trying his best to ignore the way the body below him didn’t resist the movement, tried to ignore the bubbling he could hear from the water being dislodged by the process.

Breathing into Jungkook a second time, Yoongi moved out of the way, watching numbly as Jin began to push all of his weight into Jungkook’s chest, the limp body below the two of them rocking slightly from the force. The blonde barely noticed staff rushing around them, Taehyung sobbing into Namjoon’s chest, Hoseok trying to distract Jimin from the situation, trying to stop the two youngest from seeing their little brother in such an awful situation.

By the time Jin finished his chest compressions, Yoongi had to swallow hard to try and make the tears that flowed rapidly to stop. He had to keep calm, he couldn’t help Jungkook if he was struggling. Leaning down again once Jin moved out of the way, Yoongi took a deep breath, once again giving Jungkook everything he had in his lungs.

A weak cough below Yoongi snapped him into alertness. Quickly pulling back, Yoongi helped as Jin tried to roll Jungkook over on to his side, the two of them patting at Jungkook’s back to help him cough up the sea water.

“Come on, that’s it, cough it up. You’re okay. Cough it up Kook.” Jin reassured, rubbing at the youngest’s back harshly in order to try and get the youngest settled. “Deep breaths, you’re okay.”

“Jungkook, can you hear me?” Yoongi called, moving to be in front of Jungkook’s face.

The maknae didn’t answer verbally, but gave a small nod towards the other, taking deep but wheezing breaths as he trembled against the sand.

“Okay, that’s good, that’s good…” Looking up, Yoongi then addressed to the others. “He’s awake and breathing again, he’s responding too.”

Taehyung simply burst into stronger sobs at the words from the other, trying hard to stabilise himself against Namjoon’s grip. “K-Kookie…!” He called, sniffling harshly. “P-please be okay, Kook…!”

Once Jin was done and Jungkook had stopped coughing, the eldest stood, walking over to where the staff were huddled together. “Is an ambulance coming?” At the nod from the director of the shoot, Jin frowned. “Good. You put him in danger. You knew the water was beginning to get rougher, and yet you kept sending him in deeper. How dare you put his life at risk like that. He was dead!” Jin exclaimed, trembling as he tried to control his anger. “He was dead and you all just stood and watched as Yoongi and I tried to revive him. You just watched as I dove in to get him out of the water as he struggled to keep his head above so he could actually breathe. I hope you’re proud of yourselves, because we will be going to our managers about this.” Turning on his heel, Jin stormed back to where Jungkook still lay, barely aware of what was going on around him.

“Jungkook? Can you still hear us?” Another small nod, and Jin gave a relieved smile. “Good, thats good. Can you talk to me? Tell me where you are?”

“B-beach,” Jungkook’s voice was small, barely audible against the wind, the water crashing against the sand and Taehyung’s sobs. But Jin still allowed himself to relax at the sound. Jungkook was okay, and the fact he knew where he was was even better.

“Can you tell me why we’re here?”

“P-pho-” Jungkook’s answer was cut off by harsh coughs, a gag resonating at the maknae threw up a lungful of salt water and spat the last few drops out. “Photo shoot…”

“Thats right, good. You really scared us all, again. Just lie there and breathe. Don’t try and sit up, don’t try and move. Just lie there, help is coming and we’ll get you all sorted.”

Now that Taehyung had managed to calm his sobs a little, Namjoon walked over, kneeling down beside Yoongi and gently resting his hand on Jungkook’s cold face. “You with us, kid?”

Jungkook gave yet another nod, too exhausted to talk much more.

“Alright, rest up. There’s an ambulance coming, and they’re probably going to take you to the hospital for a little while. Is that okay?”

Another nod.

“Good. That’s good. Just…take it easy. Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“H-hurts…”

“What hurts, Kook?” Yoongi questioned with a frown, leaning down a little to see his boyfriend’s face a little better.

“A-Arm.”

“Alright. Jin, can he lean against you?” At the oldest’s nod, Yoongi hooked his hands under Jungkook’s arms, helping him move into a sitting position against Jin’s chest. “Just lean there and relax, I’m going to get your shirt off okay?”

“N-no,”

“No?”

“Hurts…”

“I know, Jungkook, that’s why I have to get your shirt off, it’s clinging to your burns and irritating them. Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.” Without waiting for Jungkook’s response, the blonde shuffled closer and tugged at the hem of the sodden shirt, carefully pulling it up over the youngest’s head and carefully peeling the fabric away for Jungkook’s arm.

The skin was red and sore, very obviously irritated by everything it was going through. His arm was normally a little red anyway, just a thing Jungkook would have to live with now, as well as the streaked designs of flames dancing around the limb. But even so, it hadn’t been this irritated since he’d left the hospital. “Jin, do we have the cream?” The blonde saw Jin nod a little in the corner of his eye, before standing and heading towards where their bags were being kept, rooting through Jungkook’s and pulling out a long, thin tube of medicated cream and bringing it back to the young couple, handing it to Yoongi.

Once he had the medicine, Yoongi squeezed a little out onto his fingers and began to very gently dot it up and down the scarred limb, making sure it was even before beginning to very slowly and carefully rub it into the wounds. He did his best to ignore the little whimpers and whines of pain coming from the youngest’s lips, but mumbled apologies regardless.

Soon though, Jungkook relaxed, boneless into Jin as the numbness set in, pulling the pain out of the limb as it was meant to.

“There you go, better?” Jin questioned with a smile from where he rested his chin on the top of Jungkook’s head. He felt the nod rather than saw it, smiling lightly against his damp hair. “That’s good.”

“Feel weird hyung,”

“I know Kook, it’s okay.” Jin smiled. “You’ll feel better soon, just stay awake and keep listening to us. You’ll be okay.”

Jin didn’t know what else he could do but sit and reassure their youngest. It was very obvious to him that Jungkook wasn’t in a great state, he was dazed and confused, unfocused, but awake and talking to them, so that was all he could really ask from someone who had just nearly drowned and had been unresponsive after being pulled out.

Yoongi sat in silence next to Jungkook, gently carding long fingers through damp raven hair against Jin’s chest, trying to comfort his boyfriend in any way he could, trying to ignore the guilt filling him. He knew Jungkook wasn’t going to be okay earlier before the shoot, his chest had been filled with dead all day, and instead of saying something and risking making himself look like an idiot, he’d stayed silent, putting Jungkook in even more danger.

He should have said something, anything. He should have been the first person diving in to pull Jungkook out of the water, not Jin. He should have done something. He should have helped.

“Y-Yoon,” Jungkook mumbled from next to him, causing the blonde to snap up from his thoughts and look over at the other. “It’s okay.”

Jungkook could read him so well, it scared the rapper at times.

“No it isn’t, Kook,” He replied in a quite voice, not mentioning the fact the youngest hadn’t called him hyung. After all, he could barely talk at all, he didn’t blame him for not adding on the extra syllable. “I should have helped more.”

“You helped me, Yoongi.” Jin smiled, looking over at the other. “I didn’t have the energy to do CPR without your help. You saved him, whether you’re aware of that fact or not. Jungkook is okay, he’s alive and he’s here, we’re just going to get him checked over and then we’ll go back to the dorm.”

“I’ve spoken to Sejin,” Namjoon piped up, looking over with a small, gentle smile. “He says we can take tomorrow off from everything, and he’s going to figure out what we’re going to do about this incident today.”

As Namjoon spoke, Jin was distracted by the flashing lights approaching, looking up as an ambulance pulled up at the edge of the beach and paramedics climbed out, hurrying towards them.

“21 years old, he’s called Jeon Jungkook. He got dragged down by the current we think, he was unresponsive for a few minutes. Myself and Yoongi here performed CPR on him once he was on dry land and he’s been breathing steadily ever since. He’s a little dazed and confused, but he does seem mostly okay.” Jin rattled off, keeping a tight hold of Jungkook as he did. As much as he was trying to reassure and keep the others calm, Jin wasn’t quite able to do so for himself. After all, he had pulled Jungkook’s unresponsive body out of the ocean, and he doubted he’d ever get the image of their maknae with blue lips, so limp in his arms, ever out of his head.

The paramedics nodded in response to Jin’s words, kneeling down and beginning to check the youngest over and asking him questions. Jin didn’t pay too much attention though, he didn’t really have the focus to do so, but when they began to move Jungkook out of his arms, Jin tightened his grip.

“Sir, it’s okay, we’re just going to take him to the ambulance now. You’re free to come if you want to, but we can only really take one of you.”

Yoongi looked over to Jin at the information, the two of them silently trying to decide who of the two would go with Jungkook in the ambulance.

“…It’s okay, hyung.” Yoongi said with a small smile. “You go, I’ll go over with the others. It’s okay.”

Jin gave a numb nod at the words, returning Yoongi’s smile as he helped the paramedics get Jungkook onto a stretcher. “Alright, thank you, Yoongi.”

Then he turned, watching as the two medical professionals pulled Jungkook up and began to walk with him to the ambulance, following quickly behind.

He could see Jungkook’s unfocused eyes watching the darkening sky above him, knowing that he was struggling more and more to keep conscious as they went.

“Stay awake, Kook.” Jin ordered while getting into the back of the ambulance with him, reaching over and taking hold of his chilled hand. “Stay awake until we tell you that you can take a nap.”

“But hyung, I’m tired.” Jungkook whined, struggling to keep his eyes open, coughing weakly at the words hurting his salt-irritated throat.

“I know, I know you’re tired. Not much longer and then you’ll be able to sleep.” Jin didn’t pay attention to the medics attaching machines to Jungkook, simply keeping his eyes on the maknae who stared at him back. “You feeling okay?”

“Uh huh… my arm is numb…”

“That’s because Yoongi put your cream on, do you remember?”

At the shake of Jungkook’s head, Jin bit his lip.

“Please don’t worry too much, sir. It’s not too big of a worry, a little confusion is completely normal. He’s going to be fine after some rest and some monitoring.”

Jin hadn’t even noticed the ambulance was already moving.

———

Thankfully, the group didn’t have to stay at the hospital as long as they’d thought. By the time the rest of the members had gotten there in Sejin’s car, Jungkook was already in a private room, napping with a nasal canula feeding him a sweet breeze of oxygen.

Jin smiled at the others as they’d entered.

“He’s going to be fine, and more than likely no lasting damage. He’s taking a nap right now, but once he’s awake we should be free to take him home. He’ll be sleeping a lot over the next day or so, but it should clear up before we know it.”

Yoongi visibly relaxed at the words, sitting down on the edge of Jungkook’s bed and quickly sliding his hands back into the youngest’s hair.

“Are you sure? He looks so pale.”

“I know, but he’s going to be okay. He’s already been discharged, but we just have to wait for him to wake up, and I wasn’t prepared to wake him until he was ready.”

“We probably should,” Hoseok sighed from the door way. “If we leave him to wake up naturally he might sleep all day.”

