Namjoon was silent as Jimin got into the front seat of the yellow car. Jimin could see a vein bulge on his face as he slowly moved to buckle in, taking in Jungkook's apartment as if it were the last time he'd see it for a good while. Jimin loved his friends, and trusted them, but they were wrong about this, about Jungkook.

Jimin would figure out a way to prove it. To show them Jungkook's heart without exposing his trauma. Jieun wasn't a story for Jimin to tell, but it would be hard to find a way around involving her when convincing his friends. But Jimin would find a way, he'd figure something out, because he loved Jungkook. He loved him enough to try and to keep trying and to always try for Jungkook.

He swallowed, the action hurting his throat as he thought of his card game with Jieun. He had lost, yes, that was true, but he couldn't shake the cold in Jieun's eyes. There were moments during the game where her mouth would twitch and a shadow would fall on her delicate face - moments where Jimin swore he almost saw Jieun hope she'd lose.

Despite her threats, Jimin wouldn't leave Jungkook alone. He would take any pain she threw his way if it meant that Jungkook wasn't alone in fighting her. He must have been so lonely for so long, always keeping everyone a finger length away. Jimin would make sure Jungkook never felt like that again and he would not abandon him.

"It's for the better, Jimin." Namjoon said as he started the car and took a right, shaking Jimin out of his thoughts. A wave of something stark, like vinager, hit Jimin's nose and caused his head to spin. The smell was so strong that it cut through all of his thoughts and Jimin had a sudden flash of the night at the club when a stranger had handed him another drink. That smell was strong then. And back in the subway after his date with Jungkook at the park. And again at his apartment when his friend's had come over to celebrate the club's completion. His heart started to pound.

Jimin didn't reply for a long while as Namjoon began to swerve in and out of the city - something started to ache deep in his stomach and he thought he might throw up. It took a moment, but soon Jimin caught that they had taken a couple wrong turns and had somehow ended up on the track towards the bridge that led out of Seoul and not deeper within it.

"Namjoon, where are we-" Jimin started, his voice shaking as he tried subtly to reach for the door handle. Something was very wrong and that vinegar scent caused every nerve in his body to set off. That smell. That harsh scent. It was Namjoon - it had always been. But why?

"Sorry, wrong turn." Namjoon replied.

Jimin pursed his lips and then rubbed his forehead with his thumb. "Love's a risk, Namjoon. I'm willing to risk it for Jungkook. I believe in him."

Namjoon froze, his knuckles white on the wheel as fog started to build up at the edge of the bridge as they neared the otherside.

"No." Namjoon answered, his voice strong and loud. "No. Those aren't words for Jungkook. Those are my words. Our love is a risk, Jimin. Our love. I love you and have always loved you but Seokjin would never give me a moment alone with you. The Letters, have you not been reading them? I love you, Jimin. Not Jungkook. Never Jungkook. I did everything for us. When Jungkook hurt you, I hurt him. When you couldn't see how bad he is, I showed you at the club. Me."

"Namjoon, what are you - Namjoon, Look Out!" Jimin screamed as a girl with long silver hair and a flowy dress stopped in the middle of the road as she crossed, picking up a basket of roses she had dropped. Her grey eyes went wide as suddenly out of the fog Namjoon's headlights brightened like the golden eyes of a snake.

Namjoon yelled and his hands swerved the wheel, causing the car to turn, but the it couldn't keep up with the sudden change of momentum. Jimin started screaming as he heard the wheels screech on the road and then suddenly everything went dark.

* * *

"Sweetie, here's a blanket." A brown haired woman with her hair tied back in a low chignon and with kind green eyes said. Her voice was gentle as she smoothed down her white doctor's jacket and scrubs. With her other hand, she handed Jungkook a folded blanket. It was small and thin, but Jungkook didn't object as she left it on his lap and left the room.

He could hear the rain hitting against the window on the other side of the hospital room and somewhere in the distance thunder boomed. The vents in the hospital pumped cold air throughout the building same as the small plastic bag pumped fresh blood into Jimin's limp arm as he laid motionless on the hospital bed.

