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three am is the time in which the only things truly awake are the luminescence of the city and street noise. perhaps the abnormal can resist slumber, but the early hours of the night are dead. the world fades into a lull, a soft background noise; reality is altered.
waking up in a foreign city is strange. being up at night in a foreign city is even stranger. it settles loneliness under jeongguk's ribs yet boils excitement through his blood. but the excitement — or the time change — leaves him buried uncomfortably underneath the expensive sheets of the hotel bed with his eyes challenging the ceiling to a staring contest.
so far the ceiling reigns victorious. jeongguk prays that he keeps losing and that eventually his eyes will remain shut. he could feel each second reverberate by inside his skull, and his eyes grow red and teary. as the night slowly creeps on, he's defeated again and again. he grows bored of losing and out of frustration, he wakes his phone and the device greets him with blinding lights. he lays there, motionless, as he messes around on social media and mindless games before his eyelids finally resign and begin to droop.
then, his stomach growls.
he groans and sits up as the growling increases. he had skipped lunch and dinner in favor of adventuring through the city and taking pictures. thinking back, not eating was fine at the time as he was occupied, but now it comes back to haunt him. he clutches his middle as it rumbles again, loud enough that he fears that it'll wake the other members in the neighboring rooms.
at last, he unburrows from the covers and makes his way to the shared kitchen belonging to the four bedrooms. when they randomly selected rooms, he had won the largest bed, and the other six members had to share rooms. he is glad they’re able to get their well-deserved rest. tonight is an example of where he doesn’t have to worry about keeping one of the others awake with his restlessness or his angry stomach. however, a small part of him wishes he was rooming with someone. he finds the thought intrusive and selfish, but he couldn't ignore the emptiness in his chest. the others probably don’t feel as lonely as he does; he feels like an outlier.
once he reaches the kitchen, he rifles through the cabinets quietly. the boys had done a collective grocery shop the previous day, yet jeongguk finds none of the snacks they purchased to be very satisfying. as much as his stomach complains, he knows he'd feel nauseous after eating chocolate candies or greasy chips. he closes all of the ajar cabinets softly before swinging open the refrigerator. the white light of the inside envelopes him in an overexposed glow.
sitting in the center of the empty fridge is one of the other member's leftover dinner. he lifts the aluminum lid to peer at the insides. noodles. he creases the tin foil lid back down and removes the container from the shelf. when the refrigerator shuts, the room is once again drowned with darkness. the pool of black is both welcoming and unfriendly.
looking down at the container, he can feel himself sway on his feet. he is beyond exhausted. jeongguk curses his insistent stomach. he would just drop to the kitchen floor and pass out if his hunger relented, but he can’t ignore the whines and pains of his middle, so he persists on. since he already went through all this effort to have a meal, he decides he doesn’t want stiff, cold noodles. the kitchen has no stove, but jeongguk wouldn't have used it anyways.
he rubs his eyes in hope of clearing the bleariness. he'll just use the microwave then. he pops the container into the machine and fumbles to select the numbered buttons. as he hypes himself up to press the 'start' button, something drops in his abdomen — something that wasn't hunger. fear? he couldn't understand why though. he is an adult, he can handle reheating food. he’s confident that he’s strong and mature. the hyungs always remind him that the microwave was harmless, and after awhile his apprehension towards the machine dissipated.
despite that, he takes a deep breathe. he gathers his courage and presses the button with slight hesitation. he backs away a couple feet from the machine — just in case.
the kitchen is illuminated by the yellow interior of the microwave. however within seconds, the interior is more than just yellow. the aluminum lid seal begins to spark white and ignite in licks of orange and blue. the flashing lights reflect in jeongguk's eyes like it wants to spread, wants to manifest. the machine is making a terrible whirring noise, hissing like a hungry predator that wants a feast. jeongguk's throat swells up; the predator has found its prey— him.
at that jeongguk sprints from the kitchen, sliding on his socks on the way out.
"hyungS!" he gasps out, "hyung! hyung! the mi-microwave!"
he crashes into the two elders' shared room, and he's prepared to pounce on the eldest.