“To be honest…” Jimin started. “He sleeps like the dead anyway, we could probably carry him back to the dorm and he wouldn’t wake up.”

Jin thought for a minute, before giving a nod. “That’s actually our best bet. Is Sejin still here?”

“Yeah, he has the van outside.” Namjoon confirmed with a smile. “Who wants to carry him?”

“I’ll take him.” Jin said, before getting to his feet, pulling the sheets back and carefully taking the nasal canula out of Jungkook’s nose, before gathering the youngest up into his arms and pulling him up bridal style. Exactly as Jimin predicted, the maknae didn’t even stir, simply settling his head against Jin’s chest and sleeping on soundly.

“Let’s go, our baby is getting heavy and I probably won’t be able to carry him for too long.” Jin admitted, beginning to walk out of the room. His own muscles were screaming at him for rest after such a long day and then so much stress, but he held on to Jungkook steadily, carrying him out of the hospital with ease while the others followed close behind him.

Getting to the car, Sejin noticed them coming and quickly opened the back door to the van, taking Jungkook from Jin while the oldest climbed in to the back before accepting Jungkook back, resting the maknae’s head on his legs and securing him as well as he could with his arms, waiting while the others piled in to the car.

Yoongi of course joined them in the very back, sitting with Jungkook’s feet on his own lap and carefully holding on to his knees.

It was if the two of them were expecting Jungkook to disappear at any moment, and had to keep hold of him to prevent that happening.

As exhausted as they were, Jin knew neither of them were going to sleep well at all that night.

The drive back to the dorm didn’t take too long, and within half an hour they were all situated into the living room.

“I don’t want to go to bed,” Taehyung admitted from his spot on the couch, despite the bags under his eyes, the second youngest couldn’t bare to leave his best friend.

“Then how about we don’t.” Jin offered from where Jungkook rested against his shoulder, still sound asleep. “Lets bring a load of blankets and pillows in here and all sleep together. It’s probably our best bet of any of us getting any rest.”

Jimin quickly jumped to his feet with a grin. “Puppy pile!” He exclaimed, before hurrying off to the bedrooms. Within moments, he returned with an armful of pillows, before rushing back and bringing several blankets to the mix as well.

Working together in silence, the group began to get in to position, resting Jungkook on the floor in the middle of all of them, every member claiming a spot around the maknae, pillows being shared between the group, blankets being thrown around until everyone was warm enough.

Yoongi lay directly next to Jungkook, spooning his boyfriend gently with his hand resting against the youngest’s chest, feeling the reassuring beat of his heart against his hand and the rise and fall of his chest. Jin had claimed the other side, so Jungkook was facing him. Taehyung and Jimin lay cuddled above Jungkook’s head, both of them each having a hand resting tangled in his hair. Whereas Hoseok and Namjoon took the bottom of the group, Namjoon’s face nuzzled between the gap between Jungkook and Yoongi, against the small of Jungkook’s knee. Hoseok took the other side, one arm wrapped around Jungkook’s leg.

It didn’t take long for all of them to doze into an uneasy sleep, but with each having some sort of hold on their accident-prone maknae, they found they managed to sleep through the night.

Chapter Text

America was confusing for the majority of them.

With Namjoon being the only member fluent in English, more often than not he was the one looking after them all. He held the conversations, told them where to go, spoke to people to get directions, and generally made sure none of them died during their trip around the unfamiliar country.

Except, this time, instead of darting around tour date after tour date, venue after venue, interview after interview… they were taking their time, enjoying the sights.

Technically, they were on a holiday, so they were all allowed to do whatever they really wanted. However, that was easier said than done. Jungkook could get by in English, but he was by no means confident enough to actually get through the country by himself. Instead, he stuck close to Yoongi and Namjoon, going where they went, enjoying the time off from work they had.

BigHit had asked them to hold a few fan meetings throughout their stay in the US, and they were happy to oblige and meet the international ARMY that were helping their success so much, and they had one or two interviews dotted around their month long stay in the country. But nothing that would overwork them, nothing that would take away from their break away from South Korea.

And of course, with being much less recognisable in the US, Yoongi and Jungkook managed to spend a lot more time alone together. Their dates had managed to go from one every few months to almost daily. Namjoon didn’t mind, in fact he’d egged it on a little by ‘accidentally’ leaving the two alone for the day, or by straight up telling them to go alone to the nearby restaurant.

Which is how they found themselves in the situation they were currently in, sat in a small, beautiful park in the middle of nowhere, in a state they didn’t even know the name of. Their staff knew where they were of course, and they were sure that Namjoon had mentioned once of twice where exactly they were, but Jungkook hadn’t paid much attention at all. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

But Namjoon had gone to discuss some meetings with the staff and arrange their small schedules over their break, leaving Yoongi and Jungkook in the hotel room alone for a few hours before they’d decided to leave to the nearby park, thankfully using Google Maps to find their way easily enough.

Now they had found themselves sat on the grass, staring up at the clouds without a care in the world.

“Look at that one, hyung,” Jungkook smiled, pointing up at a white blobby cotton wool puff in the sky. “Don’t you think it looks like a panda?”

“Where did you get a panda from that? I’d say more a teddy bear, but a panda? Jungkook it’s all white.” Yoongi snorted, pulling his arm behind his head as he lay, looking over the cloud in question.

“I mean there’s darker bits! Huh maybe its more like a cow.”

“You’re actually insane.”

“You love me.”

“Unfortunately.”

Jungkook laughed a little, shuffling closer to the older and wrapping his arm around his chest. “Come on, don’t be like that!”

With an fake irritated sigh, Yoongi gave a small laugh, leaning over and placing a light kiss on Jungkook’s forehead. “You know I’m joking.”

“Yup! Okay, its your turn to find a cloud.” The raven then turned back over, looking back up at the sky.

Giving another sigh, Yoongi turned back up towards the sky as well, glancing over the shapeless clouds in the sea of blue.

“Hmmm… what about that one? It looks like a Voltorb.”

“Hyung that’s just a circle. Don’t be boring! Find something else!”

“Okay, right…that one there, see it?” Yoongi smiled, pointing out a more unique cloud. “It’s an elephant, see? There’s the huge ears, and there’s the trunk.” Tracing the shape with his finger, Yoongi’s smile only grew as Jungkook gasped in realisation, seeing the shape Yoongi did.

“There you go! That’s more like it!”

Giving another little laugh, Yoongi rolled back over towards Jungkook again, placing a flurry of kisses against the other’s temple, happy that they were finally able to relax and just enjoy each other’s company in the solace of the park.

However, the beautiful peace was broken by the sound of footprints approaching, the low sound of idle chatter filtering through their tranquil silence. Yoongi instantly pulled away from the maknae, sitting up and looking towards the source of the sound. Even with their lesser chances of being caught in this foreign country, Yoongi still found himself on edge. After all, they were growing in popularity everywhere, it wouldn’t be a surprise if fans happened to run in to them, even if they hadn’t advertised where they were at that moment.

Yoongi was good to be alert however, as two girls caught his gaze and quickly turned pale, muttering to one another.

“Jungkook…” Yoongi muttered in a low tone, gaining the other’s attention. “Come on, let’s go find somewhere else to be alone, yeah?”

The raven pushed himself up on to his elbows at that warning, glancing over to where the voices were coming from. Picking up on the mumbles and glances of recognition, Jungkook nodded, quickly getting up to his feet and pulling Yoongi up with a quick tug. “Lets go, hyung.” Jungkook mumbled, keeping hold of Yoongi’s hand and tugging him towards the trees that surrounded the park, aiming towards where the forestry was thicker. Hopefully they’d be able to escape the prying eyes of fans there.

Yoongi didn’t argue the motion, quickly following behind Jungkook and keeping a tight grip on the younger’s hand so as to not lose him between the trees, thankful as the voices of the fans became quieter and quieter until they disappeared entirely.

“Were we recognised?”

“I think so.” Yoongi confirmed, nodding at the raven. “But I don’t think they saw us completely before I pulled away from you, so our secret is more than likely safe.”

“That’s…that’s good…” Jungkook smiled, squeezing Yoongi’s hand a little.

“Lets wander through here for a bit, then we can go grab some food?” Yoongi offered, continuing his walk through the forest, trying to take notice of at least a few landmarks so he didn’t get completely lost. “I’ll text Joon and see if he knows anywhere good to eat around here, and see if he can help us actually order through text because my reading of English is still completely terrible.”

“Mine too,” Jungkook smiled. “Although it’s probably better than yours.”

As if the leader had been reading the couple’s mind, a text soon echoed through the Yoongi’s pocket.

From: Namjoon
To: Yoongi
Message: Please think about eating soon! There’s a few good places in the town centre, please remember to ask about any shellfish in the dishes since you’re not really aware of the dishes around here! I’ll see you back at the hotel, probably going to be arranging meetings for the next few hours.

Chuckling a little at the text, Yoongi quickly shot one back.

From: Yoongi
To: Namjoon
Message: You don’t have to worry about that, I’m not going to forget. We’ll check. See you later, have fun.

“What was that?” Jungkook questioned, gazing over at the older.

“Namjoon just making sure we’re going to go and eat, and reminding you not to eat shellfish.”

“I could really go for crab right now.”

“Don’t even joke about that.” Yoongi scolded with a small glare.

“Sorry, hyung.”

“Better be.”

Jungkook simply giggled a little at the scolding, knowing Yoongi wasn’t actually angry at him. He trusted him at least enough to not kill himself just by craving some food that he wasn’t actually physically able to eat.

Glancing around at the trees that surrounded him, Jungkook took a deep breath, trying to focus and figure out exactly where they were. “Do we even know how to get back to the town?”

“If we go back to the park I know how to get there, but I don’t want to risk running in to those girls again. Joon isn’t with us, and my English isn’t good enough to try and talk to them properly.”

“It’s avoiding them worse? They must know there’s a language barrier.”

“True, but then I wouldn’t be able to do this.” Yoongi smirked, leaning over and placing a kiss at the corner of Jungkook’s lips.

“Hyung, you missed.”

Moments later the two were engaged in a proper kiss, with Jungkook leaning back against the rough trunk of a tree while allowing Yoongi’s hands to roam over his sides. He hated the fact they were avoiding fans, but at the same time, Yoongi did have a point. They’d have to be a lot more careful with their relationship once their fan base knew they were here.

“Alright, let’s find our way out of here and go get some food.” Yoongi smiled, pulling away and wiping at his lips and then chuckling a little as Jungkook whined at the lack of content. “Later, after food, we’ll have the hotel room to ourselves. I’ll more than make up for everything then, okay?”

When Jungkook flushed bright pink, the older couldn’t hold in his laugh. “You’re way too easy to tease, Jungkook.” Grabbing hold of the maknae’s hand so they weren’t separated in the forest, Yoongi started walking, trying to recognise any landmark in the forest where every tree looked exactly the same.

