Chapter Text
The usual sound of the alarm blaring through the speakers in the ceiling of the rooms, awakens the group of mutants. As usual Jin is the first one to leave his room to start preparing breakfast for the whole group. In his mind he is already going through the menu for this morning and wondering how long it will take for the others to arrive. He is always the first one and the younger ones always the last.
But not this morning. When Jin walks into the kitchen he is met with the sight of Jungkook sitting at the kitchen table. The youngest of the group doesn’t seem to notice his oldest hyung entering the kitchen. He just stares into the unknown. Jin immediately knows what is going on and rushes to Jungkook’s side. He grabs him softly, but firm, by his shoulders. “Kook look at me”. He speaks softly, but demanding. Jungkook blinks slowly before shifting his gaze towards Jin as if in a haze. Jin feels his throat tightening at the sight of the soulless eyes that should be filled with joy. “Good boy. Do you want a hug from hyung?” he doesn’t wait and just pulls the boy in a tight hug. Jungkook wraps his arm around Jin as if he is going to leave him. He buries his face in Jin’s shirt. He is shaking like a leaf. Jin caresses his hair and whispers sweet nothings to calm Jungkook down.
“What time did they wake you up and when did you come back?” sounds a voice from behind the boys. Jungkook stiffens for a second before his brain processes whom the voice belongs to. Jungkook lifts his head a little from Jin’s shirt to look at his leader. “I was woken up at half past five. I was brought back just a couple minutes before the alarm went off”. Even his voice is voided from any form of emotion. All though it sounds strained, like he had been screaming for hours, which is probably true. Another voice from beside Namjoon is heard cursing. “Min Yoongi, language.” Scolds Jin halfhearted. Yoongi just grunts and moves around Namjoon to enter the kitchen. He sits himself down in the chair beside the one Jungkook was sitting in.
Jungkook unwraps his arms from Jin and quickly sits down on his chair. He places his arms on the table and leans his head on it. He looks so lifeless and tired. Everyone present wants to wrap him in a blanket and protect him. “Do you want someone to bring you back to bed so you can sleep for some time? You have been awake for like five hours now. You must be tired.” Suggests Namjoon while sitting down in the chair opposite from Jungkook. The boy shakes his head, shuffles a little bit closer to Yoongi and just stares at a spot on the table. Yoongi slides his chair closer to Jungkook so their bodies are touching.
Jin sighs and turns toward the kitchen and starts preparing breakfast as he planned to do.Namjoon grabs one of the newspapers placed on the table and starts reading it, sometimes commenting on it out loud.
Once in a while one of them looks to Jungkook, but the youngest is always in the same place as he was before. It brings so much sadness and a feeling of defeat to the three others. Every time Jungkook comes back from testing he looks like his soul has been sucked right out of him. He becomes even more silent than he usual is and becomes clingy. Which nobody minds of course. What bothers the others the most though is that they don’t know what is going on with his tests. They don’t even know what kind of mutant Jungkook is. He never revealed it and when training with them he doesn’t show his powers. This scares them, because he is also the one that is tested the most out of them. He hasn’t told them how he got in the institute. They just know he has been here the longest. He is one big mystery and it bothers them, because they don’t know how they can help him as they help each other.
Soon the sound of the last three boys sound outside the kitchen. They enter loudly chittering and happy, until they notice the state Jungkook is in. Jimin rushes to him immediately and lifts Jungkook up into one of his famous bone crushing hugs. Jungkook turns toward him and wraps his arms around his waist and hugs him just as tightly. Taehyung and Hoseok just look toward Namjoon waiting for an explanation. “They woke him five hours ago and he came back just before the alarm went off is the only thing he said”. The anger is visible in Namjoon’s voice. “It is our day off!” shouts Hoseok in disbelieve. “We know. He knows. They fucking know. And they had the guts to wake him up at such an ungodly hour to test him for five fucking hours! The longest session of the month!” Yoongi might be the calmest of the group, but when one of the group members is hurt and like this, he is one of the first to get angry. The others don’t show it, but they all share the feeling. They love Jungkook so much. He is the youngest of them all and the sweetest boy you will ever meet. But he still suffers the most out of all of them. They’ve all seen the scars on his body and the invisible ones on his soul. The only thing they know is that the ‘doctors’ always try the new things first on him, before trying them on them.
