Yoongi rarely bothers to look at his phone.

He's tampered a lot with his settings to keep it out of his way - his professor's ring tone is set obscenely loud, loud enough to be heard over whatever music project Yoongi is blasting through his ears, and people like Seokjin are set on vibrate. He felt guilty about that for a while - what about emergencies? - but then, Yoongi is literally the last person anyone would contact in an emergency.

It's by chance, really, that he looks at his phone now. He isn't working on music, instead flipping through his math textbook (because for some reason the world still insists on making them learn what any decent software can do) and he just happens to glance to the side. His phone screen blinks at him. 1 new message.

It's from Jin.

Yoongi. Did Jungkook make it home?

Yoongi's eyebrow twitches a bit. What is he, the kid's caretaker? It was bad enough that he had to walk him home the last time he went over to Jin's - Yoongi had never understood just how terrible an awkward silence could be until that encounter - and since then he's made an extra effort to stay out of Jungkook's way. It isn't hard, seeing as they never crossed paths much to begin with. But Yoongi doesn't stay over at Jin's anymore, just to be safe.

I don't know, he types out. Why don't you text him.

He hasn't picked up my calls, Jin sends, and Yoongi can hear it in his frantic voice. He promised to text me when he got back, but he left forty minutes ago and still hasn't.

Yoongi frowns at that. Forty minutes. That's twice the amount of time the walk should have taken. He glances up at the window, and...it's raining.

Something in Yoongi's stomach sinks.

He's at the window in a second, almost sure that he's going to find Jungkook in the same position as the last time this happened - alone in the middle of the road, staring at the sky - but the street is empty except for two girls running through. He tries Jungkook's room next, but the door is locked from the outside.

There's no need to panic. It's not like Jungkook is always in his room, he practically lives with Jimin and Taehyung sometimes.

He isn't here, he sends Jin. Maybe he's with his friends.

Hoseok talked to them. He isn't with them.

Yoongi's stomach sinks a bit lower.

Jungkook could be anywhere. Yoongi doesn't trust him to have the sense to take care of himself, he's probably in the middle of the rain just like last time. If he tells Jin about that, his friend would no doubt run through the streets right now to find him. Yoongi wants to do the same, even though Jungkook hates him now, because it'll be cold and he's going to get sick and why is the kid always so stupid?

He rummages through the pile of junk on his bed for an extra umbrella (why can't he be more organized, why is he being held back by so many delays) and is about to text Jin to relax, that Yoongi thinks he knows where he is, when he's cut off by the tell tale footsteps coming up the stairs. Jungkook's footsteps are the quietest of anyone on their floor. They're impossible to mistake. He's back. He's safe.

He's here, he texts Jin, or tries to, but he's in such a hurry that what comes out is a vague jumble of letters. He opens the door and peeks out into the corridor, suddenly unsure of what to do. There's no reason for him to talk to Jungkook anymore - he's alive and in one piece.

"Hey," he says regardless.

Jungkook starts. He's completely drenched, dripping all over the floor. His eyes are even wider than usual, like he's trying to force them to stay open and has ended up overcompensating.

"Hey," he says back, like he isn't sure if Yoongi is real.

It's not like he hasn't tried to apologize after that disaster of a concert. Yoongi still stands by what he'd said - that Jungkook's decisions are all pretty shitty, that he was - is - a coward, and that he's never even tried to be more than what he is today. But what Yoongi hadn't taken into account, in the heat of the moment, was that Jungkook already knew.

I would punch you, Hoseok had said the next day, deadly serious, if I thought it would make any difference.

He points behind himself. "I have some food left over," he says, not sure where this is coming from. He just needs to fix this. Somehow. "Have some."

Jungkook refuses. Yoongi insists. He's never insisted before, always content to let the kid be, to just stick to whatever limits of friendship he finds comfortable, but Yoongi is starting to realize that that's their problem.

Jungkook is surprised, and actually agrees, because one thing no one has ever taught him is the art of saying no.

Yoongi sinks into his chair, spinning in it absently, waiting for him to return.

