Conflicted

"Do any of our family know about this?" Namjoon asks, and Seokjin shrugs. 

"I don't know; it still hadn't been a whole week"

Honestly, Seokjin wants this to be the worst dream he had ever dreamt. He couldn't bear to see each of them in the face, filled with such shock and sadness that it just breaks his heart. And for this to happen just when everything was happy; he doesn't really want this to be true.

Doesn't want to admit that this is the truth now. Doesn't want to admit that everything had crashed in the matter of a few minutes.

"How is Kookie?"

Seokjin freezes at the question, not sure about opening up about this to anyone. He doesn't know how everyone would react, but this is Namjoon.

His best friend.

And maybe his first love.

What the hell. 

I should shut myself up.

"He's fine"

"Can I see him?"

He looks around and spots Hoseok dozing off on the chairs. He was the only other one who actually knew, and now he can't even be called for help. "You shouldn't move around too much"

Namjoon eyes his casted arm and scoffs. "You think moving would hurt this?"

"Considering how you destroy anything, yes"

Namjoon laughs, and that makes Seokjin loosen up a bit. Maybe, just maybe, everything was as easy as this.

"Come on, where is Jeongguk?" Namjoon continues asking. "I want to see if he's okay"

"I said he's fine--"

"I want to see him. There's a difference"

Seokjin gulps down the lump in his throat, nodding hesitantly before heading outside, eyeing a sleeping Hoseok.

Please let everything be okay.

No.

That is what comes first to Yoongi's mind as he stands frozen in his place. And he mutters the same.

"Tell him to get up; he's faking it!" Taehyung pulls him closer to the bed, and to a still Jeongguk atop it. "He always listens to you!"

He doesn't know. Everything feels unreal, to the point where he wonders if he's dreaming. They were supposed to be heading to their next stop, they were supposed to return back to school in two days, they were supposed to be happy.

Yet here they are, defying every single thing that was supposed to happen and in a stand-still, unable to escape reality.

He doesn't want to believe it.

"Taehyung, you should calm down and--"

"He's faking it! Can't you see? He loves pranking everyone, and that's what he's doing right now!" He cries, yanking at Yoongi's arm like anything. "Are you seriously believeing he's in a coma? Don't you understand, he's playing with us! Tell him we'd skip school for another week! He just doesn't want to go to school; he always pretends he's sick just to skip classes!"

"Kim Taehyung, you're the one who needs to wake the up!" Yoongi shakes him harshly, forcing him into look into his eyes. "Yes he's in a coma; he isn't waking up any soon! Get back to reality, you dumb idiot!"

"No!" He pushes Yoongi away in sheer surprise, making him stumble back and fall against the chairs. He yelps out in inevitable pain, but hides it sooner than ever. 

He has always been good at that: hiding pain.

He hadn't spiralled downwards in life at one time to not be good at that. 

"No! You're just... You're just lying--!" He watches Taehyung break down, helpessly and so heartbroke that he wanted to reach out and say he wishes he did.

"What?" That is when he notices Namjoon, and Seokjin gives in.

The whole room's a crying mess, everyone except him and Jeongguk. He cannot, anyway. If he could they'd be crying tears of happiness.

"We need to know your parent's contact details," A nurse steps in and Taehyung lunges at her.

"Don't tell them! Please, don't!"

"As much as we want to agree, we need our bills paid, student" The doctor steps in. "Are you Jeon Jeongguk's friends?"

"Ye-Yeah, we are" Namjoon replies as Seokjin walks away, too embarrassed to stay there anymore. 

He was supposed to be the eldest and the most collected one, yet here he was, bawling his eyes out like his whole world had crashed down.

But the thing was, it had.

"We need to get in touch with his parents to discuss about his condition"

Namjoon takes a deep breath, tries to speak through the lump in his throat. "Y-Yeah, where should I give them?"

He knows Jeongguk would hate this.

Let's say it wasn't that... good when Jimin reacted to the news.

Apparently he had broken ribs, in more places than imagined, and that made breathing hard for him. The doctors had to force all of them out when Jimin went into an almost seizure, throat choking with breath and untold words and one name.

"Aren't you going to your home, kids?" The doctor, Lee Jinki as they came to know later, asks them, and all of them shake their heads in union. "You're going to stay out here?"

"Can't we?" Yoongi shoots back. "We're all legal age enough, if you're wondering about that"

"No, just... Won't your parents be worried?"

