Relief
i
The first time it happened, Seokjin hadn’t seen it coming. Though, none of the times that it happened could Seokjin have seen such a thing coming. It wasn’t something that anyone would have thought to discuss, let alone with the maknae who was obviously more mature than he let on, though hid it pretty well at times.
This just wasn’t one of those times.
Seokjin was tugging at his hair out of frustration, having been worked up over all the death threats that Namjoon was getting and yet the leader of Bangtan wasn’t taking them seriously and it was driving the eldest mad as he felt that this was a serious thing.
“I can’t believe him! He told me to calm the fuck down! I don’t get why I need to calm down! He’s the one being fucking threatened.” Everyone knew that the moment Seokjin started cursing, shit was about to go down, or shit had gone down and someone needed to reel Seokjin in before he hurt himself. Nothing ever came good of Seokjin getting worked up and they had all seen the bruises on the man’s thighs after the fact.
They all did their best to calm him down in their own ways.
Jimin was gentle when he brought Seokjin down from his anxious state. He gave the elder man kisses and soft caresses that soothed Seokjin’s heart, calming him and bringing him to a state that they could talk through what was bothering him. It was Seokjin’s favorite way of being calmed down.
Namjoon and Yoongi were the same in the firm way that they sat Seokjin down and spoke firmly to him. They were both dominant in their own way and while Seokjin was usually more perceptive to the leader, Yoongi could be quite firm in his orders and it was everything that Seokjin needed in that moment.
Hoseok never said anything when he calmed Seokjin down. All he did was hold him, give him an embrace that was impossible to escape from, enduring the thrashing that occasionally would signal how worked up Seokjin had been, and held him until he was breathing calmly. Most of the time when it happened, Seokjin would sob into Hoseok’s chest. Neither would ever speak.
Taehyung was an odd one. He would take Seokjin’s shaky, sweaty hand and bring him out to the balcony where he would perch himself in his hyung’s lap, playing with the elder’s hair and speak to him about random things until he felt that Seokjin was calm enough to be asked what the issue was.
They all had their ways of taking care of the eldest when the eldest was too overworked from taking care of all of them.
Except the maknae.
Jungkook had never been alone with Seokjin when the eldest got to his frantic state and anytime he was present, another member would step right in and go about their way of calming him down.
Except this time, everyone was gone.
Seokjin was tugging more harshly on his hair and Jungkook grew more worried. He didn’t have a way of calming his hyung down and he was close to panicking himself.
“Hyung, hyung calm down!” He tried firmly, though it didn’t seem like Seokjin was even listening at this point.
“He’s just…he’s so stupid! I don’t think he realizes what would happen if we lost him! I don’t think he even cares!” Seokjin’s voice was reaching a new level of hysteria and Jungkook wasn’t liking how this stress was building on him.
He loved his hyung just as much as all the others, which is why they all devised these ways to take care of Seokjin when he ended up breaking after keeping himself together for so long. He just never found his own way. Yoongi had told him that the next time it happened, someone would let him take the lead so this didn’t happen, yet it hadn’t happened before now.
“Seokjin!” Jungkook snaps harshly, moving forward with three long strides, grabbing around Seokjin’s shoulders and pushing him firmly to the wall. He wasn’t rough, but he was firm. His thumbs pressed against the sides of Seokjin’s neck, holding him still as his arms tense. He was stronger than Seokjin, they both knew that and yet it didn’t matter as Seokjin didn’t fight back.
The elder’s eyes were wide as he feels the firm pressure of Jungkook’s thumbs against the side of his throat. He calmed near immediately, still breathing quickly and yet no longer in a hysteria haze.
Jungkook does eventually let go, but slowly and only when he’s sure that Seokjin won’t lose it again.
ii
It was like Seokjin had sought Jungkook out the next time that it happened. It was weeks later when he felt the edges of his sanity beginning to crumble and give way to the chaos that was his mind most of the time. He needed something to calm him and while Hoseok’s arms could be nice, they were nothing like the soft kisses from Jimin - but the dancer wasn’t around.
He remembered the next best thing just as tears were appearing in his eyes and his scalp was burning from the way he was tugging at his hair so much.
