My exhaustion was so complete by the time I made my way up to Jungkook's room that it could've been a living, breathing thing in the room beside me. We had stayed up all night discussing different ideas of how to make it into the Baron's party, but we weren't any closer than we'd been before. It wasn't the best idea, but it was the only one we had. As I crashed on top of the comfortable bed, I could just make out the light of the approaching sunrise. I could sleep in the daytime, but it wouldn't be easy considering how tired I was.

"Scoot over."

Jungkook's voice startled me, making me jump and look over my shoulder so quickly, I almost pulled something. I didn't even hear him enter the room behind me, which was unusual. Either he moved like a cat, or I was too wiped out for those senses to work right. Of course, thinking back on the first few times he'd snuck up on me, I had the feeling it was the former. He was just that damn good.

I scooted over against the wall and watched, wide-eyed, as he pulled off his shirt and slid into the bed next to me.

"Don't give me that look. This was my bed first. Roll back over."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but did as he said, turning away from him to face the wall. Jungkook pulled the covers up and moved closer to me, fitting his front against my back before draping his arm around me. I flinched and froze at his touch but before I could question whether or not he was trying to pull something, he kissed my shoulder, tucked his head in against mine, and promptly fell asleep.

I laid there for several minutes as I marveled at his ability to fall asleep so quickly. That only happened to me if the stars aligned just perfectly, or I was really comfortable. And neither of those circumstances arose very often.

But, to my surprise, that morning was one in which it did.

I didn't even realize I'd drifted off until soft moans and cries behind me woke me up. The sun was bright and directly overhead, but Jungkook must have activated the automatic shades on the windows before he got in bed because they were down and blocking the worst of the light. Another whimper broke the silence in the room and I rolled over to see Jungkook's face scrunched up in pain.

"Jungkook," I said, softly, patting him on the cheek. He didn't stir except to moan again. I propped up on my arm and looked down at the slightly older boy. His mouth hung open and he panted as if running in a marathon. Whatever nightmare he was trapped in must have been bad. I shook him a little harder, leaning into him and saying his name a little louder. His eyes flew open in a panic. In an instant, he had shoved me back into the bed and was leaning over me with a gun drawn and pointed at the door across the room. My eyes flew wide and my mouth dropped open. I hadn't even seen where he pulled the gun from.

"What? What's wrong?" His hard eyes scanned the room for the danger that was only in his head.

"You...it's you," was all I could squeak out. He looked down, his eyebrows knotted together in confusion.

"What?"

"You were having a nightmare. I woke you up."

His expression turned into something closer to embarrassment as he dropped the gun and rolled off of me. He sat the weapon on the table beside the bed and scrubbed his hands over his face with a muttered "sorry" in between his fingers.

I propped back up on my elbow. "Don't worry about it. I have them, too."

Jungkook ran his hands through his hair before clasping his fingers behind his head. His biceps bulged and tensed with the movement and I tried to keep my mouth from watering. "Not like mine, I'm sure."

"Yeah. Probably not. But they aren't kittens and rainbows, either. And 'who has the worst nightmare' isn't a game I want to compete in." I looked out the window as I spoke, but turned back when I heard him snort.

"Good point. Me neither."

I relaxed and reached out to trace the tattoos on his side without thinking. "Want to talk about it?"

He watched me out of the corner of his eye. I realized what I was doing and jerked my fingers back. His skin was just so temptingly warm. I couldn't resist anymore than Icarus could resist flying up to the sun.

"Not at all," he ground out. He was still looking at me with that curious expression that I couldn't make out. My heart trembled in my chest. I'd wanted him since that first day in the training room and I still couldn't get the feeling of his lips out of my mind, but now was not the time to make a move. I'd feel too much like I was taking advantage of him.

"You didn't have to stop," he said with that trademark smirk of his as he rolled onto his side to face me.

I grinned down at him and relaxed into the pillows, letting my fingers walk across his delicious-looking skin. "Sorry. I've just never seen tattoos like these."

"They're nothing special. I'd wanted tattoos since I was a kid so as soon as I had the chance, I went out and got these." He held up his hand to show off the ink on his knuckles. "It lit a fire in me and I went back to get the rest."

"It looks like battle ink," I mused.

