Chapter Text
There’s a fire in Jungkook’s dreams. The vision is foggy and he’s scared, but his body does not suffocate.
He looks around the room. He spots the curtains on fire traveling slowly through the rug of the hotel room. He sees a guitar catching on fire, steel strings snapping one by one.
He finds Yoongi’s unconscious body and runs to help him.
His body is heavy but Jungkook’s stronger. He doesn’t feel a pinch of exhaustion as he drags his body away from danger, through the room door and into the hallway. He lets go of him to catch some of the less smoky air and look for the fastest way out.
When he bends down to pick Yoongi’s body, the fire accelerates in a rage and engulfs them both.
Jungkook wakes up.
“Again?”
Jungkook starts calming his racing heart, looking at Jimin’s worried expression. “Yeah.”
He notices Jimin’s hesitance to get closer, finally deciding to remain in place by the door. “Do you need something?”
“No, hyung. I’m fine. I’ll be out soon.”
Jimin looks at him, his face expressionless, and walks away.
Jungkook moves carelessly, throwing his legs over the bed to stand up, walking to the mirror to ensure his body is not scarred from the fire. Sighing in relief, he traces the faint scars on the back of his hands, the only trace he has of that night. The skin feels tender as he presses into it, a reminder of how real it was.
He wears the clothes lent by Hoseok. They fit him oddly, tight in some places and loose in others, but he doesn’t complain.
When he’s ready to face his friends, Hoseok and Jimin are already eating breakfast on the table. They get quiet when he gets closer. Jungkook hates it.
“Jungkook-ah, is everything okay? Did you have a nightmare again?” Hoseok asks.
Jungkook shrugs and starts eating in silence, ignoring the heavy stares from the two men in front of him. After a moment of awkward silence, even they resume eating and talking as usual.
“Have you seen Jin-hyung lately?” Hoseok asks.
Jimin shakes his head, swallowing his food. “Last I heard, he was still helping Namjoon-hyung fight the arson charges…” He lowers his voice. “Do you think they’ll really frame him for it?”
Hoseok lets out an empty laugh. “They’re certainly going to try, but if anyone can get Namjoon-ah out of it, it’s Jin-hyung.”
“Right.”
Jungkook tunes out the rest of their conversation as he forces himself to finish the food on the plate. He can barely feel the taste.
When he's not busy having nightmares or playing games on his phone, Jungkook takes walks around Seoul. He makes sure to always use different routes and never, absolutely never, get anywhere near that hotel. Sometimes, he takes a picture or two of anything he hasn't appreciated before. Recently painted buildings, temporary exhibitions, he was close to having seen it all.
Today, however, his gaze is stolen by a lone poster poorly pasted to a lamp post.
OPEN MIC NIGHT
Invited Artist
A G U S T D
There's nothing interesting about the text. The nightlife in Seoul is always filled with noraebangs and common bars that offer open mic nights. No, the detail that catches Jungkook's eye is the choice of decoration. A room on fire. If he tried enough, he's sure he'd find it identical to the room of his nightmares.
He almost doesn't want to pull out his phone. but his habit is stronger than his self- preservation. The camera app focuses on the poster, the brightness is slightly adjusted by a shaky hand and then the shutter goes off. Jungkook cuts his walk short and returns to the apartment.
Hoseok and Jimin barely get to greet him when he announces, “I’m going out on Friday.”
“Oh! Really?” Hoseok is really bad at hiding his emotions. “I mean, that’s great!”
Jimin nudges Hoseok to silence him. “I think hyung means that we’re happy you’re going out, Jungkook-ah,” he smiles. “Where are you going?”
“Just this open mic thing,” he shrugs, “looked cool, I guess.”
“Open mics are so fun,” Jimin smiles approvingly. “Hey, we haven’t gone to one in a while, what if we go together?”
Jungkook feels stress building in his gut as he wrings his hands together. “Actually, uhm,” he clears his throat. “I was planning to go alone, hyungs.”
His hyungs look at each other in silence — and Jungkook tries, really tries to keep his frustration at bay — and finally nods. “Sure, that’s okay. I mean, we can go out all together another time, right?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jungkook agrees, knowing full well he won’t. Judging by the way his friends’ smiles dim slightly, they know it too.
Friday arrives after three painstakingly slow days. Jungkook doesn’t have things to look forward to anymore, so the days tend to blend together and run away from him. On this occasion, Friday took its sweet time to arrive, with Jungkook ready to bolt out of the apartment as soon as it was socially acceptable. He makes his way to the bar at seven, his mind forcibly empty, running away from the memories as he observes familiar landscapes pass by. The nostalgia hits him nonetheless.
When Jungkook enters the bar, the dark environment makes him feel safe. He ignores all the alcohol and asks for a can of coke, sitting by the bar while people start making a line to sing. The loud laughs and friends cheering each other on feels like a world completely different from the one he’s existing in. He distracts himself with his phone, editing the last pictures he took until the out of tune singing gets less and less frequent, then the stage gets cleared, lights dimmed to prepare the entrance of the invited guest.
A man comes to the stage and Jungkook takes his cue to get closer while the introductions are made. “Everyone, let’s welcome our very special invited guest, treating us to some of his best hits and even some surprises! Make some noise for Agust D!” A handful of people near the front start cheering loudly, probably already familiar with the artist. The lights on the small stage turn on and a man comes out. From what Jungkook can see, he’s wearing a black and red leather jacket with a white shirt underneath. The most distinctive feature, however, is the balaclava that covers the majority of his head, leaving only his eyes visible.
The public stares in silence as the first notes of a backing track start playing, then Agust D starts to rap. Jungkook can’t look away.
Agust D starts with bars full of hate and mockery, Jungkook can almost hear laughter behind every cutting word. He finds himself moving his head to the beat, taking in line after line, song after song of pure, unadulterated criticism to a very well-known system. It is after three songs that he takes a break, wiping the sweat away from his eyes and turning his back to the audience to raise his balaclava to drink some water. By now, Jungkook managed to join the first rows of fans to get a better view of the performance.
After the short break is over, Agust D covers his face again and turns to the audience. “Are you having fun?” he asks. The people scream their affirmation while Jungkook freezes in place. “Ah,” Agust laughs. “I have something for you, I’m working on a new song, I hope you like what I’ve done so far.”
Jungkook’s ears feel like they’ve been plugged, the blood leaving his body the more the rapper speaks. “No way,” he whispers. A soft backing track starts and a piano melody accompanies the now low crooning that Jungkook knows by heart putting the last piece in place. “Hyung?”