“Hyung?” Jungkook asked with a frown as he tugged one of the earbuds from his ear, bent over the kitchen table doing homework. There was concern in his eyes as he watched Seokjin move to grasp the back of one of the chairs. “Hyung, isn’t…isn’t Hoseok-hyung in his room?”
They hadn’t talked about what had happened before and that wasn’t normal. After each of the others had found their own way to calm Seokjin down, they talked it out, made sure it was kosher and just right. Seokjin hadn’t spoken to Jungkook. The moment that they had seen each other for the first time after the incident, Seokjin had returned to his loving, motherly hyung mode and made sure that Jungkook had done his homework and eaten dinner.
“He is.” Seokjin barely got out between clenched teeth.
Seokjin’s fingers were curling into the back of the chair until his knuckles turned white and Jungkook realized that there was a reason that Seokjin was standing before him instead of curled up in the other man’s arms.
“Hyung…” He breathed out just barely, taking out the other earbud as he very slowly rose from the table. It was almost an unbearable tease. It was purposeful on his part to move slowly, giving himself time to find a reason to back out of this. But he couldn’t do that to the man who took such good care of him. Seokjin had gone to someone before he was worked up in a state where he would harm himself more so than just tugging at his own hair. And that someone just happened to be Jungkook this time. He could handle and deal with it, he would do what was required of him.
He remembered the way that Seokjin had looked at him with such relief when he had pressed his hands along his shoulder and it was slightly confusing, yes, but Jungkook had an idea of what it was that calmed the elder man. He just wasn’t sure how to go about it without completely overstepping boundaries that the younger was sure were in place, or at least should be at this rate.
“Please…” The moment that Jungkook heard that soft plea from his hyung, he was done for.
He moved forward and grabbed Seokjin’s arm, guiding him until his lower back was pressed against the counter. His gaze was intense as he watched how Seokjin’s eyes were still pleading, begging for him to calm him in the unique way he had before. It wasn’t something that he could verbalize as it wasn’t even something that he had come to terms with himself.
Jungkook’s long fingers wrap around the base of Jin’s neck, a light pressure that does nothing to obstruct his airway and it was more than enough for Jin. The man relaxed completely, relief flooding him as he sagged against the counter and let his eyes flutter closed. It was everything right.
Jungkook’s hand stayed where it was just long enough and yet left all too soon.
Before Jin could properly blink once his eyes were open, Jungkook had moved back to the table, situating the earbuds back in and resuming homework, acting like nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.
“Hyung?” Hoseok inquired with concern as he came in to see Seokjin against the counter with his eyes closed. He was ready to move forward if it turned out that the eldest was having another one of his attacks.
Instead, Seokjin’s eyes opened and he looked at the other male with a small smile. “Yeah, Hoseok? I’m about to start dinner, did you need something?” His voice was airy almost, like he was out of breath, or like he had just had the best orgasm of his life. Either way, something was out of the ordinary and Hosoek wasn’t sure what it was.
“No, hyung…I’m good. I’ll…I’ll be in my room if you need me.” He said and took his leave after receiving one of Seokjin’s charming smiles that was meant to be reassuring but only ended up being suspicious. He glanced at the clueless maknae and just decided to let sleeping dogs lay for now.
iii
“I can’t get into his room, I don’t know what he’s thinking!” Jimin said almost frantically to Yoongi who was standing beside the younger male, both of them standing outside of the bedroom in which Seokjin had locked himself in. They could go in search of the key that Taehyung had lost to open it, but that might take too long.
“And you say he was already worked up when he went in there?” Yoongi asked for clarification, neither of the men noticing how Jungkook had peeked from his own bedroom to find out what was going on, staying silent as he just observed.
“Yeah! I-I was following him, I-I was gonna bring him b-back and he just-hyung, please open up!” Jimin had turned back to the door to knock on it frantically but they were getting nowhere. They could only imagine what Seokjin was doing in there and none of those things were good.
Without a word, Jungkook slid past both of his hyungs and knocked on the door firmly, but softly. “Hyung, it’s Jungkook. Open up.” Even before Yoongi could scoff and point out how that was doubtful to work, they all heard the door unlock and saw the knob turn to allow Jungkook inside.
“Hyung-“ Jimin had thought that he would be the one allowed in, but nothing was more surprising than watching as Jungkook took the offer and shut the door behind him, locking it for good measure.
