Work Text:
there’s something in jungkook’s room.
he can’t see it. the lights are off and the curtains are drawn and he doesn’t know what’s in his room but - there’s something, he can feel it, looming in the corner or maybe right above him. it’s hard to tell. and the scary thing is -
- the scary thing is, there wasn’t anything when jungkook went to bed. all he felt was tired, so he took off his jeans and his socks and his shirt and flipped off the light, and then he stumbled over to his bed and tried to sleep.
he didn’t sleep. he can’t sleep because now there’s something in his room.
it showed up about ten minutes after he got settled under the covers. he just - all of a sudden he could feel his heartbeat pick up, and he held his breath and he could almost, almost hear it breathing. and he couldn’t move for fear of the thing noticing him, which makes no sense because it must already know he’s here, why else would it be in his room, watching and waiting for jungkook to roll over in bed and look at it. he can’t move. he can’t look at it. maybe it’s not there.
(it is there. he can feel it.)
he’s never been so scared in his life. he wonders if it wants to eat him.
he doesn’t sleep, and the sun comes up and his heartbeat slows, blood pumping through his veins almost lazily. he carefully, cautiously looks over his shoulder into the room, and there is nothing.
hoseok-hyung comes in to wake him that morning.
---
he doesn’t want to go back to his room to sleep, but - well, maybe the thing won’t come back. maybe it was just his imagination, maybe jungkook’s just being stupid. it can’t hurt to try again, can it?
he slips under the covers, pulls them tight around his shoulders and buries the side of his face in his pillow, facing the wall. he closes his eyes and waits.
his heart jumps for no reason.
the walls creak, or maybe the floor does. something creaks. jungkook isn’t sure, but he doesn’t think it sounded like a normal, old house with old bones and old foundations kind of creak. it sounds like a someone (something) is walking around right behind me kind of creak. he shudders, wants to hide under his blanket, but his muscles are pulled tight and tense and he can’t move and it’s awful.
in the morning, namjoon-hyung comes.
---
he tries again the next night. same thing. he doesn’t sleep and his heart is beatingbeatingbeating so fast, and he can’t move for hours and he feels fucking terrified the whole night long. and when seokjin-hyung comes to get him up, a gentle hand on his shoulder and a soft, familiar smile just for him, he almost bursts into tears. he can’t even eat breakfast.
---
“please, hyung, i just - i don’t want to go to sleep, yoongi-hyung, please -”
“hey, jungkook-ah, it’s okay, you can come, okay?”
“yeah, yeah, thank you hyung thank you thank you -”
“alright, jungkook, okay, get your coat, jungkookie.”
“thank you thank you, thank you -”
---
he spends a night in jimin and hoseok’s room, lies on hoseok’s bed and tries not to think about the… the whatever-it-is in his own room just down the hall. hoseok flings an arm over him during the night, warm and strong and safe across his chest, and jungkook almost sleeps.
---
taehyung cuddles right up to him, wraps his body around jungkook’s and clings tightly and falls asleep quickly. jungkook feels - not quite good, but not quite scared, which is a step up. with taehyung next to him, holding him close, the monster feels a little farther away.
---
seokjin doesn’t say anything when jungkook shows up in his bed, just sighs and runs a soothing hand over his back and lets him stay without a word. their long limbs knock into each other as they roll around, seokjin sleeping and jungkook restless. yoongi-hyung comes in at one point, ignoring jungkook and curling right up next to seokjin, and jungkook would be confused if he wasn’t so utterly exhausted. for now he just listens to his hyungs breathing together, the soft little snuffling sounds yoongi makes every now and then, and seokjin finally stops moving. getting up in the morning is harder than it’s been in a while.
---
“i’m worried about him,” he hears jimin whisper to namjoon. it’s late, after one, probably, and jungkook is sitting against the wall in the hall and listening to them talk about him in the kitchen. “he just. he never goes to his own room. he doesn’t sleep when he’s in our room. has - has he talked to you at all?”
“no,” namjoon says. a sigh. “i don’t know what’s wrong. he comes to the studio a lot, when yoongi-hyung goes, sometimes with me. he looks -” a stuttering breath. “he looks sick. like he hasn’t slept in days. and i don’t - i don’t know what’s wrong.”
