Beyond Repair (Min Yoongi) [UPDATED]

32. Better Than I Know Myself

Hoseok and Taehyung returned to the waiting room just in time for the end of Jungkook's 'shift'. He had been keeping watch ever since Taehyung had left to find Hoseok (no one had seen or heard any sign of a struggle, so the group had faith that Hoseok was safe, at least for the time being), and Jungkook had taken it upon himself to stand guard in Hoseok's place.

When they came back, Hoseok and Taehyung were both visibly exhausted. Their faces were flushed, they both had tear tracks on their cheeks, and the collars and sleeves of their shirts were drenched. And somehow, they seemed closer. Jungkook wondered what had transpired between them to cause such a change, but he didn't ask. They'd share if they wanted to. All that mattered was that they were back.

Besides, asking what had happened to them could lead to them asking what had happened to him. And that was a can of worms Jungkook didn't feel like opening.

Hoseok and Taehyung both settled into an armchair that looked far too small to fit two people. They didn't seem to mind the squeeze, though, their limbs tangling together as they cuddled up in the chair, half on top of each other. Jungkook couldn't help the pang of jealousy that resonated within him when he saw how comfortable the two of them looked together, falling asleep in tandem. Why did they get to be so close and cuddly while Jungkook was alone in his misery?

"You okay there, Koo?" Seokjin asked from somewhere to his right.

Jungkook shook his head in an attempt to clear it of such forbidden thoughts. He should be happy for Hoseok and Taehyung. He should be relieved that the two of them seemed to be doing so much better, all of a sudden, despite everything going on around them. He should thank the gods above that whatever had happened between them had brought them together rather than driving them apart.

Still, it hurt him to know that his boyfriends had grown closer through this ordeal while he himself had been slowly drifting away from everyone and everything he loved.

"Yeah," Jungkook eventually said. "I'm...I'll be fine."

Seokjin stared at him for a long time, as if silently prompting him to tell the truth, but when it became apparent that Jungkook wasn't going to open up, Seokjin nodded. "Okay. Why don't you get some sleep?"

"I'm not tired," Jungkook lied, but his body betrayed his dishonesty with a yawn the second he finished speaking.

"You haven't slept for more than a few hours at a time in days," Seokjin told him. Like he needed the reminder. "We're safe with Namjoon keeping watch. You can rest for a little while. We'll wake you for anything important."

Jungkook inwardly rolled his eyes, but he acquiesced. He supposed it couldn't hurt to try and get some rest. He shifted toward the middle of the sofa and leaned to one side, curling up in the fetal position to take up less space. He closed his eyes and just like that, he was out.

~∞~

He was standing in the middle of some random room in a dusty, half-finished office building. Except it wasn't a random room. It was the one Yoongi and Jimin had been taken to. There were sirens and shouting just outside the window. The flashing red and blue lights glinted into Jungkook's eyes from the broken glass scattered all over the floor. There was blood splattered on the floor, too, and the walls, and even the ceiling.

Someone was screaming but Jungkook couldn't tell whether it was himself or someone else; the voice was too pained, too desperate to be his own but it was so loud in his ears that it was the only thing he could hear over the sirens so it hadto be coming from his own mouth.

Red was gushing everywhere, filling up the room from some unknown source, and Yoongi and Jimin were choking on it, drowning in gallons upon gallons of hot, thick blood, and they were crying, begging for help, but Jungkook couldn't even hear them over the godforsaken screaming.