Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jimin’s drunk, bitter, and grumpy, and the storm raging outside is matching his mood perfectly. 

Jungkook stares at the water pouring out of the gutters, hitting the ground in a violent waterfall. "You'd think it's the end of the world.” 

"It is," Jimin says, pouty, downing the last of his drink. "And good riddance." 

"Yeah!" Taehyung nods with an amused smile. His hair bounces, falling over his eyes.  "Fuck the world!" 

"With no world, there would be no problems, right? No one to stand you up for the third fucking time in a row." 

He knows he’s being dramatic. He’s fully aware, and he also doesn’t give a fuck. Third guy to do this to him in a month. Third. Like he didn’t have enough to worry about between classes, group projects, assignments, exams. Dating was supposed to be the easy part of his life, the part that helped him forget all the exhaustion of the rest. 

No such luck. Not any luck. 

"Maybe it's because of the rain," Jungkook tries to reason gently.

Jimin glares at him. He’s too nice. Always trying to see the good in people. Well, Jimin was like that too, three ghostings ago. 

"The rain stopped him from texting me to cancel? The rain made him text me all flirty the whole week just to disappear on the day when we're meant to be seeing each other? Powerful fucking rain." 

Jungkook winces, sinking back into his seat. 

"Honestly, I'm done. I'm just—I'm so done, okay? Enough of trying. I am swearing off all dating efforts from now on until forever. Just focus on school. No more men for Park Jimin." 

"Extreme," Taehyung says with a whistle. "I like it." 

“You’re already focusing on school,” Jungkook says, still trying to be the soft voice of reason against Taehyung’s enabling. “How much more?” 

Jimin hardly registers their words. "I mean, what's the point? At least when I try with school, I get results. Right? I get higher grades. I get extra credit. What do I get, trying so hard over this? I just get stood up and disappointed." He huffs. "If no one fucking wants me anyway, better take myself out of the equation and do everyone a favour." 

"I don't think that's it, though, Jimin-ah," Taehyung provides. “What does being wanted even mean, anyway?” 

“Means never feeling like this again,” Jimin says, puffed up and annoyed. “Means…I don’t know, means feeling like someone looks for me. And wants me around.” 

“But that’s just a feeling,” Taehyung says. “How can you know that?” 

“Oh, please. You know when someone wants you. You can tell in the way they look at you. The eyes. There’s something…” He trails off, imagining. “Like they never want to look at anything else. That’s what I want. Someone to look at me that way.” 

“Most people settle for a hinge date.” 

“You’re not helping,” Jungkook mutters to Taehyung. He turns to Jimin with a sympathetic look. “I know what you mean, hyung.” 

“Do you?” He smiles, a little desolate. “Ah, Jungkook-ah, you’re sweet. I bet you’re a romantic, aren’t you? Bet you’ve never ghosted anyone.” 

Jungkook’s eyes widen. He looks down at his drink, and there’s your answer. 

“Fucking Christ.” 

Taehyung laughs, reaching out to pat Jimin’s shoulder. “See, if Jungkookie has done it—” 

“It means there’s no good men left in this world!” 

“It means, maybe it’s not about you. Most of the time, it’s not about you.” 

Jimin’s drunk mind does not like that. If there’s any night he gets to be the main character, isn’t it tonight, on the night he’s miserable and drunk, making grand declarations? It feels like it should be about him. Anything other than that feels like yet another rejection. 

The owner interrupts them then, ushering them away—Closing, closing! Too much rain, we’re closing. It seems Jimin can’t even drink his sorrows away tonight. 

“You don’t get it!” Jimin yells, to be heard over the pouring rain as they go out. He doesn’t have an umbrella, but he doesn’t give a fuck. Getting soaked will just make him look like the disaster he is. “You’re both—you!” 

The rain stops coming down on him, and he realises Jungkook’s run after him with an umbrella. It’s small and he’s got it covering Jimin, so his right side is rapidly getting wet. Jimin tsks and pulls him closer by the sleeve. “Don’t catch a cold.” 