“want me to talk to him, hyung?”
“...yeah.”
jungkook stands up and tiptoes back into namjoon’s room, the farthest one from his own, and curls up tiny on one side of the bed. namjoon joins him a few minutes later.
---
jimin corners him in the practice room, waiting for the rest of them to leave before gently pulling jungkook down to sit with him against the mirrored wall.
“hey,” jimin smiles waveringly. jungkook is so tired. he’s still panting from their choreo runthrough earlier. he doesn’t say anything.
jimin places a hand on his shoulder and asks, “how are you, jungkook?”
jungkook knew this was coming, but he can’t figure out what to say. jimin will probably keep prying no matter what, kindly, but firmly, so he just shrugs. jimin sighs.
“you haven’t been sleeping well, have you,” jimin states. it isn’t a question. jungkook shakes his head anyway.
“what’s going on, honey?” jimin presses, his voice hushed and worried. he starts moving his thumb in gentle circles over jungkook’s shoulder, and it feels nice, and jungkook thinks he wants to answer but he can’t open his mouth so he only manages to shrug again.
“okay,” jimin whispers. “did - did something happen? to you?” jungkook shakes his head no. “to someone else?” no. “is… are you worried about something?” jungkook pauses, has to think about it a little. is he worried? there’s a monster that visits his room every night, he probably should be worried, but - he’s just afraid. afraid and tired and maybe going a little crazy. he shakes his head no.
“jungkook,” jimin says. “i don’t know what’s the matter. not unless you tell me.” jungkook knows that. he knows, he knows, but wouldn’t he sound ridiculous? monsters aren’t real for most people. jimin wouldn’t believe him, he’d - he would - he -
“hey, honey, it’s okay,” jimin runs his hand up and down his chest, slowly and regularly, and jungkook tries to breathe with it - the hand goes up, he breathes in, the hand trails down, he breathes out, jimin looks so sad, and jungkook’s mouth is glued shut and sticky.
“hey,” jimin murmurs, “how about you tell me why you come sleep with us sometimes. can you tell me that, hm? it’s okay, baby, you don’t have to, just - it might help a little, ‘kay?”
and that’s - well, it seems easy enough to answer, right? he just - he just has to say -
“it’s not in there,” jungkook spits out through the mess holding his lips shut. “it’s - i’m safe.” and jimin’s hand slows to a stop, and jungkook hears himself whine until it starts up again, shaky and uneven.
“in - in our room?” jimin stutters. “you’re safe in our room?” jungkook nods his head, and once he starts it’s hard to stop. jimin’s other hand comes up to tangle in his hair, hold his head still, and he opens his mouth to ask another question - “safe from what?”
there’s a little voice in jungkook’s head, just a whisper, just a little tiny thing saying tell him tell him tell himtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhim -
“from the evil.”
---
he sleeps with taehyung that night, while the others talk about him in secret and he pretends not to know about it.
he’s not sure of what was said, but in the morning no one comes to wake them up, and he and taehyung don’t get out of bed until lunchtime.
---
“what do you think it is?” yoongi asks him.
jungkook clicks around the screen aimlessly, selecting random audio files and hitting random settings and not really seeing anything of what he’s doing. “i don’t know,” he says blankly. “at first i thought it might be a ghost, but ghosts don’t breathe. then i thought it was, like, one of those monsters that hang out under kids’ beds, but - i don’t know, it didn’t feel like that, you know?” yoongi probably doesn’t know. he nods anyway. “it feels evil,” jungkook continues. he’s stopped clicking by now, staring at nothing, completely still as yoongi listens from his chair beside him. “i think it’s a demon. i think it wants to - to get me. to kill me. it comes every night, i can feel it from all over the house. it won’t leave me alone. and - hyung -”
yoongi scoots closer, “yeah, jungkook?”
jungkook wets his lips and makes sure yoongi is looking him in the eye before he speaks. “i’m not crazy,” he whispers softly. “i know you all think i am, but - i know, hyung, i know there’s something in there - maybe not a demon, i don’t know what it is, it’s just - it’s there, i know it is. i can feel it, hyung, and it won’t leave. it won’t leave.”
it won’t leave.
he just wants it to leave.
stupidly, childishly, tears start to well up in his eyes, stinging and poking until they spill over and burn trails down his cheeks. yoongi is silent, just wipes them away as they come and come and come. he looks like he’s about to tear up himself, but he just reaches over and pulls jungkook into his arms and rocks him back and forth as he cries.
