lung bouquet | j.jk + p.jm ✓

chapter ten

[recap for those who were unable to read the previous chapter because of the content:

jimin locks himself up in his room for two weeks because he's afraid of hurting seokjin, who only wants the best for the group, with his secret. at this point, he's malnourished and becoming seriously sick as a side effect of hanahaki disease. yoongi comes in to dispose of the flowers jimin's began to cough up endlessly, and when sees the state jimin's in, he rushes to get seokjin. when seokjin comes in, there's an argument and jimin reveals his secret. then, jimin passes out from all of the stress his body is taking as yoongi calls the ambulance.]

♡

jimin wakes up to bright lights shining into his eyelids. it takes him a while to force them open, and he winces when white lights shine directly into them, snapping them closed until they can adjust. sniffles and labored breathing is heard all around him, and sometimes broken sobs break the otherwise dead silence as well.

when his eyes finally adjust, he sees the bodies of his group members in hunched over positions. namjoon, taehyung, and hoseok are asleep, bags evident under their usually bright eyes. jeongguk and yoongi are speaking in hushed whispers, but yoongi looks upset and jeongguk looks guilty. seokjin is the one responsible for the sniffles, and he undoubtedly looks the worst. jimin can't find his parents, but he knows they've probably rushed from busan to see him, and if they're not here, they're on their way.

"guys," jimin attempts, but nothing comes out. he swallows a few times and tries again, and though it doesn't do much, he's at least able to make a sound.

"oh, jimin," seokjin says, his head snapping up at the sound of jimin's voice. he quickly rushes over to the bed, grabbing onto jimin's hand as quickly as he can without doing anything to the iv tube in his wrist. "how do you feel?"

"like complete and utter crap," jimin says, voice cracking endlessly. "can i get some water?"

seokjin nods, and waves for yoongi to get him some water. yoongi's out of the door like lightning and back with water a few moments later. he hands the cup to seokjin who helps jimin sit up. he undoubtedly feels better than he did before he blacked out, but that still means he feels terrible.

it's only now that he notices the ng tube in his nostrils, and it feels uncomfortable now that he's conscious of it. he takes a sip of his water with the help of seokjin, and though his throat still feels a little weird, he doesn't feel like he's been in the sahara desert for years.

"thanks, hyung," he says, smiling a little. he feels guilty for making seokjin cry before and especially since he's still crying right now, but he smiles anyway.

"you're welcome," the elder replies, playing with jimin's fingers. there's a silence between them for a while before seokjin speaks again. "jeongguk wants to speak to you."

jimin looks over to see jeongguk, and he feels a stab in his heart. jeongguk looks as bad as seokjin, guilt written on his face as if it were a piece of paper in a novel. he only looks up when jimin calls out for him, the only word to describe him being miserable.

"this is a private conversation for you two. i'll wake the others up so we can leave the room," seokjin says, patting jimin's shoulder. he does as he said he would, waking up the sleeping members and guiding them out, uttering a small you can talk to him later when they see jimin has woken up.

when the rest of the members leave, jeongguk stands in the space seokjin stood before. the younger opens his mouth as if he was about to say something then closes it, pressing his lips together into a thin line. a pregnant silence takes over the room, the beep of jimin's heart monitor being the only sound.