Enjoy this slightly longer chapter (*^ -^*)
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Hoseok took the younger's quiet response as a sign that he was allowed to leave and turned around to walk to the door where he, after casting a short glance back at the smaller male buried in his sheets, flipped the switch on the wall, shutting the lights off, and turned the door handle.
The door closed with a silent click behind the rapper.
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He had started to lift weights a lot more a while back – partially because he had wanted to but also because their personal trainer had suggested that he should switch from his usual cardio focal pointed workout plan to one that put more focus on building muscle mass and strength – so carrying the rapper shouldn't be as hard as it was – it shouldn't be making his legs shake as if they were ready to give out underneath him or make his neck hurt as if he'd slept with it in a wrong position for several hours.
Seokjin was so caught up thinking about the pain in his legs and neck that it didn't register in his brain that he had reached his and Yoongi's room. Since there was no one else around – other than the sleeping rapper on his back – to warn him and tell him to stop walking, there was no one to prevent the following moment of him walking headfirst into the closed door serving as a temporary wall between their room and the hallway.
The singer raised his head and looked down the hall he didn't remember having walked down, mouth still open in a silent cry because of the pain that continued to throb across his forehead, and internally cursed at himself for having let his thoughts distract him to the point they had. He shouldn't have let his focus stray. His carelessness could have gotten Yoongi hurt – thank god nothing actually ended up happening to the other – He was fine with being subjected to a little pain if it meant nothing would happen to one of the younger ones because of his lack of attention.
Seokjin let go of Yoongi's right thigh – having fully intended to use the hand he had just freed to open the door in front of him – only to immediately have to grab it again when the younger male quickly started slipping down his back because his left hand wasn't able to support enough of the rapper's weight to keep the other from falling. The singer jumped slightly, bouncing Yoongi back up to the spot he'd previously been, and quietly winced when the motion made the pain in his forehead worsen for a few seconds.
His first plan – his only plan – hadn't worked out quite how he'd wanted it to, but at least now he knew that he couldn't use either of his hands to open the door, since doing so would put Yoongi at risk of slipping and getting injured. It seemed he would have to get a bit more creative if he wanted to get into their room without the help of any of the other members.
To Seokjin's own surprise, an idea popped into his head before he'd even gotten the chance to count to two. It wasn't an undoubtedly safe idea – maybe he should just ask Namjoon to help – but it was an idea nonetheless.
The eldest didn't give himself any time to think the idea over a second time, before he was raising his right leg, leaving him to balance on his left one, and attempting to push down on the door handle with his knee. The metal was cold against his skin and his left leg was beginning to shake due to the extra weight it was being forced to carry, but he kept going.
Seokjin couldn't stop amazement from spreading throughout his body when the door finally swung open – admittedly with a little more force than he had intended, as he hadn't been able to stop his knee from slipping down from the handle and pushing against the door – and he was given access to his and Yoongi's room – for a moment, he'd honestly begun to think it wouldn't work.
The moment of happiness Seokjin was experiencing was cut short when the door handle banged harshly against the wall inside their room. The elder couldn't stop himself from cringing at the sharp sound, teeth clenching together and shoulders instinctually raising the slightest bit before his body remembered that he currently had another human being on his back and lowered again.
The singer tried to turn his head so he could get a glimpse at Yoongi's face and see whether the rapper was still sleeping, as he was worried that the noise had awoken the younger male, but he was quickly stopped and had to return his head to its forward-looking position when the ache in his neck increased fourfold and a stinging pain began to rhythmically shoot up to the back of his head from his nape.
Seeing as there was nothing else he could do to check on the younger while the other was on his back, Seokjin entered his and Yoongi's room and immediately began making his way towards the rapper's bed, leaving the door wide open behind him in favor of getting the smaller male underneath his warm covers.
Seokjin sat down on the edge of Yoongi's mattress and eased the younger off of him, being careful not to jostle his dongsaeng too much when he released his grip on the other's thighs – which caused the younger to drop down the last couple of centimeters there'd been between his backside and the mattress – and guided the rapper into a lying position. With Yoongi finally placed on his bed, Seokjin walked back over to the door and gently let the handle click into place so the already muted sound of the running shower was completely blocked out.
