“Y/N”

The sound of Jungkook’s faintly husky voice calling you for the first time after the procedure startles you, even more so than it used to (if that was even possible). He had let you take as long of a break as you needed after the procedure, and two weeks later, (after that beach trip with Jimin and Taehyung and confronting Hoseok about Yoongi) you were finally back in lab.

Yes, you were very eager to see Jungkook again, but a part of you saw him much more differently than all your previous impressions of him. Although his different personalities never failed to surprise you, he wasn’t your famous MD-PhD neurosurgeon professor/casual “friend” outside of lab anymore. He was the warmth of summer, the cherry blossoms in the spring, all the stars in the night sky, and the person you loved from long ago. He was someone who was always out of reach but now closer than ever. And now that you remember, now that you know, acting natural around the guy was going to be even more of a challenge than it had already been.

“Any signs of temporary memory loss?” Jungkook asks, snapping you out of your trance. Only then did you notice you were staring at him the whole time, like some toddler who was watching snowflakes fall from the wintry sky.

“Umm, I don’t think so” You answer, after clearing your throat. You watch as Jungkook scribbles something down in his notebook.

“Loss of a sense of self?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Loss of motor or somatosensory function?”

“No”

“Sudden mood swings?”

“No”

“Blurry vision?”

You shake your head, still looking at him. Making a mental note of his every motion, the way his eyebrows furrow when he’s listening to your answer, the way his pink tongue juts out to swipe his bottom lip as he’s writing, the deep and tender look in his eyes that speaks of sheer volumes of knowledge and concepts you can only dream of comprehending. And you try, not because it was necessary, but because it’s like a form of consolation, to connect those details back to your memory of him when he loved you from the farthest distance in the universe.

Jungkook pauses, like he wasn’t sure if he wanted the words to spill out of his mouth, and this is the first time you notice a touch of hesitation in his voice, a characteristic of his speech that normally isn’t there.

“How are your…dreams?”

And that’s the moment you almost just let it all out, tell him everything, maybe even try and force the memories back into his head, but you know you can’t because it doesn’t work that way, because the sun doesn’t rise in the west and set in the east, and because the world doesn’t revolve around you. Because if you did, Jungkook might just think the procedure made you lose your mind, and he might just abandon any hope he had of his dreams being a past reality. So you were thankful when your voice seemed to have disappeared and all you could do was shake your head.

The hint of disappointment that washes over his expression is barely noticeable, but it hits you like a brick wall. Had it been anyone else, you would’ve spilled all the beans, tell them that they just changed everything about dreams and consciousness as we know it, but clearly that’s not the case here and there are still several pieces to the puzzle missing. Things that even Jimin and Taehyung are still confused about, even though they’ve been through this hundreds of times, in hundreds of parallel universes.

If dreams were memories of past consciousness, why has only a select few people realized this? Namely you, Jimin and Taehyung… Everyone has dreams. They can’t all be past events. When you jump into a wormhole, does your life just start over or do you take over the life of yourself in a parallel universe? But wouldn’t that mean, the you back in that other universe and the you now are actually different? And those lovers separated by the Yin and Yang dimensions are still lost in darkness?

When it all boils down, none of it makes sense.

…

After days of just interacting with Jungkook in lab, you finally couldn’t resist anymore and decided to sum up the courage to ask him to have lunch with you during the break at noon. Yeah, lame, but what else could you do? To him, you guys were still technically in a student-professor relationship, and he’s such a private person, it almost felt invasive to even ask him to do anything with you except help with a part of the experiment or something (granted you’ve already been to his apartment once, but that’s besides the point).

“Umm, Dr. Jeon…”

You cautiously walk into his office where he was still facing his computer screen that was running some computational program. He turns around upon hearing your voice, and looks at you lingering in the doorway almost surprised that you haven’t left for lunch yet.

“The weather outside is nice, would you like to…” The last words get caught in your throat. The nerves finally got to you, causing an unnatural amount of saliva to build up in your mouth forcing you to pause and swallow.

