Please, take away the pain
'Cause when I hear your name
I miss everything about you

You sank into the cushion of your bed, eyes trained to the screen in front of you. You'd written and rewritten the last few lines of the chapter you were currently on, nothing seeming to satisfy you.

On days like these, where you'd be staring at your laptop with all your motivation running dry, you wished your best friend was still around. She'd been your first point of contact whenever you felt this way, and a quick chat with her about your stories would always get your creativity flowing again.

You'd moved to this city alone a few years ago and there had only been a few people who'd been by your side the entire way. That number eroded bit by bit until you were left with her.

But ever since she'd hopped on a plane and travelled the long sixteen hours to the other side of the world, you'd had to through your youth without her.

Your eyes suddenly snapped open at a blaring, unfamiliar sound ringing through the apartment. Panic started to rise within you as a muffled voice jumped in between the resonant sounds, the only words you were able to pick out being 'fire' and 'evacuate'.

Hopping off the bed, you paced toward your door, but an abrupt whirl of hot air pushed you back inside.

The booming fire alarm continued to sound through the entire building, and it filled up every part of your body until your ears couldn't hear anything else.

Amber flames rose before you, your eyes filling to the brim with tears as you tried your best to figure a way out of your room.

But you couldn't. The fire had formed a border around your bed frame, your feet constantly shifting in the opposite direction. You'd been shoved up against the wall behind you, your attention immediately turning to the window behind you.

Lips trembling, you opened it slightly, looking down.

You were on the tenth floor, and of course the fire escape led into the living room, and so you had no way to escape through it safely.

Heart thumping wildly against your ribcage, you desperately looked around your room as another door was going to appear magically.

Bang.

Eyes flying to your door, you saw a figure emerge, and you jumped at the sight.

"Hello? Anyone there?" the moment their voice, muffled through their helmet, reached your ears, you felt your entire resolve shatter.

"H-Hi!" you sniffled, tears springing to your eyes immediately. Your veins had been pumping with adrenaline the entire time and only now did the situation start to settle within you.

You really could die here.

"Ma'am?" the voice came again, and you looked back to him, "I'm going to need you to-" extinguishing some of the flames in front of him, he walked over to you, "I'm so sorry, but I'm going to need you to escape through that window, would you be alright doing that?"

Your eyes widened, and you turned to the glass on the side of the room. But there was no way you could? You were up ten floors.

Racing over to the window, the fireman lifted the extinguisher he'd been holding and raised it, pushing it through the glass. This caused you to yelp.

After he did that, he'd brought out a walkie talkie, mumbling something into it before turning back to you.

"My buddy will be here in a minute and you're going to have to go down with him," he gestured for you to join him by the broken glass, "Have you ever tried abseiling?"

Your breathing quickened. You felt yourself double over and reach for your knees.

This could not be happening.

"I'm so sorry ma'am, this is your only option."

And within seconds, another figure wrapped in a bright yellow suit lowered themselves down right to the window.

You were going to have to grab onto this fireman and fall ten floors with him.

Oh hell.

"I can't," you whimpered, "I-I can't."

"Yes you can," the fireman crouched a little to meet your eyes, "My friend here is fucking strong, I know he'll look after you just fine. I promise you'll be okay."

"B-But it's ten floors," your nervous voice came out in a small croak again and just as you said that, a flame burst from the ground near you.

This made you jump again.

"O-Okay," you turned back to the man in the window as he held his arm out.

But when you twisted your body to face him, you saw his manner falter. His arm almost dropped from the position where he held a couple of clips and a harness for you.

Biting your lip, you stepped forward, and it was as if he had regained consciousness. He opened the harness for you to get yourself into, both of you working in tandem to get you ready.

"Are you set?" you heard him mumble and the voice took you by surprise.

It sounded so familiar.

"Y-Yeah," you stammered, "I'm good."

"See you down there," the fireman from earlier pat both of you on the back, and you found yourself losing altitude, heart rising to your throat.

Below you, the ring of yellow suits started to get bigger and bigger, the floor began to get closer.

Was this really happening?

Your head snapped back to your bedroom window—the room with the life you'd built over the last few years.

Gone.

A gasp suddenly escaped you while you tried to draw in a deep breath, the tears you'd occasionally been dropping now turning into a fully-fledged stream.

Your home.

Up in flames.

Sucking in deep breath after deep breath, you found your voice start to catch up with you finally, a mourn slowly accompanying your tears.

This couldn't be happening.

There was no way.

Eyes fixed to the ground, your foot finally started to inch closer to the concrete below. And when it hit the surface, you found your heart follow.

Falling through your body and joining the gravel.

Once the fireman had eased his hold around you, unclipped you from the rope hanging above, he nodded an "All clear".

