Jeongguk ends up sleeping through the evening and night. A dreamless sleep, which the boy has never believed he would be so relieved to have. He wakes up gradually. Eyelids not wanting to be peeled apart, to welcome daylight when being unconscious sounded much more pleasant than enduring the headaches and their accompanying anxiety.

It seems to have passed. Once he blinks and becomes better adjusted to his surroundings, Jeongguk quickly acknowledges the lack of pain that had inflicted him so severely yesterday. There's but a faint scratching in the back of his head. But no unbearable, throbbing ache.

Propping himself up, the boy glances over the side of his bed to find Taehyung sleeping on the floor, Jeongguk's Pokémon blanket draped over his entire body, save his head and one leg which sticks out and pokes the door with his bare foot. Jeongguk feels guilty at first for his friend having to sleep there, but at the same time, judging by his snoring, the boy managed to fall into a deep sleep anyway.

Jeongguk is grateful for that much.

After silently laughing at the drool slipping out the side of Taehyung's mouth, Jeongguk tosses off his own blankets to get out of bed. Not a second later his friend stirs awake.

But not before snoring loudly one last time.

"I can't believe I managed to sleep through that."

"Hm?" Dazed, Taehyung slowly props himself up on his elbow, then sits up fully. He tousles his bedhead. "Oh, Guk. You're here, too?"

"This is my house, Tae."

"Oh." The boy looks down at his blanket. "Oh, right. I borrowed this. Did you want it?"

"I had blankets, Tae, it's fine."

"Did you sleep good?"

"It was alright. You?"

"Dude, I dreamt I was, like, hungry beyond belief and searched days for food and never found any, and now I'm starving."

Jeongguk rolls his eyes but chuckles under his breath. "You can go downstairs for something to eat," he says. "I'll be down soon."

"Yeah?" Taehyung's eyebrows shoot up. "You got an appetite to eat, too?"

"I think so."

"Good." The boy's mood seems to perk instantly and he jumps to his feet. "Hurry downstairs then or I'll eat all the Cheerios. Or I can bring you something if it bothers your head to move."

"I'll be down. Don't worry."

With that, Taehyung exits the room, and soon Jeongguk can hear him humming a happy little tune as he makes his way down the stairs. Meanwhile Jeongguk simply takes the moment to breathe. Deeply, steadily. Again, compared to last night's waking nightmare, he feels brand new. And he can't put into words how relieved that makes him feel. Still sitting in the same position on his bed, legs draped over the side, he scans the room just for the sake of doing so. He lays eyes on his phone plugged into its charger and an untouched cup of hot tea on his dresser. Next to that, he sees two small objects he doesn't recognize.

Gingerly Jeongguk gets to his feet and takes a step closer to his dresser. He sees the objects clearer now.

Two small crochet figurines - one of a Pikachu, the other of a Pokéball. He takes both in hand curiously.

Did Tae leave these here?

Balancing them in his palm carefully, Jeongguk exits his room and heads downstairs, then right into the kitchen where he finds Taehyung sitting at the table with Hyungi.

"You have more than me."

"But there're our Cheerios, Taetae."

"Look, I'm trying to teach you about equality. Here, if we measured them all out, we could divide it evenly so we both get-"

"Tae, are these yours?"

"Hm?"

The boy shifts his attention away from the Cheerio bowls in front of him to look at Jeongguk. "Are what mine?"

"These."

Jeongguk holds his hand out so Taehyung can get a good look at the figurines. Immediately, a puzzled look becomes painted across the latter's face. "No," he says. "But they're really cute. D'you get them online?"

"Tae, if I bought them myself I wouldn't be asking you if they were yours."

"Oh. Good point."

"Gukkie, can I see??" Hyungi raises his hand high in the air, waving his spoon. "I wanna see!"

Jeongguk stifles a laugh and holds them out again. "Are these yours, Hyun-ie?"

"I'll take 'em-"

He pulls his hand back. "That wasn't my question. So they're not yours?"

The little boy pouts, lowering his arm as he shakes his head.

"Don't start that, Hyun-ie." Jeongguk pulls out a chair to sit down. He sets the crochet figurines on the table beside him. "Listen, if I can't find who they belong to, I'll let you have them, okay?"

"Okay!"

A brightened expression, just like that. Jeongguk cracks a smile, too. He glances at both his brother and best friend. "So what were you guys discussing just a minute ago? Fighting over Cheerios? Again?"

"Don't make me sound so immature," Taehyung protests, "I'm just trying to educate the lil' guy."

"Let him have the bigger bowl, Tae. We have another box."

"Oh, for real? Nice."

It's a mix of disappointment and amusement watching Taehyung push back his chair to grab the other box of Cheerios, with amusement greatly outdoing the former. Only Tae, Jeongguk thinks, would argue with a four-year-old over breakfast cereals.

He ends up having the same breakfast as them. To his own surprise, Jeongguk feels rather hungry, and so he makes up a large bowl of Cheerios and manages to eat the whole thing. He's grateful - his head may feel fuzzy, but at least his stomach isn't miserable.

After eating, Jeongguk heads back upstairs, as does Taehyung, who pokes his butt the whole way just to get him moving faster.

"Crazy how even after five years, it's still funny."

"It's not," Jeongguk says, though his laugh betrays him as he swats his friend's hand away once they reach the top step. "And I'm pretty sure it's been more than five years. Either way, too long."

"Hey, at least I'm not going 'thousand years of death' on you."