It was definitely easier said than done, but it didn’t take them too long before the couple were back out of the trees, clinging on to each other as if the world would drag them apart any moment.

“See, told you I could get us out.”

“If I ever see another tree again, it will be too soon.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes, but continued walking, taking them up a pathway until they were in the main town centre, looking over at the options they had to eat.

There was the regular places they saw often when travelling around the US, big franchise branches with the same food regardless, a lot of them they were able to get in Korea anyway. And although that would probably be a good bet since they’d know the food, Yoongi couldn’t help but want something new, something they didn’t get to have very often.

“What about here, Hyung?” Jungkook called, stopping in front of a small restaurant. Inside it wasn’t busy, and the menu of course was in all English, but it also had pictures beside each of the dishes, which would make it easier for the two to be able to point out what looked good.

“Here looks good,” Yoongi confirmed with a smile, letting go of Jungkook’s hand and pushing the door open with ease and leading the two in. They were immediately greeted with an American who seemed far too happy and chipper for the fact she was at work, but Yoongi guessed it was probably part of her job description.

“Uh…” Jungkook started, trying hard to rack his brain and remember the English that Namjoon had taught him. “G-Good afternoon, table for two, please?” The maknae knew his pronunciation was a little off, but the woman seemed to understand him regardless, nodding with a smile and rattling off words from a script as she led them to a table and lay down menus, knives and forks.

Neither male could say they’d understood what she was telling them, something about the specials, but they doubted it mattered too much.

Taking hold of the menu, Jungkook tried to make sense of the foreign language written in front of him. Brow furrowed, the maknae scanned over the words, trying his best to understand what exactly he was reading. A few words stood out to him, words that he’d been taught over their travels, but the menu as a whole didn’t really make sense to him.

“You alright, Kook?” Yoongi asked him, seeing the youngest’s confusion. “I get its confusing, I know even less English than you do, but do you know kinda what you want?”

“Do they have lamb skewers?”

Yoongi scanned the menu and shook his head with a little frown of his own. “It doesn’t look like it, I can’t see anything that looks like that at least. What about those?” Yoongi leaned over, pointing at a picture on Jungkook’s own menu.

They looked like fish cakes, and by the look of it it all appeared to all be white fish.

“Is that safe?”

“Looks like it, one minute.” Yoongi turned towards the restaurant again, motioning a waitress over with a charming smile and then turning a little to Jungkook.

The raven pointed at the picture of the fish cakes. “S-shellfish, shellfish free?” He questioned, struggling to put his words in an order that made sense to the native English speaker.

The waitress however just smiled at him. “They contain mostly white fish however they do contain crab, yes.”

Although the youngest tried however, he didn’t fully understand what they were being told. He’d asked if they were shellfish free, and the waitress had at least said ‘yes’ in what she’d said, so everything would be okay, right? After all, he might have grown out of his allergy, he hadn’t had shellfish since he was a small child.

Jungkook then nodded his head, looking over at Yoongi with a grin and switching over back into Korean. “I know what I’m getting, do you?” When Yoongi nodded, Jungkook turned back to the waitress with a smile. “This, please!” He exclaimed, pointing out the fish cakes.

“Burger, please.” Yoongi also said, his English thickly accented as he pointed at his own picture of food.

“Perfect, I’ll get those right away! Any drinks for you two?”

When both nodded and mumbled out a ‘water’, the waitress hurried off, smiling the entire way and leaving the two at the table by themselves.

“This is such a nice place, Hyung.” Jungkook smiled, putting his elbows up on the table and propping his head up with his hands in order to stare at the older. “Its really cute.”

Chuckling a little at how Jungkook’s hands had pushed his cheeks up and scrunched his face, unable to get over just how adorable his boyfriend was, Yoongi nodded. “It is really cute, I hope the food is good too, otherwise that would be incredibly sad.” Yoongi sighed, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling. “Hopefully it won’t take too long too, although if it does take a while at least we know its fresh instead of just shoved into a microwave or something.”

“I bet the food still isn’t going to be as good as Jin-hyung’s.”

“Probably not, no, but even if it was, we couldn’t tell him that. It would fracture his ego.” Yoongi’s smile only grew a little when Jungkook let out a small huff of a laugh.

“I told my mom once that Jin’s cooking was amazing, and she got upset because she thought I was saying it was better than hers. Junghyun-hyung ended up coming to my rescue and diffusing the situation so I didn’t accidentally break my mom’s heart.”

“That’s such a you thing to do I’m not even surprised.”

“Hyung!”

“What? I’m being truthful.” Yoongi laughed a little then, reaching over and ruffling at Jungkook’s hair. “You know I’m just teasing. Don’t worry too much. But… there is something we need to talk about. It’s nothing massive, it’s just…I feel like you need to know, okay?”

Jungkook’s smile slowly faded at the words, soft features morphing into a gentle frown instead. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing’s wrong.” Yoongi tried to assure, but even he could tell he was failing that massively. “It’s just… you know how Junghyun-hyung always seems to text Hoseok where he is when he’s visiting?”

“Yeah, they’ve always gotten on really well.”

“Have you ever thought it was weird that they got on that well though? I mean, Junghyun doesn’t visit us a lot after all. He’s busy with his own life, and yet, he’s really close with Hobi…”

“What are you trying to tell me, hyung…?” Jungkook mumbled, unable to lift his gaze to meet Yoongi’s own. His heart raced in his chest, the anxiety of what was going on scaring him.

“Your brother and Hoseok have been dating for a while. They didn’t want to say anything because they didn’t want you in the middle of it in case anything happened. Hell, they tried to hide it from all of us for a while, but I guess I was just too observant. We all promised not to tell you, because that would make life difficult for you. After all, if they split up, you’d be in the middle. Your older brother and a person you have to live and work with, it would put you in an awful situation and they were just trying to protect you from that.”

Jungkook stayed silent for several moments, staring at his hands as he processed what he was being told. Hoseok had been upset with them for hiding their relationship from the rest of the group, and yet, Hoseok was dating his older brother and neither one had bothered to say anything? It had crossed his mind once or twice that it was odd the two spoke so often, and Jungkook had heard some late night phone calls coming from Hoseok’s bedroom quite a few times, but he’d never really thought too much of it.

After all, it wasn’t his business who Hoseok was talking to late at night and who he was dating.

But it became his business when his older brother was on the line.

“How…how long have you know?” Jungkook questioned, still not looking up at the rapper.

“Not too long, a few weeks. I found out when he came to visit you in the hospital, because Junghyun was here for ages. After the fire, that is. Hoseok was very clingy to him then, and I kinda just worked it out.”

“You’ve known since the fire and you didn’t think telling me was a good idea until now?” Jungkook’s voice didn’t hold a lot of rage, but it was enough to make the older’s stomach twist uncomfortably. He didn’t want Jungkook to be angry at him, not at all. He just wanted him to understand where they’d been coming from.

“It’s not that I didn’t think telling you was a good idea, Junghyun and Hobi made me promise. They think its for your own good that you don’t know. They didn’t want to add any pressure to you. I didn’t agree, but I still made a promise and I didn’t want to break that. You understand that, don’t you?”

Yoongi’s voice was almost pleading as he looked over at his boyfriend, tried to will Jungkook to look up and just make eye contact with him. The fact Jungkook wasn’t looking up only served to make him more anxious.

“Jungkook, please, I’m telling you now because I wanted you to know, I felt like you deserved to know.”

“You’re telling me because you felt guilty for hiding it from me.”

“And so what if I do feel guilty? I’m trying to fix it, Jungkook, work with me here.”

Even though Jungkook’s reaction wasn’t the best, Yoongi could understand entirely why the youngest was so upset. But he could at least be thankful they were still in America when the maknae found out, that the people around them in the restaurant both didn’t know who they were, and didn’t understand Korean to know what they were saying.

Small silver linings Yoongi supposed.

Thankfully, the tension was broken by the waitress coming back over, still donning a huge smile as she placed the plates of food down in front of them and gave them both a glass of water, leaving the jug in the middle between them. “There we go, one hamburger and fries, and one fish cakes! Enjoy your meals and let me know if you need anything!” With a happy bounce in her step, the waitress once again left.

Jungkook still didn’t make eye contact with Yoongi as he grabbed his knife and fork, beginning to cut in to some of the fries on his plate and eat them. The rapper could see the tears in the raven’s eyes, and that filled him with guilt. He just hoped the youngest wasn’t going to grill Junghyun over this, because then the older Jeon would be mad at him too.

“Jungkook…” Yoongi started, but he didn’t really know what to say anyway. Everything he had wanted to say had already been said, there wasn’t much more he could do.

“It’s fine, whatever.” Jungkook retorted, and Yoongi almost scolded him for the disrespectful tone but quickly decided against it, biting in to his burger instead. They’d talk about it later for definite, there was no reason to drag the argument out further and ruin their meal with it.

That was, until, Jungkook gave a small grunt, Yoongi quickly looking up to see what was going on. A small frown had creased between Jungkook’s dark eyebrows, a slightly trembling hand rubbing at his throat.

“Kook…?” Yoongi questioned, dread filling his gut.

Jungkook simply shook his head, reaching over and taking a few quick sips from his glass of water. For a painful moment, Yoongi thought that maybe the youngest was choking again. He didn’t think he could go through that horror again.

Leaning back again in his chair, just a little bit, Yoongi gave a small sigh, taking another bite of his burger. He couldn’t avoid the fact he was worried for the youngest.

Yoongi quickly sat up at Jungkook’s rubbing at his throat turned into an itching motion. “Jungkook, are you okay? What’s going on?”

“Feel weird…” Jungkook mumbled, but continued to scratch at his throat. Yoongi was frozen to the spot as he noticed his boyfriend’s pale skin beginning to swell around his neck. “J-Jungkook, you need to keep calm, but I think you’re having an allergic reaction to something. Okay? Take deep breaths, I’ll get you help.”

Getting to his feet, Yoongi pulled his phone from his pocket, doing his best to stop shaking as he quickly brought up a translation app and flagged the waitress down once more. Now he had the thought, maybe they should have used said app to ask about the shellfish, but it hadn’t even crossed his mind previously.

Quickly typing in to the box on the screen in his default Hangul, Yoongi watched as the website translated the words into English for him, quickly showing the waitress what he had typed.

‘My friend is allergic to shellfish. We thought the food was safe for him. Please call an ambulance!’

The waitress visibly paled when she read the message on Yoongi’s fold, giving a small nod and rushing over to the bar area where Yoongi assumed the phone was situated.

Satisfied that help was going to be on the way soon, Yoongi hurried over to Jungkook’s side and knelt down, heart clenching at the pained wheeze coming from Jungkook’s lips.

“Hey, hey Kook. It’s okay, deep breaths. You’re okay.”