Mouth hanging slightly agape as you watched him slowly step back, you spun around. Before you, many other men and women were hysterically running from the burning apartment complex, flooding into ambulances and police cars.

You looked back to the fireman who was now unhooking himself and (you assumed) started to get ready to rush back into the building.

"No, no," another fireman ran up to you both, placing a hand on his shoulder, "We don't need you up there; you've done enough for today. The fire's under control, so please go home and rest up for the week. Your forty-eight-hour shift turning into a sixty-hour one wasn't ideal."

You tried not to let your jaw drop.

After bowing a farewell to you, the latter fireman quickly scurried off.

"Uh," you croaked, trying to keep the tears at bay, "Thank you so much for bringing me down."

He shook his head at you, ducking it slightly and you took that as a 'No need to thank me', before he started to walk away. Eyes following his figure, you watched as he headed in the direction of a couple of other workers taking their suits off.

Sending him a small smile again in gratitude, despite knowing he wouldn't see, you turned your head back upward. The flames that had been swallowing your apartment had now settled. You were sure soot had covered every inch of the space.

Fishing for your phone in your pocket, you opened your contacts page. Before staring at it blankly for a few seconds.

Who were you going to call?

The lump grew in your throat as you scrolled up and down through the names in front of you.

You didn't want your parents to get worried. You didn't have any friends living in the area, and your closest friend was miles away.

As you watched your thumb hovering over the screen, you noticed it trembling.

Sighing, you lifted your head again to turn back to the group of firefighters who were all now draped in some loose tank tops above their yellow uniform pants. Maybe they'd know who to talk to about your next steps.

Your feet finally began to move, toward the closest man who'd had his back facing you this entire time.

Eyebrows furrowing in the middle, you couldn't help but wonder that something about him seemed so familiar.

The other two with him caught sight of you and raised their own gazes, meeting your eyes.

"Jungkook, I think she wants to ask us something," one of them motioned to you, and you were sure the entire earth stopped spinning when you heard his name.

Jungkook?

Your eyes flashed to him then, watching as he slowly turned around and rested on you.

And just like that, you felt an entire tidal wave of nostalgia rush through you, eyes that were already brimming with tears starting to clog up even further.

He blinked back at you and you could have sworn your heart turned in its place. His gorgeous doe eyes, the immense dark swirling irises grasping your own ever so gently. But your soul lurched at the sight nonetheless.

"Jungkook?"

You saw him visibly gulp, gaze breaking from yours before he looked back at his colleague. That's when you let your eyes drop to his arms, the silky skin you used to be so well acquainted with, was now tainted in ink. Whisps and curls of black painted his shoulder and traced its way in meticulous designs down to his wrist, and you happened to see his broad muscles tense up under your gaze.

A hiccup tumbled past your lips, the result of your sorry attempt at calling his name again.

This was Jungkook. Your Jungkook. The Jungkook who cradled you in his arms through every thunderstorm and sang into your hair as you woke up. The Jungkook who treated you like a princess when the entire world deemed you unworthy of love. The Jungkook you fell in love with just before he decided it was time to say goodbye.

But he wasn't yours anymore, was he?

"How can we help?" his colleague finally spoke, the menacing silence between the two of you stretching for far too long.

You didn't know how, amongst the loud sirens and screams, Jungkook's lack of reply was the most deafening thing.

"J-Jungkook?" you finally managed to croak out, fingers instinctively reaching forward slowly to grasp onto him.

But you stopped yourself.

"You know her, Kook?"

After finally breaking your eye contact, he turned to his colleague and shrugged.

"College."

You flinched.

Yeah. College.

College and laughter. College and tears. College and endless nights whispering dad jokes into the pitch-black room to make each other smile.

Just college.

"I-I don't know where to go," you managed to let the words leave you then, not having it in you to watch Jungkook's expression.

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"I'm sure I can find a place to stay, Jungkook. Some friend or-" you were tired of repeating the same thing over and over again. Sitting in the fire department lounge, a blanket wrapped around your shoulders and a blazing mug of hot chocolate between your hands, you told him again.

"And for the last time, I heard what you told my boss. I heard that you don't have family or friends to go to right now, so where exactly were you planning on going?"

"I don't know, but I'll find something, I promise."

Your name was on the tip of his tongue, "If you think I'm going to just let you sleep on the streets, you're wrong. If you think I'm not going to offer my home when I know you have nowhere else to go, you're wrong. Please, at least stay one night until you can find something else."

The pleading in his expression made you freeze, and you knew if the beverage wasn't thawing you from the hands up, you'd melt under his gaze.

"Fine, okay," you sighed, letting your eyes fall back down to your drink. It was humiliating, but you had no other choice.

"Alright, thank you. I'm going to get my stuff and then we can leave, give me five minutes."

☁︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

hey guys! i hope you're liking the story so far!

i wonder where it's going,,, hehe