Him taking his time to be mindful of how he separated himself from Yoongi so the other wouldn't wake up ended up having been for naught, cause the moment Seokjin turned around to walk back to the younger, the rapper groaned low in his throat and started rolling to the left. The fact that his dongsaeng was rolling around on the bed wasn't a problem, no, the problem was that he had put the younger down fairly close to the edge of the bed, so instead of the other calmly rolling onto his stomach like he'd probably meant to do, the rapper slipped off of the mattress and onto the floor – along with half of the duvet – with a dull thud.
The elder's eyes fell on the rapper, gaze filled with worry that the younger had managed to hurt himself, as he rushed over to the smaller male's side and helped the other get back up onto the bed, this time placing Yoongi further towards the middle of the bed.
Instead of staying still, like Seokjin had hoped the younger would, Yoongi started rolling again, though this time he moved to the right. The elder tried to reach out and stop the other male before he rolled too far, but he hadn't reacted fast enough as his fingers barely got the chance to skim over the rapper's shirt before the other disappeared out of sight.
This time, instead of falling into a deeper state of worry, Seokjin felt a bubble of laughter rise in his throat. The singer cleared his throat in an attempt at making the need to laugh go away and covered his mouth with his hand, but it didn't help and the elder could feel his eyes scrunch up and the corners of his lips turn up into a smile despite him trying to keep his expression neutral.
He did his best to keep the laugh in, he truly did, but then Yoongi decided to open his mouth and mumble something that sounded suspiciously a lot like 'shut up' and Seokjin no longer found himself able to keep the giggles, growing in his chest by the second, from leaving his lips. He tried to tell himself that now wasn't the time to laugh, that he should be concerned and not amused by the younger unfortune, but he couldn't stop the quiet giggles.
"Stop laughing," Yoongi groaned, voice coming out slightly muffled because the rapper's left cheek was being squashed uncomfortably against the hardwood floor and – as a result of that – preventing the younger male from opening his mouth properly.
"Sorry, I can't help it," Seokjin quietly sniggered, still hiding the lower part of his face behind his left hand. The singer used the following couple of seconds to calm himself down and get the laughter out of his system. A cough left the elder's mouth and the smile that had preciously found its way onto Seokjin's face slowly began to disappear. "You really should have just laid still instead of rolling around. You could have gotten yourself more hurt..."
The only response the singer got from the smaller male was an unintelligible grumble that stopped as soon as he kneeled down next to the other and snaked his arms underneath the younger's body so he could pick the rapper up and carry him back onto his bed.
Yoongi mumbled something, which Seokjin could only guess was supposed to have been a 'thank you', before abruptly breaking into a coughing fit that had the younger male raising his right hand to his chest – as if the simple action would force his lungs to work the way they should once again – and made the rapper turn himself onto his left side so he was facing away from his hyung because he didn't want to accidentally spray the elder with spit and mucus.
Seokjin wanted to help, he didn't like seeing the other members in pain, but the singer couldn't do anything other than quietly sit on the bed next to the younger and rub comforting circles into his dongsaeng's tense back while waiting for the coughing to cease. To Seokjin's luck, not long passed before the coughing finally died down and Yoongi could slump tiredly against the soft mattress underneath him.
Seokjin watched as the younger silently heaved for air, having been left breathless by the relentless coughing, and as he turned his head and almost buried his nose in one of the few pillows that were decorating the bed. Some part of him felt like it wasn't an appropriate time to talk, so instead of opening his mouth and asking Yoongi if he was okay, Seokjin just moved his hand from the younger's back to his hair and gently ran his fingers through the smaller male's dyed strands, occasionally scratching a bit at the other's scalp. The ministrations only continued on for, what couldn't have been more than, a minute before the singer retracted his hand again and backed off of the bed.
Yoongi turned to lay on his back with a low whine when Seokjin's fingers left his scalp, and let his head fall to the side so he, with half lidded eyes, could watch as the elder male walked to the small closet in their room – which they'd decided to keep when they moved from their old apartment, even though their new room had a walk-in closet – and grabbed a neatly folded pair of black shorts and a loose fitting plain black long-sleeved shirt. Seokjin, having felt Yoongi's stare, spun around to catch the younger's gaze, the two articles of clothing he'd just pulled from their closet stacked on his left hand, though only to have the rapper quickly redirect his eyes so the other was staring at the ceiling.