Even in only the few minutes that Yoongi had been away, Jungkook’s throat had swelled significantly. He could tell the youngest could barely move air through his throat, and the thought that he was slowly suffocating was horrific to him.

“Do you have your Epi-Pen with you? You still have one right? Is it with you?” Yoongi watched as Jungkook gave a small nod, motioning to his bag that had been dumped under the table. Quickly reaching down, Yoongi grabbed the bag with as much grace as one terrified for his boyfriend’s life could show, ripping the zip open and digging through the contents, trying to find the small device.

Finding nothing, Yoongi quickly began checking the side pockets, heart pounding in his throat and sweat beading on his temples as he panicked. He had to find it, he had to.

Then he felt the familiar device, pulling out from the small pocket it had been placed in and pulling at the cap until it came off.

“Deep breaths, Kook, you’re okay.”

The youngest had turned incredibly pale now, eyes lidded and barely focused on anything around him, but he connected his gaze with the older, focused on the older’s face.

Jungkook was finally looking at him again, but Yoongi would almost rather he didn’t.

“It’s okay.”

Without wasting another moment, Yoongi quickly brought the Epi-Pen down on Jungkook’s thigh, not bothering to try and move the cloth out of the way. Keeping the pressure on Jungkook’s leg with the device, Yoongi counted out loud, trembling but keeping Jungkook’s medicine still as he did.

Finally, he moved the pen, looking up at the youngest again.

“How are you feeling?”

Jungkook gave a small nod as his response. Air seemed to be getting to him a little easier now, but Yoongi knew they weren’t out of the woods yet. The Epi-Pen could only do so much, it could only buy them more time while they waited for the ambulance.

Reaching up with trembling fingers, Yoongi gently threaded them into Jungkook’s hair, attempting to soothe him. “Its okay, you’re okay. Just keep breathing, you’re okay.”

Yoongi had almost allowed himself to relax, thankful that Jungkook was now breathing a little better, thankful that the youngest had at least kept his Epi-Pen with him despite not having needed it in so long, thankful that he’d bothered to download the translation app that would get them help easier.

But then Yoongi felt a dead weight fall against his shoulder, flinching his gaze up just to see Jungkook having fallen from the chair, completely limp onto him.

Wasting no time, Yoongi quickly wrapped his arms around the younger, supporting his weight and lowering him more gently down to the ground so he was lying flat.

“Kook, hey, Kook wake up.” Yoongi mumbled while slapping lightly at Jungkook’s pale cheeks. “Yah, maknae, I know you’re tired but you have to wait until help comes to sleep.”

Thankfully, Jungkook seemed to respond to the movements and noise, slowly cracking his eyes open while giving a pained wheeze in response, lips moving as though he was trying to form words but struggling to do that at all.

“There you go, just stay with me.”

Cradling Jungkook in his arms, Yoongi did his best to keep himself calm. People kept attempting to crowd around the two, speaking in English to each other and mumbling about what Yoongi assumed was ‘is he okay’, but thankfully the waitresses and waiters of the restaurant pushed people away to give them more space.

It didn’t take too long before an ambulance was pulling up, paramedics hurrying in towards them as they’d done so many times before and loading Jungkook up onto a stretcher and in to the ambulance. The medical professionals seemed to be asking Yoongi questions, but the rapper couldn’t follow what they were saying enough to give any responses.

Sitting in the back of the ambulance and attempting to make his hands stop shaking, Yoongi opened up the translation app again.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t understand you well. My English isn’t good, we’re Korean. His name is Jeon Jungkook, mine is Min Yoongi. I’m going to get my friend here who speaks English.’

The paramedic treating Jungkook gave a small nod with a reassuring smile, before turning back to treating the boy.

Satisfied he’d given enough information, for now at least, Yoongi turned back to his phone and opened up the previous conversation with Namjoon.

To: Namjoon
From: Yoongi
Message: Hyung, we’re on our way to a hospital. I’m guessing the nearest one, I don’t know. We asked, I swear we did, but I guess we got confused at the answer. Jungkook had an allergic reaction and I’m freaking the fuck out. I’m trying to talk to people through a dumb translation app but its difficult to be quick with that sort of thing. Please come and help me. We need you.

Sending the long text as quickly as he could, Yoongi quickly slid the phone back into his back pocket and reached over, wrapping his hand around the youngest’s and squeezing reassuringly.

“You’re okay, Kook. No-one is angry at you. I know you asked about the shellfish. I’m sorry we both got confused by what the waitress said. You’re getting help now. You’re okay.”

———

It thankfully didn’t take too long before they’d arrived at the hospital, filled with unfamiliar people and unfamiliar words as Jungkook was hurried through into a room Yoongi wasn’t allowed to follow him to.

So once again, Yoongi sat down, head in his hands while he stayed in the waiting room. Namjoon had replied, but Yoongi hadn’t bothered to open it fully. After all, the little preview that had come up in the notification had confirmed that Namjoon was on his way. They’d been more, but Yoongi didn’t want to read it. Not right now. Too much was going on in his head for him to really care too much either way.

It took half an hour before Namjoon turned up, hurrying through to the front desk and asking the receptionist about Jungkook in English. She motioned towards Yoongi, and their leader gave a nod before hurrying to sit beside the older.

“How’re you doing?”

“Just peachy, Namjoon.”

Yoongi hadn’t meant to snap at the younger, but his whole being was so tense that he couldn’t help himself.

“We asked. We asked about shellfish. Jungkook asked if it was ‘shellfish free’ and she said yes, but I’m guessing it was more, ‘it does contain shellfish, yes’ but I don’t fucking know and I’m just so stressed and confused.”

“We’re not going to be mad at you, Yoongi.” Namjoon sighed, running a hand through his unstyled hair. “I know you wouldn’t put Jungkook’s life at risk purposely, and although our maknae is an idiot, he wouldn’t do this purposely either. Especially since I’d just reminded you to check. It’s my fault if anything, I shouldn’t have left you two alone.”

“We wanted to be alone, Joon.” Yoongi rolled his eyes a little, leaning back in the chair. “We never get chance to be alone. There’s always someone with us, or the risk of fans seeing us. We enjoyed just having each other’s company. I just wish it hadn’t ended with us in the hospital… is it me?” The rapper blinked back tears as he spoke. “Jungkook keeps getting hurt, is it my fault? This didn’t start until we started dating. Now it’s just one thing after another after another. Maybe I did this. I’m bad luck.”

Namjoon quickly shook his head, reaching over and gently massaging the back of his best friend’s neck. “That’s not it at all and you know it. He’s just having a bad luck streak, you’re helping him through it if anything. What if you hadn’t been there when he hit his head? Or when he choked? What if you hadn’t run in to a burning building to save him? You’ve saved his life a lot more times than you’ve put it at risk.”

“I dunno, hyung. Maybe us being together is bad. Maybe this is bad karma, for hiding from you guys… I… I told him about Junghyun and Hobi.” Yoongi then confessed, hiding his eyes so he didn’t have to see the disappointment from their leader at telling a secret that wasn’t his to tell. “I couldn’t keep hiding it from him. Junghyun is his older brother for goodness sake, he has a right to know that his brother is dating his friend. He’s mad at us for not telling him, I just thought you should know.”

Namjoon didn’t say anything to that, knowing that the older Jeon and Hoseok wouldn’t be happy at the news, but there were more pressing things at stake at this point. Instead, he continued gently rubbing at Yoongi’s neck, trying to soothe the tension that had gathered.

“That doesn’t matter, honestly. He was going to find out eventually. What matters right now is making sure he’s okay.”

As if summoned, once Namjoon had finished what he was saying, a kind looking doctor walked over to them.

“Are you here for Jungkook Jeon?” He questioned. Yoongi, hearing his boyfriend’s name, lifted his head quickly to attention, whereas Namjoon nodded.

“Yeah,” He responded in English, not stopping his affection towards Yoongi. “We’re here for Kook. Is he okay? Can we see him?”

The doctor simply smiled, nodding a little at the leader. “He’s going to be fine. Having his Epi-Pen more than likely saved his life, the reaction was quite severe, but we’ve treated him and gotten the swelling to go down. He’s sleeping right now, but its purely his body trying to rest. I’d usually advise against seeing him and letting him rest, but I know from what I’ve been told his English isn’t fluent, and I wouldn’t want him terrified when he wakes up surrounded by people who he doesn’t know and can’t communicate with him. I’ll lead you to him now.”

Once the doctor had finished talking, Namjoon stood and pulled at Yoongi as he did, quickly turning to the older and translating what he’d just been told in short.

All Yoongi cared about was that Jungkook was okay and they could see him.

It took a few minutes of walking to get to the room Jungkook had been placed in, and it seemed to be more of a ward than the private rooms they were used to. Regardless, the pair walked in and over to Jungkook’s bed, sitting either side of him.

There were three other patients in the beds in the room, and all but one appeared to barely notice the two arriving.

One, however, directly across from Jungkook’s bed, was staring at them with wide eyes. She couldn’t have been much older than 10 or 11, and couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Namjoon smiled a little, giving a little wave towards the girl, who shyly waved back. No-one appeared to be with her, which made Namjoon feel just a little sad. No-one deserved to be alone in a hospital.

Finally, the girl seemed to find her words.

“R-Rapmon?”

Ah, so she was a fan. That both made the situation worse and better, she was staring because she knew them, not because she found them weird. But knowing them also meant this was risking getting out to the public, and Jungkook and Yoongi would have to be a lot more careful with each other.

Regardless, Namjoon gave a small smile and a nod towards the girl. “Yeah, are you okay?”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

“Oh god, please don’t call me sir.” Namjoon gave a little laugh, ignoring the way Yoongi was staring at him. “Just RM or Namjoon is fine, really. What’s your name?”

“T-Tiffany… is that Jungkookie? Is he hurt?”

Namjoon just shook his head a little. “He’s going to be fine, but… we would really, really appreciate it if this didn’t go out, okay? We’ve been trying to keep a low profile, but Jungkook had a little bit of an allergic reaction, okay? He’s going to be fine, he’s just sleeping now, but we really want to keep this as quiet as we can. You understand, right Tiffany?”

The girl simply nodded a little, looking a little sad but seemingly understanding.

Namjoon stared for a second, before giving a small sigh and mumbling a light curse under his breath, before getting to his feet and walking over to the girl. “Come here.” He smiled, before grabbing hold of his bag and pulling out an album. It wasn’t a new one, and he’d only been carrying it because of the meeting he’d just been in, but he was sure Big Hit wouldn’t be mad at him giving it to a sick fan who had seen them to try and keep them quiet about what she’d seen.

Taking out a sharpie marker too, Namjoon signed it, before handing it over to Yoongi and motioning he do the same, which the rapper did with only a small look of confusion.