Now that Jungkook was in the room, he realized that he had no idea what he was doing. He was out of his league and he didn’t get what he had thought he would do if he had gotten this far. But either way, he was the designated member that Seokjin needed right then.
And boy, was he needed.
Jungkook could barely see the outline of them in the darkened room, but he saw the large formations of bruises forming on Seokjin’s pelvis, just below the waistband of his boxers, but above his groin.
Seokjin’s eyes are red and puffy and he’s digging his fingers into his hipbones, feeling relaxed at the way the nails dig deep into his skin and he would have kept pressing until he bled if not for Jungkook’s interference.
Before Seokjin knew what hit him, Jungkook’s fingers were around his neck and he was bringing him back from the state they all hated. This time, more pressure was applied as Jungkook had the logic that a higher intensity state would need more force than he had applied in the past.
Seokjin’s breath was taken from him immediately and the relief that flooded through him was visible to Jungkook. He could feel it in the way his muscles relaxed, in the way his fingers loosened from around his hips and his eyes closed but not before Jungkook saw the gratitude shining in them.
They didn’t talk about why this worked, or the limits or the way they would tell the other guys, but they knew that it worked and they weren’t going to question it.
iv
Jungkook had his body pressed up against Seokjin’s, his eyes intense and his lips pursed into a frown as he watched the last of Seokjin’s tears dry away from his face, his fingers still shaking from all of it, but no longer about to lose it and possibly hurt himself more than he should ever think to.
The bruises on Seokjin’s pelvis faded and his scalp was no longer tender. All because Jungkook was more mindful of his hyung. He watched him more and it was almost a daily thing the two of them did. When they were alone, Seokjin would go over to Jungkook and run his fingers up along his thin arm, stroking just gently and casually, seemingly innocent. But it wouldn’t be long before he would be grasping Jungkook’s wrist and guiding the hand up to his throat. And whatever Jungkook was doing was forgotten while he watched Seokjin get his relief before they both went about their nightly business.
“This was close, hyung.” Jungkook whispered and Seokjin’s eyes shot open. They never spoke when they did this. Jungkook never spoke as he held Seokjin’s throat, having to go tighter this time as Seokjin had been worked up to the point he was nearly hurting himself again. “Why did you wait so long?”
There was something akin to shame that radiated in his eyes and Jungkook understood immediately. Looking away from Seokjin’s face, he looked down to his fingers to watch as he tightened them around Seokjin’s throat, the tendons in his arm twitching when he does so. And as he tightened his hand, applying more pressure and force, successively cutting off more of his airway.
He understood why.
“You did it on purpose.” Jungkook stated. It wasn’t an accusation, or a question. It was a statement of fact.
Slowly, Jungkook began releasing Seokjin’s throat, being gentle as he didn’t want to damage the beautiful throat that was too talented to allow harm to come to it.
But it wasn’t fast enough.
“Jeon Jungkook!”
Seokjin’s eyes widened as he looked over to see Namjoon and Yoongi standing in the door way, but it was Jimin that leapt forward, grabbing Jungkook’s arm and wrenching him away from Seokjin. All of them thought the worse, and that was obvious in how Hoseok moved forward after Jimin to grab at Jungkook and haul him away from the eldest. Jimin’s hand are curling around Seokjin’s waist and his lips are quick to touch the red and tender skin of his throat-but that wasn’t what he wanted.
“The fuck you think you’re doing?!” Yoongi was the next one to yell, watching as Jungkook struggled against Hoseok’s rough hold. “The fuck is your problem?! After all that Seokjin-hyung does for you, this is how you repay him?!”
Jungkook said nothing to defend himself, instead looking to the supposed victim in all this and waiting for him to explain.
“I-I-“ The eldest hesitates as he finds himself relaxing at Jimin’s kisses, but in no way to the same extent as he does with Jungkook’s hand around his throat. “I let him do that.” He finally managed out, not surprised when Jimin pulled away to look at him in shock.
And he was swear that among the confusion from the others, there was disgust as well.
Namjoon is the next to speak. “What do you mean, you let him do that? That’s…hyung, what the fuck were you thinking, he could have killed you.”