He's just like you, Hoseok would keep saying, almost once a week. Yoongi never saw the resemblance. Sure, they both keep to themselves, but Yoongi does it because he knows he can't trust anyone. No one is really safe. Jungkook, if his friendships with Hoseok and Jin are anything to go by, jumps at the first opportunity to trust.

Yoongi had thought they couldn't be more different, really, until they'd spoken after the concert. Yoongi had put him on the spot, called him a shitty person, and all Jungkook had done was nod and agree.

He only understood what Hoseok had meant then.

There's a knock on the door and Jungkook comes in, looking decidedly out of place. Yoongi sizes him up, frowning when he sees how wet his hair still is. Does he even try to take care of himself?

(Like Yoongi is one to talk.)

He finds Jungkook a spare towel. The kid rubs his hair half heartedly, and Yoongi frowns, grabbing it back to do it himself. Jungkook instantly radiates a what the hell sort of aura.

To be honest Yoongi is feeling a lot of what the hell himself.

"It's fine, hyung, I can - "

"Is this going to be a regular thing?" he asks, and it comes out less snappy than he intends. "Because then I'll just write you off as dead and get it over with."

Jungkook's hair is thick. Soft. Unlike the stringy unwashed disaster on Yoongi's own head.

"I was singing," Jungkook says, and Yoongi stops entirely.

"You were singing," he deadpans. Because of course. Of course.

"Yeah."

"In the rain."

"Yeah."

"This isn't freaking high school musical, kid."

Jungkook seems oblivious to his incredulousness. He's...too calm, actually, for someone who's pulled such a stereotypical k-drama protagonist stunt.

"It didn't feel like it," he agrees. "Too dark. Sort of cold. A bit sad."

And now Yoongi is worried that he's on drugs or something.

(He spares a moment to worry about what would happen if someone actually tried to sell Jungkook drugs. He's not sure who would come out of the encounter more scarred - Jungkook or the drug dealer.)

He pulls the towel up a bit higher to see Jungkook's face, just to make sure. He does look pretty drugged. Or drunk. Or, well, like he's been singing in the rain.

This is such a mess.

In fact, this is probably what Taehyung had meant when he said that Jungkook had terrible ways of dealing with life. The conversation itself had been pretty awkward - it's essence had been Jungkook is a strange kid, a strange and sensitive kid, and also my kid, so hurt him and face death.

Taehyung...sort of disturbs him.

He gives Jungkook's hair a final, vicious rub, and lets him go. He moves a step away, like he's subconsciously scared that Yoongi will pounce on him again.

Yoongi makes room on the bed for him to sit, handing him a mug of soup. Jungkook blows on it cautiously.

Now comes the hard part: actually fixing things. He's already apologized, but it isn't an apology that Jungkook needs. Yoongi needs to tell him that nothing he said that day was worth listening to. Agreeing with. Being hurt by.

He stirs his own soup, trying to figure out what to say. "Have you heard of the end of year fundraiser concert?" he asks at last.

It's a start.

"Yoongi," Hoseok says, more than pained. "You're my best friend and all, but if you don't go to sleep now I might strangle you."

Yoongi frowns. It is an ungodly time of day - he thinks the sun might rise any moment now. He's on the floor of Hoseok's room, having been kicked off the bed halfway through the night, mixing sounds with an almost manic determination.

It hasn't got him anywhere.

Hoseok groans, covering his face with his pillow. He usually sleeps like the dead, but the stress of end of semester has been getting to him. The simplest of things wake him up - the sound of Yoongi's mouse clicking. The light of his laptop screen. Possibly his very existence.

"Sorry," Yoongi says. He's a jerk for staying in his friend's room and ruining his sleep, but Yoongi had thought he was on to something, and he works better on epiphanies when he has a change of scene. He'd dropped everything and rushed to Hoseok's room in the middle of the night. Jin had already been asleep, and he'd woken him up with the doorbell. It's hard to be a bigger jerk than Yoongi at this point. "I'll work in the other room," he says, quietly gathering his stuff.

"No," Hoseok snaps, fierce even when half asleep. "Go to sleep."