Seokjin shook his head at the younger's actions, though only to halt the action immediately after he'd set it in motion because the pain in his neck returned with a sharp pinch. The singer let a small smile find its way back onto his face – even though he really wanted to clench his teeth and grab his nape to make the white-hot feeling go away – as he walked back over and sat down on the edge of bed, close enough that there was barely any space between his knee and Yoongi's right calf.
"Do you want to do this on your own, or do you want me to help?" Seokjin asked, the tone of his voice light and careful enough that it attracted Yoongi's attention, as he reached out with his free hand to touch the younger's right ankle.
The singer never specifically said what he was talking about, but Yoongi knew that the elder was referring to the stack of clothes he had brought with him from the closet, so he shook his head from side to side – to the best of his ability – messing his hair up against the sheets, and hoped that the other would actually listen to his answer and let him change on his own. Seokjin had already helped him enough today, he needed to show the other that he could do something as simple as this without his help or else he was sure the elder would quietly decide to follow him around for the next couple of days, which was something he didn't want to happen as that would mean that he wouldn't get any time to be by himself and therefor more than likely wouldn't be able to leave the dorm and go to his studio – or one of the other studios in the company building since his own wasn't in the best condition at the moment – so he could continue working on his mixtape.
"Are you sure?" Seokjin asked, eyes widening slightly and eyebrows furrowing in concern as he watched the younger push himself up into a sitting position, arms shaking at the exertion and head hanging low to hide the strain the rapper's features were having a hard time hiding.
"Yes hyung, I'm perfectly capable of dressing myself," Yoongi responded, the words leaving his mouth as a mumble rather than a clear answer because his mouth didn't move the way he thought it would have. His upper body began to slouch forward despite him doing his best to stay upright.
"Yoongi-yah... it's okay to need help, none of us will judge you. You don't have to put up a front and play tough..." Seokjin spoke, his voice softening the further he got in the sentence, as he shifted on the bed, putting a bit more distance between the two of them – though not enough that the younger male was more than an arm's length away – His eyes continued to stay glued on Yoongi even though the rapper kept his own gaze locked on his knees.
"I know... sorry, I shouldn't have talked to you like that hyung. I know it's not an excuse, but I'm just really tired..." Yoongi mumbled, slurring the words that left his mouth. Barely a second passed before he found himself slowly tilting to the side.
He braced himself for the impact – the mattress might be plush, but somehow the air always got pushed out of his lungs – closing his eyes in resignation and holding his breath, but before he could fall any further than he already had, the bed dipped and he felt two arms wrap around him, his hyung's arms.
Seokjin hesitantly let his left hand find its way up to Yoongi's nape and began to gently move his right hand in circles on the younger's back when the other didn't immediately flinch away from the palm on his neck. Yoongi had a bad habit of putting on a mask and acting as if everything was okay when it very much wasn't – and all of them knew about it – so it was a phenomenon to see the younger let himself open up a bit and finally admit that he wasn't fairing as well as he'd previously made it seem – even if it was something that only happened because his body had forced him to, since the rapper would often continue to uphold the front even when his bones and muscles would refuse to work like he wanted them to.
"It's okay, you don't need to say sorry," Seokjin told Yoongi warmly as he temporarily stopped his ministrations on the younger's back so he could pull the other upright again. "The last couple of days have been really tough on you, so I get why you're tired."
"It's been like that for the rest of you as well though, and none of you are complaining about it," Yoongi murmured, forcing his mouth closed to stifle a yawn that was trying to make its way out of his throat, as he slowly lifted his arms so he could remove himself from the elder's embrace. Seokjin ignored the feeling of the younger male weakly pushing at his chest and proceeded to tighten his arms around the rapper – which in turn caused Yoongi to be pulled closer to the singer.
"We're not complaining about it because it hasn't been as hard for us as it has for you Yoongi-yah. I know me telling you this won't change anything because you're stubborn as a mule, but the rest of us are still getting enough sleep, are eating as we should–" Except Jungkook, but now wasn't the time to bring that up with his roommate. "–and are letting ourselves have fun. You aren't doing any of those three things Yoongi-yah..." Seokjin voiced and shuffled further up the bed so he could tug the younger in between his spread legs and have the other press what was left of his right cheek against his t-shirt clad chest. The hand Seokjin had previously had on Yoongi's nape found its way into the rapper's hair.