“I wouldn’t have killed him. I love Seokjin-hyung just as much as you all do.” He said with an angry huff. He tore his arm away from Hoseok, glad to be standing on his own now. He left no room for argument as he retreated to his bedroom where he wouldn’t be judged or accused of doing something terrible.
Seokjin let himself be released from a confused Jimin, bowing his head in shame as he left the room as well. There was a reason that he didn’t tell anyone of how the maknae would calm him down. There was a reason they had kept it between them. It worked and it was effective, but it wasn’t conventional.
v
Jimin had tears in his eyes as he watched Hoseok try and restrain Seokjin who was currently in the midst of a freak out, Namjoon and Yoongi both trying to calm him down with stern commands that seemed to fall on deaf ears.
It had been too long since Seokjin had had a relief and it had been such a stressful time for them all, Seokjin of course taking on a large portion of the burden himself because that was what he felt was right as a hyung. But now it was all backfiring and none of the usual methods of calming him down worked.
Hoseok cursed as Seokjin’s elbow caught his chin, jarring his teeth and cutting his lip unintentionally. He would feel bad about it later and Hoseok would never blame Seokjin, but that didn’t change the fact that it was startling. He released the elder man and watched with sadness in his eyes as he began to tug at his hair immediately, the tender scalp not used to the treatment anymore and so the pain was more intense. It was obvious by the sting of tears that they all could see blurring Seokjin’s vision.
No one knew where he had come from, but before they could come up with someone else to do, Jungkook was pushing his way between Namjoon and Yoongi and wrapping his hand tightly around Seokjin’s throat.
“Enough.”
That one word coupled with the lack of air calmed Seokjin immediately, so quickly that everyone else in the room was in awe, shocked that it wasn’t something absolutely terrible, it was actually something…of a miracle.
He kept his hand there for a while and Seokjin’s labored breathing turned into calming gasps for breath due to his obstructed airway and it’s only then that his eyes open once more, having closed the moment that hand had been around his throat. The exchange between the youngest and eldest of Bangtan was mutual, understanding that even though none of the others would understand what this was or why it worked, just that it did. And it wouldn’t stop anytime soon.
The first time it happened, Seokjin hadn’t seen it coming. Though, none of the times that it happened could Seokjin have seen such a thing coming. It wasn’t something that anyone would have thought to discuss, let alone with the maknae who was obviously more mature than he let on, though hid it pretty well at times.
This just wasn’t one of those times.
Seokjin was tugging at his hair out of frustration, having been worked up over all the death threats that Namjoon was getting and yet the leader of Bangtan wasn’t taking them seriously and it was driving the eldest mad as he felt that this was a serious thing.
“I can’t believe him! He told me to calm the fuck down! I don’t get why I need to calm down! He’s the one being fucking threatened.” Everyone knew that the moment Seokjin started cursing, shit was about to go down, or shit had gone down and someone needed to reel Seokjin in before he hurt himself. Nothing ever came good of Seokjin getting worked up and they had all seen the bruises on the man’s thighs after the fact.
They all did their best to calm him down in their own ways.
Jimin was gentle when he brought Seokjin down from his anxious state. He gave the elder man kisses and soft caresses that soothed Seokjin’s heart, calming him and bringing him to a state that they could talk through what was bothering him. It was Seokjin’s favorite way of being calmed down.
Namjoon and Yoongi were the same in the firm way that they sat Seokjin down and spoke firmly to him. They were both dominant in their own way and while Seokjin was usually more perceptive to the leader, Yoongi could be quite firm in his orders and it was everything that Seokjin needed in that moment.
Hoseok never said anything when he calmed Seokjin down. All he did was hold him, give him an embrace that was impossible to escape from, enduring the thrashing that occasionally would signal how worked up Seokjin had been, and held him until he was breathing calmly. Most of the time when it happened, Seokjin would sob into Hoseok’s chest. Neither would ever speak.
Taehyung was an odd one. He would take Seokjin’s shaky, sweaty hand and bring him out to the balcony where he would perch himself in his hyung’s lap, playing with the elder’s hair and speak to him about random things until he felt that Seokjin was calm enough to be asked what the issue was.
They all had their ways of taking care of the eldest when the eldest was too overworked from taking care of all of them.