But Yoongi is already out the door. He turns to the kitchen - the photos in the main room creep him out too much - and sets his stuff on the floor. He can hear Hoseok cursing at him from the bed room, too exhausted to actually follow him, and then Jin's groggy voice rings above it, asking Hoseok to shut the hell up, and...yeah. Yoongi is making a mess. This is why he should stick to his own room.

You know what it feels like to want to feel hope, right? Jungkook had said, and Yoongi does. But he can't get it across. Anything he writes still sounds like doom, like pointless yearning, like a disaster waiting to happen. It sounded so simple when Jungkook said it, but fifty five hours later Yoongi is still at stage zero.

He only realizes that the sun has actually risen when Jin stands above him, wearing that terrible bathrobe that he won't get rid of no matter how many years Hoseok and Yoongi laugh at him for it.

"What are you doing," Jin says flatly. It isn't a question.

"Homework," Yoongi lies, which doesn't improve anything.

Jin looks this close to slamming Yoongi's laptop shut. He's done it before, on a day that Yoongi hadn't saved his files. He lost hours of work and didn't talk to Jin for weeks.

"I'm not even going to say anything," Jin says, voice clipped, and Yoongi realizes that he's furious. Yoongi pulls all nighters all the time - it's nothing new. But it's usually in the privacy of his own room. And even then, he rarely stays awake for this long.

How long has it been? When did he last sleep?

Jin slams a mug on the counter, setting about making his morning coffee. Yoongi knows he won't offer him any.

"Sorry I woke you up last night," he says quietly.

Jin gives him a look that's so incredulous, so disbelieving. "You think that's why I'm mad?"

"No. I'm just. Sorry anyway."

Jin shakes his head, mutters something about unbelievable, and turns back to his coffee mug.

Hoseok wakes up an hour later, similarly unimpressed by Yoongi's lack of sleep and manic obsession with something your GPA doesn't depend on, so close to exam season, maybe you're a freaking genius but that's no excuse for anything. Neither of them cheer up when they leave for their morning classes. But they do leave Yoongi a key, instead of just throwing him out, which is all Yoongi can ask for at the moment.

His music stays the same, no matter how many hours he spends on it. He keeps at it until he has a mental breakdown, drinks an entire bottle of soda that stings in his empty stomach, and collapses on the floor, trying to stop himself from spiralling. When he wakes up, he's still on the kitchen floor, but there's a blanket thrown over him and a pillow under his head, and his laptop is nowhere to be seen.

Jungkook's existence has become a given in Jin's room.

At first it bothers him. It's a whole other person in Yoongi's vicinity to be aware of. But Jungkook is quiet. Barely there. He sits in the main room, away from Yoongi, working on whatever Jin tells him to. Yoongi only hears him when the two of them start to bicker, and even then he's barely audible.

Yoongi flips through his textbook for about an hour before Jin hollers from somewhere - "Yoongi, come have dinner." That's another thing that changed. Usually Jin would just hand him his food in the bedroom, but now that Jungkook is here he expects him to get up and join them, like an actual human being, if he wants to be fed.

He stands and stretches, joints popping. Then he pads into the main room to join the other two.

Jungkook is already wolfing down his food, clearly still not over how good Jin's food is. He raises his head when Yoongi comes in, attempting a smile that looks more embarrassed at being caught eating so fast, but Yoongi doesn't care. As long as the food goes into his stomach, Yoongi is fine with it - he was pretty sure those three idiots were going to kill themselves with their noodle addiction.

"How's the session going," Yoongi asks, more to make his presence known to Seokjin and less because he cares.

Jungkook swallows his food to answer, but Jin beats him to it. "Excellent," he says dryly. "The gate current is, apparently, thirty amperes."

Yoongi has no clue if that's a good thing or not, but Jungkook looks like he wants the floor to swallow him up, so it must be pretty bad.

"It's zero," Jin snaps, waving a spoon in Yoongi's face like he would spear someone with it if he could. "It's always zero. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Right," Yoongi says. "Okay."

