18 - Start the Search

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Three pillows sat stacked at the foot of Jungkook's bed. His ankle rested atop the pile, as instructed by both the doctor and Seokjin in order to keep the swelling at bay.

Only a few days had passed since Jungkook returned to the dorms, but his every waking moment had been crowded by his restless roommate's antics. Jimin smothered the youngest with questions and stories and whatever conversations he could manage to keep up.

In fact, their morning began at seven o'clock sharp when Jimin whispered across the room, fully alert, "Kookie, are you awake yet?" And since his roommate couldn't answer no honestly, the question kept repeating until a faint grunt of affirmation could be heard from the second bed.

As the day crawled on, Jungkook became the captive audience for his friend's complaints. "My legs still hurt from practice the other day. That was a while ago, wasn't it? When do you think we'll be able to start again?" The younger could only answer with shrugs and hums. "Well, I'm hoping we get to practice before Yoongi gets back. It'll be easier to get things in order while he's gone."

Jungkook thought on how a practice session would leave him alone in the room, and he wasn't sure if he truly wanted that, even if Jimin hovered over him every second of every day.

Every once in a while, the younger boy would ask if there was any news on the missing member. Jimin never had anything new to say, only that, for all they knew, Yoongi was already on a train racing back to Daegu.  But when Jin or Hoseok was in the room, a full update on the search was disclosed.  Unfortunately, the update never mentioned sighting Yoongi. Although it had only been a few days, Jungkook's hope began to dwindle.

In the mornings, cartoons played on the television, which became dramas later, then news as the evenings rolled in. Jungkook was watching his morning cartoons and scrolling through his Twitter feed when a certain picture caught his eye.  The caption read, "Min Suga spotted at the Caltex gas station?"

Zooming in, Jungkook saw what he thought could only be an incredibly disheveled and unfortunately pixelated Yoongi, standing in front of their usual gas station counter. He checked the time stamp. Two minutes ago.

Heart pounding, mind racing, Jungkook couldn't piece together what action to take. He let out a soft chuckle of shock before asking Jimin, an ecstatic grin overtaking his face, "What if we went out to look for Yoongi on our own?"

"That's ridiculous. We have no idea where he is. Our guess is as good as the guards'. No point in wasting time."

"Yes, but I--"

Jimin, who was folding laundry on his own bed, didn't hear the younger's voice before he started up again. "Besides," he ranted on, "what good would it do if we found him? We've been better off these few days without him. When he's here, he just ruins everything. It's better if we just let you recover while he isn't here to hurt you on accident again."

The corners of Jungkook's mouth dropped. His brow furrowed. "It was an accident. He--"

"When it happens twice in a row, I don't know if I can really believe it's an accident."

Jungkook's cheeks began to burn up, flushing red with frustration. "No," he objected, "Yoongi was just as upset as I was--"

"It doesn't matter how good he is at acting hurt. You were really the hurt one, the one he hurt. But he still managed to make it about him, and once you recovered, he made sure you wouldn't be well for long. Strange, isn't it, how that worked out?" Jimin snapped. He finally looked up from the pile of clothes lying before him and saw Jungkook, fuming mad, kicking the pillows from his bed and flinging himself onto his right foot.

Casting about for his crutches, the youngest madly rushed from the room, leaving Jimin scrambling suit behind him. "Wait, Jungkook, I didn't mean anything by that!" he called.

The other boy had little reason to believe the pleading and, instead, chose to believe his instincts: Yoongi was down at that gas station mini mart, and Jungkook would be going down there to find him.

As he hobbled toward the stairs, he dropped the clamorous crutches with a crash and made his way down, using the railings to support his left side.

He hopped out of the apartment building, wincing each time he stepped on his bare and swollen foot for balance. But after making it a block down the road, he could feign painlessness enough to put all his weight on it and walk.

And so with one shoe and enough suffering to put him out of commission for two months, Jungkook began his lonesome journey downtown.

He began his search for Yoongi.

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