Except the maknae.
Jungkook had never been alone with Seokjin when the eldest got to his frantic state and anytime he was present, another member would step right in and go about their way of calming him down.
Except this time, everyone was gone.
Seokjin was tugging more harshly on his hair and Jungkook grew more worried. He didn’t have a way of calming his hyung down and he was close to panicking himself.
“Hyung, hyung calm down!” He tried firmly, though it didn’t seem like Seokjin was even listening at this point.
“He’s just…he’s so stupid! I don’t think he realizes what would happen if we lost him! I don’t think he even cares!” Seokjin’s voice was reaching a new level of hysteria and Jungkook wasn’t liking how this stress was building on him.
He loved his hyung just as much as all the others, which is why they all devised these ways to take care of Seokjin when he ended up breaking after keeping himself together for so long. He just never found his own way. Yoongi had told him that the next time it happened, someone would let him take the lead so this didn’t happen, yet it hadn’t happened before now.
“Seokjin!” Jungkook snaps harshly, moving forward with three long strides, grabbing around Seokjin’s shoulders and pushing him firmly to the wall. He wasn’t rough, but he was firm. His thumbs pressed against the sides of Seokjin’s neck, holding him still as his arms tense. He was stronger than Seokjin, they both knew that and yet it didn’t matter as Seokjin didn’t fight back.
The elder’s eyes were wide as he feels the firm pressure of Jungkook’s thumbs against the side of his throat. He calmed near immediately, still breathing quickly and yet no longer in a hysteria haze.
Jungkook does eventually let go, but slowly and only when he’s sure that Seokjin won’t lose it again.
ii
It was like Seokjin had sought Jungkook out the next time that it happened. It was weeks later when he felt the edges of his sanity beginning to crumble and give way to the chaos that was his mind most of the time. He needed something to calm him and while Hoseok’s arms could be nice, they were nothing like the soft kisses from Jimin - but the dancer wasn’t around.
He remembered the next best thing just as tears were appearing in his eyes and his scalp was burning from the way he was tugging at his hair so much.
“Hyung?” Jungkook asked with a frown as he tugged one of the earbuds from his ear, bent over the kitchen table doing homework. There was concern in his eyes as he watched Seokjin move to grasp the back of one of the chairs. “Hyung, isn’t…isn’t Hoseok-hyung in his room?”
They hadn’t talked about what had happened before and that wasn’t normal. After each of the others had found their own way to calm Seokjin down, they talked it out, made sure it was kosher and just right. Seokjin hadn’t spoken to Jungkook. The moment that they had seen each other for the first time after the incident, Seokjin had returned to his loving, motherly hyung mode and made sure that Jungkook had done his homework and eaten dinner.
“He is.” Seokjin barely got out between clenched teeth.
Seokjin’s fingers were curling into the back of the chair until his knuckles turned white and Jungkook realized that there was a reason that Seokjin was standing before him instead of curled up in the other man’s arms.
“Hyung…” He breathed out just barely, taking out the other earbud as he very slowly rose from the table. It was almost an unbearable tease. It was purposeful on his part to move slowly, giving himself time to find a reason to back out of this. But he couldn’t do that to the man who took such good care of him. Seokjin had gone to someone before he was worked up in a state where he would harm himself more so than just tugging at his own hair. And that someone just happened to be Jungkook this time. He could handle and deal with it, he would do what was required of him.
He remembered the way that Seokjin had looked at him with such relief when he had pressed his hands along his shoulder and it was slightly confusing, yes, but Jungkook had an idea of what it was that calmed the elder man. He just wasn’t sure how to go about it without completely overstepping boundaries that the younger was sure were in place, or at least should be at this rate.
“Please…” The moment that Jungkook heard that soft plea from his hyung, he was done for.
He moved forward and grabbed Seokjin’s arm, guiding him until his lower back was pressed against the counter. His gaze was intense as he watched how Seokjin’s eyes were still pleading, begging for him to calm him in the unique way he had before. It wasn’t something that he could verbalize as it wasn’t even something that he had come to terms with himself.
Jungkook’s long fingers wrap around the base of Jin’s neck, a light pressure that does nothing to obstruct his airway and it was more than enough for Jin. The man relaxed completely, relief flooding him as he sagged against the counter and let his eyes flutter closed. It was everything right.