“Have lunch with you outside?” Jungkook says, staring at the bento box gripped between your shaky hands.

You nod shyly; letting out a sigh of relief that he was actually able to read your mind, and save you from a situation that could’ve gotten real uncomfortable, real fast.

Walking along the same cobblestone path as the two of you had a couple of weeks ago, you thought about what had happened after you pushed Jungkook back behind a tree upon seeing Hoseok with Yoongi. After explaining to Jungkook that Hoseok was working at the hospital and (according to the conclusion you had come up with, then and there) he was most likely dating Yoongi. The neurosurgeon had just nodded in understanding and didn’t even question why you had slammed him into a tree. Thank goodness. The last thing you wanted was to come up with a lie about Hoseok not wanting you know he was dating or something. The walk that day didn’t last long after that, but the recollection of the amount time the two of you spent huddled behind a tree causes you to unintentionally blush once again.

“Ah, you were right about the weather” Jungkook says with a sigh, looking around for a spot to settle. The two of you eventually find a nice spot under the cool shade of a giant oak tree that had a small colorful birdhouse and some wind chimes hanging on one of it’s large sturdy branches. There was a wooden picnic bench that no one was occupying, so the two of you sit there and begin eating.

“Dr. Jeon?” You bit your lip, not sure how to even initiate a normal conversation with him.

“Didn’t I say you could call me Jungkook when we’re outside of lab?” He looks up from the sandwich he was biting. His lips curve up into a small smile, encouraging you to just be casual.

“Ok…um, J-Jungkook?” The name feels awkward coming out of your mouth. Like it was something you are supposed to do with ease, but the syllables feel strained and clumsy. You’re so focused on pronouncing his name that you actually forget what you were planning on saying to get a real conversation started. Ugh, he’s going to think that the procedure damaged my ability to form coherent thoughts. Just as you were desperately trying to come up with a solution to fix the situation, Jungkook laughs. It wasn’t a mocking laugh, or the kind that makes you feel ridiculously stupid, but a unique sort of carefree laugh that brings back another memory of Jungkook that you had long forgotten. His bunny smile.

“I realize that it’s going to take some getting used to, but you don’t have to be afraid of me” Jungkook says, still smiling warmly at you. He looked so youthful and innocent that for a moment you can’t even believe he’s actually your professor. “I know, I may not be the most approachable person-“

“Yeah, you’re really not” You’re eyes widen and you quickly shut your lips. Did those words really just come out of my mouth?

Jungkook looks at you for a second, and then laughs again. You’re probably actually going crazy now because it’s musical and the way his face scrunches up is beyond beautiful. And you hate yourself for feeling so awkward and unable to just relax.

“I’m sorry. You think it’ll help if we have lunch like this more often?” Jungkook says, after he gets over his fit of laughter. You continue to stare at him wide eyed, not sure if he’s joking or if he’s actually trying to get you guys on friendlier terms.

“Y-yyeah” You stutter, as you avert your eyes from his perfect face. Smooth Y/N, real smooth.

“So your friend, Hoseok was it?” Jungkook suddenly says after taking another bite of his sandwich and chewing. There was a large piece of lettuce that hung out of his mouth, in which he proceeded to munch on it much like a bunny. How is this guy the same guy you literally felt like running away from a couple of weeks ago? You’re watching him eat as he swallows the food and continues talking. “I thought you guys were dating the first time we met.”

You snap out of your sort of trance when you hear the word “dating” come out of Jungkook’s mouth. You can’t believe he actually thought you and Hoseok were a couple. Sure, he came with you that day and yeah, you guys are pretty much always together, but why was that his first thought when he saw the two of you?

"Oh yeah, no, Hoseok and I are just friends. We were lab partners our freshman year, and that’s how we got to know each other” You explain, feeling a little bit of heat rise up your neck and to your cheeks.

Jungkook nods. “Well, Yoongi’s a really good guy.”

.......