I See You, You See Me

Her Side

Taehyung got back up and grabbed her face, looking directly into her eyes.

"You're safe and it's okay, you see my breathing? Follow my breathing, Y/N." She tried to shove him but he was expecting it this time.

"Get....off...." She croaked, surprising them both by suddenly digging her heels into the bed and pushing back, sending both her and Namjoon tumbling over the edge. Namjoon had one arm still around her, but he instinctively reached out with the other when he fell. And Y/N used his momentary surprise to shove at his arm and pull her shirt up.

But she couldn't see, she couldn't see anything. She would've sobbed if she'd had the breath left to do so, her hand now reaching out to claw at the curtain and pull it back to shine light on the shadows they had fallen into.

Namjoon's arm was around her again and he tried to grab her hand, wondering why she was trying to bring the curtains down on them, and Y/N managed to gasp in air and let a sob loose, finally. She yanked and Namjoon ducked as the heavy curtains and curtain rod came tumbling down, narrowly missing him and bluntly hitting Y/N on her thigh. They were awash in fabric. But she didn't care, there was light, she could see.

"Y/N!" Taehyung had come around the bed and was reaching out but she shoved at Namjoon's arm, digging her heels into the carpet in an attempt to throw them both back again, trying to stretch her body out. Namjoon had to throw his head back to avoid hers knocking into his. He was concerned. Really concerned. He didn't know what could've scared her so bad, bad enough to result in this reaction.

And then it was over. She could see. She grabbed at her side in reassurance, like she couldn't believe that her skin was there. Her throat loosened with the relief and she sighed out a relieved cry and immediately went limp, bringing her hand up to cover her face as her tears started to flow again.

Namjoon didn't know what to do. He looked at Taehyung, but his dongsaeng looked just as lost as him.

She just held her side and cried.

So finally Namjoon tugged her up, letting her head loll on his shoulder and held her tight.

"It's over, Y/N. You're safe. It's not real. It's over." He whispered over and over. Taehyung sat down next to him. And they waited.

Eventually her sobs turned into quiet sniffles.

"Can I get up." Her voice was small and cracked, but she sounded lucid.

"Yeah, yeah you can." He loosened his grip and she let her hand drop, moving to sit up. But she kept her other hand on her side as she weakly wiggled into a sitting position. Taehyung stood up and helped her to her feet so Namjoon could get to his.

Namjoon opened his mouth to ask if she was okay, but Y/N just brushed past Taehyung and walked over to the floor-length mirror. She held her shirt up and fingered her side, like she expected to see something else and was surprised it wasn't there.

Then her face dropped and she covered her mouth and turned away, quietly weeping. Taehyung and Namjoon looked at each other again.

"I think we should call Jimin." Namjoon suggested hesitantly and Taehyung nodded, then looked at her.

"You'll be okay?"

"I think so." Namjoon had no idea actually. But maybe Jimin would know something they didn't. Because he was sure at a loss. He carefully approached her and reached out, gently pressing his fingers between her shoulder blades.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She blubbered.

"Hey, it's okay. Come here." He reached his arm out to hug her, maybe that would help, but she shook her head and shied away. She had literally just attacked her fiance and his friend, she didn't feel like she deserved comfort and she felt horrible that they had had to see that. It had been so long, she had completely been caught off guard.

He felt pathetic. Weak. He could hear those words coming back, that feeling that he sometimes staved off overshadowing his mind....

And then he remembered his conversation with Jimin from earlier. It distracted him.

So he went to the linen closet and pulled out all their extra blankets and pillows, and his room which had some on the floor, since some of his friends weren't good at picking up after themselves, then piled them all up on her bed.

He took one and walked over to her, wrapping it around her shoulders before she could protest.

"I'm going to pick you up now." He warned, bringing her to the bed and cocooning her in all the plush softness.

He could hear Taehyung on the phone in the living room when he went into the kitchen and pulled some cereal out of the cupboard and juice out of the fridge, then went back and tucked it into a cranny he made with the blankets where she could see.

Her eyes were closed but she was sniffling, so he knew she was awake.

And he sat on the edge of the bed. And waited.

"Y/N?" Jimin asked quietly when he entered the bedroom. He had rushed over as soon as he'd gotten the phone call. "Can you hear me?"

She nodded, eyes still closed, and tugged the blankets closer.

"Do you need anything?" She shook her head. "Okay. Can we ask you a few questions?" Y/N buried her face in the blanket and they heard a muffled and depressed,

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong." Jimin sat next to Namjoon on the bed. "We just want to know what happened."

"I don't want to talk about it." Sass, she must be feeling a little better.

"I know, but I think we have a right to know what happened."

"I know." She sniffed. "I still don't want to talk about it."

"Does it have to do with the scar on your side?" Namjoon and Taehyung perked up. They'd told him what happened, but neither had been able to see what specifically she was clawing at on her body. As soon as Taehyung had told Jimin which side she'd been grabbing at, he'd thought back to that time in the kitchen after they'd first rescued Namjoon.  She just nodded. "Are you tired?" She nodded again.

"If we wait until morning, can you answer the rest of our questions?" There was a long, hesitant nod. But she still nodded.

"Okay. We'll leave the door open and be just outside. Call if you need anything." She nodded.

All three exhausted men left the room and collapsed on Namjoon's bed, scooting close. They'd get their answers in the morning. They had time.