She was shivering violently, and Jungkook knew that it was not because of the cold.

A stupid nightmare, probably. He'd known something like that would happen, but she'd been so stubbornly playing it down, he hadn't gotten a chance to really try to make her talk about it.

Now she was shaking under her heap of blankets, plagued by the bloody pictures of the past day.

When a sob left her lips he wiggled out of his own blanket mountain and rolled over to her. Her face was barely visible in the dark room, the moon outside covered in a thick layer of clouds.

Jungkook could barely made up her shape underneath the blankets, cheek pressed against the floor while small whimpers escaped her repeatedly, sounding pained.

"Chibi?" He leaned over her, shaking her shoulder lightly, "Fuck, hey, Chibi!"

Her eyes flew open, sharp gasp leaving her lips. There was cold sweat stuck to her forehead, tears gathered in the corner of her eyes.

Her breath went quick and heftily, as if she had trouble breathing properly, "Jungkook, I-"

"Shh, 's fine." He whispered, helplessly watching how she got lost in her own panic, unable to do anything but clumsily stroke her head and spew hopefully calming nonsense, "It's fine, try to calm down."

But she didn't calm down, body shaking while one hand came up to grasp his arm, "Jungkook, I'm sorry-"

In his own panic, he could think of only one thing. He didn't know how to handle crying girls, was never taught how to comfort people - never had to worry about comforting people before.

He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, just like he did earlier today, free hand coming up to cradle her head. Back on the terrace it hadn't felt like much, just like a silly attempt to somehow prove her his affection, but right now it was a desperate attempt to show her that she was safe.

He had no experience with making people feel safe, but as his lips touched hers, quick breath ghosting over his skin while he gently moved against her, he knew he had to.

She breathed out a surprised gasp, eyes going even wider for a split second, before she squeezed them close, other hand coming up to grasp onto his shoulder while she tried to answer his kiss.

Slowly, he detached his lips from hers, carefully watching how her chest started to rise and fall more slower more regular, "Please, calm down." He whispered, sounding almost desperate.

She pressed her lips shut tightly, nodding with wide eyes. It didn't take long for her to get ahold of herself after that - Jungkook liked to imagine that it was because he'd been the one kissing her, but really, if was probably more due to the surprise of his sudden action than anything else.

He remained next to her, absentmindedly brushing his fingers through her hair, since she seemed to like it, until she closed her eyes again. He was almost envious at how peaceful she was able to sleep now, so shortly after having awoken from a probably horrible nightmare.

But well, he knew she had a pretty fucking deep sleep, so it shouldn't have been that surprising.

And it wasn't like she hadn't seen fucked up shit before. She would have to learn how to handle it.

"I'll try to keep bad things away from you, I promise." He whispered into the empty room.

___

Dear Lord.

Jungkook clearly has too much chill, because when I woke up to the instant metaphorical punch-in-the-gut of the memory of him kissing me, he didn't even mention it. And, like, he wasn't awkward or anything. He was just, well, fine with it.

Okay, I thought, I can do that too.

What I at that time, didn't understand, was that Jungkook simply didn't know that he was supposed to address it and maybe be a little embarrassed about kissing me. You could say he's a little clueless.

Admittedly, this had helped me not to waste a single thought on my nightmare. Yay.

"You seem pretty out of it today." Taehyung nudged me gently from the side, understanding smile on his lips, "Is it because of yesterday?"

"Well, uh, kinda." Oh my god.

I plunged my hands into the cold water, much rather minding the laundry than going further into this conversation. Namjoon had found a way to neutralize the acid, which had brought us the wonderful opportunity of washing our clothes for once. Apparently it had something to do with bases and pH scales, but I kinda zoomed out when he explained it, if I'm being very honest. And I'm supposed to be the smart one, huh?

Long story short, I was now stuck doing laundry with Taehyung.

We didn't really have much to talk about, so we were just doing our work in silence, only occasionally conversing, though any dialogue died down quickly.

"Did you ever..." Taehyung didn't look at me when he spoke, also busying himself with rubbing our clothes clean, "Didn't you ever think that it's weird how skilled Jungkook is? In combat I mean."

I frowned, "I mean, yes, but when he used his skills to get us out of near-death situations I kind of never questioned it."

Taehyung laughed, "That's fair. You're probably glad that he's so strong."

I shrugged, "Of course. I'd be dead otherwise."

A crooked smile pulled on the corners of his lips, "That's ironic." I threw him a confused look, but he didn't seem to notice, "He probably doesn't like being here with us others, right? I can't even blame him. When things turned out so crazy it was probably like... the ideal world for this twisted fucker."

My head shot up and I dropped the shirt I'd been holding, "You know him." I stated monotonously. It wasn't a question, "I had a feeling Jungkook knew you but... you didn't act like it before."

Taehyung grinned, "He changed a lot since I last saw him. Took me some time." I nodded silently, eyeing Taehyung who was looking at me with open curiosity, "Don't you want to ask me about him?"

"I don't- we made it our policy not to- not to talk about our past. It's never gonna come back anyways."

He nodded slowly, "Makes sense. He wouldn't want you to know anyways."

Stop, stop, stop, stop-

"I think I was maybe... 14 when I saw him last?" The blond went on, staring into distance, "Back then he didn't have his-" He waved vaguely, "-Scythe." He laughed to himself, "His weapon feels like a sick joke, no? I mean a scythe of all things."

"What do you mean by that?"

He shrugged, "Nothing important, probably."

Scythes. Tools used for cutting crops, such as grass and corn. Also an object with heavy symbolic implications, in many religions. I know this kinda stuff 'cause I'm a sucker for mythology.

My throat felt dry, "You and Jungkook seem really chill with killing. I mean, I know prowlers aren't really human, but they used to be once. Plus, the guy from yesterday..."

Taehyung's eyes flashed darkly, but he didn't answer and turned back to his task at hand: Doing the goddamn laundry. It sent shivers down my spine.

I was trying not to think too hard about the guy who'd kissed me last night, because whenever this happened a million of hints and things he said to me flashed back into my mind.

I know what it feels like.

After all, I was slowly starting to get an idea about what kind of person Jungkook used to be.

___