“Here, Tiffany. I’m sorry it’s only me and Suga, but maybe Jungkook can sign it too if you’re still here when he wakes up. Is someone coming to get you?” Namjoon questioned, handing her the freshly signed album and trying to not grin at the look of pure amazement on her face.

“Y-Yeah, my mom is coming now… Thank you…”

She trailed off, and Namjoon had to stop himself jumping to hug her as he saw the tears gathering in her eyes.

“Well…” He said awkwardly. “I’m going to have to go back to our maknae now, but I’m happy to have met you and I hope you feel better soon, okay?” At the nod from the fan, Namjoon headed back over to his chair by Jungkook, pulling the curtain around before he sat down to give them a bit more privacy.

“What was that?”

“A fan recognised us, I’ve given her the album in an attempt to convince her not to tell people that she saw us here. She seemed nice enough though, a sweet kid, so I bet she understands.”

Yoongi nodded in response, before turning his gaze back to the youngest in front of him.

Jungkook gave a small groan only a few moments later, eyes cracking open and glancing around the room and a smile forming on his face when he saw Yoongi next to him.

“Hey…” Jungkook croaked out, causing Yoongi to smile back.

“Hey.”

“You ‘kay?”

“You’re the one lying in a hospital bed and you’re asking me that?”

When Jungkook nodded, Yoongi just rolled his eyes with a huff of a laugh.

“Yeah, I’m fine. We can probably head back to the hotel soon now you’re awake.”

“Good.”

“Oh and Kook?”

“Yeah Hyung?”

“Please stop nearly dying.”

“Noted. I’ll do my best.”

Chapter Text

Days off were always the best days. Especially those days where everyone was off at the same time, there was no random schedule for individual members, Yoongi and Namjoon weren’t getting dragged off to produce music, Jungkook wasn’t working on his newest English cover, Jimin and Taehyung weren’t taking last minute dance practices, and Hobi wasn’t off with his friends.

It was a quiet day, they all slept in, no-one bothering to set any alarms.

And at least since everyone knew about the couple, Yoongi and Jungkook had taken the oppotunity to have some time to themselves.

Curled up in Yoongi’s large bed, Jungkook woke in the older’s arms, head burrowed into Yoongi’s chest, nose nuzzled as deeply as he could get it. Yoongi had tucked his chin in to Jungkook’s hair, snoring softly into the raven fluff as he held the maknae close, clingy even in sleep and desperate to keep the youngest as close as he could.

When Jungkook’s eyes peeled open, immediately being assulted by the sunlight around them, he gave a small groan and attempted to hide his face once more, but even Yoongi’s chest wasn’t enough to block out all of it, and the maknae found himself far too awake to fall back asleep now.

“Hyung…?” Jungkook moaned, nuzzling his nose into the older’s collarbone. “You awake…?”

“I am now.” Yoongi grumbled in return, taking a deep breath of a sigh and tightening his grip more, pinning Jungkook to him. “But not for too much longer. Goodnight, Jungkook.”

Giving a small giggle, Jungkook wiggled out of the older’s grip.

“Noooo, let’s get up now. Its really bright, so it’s probably the middle of the day.” Looking over to the alarm clock, Jungkook found his theory confirmed.

‘11:39am’

“Yeah, its quite late, hyung. Jin-hyung is going to be mad at us if we don’t get up and eat something too.”

“Thats assuming Jin himself is awake, Kookie.”

“He will be, I can hear him dancing around the kitchen.”

Yoongi gave a tired scoff before leaning forward, pressing a gentle kiss in to the middle of Jungkook’s forehead with a tenderness he rarely showed anyone else. “Your hearing is too good.”

“Your hearing is awful.”

“Point.”

Yoongi then pulled away from their tangled limbs, stretching himself out and grunting as his joints popped and cracked in response. “That feels so much better.”

Jungkook gave a giggle, climbing out of bed himself and letting himself fall into a large stretch, keening a little and exposing his stomach as he did. “I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.” Regardless of the retort, Yoongi got up, walking ovver to Jungkook and putting another kiss to his temple. “Still adorable though.”

“Why are you never this affectionate when I have witnesses?”

“Because then I’d have to kill them.”

Jungkook shivered a little at the seriousness in the other’s tone, putting a kiss in return against Yoongi’s cheek and heading out of the room, down the stairs towards the kitchen. “Jin-hyung, we’re up!”

“You two were the last one to get up,” Jin laughed from the kitchen, popping his head around to look at the couple. “We were having bets on how many times you two had sex last night and how exhausted you were from it.”

It didn’t escape Jin how beetroot red Jungkook went in that moment, turning his gaze away from the older and spluttering over his words as he tried to find a response.
w
“Many, many times.” Yoongi smirked, standing beside Jungkook and snaking his hand around his waist. “But I made sure he was quiet for you all.”

A snort came from over by the couch, Taehyung lying flat out with his head on Jimin’s lap. “You two are never quiet, honestly I don’t know how you think you are. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when you can hear your best friend being rammed? It’s not easy, I can tell you that much. Ear plugs can only do so much.”

“T-Tae!” Jungkook squeaked over.

“Its how we know Yoongi is lying and our bet was you didn’t last night, because we didn’t hear anything. So, what’s the truth? Tae and I said zero, Hobi and Joonie said twice and Jin went all the way with four times. So, tell us!” Jimin demanded, looking over at the two with a serious glance.

“U-uh… we didn’t, not last night.” Jungkook confirmed, although his blush wasn’t fading, especially as the other two members of the maknae line exclaimed in excitement and high fived.

“Well, Namjoon and Hobi have gone out to get some food for us all because I don’t really want to cook tonight. So, I was thinking, something easy for lunch, a video game and movie day, and then pizza tonight? Does that sound good to everyone?”

“Uh… I was going to go to the gym later.” Jungkook smiled, hoping the older wasn’t going to argue with him. His hope was soon crushed.

“No you’re not, its your day off. You’re going to lie on the floor surrounded by blankets and pillows and turn into a hermit, or a burrito, whichever we prefer. You’re going to play overwatch with Taehyung and watch mjovies with us all night, there’s no getting out of this.”

Jungkook whined lightly, but didn’t bother to argue any more on the subject. He wasn’t going to win either way after all. Jin, especially on a day off, always got what he wanted. Even is Namjoon was the leader, Jin always won.

“Alright, then we’ll wait for the others to get back and then we’ll start bringing blankets and pillows down and making a fort. After all, we’ve deserved this day of relaxation.

“I’d rather go to the gym, Jin-hyung” Jungkook admitted, looking up at the others. Jin didn’t reply, simply giving him a glare instead.

Jungkook quickly relented, sitting down on the edge of the couch, face still beet red.

It wasn’t long before Namjoon and Hobi walked back in the dorm, armed with plastic bags filled with snacks and junk food to get them through the day. “We come baring gifts!” Hobi announced into the room, dumping his bag on the floor and grinning at the bags of chocolate, crisps, biscuits and sweets falling out on to the floor. “Time to get sugar high!”

“Can we watch horror movies?” Jungkook questioned, looking up at the others with a small smile. He knew not many of them liked horror movies after all, he was one of the only ones. Jimin tended to cry, Taehyung had nightmares for days, Yoongi found them boring and the others tended to just not care too much. But they also knew it was the maknae’s favourite movie genre.

“We’ll start with horror movies but we might change to something else later on, how’s that?” Namjoon bargained with a smile, ruffling the younger’s hair. Jungkook supposed that was probably the best bet, after all, that meant he could still have the horror movies he enjoyed, and not have to worry about the others getting nightmares if they could follow it up with something much safer afterwards.

“Can we start with Train To Busan?”

“Kook you know that makes Jimin cry.” Taehyung gasped in response.

“Exactly.”

“Yah! Bratty Maknae!” Jimin exclaimed, reaching over and hitting at Jungkook’s leg. It wasn’t a hard hit, but it was still enough to sting a little. Regardless, Jungkook just laughed, leaning back on Taehyung’s legs to trap him there.

“Train to Busan it is.” Jin smiled, walking over to the large TV and switching it on, changing the source for the DVD player and sliding the disk into the device.

They all got in to relative positions of comfort, Jimin already having grabbed a few blankets and dotting them around for the more scared members to hide behind during the movie, himself included. They’d decided against a burrito blanket fort for now, after all, they were more likely to just fall asleep if that happened, and that wasn’t the main goal of the day.

It was only half an hour into the movie that Jungkook began to doze off anyway, head resting on Yoongi’s shoulder, his entire body weight leaning against his older boyfriend in pure comfort. He felt so safe, even with the horror playing in front of him, so safe and warm and happy that he didn’t bother to try and stop it as his eyes began to pull closed.

“Come on, Kook,” Yoongi whispered with a smile, gently moving his shoulder a little to jolt the youngest. “You can’t go back to sleep when you’re the one who forced me to get up, that isn’t very fair is it?”

Jungkook gave a small whine, peeling his eyes back open and looking towards the TV again, completely unfazed by the gore and sadness.

“Awwww, aren’t you the cutest!” Hoseok cooed from the couch behind them, leaning forward and pinching at Jungkook’s cheek with a smile. “Yoongi-hyung, I’ve never known you to be so affectionate!”

“You know I have to kill you now, right?” Yoongi threatened, grinning when Hoseok squeaked and pulled away from the couple, pulling the blanket back over himself.

“Please don’t kill me, hyung.” Hobi replied from behind the blanket, causing Yoongi to just chuckle again.

“I won’t let him, don’t worry hyung.” Jungkook mumbled from Yoongi’s shoulder. “Although I do owe you a punch for hiding your relationship with my brother from me.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

“You know about that?”

“Yup.”

“Who told you?”

“Yoongi.”

Yoongi groaned a little as Jungkook told the rapper, hiding his face in the youngest’s hair as he felt Hoseok’s gaze on him.

“And…you’re okay with it?”

“Yeah. I’m not okay with it being hidden from me though. Especially since you were mad at us from hiding our relationship from you. A bit hypocritical, isn’t it?”

Hobi only sighed, looking down at the floor and avoiding Jungkook’s gaze.

Jin cleared his throat.

Taehyung shuffled a little bit, hiding his face in Jimin’s legs.

Jimin coughed.

Namjoon sighed.

The silence deafened them all.

“So…”

“So.”

“Your brother is really nice.”

“I know.”

“Jungkook please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not, but I do get to hit you for it.”

“That’s fair, I’ll accept that.”

Jungkook couldn’t help but smile a little then, reaching back and awkwardly punching at Hoseok’s knee with little force. Regardless, the older gasped like he’d been hit with a brick.

“Jungkookie! Ow!”

“Oh come on, don’t be a baby.”

“Says the baby!”

“Now now, children,” Jin scolded, opening up a bar of chocolate. “Don’t argue or you’ll both go in to time out.”

The silence they fell into then was more comfortable. Before too long, the movie ended, Taehyung and Jimin both having ended up in tears on several occasions during it.

