I sat up in bed as I tried to blink the drowsiness away. I checked my phone. 7 am.

“Dammit,” I groaned. Stretched my limbs till one of them would inevitably cramp up and I’d have to hobble my way out of the bedroom in mild pain.

It became routine; to wake up every day at 7 in the morning, to go downstairs to the kitchen and have a hot cup of chamomile tea, and to do whatever I wanted as long as I remained confined in the huge home.

I was approaching the staircase with my eyes barely open, fingers carding through my hair for less obvious bed hair, when I heard a voice coming from a floor below mine.

“You’re wasting your time,” I heard him whisper harshly. I didn’t hear any reply, but after a brief moment he continued, “Yes. Yes, I get that. But I’d appreciate it if you stopped calling.”

I peered over and saw Suga in his sweatpants standing on the edge of the stairs. He was on the phone, and it was a private conversation, judging from Suga’s tone which he only used when dealing with business. And yeah. I probably shouldn’t be eavesdropping on something that has nothing to do with me.

“Stop. He’s doing just fine living here.”

Wait. Was he talking about me?

“I swear, you need to let this go or I’ll— Jin!” Suga almost jumped at the sight of me slowly crawling over to him.

“Who’s that?” I asked, studying the phone in his hand like it was some priceless artifact.

“It’s no one,” he replied, voice slightly off as he saw me. I watched him end the call and put his phone away.

“No, really, who was that?” I pressed on.

“No one of your interest.”

“I heard you talking about me.”

He looked at me, dumbfounded. “I... wasn’t talking about you.”

“Who else could you possibly be talking about then? Does anybody from Cypher have problems living in their own house?” I argued.

He wasn’t having any of it. “Why don’t you go downstairs, Jin. Namjoon’s on his day off. Go talk to him or something,” he put a hand on my lower back giving me a small nudge.

I had a foot on the step when I heard his phone vibrating, and I thanked god no phone was ever completely quiet when put on vibrate. I turned around and shoved a hand into his pocket. He gasped and immediately tried to stop me.

“Jin! What are you—!” Suga tried yanking my hand out but I already had a firm hold on his phone. “Let go! Seriously, your hand won’t budge unless you let go!”

He was right, but like hell was I going to listen. I tightened my grip on the device, braced myself, and yanked as hard as I could.

I managed to get my hand back but the sheer force caused Suga to lose his balance and fall, dragging me down with him. We tumbled down the stairs, like a couple of characters from a rejected nursery rhymes book, except more pathetic.

Halfway down the stairs of the second floor Suga did some stealthy little hop and quickly got back to his feet, surprising both of us. I would’ve continued rolling down if he hadn’t blocked me, and when I gazed up at him he looked understandably pissed, although a bit disoriented.

I scrambled to my feet and I checked the phone. It was still in my hand. And I think somewhere along the way I answered the call without realizing. I studied the screen and the caller ID wasn’t familiar. “Hello?”

There wasn’t any response for a long time and I huffed thinking that I almost got spinal injuries for nothing, with Suga quickly coming to his senses and grappling for the phone. But then a voice spoke from the other line, and it was a voice I was all too familiar with.

“Jin? Is that you?” I let out a sigh. Of course it was me. How could I recognize his voice but he couldn’t recognize mine?

“Yes, V. Hey, were you—oomph— the one who called Suga earlier?!” I was borderline shouting into the speaker because the owner of the phone was trying to claw my face off.

“Yea, I—what the hell is going on over there? What are you two doing?”

“It’s nothing!,” I barked, mostly to Suga. “I just overheard you guys talking and I just—I thought you were asking about me and I got curious,” I said stupidly.

“Oh.”

“Well were you?”

“Was I what?”

“Talking about me!”

“Of course I was! Why else would I call him?”

“Did you hear that?!” I yelled at Suga. “I already know it’s V so will you just relax? Let me talk to him at least?”

Relax wasn’t exactly what Suga did but he did eventually back off and went back to his room, eyeing me and his phone the whole time.

“V?”

“Yeah?”

“Uh. How are you?”

“That’s kinda my line.”

I rolled my eyes. This guy. “I wasn’t the one who got shot.”

“Quit your worrying, I’ll be fine. You on the other hand…”

“I’m just fine. Bored out of my mind, but fine.”

“Heh. They don’t let the princess out to play?” he sounded very amused and I could tell the boys over at the apartment missed having someone to poke fun at. “Hey, if you want entertainment, I know what you could do over there.”

I bit my lip. “I’m listening.”

                                                                                                ***

“Namjoon!” I hollered at the young man who was busy making a sandwich on the counter. It was one of those rare days when he didn’t have anywhere important to be at and seeing him simply clad in a pair of boxers and a black t-shirt had become an outstanding sight in itself.

He offered a smile that showed his warm content of being able to rest at home. And I was about to ruin all that for him.

“Hey there,” he said, squishing the two pieces of bread together as though that would help hold in all the jam oozing out. “You hungry? I can make you another one.”

“No, thanks. Already ate,” I lied and he shrugged in a “suit yourself” way and took a bite out of it. “But, I do have a… request.”

He turned to look at me and his eyes were all squinty. “You have a request?” he repeated and I couldn’t really blame him for being a bit suspicious. I wasn’t really the type to request things. But this time, this one time, I wanted to see what would happen.

“Let’s do some sparring.”