“I won’t,” Jungkook reassures, falling into step with Jimin. 

“What do you mean, we’re us?” 

Taehyung’s following along in a leisurely pace, hood pulled over his hair. He looks stylish, somehow, like he’s in a music video. The light from the restaurant sign hits him just right, paints his whole pretty face red. No wonder he can’t understand Jimin’s plight when he looks like that. 

He turns to look at Jungkook, and he finds him already looking back, bright, wide eyes and cute fucking face. Wet hair is clinging to his eyelids, and he’s practically glowing, an adorable, handsome vision. 

“You piss me off,” he tells them under his breath, and Jungkook’s puppy eyes turn on instantly. 

“He doesn’t mean that, he’s just sulking.” Taehyung reaches them, slinging his arm over Jimin’s shoulders. “Isn’t that right, Min?” 

Jimin grumbles, “You don’t get what it’s like to fight to get noticed. You don’t have to.” Jungkook starts to disagree, but Jimin goes on. “And don’t say it’s not true, and don’t say it’s not about me! It is, it clearly is!” He huffs. “I’m sick of putting myself out there again and again for people to pull back and treat me like shit!” 

A flash of lightning illuminates the night as they almost reach their bus stop. There’s no one else there, the street eerily empty. All the better—no one to witness Jimin’s breakdown.

He might cry, if he wasn’t so furious, so bitter. “I just wish I didn’t have to try anymore. I wish that guy would come crawling back and apologise just so I can tell him to get lost. I just wish people would want me, and then I would get to be the one to reject them.” 

It’s vindictive, it’s mean, he knows, he knows. But he deserves to be dramatic, just for one night—

Lightning strikes then, right in front of their fucking faces. 

It’s loud and it’s crackling and it hits the bus stop sign, and they all recoil in absolute terror. Jungkook jerks forward, putting himself between them and the spot. The umbrella falls to the pavement.

Talk about dramatic. 

“Holy shit,” Jungkook mutters, reaching for their shoulders and checking them over, presumably to check they’re not smoking from the ears. “Are you okay?” 

“Spectacular,” Taehyung responds, and his voice holds just the tiniest note of hysteria. 

Jimin slumps into Jungkook, uncaring about how soaked they’re both getting. “Fuck,” he mutters with feeling. “Fuck!” 

Jungkook rubs his hands up and down Jimin’s arms in a rare show of skinship that Jimin is deeply grateful for. “It’s okay.” 

Taehyung wraps himself behind Jimin, leaning fully into his back. The wet fabric is clinging onto them, uncomfortable, but Jimin’s finally feeling a bit more settled, sandwiched between them tightly. 

“Let’s walk home, maybe.” 

Jungkook giggles and Jimin snorts as Taehyung drops a kiss on the back of his head and reaches for the umbrella. 

⚡

The next day, predictably, Jimin has the sniffles and a massive, massive hangover. 

Taehyung has shown no signs of life the whole morning, his room dead silent. He never surfaces before three pm after a night out drinking, so that’s par for the course. Two years into living together, Jimin could write a book about Taehyung’s schedule and habits. 

Jungkook, currently sleeping like a corpse on the couch, one leg fully off it, is a bit more of a mystery. It’s been about a year of having him around, since he moved to the city for his master’s in the same university Jimin goes to for his own. Taehyung and him were childhood friends—some kind of extended family thing, so he hung out with him a bit as a favour to his mom in the beginning, to help Jungkook get his bearings… only they ended up adopting him within a few weeks. 

He’s much too cute for his age. Every word out of his mouth makes Jimin explode in endeared giggles. He’s quiet and shy until he starts talking about movies, and then you can’t shut him up. He’s also really serious about his degree, which is why he spends most of the time in the library—same as Jimin. They’ve taken to studying together most days, so they’ve gotten close quickly, so much so that Taehyung teases Jimin over it behind closed doors. 

