After dropping off Hoseok, Yoongi had gone back to his own apartment and had returned to his studio. He spent most of the day catching up on work and wanting to bash his face into his computer, only to pause around 10PM (when had it gotten that late?) when he got a call. Which was sort of strange in and of itself. Yoongi never had his ringer on, and he frequently forgot his phone in other rooms of the apartment. But today, it had been sitting right beside him, ringer on, which was why he'd taken the call from Jin in the first place.

It wasn't until Yoongi got to the hospital that he realized he had forgotten his wallet and keys back at his apartment, and he only realized it at all because the woman working the desk kept insisting that they only allowed family members into the ward, and if he'd just show her some ID then she could put him on the guest log.

He must have been yelling at her for five minutes before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around abruptly, shoving the hand off, expecting it to be a security guard, but he felt the world click into place a little bit when he saw Jin standing there.

"He's with me," Jin informed the desk worker. "He's my brother, I can vouch for him. You photocopied my ID earlier and signed me into the log, so if there are any problems, you have my information. Can he come with me now?"

The woman said something affirmative, Yoongi didn't hear what, and then Jin was pulling him through the lobby and past a set of glass doors that shut behind them with a dark click of finality.

"What's going on?" Yoongi asked, but his voice seemed to come from outside himself. He'd always been the sort of person that would think out the phrasing of a sentence in his mind before he spoke the words, but his mind was terrifyingly blank right now. He didn't know how he was forming words or who was picking the order. "Jin- Jin, please tell me-" Yoongi grabbed onto the fabric of Jin's shirt to keep him from walking forward, and Jin turned back, his face twisted in something close to regret. "Jin, what's happening?"

Jin looked down as though debating what to tell Yoongi. "There was...an accident," he started off slowly before looking up at Yoongi to see if he was following his words. "Jungkook's in surgery right now. I already called Lisa and asked her to look after Dad while I figure things out here."

"Surgery?" Yoongi echoed hollowly. He'd seen Jungkook just yesterday. It had barely been 24 hours since he'd faceplanted on Yoongi's carpet in the attempt of completing a handstand. And if that hadn't broken him, then what had? "How...how bad?"

Jin's grimace scraped at Yoongi's insides, carving out all the little parts that made him feel things. "It could have been worse" was how Jin chose to phrase it, looking down the hall instead of at Yoongi. "They sounded hopeful about the surgery, that his odds were pretty good but there's always risks with this sort of thing."

Yoongi was struck with the sudden irrational fear that Jungkook might die, that his brothers weren't really as invincible as he'd built them up to be in his head. But it was easy to get lost in the illusion that they would always be fine when they saw each other so frequently.

Or maybe the issue was that things had been too good for too long. The last time one of them had been hospitalized...Hoseok's face came to mind, his too-thin body small and pale against the hospital sheets, his wrists so delicate and sharp that they seemed to be made of glass. He felt the strength in his knees give out, and he stumbled for a moment before shoving a hand against the wall to keep himself upright. "Jin, what are we going to do?"

But Jin wasn't saying anything, he was still just looking off down the hallway.

"Jin?" Yoongi asked weakly. "Jungkook...is he going to be all right?"

"Jungkook's going to be okay," Jin confirmed, still refusing to look over at him.

"Jin..." Yoongi fumbled with the hand not against the wall, grabbing Jin's shoulder, squeezing hard, trying to get his older brother to look at him. He felt shaky all over, had felt that way since he'd gotten Jin's call, but it was worse now. He felt like a human held together with toothpicks and prayers. "Jin?"

Jin wouldn't look.

Yoongi realized why, and his hand loosened, slipped off Jin's shoulder, swung limply by his side like a forgotten pendulum. Yoongi took a staggering step back and eased himself down onto the bench that was set within the wall. "Jin...Jin, who else was in the car with him?"

Jin wiped at his eyes quickly, a firm swipe of his sleeve to disappear any tears that had betrayed him, and that confirmed Yoongi's fears. "Jungkook's going to make it," Jin said, his voice thick like he'd break down if he had to say much more. "He's going to pull through, I know it."

"Jin, who else was in the car?" Yoongi pressed, even though his entire body felt numb but also tingly. It didn't matter if Jin broke down right now, Yoongi needed to know. "Jin-"

"Come on," Jin said instead, pulling Yoongi to his feet, although he still refused to look over at him. "I want to be there when Jungkook wakes up."

--

Jungkook's eyes were weights pulling him down to the bottom of the sea. Everything was dark, cool, quiet. He felt calm and slow, in a way, like if he tried moving, he'd only move half as fast, but he didn't mind. He was floating, pain-free with the exception of one small bubble within himself that he could only describe as an unfamiliar emptiness. The emptiness aside, it felt nice, inviting. He wanted to stay here for a while.

Something caught on him though and started dragging him up. He tried to scream, but only bubbles came out of his mouth. He was being reeled up to the surface, but he wanted to stay down where it was cool and dark. The light from above grew sharper as he streamed upward through the water, the sounds from the surface growing louder and louder, a frantic beeping – beep, beep,

Beep.