Jungkook was still struggling to stay awake, slumped against Yoongi in a ball of warmth and comfort, even after his argument with Hoseok.

“I don’t think we should watch another horror movie, Jungkook’s barely awake. Maybe a comedy? Try and wake him up with something?” Namjoon addressed the room, grinning over at the youngest barely keeping his eyes open.

“Oh oh oh! There’s this great stand up comedian on Netflix, her special is called Elder Millenial, we should watch that!” Taehyung exclaimed, reaching over and grabbing the remote and switching the TV from the Dvd player to Netflix, quickly logging in to his account and going through to find the special in question. No-one argued the decision with him, and once the video was loaded, Yoongi nudged Jungkook again a little.

“Hey, wake up. If you’re going to go to sleep, go get your pillows and blankets so at least you can be comfortable, if you fall asleep like that you’re going to really fuck your neck up.”

Jungkook gave a groggy nod in response, climbing up to his feet and stumbling towards the stair case, thankful he knew the dorm so well he didn’t even need to see at this point. The raven made his way to Yoongi’s room, pushing the door open with his shoulder and gathering the pillows and blanket in his arms with ease. It wasn’t folded in any particular way, not done at all to make his life easier, simply gathered up before Jungkook began walking back out of the room.

He didn’t know why he was so exhausted, maybe it was everything from the past few months finally catching up with him, maybe he was getting sick. He hoped it was the former, he didn’t really have time to get sick at this point.

“Jungkook, hurry up, everyone’s waiting for you!” Jimin called from the couch towards the stairs, hoping the youngest hadn’t just climbed onto the bed and fallen back asleep.

“I’m coming!” Jungkook called back, making his way back to the stairs and carefully making his way down them.

One step, two steps, three steps…then his foot caught, getting tangled in the edge of the blanket that dangled in front of him. The youngest barely had time to yelp before he was tumbling head first, rolling over onto his head before ending at the bottom of the stairs face down, groaning slightly in the pain that throbbed through his entire body, right arm pressed under his weight against the edge of the bottom stair.

“Jungkook!” The faded exclaimation came filtering through Jungkook’s limited consciousness, a presence now making its way beside him. “Kook, are you alright?” It was Jin, trying to get his attention in the gentle way he did. “That sounded like a painful fall, talk to me.”

Jungkook simply gave a groan, every bone in his body aching from the jolt as he slowly pushed himself upright.

Or, at least, he tried to, the sharp, shooting pain that blanked out his senses causing a scream to rip from his throat as he fell back down onto his front.

“Oh, oh shit, okay, don’t move.” Jin tried to calm him, sliding his strong arm under Jungkook’s chest and carefully lifting him to be upright instead of letting the maknae do it himself. Thankfully, despite rolling over as he tripped, Jungkook’s face and head didn’t seem to be harmed. Maybe a little tender, but no blood or obvious goose eggs as of yet.

However, the maknae held his right arm close to his chest, breathing fast and pained as he cradled it.

“Jungkook, I need to see your arm, okay? I’ll do my best not to hurt you.” By now, Yoongi and Namjoon had hurried over to join them, Yoongi threading his fingers through Jungkook’s hair in an attempt to soothe him as the youngest slowly let go of his arm and let Jin tenderly take hold of it.

The limb had already began to swell, bruises already forming.

“Kook, your arm is broken. We’re going to have to go up to the hospital.”

Jungkook simply whined a little at the thought, leaning against Namjoon in retaliation. “Don’t want to, spend too much time at the hospital now. It’ll be fine, it will heal. Let’s just bandage it.”

“Jungkook.” Jin warned with a frown, his face holding a no nonsense grimice. “I know you don’t like it, but your arm is broken, you need to get it checked out. I’m not convinced you’ve not hit your head too hard either. We’re going. Come on, just you and me will go, so the others can continue their day off, will that make you feel better?”

Jungkook thought for a second, before giving a little nod.

Going to the hospital wasn’t great, but at least he wasn’t dragging everyone away from their day off at the same time.

“This time of day it shouldn’t be too busy anyway, we’ll only be a little while, it’ll be fine. Come on.”

Yoongi opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off as Jungkook carefully got to his feet, shaking his head at his boyfriend. “No, Yoon, stay here. Enjoy your day off. I’ll be okay, yeah? Its just my arm, it’s not like I’m dying. I’ll be fine, I promise you. I’m okay.”

Yoongi went to argue again, but stopped himself, giving a small nod instead.

“Alright. I’m not happy about it, but alright. Promise to text me if you change your mind? I’ll come straight up if you want me to.”

“I promise, but we’ll be fine.”

“I’ll give you all updates as we go,” Jin confirmed, grabbing Jungkook’s coat and draping it over his shoulders so he was still protected a little from the elements, but his arm wasn’t disturbed before Jin put his own on. “Stay here, eat, have fun, relax. We’ll be back soon.”

With that said, Jin took hold of Jungkook around the waist, and pulled him out of the dorm.

———

True to his word, Jin and Jungkook were not gone for long. They’d finished the comedy special that Taehyung had wanted to watch, then had watched another by the same comedian, before going on to watch Gabriel Iglesias afterwards. Not long after that third one had finished, the dorm door opened, Jin leading a very shaky Jungkook in with a cast on his arm.

“We’re back,” Jin announced to the room as he entered, keeping hold of Jungkook’s waist.

He’d updated them as they were going through the process of getting Jungkook checked out through a group chat they’d made, so the members knew what had happened, even without seeing the tear tracks down Jungkook’s puffy cheeks.

The bone had indeed broken, snapped painfully but cleanly. Despite how clean the break had been however, they had to push the bone back in to place before casting it up, which had been incredibly painful for their maknae, the already tender limb having gone through such a painful push against it.

Thankfully, the hospital had pumped him full of painkillers before and after the small procedure, so Jungkook hadn’t suffered as much as he could have. But their maknae was very, very high from the drugs having been pumped in to him.

“Hey Kookie,” Taehyung called, grabbing the youngest’s attention with his soft and deep voice. “How’re you feeling?”

“Sleepy,” Was Jungkook’s simple reply as he was helped down by Jin onto the floor next to the couch, where Yoongi quickly shuffled over, allowing the youngest to lean on him with his good side.

“I bet, I bet you’re feeling pretty floaty right now, huh?” Taehyung smiled, reaching down from his spot on the couch and gently ruffling his hair. “You’re a trouble magnet, you know that? Of course you’d fall down the stairs and break your arm on our day off. You can do back breaking stunts, hang from wires during a performance, do backflips, but walking down the stairs? Nope, that’s too much.”

Jungkook gave a sleepy, weak chuckle at the words, resting his head down on Yoongi’s shoulder. “Floating.”

“You feel like you’re floating?” Yoongi attempted to confirm, and when Jungkook nodded against him, Yoongi grinned. “I bet that’s fun.”

“I don’t like it.” Jungkook whined, reaching over and clinging on to Yoongi’s shirt with his good hand.

“I bet you don’t, we’re going to order pizza soon. Maybe you should have something to eat, help the drugs get out of your system.” The older offered, resting his head down on the top of Jungkook’s, attempting to give him as much affection as he could. Even with the other’s judging him, he couldn’t bring himself to care. After all, his boyfriend was hurt, he had to make him feel better any way he could, even if it was by getting rid of his pride and comforting the younger with soft kisses, nuzzles and cuddles.

“Don’t wanna eat, feel sick.”

“You feel sick because of the painkillers, you have to eat though Kook, I’m sorry. You have no choice here.”

“Alright.”

The rest of the night was spent eating pizza, Jungkook managing one slice before he fell sound asleep against his boyfriend, crust still held in his hand.

If the others had taken pictures of the adorable scene, they’d deny it once Jungkook felt better.

Chapter Text

It was probably a mean thing to do.

Jungkook was still recovering from his broken arm, and because of the severity of the break, he’d been told he had to sit out of everything.

No dance practices, no vocal practices, no interviews, no performances. He wasn’t allowed to do anything.

The others knew it was just to try and make sure Jungkook’s arm healed quickly, after all, it wouldn’t be good if he hurt it again, it would just put him out of commission for longer. Jungkook argued he could still sing, he could still do interviews, but BigHit had decided to play it safe and keep him homebound.

And the youngest was hating it.

He’d spent the last two weeks sulking. After the strong painkillers had worn off and he’d just ended up on regular over the counter medications, Jungkook had gone from feeling happy, comfortable and floaty to miserable and depressed. They tried to lift him up, tried to make him feel better, but it wasn’t seeming to have any effect. He watched as the others left every day to go and do their schedules, sat and waited for them to come back, there was only so many times he could watch the same movies, the same youtube videos, he’d strayed over to the weird side of youtube one too many times when he’d found a video ‘proving’ his relationship with Yoongi.

He’d closed that pretty quickly.

He’d attempted to spend the time the others were away exercising where he wouldn’t get caught, but when Jin had come home early to check on him and he’d been caught trying to do one armed push ups, the others had made sure to put a stop to that too.

Jungkook felt like he was vegetating, and it was driving him absolutely crazy.

So of course, Hoseok decided they would have to cheer him up some how, even if the prank was going to be a little… mean.

“Why are you being such an asshole?!”

It was getting towards early evening in the dorm, the boys had all just finished the meal Jin had cooked for them, and Hoseok had excused himself to have a phone call with Junghyun.

The others were in on his plan, at least, everyone but Jungkook was.

“What do you mean its my own fault?! You’re the one being a dick! I knew you were only in to me for my money! Is being the older brother of a star not enough, you have to fuck one too?! Such a gold digger!!”

Jungkook quickly looked up at the noise of Hoseok shouting, brow furrowing as he realised it was his brother that the older was on the phone to.

Quickly climbing to his feet, Jungkook hurried to the stairs and took them two at a time, heading towards Hoseok’s room despite the calls from the others trying to stop him.

“Hyung! What’s going on?” Jungkook shouted through the closed door, but either Hoseok didn’t hear him or had chosen to ignore him. So, knocking against the door and trying to get the others attention, Jungkook pushed it open.

“Oh I see, I see how it is! Fine! We’re through! Say goodbye to me and your brother!” With the last shout, Hoseok hung up the phone, throwing it on to his bed.

If Hoseok had smirked a little in his attempt to not laugh at the ‘prank’ he was pulling, Jungkook hadn’t seen it.

“H-Hyung…?” Jungkook called, trying to ignore the tears that were forming in his eyes. His brother and one of his best friends were arguing. He knew this was why they had tried to hide their relationship from him in the first place, so he wasn’t trapped in the middle of them, but either way it had hurt. “Were you just…using me as ammunition against my brother?”

“He’s been using us, Jungkook!” Hoseok insisted, pointing accusingly at the phone on the bed. “He’s only in to me for the money! He’s asked me about my income one too many times!”