"If you did-" He sternly pokes Taehyung's chest just after opening the door to his room. "-I might have to seriously reconsider our friendship."

"That's not the ninja way, man."

Shaking his head, Jeongguk steps into the room and sets the figurines back on his dresser where he had found them. It's only now he registers that he's wearing jeans - how he managed to sleep so well in them, he's not quite sure, but right now all he wants to do is take a shower and change into some sweat pants.

So that's what he does. Grabbing a fresh set of clothes from his drawers, he walks out into the hallways again and straightaway sees his mother walk out of the bathroom. Her face becomes taken over in concern.

"How's your head, dear?" She asks, reaching out for a hug which Jeongguk does his best to reciprocate while holding onto his clothes.

"I'm good, Mom. I just ate breakfast with Hyungi and Tae."

"Good, that's good." She pulls away, then smiles before stepping aside to let Jeongguk pass. "I'm going to the store to get stuff for dinner, but call me if you need anything, alright?"

"I will, Mom."

Jeongguk smiles back and ducks into the bathroom. Since he's not in any rush to be anywhere, he decides to take advantage of the time and enjoy a long, hot shower. Even with the weather getting steadily warmer the boy still prefers them over cold or even lukewarm ones.

He's only encouraged to hurry up when Hyungi knocks on the door and says he has to use the toilet.

Wanting to avoid a potential accident, the older finishes up quickly and gets dressed, then opens the door and Hyungi rushes inside.

Jeongguk returns to his room and finds Taehyung sitting on the bed - sprawled out, phone in hand, probably playing Candy Crush, he guesses. But the boy turns his eyes towards the door at his friend's return.

"You just gonna stay here all day?" Jeongguk asks him.

"I'd like to," the other replies. He lowers his phone to his chest. "But at the same time I've been meaning to go shopping for Youjin's birthday..."

"Oh, yeah, that's this coming Saturday, right?"

"Mhm. She's real easy to shop for but at the same time I don't wanna keep putting it off. Figure I should get it done with while I know I have the time."

"Makes sense. Want me to go with you?"

Taehyung hesitates, and, to Jeongguk's surprise, gradually shakes his head. "Nah, man. I mean, I can't tell you what to do but honestly I'm a little scared for you to be out and about so soon after what happened yesterday."

"You're worried that much?"

"I mean, yeah." He forces a tiny smile. "Cut me some slack, man, you really scared me. Scared Yoongi, too, ya know, he said he was in such a rush to get you home from his place 'cus he was frantic you needed medication or something. Your car is still there, isn't it?"

"I guess," Jeongguk replies mindlessly. He feels a twinge of guilt in his chest. "Honestly can't remember why I was there."

"Don't ask me, dude. Ask your headache." Taehyung releases a deep sigh. "Must've been worse than I thought if you forgot what you were doing at his house. Movie marathon? I'd find that hard to believe. Yoongi falls asleep way too quickly, I can't see him getting through even one without dozing off."

Jeongguk chuckles but it hurts his stomach a bit to do so. He sits down on the edge of the bed.

"...you good, Guk?"

"Hm? Yeah, fine."

"You don't have to lie to me," Taehyung says with a strong presence of disappointment in his tone. "If you're not feeling well again, I'll stay. I still have a couple days to get Youjin's gift-"

"No, it's fine, really." Jeongguk gazes reassuringly at his friend, who seems to believe him and returns the look with a smile. Taehyung then puts his feet on the floor again to stand up. In the time his friend had been in the shower, Taehyung changed out of the pajamas of Jeongguk's he borrowed and into his own clothes from the day before, so at this point he looks all ready to head out - with the exception of no shoes on his feet, of course. He pats Jeongguk on the shoulder.

"Going once. I can stay if you need me. Going twice. Gooooiiiiinnnnnggg-"

"Text me when you find her a gift," Jeongguk interrupts, giggling. "I'll be okay. If there's emergency, I'll call. Promise."

"Swear?"

"Pinky swear."

"Fine. I'll believe you."

Even still, the boy takes a dramatically long time leaving the room, peering back at Jeongguk all the while even as he's closing the bedroom door at a snail's pace. Eventually, however, he does leave. And Jeongguk permits himself another laugh.

He pops his phone off the charger and changes positions so he can sit against the pillows.

There are several missed messages from Yoongi, apparently. He opens them.

-

Yoongi
so i know it's not like top priority right now or whatever but your car is still here

Yoongi
idk if you have your keys or if you left them at my house, if they're here i can drop your car off no problem

Yoongi
if you have your keys then there's no rush, just wanted to put that out there

Yoongi
also how ya feeling

me
i'm a lot better thanks yoongi

me
and im not sure about the keys, i'll have to check if i have them, they were probably in my jeans pocket and i was just too dumb to notice.

Yoongi
nah man u have the excuse, you were really going through it

me
:)

me
oh before i forget, are u missing two little crochet pokemon figurines?

Yoongi
random, but no. why?

me
nothing i just found them at my house and i was wondering if they belonged to anybody cus i don't recognize them

me
they're really cute, whoever made these is really talented

Yoongi
well they're not mine i can say that much

Yoongi
did u ask tae?

me
not his either

Yoongi
idk then

Yoongi
i wouldn't worry about it tho i'm constantly finding stuff around the house idk where in the world they came from, little knick knacks and whatnot

me
yeah you're probably right

me
anyways thanks again yoongi

Yoongi
no problem guk, take it easy

me
i'll try to pick up my car soon btw

Yoongi
k no rush ✌️

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