In the Dead of Winter || •PJM• ✔️

As the Time Ticks Away

A/N: Daddy? Sorry. Daddy? Sorry.

DISRESPECT ME PLEASE WOOF WOOF BARK BARK WOOOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF BARK

~~~

Day 830

The nurse's office is crowded today.

Jungkook pretends everything's okay. He pretends he doesn't have Min Yoongi in front of him, holding a startled Ves by the arm and shoving him forward slightly. Jungkook pretends Taehyung isn't there too, his arms crossed over his chest. And most importantly, he pretends Ves isn't keeping his face as neutral as possible. Like he's hiding something.

"Is there something I should know about?" he asks.

Time has gone exceedingly slow these past couple weeks. Jimin's recovery is still coming along. He started physical therapy, Katherine handling a lot of that and helping him walk and live with his injury. It's been 3 whole weeks since his injury, after all. About 24 days, so they should start working on getting him moving at least a little. He won't be fully recovered for a bit, but it's worth a try to get him in therapy.

"Ves is obnoxious," Yoongi says.

"Obviously, tell me something I don't know."

Ves whacks Jungkook, and he grunts. Yoongi seems like he wants to crack a smile, and Jungkook has to admit it's heartwarming to see the outsider beginning to open up to the rest of the group. Maybe Ves is breaking down Yoongi's walls. Not that Jungkook knows much about Yoongi though. Maybe the man is just naturally a loner, and maybe it was that way before the apocalypse too.

"How good of a surgeon are you?" Tae asks, raising a brow.

Jungkook bites back his memories, instead replacing the bad one with the good one. Jimin. He saved Jimin's life because of his skills. That has to be worth something, right? Despite his best efforts, his face still fell. "Uh, I saved Jimin so... I guess pretty good. Why?"

"I want you to do an operation on Ves. Harmless, just open him up so I can study what's happening on the inside. Blood samples aren't enough, I could use a peek at how everything is going," Yoongi says.

Jungkook blinks, tilting his head ever so slightly. "So let me get this straight. You want me to use the little anesthetic we have to knock Ves unconscious, cut him open, and risk having his mother and father figures stomp on my neck with combat boots because they care about Ves more than themselves?"

"Exactly."

"Hell to the no, I'm not getting killed by Jimin and Y/n."

Ves snorts. "Oh please, you're into it you bottom."

"How do you know I'm a- you know what? I'm not gonna stand for this hate speech. I'll do it on one condition. Y/n and Jimin have to agree to it."

"It's my operation, not theirs," Ves says, and Jungkook sighs before kneeling, placing both his hands on the kid's shoulders.

"I know it's yours, but as a doctor, we never did practices on kids without their parents' permission. Humor me this once kid, please? Let me feel like it's the old days. Plus, I'd feel much better, and I'm sure you would too, if they at least knew about the operation."

Ves stares at Jungkook for a few beats, then, he sighs and gives in. He latches his pinky onto Jungkook's in the form of a promise. "Alright, we'll tell them, but I can't guarantee they won't freak out. They'll probably want to be in the room with me."

"Not happening," Yoongi says, but his face remains passive, not aggressive. "I'm glad you have people who are looking out for you, but they can't distract my research. They have a tendency to be loud, and that's not a bad thing, but it doesn't change how I'll need silence during the procedure."