Even so, Yoongi's heart squeezes tight in his chest with fear at the very thought of it. He's lost too much already. And he knows, some people lose more. Some people, the world takes so much, like Hoseok, without any parents at all, abandoned, alone except for them. He only lost one person, but when she left, part of him did, too. He's never going to be the same without his mother. He can only imagine for a fractured instant how lost, how broken, he'd be if anything happened to Jungkook. He's not sure he could survive another loss like that.

He hates that, hates how fragile he's become since she died. Even if he's decent at hiding it, he breaks more easily than he used to, cries more readily, pulls away too fast, afraid of everything.

Except Jungkook, Jungkook can see it. He knows and he stays.

"It better not," he whispers, gaze lowering briefly, lashes fluttering as he tries to steady himself against the very idea of it. "I need you too much. I don't ever want to be without you. Not ever again."