And then just like that Jin forgets he was threatening murder and goes back to fussing and seeing if Jungkook wants more food. And Jungkook forgets about the ground swallowing him and asks for seconds, please, your food is so good hyung. And Jin is all, who's the best hyung you know? And Jungkook is all you are! And honestly, Yoongi doesn't understand them at all.

There's the sound of someone jiggling a key into the front door, and then Hoseok comes in, looking half dead. He doesn't take off his shoes or socks or coat - he spots the food and walks towards it like a zombie.

"Shoes off," Jin snaps at him. Hoseok ignores him, holding his hands out for food pleadingly. Jin doesn't relent. Hoseok turns his attack to Jungkook instead, who lasts about half a second before just handing over his bowl. Hoseok gobbles it down faster than Jungkook himself, sighing in contentment.

"Now I can take my shoes off," he agrees, handing Jungkook his bowl back. Jungkook doesn't look annoyed at all, just worried.

Yoongi is a bit worried about Hoseok too - he knows end of term drives everyone insane, but Hoseok seems to be going spectacularly insane.

Halfway through the meal, Jin turns to Yoongi, and he already knows what's coming.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll take the kid home."

Jungkook makes a face at him. Yoongi makes a hideous face back and surprises everyone.

Exam week arrives in a horrible whirlwind of chaos. Honestly, Yoongi expects half the people he knows to die by the end of it. He hasn't seen Jin or Hoseok in a week.

There's a kid on his floor who walks up and down the corridor, reciting facts all through the night. Another kid walks up and down the stairs. There are unidentifiable crashes from the room directly next to Yoongi's that he doesn't want to identify, and the bathroom...sort of stinks. He's scared to investigate.

Jungkook's room is just as bad. He isn't always there, still spending half his time at Jin's, but when he is there, Yoongi is subjected to Kim Taehyung's periodic cries of anguish. The amount of trash piled up outside the room is alarming - the trash can is filled, spilling out over the corridor. Yoongi doesn't think he could finish that many candy bars in a year.

His own exam preparation goes by with lots and lots of coffee. When that isn't enough, he just eats packets of sugar. One time he chews the packaging by mistake, and now the evidence is under his desk, attracting bacteria and deadly diseases.

Personally, Yoongi doesn't have much exam stress. His grades so far are all pretty good - he can afford to slack in his finals, and he knows he won't slack. His theory and composition skills are top notch. There's nothing for him to be afraid of.

It's his projects that get him stressed. Not exams. The only bad thing about exams is sitting at his desk for three freaking hours while the examiner walks up and down, up and down. It makes Yoongi want to stab him so he'll have no choice but to stay in one place.

He marks all his exam dates on a post it note on the wall, striking them out one by one as the days go by.

His life is always so quiet during the last week of the semester. While there's more sobbing and crying in his general vicinity, he talks to almost no one, and goes almost the whole week without saying a single word. The most conversation he's had this week was when he ordered his coffee at the mediocre cafe, and that took him like, half a sentence.

He has just one exam left. Yoongi isn't too bothered. It's hard to be bothered when winter break is literally a day away.

Hoseok's exams are already over. He turns up at Yoongi's door in the evening, smile too big for his face, tired and exhausted but finally done.

"I'm still alive," he informs Yoongi, flopping down on the bed, not caring that it's covered with dirty laundry. "Hi, good friend."

Yoongi rolls his eyes.

"I might cry," Hoseok adds. "Just a heads up."

"I'm busy. Go bother someone else."

He fully expects it when Hoseok ignores him.

"Aren't you going home?" he asks, because Hoseok had been ranting excitedly about it for at least a month now. Like all of the other kids from out of the city - Yoongi being the standard exception. He doesn't go home if he can help it.

"Yup," Hoseok says. "Train is at five in the morning."

Semester breaks are...sort of lonely. Sometimes Yoongi likes it - he doesn't have his friends trying to tell him what to do, can waste time however he wants, and could even sleep in the corridor if he felt like it and face zero repercussions. But sometimes he starts wishing someone would just, well, knock on his door.

