PERSONA ✓

30.

"Hoseok just went sicko mode 'n attacked Namjoon hyung, but!" Jungkook waved his hands dramatically. "I'm proud to say that he didn't do that of his own free will."

Everyone stared at him.

Jungkook huffed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He pulled up a graph of the scans he'd done on Hoseok's brain. He pointed at the graphs, saying, "It's the after-effects of the mind control. By the looks of it, this has been going on for a while... but he didn't say anything."

"That's..." Yoongi trailed off.

"Not suspicious," Namjoon said immediately. "He probably didn't want to feel like a burden."

"He just attacked you," Taehyung pointed out. "You don't find this suspicious in the slightest?"

Namjoon shook his head. "No, I don't."

"Wait," said Jimin. "So, you mean to tell me Doyoon tapped into his brain again?"

Jungkook shook his head slowly. "It's a little more complicated than that. It's like... okay, when you're typing an essay and you erase a sentence, you can still click the undo arrow to get it back, yeah?"

Everyone nodded.

"The after-effects built up in Hoseok's brain and pressed the undo arrow, I guess. It's like whatever Doyoon was whispering in his ear is still there, just a little weaker."

"He didn't push me aside with his super strength," Jimin remembered. "So the after-effects can't tap into his powers? That's... good, right?"

"I mean, if this happens again...." Seokjin looked up at Jungkook. "I mean, will it happen again, JK?"

Jungkook shrugged. "From what I'm looking at here" —he turned back to the graphs, briefly running calculations in his head before nodding— "it seems that this was the last bout of mind control. He might get, like, headaches and stuff once in a while, but it's not permanent. So no, no more mind control for him."

"That's good news," said Namjoon. "Uh, Yoongi? How long until he wakes up?"

Yoongi blinked, pointing at himself. "Me? Why are you asking me?"

"Well, you did knock him out."

Yoongi shrugged. "I dunno. An hour, give or take?" He looked at Jungkook for confirmation, but Seokjin answered for him.

"An hour seems about right," said the eldest. "Do we just wait around here until then?"

"You guys are welcome to stay for dinner," Jungkook offered, before glancing towards Namjoon. "Uh, right, hyung?"

"Of course." Namjoon nodded. "Though someone's gonna need to stay with Hoseok. If he wakes up alone in the infirmary, he might panic."

"We'll switch around," Yoongi said. "Uh, I'll go first?"

"We're ordering pizza," said Jungkook.

"I'll go second," Yoongi amended.

"I'll go first." Jimin then frowned. "But I still want some pizza."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure Yoongi doesn't eat it all."

"Hey—"

-

The team was sitting upstairs at the table, two boxes of pizza sitting opened in front of them. One of the boxes was already empty save for the last slice— Seokjin figured that was because of Yoongi.

"How do you eat so much, anyways?" Seokjin asked, only on his second slice.

Yoongi looked up at him, mouth full of food. "Basketball takes a lot of energy," he answered.