Hello I'm back to being low key angsty but I swear it ends good :)

(Paradise)

Once again, Yoongi was sitting outside Hoseok's door in the middle of the night. It was becoming a regular occurrence and Yoongi did not have any plans to stop. He would sit there until Hoseok stopped having that nightmare and there was no telling how long that would be.

It had started when Yoongi had gotten up at half two in the morning to get food and he heard soft sounds coming from Hoseok's room. He had walked over to investigate and put his ear to the door. He faintly heard Hoseok moaning and his first reaction was to quickly and awkwardly walk back to his room and pretend that he hadn't heard anything. But as he stayed there, he picked up on something else. Hoseok was talking in his sleep. It took Yoongi a minute to pick out the words and he soon wished he hadn't.

"Please, no, don't… I'll do anything, just please stop… it hurts, please, no…" So it was a nightmare. Yoongi didn't want to leave him anymore. He didn't know what was hurting him in the dream, but he just wanted it to stop. He gave silent support to Hoseok as if his dreams could pick up Yoongi's thoughts. If it got any worse, he would go in and wake him up, he thought. He listened more and froze in place. "Please, stop it… no, Yoongi, please it hurts… stop, please, please, no!"

He didn't hear any more from Hoseok that night and Yoongi assumed he had woken up. Yoongi didn't want to hear any more. He would never hurt Hoseok that much, so why was Hoseok dreaming about it? The thought of himself torturing Hoseok, even in a dream, made Yoongi want to cry. Which he did when he went back to his room. The next morning, he was as nice as possible to Hoseok, who was being normal. Either he didn't remember his dreams or he knew that Yoongi wouldn't really hurt him.

But when Yoongi went to just brush his arm, he flinched. An almost imperceptible movement to anyone else, but Yoongi saw it. And he felt it strike through his heart. Hoseok's dream really affected him. That night, Yoongi couldn't sleep. Eventually, he went back to Hoseok's room and listened through the door. Again, the same voice begging Yoongi to stop hurting him. It was soft enough that Jimin wouldn't hear him from the next room, but Yoongi could hear it from the other side of the door. He stayed until Hoseok woke up and then ran back to his room.

It became a nightly routine for Yoongi: sleep a bit, then go to Hoseok's room to see if he's dreaming. Sometimes, he didn't hear anything and just went back to bed. He definitely wasn't getting enough sleep over this. But he didn't care. He would just sit outside Hoseok's room until the pleading stopped. It wasn't doing him any good, but he couldn't help it. Almost every night, Hoseok would dream of Yoongi hurting him and Yoongi didn't know why. All he could do was try to be near Hoseok, try to comfort him through the nightmare.

One night, Yoongi got about two hours of sleep. Hoseok's nightmare had lasted about thirty minutes, which was longer than usual, and Yoongi stayed for all of it. But he was so tired for the whole day. Nobody really seemed to notice except for Jimin, who kept shooting him weird looks. That evening, Yoongi fell into bed at 8 pm, willing himself to go to sleep early so he could still be with Hoseok in the middle of the night.

At two in the morning, Yoongi woke up and left his room. It was becoming part of his body clock by this point. He crept down to Hoseok's room and, sure enough, moans of complaint and pain leaked through the door. Yoongi sat down against the door and listened. About five minutes later, Yoongi heard a door open. He looked to his left and saw Jimin leave his own room and walk further down the corridor to Yoongi's room. He didn't see Yoongi sitting outside. Jimin opened Yoongi's door and went in.

Yoongi sat up, confused. Jimin hadn't even knocked first. He was going to be confused when he saw no one in Yoongi's bed. After a moment, he stepped out again and looked Yoongi in the eye. He walked over to him and neither said a word. Jimin looked at Hoseok's door for a minute and then nudged Yoongi gently. Yoongi shuffled across to let Jimin sit down. He could probably hear it through his bedroom wall. He probably just didn't want Yoongi to feel alone.

"No, please, just stop it, it hurts so much… I can't, it hurts… why? Just why? I'll do whatever you want but please, Yoongi, stop, please…" Hoseok wept. Yoongi curled up next to Jimin and cried. Jimin stroked his hair comfortingly and held his hand.

"It's not your fault," he whispered. Yoongi wanted to object but didn't. He didn't want to talk; he just wanted Hoseok to stop having nightmares. He kept trying to telepathically tell Hoseok it was okay, that he wouldn't get hurt anymore. It wasn't working.

