It has been three weeks since Taehyung decided to tip himself over the ledge, and plunge himself deep into the sea. He was gone, within a split second and no matter how long Jimin swam, he just couldn’t find his best-friend back, the one person who had been there with him throughout in a tiring place like this. Mirror, it was the name Taehyung had given to this place — for that everything looks exactly like it would in the reality, except that it’s not, except it’s nothing but a shell of the reality that’s made up to lock them in. It’s a reflection, and it’s a reflection that eats away at the memories and existence of whoever that’s stuck here.

 

Everyone forgets.

 

Jungkook had snorted at the idea and didn’t think it was true. Taehyung had been so sure, he was so sure that one day he would wake up, look to his left and not know who Jimin was. He kept saying his memory was getting worse, and if forgetting everything about the life he had before he ended up here wasn’t bad enough, he was gradually finding it difficult to remember Jimin every time he woke up — Jimin who he had spent everyday with ever since he got here. 

 

Jimin tried to reassure his best-friend, oh he had, but Taehyung just wasn’t convinced enough. He said it’s getting bad, he said everything gets forgotten in Mirror, he said he was terrified of not being able to remember anything, he said he was scared of becoming a lifeless soul who wanders around aimlessly forever, he said his time was really running up, and he said Jimin would be okay before he leapt off.

 

Jungkook watched as Jimin cried in despair for losing his best-friend. Jungkook watched as Jimin kicked a wall in anger for getting abandoned by someone he trusted. 

 

Jungkook also watched as Jimin woke up one day and just didn’t remember Taehyung anymore. 

 

Everyone forgets.

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

“Don’t you get curious? Or miss what you had before?” Jungkook asks as Jimin pushes the shopping cart he’s sitting in all around the supermarket that’s empty. “About the life we had before?”

 

Jimin shrugs. “You can’t miss something you don’t remember.”

 

“I remember, Jimin.” Jungkook argues as Jimin stops to take a few boxes of cereal off the shelf. “I know life’s not supposed to be like this. I   still remember waking up here after seeing a car just a few feet away from where I was. I still remember that the world’s supposed to be… noisier.”

 

Jungkook vaguely knows he has said something wrong when Jimin doesn’t say anything, and just drops the snacks into the cart before moving forth.

 

Jimin has been here way too long to remember anything about his past. 

 

Jungkook wonders if he’s scared, and wonders if he’s feeling what Taehyung did before Jimin suddenly shifts to the front of the cart, and bends a little so they are at eye-level. Jungkook doesn’t reject the hand that reaches out for his.

 

“Then be gone, Jungkook.” Jimin says, and he means it. “You don’t belong here if you still remember something.”

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

Life’s odd, Jungkook has to say. It goes on as per normal even if Taehyung isn’t around anymore — or at least life goes on as per normal for Jimin who doesn’t even twitch at the mention of his best-friend. Jungkook still remembers the way Taehyung would drag Jimin into a headlock and banter with him like two children who would never stop picking at each other. Jimin doesn’t, and so he finds it weird when he sees Jungkook sprays their names across walls like it’s important.

 

“That’s vandalising,” Jimin says like he gives a for the environment that probably isn’t even real in the first place when he doesn’t, and Jungkook just rolls his eyes as he makes sure the colors spell their names out correctly.

 

“I just want us to remember,” Jungkook explains, and he knows Jimin isn’t listening because he’s way too soft to be heard, but it’s okay.

 

This is just a way to make himself feel better; at least Jungkook can tell himself that if they ever forget about each other one day, at least whoever that sees this wall in the future will know that a Jimin and a Jungkook had been there for each other. 

 

“Why is there a line after our names?” Jimin suddenly asks once he’s done with spraying yellow all over the wall. His eyes are fixated on the small graffiti that Jungkook has done, that spells the both of their names with a straight vertical line at the end. 

 

Jungkook hasn’t realized.

 

“Why?” Jungkook repeats, and honestly, he doesn’t know until a familiar face flashes in his mind. Of course, he thinks, with a soft smile as he turns to Jimin and raises at his hand to finish spraying what he has started unknowingly until— “I was…”

 

He stops.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

He swears there’s another name he’s supposed to add at the end, but he can’t remember it all of a sudden anymore.

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

 

Jungkook was teaching Jimin the different ways to hotwire a car when they find Namjoon — he’s been unconscious, lying in the middle gas station like he owns it and they would’ve driven over him accidentally if not for Jimin’s driving skills that are horrible in a good way for the first time. 

 

Namjoon’s different.

