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Jungkook peeked cautiously into the living area of his own hotel room.
He couldn’t hear anything over the running shower; it wouldn’t have surprised him if this had been going on ever since he stepped foot in the shower.
He had turned off the water, putting a foot down onto the soft hotel-provided towel laying on the ground. He was in the midst of rubbing down his hair with the other towel in his hand when he heard it. He thought he imagined it at first but then- there. He heard it again, and as long as he was still confident in his sanity, he was sure it was actually there.
It was the sobbing coming from inside his hotel room. It was muffled, and it could only conceivably be coming out of one person’s mouth. Unless one of the other guys had snuck into their room, the heartbreaking cries were coming from his roommate.
Jimin.
Jungkook couldn’t say that he wasn’t expecting this to happen. In fact, he’d been waiting for it ever since the group first touched the ground in Dallas. Jimin, as much as he’d been pretending that he was doing absolutely fine, was not.
Everyone was stressed about it. It was basically impossible to not be. But Jimin, oh so selfless Jimin, was, despite being at the center of the situation, trying to be the rock for everyone else. Because that was just who he was. He was the only one who even made an effort to laugh at Jin’s feeble jokes designed to lighten the atmosphere. He was the one to scold them all when they tried to form a barrier around him with their bodies as they walked around in public, saying that he wasn’t going to let a random person’s insecurity and self-esteem issues get in the way of a normal trip.
Except this wasn’t a normal trip. How could it be, with the looming uneasiness surrounding them? Jungkook was confused as to how Jimin was so casual about it, but when he witnessed Taehyung crouched in front of Jimin, who was sitting on a bench outside of the bathroom at Incheon International, touching their foreheads together and whispering words he couldn’t decipher, he had a feeling that Jimin wasn’t as laid-back as he was trying to convince them he was.
He padded into the living area, the carpet making his footfalls practically silent. There was a lump on the bed, covered in the crisp, white sheets. It was sitting still; no large jerky movement to be seen. Though, if you concentrated hard enough, you could see that it was just barely vibrating.
Jungkook slowly set a hand on what he was guessing was Jimin’s side. It seemed that he was right. The lump that was Jimin froze, and then went back to its vibrating in a flash. Jungkook swallowed heavily.
“Hyung? What’s going on?”
Jimin said nothing.
Jungkook lifted the sheets off of Jimin, uncovering him inch by inch. He was laying on his side, curled up into the fetal position. His face was red, the bags that were getting to be under all of their eyes accentuated by the crying. His eyes were open, only looking straight ahead. That is, until Jungkook removed the entire sheet from his body. The light must’ve woken him up from whatever trance he’d been in. He blinked rapidly, taking in the situation he found himself in.
“How are you feeling?” Jungkook asked, fully aware it was a dumb question yet not able to come up with anything else.
Jimin sat up, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry for that, Kookie. I don’t know what came over me.”
Jungkook could sense this conversation going in the wrong direction. He quickly sat himself down next to Jimin, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. He looked over, waiting for confirmation that he was allowed to do that. When he got no response other than Jimin slumping a bit, he figured that he was doing fine, and pulled Jimin to rest his head on his shoulder.
He kissed the other man’s forehead lightly. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. Do you want to tell me what’s got you so upset?”
Jimin sat silent for a moment, the only sound in the room being his shuddering breaths. Jungkook waited patiently, willing his heart to stop pounding. This was Jimin’s time, not his. He couldn’t let his nerves take over now, not when his hyung needed someone to confide in.
“I guess everything only really hit once we got here. Before, when we were in Korea, it was kind of like a background issue. Nothing could actually happen. But now-” he paused, trying to find the right words, “now it’s all possible. I’m in a city with a person who has threatened to kill me.”
His breathing quickened.
“What if they actually try? What if they succeed?” he whispered, voice quivering.
Jungkook pulled him closer, closing his own eyes and burying his nose in his hair. It was a scary hypothetical, but he’d never imagined that it might become more than just that. A nightmare was just that- a nightmare. Most of those didn’t ever cross into reality, but here they were, like Jimin said, in the same city as the person that had been haunting their nightmares.This one was frighteningly close to becoming more than just a figment of the darkest parts of their minds.
“They won’t,” he reassured both himself and Jimin. “I won’t let them. We won’t let them.”
“And how would you stop them?” challenged Jimin, jerking away suddenly. “How, Jungkook? What could you or even Namjoon-hyung possibly do? Give them a stern talking to?” His voice raised in volume with each word, his arms flailing wildly. Jungkook couldn’t track the movement.
