Consciousness came gradually, like the sun peeking over the horizon, begging to be welcomed by the boy's eyes which weren't quite sure if they wanted to be open just yet. But they did open, and Taehyung soon found himself staring up at his apartment ceiling. He didn't know how long he had been asleep. He didn't even recall falling asleep in the first place.

Nor did he recall Jungkook falling asleep next to him, kneeling on the floor with his head resting against the edge of the couch cushion and his hand holding Taehyung's own, oh so delicately.

The touch of that hand. Gentle, soft, warm. Taehyung couldn't remember the last time he had held someone's hand - probably not since high school, he thought, when Yoongi would at times hold his hand as a habit of his protective nature.

It felt nice. Secure. However Taehyung was still very bothered by all this, as he genuinely couldn't remember what had happened for him to be in this situation.

His head pounded. That in itself acted as a reminder.

Oh. It was probably another dizzy spell.

They were always a hassle. But rarely did they inflict him strongly enough to make him lose consciousness. Had something else happened?

Looking down at Jungkook, Taehyung let out a deep sigh, wondering if he should wake the boy up or let him sleep. He felt Jungkook squeeze his hand. Maybe he is awake.

He was far too exhausted to feel embarrassed by the situation at this point. That being said, Taehyung lifted his other hand to place on Jungkook's head, and at the realization he received no immediate reaction, Tae intwined his fingers with the locks of the boy's soft, dark hair.

Intimate. It felt oddly intimate and Taehyung experienced a sudden rush of blood to his cheeks, which then urged him to retract both hands from Jungkook.

This, in turn, caused the sleeping boy to awaken.

Raising his head, Jungkook blinked about twenty times before making eye contact with Taehyung.

"Taehyung!"

An exclamation of genuine relief. His face looked a bit pale, Tae noted, but seemingly from worry rather than sickness. Then again some did consider worry a sickness, hence the saying 'worried sick'. Whatever the case, the sheer amount of brightness in Jungkook's smile alarmed Taehyung enough that his words escaped him. He shouldn't be that happy.

"Taehyung, I was in such a panic, you have no idea," Jungkook blurted. He sounded out of breath already, as if sleeping had only been more draining for him. "You, you just fell and hit your head, and I didn't know what to do if it were a concussion, so I called your neighbor over, and he said not to worry and that you would probably wake up in a couple hours, but I waited two hours and you still weren't up, so I got scared but ended up falling asleep, too..."

"My...neighbor?" Taehyung furrowed his brow. Then he thought about it. "Oh...did he have dyed hair?"

"Yeah, he said his name was Jimin."

Tae gave a nod of understanding. If anyone, his cheerful, friendly neighbor would be the one to come to the rescue. Cheerful, friendly Jimin who always said good morning to Taehyung, who in return could never bring himself to even make eye contact. But he couldn't help it. Something about that pleasant, amiable nature of his frightened the part of Taehyung terrified of making friends.

He didn't want to feel like he owed anybody. If it were Yoongi, it would be fine, but this was a near stranger who had no reason to take precious time out of his day to make sure Taehyung was alright.

"I should say something to him..."

He hated even saying those words. But again, he hated owing people favors even more.

Gathering the smallest scraps of energy he had in him, Taehyung swung his legs over the side of the couch, much to Jungkook's dismay, and attempted to stand up.

"T-Taehyung, what're you doing??"

"Gonna be a good neighbor," he muttered, his headache throbbing enough to throw off the rest of his senses.

He started to walk over to his front door. Panic switch flipped again, Jungkook reached out and took a careful hold of Tae's forearm, only to be swatted away.

"Taehyung, please, you need to lie down-"

"I'll be right back, quit nagging."

He waved his hand dismissively at the boy and disregarded every desperate plea that followed. He meant what he said, Taehyung planned to come right back after he spoke to Jimin, and if he were lucky, the exchange would last no more than a few seconds, as that was all Taehyung felt comfortable with at the moment.

He carried his weak, unstable legs out his apartment door and right over to the one located directly to his left. Frantic Jungkook kept a close eye on him.

Taehyung knocked at the door. Each moderate reverberation echoed a thousand times louder in his head. Luckily, it was opened to him mere moments later.

He had made eye contact for no more than a split second, not even managing to open his mouth, before all strength he had left failed him and his legs collapsed again. He didn't fall unconscious this time, but the pain he now endured felt about as worse as anything he had ever experienced.

Jungkook was quick enough to catch him before the boy could hit the ground. And Jimin, alarmed Taehyung had knocked on his door in the first place, made no hesitation to aid Jungkook in carrying him back to his own apartment to lay him on the couch again.