As this realization hits Jin, he rushes towards Jungkook and Jimin. Without a word he pulls Jungkook out of Jimin’s grip. Before Jungkook can warn everyone Jin lets go of him. His legs collapse right away and he falls to the ground with a groan of pain. Yoongi jumps out of his chair and gently lifts Jungkook from the floor and sets him back in his chair. He glares daggers at Jin for his action. Jin has the decency to look sheepishly as he realized what he just did. He crouches in front of Jungkook and kisses his forehead and apologizes. “Don’t mind. I can’t stand on my legs.” Jungkook’s voice sounds more strained and more painful than before. “And why is that?” Namjoon’s voice is strained with anger. “They injected me with something new. Wasn’t really fun… one of the side effects are that my legs are almost paralyzed. Yay.” He sounds so defeated and tired. He won’t look anyone in the eyes.
The sound of a fist hitting the table makes Jungkook flinch. “You won’t leave my or Yoongi’s side today” Taehyung’s anger sounds thick in his voice. Everyone, especially Jungkook, understands why those two. They are the most protective over the group. Or as they call it, the pack.
“I made breakfast, are you hungry?” asks Jin while places the dishes with the food on the table. Jimin places the plates and glasses on the table and everybody sits down and starts grabbing food. Jungkook’s eyes focus on the food and he nods lightly. “Want me to fill your plate?” asks Yoongi and Jungkook nods again, all though with a little doubt. He doesn’t want to be a burden for the others when he is like this. As if he can read his mind Hoseok speaks up. “You will never be a burden for any of us remember? You would do the same for us. Enjoy this moment” he winks at Jungkook before continuing eating and talking to Namjoon who sits beside him. Jungkook looks at the food and hesitantly starts eating.
After a couple of bites, Jungkook sets his fork down. He looks down at his lap and closes his eyes. Jin’s attention is on him within a second. “Are you not hungry Kookie?” the others stop talking and look toward the shy boy. Jungkook shakes his head. “nauseous”. “Do you need to go to the bathroom or anything?” Taehyung is already halfway out of his chair. Jungkook shakes his head again. “One of the side effects they said” he sounds so tired.
“What are the other side effects you might suffer Kook? And is there anything we can do against it?" Yoongi interrogates him. “Besides from what I just said, it also comes with dizziness, headaches, tingles in the limbs and they warned me of paralyzing through the whole body. Which is partly true for now.” He might seem unbothered, but everybody knows that he is scared of the last-named effect. That one is new and none of them knows what they can do about it. “Can we do at least something against it? Please tell me they gave you some medication against one of the effects” pleads Jimin. Jungkook shakes his head. “They want to see how I can handle this injection without any interfering with any kind of medication. But hey nothing new right. Except for the paralyze.” He shoves his plate a little further away and folds his arms on the table. He sighs and leans his head on his arms. “Kookie. What hurts the most at the moment?” asks Jin with a soft and caring voice. “My head feels funny” mumbles Jungkook. He sounds a little slurred. “Can you describe the feeling for me please?” Jin continues while sharing worried looks with the others who are watching Jungkook like hawks. “It… feels like… my head is filled with… clouds…” his words slur more and more, and he sounds almost drunk. His head tumbles a little from left to right. “Kook I need you to look at me” Jin sounds more scared than worried now.
Jungkook has to take a moment to open his eyes and his eyes are glazed over and unfocussed. “Can you see me?” he hums, but can’t form any coherent words or sentences.
