The Hoax

8

Yoongi awoke to a dark room, his mouth parched and his head hurting. He scanned his surroundings silently, readjusting his head on the pillow to get a better look.

"Stop moving your head around on my lap, man," Jungkook said from above him. "You're going to unintentionally do something I'm sure you don't want to do."

It took another moment for Yoongi's vision to adjust to the dark, and when it did, he saw Jungkook looking down at him. His hair hung over his forehead, making him appear younger than he was.

"Why am I laying down like this? And where are we?" The elder questioned, trying to get up but failing.

Jungkook chuckled at his predicament. "We never made it out of the gallery. Taehyung let us come into his office so you could sober up, but you passed out before we even got here."

That stirred a vague memory in Yoongi's mind. "Were you carrying me?"

"Yeah," the younger responded with his signature tilted grin, "and you made a point of saying to both me and Tae that you weren't riding me."

Everything came rushing back and he found himself mortified. He remembered saying those things to the younger in his drunken state, mentally kicking himself at his actions.

"You going to tell me why you decided to get so drunk?" Jungkook poked his forehead and move to do the same to his nose, but Yoongi swatted his hand away.

He really didn't want to talk about it, but he had a feeling Jungkook wouldn't relent. And in his current state, Yoongi did not feel like arguing anymore.

"I ran into Jimin and we had a bit of an argument," he revealed, looking away from Jungkook's big eyes. "I told him that I still loved him and he walked away."

Jungkook brought one of his hands up to Yoongi's hair, fingers carding through the long strands. "Did he give any indication that he still had feelings?"

"He said he was hurting, too. That he didn't appreciate seeing you and me make out. But he wouldn't tell me why he broke up with me."

"Wait. You don't know why he broke up with you?" His fake boyfriend asked, surprise evident in his voice.

Yoongi looked up at him again. "The reasons he gave me before were weak. They didn't make any sense."

"What were his reasons?"

The sadness of that day started to seep throughout his limbs, weighing Yoongi down. Never before had he felt so dejected, so worthless, than the day Jimin broke his heart. It surprised him how vibrant the memories of that day were. Maybe he'd never be able to move on from those feelings.

"He said he was bored. That he cared for me a lot but we never did anything exciting anymore. That was the first time I heard any of that, so I told him we could try new things. But he said he didn't think it'd be worth it in the end. He just . . . he just gave up on me."

Jungkook's fingers stilled in his hair for a moment. "I'm sorry, Yoongi. I can't imagine how that must have felt."

"I just wanted a chance to prove him wrong. But he didn't care enough to give it a shot," Yoongi stated blandly. He still didn't understand why Jimin wasn't willing to work through their issues.

"I've never had a real relationship," Jungkook revealed softly, his fingers combing through the elder's hair again. "I've tried to date people and open myself up to them, but they never wanted to stick around and learn more. They just saw me as a hookup and not relationship material."

Yoongi kept quiet, letting the boy gather his thoughts.

"It's going to sound so stupid," the younger continued, "but that's why I agreed to help you. Yeah I wanted a chance to hang with Tae, though that wasn't my main reason. It was because I wanted to know what it felt like to have someone. Even if it was fake, it seemed better than nothing."