Detecting Falsehood

When all of our friends have disappeared again, Jungkook sits down, clearly exhausted by the highly emotional experience we've just had. "I'm sorry, I know they're our best friends, and they mean well, but that was the most terrifying and energy-draining thing I've ever done," he comments, rubbing his hands over his face and sighing.

I chuckle slightly, nodding in understanding, and sitting down beside him. "You wanna take a nap?" I ask out of nowhere, suddenly feeling a sense of sympathy for the boy beside me. He turns to glance at me in confusion, but his eyes are already sliding shut, so he can't exactly say that he wouldn't love to be able to just sleep for a while.

"Is that alright?" he asks carefully, the fatigue clear in his voice, and I nod instantly, knowing that he needs reassurance too sometimes.
"Of course it is. You know I don't care if you need sleep. I can tell we both need a rest. You're right to say it's tiring to be so emotional time after time after time. It might be nice to just be neutral for a while before we find my family. With our luck, they'll have moved anyway."

Jungkook shrugs, the logic making sense to both of us. "That seems fair. So I'll nap for about an hour, then wake me up and you can nap for an hour yourself, and I'll wake you up. That gives us two hours before we start talking about our next move. Does that work?"
"Sure," I agree, simply because I have no idea what else to say. It's a sensible plan, but it's just a shame that I can't sleep for longer. Even if we both know that staying in the same place for too long is too dangerous. I'm tired. Jungkook's tired. We're both exhausted by now, and that is a problem.

He smiles gratefully at me, the expression suddenly a comfort in the dark of this muddy tunnel, and I can't help but be glad that he's here. Sure, we haven't always agreed on everything, but that's okay with me, now that I think about it properly. It's just part of life. It's just part of being human.

Nobody can be perfect, I know that perhaps more than anyone. It's difficult to accept that sometimes, and even the most wonderful people make mistakes. Jungkook, no matter what he says, is not the worst person person I know. He may be troubled, but that's about it. We all have our demons.

I think it's better to be fair and view everyone the same. Even if doing so has basically ruined my life, and his, which could be due to sheer coincidence or our old gullible natures, our old trust in a world which let us down big time. Children can't prepare for every eventuality, after all, and neither of us could have predicted what would happen later on in life.

For a moment, we sit there in comfortable silence, then he shifts a little and lays his head carefully on my shoulder, his eyes sliding closed seconds later. I freeze in shock, the action coming as a huge surprise, my face warming slightly. But I can't move him, because the content expression on his face is one I've never seen, and it kind of suits him.

Guess I'm trapped here for the next hour then.

I mean, as I've already realised, it could be so much worse, when I consider everyone else I've had to deal with. He could be his twin. He could be his father. He could be one of the people who tried to kill me when I was five years old. And it's not like we're not friends, at least as far as I know. He's trusted me more than some of the others, and he's literally related to Jin.

I look down at him, take in the way his face isn't screwed up by stress, and there's no pain, no hiding behind some fake personality. There's just peace, which is probably not a common thing for him to experience. And it suits him more than all of the horror and the effort and the confusion. It suits him better than the fear, the grief, the pain of trapping yourself in a spiral of lies.

Jeon Jungkook is not a bad person.

The statement, even in my head, makes me smile, simply because I know that it's true. I would know even if I didn't have a lie detecting ability, even if I'd never experienced everything I have because of that stupid skill. I just know that he's more than this facade of being uncaring and manipulated. Like I know that the sky is blue, or that humans need oxygen to live.

It's just a plain fact.

He wakes up about an hour later, when I tap him apologetically on the shoulder to let him know that his allocated time is up. His eyes blink open like a kitten's, seeing light for the first time, and my heart jolts within my chest without my permission, something I'm kind of used to now. But this time, it isn't out of grief or shock. It's something new.

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing yet, but I guess I will have to figure that out over time. I don't really have any other choice.

"Ah, shit, what's the time?" he asks tiredly, without thinking, his voice lazy and low and dragged out. I shiver at the sound, somehow, and shrug.
"About an hour after you fell asleep," I reply simply, and he manages a sleepy chuckle, nodding in tired understanding.

"Fair enough," he returns, sitting up properly, stretching out his aching muscles and frowning apologetically when he realises the position we were in. "Sorry, did I lean on you? Did I hurt you?" I flush a little at the concern in his voice, telling myself to forget about it and focus on the situation at hand.
"Nah, don't worry. I don't mind. Easier to sleep like that rather than against a muddy wall, I guess."
"Good point. Do you wanna catch some sleep?"

I nod eagerly, yawning widely and lowering my head when I see him watching the movement. "I don't think I've ever longed for sleep so much in my whole life," I admit, only half jokingly, and he chuckles again.
"I don't blame you, it's been tiring these last few days. You can lean on my shoulder if you want, I'm sure you're not heavy. You don't look it."

I nod again, the action slower and shyer this time, as I shift in my position, trying to find some way of sitting that won't cause me to hate myself due to the pain in my neck when I wake up. That's always the worst part of sleeping like this, but I guess I don't really have any other choice. It's not my place to complain, when Jungkook and I are in the same situation in those terms.

I lay my head carefully on his shoulder, eyes closing of their own accord at how comfortable it is there. He moves ever so slightly himself, mumbling a small apology under his breath, one I wave away with a lazy hand as I slowly begin to fall into the world of my dreams.

It's strange. In my dreams, I never feel safe normally. I can have nightmares about literally anything, and never understand what's going on. But now, I don't think I've ever felt more secure. It's like I've finally relaxed. Fully, completely relaxed and accepted that the world is just the world.

I can't change it. I can't fix it. I can't solve everything. But I can try and survive, and just be glad that I'm alive and that those I care about are alive. That's all I really need to do, and I think before now I was trying to be bigger than it's possible to be. I'm only human after all, nothing more, nothing less.

I wake up an hour later feeling more rested than ever, somehow happy to just pretend to nap on his shoulder for a little longer. It's comfortable. I'm a simple child. If I can stay in a pleasant situation longer by being sneaky, I will.

I think that's fair, after the stressful time I've had recently.