Jin shares a look with Namjoon and Yoongi before nodding. Yoongi stands up immediately and puts one arm under Jungkook’s knees and one around his waist. He lifts him up as if he weighs nothing and walks toward the living room. There is one huge sofa which fits easily three people, but right now is big enough to lay down on with Jungkook. “Tae could you please grab one of the blankets from my room? The largest you can find please” Asks Jin. Taehyung runs away and comes back with the biggest and fluffiest blanket he could find.
In the meantime, Yoongi laid down on the couch, his back touching the armrest and Jungkook between his legs. Jungkook curls up on his lap and grabs his shirt in a tight grip.
He has his eyes closed and makes little distressed noises. “Sshh it’s alright Kookie. You are safe for now. Hyungs are here. We are not going anywhere. Close your eyes, I know you’re tired from everything. Go to sleep honey” whispers Yoongi in Jungkook’s ear while scratching his head and back. Jungkook’s distressed noises become lesser and lesser and shortly after they are almost gone, except for once in a while when Yoongi moves a bit.
They all know what is happening to Jungkook right now. When Jungkook has had a session this heavy his mind can’t feel safe anymore and finds a way to make Jungkook feel safe. They call it his safe-place-headspace. He will be so far gone that he can’t form any real words or sentences. He makes little noises to make the others understand how he feels. Like when he is scared or distressed. But also, when he is happy and feeling safe.
The first time this happened was when only Jin and Yoongi where there. They knew each other for like a month or so when it happened. Jin and Yoongi didn’t know what was happening when Jungkook came back from his worst treatment that month and he went into the headspace. Well, they figured it out very quickly and helped him when he needed them the most. The others learned just as quick and when needed Jungkook could slip into this headspace when needed. Even though he is ashamed of himself by how he is when in headspace.
By the time Jungkook stopped making the distressed noises the others were discussing what they were going to do on their day off. “Well, I can’t move for at least, or more I hope, the next one of two hours. He really needs his rest right now and we don’t know how long he will be in headspace today. I will just read a book or something. If you all can provide me when I need something that will be all I need for now. We also need to talk about how he still got a session when it was his day off. Namjoon we really need to do something about it. This is not the first time they did this to him. Next time I see them I can’t guarantee that I won’t hurt them for doing this again. No matter what” Yoongi’s anger is so visible in his voice that Jungkook makes a distressed and scared noise. Yoongi calms down immediately and shushes Jungkook back to sleep. After that he keeps his eyes on the hurt boy. Yoongi is normally not the most tactile member, but when it comes to the youngest ones he is.
“We will Yoongi hyung. Don’t worry. I don’t know if it will have any result, but I really want to discuss this with them. We can’t accept this any longer. I am fine if they hurt me, but this is not just one of the regular sessions we know of. This session was even longer than the ‘usual’ heavier sessions he has. He has been doing so good with not going into headspace. It is not a good sign.” Even the leader sounds distressed with the situation.
Before anyone can react to him the familiar robotic voice sounds through the speakers. “Please take your medicines. They have been delivered” a click sounds and a small door in the wall opens up to reveal their daily dose of medication to help them stay healthy and to stop their powers from manifesting outside their training and sessions. Hoseok walks towards the door and grabs the cups and hands out the cups to their owners.
“we will give Jungkook’s medication when he wakes up. It doesn’t really matter for now. He needs his rest. I will be in my room for now. Yell when you need me” and with these words Namjoon disappears to his room. Hoseok and Jimin follow him to their own rooms.“I won’t let Jungkook out of my sight in this situation. And I guess neither will you Tae?” Taehyung shakes his head. He walks toward the same sofa and lifts Jungkook’s legs. He sits down and places them down on his lap. Yoongi can’t resist a little smile at the sight, but stops when looking down at Jungkook. His face is scrunched up in a frown and he tenses up a little. “You are safe Kook. Relax” Yoongi wraps his arms around the boy and rocks a little bit back and forth in the hope it helps him relax a little bit.