 

Namjoon’s full of life and questions. He asks so much about where he is, he’s so concerned about the lack of people around him, he’s so confused and — he remembers so much about the world Jungkook and Jimin have no complete idea about anymore and he insists that he should’ve been dead, because as far as he can recall, the gas station was in flames and took him with it. 

 

Jimin sits back and pretends to be asleep when Jungkook lets curiosity take over and asks Namjoon repeatedly about the world he should’ve been so familiar with — but every time Namjoon answers without a lie, Jungkook felt like it was because there’s no way the world was like that.

 

He doesn’t remember ever living in a place like that. 

 

Jungkook decides that he wants to, again, when Namjoon decides that he should leave to find a way to get out of this place no one should ever belong to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Do you think there’s a way to get back home?” Jungkook asks once they are both alone, again, with their hands brushing.

 

Jimin doesn’t say anything, but Jungkook knows if the other ever did, he was going to tell Jungkook that we are home already, and the funny thing is although Jungkook remembers how everything feels like home with Jimin, he knows.

 

It’s all a lie.

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

 

 

“You don’t remember,” Jungkook says, and he knows he shouldn’t be surprised, but he is. 

 

Jimin’s staring at a polaroid shot that he’s in, with someone who obviously had been close to him — the grins and the hug say everything — but he can’t remember taking a photograph like that, ever.

 

“I don’t,” Jimin repeats and places the polaroid aside like it’s not important but it is, Jungkook knows as he takes the photograph into his hand and looks at it carefully. “I don’t even know when did I start having this in my bag.”

 

Jungkook would’ve snorted at the other if the other face in the polaroid didn’t look that familiar. He swears he knows him, and he swears Jimin know but none of them remembers.

 

It’s just a face.

 

It shouldn’t just be a face with no other memories attached to it.

 

“I know him,” Jungkook insists as he looks up at Jimin who’s playing with a pair of round framed shades like it doesn’t matter. It should matter, Jungkook thinks, it should ing matter because Jungkook knows this had been someone who was important. “You know him, Jimin.”

 

“I don’t,” Jimin simply answers.

 

Jimin’s response shouldn’t hit him that hard, but it did and Jungkook’s hand twitches as he holds back the urge to punch into the closest wall because of how unnerving everything is. 

 

“You’re going to forget me like that one day,” Jungkook concludes after a long pause. 

 

There’s no rooms for arguments — he knows it’s the truth. Jimin’s going to forget about him one day and no matter what’s left, Jimin’s not going to care because he won’t know how much they had meant to each other. Jungkook’s just going to be another face, another photo that he’s going to tuck away like it meant nothing and if that doesn’t send a pang panic up Jungkook’s spine, he doesn’t know what else will.

 

Jimin stops fiddling with his glasses. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I won’t.”

 

“No, Jimin.” Jungkook keeps the photograph instead. “You don’t want to, but you will.”

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

 

“This is ugly as , Jimin.” 

 

“Shut up—“ Jimin hisses as he raises the tattoo gun like it’s a weapon and Jungkook’s pained expression morphs into an amused one immediately. “You’re the one who’s moving way too much.”

 

“Because it hurts!”

 

“Tattoos are supposed to hurt!”

 

“No—“

 

“Look, do you want this tattoo or not?” Jimin frowns as he gestures to Jungkook’s wrist that’s getting red. “I’m almost done.”

 

It’s nowhere near, Jungkook thinks bitterly but he lets it go anyway and clenches down at his jaw when Jimin stabs the needle too deep yet again. He supposes this is why people could be so skeptical over spontaneous ideas because this is turning out quite badly — Jungkook never knew he would end up drunk in a tattoo parlour just so he can pull through his boyfriend’s disastrous inking skills. Jimin’s practically out to kill, Jungkook laments to himself as he takes another swig of beer from the bottle and lets his mind blanks out when the needle pricks at his skin painfully.

 

“This is funny to you? You practically disfigured me, Park Jimin—“

 

Jungkook says minutes later, when Jimin has to stop halfway because he’s laughing too hard — each alphabet of his tattoo isn’t even close to being proportional. Who knew that a simple tattoo could look this ing ugly?

 

“I swear, you’re going to suffer when it’s your turn,” 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Jungkook ends up performing better than he wished he is, because the words are appearing prettily inked on Jimin’s wrist and it doesn’t look anything like the ugly blotch that’s on his own — but it’s okay, because Jimin’s laughing again, and when Jungkook leans in to kiss at Jimin’s lips that taste like beer and chewing gum, he knows the other’s going to remember. 

