It's agony waiting for all the examinations to be over. Tests that the doctors insist are mandatory for determining the state of Jeongguk's physical well-being, as well as by what means his recovery may be expedited. But Jeongguk doesn't care. He doesn't care about how quickly his legs will recover, or how long it will be before his head stops throbbing incessantly, or if this lisp he's woken up with is permanent, and the inability to form sentences as easily as he used to.

None of it matters. Right now, he just wants to see his family. He just wants to see Taehyung. To know that they're okay.

The doctor told him they weren't involved in the accident, and Jeongguk believes her.

It just doesn't take away the unsettling feeling deep in his stomach where that stone had sunk.

Like there's still something his brain hasn't brought to his attention.

No, again, a lot of somethings.

Patience isn't an option but neither is arguing. That being said, Jeongguk sits in his hospital bed, now propped up against his pillows thanks to a bit of help from one of the nurses, and he waits.

"Jeongguk, are you ready to see them?"

"I am."

"Alright, I'm going to let them in. You can still ring the button next to you if you need anything, okay?"

"Mhm."

She steps out of the room. Seconds pass, mere seconds, and the door to his hospital room is violently swung open by Taehyung, followed by Jeongguk's parents and little brother who have no choice but to stand back a few feet as the patient's best friend outstretches his arms to embrace him.

Tears. An immediate eruption of tears and unrestrained sobbing, trembling arms and hands that repeatedly grip Jeongguk's hospital gown with little admonition to anything he was probably just told by the boy's doctor. Jeongguk can see the tearful, relieved expressions of his parents and Hyungi, too, but as of now it's a bit hard to focus on them with an aggressively emotional koala clinging to him.

He woke up hours ago but this felt like a wake-up call of its own. A vigorous slap to the face, convincing that last shred of his mind that has been whispering subtly, maybe you're still dreaming.

He's not. He knows he's not. With Taehyung's arms around him, holding Jeongguk so closely and tightly that he can feel the boy's heartbeat against his chest, it's vivid enough to jam it into his brain like a stake into the ground - concrete, not abstract, this is real, you've been asleep for two weeks and scared the living crap out of your family and your best friend.

"Jeongguk, I-...I-" Through his sobbing Taehyung can hardly get out coherent sentences. He's persistent. "I cried the whole way here, so did Hyungi, and traffic sucked so it took like four and a half hours to get here, I-...I was crying enough at the fact it was supposed to take three, it was awful..."

Four and a half hours? Jeongguk furrows his brow in confusion, but undoes the action straightaway after discovering it only hurts his head more. "That'th...a long time..."

"Yes, well, your father insisted taking the car over the train," Jeongguk's mother says as she wipes her eyes, "and at first I argued with him because I knew the train would be quicker, but we ended up having to wait a bit after we got here, anyway."

"Must've had to run a lot of tests on you, huh, sport?"

"Gukkieeeee..."

It's a bit overwhelming for him having so many people here at once - at the same time, Jeongguk doesn't want any of them to leave. Even though he can't bring himself to say much, he's thankful. Grateful beyond belief, beyond words that they're here and okay, that none of them had to suffer the same fate as him. He shares hugs with all of them, countless hugs, listens to countless we were so worried's and we love you's.

Eventually the boy's parents decide for themselves to give their son some space to breathe, to rest, although it's obvious to Jeongguk that neither of them want to leave. Nor does Hyungi, who nearly throws a tantrum but gets a hold of himself just in time to wish his older brother a goodbye before being led out of the room.

Taehyung stays.

Guilty for doing so, evidently - as made apparent by the look on his face, he agrees with Jeongguk's parents that it would be a good idea to give the boy some space, but a stubborn force keeps him rooted in place. Not moving from that small foldable chair beside Jeongguk's bed.

"...I'm sorry, I'm being selfish," he mutters after a bit. "I know you're in pain, I should really leave you be, but I...I've just been thinking the entire drive here how much I wanted to talk to you again. Sounds stupid, but I was a little paranoid you wouldn't even be able to talk. Also a little terrified that you wouldn't even remember me."

A bitter chuckle spills from the boy's mouth.

"...maybe more than a little."

It punctures Jeongguk's chest. "Tae-"

"I noticed you've got a lisp now," Taehyung says, forcing a smile. "Did you hurt your mouth badly? Or was it...just-...something with your head?"

"My head, I think," Jeongguk lifts his hand to press his palm against his temple. "I thound ridiculou-th-"

"No, you don't. And if anyone makes fun of you for it, I'll beat 'em up. Swear on my life."

He finds it in himself to match Taehyung's forced smile, except his is a little less forced, but still crooked.

Taehyung is silent for a bit. Going back and forth between staring at his hands and at Jeongguk's hands. Then the boy's face, then pretty much everywhere in the hospital room.

