iris

[28] portent

Jungkook woke to the softness of a pillow beneath his head, curled up under a thick blanket that seemed to cage him in comfort. The comfort of his surroundings did little to disrupt the pure agony that seemed to hit him with a force greater than God, eyes rolling into his head as he felt knives sharpened to perfection prodding every surface of his head. A sickness pooled in his stomach as he curled into the cold touch of his hands, hoping if he squeezed tight enough the pain would dissipate.

His eyes managed to open for five seconds, registering that he was in his own room, in complete darkness. How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was watching Hoseok get ready for the party, that dull throb of his head seeming to overtake every one of his senses.

But what had happened between then and now? The lack of memory was something he despised, unable to analyse and judge the moments that had taken place in that period of darkness. It felt like forgetting the most important formulas on a maths exam. He just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Jungkook... you awake?" He let out a soft mewl of irritation at the light that seeped into his room as the door to it opened slowly. The echoing of his brother's voice was sure to send him insane. "Okay good. I brought you breakfast." Jungkook snorted, bringing his blanket over his head to try and block out the light.

"You actually expect me to eat something? I feel like my insides are going to explode." Hoseok hummed in understanding, sitting down quietly at the end of the bed.

"You seem to be doing better." The younger shook his head, shoving his brothers hand away when he tried to hand him a glass of water.

"If by better you mean dead inside, then yeah absolutely."

"Well, you are conscious, and talking coherently, so those are both good signs. The hospital nurse said you'd take a day to recover, but that your concussion was pretty minor." Jungkook's body tensed at the mention of a concussion, thinking of all the possible things he could've done to make an absolute fool of himself.

"Concussion? Please don't tell me I did anything ridiculous at that party." He didn't like the heavy sigh that came from his brother as he placed the clear glass on the bedside table.

"Well ... look, we can talk about that later when you can actually comprehend what I'm saying without responding like a zombie. I hope your memory will come back as you rest more."

"Thanks, so supportive," Jungkook choked out, his whole body lurching forward as he felt the tell-tale swelling of his tongue, fingers clawing over his mouth as his eyes darted up to his brother who saw his expression and immediately dove for the bucket on his bedside table.

"Oh, you are finally going to vomit."

__________

By the evening Jungkook was finally able to sit up without the intense vertigo. Hoseok had been constantly checking on him, avoiding an explanation for what he had done while he was intoxicated, or in his brothers definition, "completely off his head." He managed to get his grip on the glass that was sitting beside him, nearly dropping it as he brought the almost full cup to his chest.

Feeling a nervousness in his gut, he carefully leant down to smell the contents, dipping his finger in it and tasting what kind of flavour it had. He took a proper sip when he was confident that the liquid was just plain water his brother had given him.