Like Lavender (Vkook/Yoonmin/trigger warning)

열셋

"I understand." Hoseok tried telling Jin, who apparently wasn't happy with Jungkook's situation. Jungkook was sat on a chair with dried blood clotting in his hair and staining his shirt whilst Jin, behind him, was pacing angrily.

"No, you don't." Jin was convinced Hoseok didn't get it at all. Looking at Jungkook, he knew he barely understood him. He was sure Jungkook didn't understand either. "You don't get it. Look at him, does he seem fine?"

"Hyung, I'm okay." Jungkook had been telling everyone this for the past half an hour, since he left Taehyung's cell. The whole time he'd been cooped up in Hoseok's office, he'd been thinking about Taehyung. He thought about every bit of him. His face, hair, personality. He gave off a certain aura that just seemed to calm Jungkook down with every word he said and for that, he liked him.

"No, you're not." Jin answered Jungkook. Jin was really, really worried, and if Hoseok would listen to him for once in his stupid life, Jin might've been a bit reassured. "You're not okay. Hoseok, please, listen. Let him go home. Don't make him come here. He wasn't as bad as this the first time I met him, you're obviously destroying him."

Hoseok looked at Jungkook, examining his wounds. Hoseok looked furious. Jungkook's heart started beating a little faster than it should be. He knew Hoseok probably wouldn't hurt him and that he needed to calm down. He couldn't help but panic when he stood up, then bent down in front of him, placing his hands on Jungkook's shoulders. He looked directly into his eyes, then stood up. Jin pushed him out of the way. "Listen, Jungkook, go home. Don't come back. Baekhyun can talk to the guy we have."

Jungkook sent a nervous glance at Hoseok, trying to plead him into changing Jin's mind. Hoseok shook his head. Jungkook sighed, assuming he was having to do this on his own. "Fine, I'm hurt." He admitted, "but don't make me stay away from here. Please, hyung, I like it here. I feel safer here than I do at home. If I don't come back, I'll lose my mind. You can't make me stay away. I love the people here, and how you're all so different and so similar. How I'm not the only crazy one here."

"Jungkook, you're not crazy." Hoseok said out of nowhere, "trust me. I've seen crazy people and you're not one of them. Be honest. What's the real reason you want to stay?"

Jungkook glanced at Jin, who shrugged, and back at Hoseok, who's face was unreadable. "Tae- I mean, the person we have." Jungkook thought saying this would take the load of his chest, but the claustrophobic feeling that had been building up got stronger.

"I don't know what you want me to do with him when you ask me to check up on him, but I've been speaking to him. He's really nice for some reason. He's nice to me. He knew my brother. He has this feeling he gives off. I don't know what it is about him- but he calms me down. I don't know what's wrong with me, either, but I always feel like the walls are closing in on me and like the whole world is my enemy. I feel like everyone's trying to kill me. Like I'm just trapped inside a cage of constant panic and sadness and I can't escape. Apart from him. He just makes me feel safer and I don't know why. I feel like he has the key that can get me out of my head. Like he's pushing the walls back and he doesn't realise it but I really, really like him. ."

Jin and Hoseok were silent, so Jungkook carried on, swallowing first. "It's why I did this to myself this morning. Because nobody has ever made me feel this way before. And I couldn't stand the thought of me liking him, so I tried to cut it out of me and I made it worse. I'm sorry, hyung, I've made a mistake. Just please let me stay so I can keep seeing him. If not, I'll probably end up dead. No, actually, I will end up dead. Okay?"

Both the others were staring at him, each with a different opinion. Jin pulled up a chair, sitting next to Jungkook, and put an arm around him. "Don't feel bad about it." He smiled, trying to reassure him, "life wouldn't be life if you weren't making friends along the way. Fine, you can come back. If he's the only thing keeping you sane then you can come back. Just promise me you won't pull some crazy stunt like this again, okay? Promise me."

Jungkook really didn't think he could promise something like that. A few days ago, he was sure the punishments wouldn't become anything more. Now, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't end up dying because of them. But if it let him stay, he'd do anything. "I promise."

Jin pulled Jungkook into another hug. When he pulled back, he looked him dead in the eyes and said, "just go home for today."

So Jungkook, really wanting to do anything else than go back to bed, went home.