Color of My Pain

33| Weathering Together

When Hoseok awoke he was in a bed, he could feel the weird hospital gown on his skin and heard distantly the sounds of any hospital. He blinked a few times before he sat up, the blankets tangling and twisting. The blinds on the window were shut and the door closed. The curtain to the outside window were drawn. There was another bed next to his, a slight figure resting beneath their own coverlet.

Yoongi.

He could feel it.

He wanted to know everything. Where he'd been, what he'd done to seemingly disconnect their nerves, and what was happening now.

He felt his chest heaving with sobs as he freed himself of his covers, walking unsteadily over to Yoongi. He slipped beneath the covers and held Yoongi in his arms. Whole, breathing, here.

The next time he woke up, Yoongi was sitting upright, stroking his hair and nodding. Someone was speaking. His throat was dry.

"Because of that you're families won't be able to visit you until you're both cleared. When he wakes up, please tell him his mother is alright."

Yoongi agreed softly and the door clicked shut.

Hoseok yawned, stretching his arm out across Yoongi's lap before looking up. "What happened to my mom?"

"She's okay, she didn't get infected. But we both have it." Yoongi's eyes were filling with tears.

"Have what?"

"I'm sorry, this is my fault, I shouldn't have blocked you out."

"Hey, hey we're okay, you're alright. What's going on?"

"Its a weird soulmate disease thing. The name's really old and long i can't pronounce it. I think they taught about it in History class? But when soulmates like, you were me and I was you? That's bad for our bodies, and it leaves us with this weird virus thing. And its contagious through touch, which is why they were worried for your mom."

He recalled learning about something like that himself, sort of like the Black Death or the plague it had wiped out scores of people in the dark ages. It hadn't been recorded in centuries so it was thought to be an eradicated disease. "But nobodies had that for like centuries?"

"They keep it really quiet since they don't know how to treat it." Yoongi bit the inside of his mouth. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel like my arms and stuff are heavy and I'm thirsty. How are you feeling?"

"I have a fever and I'm a little tired."

Hoseok opened his arms, "Come here," and waited for Yoongi to lay next to him, "we'll be alright."

He kissed his forehead and watched as Yoongi's eyes drooped closed, heavy with tears and sleep.

Yoongi shook him awake, his face was drawn and pale. "They brought in lunch for us,"

Hoseok sat up noting the backpack on the floor and the roll table that held two trays of food.

"Did you come from school?" He wondered, helping balance the trays while Yoongi crawled back under the covers. He seemed to be shaky on his feet.

"Ah, no, I was doing research." Yoongi frowned. "I snuck into my dad's a few days ago, I stole some of his papers."

"Are you crazy?! What if he'd been home? Yoongi you could've been hurt!" Hoseok reached out gripping Yoongi's shoulder, struck with an insane and overwhelming fear.

"I knew he wasn't home, I was okay." Yoongi rested his hand atop Seok's smiling reassuringly. "I found out who his soulmate was... and what happened to separate them and change my dad."

"You found your dad's soulmate?"

"Yes, he's Jin's uncle."

"He? UNCLE? You mean MinHyuk!!!"

"Yea, he's the one who brought me to the hospital."