make way // jjk

6

"Make that 100-day-old. Did you shower at all?"

Jungkook was the type of person to recover fast, to say the least. Within another hour he had already showered and thrown away the pizza boxes littered on top of his precious speakers, but the both of you still had his horrid laundry pile to deal with, which was the cause of the weird smell that bombarded you when you first came in.

You still had to reassure him, when he was showering in the en-suite, that you were still there, staying right here until he got back out.

The light returned to his eyes. You'd guess he would be rejoicing at the return of a best friend, but no. He ordered you around his room and asked you to order pizza, pop popcorn and cook ramen after you had mopped and wiped and dusted every inch of his room.

But you owed that to him. You owed that an infinitely more to him.

You were cuddled up against each other on his bed (with new clean sheets) with a bowl of popcorn between your legs and you looked up at his now-shaven face and said, "Are you... okay?"

He nodded. "Better."

"I missed my best friend."

"The best friend who you could leave without saying goodbye?" That cut deep. And you sensed that it was a building sore point for him. That would last forever.

"I said I was sorry."

"Sorry? Do you know how long I spent looking around Busan for you? The days I spent sleeping on sidewalks or in the cheapest motels because I hadn't even thought about getting my clothes or wallet from home because of how worried I was?" Then he looked away, but the relief from the smouldering gaze was not a relief from the recurring guilt.

"Thank you for your concern." He rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you pick up my calls?"

My eyes stayed downcast. "I didn't know what to say."

"A text would have been fine!"

"I hate goodbyes."

"But one for Minah and hyung was okay?"

"You're different."

"How am I different?" his anger was fueled by four months of concern for me.

"I don't know." He calmed down, hearing the truth in my words, and the confusion I felt. "I just couldn't bring myself to say it."

"Sorry. I was being unreasonable." He hugged me closer.

"No. I was unreasonable. Don't ever risk yourself out there for me again. You understand?" you propped yourself up slightly on an elbow to show him how serious you were.

"If I had to choose again I would have done the same thing. Or convinced you to stay if I could."

"I wasn't leaving forever."

"So you could have told me." You slumped back down, conceding to the point. He was confortable.

"Yes, I should have."

So you watched Star Wars 2 in silence.

---

"Happy birthday, Jungkook."

"Thank you." He kissed your forehead.

You suddenly pulled out the forgotten box in your hoodie that you took off whilst cleaning. "This is for you."

"What is it?"

"Open it." He took it gingerly from me and opened the small box. "Too girlfriend?"

"I love it." It was a bracelet, one of those silver cuffs, inscribed with 'Mine' on it.