"Compared to other idols, I'd say I'm getting a decent amount of sleep, and I'm probably eating more than they are," Yoongi responded, proving Seokijn's words true, as he gradually let himself melt in the elder's arms. He'd automatically tensed up the moment the other had pulled him close, having become unused to such contact since it was usually only something he was – unwillingly – roped into during concerts because of the demand for skinship from their fans, but as the seconds passed by, his muscles were slowly loosening up again. "What would Namjoon say to you doing this?"
"I think he's okay with it, and honestly, if he wasn't as socially awkward as he is and as reluctant to get close to the rest of you in a way like this, then he'd probably be here as well," Seokjin answered, voice taking on a joking tone very similar to the one the younger had used, as his fingers ran through the other's hair. Yoongi very obviously didn't want to talk about what was happening – otherwise the rapper wouldn't have been so quick to change the topic – so instead of pushing the matter back in the other's face, Seokjin decided to follow along in the direction his dongsaeng was taking the conversation.
"Has anyone ever told you your finger are magical hyung? I mean, if you decide to become a masseur or something after we disband, you could probably make a lot of money," Yoongi sighed blissfully, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two of them. Seokjin opened his mouth to reply, but then Yoongi snickered, and all of a sudden, the singer found himself unable to keep in the laugh that had been threatening to leave his throat for the last couple of seconds.
"Yeah? You think I could?" Seokjin knew very well that he was good with his hands, as several of the other members always expressed his apparent talent whenever he would massage their shoulders and neck or touch their hair, but the compliment was still nice. Him massaging the other's shoulders was actually a thing he'd only recently started doing – because Jimin had begun experiencing a lot of neck pain – while him running his hands through his dongsaengs hair had started way back – back before they'd even debuted – At the time he'd just been doing it with Jungkook whenever the maknae would be unable to sleep of relax because of homesickness, and it always worked well – sometimes too well as there'd been a couple of times where he'd accidentally caused the youngest to fall asleep during one of the short breaks their teacher had given them during dance practice – and had the other singer lightly snoring within a couple of minutes, but now it was something he mostly did when one of the younger ones were feeling stressed and needed something to help them relax.
"Yeah.. definitely..." Yoongi muttered, lips having long since gone slack because of the calming motions of the elder's fingers in his hair, as his eyes fought to stay open.
Neither of the two said anything in the following couple of minutes after that, instead choosing to sit in semi silence with the only noise interrupting the quiet every few seconds being Yoongi's steady breathing. The rapper had closed his eyes – despite having previously tried to fight against the urge to let his vision turn dark – and was entirely leaning against Seokjin, body lax and molded to fit against the elder as his roommate lightly scratched at his scalp.
"Yoongi-yah?" Seokjin asked, halting the movement of his fingers on the younger's head, as he shifted on the mattress to get blood flow back to his right leg. There was no clock anywhere around them, but he was sure a lot of time had to have passed since they parted with Namjoon in the entryway. He had to finish up with Yoongi quickly so he could go to the living room.
"Mmmmh?" Yoongi hummed lowly, mouth staying in a firm line and head dropping lower, making the skin on the back of his neck stretch thinly over the already visible vertebrae. He was starting to drift off – the tiredness in his bones and muscles having finally won against his determination to stay awake – and his hyung's words were sounding like they were coming from somewhere far away even though he knew the elder was right beside him, but the other clearly wanted to say something so he should at least do his best to stay awake to hear it.
"You know... Namjoon's really worried about you Yoongi-yah, and the rest of us are as well. To you, it might not seem like we are, but we really are... You can always come to one of us to talk if you ever feel like you want to talk with someone. I just want you to know that," Seokjin uttered, voice softening up as he spoke, and Yoongi tried to follow along, he truly did, but the light on the inside of his closed eyelids was rapidly darkening, and it was as if the words that were leaving his hyung's mouth were going in one ear and out the other. Nothing was making sense to his drowsy brain.