"Not until we tell them"

"Okay, so I'm guessing you didn't tell any of your family yet?"

"What is your problem?" Namjoon spits out unintentionally. He just wants some peace, goddammit, and an interrogating doctor isn't what he needs.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Just asking you" He sits beside Namjoon much to his annoyance, and he turns away. "All of you are friends?"

"Best friends," Taehyung says. Sleep floats between his eyes, and he struggles to keep them away for a while. "We're best friends"

"Everyone can be best friends, but are you all friends?"

"What's the difference?"

Yoongi isn't someone who bothers to listen to anyone, thanks to the way he grew up around gangsters instead of sophisticated people, but this time round, he's willing to give a listen.

"You can say you're a best friend of someone if you know any one of their secrets, or know their habits inside out, it's easy to become someone's best friend. But to be a friend, you need to know them from inside. Not their habits, but themselves. They should rely on you, completely trust you with everything in their lives"

"We're friends, then. We're thicker than thieves"

"That's a stupid saying, you know? Thieves don't really stick to each other unless it's a necessity. They don't believe in anyone else but themselves; that just makes them selfish" Jinki smiles. "I know I'm poking into something personal, but just let me tell you one thing"

Everyone's attention on him, and he clears his throat. "I saw how afraid you looked when I asked for Jeongguk's parent's contact details. You don't want them to know, isn't it?"

"They don't really appreciate our friendship, per se," Namjoon replies, nodding along. "I don't think they'd even let us see him, anymore"

"Just remember; if you all really trust and rely on each other, you'd find a way to be together. Let it be in the most devious of ways, or take years and years; but one day, one day you'd all eventually come back together" He gets up, smoothening out his white coat and hands on pockets. "Including him inside. Don't worry too much"

Namjoon wonders how much he knows them, but his words give him a sliver of hope.

They had dreaded this very moment.

"These boys have ruined my son's life! I knew they were trouble since the start!"

If you just knew how much more happier he was with us, Seokjin wants to point out but stays calm. 

"Listen, do your friend a favor, and just leave his life" Jeongguk's father says-- pleads, and all Seokjin does is nod.

He nods along to everything.

It's habitual, not intended.

"You're agreeing to what he's saying? Don't you remember what Jeongguk said? He wanted us to be with him forever!" Taehyung yells and lunges out to Jeongguk's room, only to be blocked by the two bulky guards standing outside the door. They push him away roughly, and Namjoon thankfully catches him before he falls. "He won't like it when we leave him!"

"Taehyung, it's better if you stay outside for a while" 

"No, don't you understand? Jeongguk wants us to be with him, not them! How many times had he mentioned this? More than we can count!"

"That is not nice of you, young man" Jeongguk's father growls, sounding as calm as possible.

"I don't care what impression I give off, but Jeongguk doesn't like you" He spits out, resulting in a squabble between him and those two guards who had thrown him away to a corner of the corridor.

"I better not see you all here again"

"We aren't here just for Jeongguk," Namjoon replies, gritting through his teeth but polite enough. "We have another friend here, if you want to know"

"I don't care; don't you dare lurk around my son, you bunch of leeches!" Jeongguk's Mother yells, sniffling into expensive handkerchief again.

That's it, Seokjin walks up to the lady, towering over her. "Don't you call us with that name. You don't know him; and you never will"

He walks away before he hears her reply, right inside Jimin's room.

Confirming that no one is watching him, he lets a tear slip down, followed by another, and another, until he's crying like it's the end of the world.

He could feel Jimin's hand brush against his, and looks up at him.

Jimin's drugged by the medicines, yes, but he isn't that drowsy to not make out that someone is crying. It breaks his heart to know that someone is crying. Despite the tiredness pulling him into the dark, he reaches out, feeling a hand and wanting to grip it hard.

I'm here, he wants to say. I'm here for you.

He slips back into the darkness when he feels that hand hold his, so comforting, so familiar, so caring.

So like Kim Seokjin.

a/n: so Jinki's appearance is a last-minute cameo ;) and im sorry. for this, and for future updates.

as always, please know that comments and subscriptions make me happy <3 (and many other authors too so go comment on a fic u like!)

have a happy jimin to rest your tired eyes :DD

 look at him he'S SO HAPPY AND SMILING LIKE AN ANGEL BE BLESSED WITH HIS EYESMILE EVERYONE :D