Smoke Song

Discovery

He found himself in the studio, alone. He left the lights off, locking the door, and walked to the equipment, powering it up. Symbols and graphs flashed before his eyes as he hesitantly slid a hand along the touchpad, gritting his teeth as the cursor moved back and forth. A quick tap, and his folder opened, showing the messy project he'd been working on. Jungkook looked over at the microphone, sadly, then leaned over to turn on the keyboard, biting his lip as the loading symbol popped up on the screen. He used the side of his limp hand to start the song, and--

The pages were burning.

Jungkook watched, tears pouring down his face, too numb to move. Taehyung was downstairs, screaming and cursing at the men, demanding to know what they were doing with him. The anti looked him in the eyes and smiled, taking pleasure in his pain.

"This is what you get," she said smoothly, sharing a pleased look with her superior. "You deserve all the misery in the world, you little traitor. Be glad we're taking this away."

Jungkook couldn't withhold a cry as the anti pushed over his keyboard, yanking out the cord and dropping it straight into the fire. The flames streamed along it, coming almost to his toes, and he stumbled forward, reaching for it, only to be dragged back by the antis holding him.

"Don't worry," the lead anti said. "You'll burn soon enough."

"Jungkook? What are you doing in here?"

Jungkook gasped, sitting up. The entire program had closed down, leaving him sitting in the dark. Or, what should have been the dark. Yoongi stood in the doorway, one hand still on the light switch, staring openly at him.

"What are you doing here?" Yoongi repeated.

Jungkook tried to push his hair out of his face with one hand and let out a frustrated huff, standing slowly. He'd never realized how short Yoongi was-- the man barely came face to face with his chest. He glanced at the equipment, wondering how long he'd been asleep before he'd had the nightmare.

"You sounded like you were being strangled," Yoongi said. "What's going on?"

Jungkook gritted his teeth, shrugging and folding his arms.

Yoongi nodded, sighing, and stepped past him, powering up the equipment and turning on the mic with a quick flick of his fingers. Immediately Jungkook's file popped up on the screen, with a question about saving the project before closing down.

Yoongi turned to Jungkook, frowning. "Did you do this?"

Jungkook swallowed hard, dropping his head in a nod. Before he could try to stop him, Yoongi hit play and leaned over, watching the notes move as the song played in the background. With someone else in the room, the song suddenly sounded childish, like he was simply a five-year-old hitting random keys on the piano. Jungkook grimaced and moved to leave, only to have Yoongi reach out and grab his arm, stopping him.

"How much movement do you actually have?"

Jungkook raised an eyebrow, holding out his hand and shaking it back and forth like a rag. Yoongi snorted, pressing a hand to his mouth, and shook his head.

"And you just banged this out?"

Jungkook turned to leave again.

"Hey, come back. I'm not laughing at the song, I just--" Yoongi laughed again, pulling him back to the keyboard. "What crazy idiot walks around moping, then turns up at midnight in the studio?!"

Jungkook rolled his eyes. The tension in the room had lessened, but he still felt cautious, unsure of what was going on. Was Yoongi just a different person at night? Was that why he was acting this way?

"Here, is this what you were trying to do?" Yoongi opened a new file and played out the chords Jungkook had struggled for hours to replicate, hitting the enter button to complete it. Hours of work in less than three seconds. Jungkook's jaw clenched, and he looked down at his feet to hide his frustration.

"I'm not bashing your method or anything," Yoongi said, "but you should let someone know you're up here. Fits aside, I'm sure Taehyung would be willing to help out."

Jungkook gritted his teeth, taking a deep breath. It wasn't that he didn't know Taehyung would love to help. He did. And that was the reason he avoided him. Contrary to Yoongi's insinuations, he didn't want to be treated like a baby. He didn't want people trying to help him, falling all over themselves to pity him.

"What?" Yoongi said.

Jungkook shrugged, looking away. Communication was useless. He'd never realized before all of this happened how much he relied on his voice and hands. Now, cut off from everyone because of the loss, he appreciated just how much he'd used them.

"Jungkook," Yoongi said, moving over to him. "Why are you pushing everyone away?"

Jungkook stared at Yoongi in disbelief. What was he talking about? No one wanted him around. He made everything harder for everyone. It had been months and he still couldn't even dance properly.

"You know Taehyung's training to become a triple-threat because of you?"

Jungkook hissed softly, turning away. Yoongi grabbed his arm and turned him back.

"He wants to fight, but he's so worried about you that he can't focus."

Jungkook closed his eyes.

"He wants to heal you."

He couldn't take it.

"He stays up to the most ungodly hours practicing his healing because Jin told him he might be able to give you your hands back."

He couldn't take it.

"He cares about you! Why are you avoiding him?!"

Jungkook opened his mouth to yell back and remembered he had no voice. He instead sighed loudly, throwing his arms in the air, and headed for the door.

Yoongi didn't try to stop him. 

Note: triple threat = rapper/singer/dancer aka attacker/healer/defender. Extremely Rare.