so far away | yoonkook

mid-morning : 12

when he strains his eyes after rubbing the tears away, yoongi gives up drying his water stained cheeks when the friction becomes unbearable.

he enters the house with reddened eyes and a runny nose.

tumbling, he lands face first onto the pillow. but his knees and limbs hit the wooden floorboards hard, startling the other two in the kitchen.

they shouldn't be worried since yoongi hardly even feels anything hurting. what aches inside is painful enough.

then he hears chairs screeching as they're frantically pushed back, feet padding towards him then someone touches his shoulder.

"hyung?" it's namjoon.

he tries to flip yoongi over but he resists, shrugging namjoon's grip away. yoongi slides his arms beside his head and pushes the pillow against his face as he rolls on his back.

"jungkook, help me get him up." namjoon squats down, slips his hands under yoongi's back as he does his best to keep his strength levelled.

the kid on the other end proceeds into a crouching position, ready to hold yoongi by his ankles.

but before either of them could get yoongi off an inch from the floor, he bolts upright and scurries to the wall as if it would offer any safety.

lowering the cotton filled support he was holding to his face, yoongi looks over at namjoon with a brow raised while the other gazes at him in confusion, unable to process his sudden hysteria. but the real issue wasn't with him, it was with the kid who was still slumped down with his palms open as he was about to hold yoongi's ankles like namjoon had instructed.

"jung-kook?" yoongi whispers, carrying out the syllables like they were the deadliest secrets to ever leave his lips.

the kid nods, pointing at himself, eyes almost as wild as yoongi's. he has his mouth agape but only just a bit. he rolls his eyes to look at namjoon and checks how he's doing but he's static. just static. too afraid that any sudden movement would startle yoongi again.

"okay, hyung, so now you know his name. can't guess what the kid was doing to distract you from asking-" namjoon gestures with his hands as he suggests yoongi to calm down. he gives the kid a side-glance and he drops onto his bottom, finally sitting down. "-but yes, this is jeon jungkook."

"he never gave me the chance to introduce myself." black haired kid admits rather coyly with a scratch on the back of his head, crossing his legs as he sat.

"effort, jungkook, please." namjoon says, joining him on the floor. "but anyways, can we get all this fiasco out of the way? why are you crying, hyung?"

yoongi shakes his head and says, "nothing. just really tired." hugging the pillow tighter to his chest. he tips his head back onto the divider and lets his lids fall over his eyes.

breathing low and slow, he folds his knees up and sits there awaiting namjoon or jungkook's next move.

ah yes, jungkook.

yoongi says his name over and over in his head, likes the way it sounds in his voice, actually. an oddness froths in his stomach now that he's finally aware of the boy's label. kind of like when yoongi discovers one of his favorite bands was in town. he's waited long just to hear them play again. that kind of excitement. learning the kid's name almost shook his bones. almost.

it's amazing that they lasted that long without any formal introductions. though yoongi knows he could go years talking to someone without actually asking for their name, just memorizing the face and matching the voice that went with it was enough.

but this time, he has something to refer him with rather than calling him insults and pronouns that never really had any specific value.

"you know I have to leave to check on university updates soon?" namjoon crawls closer to yoongi and stabs his pointer on the back of the older one's hand.

he flinches, snapping his head the other way.

"you know it's too early to have attitude?" he presses further but it yields the same effect. yoongi is still quiet and still begging for sleep.

"fine." namjoon stands up. "jungkook will be your company for the rest of the day."

yoongi groans into his pillow and although it's muffled, it's still quite loud. he slithers down onto the ground again, curling into himself and buries his face against the cushion.

yoongi doesn't have the courage or the drive to make conversation. by this moment, he just wants to be given his eternal rest.

but he can't, at least not yet. he made a promise to hoseok.

"kook, text me twenty minutes before you head out to your shift, okay? I don't want hyung to be alone. we don't know what type of shit he might be doing when we're not around." namjoon walks to the kitchen and starts fixing up the island when he gets there. "we're not sure if we might even still have a place to come home to. he might've already burned everything to the ground." he dips his head at yoongi's bunched up figure on the floor, nearly laughing at his remark when the guy looks anything besides hopeless.

"about my shift." jungkook repositions himself properly.

"yeah?"

"I think I might need to be there earlier tonight. I left before eleven yesterday. so there's an extra hour added for me."

namjoon doesn't even take to looking at him to know he's holding back from spilling something. but he understands and doesn't let jungkook utter anything that he doesn't want to say.

"just text me. whenever."

jungkook nods even though namjoon doesn't see it. he's crawling near yoongi and sits right beside his stomach, bending down to rest his head against yoongi's waist.