 

(“Tattoo your name on my wrist,” Jimin suggests as he sits up from the bed in the middle of the night, when Jungkook’s so sleepy he can’t even open his eyes right away. “You’ll be there forever.”)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

 

“Do you still remember anything at all, Jungkook?” Jimin suddenly asks as he drags the tip of his finger across Jungkook’s cheek aimlessly. They rarely speak of the world Jimin can’t remember anymore and the  bits of world Jungkook still does. Jungkook knows how uncomfortable Jimin always get whenever Jungkook reminisces about the past — because he can’t, and he never can. 

 

Jungkook doesn’t blame him.

 

“Tell me,” Jimin urges and spreads his hand open, his fingers now cupping a side of Jungkook’s face warmly. “I want to know.”

 

Jungkook open his eyes and takes a long careful look at Jimin who doesn’t seem like he’s lying.  

 

“… I remember that I have a brother, a baby brother.” Jungkook says and makes sure that his sight stays on Jimin’s. He doesn’t want to miss it if Jimin’s going to get hurt. “I remember… where my home is.”

 

Jimin doesn’t look away like the topic’s making him uncomfortable. He doesn’t talk about something else and let the centre of their conversation stays there. He just smiles, so softly before he leans in to kiss at Jungkook’s lips.

 

The way Jimin kisses lingers gently and passionately as always, and Jungkook doesn’t stop to think if Jimin ever forget about the way he did. He pulls away with another question in mind instead, but Jimin beats him into speaking first.

 

“You still want to… go back, don’t you?” Jimin asks, and Jungkook’s throat tightens unknowingly. “Then go back, Jungkook. It’s okay.”

 

“Jimin, I—“

 

“If you still remember something, anything, they have to mean something. Something that you can’t let go of must be something that can still pull you back.” Jungkook closes his eyes when Jimin leans forward, and tangles their arms together for an embrace that Jungkook settles into immediately. “If they still can, then let them,”

 

Jimin’s crying, and he’s hiding the fact that he is. Jungkook lets him, he pretends that he doesn’t know, but that doesn’t stop Jungkook from holding the other tight because he is, too.

 

Jungkook doesn’t know what hurts more; the fact that Jimin is finally deciding to let him go, or the fact that Jungkook can’t find anything within him to say no to it.

 

He wants to go back.

 

 

 

 

“Let them take you home,”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

 

Getting back home took them a long time. By the time they are standing before a building that’s way too familiar to Jungkook, Jimin has already hot-wired five cars and is pretty damn good with driving already. He no longer needs Jungkook to supervise him closely by the side, and Jungkook doesn’t know if he should feel relieved at that or just… ridiculously sad. 

 

“Why aren’t you going in?” Jimin’s hand slips into Jungkook’s, and it ironically feels so much more like home than the place that’s calling to him. “Don’t tell me that you’re actually getting cold feet now—“

 

“… Promise me that you find a way to get out too. Promise me that you’ll not stop trying— I know you did, I know but promise me you’ll try again?”

 

He knows everything he has with Jimin here is built in a world that’s not even real — but that doesn’t mean he won’t know how ed up he will be if he has to be in the real world without Jimin. 

 

“… I promise,” Jimin says as he squeezes down at Jungkook’s hand. It sounds like a lie, but Jungkook wants to believe, so he doesn’t call the other out.

 

“I promise I’ll find you when I get back,” Jungkook promises instead because if Jimin doesn’t want to try, he will. “I’ll find you, I promise. I’ll… find you, and I’ll bring you back. I don’t know how I’ll be able to do that — but I’m not giving up on you.”

 

Jimin just smiles, like Jungkook’s the one who’s lying this time round, until he tugs at their hands so he can pull Jungkook in for a long, slow kiss. 

 

“You’ll find me,” He repeats, like he has faith and Jungkook smiles. 

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

 

Turns out, Jimin’s actually right. The very thing that Jungkook can’t let go of is exactly what drags him back into reality. He knows, because the instant he touches the cradle he remembers to have built himself, a rush of memories hits and he thinks he sees the ceiling, but then he sees the cradle again like he’s in two places at one time — but not for long, oh he knows because now he hears a monitor beeping louder in the other place, and Jimin who’s speaking to him is getting softer.

 

“Jimin,” Jungkook doesn’t even know he’s been lying on the floor — when? — and he’s just staring up at Jimin who looks so, so, alone already and it ing breaks Jungkook’s heart.

 

But he hears doctor and nurses now, and Jungkook hears a child speaking. He recognises that voice — it’s his brother, it’s his brother and he remembers the way his brother would used to grab at his thumb with his palm when he’s still a baby and Jungkook suddenly begins to cry because how did he actually managed to forget all about this?

 

He misses his brother.

