Better Than Tears (sweeter than sleep)

You shine so brightly

He never knew how much time passed.

Jungkook came to his senses slowly, like he always did whenever he was indulging himself in soaking his pillow. He'd realize that there was wrinkled, salt-water-soaked sheet under his cheek and his own fists clenched around it. He'd unfold his legs from whatever uncomfortable position he'd ended up in and sit up, running a hand through his messy hair and stretching his sore legs across the bed. After a few residual sniffles, he'd head to the bathroom to clean his face and wake himself up to the fullness of reality, thank the stars he hadn't a roommate, then curse those same stars for giving him such a spirit of weakness.

He came to his senses slowly this time too, but instead of salt-water-soaked sheets crumpled under him, there was a warmth, the shape of a human being, a hand running up and down his back and sometimes through his hair. Jungkook's initial reaction was panic until he remembered who the warm human being was: Jimin.

Right. He'd shown this human all his bad sides and Jimin had only been warm and even warmer. It went against all logic. Why on earth would someone be this nice to him? It had to be a dream. He was a mess, someone people avoided, someone normal people wanted nothing to do with. He was too much trouble. All he did was panic and cry. Gosh, he was such a crybaby. What did Jimin really think? Was he just doing this because he was being polite? Okay, no, this was a little too nice for merely being polite. Still, it was very odd.

That brought him back to the fact that he was inside a stranger's house. Oddly enough, that didn't make him panic. Apparently his brain had already registered Jimin as "safe." Jungkook had fully returned to his senses, but he made no move to get out of Jimin's arms. It felt good. It was like having his hyung with him. Maybe Jimin was a hyung. He had the feeling of it. How long had they been sitting like this? He should probably stop intruding. He should probably let go.

"Jungkook-ah?" Jimin's voice broke through his thoughts just then.

Jungkook made a sound, muffled by Jimin's shirt, causing him to laugh, vibrations echoing through his chest. Jungkook smiled, feeling them against his skin. He peeled himself away from Jimin slowly, until he was sitting up, hands against Jimin's chest for a second to steady himself. He wiped at his own eyes to get rid of any tears left behind, sniffed once and met Jimin's gaze hesitantly.

"Feeling better?" Jimin asked, the faintest of smile hiding behind his eyes.

Nodding sheepishly, Jungkook twisted his sweater between his hands, cursing the stars again for his supreme awkwardness. "Thanks," he said softly. "Um, sorry."

Jimin showed a real smile then. "Don't be sorry. You don't have to tell me why you were crying, either. But, tell me one thing?"

"What?" Jungkook asked apprehensively.

"Are you staying for dinner?"

--

Jungkook sat at the kitchen table, carefully cutting peppers into slices with a tight concentration that he knew Jimin wanted to laugh at. He had already, but then stifled his giggles to get the rice started. It wasn't that cutting pepper strips required a super amount of concentration. Handling a knife, however, that did require focus. Jungkook shied away from knives in general, not trusting himself around them. His terrible luck would no doubt cause him great misfortune with any sharp object, so Jungkook just avoided anything sharper than a plastic utensil.

Not that he couldn't cut himself with one of those. But that was a memory Jungkook didn't want to think about, plus, he was concentrating on not cutting himself with the noticeably sharper knife in his hand currently. As soon as he had finished with the peppers, he set the knife closer to the middle of the table so he couldn't accidently knock it with his elbow or something.