It's been a day since the crash and Jungkook hadn't moved from the seat next to the bed. He hadn't gotten up to drink or to eat or to use the bathroom. He hadn't so much as blinked as the doctors hooked Jimin's bloody and bruised body up to their machines and their IV's or when they covered his body in bandages and neck braises and his leg in a thick cast. They'd gotten him out of the car crash before Jungkook had got there. The body he saw bleeding out was Namjoon's.

"That night, at the club." Jungkook said to the air of the cold hospital room. Lighting flashed outside and the lights shut off in the room to persevere energy as the patient was meant to get some rest. Jungkook wasn't sure what time it was but by the dark bags under the nurse's eyes as she shut the door on her way out, he guessed either extremely late in the night or extraordinarily early in the morning.

"That night I wanted to give you something but chickened out." Jungkook rested his elbows on his knees. Everything inside him felt hallow and empty. There was an exhaustion that carried through each breath and his eyes felt like the bricks he got used to carrying at his construction sights. But he would not abandon Jimin by giving into sleep. "I was scared, Jimin. Even after everything, because I've never felt this way for anyone and when I saw you dancing, that stupid smile on your face and the way you laughed like the world was waiting to listen to it, I got scared. Because it's still hard to believe that you could be that happy next to me."

Jungkook swallowed. He wasn't sure what to focus his eyes on. The heart montinor with it's green little line? The rusty wheels of the steel hospital bed frame? The red IV trailing to a needle in Jimin's pale and bruised forame? The cuts so deep that red stained the gauze on Jimin's torso and collarbones and neck and cheek? The face of a boy so young and so joyful that was bruised over? Those eyes, shuttered closed, and lips, pursed stubbornly even in sleep?

He decided to look at the floor tiles instead.

"I had it in my pocket and everything. I wanted to give it when I first saw you, but you were kissing Taehyung and it didn't seem the best moment. Then we ran into Seokjin and then there were so many people in the club and then - well then everyone went to shit and I wasn't sure I'd even get to see you again."

Jungkook blinked, the darkness of the moment familiar like the week that had gone by since Jimin's seizure at the club. He could still see Namjoon carrying Jimin's limp body out as the ambulance blared. Namjoon. He wasn't sure if the boy had made it or if he was in another room in the hospital. Jungkook didn't particularly care. Not now.

He fumbled with his pockets, his fingers shaking slightly as he pulled out a thin golden chain with a lock the size of Jungkook's finger nail hanging off of it. Etched on one side was 1:00, for one minute. "I - well - you know this, but I've never been with a guy before. So. Um. This might be too cheesy of a gift. Which is also why I was scared to give it to you, I didn't want you to think it was too much. Or, if you didn't like it. I think I was scared of that too."

Jungkook let out a very slow breath as he forced himself to stand up, his muscles aching after having sat for so long. He placed the necklace down by Jimin's broken fingers. Very carefully, Jungkook hovered his hand over Jimin's palm and then set it down beside it instead. He looped a finger around Jimin's hospital gown, it was as much contact as Jungkook was willing to risk without putting Jimin in more pain.

"I got it since you can never get that damn apartment door of yours open, even though you use the same key each time." Jungkook smiled fondly at that, even if it felt heavy on his face. "And the 1:00 is for that minute made lemonade you made me drink. I still remember that day, Jimin. How you noticed I had hurt myself at work and decided to give your leftover lemonade to a stranger. Now you're the one that's hurt and Jimin there's nothing I can do to help you. But I won't abandon you. I'll stay here until you get better. Because you will get better, Jimin. You have to."

A knock at the door caused Jungkook's head to jerk up. There was a woman with a storm of black curls bouncing off her angular face where a neat pair of glasses rested on her sleek nose. In her hands was a clipboard the same color as her doctor's coat.

"I'm sorry, but are you Jeon Jungkook?"

Jungkook nodded.

"Honey, there's someone here to see you."

"I can't - I can't leave him."

The doctor's smile was kind. "I'll stay until you get back, I promise. But you might want to go speak with her."

"Who?"

"It's the woman that saved this boy's life. If it wasn't for her pulling him out of the car, the blood would have rushed to his head. Jimin here would have died."

______
A/N:
Happy second semester you guys 💜

- Violette