Home

The air still feels like home, but Jeongguk knows it isn't home. He never had a place to call home. Where his family lived, it was a huge mansion. A place for him, named as 'home' but never really felt like one.

And the place where his friends lived, everyone lived there, so it wasn't home either.

Now that he comes to think about it, home is never really a place. Home is where the heart is, and he truly feels it as he looks around him, vision blurred and hazy but still showing him something else than darkness. Where is my heart?

"Kookie?" A voice pops up, and he is obviously scared that he tries to turn his head, but cannot.

"Kookie, can you hear us?" He nods, or he thinks he does. "You will, the doctor said so"

Seokjin's voice is always comforting to hear, Jeongguk realized from the day they met. It has a certain elegance to it, a certain tone that sings home, a place Jeongguk missed despite living in it for his life.

Where is my home?

He wants to laugh at himself for thinking something like this when this could potentially be the last time he could ever hear them, but he can't.

"You're tired of this place, aren't you?"

How Seokjin knows everything, Jeongguk would never know.

"But he can't come back home" Taehyung drones. "Not like his parents would allow us to even try doing that"

"We can ask," Seokjin answers back. "He'd want to be with us, right?"

"That's true, we can ask them." A foreign voice says, a voice that is not the six of them. "He's shown progress since you all came to visit him more often, so maybe this could work"

"He did?" Namjoon asks. "But he didn't wake up?"

"He's at least aware of everything around him, that's a progress" The other voice replies. "He knows who is talking, knows what is happening around him, even if he can't see. And he even tried to move a bit,"

"But he didn't wake up" Namjoon stresses. "That would be a progress"

"Yeah, but with you, he is able to try. His body naturally reacts to you guys, which is completely unexplainable by science. Usually, patients in a coma would react to their family, but to friends? Hardly. But you guys are different"

"He's thin," is what Hoseok finds to say. "Is he supposed to be this thin?"

I'm thin? Jeongguk wonders. 

"He hasn't had anything solid going inside him, so of course he'd be thin. It isn't anything to worry about." The voice chuckles. "He'll wake up in about an hour or so, so yeah, I'll be out"

Wake up?

Wake up.

Really?

With that, he drifts back into the dark abyss, all alone.

"Wait, did he say wake up?" Yoongi asks after a long minute. "He said Kookie would wake up. Is he going to--"

"Oh," Seokjin's eyes widen at the sudden realization. "Oh my god--"

"So he'll-- Oh my god," Namjoon exhales. "ing finally,"

Out of all, it was Yoongi who felt the most relieved. Because now, he wouldn't have to bear the guilt of making Jeongguk end up in this state anymore. But he was a person to find potholes from a mile, and even now, he had found one.

"If he's alright now," He starts, expression growing heavy. "Why would his parents let us take him home?"

That question had no answer. Right, everyone knew. They don't particularly like us.

"But we can still ask?" Hoseok proposes. "I mean, it isn't like we're struggling or anything,and I can help--"

"What do you mean that my son is going with them?" A female voice yells, and almost immediately all of them know that it is none other than Jeongguk's Mother. "My son is going nowhere near those leeches!"

"Mom, watch your words," Jeonghyun grits, walking behind her inside the room.

"You stay away from this, Jeon Jeonghyun. How did they think I'd allow them to take my son with them? They're nothing but trouble; I've always warned my son to stay away from them, and now you want me to send him with those.... those--!"

"Stop it, Mom!" Jeonghyun yells, startling everyone inside the room. "Stop thinking friends are just people who stick to you for money! You are the reason I don't have anyone like hyung has, not even one person like them! They all care for him, more than you ever would!"

His Mother has no words to say. "You always tell us that friends are no one but selfish greedy people, but I've seen them, they aren't. I've seen people have friends, friends who don't want anything but them. I've seen hyung talk about his friends, he always thinks they're precious to him, more than anything."

"Jeonghyun, you stay out--"

"Let me speak, oh my god," He exhales, breath shuddered. "It's already too much that you wanted him to have no contact him after he graduated, but now he's coming back because of them. Can't you see? They're close to him, more than you had ever been as a Mother,"

"Jeon Jeonghyun!"

"What?" He shoots right back, looking back at Jeongguk. "I might not have any friends because of your stupidity, but I won't let you do that to him. I won't" He turns back to the five in the room. "You can take hyung home; I'll talk with Dad"

"How dare you make a decision without my consent?"

He straight up ignores her and walks towards them. "Hyung... he likes you all. I know he never felt at home in our place. Maybe he would feel like he's at home with you all." He smiles at Jeongguk. "And maybe, just maybe, I could get friends like you all for myself"

"Thank you, Jeonghyun," Namjoon speaks up. "Really, thank you so much"

"It's okay; and I'll talk with our Father, he won't say no when it comes to Jeongguk hyung"

"What you're doing... It's really big, you know that right?" Jimin asks. "Thank you so much," He chokes on his own tears.

"It's okay," Jeonghyun just shrugs back, a smile on his face just like Jeongguk's. "I love my brother, and I'll do what he would probably want"

When Jeongguk finally, finally opens his eyes, he sees a dimly grey colored something above him. And never in his life had he ever been so happy. There's something tacky over his face, he realizes, and something across his cheeks that itches when he moves too much.

Another thing he realizes is he's parched. His throat feels like a desert. He gasps, but even that is hard to do when his throat feels so dry and rough that he coughs instead, gasping for even more air.

"Kookie?" Seokjin's sleepy voice greets him, and scratch that, this is the moment he's happiest. "You're awake,"

Something's off, he realizes, Why is Seokjin telling that like he expected it? He couldn't look at anyone for so many days, so why is Seokjin wording it like it's normal?

"You," He breathes out, his voice echoing inside the small mask over his face. "You're fine" He wants to question it, but it comes out as a statement instead.

"We weren't; not until now" Seokjin's voice breaks as he holds onto the boy's hand, like its a lifeline. "We're fine now, Kookie, because you're here"

Jeongguk notices the few tears spilling out from Seokjin, and he raises a hand to wipe them away. He notices how thin even his fingers are, and wonders how much thin he would look now. "Don't-- cry," He says, despite the dryness in his throat, and the sudden hunger eating his insides. "Don't... cry,"

Seokjin shakes his head, letting out a laugh as he cries even more, overwhelmed at seeing Jeongguk finally looking straight at him, finally speaking, finally waking up. It was too much to take in.

"A-And," Seokjin starts, clearing the lump in his throat and tears in his eyes. "You're coming home with us, Kookie; with us"

"Y-You? Home?" He asks, and Seokjin nods furiously.

"We'll all live together, just like you wished. We're going home, Kookie"

Home, Jeongguk wonders. I'm going Home.

a/n: so there's that.

finally, i'm happy kookie's suffering and the boys' suffering are also over! i have a few ideas for the next few chapters, like resolving every problem until all of them are happy and free and together, so you may expect that!

and a ps no one asked for: hobi's character of being afraid of dying is based on myself.... cuz im afraid of that.... the irony HAHA IM--