"seokjin-hyung, please wake up!" he pleads, shaking the shoulders of him, "the microwave's exploding!"
seokjin, disturbed by the jostling and shouting, cracks an eye open before pulling the comforter over his head, "jeongguk-ah, it was just a dream. i thought you got over this already."
tears spring to the youngest's eyes, "no, no, no, jin-hyung, it-it's explo—"
he's interrupted by thunderous popping from the other room that makes his body recoil, and the tears finally fall. seokjin and the other in the room, yoongi, are stumbling out of bed in seconds.
seokjin grabs the youngest by the arm and sets a hard stare on him, "what is that?"
jeongguk is a shivering mess, tears streaming from his eyes and sobs erupting out of his mouth. he attempts to pry away the eldest's hand. he can't respond.
"you said the microwave right, gguk-ah?" yoongi asks, and the addressed boy's head whips towards him scarily fast, "let's go stop it then."
the three boys file from the room. jeongguk clings onto the broad back of seokjin and cowers behind him as much as physically possible.
the popping is now becoming louder, almost deafening, and the fluorescent rays of the machine are tormenting to the eyes. the microwave is quaking, rattling and threatening to release the blue flames and sharp sparks that are shooting off within.
seokjin couldn't believe it. the microwave is essentially about to explode.
the youngest's cries were loud enough to rival the malfunctioning of the microwave, and he nestles his head into the nape of seokjin's neck, partially muffling his wails. the eldest spins the boy around to embrace him. he can feel the youngest shaking against his own body, and his wet face pressed against the side of his neck.
the microwave emits a high buzz that has all three boys flinching, and jeongguk wishes he could somehow invade seokjin's body to escape.
the two shut bedroom doors burst open, and the four lasting members emerge, disheveled.
"what's going on?" namjoon shouts over the volume of the machine.
no one responds besides the microwave. it releases another shot-like pop and strobes with another series of florescent beams. namjoon squints at it, then to the maknae, watching the usually impassive boy, lose his mind. his heart aches, and he orders taehyung to grab the fire extinguisher. once he returns, namjoon surges forward to power off the overheated machine.
there is no noise but labored breathing.
everything calms down with the small beep. the room lapses into a familiar nightly silence, and the room falls into a pit of black. outside the street lights and traffic dance on, unaffected and unknowing of the chaos that ensued inside the rental.
the silence is broken by a sob. the six older boys look over at the youngest and their hearts shatter. jeongguk is shaking, his entire body rocking and curled up tightly. his face is red, and droplets rush down. he's hysterical and doesn't even notice that he's being lowered to the floor.
"i-i'm sorry," he wails, "i didn't think that it- it would —"
the elders want to be mad, but they can't. jeongguk seems so traumatized, so out of his mind that any seething anger seems to fade into heartache. seeing the typically quiet, composed boy so vulnerable made any repercussions about to arise, slip from their minds. the youngest is ready to tear his hair out, hands fisting brown so tightly that his knuckles turn white. seokjin frees his threatened hair and engulfs the younger's hands with his own. jeongguk inspects each of them so fearful, so small, that his gaze makes them want to do nothing other than hold him tight. they knew of his fear and originally they thought it was exaggerated, for comedic purposes, but the truth had finally revealed itself. besides, the situation was scary to all of them as well.
"ggukie," hoseok coos, approaching the boy to brush his sweat- slicked hair away from his forehead and drops a feathery kiss there, "it's alright."
jimin moves forward as well to brush his tears away with the soft pads of his fingertips. he places a kiss on the younger's cheekbone.
the rest of the boys follow suit, and all pepper the youngest's face with kisses. seokjin occasionally blows soft raspberries onto the expanse of the back of his neck, making the younger wetly chortle. all the boys watch fondly as yoongi settles a gentle peck on the crown of jeongguk's head. the older scowls at the other hyungs before he swoops in again to ruffle the maknae's hair. namjoon pats the boy on the shoulder and simply kisses his neck so light that it seems unreal. jeongguk's ears dye a semi-permanent, deep red, and the room erupts in chorused coos. taehyung cups the younger's face and pecks his nose. he repeats it three (more like six) times.
they form a pile on the floor, seokjin and jimin on the flanks of jeongguk, and everyone else encircling as tightly as possible to the youngest. there are hands curled into his hair, wrapped around his ankles, on his thighs, and rubbing soft circles into his exposed skin.
jeongguk's quivering has reduced to small tremors, and his eyes are puffy but tear-free. his hunger has subsided, probably disturbed as well, and dissolves into a painless swirl in his stomach. as his breathing evens out, he can hear the soft murmuring of the others.
he finally drifts into sleep, warm, comfortable and accompanied by not just one, but all of his bandmates.