Strawberries and Cigarettes | jikook ✓

entire

i had to call you up and hear your voice for reassurance.

"Jungkook, eat something."

Jungkook looked away from his computer to Namjoon standing at the doorway of his room. The elder boy sighed when Jungkook shook his head and muttered a feeble refusal saying he was not hungry. He had more than half of his arts report left. One thing Jungkook was bad at was writing reports. Namjoon on the other hand was amazing at them.

"Hyung," the younger boy whined as Namjoon was about to walk away. "Help me please."

Namjoon walked over and stood behind Jungkook's chair, looking over at the poorly written report displayed on the dim screen. He clicked his tongue and playfully hit the back of Jungkook's head, asking him to move from the chair, the latter obediently moving to Namjoon's spot as the elder sat down.

"You can draw with your hand as well as on electronic devices," Namjoon read out from what Jungkook had written and snickered. "What are you a kid studying in second grade?"

Jungkook scoffed and crossed his arms as Namjoon went over a few points on the history of arts from various websites, erased parts of his report and wrote down sentences with sophisticated words in place of Jungkook's childish ones. Jungkook took the time to pick dirt from his fingernails. It had hardly been fifteen minutes when Namjoon stood up and moved to exit the room.

"What? You're done? So quick?"

Namjoon smirked and waved as he left the room while Jungkook was left staring at the report flashing on the screen in front of him with wide eyes. He quickly read through the report and realized he would have to look up most of the words Namjoon had used in case his teacher asked him to explain.

"Shit, he's brilliant. Does Jin hyung date him to get him to do his math assignments?"

"No you brat he dates me because I'm handsome," Namjoon yelled from somewhere in the apartment.

"Jin hyung will kill you if he heard you say that. He considers himself the handsome one in your relationship." Jungkook laughed, shutting down his computer and moving to his bed. A thud resonated in the room as Jungkook's phone slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor, a string of curse words escaping the young boy's mouth as he picked it up and scanned his phone for any damage. Then he dove face first into the soft mattress and spent five minutes rolling around and kicking the sheets.

"It's hot what the hell," he muttered to himself as he removed his t-shirt and flung it onto the floor somewhere.

His phone lit up and started vibrating; it was a call from Yoongi. Jungkook answered with minimal enthusiasm, just wanting to go to sleep soon.

"Jungkook," Yoongi sounded breathless and Jungkook sat up straight. "Jungkook, I need you to do me a favour. Can you please call up Hobi? He isn't answering any of my calls. He said he'd call me once he reached home from work. Please Jungkook."

"Yes hyung. I'll do that right away." Jungkook hung up and hurriedly dialed Hoseok's number. From the tone of Yoongi's voice, he was sure Yoongi was already running to Hoseok's apartment. Each ring made beads of sweat form on Jungkook's neck until someone finally answered. "Hoseok hyung!" Jungkook yelled out in panic.

"J-Jungkook?"

Jungkook almost sighed in relief when he realized Hoseok was safe, that was when he heard the strain in Hoseok's voice and how shaky it was.

"Hyung, what happened? Why aren't you answering Yoongi hyung's calls? He's so worried-" A soft sob from the other end made Jungkook stop mid-sentence. "Hoseok hyung?"

"I got fired," the voice was as soft as a whisper. "They wanted me to work mornings and evenings Kook I told them I wouldn't be able to. I got fired." Jungkook gritted his teeth as he listened to Hoseok speak. "Yoongi and I were supposed to move into a bigger apartment together with what we earned. And I got fired. He always does all the work Jungkook. Yoongi always takes responsibility. How can I- How will I ever tell him?" A few more sobs could be heard from the other end. Jungkook was about to tell him to just talk to Yoongi when he heard another voice from Hoseok's end.

"Hobi? Oh my God what happened? Come here baby."

So Yoongi had reached. Jungkook listened for one more minute before he decided to hang up. He rubbed his face and flopped his head onto the pillow, raven locks spread beneath his head. He couldn't help but think about the way Daehoon had looked at Jimin today when they were sitting in the diner. Nothing about Daehoon seemed to sit right with Jungkook. But the way he had looked at Jimin instilled a small shred of fear in Jungkook's heart. He stared at the phone in his hand before dialing up a familiar number.

"Hello?" The voice was still as sweet as honey but groggy from sleep. Jungkook's heart warmed instantly and he felt relieved.

"Jiminie," he called out. "Did I wake you up?"

He could hear a suppressed yawn on the other end and he almost chuckled. "It's okay. What happened? Are you okay? Is everything fine?"

Jungkook smiled at Jimin's concern. "Everything's fine don't worry. I just- I wanted to hear your voice. Just- I don't know I feel weird."

Jimin hummed sleepily and then there was a thud accompanied by a small 'ow'. Jungkook laughed as he pictured Jimin falling off the bed and pouting into the distance. He was so adorable.

"So clumsy," Jungkook sighed out in between his laughter. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jimin huffed as he climbed back onto the bed and buried his face into his pillow. "'M so tired Jungkook-ah. It's so cold."

Jungkook frowned, sitting up and going to fetch his discarded t-shirt from the floor. "Did you take your tablets? Do you want me to get you something hot to eat or drink?"

"I'm not hungry," Jimin mumbled softly, "but thank you so much. I took my tablets."

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Jungkook pressed on.

"Just stay on the line until I fall asleep?" Jimin requested sleepily. Jungkook smiled to himself as he lay back down on the bed and closed his eyes.

"I'm here."