Jungkook opened his eyes in stages, blinking several times, letting them hang half open, then eventually managing to open his eyelids all the way. He blinked a few times, his eyelids shutting slowly and reopening the same way. Even though he'd been dragged out of some dark and calm dreamlike state, he still felt some of the cool from earlier weighing down his movements and flowing through him.

The emptiness hadn't vanished, either. It didn't quite have a tangible shape or location in his mind; it felt like what he'd imagine an extra limb felt like. He was vaguely aware of its existence, but he couldn't process it or figure out what to do with it. It wasn't painful or lurid in definition, but rather a background thought, a subtle current flowing beneath everything else.

"Jungkook," came a whisper from his left, and Jungkook ignored it the first time, but it was repeated more insistently. Slowly, he turned his head slightly to the left, only taking in isolated details here and there. A white ceiling tile. An unused outlet.

Jin.

"Jin," Jungkook said. He didn't really know why he had to say it, why he felt a need to name the people around him, but he did it anyway. Jungkook's eyes slid a little to his right, and he stared hard, trying to force the image to process. "Yoongi."

"You're awake. Thank God," Jin said, his voice soft as he reached out with a hand to entwine his fingers with Jungkook's, and Jungkook liked it. It felt very natural in his sleepy state, unlike the strident beeping from somewhere else in the room.

"Don't you have...work?" Jungkook asked. For some reason, the idea had popped into his brain as the only logical thing to assume. It was a strange idea especially considering that he had no real concept of what time it was.

Jin didn't respond for a moment, but then he blew out a breath. "Not today," he finally answered, rubbing his thumb in a circle around Jungkook's knuckle. Jin looked to his left and nudged Yoongi's shoulder, and Yoongi jolted before locking eyes with Jungkook.

He seemed to hold his breath for a long moment, but then he let it all out at once, resuming normal breaths and swallowing. "Hey, kiddo," Yoongi said, his voice raw as though he had a sore throat. "Are you..." Yoongi paused and looked over at Jin instead. "Is he-"

"He's doing fine," Jin said, squeezing Jungkook's hand, which he dimly registered. Jin looped his other arm around Yoongi's shoulders, drawing him a bit closer, and Yoongi muttered something as his put his face in his hands, rubbing at his skin. "He's going to be okay, Yoongi. I promise you."

"Okay," Yoongi said a bit unsteadily as he pulled his face back up, looking at Jungkook as though Jungkook couldn't see or hear him. Jungkook thought it was mainly weird because Yoongi had never been one to accept people's promises. He'd always argued that they couldn't guarantee the promised outcome or that they couldn't know what would come to be, but this time, Yoongi just took Jin's words quietly. Maybe he just needed them to be true, this one time. Jungkook still thought it was odd though.

A new noise joined the environment, a chirpy little melody, and Jin hesitated before pulling his arm back from Yoongi to check his phone. "I'm sorry, I have to take this," Jin said before flicking his eyes to Yoongi. "It's Hoseok," he added as an explanation before giving Jungkook's hand a final squeeze and leaving the room.

Yoongi waited a moment before slipping into Jin's chair so he could be closer to Jungkook. He stared at Jungkook's hand like he wanted to hold onto it like how Jin had, but he didn't make any movements to do so. "Jungkook, I know you're chock full of morphine right now, but...how are you feeling?" he asked, the corners of his lips flickering upward for a moment. He sounded like Yoongi would normally sound, but it felt off to Jungkook, he didn't know why.

He answered all the same. "I feel nice," Jungkook said. It was a weird wording and he didn't know why he'd chosen it, really. "A little tired," he added after a moment, and once again, he felt that strange emptiness looming in the shadows. He didn't know if it was something he should mention, so he decided not to for now. He could always say something later if it was important. "Why did they give me morphine?" It was only at this moment that Jungkook really realized that he was in a hospital bed, and then it seemed like something he'd simply always known.

"They said you were in a lot of pain," Yoongi said, looking down and brushing his fingers together. He brought his hands up to curl around the bed rail, but he still didn't reach out to touch Jungkook.

"Why? What happened?" Jungkook asked, and a smile came to his lips as he thought of the last time he'd been hospitalized. "Did I slip in the shower again?"

Yoongi stared at Jungkook for a long moment before looking over at the door Jin had exited out of, then back to Jungkook. "Not- not quite..." he said slowly before letting out a breath. "Jin will fill you in later, okay? Just...focus on resting up and healing, okay?"

"Okay, but can I get a hug first?" Jungkook asked, watching how Yoongi's eyes lightened in surprise. "You never hug me. This feels like a good enough excuse."

"I..." Yoongi hesitated before standing next to the bed reluctantly, staring down at Jungkook before delicately draping his arms around Jungkook's form. "I'm afraid of breaking you," he confessed so quietly that Jungkook almost imagined it.

"The hug wasn't for me," Jungkook said back just as softly.

--

published 10/08/20 (mm/dd/yy)

a/n: I just want to throw it out there that I don't like cliché plot points but in my defense...it's not (that) cliché if he doesn't get amnesia afterwards? maybe?

Okay so I don't have a hell of a good excuse but it needed to happen for plot purposes that we're just starting to get to. Also, we've been too happy up until now and that needed to end, so.

On a totally unrelated note, is the cover starting to make a little bit more sense? : )