 

“Go home,” Jimin suddenly says, and Jungkook’s back to feeling Jimin’s touch that’s brushing away tears that are on his cheeks, and Jungkook doesn’t know if it’s Jimin he’s feeling anymore because every time he blinks, he sees nurses crowding over him and a doctor mouthing words at him that he can’t hear because Jimin’s speaking, Jimin’s telling him to go home. 

 

Jungkook blacks out, eventually, but not before he reminds Jimin again of the promise he swears to never break.

 

“I’ll find you — I’m not giving up on you, I’m not.”

 

He doesn’t get to hear Jimin’s response.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(But if he did, it’s nothing but a string of words that’s spoken with a voice that sounds so horribly gut wrenching and heartbreakingly hopeless.

 

“You don’t want to, but you will.”)

 

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

 

It’s weeks after Jungkook woke up from a six-month coma that his doctor finally gave a yes to him getting discharged. His mother’s now packing at his clothes, stuffing the pile of folded clothes into a duffel bag before giving him a kiss on the cheek — she’s being doing that a lot — and looks at him with all the love in the world because when your son wakes up from a coma that even doctors have lost hope in, you spoil him, naturally.

 

She used to be so much colder in the past — all she focused on was her new boyfriends, Jungkook remembers, it’s one of the reasons why he got into a fight with her in the first place, and it’s one of the reasons why he crossed the road without even looking because he had wanted to get away from her.

 

But it feels good to be home, Jungkook thinks as he stands up and returns a quick peck to her temple before realizes a certain monkey was missing. 

 

“Where’s Junghyun?” Jungkook asks, and by the looks on his mother’s face, he knows. “This is the seventh time, mom—“

 

“And the last time! No more hide and seeks in the hospital, I promise.” 

 

Jungkook snorts, before splitting up with his mom to look for the little ball of fluff who treats the entire hospital like his very own personalised playground. The nurses have been way too forgiving, but that doesn’t mean Jungkook is going to trample all over their kindness — Junghyun had knocked over a patient’s heart monitor once, and it was ing horrible. 

 

Five to six wards later, Jungkook finally finds Junghyun sitting by a bed that’s occupied, on a nurse’s laps as she read a book to him. 

 

“Why you little—“ Jungkook starts, but he stops when he sees who’s lying on the bed.

 

The other’s face is pale, the presence of blood faint as dark, raven locks frame at his eyes that are closed. He looked peaceful, but lonely — and asleep, but weary.  The sight’s unnerving, in an odd way as Jungkook walks forward slowly to where the nurse is, and his sight doesn’t waver even as Junghyun’s now hugging at his leg after slipping off from her thigh.

 

“He’s Jimin,” Junghyun says, like he’s proud of knowing something that his brother doesn’t. “Jihyun-noona says that he’s been sleeping for a year now,”

 

Jungkook doesn’t answer, and Jihyun immediately jumps to Junghyun’s defense like Jungkook’s about to chew his brother’s head off. He isn’t — his attention’s not even on his younger brother anyway. 

 

“It’s alright, Jungkook. Jimin will appreciate this.” Jihuyn reassures, with a soft smile. “It’s been a year since he’s admitted here and his family hasn’t even been here once to visit him.”

 

Jungkook just stays quiet, and stares at the sleeping figure on the bed before he nods his head and ruffles at his brother’s head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“… C’mon, Junghyun.” Jungkook says and turns away. “We’re going home now.”

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

 

Seokjin’s still getting used to the world that’s awfully quiet and dead when he sees someone wandering down the streets aimlessly — not even the colorful graffitis on the walls he passes by catch his attention and Seokjin doesn’t hesitate before rushing across the empty roads to intercept the other in his middle of his walk. 

 

“Hey— hey?” Seokjin raises at his hands when the other fixes him a skeptical stare. “I mean no harm I just — I just need help, you see. Do you know where we are?”

 

“… I don’t,” The other simply answers before he tries to walk away and Seokjin immediately grabs at the other’s wrist.

 

“Look, I really need your help. I’ve been here for days and I haven’t seen anyone around but you. Something’s obviously wrong and I just really need help, please—“ Seokjin’s voice dips into a pleading one before his eyes catch sight of the ink that’s spotting on the stranger’s wrist. “—Jungkook? That’s your name?”

 

The stranger takes a look at his wrist, and god, he looks even more lost than he is that Seokjin begins to feel bad for troubling the other. 

 

“Yes,” He says quietly before he adds. “Maybe — I don’t know. I don’t remember anything anymore.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone forgets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

//// fin

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: .... Yes, I'll answer any questions you have-