YOURA

I rush to him, talking so fast he has to slow me down.

"You can be real, Yoongi." I gasp, turning my head side to side. "You can be real. You could actually be—"

"Who told you that?"

He sounds not kind.

At my confused expression, his tone softens down a bit more. His features relax— but they'd been so tense just a second ago.

"I'm sorry, kitten. Who told you that?"

"T-Taehyung and Jungkook." I start again, my words getting faster. "Jungkook's actually Taehyung's dream. He can be both his reality and in his sleep."

I look up hopefully.

"So maybe I thought you could be, too..."

"I'm sorry."

He looks away. "Youra. I can't. Jungkook's probably a different case, to choose to do that. I—"

He stops.

Choose.

He'd made a mistake, and his eyes flash when he realizes that I'd caught on. I wasn't stupid, and he knew that the best.

I swallow.

"So you won't choose to be with me?"

He curses. "That's not what I mean. I'm only your dream— I can't be your reality. Just accept this, please."

I don't understand.

"Just tell me that you don't want to be around me."

I squeeze my eyes shut, to get back awake. I didn't want to talk to him anymore. Because if I did, I might just start crying like a little baby and I didn't want to do that right now.

"You're not leaving."

He holds me back. He prevents me from waking up.

"I don't. I just don't understand." I whisper to his dark eyes. "If there's something I don't know, just tell me."

He stays silent, icelike gaze pushed downwards.

My heart hurts.

"Then just let me leave."

But it still hurts— much much more than I thought it would when his fingers loosen around my hand.

He really let me go.

_________________________

"Stupid idiot." I mutter angrily as I pick up the digital clock on my nightstand. Then I think better, and just throw one of my stuffies to the wall.

I bury my face in my hands, my other wrist hurting.

"Idiot, idiot. Why did you let me go."

Sniffling, I sip down another cup of coffee even though I hate— hate the bitter taste. But it's the only thing that'll keep me awake.

My parents, yelling again.

I only hear divorce.

Finally, the tears break and I grab another stuffed animal from my bed. Then I throw it against the wall, my eyes getting wide with anger.

I'm having a tantrum.

Yoongi had always called me a child— because he knew. My mental age was lower than average, almost like a ten year old.

He'd always been there to calm me down.

But not now.

My sniffling soon turns into crying, and then to sobbing as I curl up tightly on the center of my bed, clutching my blankets in my fingers.

I hate this. I hate it.

And then something warm rests on top of my head.

At first, my body freezes completely. The tears stop coming, the sobs— everything.

Yoongi's sitting there, his eyes steady.

He's real.

"Is this what you wanted?" He whispers quietly, brushing his hand down my hair. "Don't let me watch you cry, Princess."

"It hurts me, more than you think it does."

My eyes fill with tears as I crash into his arms, tucking myself right in his lap. He feels the same as ever before, except so different.

I hold on to his clothes, scared he might disappear.

"I won't just leave you." He says, reading my mind. "I can feel your sadness, even if I'm not here."

"Youra!"

My entire body tenses when I hear my father's rough yell downstairs. I start shaking, and Yoongi's face lifts towards the door.

"Come downstairs!"

"I don't wanna. I don't wanna go down." I whimper, and his hands on my waist tighten. It was only going to be bad, I know it.

Then my eyes go wide when I hear the stairs.

He's coming.

Yoongi curses.

"I'll be watching." He says firmly, tucking a loose strand of my hair with calm hands. "Don't be afraid."

And then he disappears.

The door flies open the moment he does, and I flinch when my father comes in. He's red in the face— drunk, drunk again.

I'm here.

It helps me calm down when I hear his familiar voice in my head.

"Your mother and I are separating." He says, and I press back further into my bed when my mother comes in as well. "We're divorcing and you're eighteen."

My head goes blank.

These damn bastards.

Yoongi's voice comes hissing in the back of my mind, but I can only stare stupidly as he jerks his head towards the door.

"You're an adult now, and both of us don't want custody of you. I want you gone in an hour."

My panicked gaze turns to my mother.

But she doesn't care either.

_________________________

"What do I do?"

I pull at my hands, panicking even with Yoongi's voice. "I can't— am I supposed to live..."

Everything will be okay.

I move like a robot, following what Yoongi just tells me to do. And by the end of the hour, I have a backpack full of things that he'd told me to pack.

Leave before they come to you. It'll be better.

"O-Okay."

Shoving my hands into the jacket he'd made me put on, I shuffle out of my room and out of the house. My parents weren't even downstairs.

It's cold outside.

I nearly jump when Yoongi materializes next to me, his arm wrapping around my shoulders. And I lean into his shoulder, finding comfort in his touch.

At least I have him.

I'm not alone.

"Youra?"

My head snaps up to see Taehyung. Yoongi also follows my gaze, before connecting eyes with Taehyung's counterpart.

Jungkook.

The two stare each other down.

"Hi! Me and Kook were out to buy some hot chocolate!" He says with a bright smile, holding up a plastic bag. "It's really cold outside, isn't it?"

I nod.

He tilts his head.

"What are you doing out here, though?"

Jungkook suddenly breaks his eyes from Yoongi. Then he rests a hand on Taehyung's head, voice soft.

"They're coming with us."

_________________________

I'm so happy.

Taehyung's excited— and so am I. He lived alone with Jungkook, because his parents had died a long time ago. I'd never known that until now.

"Look, look! I wanna show you my flowerpots!"

Jungkook and Yoongi are talking to each other in the living room when Taehyung pulls me over to his little garden on the veranda.

"And there's grass here so you can lie down on it."

I'm already lying down.

He giggles when he sees me blinking sleepily, lying on my side on the soft grass. I smile when he lies down next to me with his face upwards.

"It's really nice here." He blinks, stretching his legs. "I always fall asleep here and annoy Jungkook."

He's right.

I'm still in my puffy jacket, and the grass is really soft under my head.

I can see his eyes starting to blink sleepily too.

And we both end up falling fast asleep on the little patch of grass, surrounded by Taehyung's flowerpots.