Hoseok officially wanted to quit.
He wanted to go home and be with his family, where he wouldn't be bothering his members - wouldn't bother Taehyung. He wanted to leave and never look back, because it had become apparent to him that Taehyung would be better of if Hoseok had never appeared in his life in the first place.
They should have let you quit all those years ago. They'd be better off.
Everything felt as if it was crashing down around him. All of this, he thought in his own words, all of this over a dumb crush. Over him calling me 'friend.' He shook his head violently as tears wet the sleeves he desperately tried to scrub them away with. I should have just kept my mouth shut, this is why I never open up. All it brings in trouble.
The nagging voice from the darkest recesses of his mind returns again with a bite,
Worthless.
They don't need you.
You're a burden.
You should just-
"Hyung?"
Hoseok looked up at the inquisitive voice, eyes red and nose running from crying - something that had become common place within the past few weeks. A hand landed on his shoulder and Jungkook smiled at him sweetly. The elder adverted his gaze and surveyed the room, the other members had already left - Jungkook and himself the only inhabitants.
I don't blame them, Hoseok returned his eyes back to the younger but couldn't bring himself to smile in return - all he could manage a few blinks of his tired eyes.
I wouldn't want to be around me either.
Jungkook dabbed lightly at his hyung's cheeks, pulling him up from the table and leading him to the couch. Once seated, Jungkook pulled him into a hug. This only made Hoseok feel even worse, his crying turning into sobs.
"Please, hyung." Jungkook rubbed the other's back as it shook with agony. "Tell me what you've been keeping to yourself." Hoseok barely had enough energy to shake his head in this moment.
"I won't say anything, hyung. I'm just here to listen, to comfort - just tell me. Let it out because I know what you're keeping inside is killing you." Jungkook hugged the other even tighter, adjusting them to lay down across the couch - Hoseok's ear against his chest, the youngest knowing the dancer loved the sound of a heartbeat. Though he wouldn't admit it, it was Jungkook's heartbeat - thump, thump, thumping away beneath his ear in a calming and honest melody - that broke his resolve.
So, Hoseok told the maknae how he was feeling. Every last detail, from the voice that eats away at him down to how hopelessly in love he was with Taehyung. Eventually, he tired himself out - lack of sleep and food paired with long hours of practice and crying in between catching up to him. His head rested against Jungkook's wet shoulder as the youngest member slowly rose and picked him up in his arms. With his arms beneath the elder's butt, Hoseok's long legs bracketing his waist and arms thrown haphazardly over the younger's shoulders, Jungkook and carried him through the hallways to his room.
Before reaching his destination, Taehyung popped out of his own room just a few feet away.
Jungkook stopped and stared.
"You know," he adjusted his hyung in his arms, voice lowered in order to keep him from waking - though he doubted it would happen given the elder's exhaustion.
