Unstitched Wounds

Chapter 10: Strangers

 -You can't fix what isn't broken-

"Yoongi-yah..." Seokjin's voice is soft, his brown eyes lathered in worry until it practically drips off his broad shoulders and washes over Yoongi's stiff frame. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"I'm fine."

Seokjin's expression is dubious, eyeing his matted snow-colored hair and the dark bruises under his eyes. He purses his lips. "If "fine" means looking half-dead, then sure, yeah. I could agree with that."

Heaving a frustrated sigh, Yoongi extracts himself from his place on the couch. He strides past the older wolf and sets his mug in the kitchen sink. He turns on the sink to the hottest temperature and thrusts his hands beneath the scalding water. "Leave it alone, hyung."

"I can't." Seokjin steps closer, hands bawled in fists around his favorite pink hoodie. "You're not sleeping and when you do, you wake up sobbing so loudly that your voice cracks. Joon and I pretend we don't hear it. We pretend that we don't hear you throwing up in the bathroom and shuffling out here. You... you have to let this go, Yoongi-yah. Please. It's been two weeks."

Yoongi presses his lips together until they resemble a white, thin line. He glares down at the reddening skin of his hands. The hot water burns deliciously. "You should keep pretending. I'm fine."

"Literally, nothing about that is fine!"

Snarling, Yoongi pivots around and snaps his teeth in Seokjin's face. The older wolf doesn't even wince at the aggression, his expression only morphing into something mournful. "I am asking you to leave it alone, Jin hyung."

"Is this about that Nosferatu?"

Yoongi visibly shrinks back, the golden flecks in his eyes returning to the normal brown. He glares at his socked feet, his pallor colorless.

Sighing, Seokjin delicately, slowly, pulls Yoongi into a hug. The man briefly resists, moving to step away, but it's half-hearted. "Yoongichi, I'm so sorry about... about what happened. About everything. I know how much he meant to you, but you can't keep this up."

And Yoongi knows that. He's unraveling at the seams. Every night he is plagued with memories of Jeongguk's mischievous smile and the sound of his laughter in his head but now they are mangled, tainted with black blood and his once soft brown eyes being swallowed black.

Hyungie, help me!

Yoongi pulls out of his the hug and Seokjin doesn't stop him.

"Yoongichi, I don't think you should go on the patrol tonight."

Head snapping up, Yoongi inhales sharply. "No. I'm going, hyung."

"No. You're not." Seokjin crosses his arms over his chest, eyes flashing gold. "You can barely stand and you're exhausted. Your head isn't in the right place and damn it. You're going to stay here and get some rest."

"Please, don't do this," Yoongi pleads desperately, grabbing Seokjin's arm and wrenching him to a stop. "I'll be okay, I swear, but I can't just stay here and do nothing. I don't need rest. I just need to keep myself busy!"

Pulling his arm from Yoongi's grip, Seokjin steps back with an adamant shake of his head. "No. If something happens out there and you get hurt... I'll never forgive myself, okay? I need you to do this. To get some sleep and realize that you're still a Defender. You're pack."

"Jin hyung, for fuck's sake," Yoongi snaps harshly through gritted teeth, "I'm not dying! I just need to-to do something. My job."

"It's been two weeks since you've visited your aunt." Seokjin's glare hardens to gunmetal, daring him to argue. To deny a truth so undeniable that it steals his breath. "It's been two weeks since you've visited Jeongguk's mother. Two weeks since you realized he's alive."