“Shh,” Jungkook raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Be quiet, please. You’ll wake up the neighbors.”
But it was too late.
Yoongi was almost, almost in a blissful sleep. It had been a long day for all of them. From the thirteen plus hour flight, to the drive from the airport to the hotel, and having to check in using a foreign language, not to mention the Jimin situation… but he preferred not to think of that when he was trying to sleep. It would only serve to bring unpleasant dreams.
And then he heard yelling coming from next door. Normally he would ignore it. What could he do anyway? But then he realized that even his foggy mind could make out a few words, and a few seconds later he recognized them as Korean, not English. And they were coming from the room to his left. Jimin and Jungkook’s room.
I swear, if they’re playing a video game-
Except the words he heard being shouted were not words you’d use in a playful, if overly competitive rant against your opponent. The voice, which he could now recognize as Jimin’s, sounded too genuinely distressed to be caused by losing a round of MarioKart.
So he pushed past his exhaustion and mild annoyance to find the growing concern. He flung off the blankets, looking over at his roommate. His limbs were wrapped around one of the hotel pillows, his damp hair dripping and wetting the pillowcase he was laying on. Luckily, Taehyung was a deep sleeper after a busy day such as this one; he wanted Taehyung to be unaware of this for as long as possible, which he knew was only feasibly until the morning. If the other two maknaes had gotten into an argument it would upset Taehyung, and an upset Tae was something he didn’t want to deal with tonight.
He crept out into the hall, not even bothering to put on his slippers. Namjoon, who was rooming across the hall with their manager, was already out there, and speaking to a man with a red face and clenched fists in front of Jimin and Jungkook’s door.
“I’m so sorry that my friends woke you up, sir,” he was saying. “Why don’t you go back to bed and I’ll go and talk to them about it?”
The man scowled, looking Namjoon up and down. Neither of them seemed to have noticed Yoongi opening his door just a few feet away.
“Fine! But if I hear one more peep coming from over here you’ll all be hearing from the hotel staff!” He punctuated the threat with a poke to Namjoon’s chest, quite literally stomping back into his room on the other side of Jimin and Jungkook’s. Namjoon met his eyes.
“Oh, hyung! What are you doing out here?”
Yoongi raised his eyebrows.
“I wanted to see what was up with Jimin.”
Namjoon sighed, nodding. He knocked on the door. After a beat, Jungkook hollered from inside:
“Come in!”
Namjoon opened the door. Yoongi slipped under his arm to walk inside first. “What the hell is going on in here, you two?” he hissed. “It’s a wonder Jin-hyung and Hoseok didn’t hear you from down the hall.”
Namjoon placed a hand on his chest. “Hyung, please stop talking.” He pointed to the two inhabitants of the room. All Yoongi’s scoldings died on his lips at the sight of his dongsaengs.
Jimin was being held to Jungkook’s chest, his face pressed into the younger’s neck. Tears silently flowed down his face, and had been for a while now if the redness around his eyes was anything to go by. Jungkook himself looked over at his hyungs, begging for help with his eyes. They were sitting together on the bed closest to the window, so close to the edge that Jungkook had to plant a leg on the floor to keep them from toppling over.
Namjoon and Yoongi rushed over. The leader crouched in front of them while Yoongi stood up, biting his thumbnail.
“Jimin? Do you want to come to hyungs?”
Jimin shook his head. Namjoon frowned.
“Okay, then. Do you think you can calm down a little bit for us?”
He tried his best. He gasped and sniffled, but the tears ebbed. Namjoon nodded encouragingly, a warm smile on his face.
“Good job.”
A few more minutes passed. Namjoon was still in the same place, but Yoongi had moved to sit on the second bed, facing the two. Jungkook hummed a random melody, his fingers drifting up and down the back of Jimin’s sweatshirt.
“I guess I’m just really scared,” Jimin said finally, letting out a big gust of air.
“We all are, Jiminie. This isn’t anything we’ve had to confront so directly before, and we’re all really scared about it,” Namjoon began. He set a hand on Jimin’s knee. “But I have faith. I have faith that we’re gonna get through this, that you’ll continue to be safe and healthy, and that we’ll all come out on the other side. We may be battered and bruised, but at least we’ll be battered and bruised together.”
