Jungkook is in stable condition.

Hoseok, however, is not.

How can he be, when he's hardly slept for more than three or four hours for two weeks? That fact is attributed to a multitude of reasons.

One, the only reason Jungkook is in stable condition is because Hoseok is with him around the clock. He rotates his bandages, supplies him with the strongest pain meds he can find, feeds him ice cubes and apple sauce and pudding in his brief periods of consciousness, checks and double checks and triple checks his vitals. He sings to him when he runs out of substantially helpful things to do, solely because he's so scared that if he does nothing at all, Jungkook's small steps forward will turn into steps backward in the blink of an eye.

Two, he can't sleep when Iseul is watching him like a hawk. Hoseok would compare her to an overprotective helicopter mom watching her kid's every move, but the intensity is heightened to the point that she's more like a ceiling fan mom. For those three days, that's how closely Iseul monitors Hoseok. Despite all the shit she gets from Seokjin, Namjoon, Yoongi, Jimin and Taehyung, she refuses not to stand outside the door when Hoseok uses the bathroom or showers. She makes Hoseok take a bite of Jungkook's apple sauce or pudding before he feeds it to him to make sure it isn't poisoned. She has to watch Hoseok take Jungkook's medication out of the pill bottle for the same reason. When Hoseok is merely sitting next to Jungkook after having completed all of his medical care steps, she still watches him intensely.

She even confiscates any forks and knives from Hoseok during mealtimes because they're too sharp for him to be trusted with. He butters his toast with a spoon. The night Seokjin made steak, he ate with his hands in shame. When they made instant noodles for lunch, he didn't even bother trying to eat them with his spoon and retreated back to Jungkook's bedside hungry. Hoseok doesn't want to see another spoon in his life. Everytime Hoseok observes that Iseul seems to have a charismatic chink in her icy armor, she proves him wrong by returning to being cold again.

And, finally, three: Hoseok can't sleep without talking to his parents on the phone before bed. He's aware how utterly lame that sounds, but he calls them three or four times a week before he goes to bed, and feels bad when he doesn't. These past few weeks, he's been completely off the map. He wonders if his parents are worried. He wonders if Mr. Ming noticed he never came back to work with the money from the delivery, or that he missed his shifts in the following days. He wonders if his friends from university have even noticed that he's gone, or if they have, and if they even care. Hoseok tries his best not to think about that.

So, in conclusion, two weeks without sleep have put Hoseok in a very wonky mindset. He feels loopy and exhausted, but every fiber of his being works to stay awake. It's easier when some of the other members come to visit him. Well, when they come to visit Jungkook. Though they're all older than Jungkook, as Hoseok came to discover, they all have unique relationships with him. For Seokjin, he's an annoying but lovable brother. Namjoon is Jungkook's rolemodel. Yoongi knows that if he ever needs a good listener, he can go to Jungkook. He and Jimin are the best friends you see in coming of age movies or read about in young adult novels. They all have a soft spot for Jungkook. Though the man is bulkier and stronger than them all, he is still their little brother, and they're all hellbent on protecting him.

Taehyung and Jungkook have something special, though. There's more than just friendship there, Hoseok can tell. He's had a suspicion ever since the night of the explosion and Taehyung wouldn't let go of Jungkook's hand, but the suspicion became tangible when he came back from getting Jungkook ice cubes to see Taehyung whispering soft, gentle words to the unconscious Jungkook. His gaze was tender and his hand was clasped with Jungkook's. He didn't look at Jungkook like he was the only person in the world. He looked at Jungkook like out of all the seven billion people in the world he could choose to look at, he would choose to look at him and only him forever. Hoseok wants someone to look at him like that one day.

It's one of these visits between Taehyung and Jungkook that results in Hoseok sitting alone in the hallway, struggling to keep his eyes open. He didn't want to intrude on an intimate moment, so he relocated to a spot along the wall outside Jungkook's room. He completely zones out, and is finding it more and more difficult to stay awake.

Thump.

Hoseok practically jumps out of his skin at the dull thud that snaps him out of his daze. He turns to look at the source of the sound and sighs, trying to play it cool when he sets eyes on a smirking Iseul.

"Hi, Hoseok. Am I interrupting some deep thought?" She says, and Hoseok squints at her skeptically. Iseul? Speaking to him like a civilized human being? Unheard of.

"What do you want?" He asks, not putting an ounce of trust in the front she's putting on. Iseul laughs and pokes the inside of her cheek with her tongue, a grin on her face telling him she knows something he doesn't.

"Why do you automatically assume I want something?" She asks. "Maybe I'm just trying to be nice."

"Or, maybe you want something." He sasses. Normally, he would watch his tone when speaking to Iseul, considering she's a tad trigger happy, but he's too tired for his filter to function.

"Wow, you have such low expectations for me." She says.

"You're not nice, not to me anyways. Therefore, you want something." Hoseok deadpans, and Iseul laughs again. He hasn't heard her laugh this much before, and he isn't really equipped for how to react in this situation, so he moves on quickly. "And you're not denying it. So, what do you want?"

"Well, it's more about what you want." Iseul says simply, as if it makes sense out of context. Hoseok raises an eyebrow at her.

"Since when have you ever cared about what I want?" He asks, and Iseul sighs.

