✔ || Distract Me

Chapter 2

Yoongi woke Jeongguk with a shove, already out of patience even though the day had only just begun. The younger boy groaned, slowly sitting up. "Hey, hyung."

"It's late," Yoongi said dryly. "Get up."

Jeongguk obeyed, kicking off his blanket with a grumble. The boy from his dream was still at the front of his mind. Who was he? Jeongguk thought dreams were only supposed to contain people you'd seen before, but he couldn't remember ever seeing the mysterious boy in the real world.

"Kookie?" Yoongi said, snapping him out of his daze.

Jeongguk looked up. Yoongi's brows had furrowed and Jeongguk waved away his concern, "I'll be out in a minute, hyung, just let me get around."

Yoongi nodded, "Seokjin has food ready."

Jeongguk nodded thankfully and waited until Yoongi left the room to swing out of bed. The dream boy's eyes, somehow both sullen and mischievous simultaneously, wouldn't leave Jeongguk's head. Weren't dreams supposed to fade over time? Wasn't that what he'd heard?

Then why was this one still stubbornly gripping his brain, not letting him think of anything else as he pulled a t-shirt and sweatpants on? If he closed his eyes, Jeongguk could almost imagine resting his fingertips against the boy's shoulder blade, right next to one of his wounds.

And what were those? Those crevices that tore through his skin, tarnishing the gentle sloping planes of his back? Jeongguk tried to imagine what could have done that. A knife? But who would stay still enough for a knife to drag not one but two equal gashes in their back? A whip? But what whip could make such perfectly symmetrical, perfectly parallel, lines? It didn't make sense. And the way the boy's skin pulled away from the wounds made it look almost like something had been pulled out of them. As if he'd had something stuck in his body that had been torn out with indescribable force.

Jeongguk shuddered at the thought and willed away the boy's face, trying to focus on anything else as he made his way into the kitchen. Hoseok looked up from his phone and offered a grin. "Hey, Kookie! Come check this out."

Jeongguk smiled and slid into the seat next to Hoseok, "Hey, hyung."

Seokjin tossed him a bottle of banana milk and Jeongguk grabbed it out of the air, a grin plastered to his face. "Oh my god, you're the best, hyungnim!"

The eldest offered Jeongguk a smile, "I know what our Kookie likes."

When Jeongguk had first moved into the dorm with the five other boys, he had been extremely shy. So much so that he had purchased a mini fridge for his room just so he didn't have to face the strangers - well, Namjoon wasn't a stranger, he was the one who had convinced him to join them - that lurked in the kitchen. But then one day Seokjin had dared to go inside, saw the fridge, and got curious. And then proceeded to release the windshield wiper laugh of the century. It had echoed throughout the entire dorm and Jeongguk, who had been sitting in the living room trying to warm up to Jimin, had shot to his feet, fear gripping his heart. What had happened? Why was Seokjin-ssi laughing, and why did it sound like it was coming from his room? Jimin had gone with him to investigate and Jeongguk had fought the urge to grab his hand for support. But he had been too scared of offending his elder, and then Jeongguk had rounded the corner into his room to find Seokjin with his refrigerator door swung open, revealing nothing but two apples, an orange, and nine bottles of banana milk. Ever since then, his elders became his hyungs through some process involving the drink. At first it had been a joke ("You know that the fridge out there is yours too, right? Just put your name on stuff you don't want anyone else to have it."), but it quickly became a constant theme.

Jeongguk smiled at the memory. Now, banana milk wasn't as important. They were all struggling through the music-making life, and the hyungs usually didn't have as much time to indulge their maknae.

"What's the occasion, hyungnim?" Jeongguk asked, cracking the seal off the bottle's cap.

Hoseok ruffled Jeongguk's hair with a grin. "Our baby brother must think we forgot about him."

Namjoon entered the kitchen, his face in his phone as he typed furiously against its screen. He offered the three others a halfhearted wave before turning his attention back to his screen. Seokjin's eyes followed him before he said, "That makes me sad, Kookie. Why can't your hyung just get you a treat?"

Jeongguk blushed and went around the table to throw an arm over his hyung's wide shoulders. "Of course you can, hyung, I'm sorry. Thank you."

"Mine now!" Jeongguk's eyes widened as Jimin swooped into the kitchen and grabbed up the bottle, a shit-eating grin plastered to his face.

"Jimminnie, I will actually kill you," Jeongguk threatened, his nose crinkled.

Jimin pressed a hand to his chest in feign disgust. "Jeonggukie, I'm your hyung!"

Not when banana milk was involved. Jeongguk hadn't had the stuff in over a week, and that was honestly too long. He moved around the table and Jimin's eyes widened. The older boy made it into the living room before Jeongguk tackled him to the floor, grinning madly. "Mine, hyung," he said, snatching back the bottle.

"Guys," Yoongi muttered from the couch, frowning at them. "I don't feel like dealing with a bunch of angry neighbors again who were trying to peacefully live their lives before you two started crashing around."

The two maknaes stood, avoiding their hyung's bemused stare. Jimin mumbled an apology before going to curl up in Yoongi's lap, silently begging for forgiveness. Yoongi allowed it, folding his arms over the boy's shoulders before going back to his phone. Jeongguk watched Jimin sigh contentedly. Though he was the newest member of their crew, Jimin had quickly become a favorite of the hyungs. They all loved his infectious grin and bubbly laughter, and they let him do things that they wouldn't normally let others do. Case in point, Jimin was now laying fully across Yoongi's lap, arms thrown around the elder's neck in a position that forced Yoongi to awkwardly lift his phone and tilt his chin in order to see the screen. Jeongguk bit his lip to fight the laughter that rose in his throat as Yoongi huffed irritably but didn't fight the clingy boy. Jimin winked at Jeongguk and the maknae shook his head as he made his way back into the kitchen.

"Thanks again, hyungnim," Jeongguk said, gesturing to the bottle before throwing it back for a satisfying swig.

"No problem, Kookie," Seokjin smiled. He had moved to sit at the table across from Hoseok, so Jeongguk slid back into his seat from earlier.

Hoseok turned to show Jeongguk his phone. "Look, Jeonggukie," he said, "PDnim sent us this bio this morning. He thinks this guy would be a good fit for our final member."

Jeongguk leaned over to see the screen. The boys had technically been an idol group since 2013, but they had been missing something ever since the start. Nothing terrible, just something noticeable. Even their fans saw it, though overall they were pretty nice about it. It was just a sound element that wasn't there - like there was a voice out there built to match what they needed to be perfect, they just hadn't found it yet.

The picture was small but unmistakable. Jeongguk's eyes widened and he fought the gasp that grappled at his throat. Instead, he squeaked, "Have we met him before?"

Hoseok pursed his lips in thought, "No, I don't think so. At least, I haven't. We're all supposed to meet him at practice tomorrow."

"Huh," Jeongguk said, swallowing. "He just looks a little familiar, that's all."

So familiar, in fact, that Jeongguk could have sworn that he had seen him last night. The only problem was, Jeongguk had been fast asleep at the time.

Hoseok pulled back his phone, reading the screen, "His name is Kim Taehyung and he's only two years older than you, Kookie. Same age as Jimin."

"Huh," Jeongguk said again, only half listening. But when Hoseok gave him a long stare, Jeongguk snapped back to attention long enough to say, "That's really cool, hyung. Thanks for showing me."

Satisfied, Hoseok stuffed his phone in his pocket and went off down the hall. Jeongguk fiddled with the cap of his banana milk, staring at the tabletop.

Kim Taehyung. His name was Kim Taehyung.