Taehyung emerged from his room, rubbing his eyes. He saw the pair on the floor and paused, puzzled. Jimin waved him over and Taehyung placed his ear to the wall. Yoongi watched Taehyung's gaze flick to him as they listened. Yoongi buried his head in his arms and sobbed silently. He felt Jimin tug his sleeve and he looked up. Jimin smiled at him sympathetically.

"It's okay," he mouthed. Yoongi didn't believe him and shook his head. Before Jimin could protest, they fell backwards. It took Yoongi a moment to realise that he was on the floor but quickly got to his feet. He stood next to Jimin in the doorway with Taehyung just behind them and tried to wipe away his tears. Hoseok had woken up without them noticing and opened the door. He was frowning at them, tired and confused. Jimin patted Yoongi on the shoulder before he and Taehyung sprinted back to their rooms.

Yoongi stood, still teary-eyed in the doorway to Hoseok's room. It was too late to run now and someone had to explain everything to Hoseok. Yoongi just hated the fact that it was him. Hoseok just stared after Taehyung and Jimin and back at Yoongi.

"O…kay," he whispered. There were still three people asleep after all. "I have questions. Come sit on my bed, come on." Hoseok wrapped an arm around Yoongi's shoulder and led him into the room. Yoongi sat down as Hoseok shut the door and turned on a light. He sat next to Yoongi and gave him a blanket. "Can you explain why you were crying in Jimin's arms outside my door flanked by Tae?"

Yoongi thought for a second but Hoseok continued, "And I'm 90% sure that Jimin is listening through his wall, so keep that in mind." A thud from the next room confirmed his suspicions. Yoongi smiled at this but then sighed,

"Okay, look, we were just… okay, this is gonna sound weird. We were listening to you sleep." Hoseok looked a little weirded out.

"You were listening to me sleep?" Yoongi nodded and scratched the back of his neck. In hindsight, that was a pretty weird thing to do. "And that made you cry because…?" Oh, right. Yoongi forgot that bit.

"Oh, yeah. Well, you've… been having nightmares, right?" Hoseok nodded slowly, still piecing things together. "Did you know you cry out in your sleep?" Hoseok froze and Yoongi didn't wait for him to reply. "Because we could hear you through the door but I've been listening to you for a while. That's why I've been so tired; because I've been waking up to make sure you were okay. And then I haven't been sleeping because you keep telling me to stop hurting you even though I would never hurt you. Hence the crying."

Hoseok looked down and thought about this. He obviously felt guilty and Yoongi regretted saying anything at all. Although, in hindsight, what else could he have done? Hoseok ran a hand through his hair.

"Um… okay. I'm sorry. I-it's just a nightmare. I hate it and I hate going to sleep now. Sometimes I don't remember having it and I haven't slept a few times to try and get rid of it. But it doesn't work and I keep coming back to you killing me slowly until I wake up. I keep trying to ignore it but that's honestly really hard. I'm really sorry." Yoongi shrugged. It wasn't Hoseok's fault; it was his subconscious being weird. Something appeared in Yoongi's mind and he didn't have time to think about it properly before saying,

"Well… what if I slept here? I'd be able to wake you up easily and maybe it would make you feel better if you knew I wasn't actually going to hurt you? Because honestly, Hobi, I can't stand the thought of you being tortured by anyone and the fact that it's me makes it so much worse." He kind of lost faith in his idea and expected Hoseok to just ignore it. Instead, Hoseok replied,

"I mean, I wouldn't be against you sleeping here… it might work." Yoongi was surprised.

"R-really? Okay, sure, I'm up for that, i-if it would help." Hoseok smiled. They shuffled awkwardly under the covers and turned off the light. "Goodnight, Hobi," whispered Yoongi.

"Goodnight, hyung," Hoseok whispered back. Yoongi closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. For about an hour. For some reason, he just couldn't fall asleep and it was annoying him. Maybe it was the unfamiliar bed or the closeness to another person. Just before he could roll over for the millionth time, he heard Hoseok whimper,

"Yoongi…" Suddenly, sleep didn't seem so important. Yoongi turned his full attention to Hoseok. Maybe this little arrangement didn't work and Hoseok's nightmare would occur every time. "Yoongi, please." Yoongi was about to wake Hoseok up when he felt a hand close around his. "I need you, stay with me…" So this wasn't the nightmare. It wasn't going to be a nightmare at all if Yoongi had anything to do with it. He held Hoseok's hand and kissed him on the forehead.

"Always."