He looks upset. He just looks so upset.

"Guk, how much-..." There's a clear struggle on his part to speak. "...how much do you remember?"

"About?"

"Everything."

"Tae, I dunno." Jeongguk turns his troubled gaze to his own hands now where they stay. "I don't...I'm confuth'd why you had to...drive hour-th to get here..."

Silence again, until Jeongguk takes notice of it and looks over at Taehyung, who he finds staring with a heartbroken gaze.

"We're in Seoul, Guk," he says. "You told your mom you wanted to go see someone, and even though she told you she was scared of you traveling alone, you went anyway."

After uttering that last word, Taehyung's tears attempt the surface again. His lips quivers and Jeongguk simply continues to stare.

"I didn't know about it...I guess you had your reasons for keeping it a secret." Another bitter chuckle. "I know we haven't been around each other as frequently since you dropped out towards the beginning of this school year, but that doesn't mean you're any less important to me, you know? It's nothing against any of my other friends but it's just not the same without you there anymore..."

It seems this is the breaking point. Eyes growing watery once again, Taehyung purses his lips and sniffles as his emotions get the best of him.

"It's my fault to begin with," he mutters. His voice cracks but he doesn't bother clearing his throat before continuing. "When you first said you started having hallucinations and that you couldn't focus in school, I should've tried to help you, at least encourage you or do something, for goodness sake I could hardly do anything, it's no wonder you switched to home-schooling, your own best friend wouldn't stand up for you. All those people who made fun of you and made jokes about you...I could never bring myself to stand up for you, I'm so sorry, Guk, I'm so sorry..."

Jeongguk feels his heart shift - his brain, too, like a chain reaction.

"I guess this was just karma come to stab me in the back, huh? For not being able to help you like I should..."

"...we're in Th-eoul." Jeongguk bites his tongue in frustration with his lisp.

Taehyung looks at him, wipes his eyes, then nods. "You took a train. Quicker than car, safer, too, so I'm thankful for that, but things didn't turn out so well later on, anyway. They said someone hit you deliberately." The boy's voice cracks again on that last sentence. "I don't remember the person's name, and I don't care, as long as they're locked away for good that's all that matters to me. And...that you're okay..."

Taehyung's voice fades out behind a layer of loud thoughts.

Hallucinations.

Home-schooling.

Seoul.

An attempt on my life.

Puzzle pieces - faded, so on their own it's not easy to tell how they're supposed to paint a picture until every piece is present.

"...Guk, Guk, you're crying-"

"Why did I...come here?"

Taehyung reaches his hand out to wipe a tear from Jeongguk's cheek. "You never told me his name," he says, also visibly fighting back the urge to cry harder. "But, you left me a voice message before you left-"

"Let me hear it."

Prolonged eye contact. Jeongguk hoped to effectively communicate his desperation with those four words alone, and by the expression that soon takes over his friend's face, he succeeded.

Taehyung bites his lip, reaching into the pocket of his jeans to take out his phone. Jeongguks waits with anxiety on the tip of every nerve as the other scrolls and clicks until he seems to find what he's looking for.

He taps the screen one last time and holds it closer to Jeongguk so the boy can hear the recording better.

—

"Tae, I'm about to get on the train now, uhh...kinda scared, to be honest...*laughs*...uhm, but I've got my ticket at least, and it's supposed to take me close to where I'm headed anyway, then I should be able to get a taxi or something. Ahh, my voice is shaking...uhm, don't-...don't worry, I think I'm doing okay. I'm...not changing my mind either way, though, so even if...anyway...uhm, I'm gonna go see him. To prove...to,
to myself, you know, that he is real, and to prove to him that I'm real, too. If things go well, I'll tell you everything when I get home. Miss you already, Tae. I'll see you in...I'm not sure how long I plan to stay...*laughs*...but...yeah. Bye, Tae."

—

"Did you ever find him?" Taehyung sniffles, slowly retracting his hand to put away his phone. "Please...please tell me you at least found him after all this..."

Blank. For a time, Jeongguk's entire mental state, his entire brain is blank.

"I'm not a hallucination."

"I promise I'm real. Just tell me you are, too."

A tortuous, excruciating rush to his head, to his chest, triggering the tears to flow again. He clutches his hand over his heart. The beeping from the machines seems to grow more intense.

"He'th real, he'th real, I know he'th real." Frantic, rushed words. Jeongguk feels Taehyung grip his hand. "I met him, I know I did-"

"Guk, don't get worked up, please, you need to rest-"

"Tae, I met him!"

"Jeongguk, is everything alright?" One of the nurses pokes her head through the door, and Jeongguk turns to her abruptly with his eyes widened to their full capacity.

"Jimin, where'th Jimin?!"

—