"The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through, you hypnotize me through."- I Ran, a Flock of Seagulls

 

-

The rain fell heavy around him as he ran up flight after flight of concrete stairs.  For the life of him, Namjoon could not figure out why he was running.  He typically only ran if something was chasing him, but this felt important.  He could faintly hear somebody screaming something at him, and he couldn’t make out the words but he knew they were hurtful, because he could feel his heart snap in two.  But he still kept running, and running, and running… Whatever was in front of him, whatever, no, whoever was chasing him was becoming clear.  He reached out his hand, he touched them, they pulled away.  Why didn’t they want him to touch them? Namjoon felt his tears mix with the rain as his feet lost control on the stairs, and he went tumbling backwards.  He knew he was falling but didn’t know how to stop himself.  As his body flew through the air, he swore he could make out words, swore he could hear somebody shouting, “Namjoon!”

 

“Namjoon!”

 

“Namjoon!”

 

“Namjoon, wake up!”

 

Namjoon shot straight up in his bed, looking around in the dark and feeling for something familiar, taking a moment to realize he was in his bedroom, and Taehyung was standing over him.  He clutched onto his blanket and pulled it up to his face, wiping the sweat from his brow before pulling the fabric away and looking up at Taehyung.

 

“What are you doing in here?” he asked, and Taehyung scooted him over and sat down on his bed without permission.

 

“You were screaming in your sleep.  Another nightmare?” Taehyung asked, reaching out his hand to smooth the older male’s sweaty hair back away from his face.

 

“Yeah, I guess,” Namjoon shrugged, holding his right hand on the back of his throbbing head.  It had been a week and a half since the accident, and he still woke up with terrible headaches.

 

“What was it about?” the younger man asked, even though he already knew the answer.

 

“Same thing that I’ve dreamed for a week and a half.  I’m running in the rain, chasing someone, and then I fall.  And they call out my name, but I can’t see who it is.  Who the is it?” Namjoon falls back on the bad dramatically, wincing when his head hit the pillow.

 

Taehyung sighed as he looked over at his best friend.  He had all the answers, he could stop these nightmares, but he also had to respect Seokjin’s wishes, but that didn’t mean it didn’t piss him off.  It made him feel powerless to watch Namjoon like this, and hear him screaming in his sleep. In all the years that he’d known Namjoon, since high school, he had never seen him cry, until now.  He wished he could do something, confess everything, but for now, he would just be their support, both of them, because he vowed to play matchmaker regardless of Hoseok’s stern warning.

 

“Do you want me to stay with you tonight?” Taehyung asked, just like he did every night.

 

Namjoon nodded sheepishly like he did every night, and Taehyung simply scooted underneath the covers and got comfortable, waiting to fall back asleep until Namjoon drifted off to sleep first.

 

-

 

Later that morning, Namjoon woke when his alarm went off, somewhat well rested.  Taehyung was already out of his bed and was elsewhere, wherever that may have been.  Namjoon got out of bed and stretched before scratching his back and yawning like an old man.  He was definitely feeling old these days. 

 

He stumbled around his room until he managed to put on proper pants and his work shirt, and then he stumbled out of his room and into the kitchen to make himself a pot of coffee.

 

He made the pot and filled his jumbo mug with the words “Kim Namjoon, God of Destruction” hand-painted on to it to the brim.  He wasn’t quite sure where the mug came from or how long he had it, but he knew it was his and he liked it because it was huge.  It took a few sips of coffee for him to realize that Taehyung was also in the tiny kitchen they shared, sitting at the kitchen table taking selfies with his phone.  Namjoon rolled his eyes and walked over to him, standing behind him and ruining his shot.

 

“Hey, rude , get out of my picture.  You’re ruining it with your tired, ugly face,” Taehyung scoffed and shooed Namjoon away.

 

“Excuse you, if anything, I would improve your picture by 67%.  I’m hot,” Namjoon smirked and took another sip of his coffee.

 

“Um, no.  I just hit 30k followers on Instagram, I don’t need your face on my feed.  I might lose followers,” Taehyung grinned and put his phone down, standing up and grabbing his work shirt that was on the table already, waiting for him. 

 

“Hurry up, we need to go or we’ll be late,” Namjoon said, gulping down his coffee and setting his mug down on the counter.

 

“Yeah, yeah.  Oh yeah, Hoseok called this morning.  We have two big displays to set up and deliver for store fronts today,” Taehyung said as he slipped on his shoes.

 

Namjoon looked back at the counter and picked up his mug.  With two big displays and a coffee pot at the flower shop, he was going to need his mug today, for sure.

 

-

 

Hoseok was already waiting at the shop for them when they got there.  He was staring hopelessly at a design for a display as the guy that Namjoon had come to know as Yoongi, the owner of the bookstore across the street, was barking orders as if he also owned the flower shop.  Namjoon gripped the handle of his mug tight, his knuckles turning white.  Yoongi made him nervous.

 

Namjoon and Taehyung went to work on their morning duties, sweeping and watering flowers, abandoning poor Hoseok.  Yoongi wasn’t a bad guy, he just liked to give Hoseok a hard time.

 

Several minutes later, Namjoon was taking a ‘break’, sipping coffee out of his mug.  Yoongi had calmed down significantly, his arm resting around Hoseok’s shoulders.  Namjoon sighed deeply as the bell above the shop door jingled and Seokjin walked in. 

 

Namjoon’s eyes immediately went to him, but Seokjin didn’t seem to notice him at first.  He was a tad preoccupied with getting Yoongi to go back to the bookstore and leave poor Hoseok alone.  While he was arguing with his boss, who now had Hoseok’s head lodged in his armpit, he locked eyes with Namjoon.  He sheepishly looked away, his eyes falling on the mug in the younger man’s hands, and he stopped cold in his tracks.  It surprised him, for some reason, to see Namjoon use the mug he bought and hand-painted for him.  He kind of wanted to cry.  It felt like maybe there was still some hope that Namjoon would remember him.

 

He tried again to pry Hoseok’s head away from Yoongi, not even realizing that Namjoon had somehow morphed over next to him, helping set his boss free.  It startled him, making him jump a bit when Namjoon’s arm brushed against his.  When had he gotten so jumpy and nervous?

 

Two minutes and one disgruntled book store owner later and Hoseok was free, already clinging to Namjoon for protection.  Namjoon didn’t seem to notice though, because his eyes were locked with Seokjin’s.  Seokjin was a person Namjoon barely knew, but for some reason, he didn’t want to leave him alone, and he for sure didn’t want to stop looking at him. 

 

Yoongi, who was frankly tired of being ignored, looked over at the two who were staring at each other and making googly eyes.  It remined him of the time before they dated, and it brought back memories.  And it was ing annoying.

 

Yoongi pressed a big, sloppy kiss to Hoseok’s cheek before yanking onto Seokjin’s collar and pulling him out of the door, waving wildly.  Namjoon waved back, eyeing him weirdly while Hoseok was standing awkwardly, looking off into space dumbly.

 

As they were walking out the door, Yoongi leaned over and whispered into Seokjin’s ear, “Come on, he may have forgotten you in that fall, but the universe hasn’t abandoned you two.  The way he looks at you, it’s the same as it was when you two were together.”

 

Seokjin just rolled his eyes and pushed open the bookstore door, but he’d be lying if what Yoongi had just said didn’t shake him to his core.

 

a/n:

so weekly updates went out the window. i'll try better guys!