“N-no, my brother isn’t like that…!” Jungkook tried.

“Don’t defend him! Wow! I knew you’d take his side!”

“I-I’m not taking sides…!”

Hoseok just huffed, turning his back on the younger and covering his mouth. He knew it was looking like he was crying a little, but that just helped sell it.

The brief thought crossed his mind that maybe this was a little too mean, but… oh well? It would get a laugh out of Jungkook, it had to. It would be fine, a little bit of drama and a little giggle would make everything loads better.

To: Jungkook
From: Junghyun
Message: Your friend is an asshole, sorry I won’t visit you again. I don’t want to see his face again.

When Jungkook read the message from his brother, the tears really did fall, the youngest sniffling and wiping at his eyes in an attempt to stop them. But if anything, that just dislodged more of them, the tears trailing down his cheeks with ease.

“N-no, no Kook, don’t cry…” Hoseok tried as he turned around, taking a few steps towards the youngest. Ready to come clean already. Originally they were going to keep the prank going for longer, but he hadn’t expected Jungkook to get quite so upset.

But Jungkook flinched away, turning his back on his hyung. “Y-you didn’t have to yell at him so much…”

“Kook, Kook its okay.”

Within seconds, Yoongi and Namjoon had appeared in the doorway, frowning in. Yoongi had warned the younger that the prank may be a little too much, but the others had convinced him that it would be fine, that nothing bad would happen and Jungkook would definitely see the funny side of it.

“Kook, it was just a prank, we’re fine. Your brother and I are fine.”

“…What do you mean it was a prank?” Jungkook whispered, not looking up to meet Hoseok’s gaze.

“You’ve just been so sad and bored, me and your brother thought we’d spice it up a little bit and give you some drama! He was in on the whole thing. Honestly, while I was yelling at him he was in tears of laughter, not tears of sadness. We’re fine! Promise!”

Jungkook stayed silent for several moments, before taking a step forward and slapping Hoseok hard in the face with his good hand. The room stood in shocked silence, Hoseok barely knocked over by the hit but his cheek steadily turning an angry red tone.

“Y-You’re all assholes.” Jungkook mumbled, before turning and hurrying down the stairs, jumping down the last few. The others who remained in the living room looked over with wide eyes, guilt written all over their faced. They knew, they all knew.

Jungkook opened the dorm door, and stormed out.

————

He didn’t really know why he was so angry. But Jungkook’s heart raced in his chest, so strongly he could feel the pulse in his neck throbbing as his hands shook. As he left the building, Jungkook groaned as he noticed it was raining outside. Of course it was, and he’d left his jacket back in the dorm, but Jungkook didn’t have the energy to go back and get it. It was fine, he’d be fine.

Not wasting a moment to look back to see if he was being followed, Jungkook walked outside, instantly giving a shiver as the cold rain water slipped down his back.

He was angry, so so angry. He got it, they were trying to prank him, trying to cheer him up, but that wasn’t… It wasn’t funny.

He and his brother were always so protective of each other, he was so careful about people not thinking his brother was a horrible person despite his anger issues, he’d been so worried about Hoseok hurting him, so worried about him hurting Hoseok, and they’d taken that and thrown it back in his face. Both of them. His brother was in on it. His boyfriend was in on it. They were all assholes. All of them.

How could they find this funny? How could he find it funny to hear Hoseok screaming at his brother that he was a golddigger? It just didn’t make sense.

Jungkook’s phone was going wild in his pocket, but Jungkook chose to ignore it. He didn’t want to talk to them. He didn’t want to see any of them.

It wasn’t fair, it was cruel.

Sniffling, Jungkook lifted his good arm and wiped at his face. If anyone saw him, walking in the heavy rain without a coat, right arm in a thick cast, bones trembling from the cold, they would think he was insane. They’d probably be right, but at least with the rain he could pretend he was clearing his eyes from that and not tears that continued to fall.

More buzzing distracted the maknae, but still he ignored his phone. They’d made their bed, they could lie in it, he could find someone else to stay with for the night. He didn’t want to see them. He didn’t care.

His broken arm was beginning to throb though, the cold from the night air and the rain around him quickly causing the injured limb to swell uncomfortable, the cold settling into his bones and causing them to ache.

He soon found himself in a park, thankfully mostly empty due to the foul weather.

In fact, he didn’t think he’d seen another human outside since he left. Everyone was being smart, avoiding the cold air and heavy rain. But it just meant he could be alone.

Putting himself down on a bench, not even noticing how soaked both he and the wood he sat on was, Jungkook took a few deep breaths to try and settling himself down.

To: Jungkook
From: Yoongi
Message: I’m sorry, please come home. You’re going to catch your death.

The message from his boyfriend did nothing to change his mind. Either way, he was still upset with them. Yoongi was in on it, in on the cruel prank that had scared the shit out of him.

To: Jungkook
From: Junghyun
Message: Dude, calm down. Its okay, we’re not really fighting. We didn’t mean to upset you. I promise.

To: Junghyun
From: Jungkook
Message: Go fuck yourself.

Putting his phone away, ignoring the fact his missed calls were in the double digits already, Jungkook made the decision to turn the device off. He’d come back when he was good and ready, he just had to go and find someone else to stay with.

But then it clicked. He couldn’t really go and stay with another idol group, he’d just be overstaying his welcome and that wasn’t right. He didn’t want to do that to them, when everyone was so incredibly busy this time of year with comebacks and schedules.

Well, everyone apart from him.

But Byeol was around. His brother’s best friend, who had practically helped raise him along with Junghyun. They’d been best friends their entire life, and despite living in two different parts of the country, they still stayed close.

Byeol was practically another one of his brothers. He’d understand.

He wasn’t biased either, he’d quite happily call Junghyun an idiot without a second thought.

And thankfully for the youngest, Byeol didn’t live too far away at all. A half hour walk, maybe, at most? Either way, he could make it without any issue.

So, getting up from his spot on the bench, Jungkook started to walk.

—————

Yoongi was beside himself with worry, pacing back and forth in the living area of their dorm.

“Yoongi, sit down. You need to sit down and breathe. It’s okay. He’s going to be okay.” Namjoon tried to reassure his best friend, but it didn’t appear to work.

“It’s not okay, I told you it was too harsh, I told you he wouldn’t enjoy it, and now he’s ran off without a coat in this weather! He’s ignoring my text, he’s ignored every phone call from all of us, the only person he replied to was Junghyun and even then it was just swearing at him! How could we think this was okay? How did we think this would make him feel any better?”

Hoseok looked down at his feet in shame. “I thought he’d see the funny side of it, hyung.”

“I warned you he wouldn’t.” Yoongi huffed, glaring towards the younger.

“Don’t take this out on him, Yoongi, all of us decided to pull a prank on him, we’re all at fault. I guess we didn’t realise how bad of a place this being stationary is making Jungkook, we didn’t realise he wouldn’t find it funny. That doesn’t make it okay, but it does mean that you can’t put all the blame on Hoseok.” Jin scolded the other, glaring back at him.

“Thats all well and good, but he’s going to get sick being out there for too long. I’m going to call him again. He’s got to pick up at some point. He can’t ignore us forever.”

Taking his phone back from his pocket, Yoongi opened up his recent calls and clicked on Jungkook’s name once again, ignoring the (6) next to his name that showed the other hadn’t picked up the past six times, and put the phone back to his ear.

It didn’t even ring, simply telling him in an automated, happy voice that ‘this person’s phone is switched off.’

Yoongi put his phone down, trying to blink back the tears of worry and fear that were forming. “He’s turned his phone off.”

Namjoon sighed, rubbing at his head to will away the headache beginning to form between his eyes.

“He’ll show up, he has to. Just… try to relax. If he’s not back and we haven’t heard from him in an hour, we’ll go looking for him.”

Yoongi wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed regardless.

—————

“Jungkook?” Byeol greeted as he opened his apartment door, frowning at the drenched idol shivering in his doorway. He hadn’t seen the younger in months, he hadn’t had time between his Uni work and Jungkook’s promotions, but it didn’t escape his notice that Jungkook was pale, upset, and had a cast over his arm. Stepping out of the way, Byeol beckoned his brother figure in.

“What’s going on, kid?”

“M-my brother is an asshole.” Jungkook sniffled, wiping at his face while Byeol went to a nearby cupboard, pulling out a towel and throwing it at the boy, who took it and started rubbing at his hair, quickly making it fluffy and stand on end.

“I know that, but do you wanna tell me why?”

Jungkook simply shook his head. “Can I stay with you tonight?”

The blue haired boy simply frowned.

“Yeah, sure, do the others know you’re here?”

Jungkook hesitated.

“I’ll take that as a no. You have to tell them, or they’ll be starting a nationwide search for you in case you’ve been kidnapped.”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t now, but you will later. Tell them.”

When Jungkook shook his head, Byeol gave an irritated sigh but dropped the matter, throwing himself down on the couch and clicking play on the TV show he’d been marathonning.

Jungkook soon found himself next to Byeol, curled up in a ball and using the towel as kind of a blanket.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Jungkook only half paying attention to the romantic drama playing on Byeol’s TV. He didn’t really care for it, but at least it was taking his mind off the ‘hilarious’ prank his group had played on him.

“They… they pranked me.” Jungkook mumbled, half hoping he’d spoken so quietly that the older hadn’t heard him. That hope didn’t come true.

“They did? Was it bad?”

“Hyung, my brother and Hoseok are dating. They hid it from me because they didn’t want me to get caught in the middle, then pretended to have a horrible argument where they were screaming at each other through the phone. How did they expect me to find that funny? I was terrified. I don’t want to lose Hoseok as a friend, he was using me as ammunition against my brother. I don’t care that it was faked and planned, they all knew and they all thought it was a good idea to try and cheer me up. It didn’t work. It was bullshit and I don’t want to see them any more.”

Byeol gave a small sigh, resting his head back.

“You’re not wrong when you say Junghyun is an asshole, huh? He was in on it too?”

When Jungkook gave a sniffly nod, Byeol leant over, wrapping his arm around the kid he’d literally watched grow up over the past 20 years.

“Look, it was cruel. I know it was cruel and I know it sucks… but I kinda see where they were coming from. They were just trying to help. Yeah? Their method might have been screwed, but their motivation was in the right place. I’m sure if you talk to them, they’ll apologise to you.”

“I don’t want them too, I don’t want to see them.”

Giving another sigh, Byeol quickly realised that this wasn’t going to be fixed that night. “I don’t have a spare bed, but youre free to crash on the couch. I definitely have spare blankets and spare pillows. Just don’t hurt yourself, okay? Don’t think I didn’t notice that broken arm of yours.”

“Fell down the stairs.”

“Clumsy fucker, and you call yourself a dancer.”

Jungkook couldn’t help but give a choked laugh at that, forcing a smile from his teary, puffy face.