Jungkook’s hand stayed where it was just long enough and yet left all too soon.
Before Jin could properly blink once his eyes were open, Jungkook had moved back to the table, situating the earbuds back in and resuming homework, acting like nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.
“Hyung?” Hoseok inquired with concern as he came in to see Seokjin against the counter with his eyes closed. He was ready to move forward if it turned out that the eldest was having another one of his attacks.
Instead, Seokjin’s eyes opened and he looked at the other male with a small smile. “Yeah, Hoseok? I’m about to start dinner, did you need something?” His voice was airy almost, like he was out of breath, or like he had just had the best orgasm of his life. Either way, something was out of the ordinary and Hosoek wasn’t sure what it was.
“No, hyung…I’m good. I’ll…I’ll be in my room if you need me.” He said and took his leave after receiving one of Seokjin’s charming smiles that was meant to be reassuring but only ended up being suspicious. He glanced at the clueless maknae and just decided to let sleeping dogs lay for now.
iii
“I can’t get into his room, I don’t know what he’s thinking!” Jimin said almost frantically to Yoongi who was standing beside the younger male, both of them standing outside of the bedroom in which Seokjin had locked himself in. They could go in search of the key that Taehyung had lost to open it, but that might take too long.
“And you say he was already worked up when he went in there?” Yoongi asked for clarification, neither of the men noticing how Jungkook had peeked from his own bedroom to find out what was going on, staying silent as he just observed.
“Yeah! I-I was following him, I-I was gonna bring him b-back and he just-hyung, please open up!” Jimin had turned back to the door to knock on it frantically but they were getting nowhere. They could only imagine what Seokjin was doing in there and none of those things were good.
Without a word, Jungkook slid past both of his hyungs and knocked on the door firmly, but softly. “Hyung, it’s Jungkook. Open up.” Even before Yoongi could scoff and point out how that was doubtful to work, they all heard the door unlock and saw the knob turn to allow Jungkook inside.
“Hyung-“ Jimin had thought that he would be the one allowed in, but nothing was more surprising than watching as Jungkook took the offer and shut the door behind him, locking it for good measure.
Now that Jungkook was in the room, he realized that he had no idea what he was doing. He was out of his league and he didn’t get what he had thought he would do if he had gotten this far. But either way, he was the designated member that Seokjin needed right then.
And boy, was he needed.
Jungkook could barely see the outline of them in the darkened room, but he saw the large formations of bruises forming on Seokjin’s pelvis, just below the waistband of his boxers, but above his groin.
Seokjin’s eyes are red and puffy and he’s digging his fingers into his hipbones, feeling relaxed at the way the nails dig deep into his skin and he would have kept pressing until he bled if not for Jungkook’s interference.
Before Seokjin knew what hit him, Jungkook’s fingers were around his neck and he was bringing him back from the state they all hated. This time, more pressure was applied as Jungkook had the logic that a higher intensity state would need more force than he had applied in the past.
Seokjin’s breath was taken from him immediately and the relief that flooded through him was visible to Jungkook. He could feel it in the way his muscles relaxed, in the way his fingers loosened from around his hips and his eyes closed but not before Jungkook saw the gratitude shining in them.
They didn’t talk about why this worked, or the limits or the way they would tell the other guys, but they knew that it worked and they weren’t going to question it.
iv
Jungkook had his body pressed up against Seokjin’s, his eyes intense and his lips pursed into a frown as he watched the last of Seokjin’s tears dry away from his face, his fingers still shaking from all of it, but no longer about to lose it and possibly hurt himself more than he should ever think to.
The bruises on Seokjin’s pelvis faded and his scalp was no longer tender. All because Jungkook was more mindful of his hyung. He watched him more and it was almost a daily thing the two of them did. When they were alone, Seokjin would go over to Jungkook and run his fingers up along his thin arm, stroking just gently and casually, seemingly innocent. But it wouldn’t be long before he would be grasping Jungkook’s wrist and guiding the hand up to his throat. And whatever Jungkook was doing was forgotten while he watched Seokjin get his relief before they both went about their nightly business.
