To Sink Like a Stone

9 - 개소리

The apartment door creaked open. "Taehyung? Yoongi? Are you home?" A voice called as its supplier stepped in. He slid off his shoes by the front closet and rounded the corner of the entrance to find one of the two roommates peering over the couch. The pair of eyes quickly darted away and sunk back behind the cushions.

"Yoongi?" the guest said, moving to the sofa. "Is that you?" Then he sat himself down on the couch next to the boy whose head was hidden between his knees.

"Hoseok has been texting me non-stop for the past few hours. He's worried about you." No response. Normally he would have just left, but the situation was too dire. And Jungkook was sick of being ignored. "He said you fainted. Is that right?"

Yoongi shifted around on the other side of the couch, resting his bony chin on his elbow so he could meet the younger boy's eyes. However, Jungkook had yet to elicit any verbalization. Silence clung to the air like the humidity after a storm.

"What's wrong?" Jungkook finally spat out. "You look awful."

Dark halos surrounded the older's eyes, which were set deep in his sockets and glazed over, as if he were dead. At each joint, his knees, his elbows, his shoulders, the skin looked like it would rip and give way to his sharp, protruding bones at any moment. His lips were chapped and peeling, his knuckles dry and cracking, his hair disheveled and stringy. The concert makeup was never removed, though his contacts had to be taken out as soon as he woke up, so Yoongi had smudged traces of black and red around his face. Where the makeup was disturbed and rubbed off, his skin was pale and blotchy beneath.

"It's nothing," Yoongi croaked back, his voice hoarse. While he spiraled into a coughing fit, Jungkook sprinted to the kitchen for a glass of water. Yoongi accepted the drink without hesitation, taking slow sips and wiping his chin of any stray drips.

"It's not nothing." Jungkook's stare was merciless. He shot arrows with his eyes. "Tell me, please. Why haven't you been eating?"

Yoongi looked surprised at this. He hadn't seen Jungkook at all in the past week. Someone else had to have told him. Finally, he mumbled back, "I'm just not hungry."

"Bullshit."

The shock at this sound was even greater than the last. Yoongi's bloodshot eyes were peeled open to the extremes. He shrunk back into the couch. Jungkook was still angry at him, wasn't he? For making him fall off the dock...

"I'm not leaving until I get a real answer," the younger insisted, then scooted himself all the way into the sofa, back against the armrest, arms folded over his chest, facing the older boy.

At this point, Yoongi's lips were sealed tight. He didn't like how Jungkook's glare felt, but if he left, the apartment would be empty. Taehyung had to meet with Namjoon and had been gone for an hour already. So Yoongi refused to say anything, hoping his friend would keep his promise to stay.

Minutes of stillness went by, the only noise left to break the uncomfortable silence coming when Yoongi cleared his throat or coughed.

Jungkook began to think it was useless. Yoongi was patient. Yoongi was enduring. Yoongi was stubborn. He could go days without saying anything. And if Yoongi was mad at him already...

A soft hum snapped Jungkook out of his apprehension. His eyes darted to the motionless lump of a boy leaning against the opposite armrest.

The younger got closer to inspect the noise. Yoongi's face was slack, his eyes gently pressed shut.

He had fallen asleep and started to snore.

Jungkook giggled. If it were any other day of any other week, he would have had his phone out and his camera recording, but Yoongi looked too weak and too tired for it to be fair. Instead, Jungkook sat down right beside his friend and swung his legs onto the coffee table.

Despite having all the time in the world to sleep for the past week, he decided to take a nap. It felt different. It wouldn't be a normal nap. He wouldn't be sleeping for lack of anything better to do. It would be healing.

And he'd already made a commitment anyway. He wouldn't leave until he knew why Yoongi was like this, until he knew what made him deteriorate so fast.