"Ever since it started affecting me and my family." She explains. "Listen, Hoseok. You're in this now. I hate to have dragged you into this life, but it's too late to back out now. So, you need to make a choice. Work with us, or don't. Be apart of us, or die." She says casually, and Hoseok nearly chokes on his own spit.

"Whoawhoawhoa, wait, what? So I either join your gang, or I die? Why can't I just be sworn to secrecy or something? Why is death always the alternative with you people?" Hoseok exclaims, wheezing from his coughing episode.

"Because it's the easiest way for us to keep the police out of our business." She says as if the concept is easy to grasp. "We aren't too fond of snitches, Hoseok."

"Right, because murder is totally something the law wouldn't be interested in." He retorts, and Iseul smirks again, that infuriatingly attractive smirk that Hoseok is equal parts terrified and turned on by.

"It won't be, not if we cover our tracks right. Murder suicide, works every time." She says, and Hoseok's blood runs cold. Sometimes he forgets with people like Taehyung and Namjoon that these people are dangerous. They're called the Bangtan Blood for a reason. They kill people, even innocent people like him. Hoseok wonders how many people have been in his situation before and ended up dead.

"Don't you think that people would notice I was gone all this time before you killed me and find it suspicious?" He asks, and Iseul shrugs.

"I don't know. Do you think they would? Do you think they care enough about you to be looking for you right now?" She asks, voicing the same fear that's been percolating in his mind for the past two weeks. Hoseok likes to think his friends would notice that scaredy cat Hoseok isn't around, but deep down, he knows they couldn't care less. He knows he's just the punchline of their jokes and a source for amusement, not their friend. But he'd never tell Iseul that.

So he just says, sheepishly, "My parents. They'd notice. They're probably worried out of their minds right now." He says, and Iseul chuckles.

"Right. Well, here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna give your parents a call." She instructs, pulling out a cell phone. "You're gonna tell them you're on vacation with your friends on Jeju Island, and that you're not gonna be back for a while. That you're completely fine. If you don't want to do that, then I think I'm gonna want to put a bullet through your head and write up a suicide note. But, do what you want." Iseul says, and Hoseok gapes at her, glaring relentlessly.

"Do what I want." He repeats incredulously.

"Yep. And, if you choose to cooperate with us, you'll need to do one more thing to earn our trust. The police got called to the scene of the explosion, probably by the same people that planted the bomb. Probably their way of checking to see if we survived or not, and since the police obviously found no mutilated corpses, they know we got out alive. Meaning they'll be looking for us again, trying to finish the job. In the meantime, the police have been trying to contact Seokjin since his name is on the house's lease agreements. Seokjin can't risk being seen so close to the crime, so we're gonna send you, a fresh face, someone who is clearly not Seokjin, to collect any documents or insurance money." She explains, and Hoseok bites his lip, processing.

"So...you want me to lie to the police and say I'm Seokjin?" He asks, and she nods. "Why can't Seokjin go himself?"

"Because the people who planted the bomb are probably watching the police station closely. And we can't risk Seokjin getting hurt."

"So...I'm gonna be the one getting hurt?" Hoseok says, the familiar feeling of fear churning his stomach.

"Worst case scenario, yes. And, let me reiterate, if you don't want to do this...I'm going to kill you." Iseul says, with so much conviction that it makes Hoseok wince. "But, it's up to you." She says with that annoyingly hot smirk on her face, and Hoseok wants to slam his head against the wall.

"Up to me. Wow. You're evil. Genuinely a terrible human being." He deadpans, and she sighs, getting up from her sitting position next to him.

"You could call it that. Or, you could call it protecting your family. You'll be under our protection if you do choose to do it, Hoseok. Remember that." She reminds him, and she turns to walk away.

"Wait." He blurts, and she pauses, looking over her shoulder.

"Yes?"

"If I do this for you, can I at least use a fork and knife? If I have to eat steak with a spoon again I might lose it." He says, and, to his utter surprise, Iseul giggles. A sound that Hoseok never thought Iseul would make. He never thought she was even physically capable of making such an adorable sound, but now that she has, he doesn't know how to feel. Just another chink in her ice cold armor that she puts on.

"Absolutely not." She replies cheerfully, thriving off Hoseok's disappointment. "Don't bite off more than you can chew. Literally and figuratively, considering you can't use a knife." She jokes badly, and Hoseok scoffs while she laughs, walking away.

"Wow, you're a bloodthirsty gang member and a comedian. So fucking hilarious. I'm laughing so hard right now. Seriously, I'm crying." He says, voice devoid of emotion, Iseul laughing all the while.

Hoseok sighs, looking at the cellphone in his hand. It's either lie to his parents, or never see them again.

"Fuck it." he mumbles, angrily punching in the number, and waiting while it rings. On the third ring, someone picks up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom." Hoseok breathes out, trying his best to sound happy.

"Hoseokie! Oh, thank goodness, my baby." She exclaims, the relief in her voice breaking Hoseok's heart. "Are you alright? You haven't been answering your phone."

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm doing great." He says, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice. "I'm doing just fine."

He hopes that if his mom believes it, then maybe he'll start to believe that the hell he's been living will be fine, too.

I finally updated this yay love y'all thanks for waiting