“i know,” he says. “i don’t think you’re crazy, jungkookie, i really don’t. i think - there’s so much in the universe, so much in the world, that we don’t know anything about, and i don’t think we ever will, and - maybe sometimes those things are scary and, and evil, and. we just don’t know, jungkook. but i believe you. i don’t think you’re crazy. we’ll figure this out, okay, jungkookie?”
jungkook can’t find the strength to answer. he shakes and sobs miserably into yoongi’s chest, and finally, finally sleeps.
---
taehyung believes jungkook. hoseok believes jungkook. namjoon is… concerned for jungkook’s mental health, but admits that he can’t entirely rule out the possibility of there being something in his room. seokjin doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but he believes jungkook. jimin listened to jungkook explain it, and cry over it, and after seeing jungkook so distressed he can’t help but believe him.
so: there’s something in jungkook’s room. so: jungkook doesn’t go in there anymore. so: he moves into namjoon’s room, the farthest one from his own, and has to ask his hyungs to bring in his stuff because he thinks he’ll cry if he sets foot inside.
jungkook lies in bed next to namjoon, and the demon keeps coming to his old room, and he learns to sleep through it. he gets used to the feeling of it in the back of his mind, in the center of his chest. namjoon’s breathing lulls him down, and he gets some rest every night, and he wakes up every morning to namjoon whispering, “jungkook-ah, wake up, baby, ‘s time to get up.” and jungkook starts looking a little less tired and a little more like himself, and everyone is very happy.
---
one night, the demon moves.
it starts out where it normally does, and jungkook is just about to close his eyes and sleep and let it sit in his old room for the night, when it -
it moves.
he doesn’t know how he knows. he feels it, he thinks, but it moves, out of the room and into the hall and down towards the kitchen, he thinks? he thinks. and suddenly he’s wide awake and sitting up in bed, and he can’t breathe and he doesn’t move and he thinks he’ll die because -
it moves.
“hyung,” he gasps, staring at the door and reaching out frantically for namjoon’s hand. he gets his arm. it’s good enough. “hyung, hyung, hyung hyung hyung -”
“what,” namjoon groans.
“hyung,” jungkook sobs. “it - it - it -”
“hey, calm down,” namjoon mumbles. he wipes at his face with his free hand and sits up next to jungkook. “what’s wrong, jungkook.”
“it moved,” he cries, “hyung, it moved, it’s not s’posed to move it’s s’posed to stay in there, it can’t move hyung help hyung it’s gonna kill me it’s gonna kill me oh my god hyung -”
“hey, look at me!”
jungkook jumps at namjoon's forceful tone and looks at him.
“you’re okay, jungkook,” namjoon says firmly. “it’s not here. it’s not going to kill you. you’re okay.” jungkook tries to breathe, but it’s so hard and he just keeps taking little unsteady gulping wheezes, and namjoon is right next to him but he feels so very, very far away.
“hyung,” he whimpers. his face is all wet from tears. “hyungie, hyungie, hyungie.”
“oh, baby,” namjoon sighs sadly, opening his arms, and jungkook falls right into them, falls right into him, he’s so solid and strong and holds jungkook so close. “oh, baby,” he says again, right next to his ear. “it’s okay. hyungie’s here. you’re alright. you’re okay. hyung’s here.”
jungkook can’t remember if he ever stopped crying, just that it took him hours to fall asleep.
---
he doesn’t want to go to bed anymore. it only shows up when he’s finally under the covers, so if he doesn’t do that, if he stays out of the bedrooms and doesn’t try to sleep and makes himself stay awake, it won’t come anymore, probably.
he thinks it works.
taehyung insists on staying up with him the first night. they play overwatch for a few hours, watch a couple marvel movies, pass the time until the sun comes up. jungkook doesn’t want to fall asleep, can’t fall asleep - can’t even lay down, that’s when it always comes. he spends the night anxiously going along with taehyung’s suggestions, anything to keep it from coming.
because now it moves, and that means he’s not safe anywhere, anymore.