They scolded him.

"Tae, you scared the crap out of me-!"

"Yeah, Taehyung, why would you-?"

"Ah, shut up, my head hurts!!"

There was a break in his voice - a pained, emotional break that seemed to silence every outside noise, including Jimin and Jungkook, who both had more to say. But they said nothing as Taehyung's hands shot up to cover his ears, his eyes squeezed shut, and a bitter tear spilling over his cheek.

For a moment, you could have heard a pin drop.

The quiet of the room was shattered by the sound of soft whimpering.

"Yoongi, I need Yoongi..."

His sobs clawed at Jungkook's heart. But he kept his silence.

"I need him here, Yoongi should be here..."

It seemed to come from nowhere, the raw emotion now pouring from these words, these words that carried more weight than even Taehyung could bear.

Jungkook glanced at Jimin. Because again, in this situation, he felt the most useless.

"Get some rest, Tae."

This was all he said before turning his back to the boy. The blond's uncertain gaze lifted itself up slowly, sadly. Despondence.

"I don't really know if there's anything I can do for him," Jimin said, in a voice barely above a whisper. "You said he doesn't like hospitals?"

"No." Jungkook frowned. "Hates them. Refuses to go."

"Then just let him rest more, I guess. I'm no doctor..."

With that, he left Taehyung's apartment for the second time that day. Jungkook watched him leave. He could tell by Jimin's expression, that the boy clearly wanted to do more, wished he could do more, but Jungkook knew the cruel reality of the circumstance was that neither of them were any less incapable than the other.

It hurt. Being at the standpoint of helplessness. And it was all too familiar for Jungkook.

Quietly, he made his way over to Taehyung and knelt down again by the couch.

"...Taehyung...?"

No verbal opposition to his speaking. However the boy still whimpered.

"...Taehyung, I'm right here, okay...?"

"Who is right here??"

"...Jungkook, it's Jungkook..."

"You have to go to work," Taehyung choked out, sniffling as he pressed his hands more forcefully against his head. "You have work, just go-"

"I'm not going to work today," Jungkook argued. He extended a tentative hand to touch the boy's shoulder. "I'm going to stay here."

"No, no, why??"

"Taehyung, stop tossing and turning, you're going to make your headache worse-"

"It can't get any worse, it can't."

It took a lot of coaxing to finally convince Taehyung to breathe and go back to sleep. He was up and awake again in another forty-five minutes, but at least this time, Jungkook thought, at least he wasn't crying. So maybe the nap had done him some good.

He hadn't moved from the boy's side. For a bewildering reason of which Taehyung hadn't a clue, Jungkook was determined to stick around until the other's condition showed a massive improvement. As of now, Taehyung appeared some better than during his breakdown less than an hour ago. But it wasn't enough for Jungkook.

Panic, stress, anxiety. A whirlwind of unpleasantness both wished they could have left behind in his high school years.

Sitting on the floor beside the couch, Jungkook stared at his hands in front of him, twiddling his thumbs as his restless heart continued to toil.

Not long ago, he had called his boss to let him know he wouldn't be coming in today - health emergency, he put it vaguely. Thankfully it wasn't too big of an issue and someone was able to cover for him. Had they not been able to, however, it wouldn't have made a difference.

Jungkook was in no state of mind to be working right now.

He started to regret having eaten so much that morning. And yet, at the same time, he felt starving.

"You...haven't left yet."

At the unexpected comment, Jungkook craned his neck to look back at Taehyung. "I haven't," he replied. "I told you I was staying."

"But...your job."

"I called out. Everything's fine."

"It's not. I've caused trouble for you."

Guilt stained his voice like permanent ink, vivid and bleeding. He stared into space as if lost in it.

"I'm sorry, Jungkook."

Those words pained him more than they should have. He would have liked to be glad at them, to feel happy that Taehyung willingly apologized to him, but truly Jungkook believed the boy had nothing to apologize for.

"It's okay, Taehyung."

Taking a deep breath, he boldly took Tae's hand in his own again, relieved to find his gesture of comfort being accepted for a change.

"It's a small price to pay for someone's trust."

Taehyung let out the softest sigh. "You're still going for that?"

"I am," Jungkook said with a smile. "It's important to me."

He ran his thumb across the back of Tae's hand, delighted to once again see those pretty purple shades appearing on the boy's cheeks. He smiled fondly as Taehyung made a shy glance at him.

If only you knew, Tae...

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end of chapter nine.