“There you go. I’m better at cheering you up than they are, that’s bad. I’m just going to go to my room for a few minutes, feel free to put what you want on the TV.”

When Byeol stood and left, he took a quick glance back at the young idol, smiling as he watched him reach over for the remote and turn the drama off.

Closing the door to his bedroom, Byeol took out his phone and called his best friend, lovingly named ‘Assface’ in his phone.

“Junghyun, hey,” Byeol greeted with a sigh.

“I don’t really have time to talk right now, Byeol, Kook ran away because of a stupid prank and now he’s not answering any of us and we’re panicking a little. Can I call you back?”

“No, you can’t.” Byeol smiled. “He’s with me, he’s safe. He walked to my place in the rain it looks like, but he’s crashing on my couch tonight. It’s probably a good idea for you to tell the others.”

He could practically hear Hyun relax through the phone, feel the sigh of relief flow through him. “Oh thank fucking god.” The other replied. “It was dumb and now I feel bad. I don’t like feeling bad, he should have just…taken the joke.”

“But he didn’t take the joke, you guys all played on his insecurities and it was a cruel thing to do. You understand why he’s so pissed off with you all, right?” Byeol frowned, scolding his best friend in a way only he was able to.

“Yeah, I understand why he’s pissed at us. I’m going to tell the others, they’ll be happy to know he’s safe… they’re probably going to want to come and see him though.”

“No,” Byeol’s tone was stern. “They’re not coming to see him, not tonight. Kook keeps crying and I don’t think seeing them right now will do him any good any way. Maybe in the morning will be better. If they turn up at my front door I’ll sue you for giving out my address and I’ll sue them for trespassing.”

A small sigh escaped the oldest Jeon, but Byeol knew he had won. “Alright, got it. I’ll tell them he’s with you but I won’t tell them where that is so they don’t come to get him. Look after him and they’ll probably be over to pick him up in the morning.”

“Got it. See you later, and try to be less of an asshole.”

“Got it.”

———

“What do you mean he’s at your friend’s house?” Hoseok’s voice was loud in the silent dorm room, each and every remaining member pacing around, trying to keep their composure while their youngest was missing. “Well tell us where and we’ll go and get him!”

Yoongi glanced up from his spot on the couch at the younger’s words, heart swelling a little in hope that Jungkook was okay, that he was safe and out of such awful weather.

“Junghyun you can’t tell me something like that then not tell us how to get him! I don’t care if he wants to stay there for the night, Jungkook belongs here with us!”

Jin flinched a little from Hoseok’s raised tone, what had started off as a joking prank argument was now turning into the new couple actually arguing.

“We can too force him to come home! He’s our maknae! We’re not waiting until morning to apologise to him for all of this!”

With those words, Namjoon had decided he’d heard enough of the argument, walking over and placing his hand on Hoseok’s shoulder with a shake of his head, telling him to back down and taking the phone from the rapper.

“Junghyun-hyung, hey, care to explain?” Namjoon asked, his tone calm as he turned away from Hoseok to ignore the disgruntled look on the other’s face.

‘My friend lives nearby,’ Junghyun sighed through the phone. ‘Nearby to you guys, not me. Jungkook is safe with him, I promise. Me and Byeol have been friends since we could talk, he’s been like a second big brother to Jungkook since he was born. Literally been there his whole life. Jungkook went to his, but Byeol demanded we give them space because Kook doesn’t want to see you guys right now. He’s legitimately threatened to sue us all if you turn up tonight, so I told him you’ll be over in the morning for him. Try to get some rest, okay? He’s safe and he’ll be fine, Byeol will look after him.’

Namjoon simply let out a sigh before nodding, thanking Junghyun, and hanging up the call, giving Hoseok his phone back before finally addressing the rest of the room.

“Jungkook is safe, he’s at one of his brother’s friends called Byeol, but he won’t tell us where that is until tomorrow morning. From what he’s said, Jungkook doesn’t want to see us right now, and this Byeol person seems very protective of our maknae. But…we know he’s safe, we know he’s okay… let’s just all go to bed and go get him in the morning, okay? Everything will be better in the morning.”

After Namjoon had finished, various members began to slowly get up from where they’d dumped themselves during the search for their maknae, dragging themselves through to their bedrooms. Yoongi dragged his feet, not quite prepared to go to bed without knowing exactly where his boyfriend was, but regardless, he did as their leader told him, going to his room and lying down on the large bed waiting for him.

The bed that felt far too cold without Jungkook climbing in too, the bed that felt far too big without him stupidly tall boyfriend taking up so much space.

Grabbing his phone, Yoongi tried again to call the youngest, just hoping that he wouldn’t be ignored.

It rang…and rang…and rang… until finally, the connection clicked, and it wasn’t because Jungkook had let it ring out, or had rejected the call, he had answered it.

“Jungkook, thank god…” Yoongi kept his voice quiet, not wanting the others to know he’d managed to get through to him. “Kook, I’m so so sorry, I knew you wouldn’t like the prank but I gave up too soon in convincing them not to do it. I’m so sorry I didn’t stop them. Are you okay? Are you warm? Are you safe? How’s your arm?”

Jungkook remained silent for a moment, before letting out a small chuckle. “I’m okay, hyung, calm down. I’m still mad at all of you, but I’m okay. You’re the one I’m least mad at if that helps you feel any better.”

“What would make me feel better would be my bed not being so spacious and so cold right now. I miss you already and you’ve not even been gone that long.”

“Ew, hyung, since when were you so loving and gushy and sentimental? It doesn’t suit you you know.”

Yoongi let out a small chuckle at that, pulling a spare cushion closer towards him. “Yeah well, don’t get used to it. It won’t last.”

“I’m going to go to sleep now, hyung, okay?” Jungkook mumbled, and although Yoongi wanted to keep talking to the youngest, to keep all the interaction he craved so much close by when Jungkook had run off on them, he could hear the exhaustion in the younger’s voice. He could hear the way Jungkook kept sniffling as if he was coming down with a cold.

“Alright, Kook, go to sleep. We’re going to come and get you in the morning, okay? Rest well. I love you.”

Then Yoongi hung up, closed his eyes, and willed sleep to come to him fast.

———

Sleep never came for the oldest rapper, he stayed lying in his bed, tossing and turning throughout the night. He couldn’t help but focus on how wrong the dorm felt without Jungkook in it, how quiet the room was without his boyfriend breathing deeply beside him in sleep.

It felt too wrong, and his brain wouldn’t shut off from focusing on it.

“Yoon-hyung, time to get up.” Jimin called softly, knocking on the door before pushing it open. The young singer froze with wide eyes when he saw Yoongi already awake and beginning to sit up, bags deep below his eyes. It wasn’t a secret that Yoongi and Jungkook both were terrible at waking up in the morning, so the fact the other was already up shook Jimin. “Did you sleep at all, hyung?”

When Yoongi shook his head, Jimin gave a small, sympathetic smile. “We’re leaving to get Jungkook soon, Hoseok-hyung is trying to get the address out of Junghyun-hyung now. Try to sleep once we all get back, okay?”

Yoongi said nothing, but Jimin got the message and left the rapper alone again.

Taking a deep breath to swallow down the sleepless nausea, Yoongi got to his feet and quickly got changed into fresher clothes, flooding his body with deodorant due to the lack of energy to take an actual shower just yet, and headed out into the main room to wait for the others.

Hoseok was stood by the breakfast bar, looking at his phone with Jin who was typing something into his own phone. Presumably the address of wherever Junghyun’s friend was. Namjoon was sat on the couch, barely awake himself while Jimin and Taehyung sat at the other end, engrossed in a video on the older of the two’s phone.

Even still, the gap left by Jungkook not being there was so obvious.

Jin looked up as he heard Yoongi enter, giving a small smile to the other. “Morning, Yoon. Now everyone is up and we have the address, lets go pick up Jungkook, we have some apologies to make after all.”

No-one really answered, but everyone did begin to make their way to the front door in silence, piling in to the large people carrier that Jin owned purely for when they all needed to go somewhere for anything other than a schedule where their manager took them.

Yoongi sat in the very back by himself, saving the space beside him for when Jungkook joined them again.

The drive was short, only a few minutes, and when they arrived Yoongi immediately noticed a tall man with bright blue hair stood beside their maknae. Must be this Byeol guy who was Junghyun’s best friend.

Regardless, Yoongi got out of the car and hurried to where Jungkook stood, quickly wrapping the younger in a hug and carding his fingers through Jungkook’s hair.

“I missed you.”

Jungkook simply chuckled lightly, hugging Yoongi back. “I was only gone for one night.”

“I’m sorry everyone upset you.”

“I won’t say it’s okay, because its not, but your apology has been accepted. Don’t worry too much, hyung.”

The journey back was a blur of movement and apologies, but Yoongi barely focused on any of it. He barely let go of Jungkook, having hold of him in a hug, or clinging on to his hand, or his shirt, at all times. When they were ferried back into the car to go back to the dorm, Yoongi insisted Jungkook sit in the back with him.

If the others were concerned or amused by his clinginess, none of them mentioned it.

Before Yoongi knew it, they were back at the dorm, and the rapper was being pulled by Jungkook towards his bedroom.

“Hyung you look dead on your feet, go take a nap.” Jungkook chuckled. Although the youngest did still seem a little upset about what had happened, he didn’t appear to be holding a grudge at least. Staying with Byeol must have helped.

“Nap with me? You had a long night.”

“Hyung…” Jungkook sighed, looking away a little from his boyfriend before Yoongi reached up, taking hold of Jungkook’s chin with such delicate soft fingers and pulling him to look at him again.

“Just a nap, okay? Please. The room feels weird without you there.”

A blush flushed Jungkook’s cheeks, but the youngest said nothing about it, simply leaning down a little and kissing Yoongi deeply.

“Alright, just a nap.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Chapter Text

Hey guys! Long time no see!

Okay, so, with this oneshot collection, I ended up kind of writing myself into a corner.

Because of the way I linked them and had them all happening in the same universe and things from others being so closely linked and referenced, it was difficult to continue without having Jungkook literally be tortured and risk dying because of everything that was happening to him.

Because of this and how much I began struggling with this, seriously its been a year since I've managed to update this, I'm now closing this oneshot compilation off.

They'll be another one soon, that will also have recommendations, so keep an eye on my page if thats something you want! But that one is going to be far less linked and far more stand alone oneshots. Unfortunately because its been so long, this also means that recommendations that were pending on this particular compilation are also going to be dropped. I know a lot of the people will probably no longer read it, no longer come back to it, and I don't really want to write stuff that people no longer want and will no longer see.

That's pretty much it, it's everything I wanted to say<3 Once I've started the new compilation, I may edit this update and post a link to it, but for now, thank you for all the support over the chapters I did do in this, I appreciate each and every comment, and this story is the most popular one I ever did.

Thank you<3