“And in the end that’s really what matters, isn’t it? That no matter what happens, we do it together? Jimin, as long as you have the rest of us, nothing can touch you,” Yoongi added. At the end he nodded, seeming so sure of his words’ veracity that Jimin couldn’t help but be a little more convinced of it as well.
“I think you may have a point there, hyung.” Yoongi yawned, and Jimin noticed. “I’m sorry for waking you guys up.”
“It’s fine. I’m not mad and I’m sure Yoongi-hyung isn’t either,” reassured Namjoon. He wasn’t even going to try denying that he was asleep; Jimin wouldn’t believe him anyway.
“Still, you two better head back to bed. You’re already tired and tomorrow’s schedule won’t help.”
Yoongi looked between the two on the opposite bed. Neither one of them looked like they were ready for him or Namjoon to leave. Jimin’s tears, though they’d stopped falling, were still brimming his eyes, and Jungkook looked a mixture between stressed and about to cry himself. But both were nodding along to Jimin’s statement.
Yoongi stood up, brushing some crumbs off the back of his pants. Either the bedsheets hadn’t been changed since the last guests stayed there or Jungkook had already been eating in what was presumably his bed. Judging by the open bag of potato chips sitting on a table that Yoongi could see out of the corner of his eye, it was the latter.
“No, we can-” Namjoon was interrupted by Yoongi’s hand on his shoulder. He looked up inquisitively. “Hyung-”
“Come on, Namjoon. I trust them.” Yoongi gave the two a stare. “Besides, if they have any more problems they can come to us.”
Jungkook gulped. “We will.”
Yoongi softened. He wrapped the two in his arms. “Call us if you need anything. I believe in you,” he whispered into Jungkook’s ear. The goal was to not let Jimin hear, and he didn’t know if he accomplished that or not, but he pulled away, dragging Namjoon behind him to the door.
Jungkook watched the door close behind his hyungs, the soft click only serving as a reminder that he was now alone with Jimin once again. No one said anything for a while.
“They were right, you know?” Jungkook said quietly. Jimin turned his head so his ear wasn’t as blocked. “Namjoon- and Yoongi-hyungs were right. None of us are gonna leave you alone.”
Jimin sighed.
“I guess deep down I knew that. But what if you guys being with me gets you hurt? I can deal with me getting hurt, but one of you- I’d never forgive myself.”
The younger’s mouth opened and closed a few times. Why did I let them leave? he thought, inwardly cursing. Even Yoongi is better at this stuff than me!
“Jungkook?” A hand waved in front of his face. Jungkook startled.
“Uh, yeah, I’m here. Just thinking.” He licked his lips, taking a deep breath. “Listen, I know I’m not good at this kind of thing. So, just… let me talk, please.”
He laughed a little, letting out all of his air and gearing himself up.
“This whole situation… it scares all of us a whole lot. And I completely understand why you’re feeling the brunt of that. But please, if there is only one thing that you ever trust me on, let it be when I say this: we will not leave you. Nothing could ever make us leave you. We would hate for each other to get hurt just as much as you would, but we’re not gonna let that keep us from you. I have faith that the guards and the police will be able to protect all of us from any danger we may come across. But you know what? Even if one of us did get injured, it wouldn’t be your fault. No one would blame you. Not me, or Tae-hyung, or Namjoon- or Hoseok- or Yoongi- or Jin-hyungs.”
Jimin craned his neck to look at Jungkook through the moisture that had built up in his eyes throughout the younger man’s speech. He smiled weakly.
“When did you get so wise?”
“I’d have all of you to thank for that, I’m afraid.”
Jimin laughed wetly, falling backwards to lay his head on the pillow. He pulled Jungkook down with him, wrapping all of his limbs around him in a full-body hug.
“Ew! You haven’t showered yet, get away from me!” Jungkook tried to shove him away, but his arms were effectively bound to his body.
“I’ll do it tomorrow morning,” Jimin said. “Now sleep.”
Despite his grumbling, Jungkook reached over and turned off the lamp, drenching the room in darkness. He laid there, looking at nothing in particular. After a while, Jimin’s breathing leveled out.
“I wasn’t lying,” Jungkook breathed out, his whispers hanging heavy in the otherwise still room. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re one of my best friends.” Then he shook his head, chuckling to himself. “Who am I kidding? You can’t hear any of this. Good night, hyung.”
And with that, he turned on his side to make himself more comfortable and closed his eyes.
If he was paying more attention, he would have been able to feel Jimin smiling against the skin of his neck. Oh well.
What Jungkook didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.