Stay [Bts x Child! Reader]

Chapter 12: Jungkook

We all watched with hopeful eyes as Namjoon came back into the room, with a worried expression. His eyes were red as well. He'd been crying. Whatever Jackson had said to him, it'd obviously been bad, and my hope dropped to the bottom, a rock sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

"What'd he say?" Jimin asked quietly, hopelessly.

Namjoon winced and sighed, eyes filling with tears. "They...haven't found her yet..." and he inhaled sharply, dashing a hand across his eyes.

I felt bad when I saw this. Namjoon wasn't normally insecure like this, and I felt like it was our fault for thinking that he didn't care about Y/n. Of course he did, probably more than any of us. He probably was beating himself up about it.

"Hyung?" I asked softly, getting up from the chair I was sitting on. "I'm sorry," I mumbled, hugging him.

He looked down at me, surprised, before his eyes started watering again. "What are you sorry for, Jungkook-ah? You didn't do anything wrong, it's my fault."

I flinched at the bitter note at the end he was too slow to hide, letting go and glaring at him. "It isn't your fault, hyung. And I did do something, I treated you like it was your fault."

"It is," He muttered, eyes flashing guiltily as he looked down.

"No, it's not." I glared harder, crossing my arms. "It's not your fault."

"You don't know that, Jungkook!" He shouted, running a hand through his hair. "I did something wrong. You know where Hobi and I disappeared to? We went to discuss Y/n, and she disappeared around the same time. She probably overheard us and misinterpreted what we were saying. She probably ran away, and it's my fault. It's all my fault." He whispered the last part, looking down at his shaking hands.

"I know," I said calmly. I'd known Namjoon and Hoseok had been having conversations about Y/n, just like I'd known everyone had purposely not told me.

"You-what?" Namjoon asked, bewildered. "You-you knew? You knew and you don't hate me?"

I shrugged, uncrossing my arms and stuffing my hands in my pockets. "I mean, I did for a short while, but then I realized you love Y/n and only want the best for her."

Namjoon's eyes grow hopeful before he remembered, this was just me, not the whole group saying this to him. His eyes dimmed as he put on a poker face mask, hiding any emotion.

"That's nice of you to say, Jungkook, but you don't need to say anything, especially if you don't mean it." He forced a smile.

I hated how he blamed himself and assumed that we would hate him. I mean, how could I? These were bonds that have been made and strengthened through seven years, they wouldn't break because of a young girl who's only been with us for a month. Even if we love her very much.

"Hyung," I said forcefully, jabbing a finger at him. "You have no right to say such a thing. None of this is your fault. I don't care if the others don't believe it," lie. "I care if you believe, and know I believe it."

Namjoon took a step back, clearly shocked by my behavior. "I-" but I wasn't finished.

"So stop blaming yourself, hyung. Don't." I glared to get my point across, and they only narrowed when I saw his flick over to the others. "We're doing all these pep talks and Love Yourself messages to the ARMYs when we can't even do that ourselves. If not for yourself, do it for them, 'cause how will they believe it if we don't?

"Stop all this hypocrisy, hyung, for the ARMYs. And if not for them, for Y/n. Please, hyung, please don't blame yourself." I gave him a pleading look, opening my bunny eyes wide.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. I could still hear my words echoing throught the room, for everyone else was silent.

"Okay," He sighed heavily, having given up. "Okay, Kookie, for the ARMYs. For Y/n."

I tried to contain my happiness and relief. He wasn't blaming himself anymore! I loved my hyungs and hated seeing them blame themselves, but I especially disliked it when they assumed the other members would hate them. We wouldn't. I know we wouldn't. At least until I saw Jin walk forward. Then I got nervous.

"Namjoon-ah," He said, voice void of emotion. "Can we talk?"

Namjoon's face suddenly got nervous, and he looked like he wanted to step away, but then if was gone in a flash.

"Uh, sure, hyung," He said calmly, though the 'um' betrayed his true feelings.

Jin nodded in return and gestured to the door. "After you." Namjoon nodded back, exiting the room, Jin following.

Once they were out, Hobi immediately turned to me, eyes wide, pretty much leaping off the couch. "How did you know?" He demanded. "We didn't tell you. None of us did, so how?"

I made a face at him, trying to lighten the mood. "I eavesdropped when you all discussed it, duh."

"Jungkook!" Jimin gasped, shocked. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't tell me that, hyung, you've done it yourself hundreds of times."

Jimin glared, crossing his arms. "This is serious, Jungkook, you shouldn't have done that."

"Why?" I shot back, anger rising now. I stalked forward. "If I had't eavesdropped, you would've never told me. I honestly would've spited you more-you've been hiding it for a month now! Would you like that more?"

"Guys, calm down!" Taehyung shouted, stopping between us before we could get too close.

"You helpless, kids," Yoongi muttered, slowly getting up. "Stop arguing, you pabos. We can't keep fighting like this, Y/n wouldn't want this. ARMYs wouldn't want this."

"If they knew," I muttered the same time Taehyung yelped, "Can we stop pulling the 'Y/n' and 'ARMY' cards?!"

"Well, there's no way to convince you guys to stop arguing if I said we cared," Yoongi retorted in typical Yoongi fashion. That cracked me up, and I started full blown howling.

"What?" Hoseok asked, clearly confused.

"All of us are just arguing and being completely different, except for Yoongi-hyung, who's still the exact same!!! He hasn't changed one bit!!" My voice literally went higher at the end as I laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

Finally, slowly, but surely, Hoseok, Jimin, and Taehyung started laughing, my laughter winning them over. Well, except for Yoongi who flopped back on the couch, crossing his arms and grumbling, which only made us laugh harder.

"Alright, alright!" He crabbed, glaring. "We're all better now, but what about Jin-hyung and Namjoon?"

That sobered us and I frowned worriedly. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" So we waited. For a long time.