sober | j.jk

17 ‣ a million pebbles

"How'd you get my number?" Rafael asks, reaching for the door handle. The young man on the bench press right next to the entrance glances over at him with furrowed brows, proceeding to notice Rafa's earphones and quickly redirecting his gaze back to the ceiling. "Even for you, this is next level creepy." Rafael mumbles, heart aching a little as he remembers your puffy, tear-streaked face half pressed into his pillow, finally peaceful enough to breathe evenly.

"Creepy?" Jungkook's voice sounds through the small speakers in Rafa's ears. "I'd go with resourceful, but okay."

"Cut the shit."

"Is she okay?"

"Are you serious?" Rafael's annoyance has no problem getting through to the tired, baggy-eyed young man. "Look, I'd hang up before I start hating you in the most serious way possible. I can't say I liked you—I don't even know you—but in a weird, very stupid way, I was rooting for you. I wanted to give you the benefit of the fucking doubt, but I guess more often than not reputations are so much more than he-said, she-said." Rafael rebukes. "You're so much worse."

"You 'don't know me' and somehow you know that last bit?" Jungkook mumbles quietly, just a string of syllables that's not quite comprehensible. "I am serious." Jungkook's voice is firm and stable, a stark contrast from what it was several hours ago outside of Yugyeom's complex. "And I'm not gonna hang up." He adds. "She won't answer me and I can't blame her. But I need to talk to her. I know she's not at her dorm, but I can't be sure she's still on campus."

"Leave her alone."

"She's at your dorm isn't she?"

"You're out of your whole entire Goddamn mind if you think even a single strand of your hair is making it anywhere near my dorm." Rafael's volume raises gradually, evenly. The very few other gentlemen in the small dorm gym can't help but glance over. On the other end of the line, Jungkook closes his eyes and lets out a long, silent breath through his nose. "You or Yugyeom." Rafael adds, in light of an earlier conversation he had. "Leave. Her. Alone."

"I need to talk to her before I can do that." Jungkook insists.

"No." Rafael says definitively, leaving absolutely no room for argument. "Not now. I don't wanna hear about any of you getting within fifty fucking feet of her. You're gonna leave her alone." He orders. "You're gonna leave her alone until she feels like talking to you—if she ever fucking does." Rafael sets down his things next to the squat rack, albeit a little on the loud side. "If I hear you or your stupid little friends went and ambushed her I swear to God you wish you would've listened to me. I won't see her like that again. I won't."

"Just let her know I'm here." Jungkook says after a small silence, voice solemn and low. "For whenever she feels like talking to me."

"Can't say I will." Rafael hangs up the call.

Jungkook sighs, dropping his phone next to him on the small couch and slumping into the cushions. "Don't tell me you're surprised." Kenji says somewhere behind him, sitting crisscross on his messy bed with a half-eaten bowl of cereal and his laptop playing some random sitcom a few volume bars too high. "You had that one coming." Kenji adds, shoving a spoonful of fruit loops into his mouth. "Honestly, he was pretty nice about it." He mumbles. "Rafa could beat your ass."

"Yeah, right."

"No, really."

"No. Really." Jungkook stands up and heads to his dresser. He pulls out a T-shirt and throws it on, returning to the couch for his cellphone and making a beeline to the door. "You got the room to yourself for a couple hours. Do what or who you please, just don't go near my bed."