---
“we can’t let him keep doing this,” yoongi hisses.
they’re all talking about him in the living room. again. seokjin called the meeting this time, and jungkook creeped out after them to listen intently from the kitchen.
“i don’t care if bang pd-nim doesn’t believe him,” yoongi continues harshly. “i don’t even care if you don’t believe him. he’s making himself sick. he refuses to sleep. we can’t stay here.”
“and what the fuck are we going to tell management?” namjoon demands bitterly. “yeah, we know it would be best to move, but do you really think they’ll accept “demonic activity” as our reason for wanting to get a whole new place? especially if jungkook is the only one who’s even experienced it. we need to at least come up with a better excuse.”
“we could tell them there’s mold in jungkook’s room,” taehyung suggests. “or rats.”
namjoon sighs. “those are both taken care of pretty easily. it has to be bigger than that. just not, you know. as big as a demon.”
“well, we need to come up with something,” seokjin snaps. “and i need a drink. let me know when you have an idea.” his voice is coming closer and closer to the kitchen, and jungkook doesn’t have time to do much of anything before seokjin is standing in the doorway in front of him.
“hey,” seokjin tries to smile.
“i’m sorry,” jungkook mutters, toeing at the kitchen tiles. he scoffs. “maybe i am just going crazy. maybe that’s what we should tell them. maybe they’ll kick me out and the demon will follow me and stay away from here.”
“jungkook,” seokjin says, suddenly looking very serious. “you know, if - if the situation were a little different, i’d say, ‘yeah, this seems really crazy, maybe you need some meds or counseling or something.’ but this is… this is just strange. it’s really, really strange, and i don’t think it’s anything wrong with you. i just - this whole thing, it puts a bad taste in my mouth, you know?”
jungkook raises an eyebrow. seokjin chuckles humorlessly. “yeah, i guess you do,” he sighs. “don’t worry, though, jungkookie,” he adds, “we’ll figure something out. we’ll - we’ll figure out how to make it - leave you alone. okay?”
how, jungkook wants to ask. you don’t even know what it is. i don’t even know what it is. tell me, how would we make it do anything?
he just says, “okay,” and stays in the kitchen with seokjin all night, after everyone else has gone to bed.
---
“we’re moving,” namjoon announces at breakfast the next morning. jungkook frowns down at his cereal. how did he have time to convince management? they were all still arguing about it last night.
“i leaked this address to some low-end news sites.” hoseok groans and slumps over the table at namjoon’s words. “the company will find out before anything really happens, but we’ll have no choice but to go somewhere else. so… we’re moving. hopefully this will be the solution to jungkook’s, um. problem.”
jungkook wants to think that this is it, that this will be the end of his terror, but - “what if it follows me,” he can’t help but whisper. “what if it doesn’t work, hyung.”
“then we’ll deal with it,” namjoon states firmly. “for now, this is the best we’ve got. let’s wait for the call and get ready to leave today.”
and even with his worries, even with all his doubts and fears and what if’s, jungkook feels the tiniest, littlest bit of relief at the thought of leaving it all behind - the room, the house, the evil. he hasn’t slept in four days, and it’s starting to have a serious effect. he hopes he’ll be able to sleep in peace at the new place. he makes himself believe he will, because the other possibilities terrify him.
---
their new house is about the same size as their old one. the rooms are split the same - everyone has their own, except for jimin and hoseok, and now namjoon and jungkook are officially roommates, too. jungkook didn’t really want a room to himself. nobody blamed him.
and - the funny thing is, jungkook has his own bed now, but he still crawls in with namjoon every night. jungkook still falls asleep to the sound of his breathing, still gets pulled awake by his whispered “wake up, baby, time to get up.” his own bed sits unused on the opposite wall, collecting dust and dirty clothes.
the lovely thing is, his fear didn’t follow.
the demon is gone. or - whatever it was is gone. the evil. it got left behind in that old house, maybe to lie in wait for the unfortunate soul who’ll live there next, maybe it was never real in the first place, maybe it went away and won’t ever return. jungkook doesn’t know. he doesn’t care. all that matters is that he’s free.
he is not afraid.
he is not tired. (at least not anymore than usual.)
he is not paranoid.
he just is. and the evil isn’t.