Still With You | JK ff

Chapter 17 - Face-off!

Some silences are heavy, too charged with breaths that are drawn to form words yet released without them. You could almost hear the words forming, them twisting and turning both in your mind and Jungkook's, and struggling to scramble out of your lips, yet remain discarded on your tongues, only for your mind to pick at another string of words and fidget with them restlessly. Endlessly.

You could feel his eyes wandering towards you every few minutes, searching over you helplessly before turning them back towards the road as he drove, afraid to be caught staring. But you caught him anyway, because how could you not? You could sense his nerves buzzing under your own skin, leaving your own worry a mere afterthought.

His fingers were locked in between yours, just as they had been when you had woken up in the morning in a cocoon of blankets, your limbs entangled with each other's like two inseparable pieces of magnets. As you had shifted and rolled around on the bed during the night in your sleep, Jungkook had moved with you, subconsciously finding you in the dark before moving close enough where he could feel you. He hadn't let your hand go for too long since, only reluctantly, when you both had to change into decent clothes before leaving his house and when he had to be pushed out of the bathroom of your own apartment when you wanted to take a shower and get dressed. He was now driving you to the Hybe office, your hands clasped together in his lap, while he drummed the fingers of his other hand nervously on the steering wheel.

On any other day such as this, panic and anxiety would have overtaken your senses, claiming ownership of your body, leaving you incapable of functioning even barely. But you felt oddly calm, and quietly determined today, leaving any traces of that self-deprecating voice in your head just a dull murmur muffled under Jungkook's words from last night that still seemed to echo in your ears. 'It's us against the world,' he had said, his earnest eyes glistening with intensity, imprinted into your mind. He had proclaimed unhesitatingly that he wouldn't let you go, but he wasn't sure if you would do the same. Knowing how he ached for some normalcy and companionship, the realization tore your heart into pieces and put your whole world into perspective. Suddenly your own apprehension didn't seem as important because his fear trumped your own. You felt this desperate need to comfort him, to convey to him that his heart was safe and cared for, that you wouldn't resent him for things that were as little in his control as they were in yours. You had to show him that you weren't going anywhere, leaving him stranded, because he had begun to become your home, the antidote to your venomous mind, and your strength. Of course, no matter how naturally you felt you fit with each other effortlessly, there would always be naysayers, people on his side of the world, and perhaps sometimes even on yours, to remind you that you didn't belong with him, that you were an alien who had managed to cross over the forbidden bridge. Today, quite possibly, it was going to be Mr. Bang. But the fact didn't faze you as much as it ought to have, not with Jungkook by your side. You'd happily take a few punches to the throat unflinchingly if it meant his peace of mind.

"You're doing that thing that I do, aren't you?" you decided to address the elephant in the room, lifting your hand from his thigh to tickle his belly just a little.

He huffed out a stressed breath for a laugh before pulling your hand away from his stomach and up to his mouth to peck gently on your knuckles. "It's hard being you, I don't know how you do it."

"Well it takes years of practice, it's not for everyone," you flicked the hair over your shoulder dramatically, to make him laugh. "You don't have to be me you know, even I don't want to be me," you nudged him, "Just talk to me."

"Oh um, nothing really. I was just thinking you should have definitely worn my clothes today, to send a message," he spoke with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes, as he remained fixated on the road ahead.