The White Butterfly

Thirty-Two

Taehyung spends a lot of time cuddling with Jungkook.

A lot.

Jungkook can no longer count the amount of times he's woken up to Taehyung's nose in his hair and Taehyung's hands rubbing his back, or Taehyung singing softly in his ear. The cuddling and singing do a lot more for him than assurances of not being hated, so he stops asking for them and instead develops a habit of reaching out when he wakes up, searching for Taehyung's body in the blankets because it's so rare for him not to be there.

One night, Jungkook dreams of Jeongho's death and the burning car. He watches it burn, over and over again like a demented loop of a video feed he doesn't want to see, and when he wakes up, Taehyung isn't there.

Jungkook's first instinct is to hide, to pull himself under the blankets and never come out again. But the place where Taehyung lay is still warm, and before Jungkook knew what he was doing he stepped out of bed, stumbling across the room, and yanked the door open.

He pauses there, in the doorway, panting. For a moment, he considers going back. It's just a nightmare, isn't it? He can't go back and reverse death, and it's been so long since he dreamed like this. Perhaps if he goes back to bed it will go away.

But the pull of inertia is tiresome, and Jungkook wants to be close to Taehyung.

The hallway is unnaturally bright, illuminated by electric lights that leave shadows on Jungkook's vision if he stares too long. He walks to Namjoon's office alone, worrying at his fingers and lower lip, ready to bolt at the slightest noise, but there is none.

Namjoon's door is unlocked, and with a quick burst of his power Jungkook can hear voices on the other side. Namjoon is there, perhaps Jimin. Jungkook closes his eyes and focuses, waiting until he hears Taehyung's low, soothing tone to relax.

If Taehyung is there he can handle the others.

He opens the door slowly, slipping on bare feet that are just barely registering how cold the floor is, and lets out a sigh of relief when he sees Taehyung sitting alone on a couch.

"Jungkook?" Namjoon asks.

Jungkook ignores him, padding across the room to the couch and sitting down next to Taehyung. Taehyung wraps an arm around him as he snuggles closer, pulling his knees up to his chest and leaning against him.

"Something wrong?" Taehyung asks.

"Nightmare," Jungkook mutters, shifting one last time before sighing and flopping into Taehyung's lap instead. "Can you hold my hand?"

"Of course," Taehyung says, twining their fingers together. "I've got a couple more things to talk about with Joon and Jimin, and then we can head back to bed again, yeah?"

"Thanks," Jungkook says, eyelids fluttering shut.

They flick open again when Namjoon starts talking, watching Taehyung's face carefully, but Taehyung doesn't react negatively, and Jungkook drifts off to Taehyung running his free hand up and down his side, nodding along to whatever Namjoon is saying.

It's the first time he's left his room alone.