✔ Save me ⌇⌇ JHS + OC

⦃14⦄

HOSPITAL

Hoseok walked in circles around the waiting room, his gaze lost in an uncertain point as he huffed nervously in short bursts. 

Yoongi remained sitting on one of the hard, uncomfortable benches, watching his former best friend become increasingly impatient. 

The two were awaiting the return of Seokjin, who had gone to meet Jisoo to talk to the doctors who attended to Soora.

"It's because of her that you want me to leave, isn't it?" Yoon decided to focus on something other than the other's concern and Hobi stopped walking to look at him.

"Yes and no." 

The red-haired boy stared thoughtfully at the ceiling, trying to find the right words.

He had promised Soora not to talk about her problems, but now that Yoongi had seen and helped her, there was no hiding the truth anymore. Maybe it was even better to address the issue directly, he needed to talk to someone, and Hoseok missed opening up to Yoon.

"Explain to me."

"Soora was making progress, and I was afraid that your presence would ruin everything. Not because it was you, but because it was someone new in the building. My only way to protect her was to arrange for you to leave... but in the end the only one who ruined everything was me." 

His words were hurried, almost toppling over each other, as he had adopted a guilty expression, the inner corners of his eyebrows almost knitted together and raised, and his lip puckered into a sullen beak.

"What happened to Soora is not your fault." Yoongi assured, but the younger man shook his head vehemently in the negative, disagreeing with him.

"Yes, it is. If I hadn't been such a jerk to you, I wouldn't have been devastated remembering the past. If I had opened up to Soora, she wouldn't have thought I was no good as a friend. If we hadn't fought about it, she wouldn't have kicked me out of her house. If I hadn't left in such a hurry, I would have taken her trash to the dumpster, and she would have saved herself from exposing herself like this and ending up in the hospital."

"Don't do this." Yoongi stood up and walked towards the boy in determined steps, holding him by the shoulders and turning him towards himself. "This line of thinking is dangerous, I know that very well, I've been in your shoes." He mumbled his last words, feeling a gnarled lump in his throat.

Yoongi's arms drooped as his eyes burned with tears that threatened to well up. Hoseok didn't deserve to go through this despair again, much less embrace guilt as his only friend. Yoongi wished he could've avoided everything that happened in the past and in more recent days, but there was no changing the past, only accepting it, no matter how hard it was.

"I know." Hobi lowered his face and sighed once more, but this time his sighs meant giving up. He was giving up on creating this barrier between himself and someone he loved so much. "Forgive me. Forgive me for using Dawon to drive you away, forgive me for being so cold and distant... believe me, it hurt me more than it hurt you." He confessed, and Yoongi stared at him with a grateful smile in the corner of his eyes.