Chapter Text
Jungkook couldn’t run fast enough. He had been left behind by the others at the dorm, but it wasn’t the dorm. It looked like his parents’ house in Busan, but mysterious doors kept popping up, leading to strange rooms or new buildings altogether. That’s where the skinless man came from.
The man was a stranger to him. He was totally hairless, including eyebrows and eyelashes. He also had no skin. He wasn’t bleeding, but Jungkook could see the hideous pink and yellowish layer underneath. The man’s mouth held teeth that were too white and too big that gleamed when he screamed. Whether the screams were in agony or anger, Jungkook didn’t know. All he could do was run.
He couldn’t find the front doors. There were no windows and no way to escape. The man was gaining on him. Jungkook flung a door open and ran through it. He was on a busy street, but somehow he was still inside. He didn’t know where he was. The people around him bumped into him as they passed him, ignoring him. None of them had eyes, only a flat stretch of flesh above their noses.
The skinless man was in front of him. Jungkook turned to run. The door was gone. He ran. His feet were too heavy. The ground turned to mud beneath him. Suddenly he was swimming. The mud tightened around his chest, pulling him down. He couldn’t move his arms. He couldn’t breathe. He was sinking. He was drowning.
He landed hard face-down on the floor, knocking the wind out of himself. His eyes snapped open as he tried to draw a breath that wouldn’t come. His head and face ached as though he’d been punched. There was noise around him, voices that didn’t make sense. Multiple pairs of hands were on him, turning him over onto his back. Bright light stabbed his eyes, blinding him. Hands touched his face. The voices were louder, more insistent. He yelled wordlessly, fighting off the people around him.
“Jungkook! Ow! Shit, someone get his hands. Jungkook, wake up! You have to wake up!”
Wake up? He was awake! He was being attacked!
“Stop fighting! It’s us! We’re not hurting you. No one is gonna hurt you.”
“I have the ice.”
“He won’t stop thrashing.”
“Is he awake?”
“Give him some space.”
“Jungkook-ah, look at me. It’s hyung. I’ve got you. You’re okay. Just breathe.”
The room began to come into focus. Yoongi was knelt beside him. His cold hands were on either side of Jungkook’s face, forcing him to look at him. One of his cheeks was flushed and his hair was messy, but his eyes were as calm and steady as they always were.
Breath finally returned to his lungs, and he began to cough. There was blood in his mouth. He tried to cover his mouth, but something was pinning his hands to the floor. A fine spray of red appeared across Yoongi’s face.
“You’re okay,” Yoongi continued in his low, soothing voice. “Just calm down. Everything is fine.”
“What?” Jungkook tried to ask, but his throat was too tight. He didn’t know what was going on or where he was. He tried to sit up, but he was pushed back down. A loud, choking sob erupted from his throat.
One of his hands was released and Yoongi’s face was replaced by Jimin’s. “No, don't cry. You’re all right. Do you remember what happened?”
Jungkook had been running away from something but couldn’t remember what. He shook his head.
“You were sleepwalking again. You tripped on the corner of the chair and fell before any of us could catch you. You must have woken yourself up that way.”
Jungkook looked around, still disoriented, but he tried to process what Jimin had said. All of his hyungs were standing or kneeling around him. Yoongi still had blood on his face, but none of them looked scared. Concerned, maybe, but not afraid. He gulped air into his lungs but was struck by another coughing fit when he gagged on the taste in his mouth. This time the hands holding him down pulled him up into a sitting position. His head spun, but he no longer felt like he was choking.
Taehyung pressed a paper towel to Jungkook’s nose. The maknae flinched, but it didn’t hurt that much. At least his nose wasn’t broken, though it was bleeding rather heavily. Jungkook pinched the bridge of his nose to try to stem the bleeding.
The longer Jungkook sat up, the clearer his thoughts became. He recognized the dorm’s living room, the stylish furniture Yoongi had picked out comforting and familiar to him. The room was dimly lit, but it didn’t seem to be too late. Most of the members were wearing pajamas, but Taehyung and Namjoon still had on their day clothes. Seokjin’s hair was damp from his shower.
“What time is it?” he asked thickly around the wad of paper towels.
“Around 11,” Namjoon said, checking his watch.
Jungkook nodded. His nose and head hurt from his fall, but his limbs were achy, too, and his brain seemed a little fuzzier than it should be even if he was just waking up. “Am I sick?”
“Do you feel sick?” Hoseok asked.
Jungkook shrugged.
“You said you had a headache before you went to bed,” Jin reminded him. “That’s why you went to bed early.”
Yoongi put his cold hand on Jungkook’s forehead and wrinkled his blood-speckled nose. “You feel kind of warm to me. What do you think?”
Jin’s hand replaced Yoongi’s. “Yeah. I think you have a fever. We’ll get you some medicine before you go back to bed.” He handed Jungkook an ice pack to keep the swelling down on his nose.
“Does anything else hurt?” Jimin asked. “Did you twist your ankle or anything when you fell?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“Do you think you can stand?” Hoseok asked. “You’ve got blood all over your shirt.”
Jungkook allowed Namjoon to help him to his feet and walk him back to his room to get cleaned up. Jin insisted on taking his temperature before giving him medicine for the fever and the pain in his nose and head. Jimin wanted him to sleep in his bed like he always did when he was upset or feeling bad, but the maknae insisted on sleeping in his own bed, arguing that he might get blood on Jimin’s clean white sheets. Before long he was tucked back in bed with an ice pack draped across his face. Jimin stayed with him until the dancer was sure Jungkook was sleeping soundly then joined the rest of the members in the living room where Namjoon was cleaning the small amount of blood off the floor.
“Do you think he’ll sleepwalk again tonight?” Hoseok asked.
“Nah,” Namjoon dismissed. “Sleepwalkers aren’t usually active more than once a night. He’ll be fine.”
“I hope so. His falling like that was scary,” Taehyung said. Hoseok nodded in agreement.
“We should have brought him back to his room instead of letting him wander around like that,” Jin said.
“We couldn’t have known he was going to trip,” Yoongi argued. “This wasn’t our fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”
“Then why does it feel like it was?” Jimin countered.
“Because you have a guilty conscience,” Yoongi retorted.
“Oh, shut up, Yoongi.” Jin rolled his eyes, finally cracking a smile. “Go wash that blood off your face. You look like a serial killer.”