He laughed softly into the darkened room. "Battle ink. I like that. It's kind of what it feels like. I just wanted to do something that was just for me, you know? I'd given my life to my brothers and this job and getting the tattoos just felt like a choice I could make for myself. By myself." He laid back into the pillows with a sigh. "I'm sure that sounds stupid."

"Not at all. You took back your agency. I think that's beautiful. Just like you."

His eyes flicked down to mine. "I am not beautiful."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please. You're hot and you know it."

"Of course I do. But that's just it. I'm hot. Girls are beautiful. Guys are hot. There's a difference."

I laughed and grabbed my pillow, swatting him in the face. "You dumbass! I thought you were being insecure!"

"Have you met me? When am I ever insecure?" He easily ripped my pillow from my hand and threw it back down underneath me.

"When no one's looking. When someone is hurt and you don't know how to help them. When a problem can't be fixed with your brute strength, alone."

I drew in a breath when he stopped moving and looked down to see his smile frozen on his face. Slowly, it faded, leaving him looking vulnerable for the first time since I'd come out of my coma. He didn't say anything for so long, I bit my lip wondering how to get back the playful boy from a moment ago. When he sat up and leaned over me, I rolled onto my back.

"You see right through us, don't you?" His words weren't angry. They weren't an accusation.

They were an observation.

I didn't know what to say as I looked up into his chocolate eyes. He reached down and moved some hair that had fallen across my face. Before I could speak, he leaned down and touched his lips to mine.

It was such a shock that I just laid there for a moment, processing what was going on while my body responded without my guidance. My hand wrapped around his neck as his gripped my side. Our mouths moved together like we'd been with each other for a lifetime. When he lowered his chest down to mine, our kiss deepened as warmth spread through me. Conscious thought returned and I spread my legs so that he could position his body between them.

Given his approach to everything else in life, I had expected Jungkook to be rough in bed. I thought he would be somewhere between Taehyung and Namjoon in his forcefulness and power. But I was completely wrong.

His fingers combed through my hair as he pushed his body against mine and I was reminded that he liked to sleep naked. Out of respect for me, though, he'd put on a pair of shorts before crawling under the covers that morning. But they were doing nothing to hide the desire making its presence known against my body.

As our kiss crossed some line from searching into needing, Jungkook wrapped his strong arms under mine and around my head. He pulled his leg up under mine so that his weight shifted off of me and onto his side. He pulled away and looked down at me like he was just seeing me for the first time. The emotions in his eyes nearly brought tears to mine. There was so much depth in his face that I could spend a thousand years looking at him and I'd never know it all. But I wanted to spend the rest of eternity trying to.

Gently, he urged me to roll over onto my stomach. No sooner than I had were his hands moving my hair off my back so that his lips could find that most sensitive flesh where my neck met my shoulders. He held himself up over me, trailing feather-light kisses over my shoulders and back, making me quiver with desire and want. I couldn't have dreamed up a more sensual experience than his lips and tongue on my back. I didn't even know my back was such an erogenous zone, but with the way he was touching me, I was nearly out of my mind with the pain of wanting him.

As he moved back up from the small of my back, his hands fisted into my hair, pulling my head back slightly so he could return his attention to my neck and throat. With just the slightest coaxing, he rolled me back over so he could kiss my chest. And my throat. And my shoulders. Everything but my breasts. And suddenly, I realized that with him avoiding the one area that most other men seemed to be obsessed with, I felt more appreciated as a person than I ever had in my life. My body quivered because I realized he was kissing me for me and my desire rather than his own.

His kisses moved lower down my body until he found my most sensitive spot with his lips and tongue. I arched back into the pillows and wove my fingers through his long hair as he wrapped his arms under my thighs and pressed his tongue flat against my folds. I gasped and looked down, locking eyes with his.

One hand pulled at mine so he could twine our fingers together as his other hand reached over my stomach so he could press lazy circles against my clit with his thumb. I moaned his name and rocked my hips against his face as he drew out my desire, working me up into a near crescendo before backing off and switching his attention away from that one bundle of nerves to trace lines over my folds with his talented tongue.

By the time Jungkook decided what he wanted me to feel next, I was almost delirious in my need for him.