I open my eyes to Yoongi's face hovering very close to my own.
"Jesus!" I yell, sitting up quickly. I rub my eyes, trying to wake myself up. "What are you doing?"
"Are you okay?" He asks, his face scrunched up in worry.
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I stretch my arms out, showing him my lack of injuries. "Well except for my ego, of course." I say, pouting.
He rolls his eyes at me, sitting on the bottom of my bed. "You'll be okay."
"Why'd you leave?"
"I had to," he says, looking away from me.
"The hell you did," I scoff, crossing my arms across my chest. "Do you not like me? Is that what it is?"
"No that's not-" he sighs, running his hands through his hair-something I've noticed he does when he's flustered. "Us getting close isn't something we should do, Hoseok."
"Why?"
He looks at me incredulously. "I'm dead, Hoseok. I'm a ghost. I can never give you a normal life. I can't even touch you." He reached out, his hand passing right through my arm. "You should be with a normal person."
"But I want you. And we touched last night. So why can't we touch right now?"
Yoongi sighs, drawing his brows together. "I can't think of any explanation other than it was because we were inside your head. In your dreams, things aren't the same as they are out here in reality."
I smiled, leaning back against my headboard. "Then we can make it work."
Yoongi groans, laying down beside me. "We can't, Hoseok. I'm not always going to be here. What do you think happens when my mission is done?"
I freeze. I've never actually thought about what happens when Yoongi finishes whatever it is he was sent to do. "What's you mission anyway?"
"I'm not telling you."
"What? Why?"
"Cause I'll deal with it. You just live your life. You never would've known I was here anyway. So I'll do my job and then when it's done, I'll leave and you can go back to your normal life."
I get out of the bed, glaring at him. "Is that all I am to you, Yoongi? A job?" The rational part of me said that I was being ridiculous, that I should know that Yoongi didn't think that way about me. But I was hurt and chose to ignore it.
"You know you're more than that to me, Hoseok." He sits up, meeting my eyes. "So much more."
"I know," I sigh, sitting back down on the mattress. "Yoongi, does your mission have to do with the way you died?" He freezes and I know I'm on the right track. "You never talk about it. But I know. I know how you died."
"How?"
"For weeks I dreamed about the death of some stranger. I lived it as if I was you. The power outage, the pain, the darkness. I just thought I was going crazy." I looked to him, smiling. "Then I saw you for the first time while I was asleep."
"I was a little surprised that you seemed to know who I was," Yoongi says.
"Well I was a little surprised to see the person I'd been dreaming about for weeks," I laugh. "So I guess that makes us equal." I lay back, flopping onto the mattress. I turn my head, looking at him, taking him in. The same outfit he always wears: a black hoodie that swallows him and skinny jeans, his blonde hair that always looks like he just woke up. "You were murdered, Yoongi."
"Yeah, I was," he says, somberly.
"I'm in danger, aren't I?" He nods his head. "Me being hit by the car wasn't an accident, was it?"
He shakes his head, staring down at my green bedspread. "It would appear that way. I was called away yesterday to talk about your case. That's when I learned that it wasn't an accident." He looks to me. "Are you okay?"
"Well learning that someone's trying to kill me does kind of suck." I smile at him. "But I trust that you'll keep me safe." A knock sounds at my door. I sit up, giving Yoongi one last smile before going to open it.
Jimin stands outside my door, his face lighting up when he sees me. "Hoseokie!"
"Jiminie!" I cry, opening up my arms to him. He moves into them, squeezing me tight. "Are you ready for breakfast?" He nods eagerly and follows me to the kitchen.
I make our usual pancakes, sitting a stack down on the table for Jimin and I to share. I catch a glimpse of Yoongi standing in the corner and he gives me a small nod.
"Did you have the dream again?" Jimin asks, his mouth full of pancakes.
I scrunch my nose at him. "Don't talk with your mouth full."
He rolls his eyes at me, making a show of swallowing and opening his mouth wide for me to see that it was empty. "So? Did you have that dream again?"
I move the last few bits of my pancakes around. "Not the exact same one."
Jimin sits forward, intrigued. "What do you mean?"
I drop my fork, sitting back in my seat. "Well you know I usually see it from Yoongi's perspective."
"Who's Yoongi?"
I freeze, realizing my mistake. I've never called him by name before.
Jimin watches me, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Who's Yoongi, Hoseok?"
"Oh, um, I googled the details of the dream. And found news about it. Apparently his name was Yoongi."
Jimin sits back, crossing his arms in front of him. "Ohhhh, so it was real?"
I nod my head, "Apparently he was murdered in his studio. No one knows who did it though."
"That's horrible. I can't believe a murderer is still out walking free." Jimin shudders, squeezing his arms tighter.
"Right?" I shake my head. "It's crazy."
"So what was different about this dream?"
I see Yoongi drift a little closer, interested in the course of our conversation. "I wasn't watching it from his perspective this time. I was watching it from outside. So I saw everything."
"How was it?"
"What kind of question is that?" I ask, giggling. "Obviously it was scary." I shake my head at him. Jimin was usually so timid, but certain subjects got him really interested. "Anyways," I plop a piece of pancake in my mouth, "You're spending another breakfast here instead of Taehyung's, huh? He's going to get his feelings hurt."
Jimin's face drops. "Hoseok." I look to him, surprised by how serious he sounds. "I couldn't figure out how to tell you..."
"Tell me what?"
"Taehyung and Jungkook..." A tear escapes, trailing down his cheek.
My stomach drops. I know this can't be good news. "What is it? Tell me, Jimin!"
"They're dead."
Time seems to freeze around me. The sounds around me fading to a distant echo. "What?"
"They're dead, Hoseok. It happened while you were asleep." He sucks in a ragged breath, more tears escaping him. "It-it was a fire. Jungkook tried to save Taehyung...but in the end they both died. I'm so sorry," he sobbed, breaking down.
I can feel the tears tracking down my face, dripping to mix with the syrup on my plate. I don't know how long we sat like that, Jimin sobbing while I cried silently, both of us grieving for our friends. But eventually Jimin left, excusing himself while I still sat in my chair.
Even after he was gone, I sat there, my pancakes long forgotten in front of me.
When the sun disappeared outside, Yoongi approached me. "Hoseok," Yoongi says, his soothing voice in my ear. "You need to get up Hoseok. You can't sit in this chair forever."
"O-okay.." I stand, my legs shakey. He walks beside me, his presence comforting.
I lay down in my bed, Yoongi laying beside me. "D-do you think I could see them?"
"I don't know," he says quietly, afraid to start my crying again. "If they became Guardians and you get close to their person while they're out, then maybe."
"Do you think they became Guardians?"
"If someone close to them needed help, then they would've."
"I hope they did," I say, my eyes dropping closed. Exhausted from all the crying, I started to drift off.
"I'm sorry, Hoseok. But I hope not."
I didn't even get to ask him what he meant before I was swept under, sleeping pulling me into its depths.