Jin lives only about fifteen kilometres away, so when Yoongi gets lonely enough to text him back, he takes the bus back to campus and hangs out with him for a while. Yoongi doesn't know why people are still so nice to him.

Both Jin and Hoseok have tried to convince Yoongi to come home with them, but he'd rather be alone on campus, in a familiar environment, than be a nuisance to a bunch of strangers who feel obligated to be nice to him just because he's friends with their family member.

Besides, semester breaks aren't always so bad. He'd met Namjoon in the winter break of his first year. He'd been so alone, the two weeks of radio silence driving him insane, that he'd gone to the library just to make sure people still existed. Namjoon had had the same idea, and while neither of them liked each other at first, they started sitting together for the heck of it.

He hasn't asked Namjoon yet if he's staying this year.

"You'll be here, right?" Hoseok asks, even though he knows Yoongi would never willingly go home.

"Yeah. Like always."

There's silence for a moment.

Hoseok never pries about his family. He knows the bare minimum - mom who hates his guts and thinks he's going to die of starvation in the music industry, and a father who's too drunk to care what Yoongi studies. Hoseok doesn't press for details, and Yoongi loves that about him.

"Jin sent me with food for you," he says, abruptly changing the subject. He points at the plastic bag he'd dumped at the foot of Yoongi's bed when he walked in. "For Jungkookie, too."

"Why is he cooking during his freaking exams."

"I don't know, he's stressed. He cooked enough to feed our entire floor of people and more."

It was the sort of thing Jin would do.

"Give it to Jungkook yourself," he tells Hoseok. "I'm not as free as you are."

"I'm not moving either. I'm half dead."

Yoongi gives him a look.

Hoseok thinks for a moment. Then he takes a deep breath and screams "Jungkookie!"

Yoongi winces.

Nothing happens for a moment, and then a different voice, definitely not Jungkook's, screams "He's right here!"

"Send him to room 513!"

Yoongi smacks a palm against his forehead. So much for the legend of the impenetrable border of 513.

Jungkook arrives seconds later, confused and pretty miserable. His eyes are red rimmed, which could be either crying, or sleep deprivation, or both. Yoongi would put his money on both.

Jungkook tries smiling at them, but it doesn't turn out right.

"How have exams been?" Hoseok asks.

"Terrible."

"Aww, you studied so hard. It can't have been so bad."

"Terrible," Jungkook repeats, dead serious, and Yoongi feels sort of bad for him.

Hoseok hands him the package he'd brought from Jin. "Seokjin's good luck gift to you," he says, even though it really isn't.

Jungkook stares at the package like it contains all the secrets of the universe. He looks like he might hug Hoseok, or cry, or at the very least make a fool of himself. Hoseok, world champion at dealing with the socially awkward, helps him out by hugging him first.

Jungkook's fists tighten in his shirt, and he shouldn't be so emotional over a gift of food, especially not when he's used to getting food from Jin, but Yoongi guesses that during exam week, anything goes.

"Last time I'll see you before new year's," Hoseok says, not commenting when Jungkook makes no move to pull away. "I'm leaving early tomorrow morning."

"Oh," Jungkook says, voice muffled. He finally, finally pulls back, looking like he really doesn't want to, and would rather just sleep here for the rest of his life. "Um. Happy new year in advance?"

"...you can always call me."

"...yeah."

"What about you, when are you leaving?"

Jungkook shrugs. "Maybe in a week?"

Yoongi blinks. What?

"My parents are visiting my brother," Jungkook clarifies. "So I'm staying here for a while." He doesn't look happy about it.

So. Yoongi won't be alone after all.

Hoseok glances at him, clearly thinking the same. "Jimin and Taehyung?" he asks.

"They're leaving tomorrow." Jungkook really doesn't look happy about that.

Hoseok gives Yoongi another look. Yoongi expects him to say something, but he stays silent, waiting for Yoongi to speak first. Maybe trying to see if he will.

"It's just you and me then, kid," Yoongi says slowly. The thought gives him a strange mix of relief and anxiety. "Don't die before then."

Jungkook gives him a confused look, not having caught up yet. Hoseok just grins.