Reset | Jinkook ✓

+ Chapter 2.0

There was nothing.

Nothing that could change it. Nothing that could make it better.

He had tried. Wanted so badly to force himself into believing that it had all been some kind of awful nightmare that he almost succeeded.

But it wasn't. And even he wasn't foolish enough to not see it.

...

"Jin Hyung?" That voice was an electric shock placed directly against his heart, and he felt it travel downwards through his entire being. Until his brain was frantically trying to figure out how to operate properly because almost all of him had gone off line.

"What is it Kook-ah?" Not one of the many nicknames he had for the other. But something safer. Something just a bit more formal. Already trying to place that barrier between them.

But it had already been put there. Placed so firmly that there was no way to knock it down. All he could do was find the cracks and try to peak through them.

"I just -" He knew what was coming next. And he desperately did not want to hear it. "I just want to say I'm sorry for last night. I didn't -"

"It's fine." It slipped out almost too quickly, body suddenly recalling how to work and twisting at the same moment.

"But -" It was a feeble attempt to argue, and somehow he got the distinct feeling that Jungkook would be just as happy to let it go.

"I said it's fine." He did not want to do this. He didn't. So he simply wasn't going to.

"Alright, Hyung." But it wasn't going to end there. It wasn't. And they both knew it.

Because Jungkook had something of him now. Held a piece of him despite how much he longed to take it back. Held a little bit of his heart in the palm of his hand.

There were only two ways this was ever going to go.

That little piece would be nurtured. Watered and feed and allowed to grow. Loved and taken care of until it blossomed.

Or it would be crushed. Ground down until there was nothing left. Burned by molten lava until nothing remained but ash.

And the first piece had already broken off.

...

It took weeks before it happened again.

And maybe he should have been thankful. Because it allowed him to believe that it truly had all been nothing more than a bad dream. A nightmare that he hadn't been able to wake from.

But it had been real. And the proof of that was showing it's self in spades.

"Jin!" He could hear it. Could hear Yoongi's voice as he called out for him. But his legs were far longer and his stride far wider and he had a head start that the other just couldn't hope to make up. "Kim Seokjin! Will you just -"

But he wouldn't. Because running was all he could do.

Until his lungs betrayed him and he felt that same sensation deep within his sternum. Like moss clogging his wind pipe. It started slow. Nothing more than a cough. But it grew, gained intensity until he was choking on it. Until pitch black ink was falling from his lips and the shimmering petals were making their way up his throat.

There were two this time. And he thought it ironic. Because of course there would be two. It only made sense.

Flashes of the what he had been forced to witness played over and over again within his mind. Of Jungkook sliding up to Jimin. Of the taller looking at him with eyes blown wide and glazed over. Thrusting his hips and doing some rolling move with his back that he had never seen before.