Seokjin looked down at the smaller male cradled against his chest, ignoring the brief pinch of pain he felt in his neck as he did so, when he didn't hear a reply from the other after he'd finished speaking – not even something as small as a single hum that would tell him that the younger had heard him and had understood what he had said – only to be meet with the sight of his sleeping dongsaeng. The singer couldn't help but let a fond smile grace his lips as he gently brushed Yoongi's hair away from his face so he could see the younger's relaxed eyebrows and pouting mouth. If he had to choose which moments he loved the most, he would definitely put these kinds – the ones where he got to hold the younger members and take care of them – in his top three.
The singer reluctantly retracted his hand from Yoongi's hair and let a breathy sigh escape his slightly parted lips. He'd love to stay with the younger for longer, would love to just sit there and run his hands through the other's hair – if he kept his eyes on his dongsaeng, nothing bad could happen to him, right? – but he had to get going.
Being careful not to jostle the rapper too much, Seokjin laid his roommate down on the bed and reached for the pair of black shorts and the long-sleeved black shirt that had at some point been moved to lay beside him.
The process of removing the track pants and the shirt the younger was currently wearing was easy enough – basically all he did was lightly tug at the pieces of fabric until they began moving off of the other's head and down his legs – the problem came when he had to dress the rapper with the clean clothes from the closet. No amount of tugging and pulling would let him get the shirt completely down Yoongi's back so no skin was showing or let him pull the pair of basketball shorts over the other's hips, so in the end he was forced to roll the rapper from side to side until the waistband of the shorts he'd attempted to dress his roommate in was no longer sitting on the other's thighs and he could fully pull the long sleeved shirt down.
With Yoongi finally dressed, Seokjin carefully snaked his left arm underneath the younger's back, left hand resurfacing by Yoongi's armpit, and his right hand underneath the other's head for support so he could gently move the rapper further up on the mattress, and lay his dongsaeng's head down on one of the pillows decorating the bed, without any harsh tugs.
The singer brushed a couple of stray hairs away from Yoongi's forehead before he moved off of the bed so he could get the comforter – which at this point was barely on the mattress, as half of it had been dragged off in one go when Yoongi had fallen off of the bed the first time, and more had gradually made its way off during the time he got clean clothes from the closet and dressed the younger male – and spread it across the mattress so it was covering Yoongi up to his neck.
After one last glance thrown back at the sleeping rapper, Seokjin picked up the dirty pair track pants and the sweat stained shirt he'd previously let fall on the floor, having not wanted them to lay on the younger's clean sheets, and took the two articles of clothing with him as he quietly walked to the door, turned the lights off, and left the room.
A couple of seconds passed after the soft sound of the door clicking into place before Yoongi slowly turned himself onto his right side and let his eyes open. The rapper's gaze caught the thin strip of light between the door and the floor, and, gradually, the corners of his mouth began to shift downwards.
He knew it was wrong of him to have pretended to be asleep when they had gotten home and to have acted as if he had been sleeping right now after the elder had accidentally awoken him by jostling him around too much, and he also knew it had been wrong of him to have eavesdropped on the others' conversation in the entryway, but he hadn't been able to help it at the time.
He'd actually planned on 'waking up', but then Namjoon had begun talking about meeting Seokjin and Hoseok in the living room so they could talk about something, and his hyung had said his and Jungkook's name and it had made his mind clam up. He'd been intruding on a conversation he wasn't supposed to be a part of, and all of a sudden he'd felt an overwhelming wave of fear wash over him, and he'd been scared that the two others would see through his act if he decided to 'wake up' and would think that he'd been faking simply so he could listen in.
The rapper carefully peeled the comforter away from his body and scooted to the edge of the bed before pushing himself up into a sitting position and slipping off of the bed so he could make his way to the door, bare feet smacking quietly against the floor every single time he took a step.
The handle turned with a click underneath his right hand, and after looking down both sides of the hallway with squinting eyes and hearing nothing except for the soft voices coming from the direction he was planning on going, he stepped out of the room on unsteady feet, leaving the door slightly ajar behind him.
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Next chapter will be up on November 12th
If any other writers are reading this right now, I really want to ask you a question. Have you ever felt like what you're writing is crap after having read someone else's work? Cause if yes, please put down a comment about how you make yourself forget about that feeling cause it's seriously starting to bother me... o_o