“This was close, hyung.” Jungkook whispered and Seokjin’s eyes shot open. They never spoke when they did this. Jungkook never spoke as he held Seokjin’s throat, having to go tighter this time as Seokjin had been worked up to the point he was nearly hurting himself again. “Why did you wait so long?”
There was something akin to shame that radiated in his eyes and Jungkook understood immediately. Looking away from Seokjin’s face, he looked down to his fingers to watch as he tightened them around Seokjin’s throat, the tendons in his arm twitching when he does so. And as he tightened his hand, applying more pressure and force, successively cutting off more of his airway.
He understood why.
“You did it on purpose.” Jungkook stated. It wasn’t an accusation, or a question. It was a statement of fact.
Slowly, Jungkook began releasing Seokjin’s throat, being gentle as he didn’t want to damage the beautiful throat that was too talented to allow harm to come to it.
But it wasn’t fast enough.
“Jeon Jungkook!”
Seokjin’s eyes widened as he looked over to see Namjoon and Yoongi standing in the door way, but it was Jimin that leapt forward, grabbing Jungkook’s arm and wrenching him away from Seokjin. All of them thought the worse, and that was obvious in how Hoseok moved forward after Jimin to grab at Jungkook and haul him away from the eldest. Jimin’s hand are curling around Seokjin’s waist and his lips are quick to touch the red and tender skin of his throat-but that wasn’t what he wanted.
“The fuck you think you’re doing?!” Yoongi was the next one to yell, watching as Jungkook struggled against Hoseok’s rough hold. “The fuck is your problem?! After all that Seokjin-hyung does for you, this is how you repay him?!”
Jungkook said nothing to defend himself, instead looking to the supposed victim in all this and waiting for him to explain.
“I-I-“ The eldest hesitates as he finds himself relaxing at Jimin’s kisses, but in no way to the same extent as he does with Jungkook’s hand around his throat. “I let him do that.” He finally managed out, not surprised when Jimin pulled away to look at him in shock.
And he was swear that among the confusion from the others, there was disgust as well.
Namjoon is the next to speak. “What do you mean, you let him do that? That’s…hyung, what the fuck were you thinking, he could have killed you.”
“I wouldn’t have killed him. I love Seokjin-hyung just as much as you all do.” He said with an angry huff. He tore his arm away from Hoseok, glad to be standing on his own now. He left no room for argument as he retreated to his bedroom where he wouldn’t be judged or accused of doing something terrible.
Seokjin let himself be released from a confused Jimin, bowing his head in shame as he left the room as well. There was a reason that he didn’t tell anyone of how the maknae would calm him down. There was a reason they had kept it between them. It worked and it was effective, but it wasn’t conventional.
v
Jimin had tears in his eyes as he watched Hoseok try and restrain Seokjin who was currently in the midst of a freak out, Namjoon and Yoongi both trying to calm him down with stern commands that seemed to fall on deaf ears.
It had been too long since Seokjin had had a relief and it had been such a stressful time for them all, Seokjin of course taking on a large portion of the burden himself because that was what he felt was right as a hyung. But now it was all backfiring and none of the usual methods of calming him down worked.
Hoseok cursed as Seokjin’s elbow caught his chin, jarring his teeth and cutting his lip unintentionally. He would feel bad about it later and Hoseok would never blame Seokjin, but that didn’t change the fact that it was startling. He released the elder man and watched with sadness in his eyes as he began to tug at his hair immediately, the tender scalp not used to the treatment anymore and so the pain was more intense. It was obvious by the sting of tears that they all could see blurring Seokjin’s vision.
No one knew where he had come from, but before they could come up with someone else to do, Jungkook was pushing his way between Namjoon and Yoongi and wrapping his hand tightly around Seokjin’s throat.
“Enough.”
That one word coupled with the lack of air calmed Seokjin immediately, so quickly that everyone else in the room was in awe, shocked that it wasn’t something absolutely terrible, it was actually something…of a miracle.
He kept his hand there for a while and Seokjin’s labored breathing turned into calming gasps for breath due to his obstructed airway and it’s only then that his eyes open once more, having closed the moment that hand had been around his throat. The exchange between the youngest and eldest of Bangtan was mutual, understanding that even though none of the others would understand what this was or why it worked, just that it did. And it wouldn’t stop anytime soon.