“Good thing Jungkookie’s straight,” he’s told Jimin on more than one occasion, “or I’d have to give you the shovel talk.” 

Jimin hovers over Jungkook on the couch for a minute, smiling. It’s a wonder he hasn’t fallen off completely yet. He slowly brings the leg that’s hanging off back on the cushions and Jungkook groans a little, snuggling into the borrowed pillow. 

Ah, poor thing. He looks so tired, still. 

“Hey,” Jimin says gently, kneeling next to him. “My bed’s empty. You can go there, if you want.” 

“Bed?” Jungkook blinks at him blearily, and despite his horrible headache, Jimin smiles. 

“Bed,” he says, patting his cheek and helping him get up. With a slight push, he sends him off, and Jungkook yawns and waves cutely at him as he shuffles away, closing the door behind him.

Jimin downs two painkillers dry and immediately reaches for the take-out menu. 

He needs soup. A lot of soup and fried things. Taehyung will be surfacing soon, so he needs some for him too, since he’s just as susceptible to colds as Jimin is, and Jungkook eats like the two of them combined, so the order takes a little time. 

He showers and feels a lot better with brushed teeth and clean clothes. After eating, he could do some studying, maybe, if his head feels better. Just a couple hours. He’s got a lot he needs to go over again.

Anxiety creeps in as he starts to think about classes. This semester has been kicking his ass, and he shudders to think about exam season creeping up in a couple months. 

He shuts that stress off forcefully and quickly—not today. He won’t think about that today. He has a bruised ego and a debilitating hangover, so he’s got enough problems. 

It’s not even about the bastard that stood him up. It will take barely a week before he’s a distant memory—it’s more about…

Okay, so he wouldn’t say he’s lonely.

He really wouldn't! He's got friends. He’s got Namjoon, even though he hasn’t seen him so much since he actually started working at the university. He’s got Taehyung. Living with his best friend is fun, especially when they have their little squatter join them.

School takes up most of this time, sure. But that’s just how it has to be. He needs to be the best, and he needs to put in the hours to do that. A few extra hours studying a day is all it takes to put him ahead of others—he needs to graduate with honours, find a good job, and that just has to be the priority right now. He’s made his peace with that.

So yeah, it's good. He spends most of his days busy, so he’s fine. 

He hasn't really been in a relationship, see. Everyone around him just seemed to slide into the dating life with ease—the latest case being Namjoon, further contributing to his general unavailability. Between the job and his boyfriend Yoongi, Jimin’s starting to forget what Namjoon looks like. 

He followed their story from the very beginning. The dubious flirting, the hang-outs that kept getting longer and longer until Namjoon would just get wiped off the face off the earth for days, only for them to find out he was with this new cool hyung, and then, well. Jimin only had to see them together once to know what was going on. They only had eyes for each other. It was beaming out of them, undeniable. 

Inspired by them, a little envious and a lot happy for Namjoon, Jimin tried getting out there. Bars, the occasional club—even a couple speed dating nights that amounted to nothing but awkwardness. He’s even been set up a couple times, but there was never a real spark. 

So he resorted to the apps. He spent precious time he could have used studying to set up his profile, to match people, to send messages, all for it amount to nothing, or even worse, to ghosting.

Maybe he’s just that unappealing. 

He says he’s okay with it—other than his little drunk meltdown last night, God, good thing most of it is washed away in the alcohol haze—he says he doesn’t have the time to waste on bullshit like this, and that’s true, but really, in his heart of hearts… He can't help but want it. 

He doesn’t need the sweep-you-off your feet kind of love—he wants someone to ground him. He could pass on big declarations, as long as the little gestures are there, the consistency, the showing up, day after day. 

But that’s the kind of thing that scares tinder dates off, so.

The doorbell rings, and his stomach growls as if in response. 

He rushes to open the door, forgetting he’s in old faded shorts and a stretched out t-shirt until he comes face to face with the delivery boy. 

He holds back his wince. “Hi!” 

“Delivery for Park—” The guy looks up from his phone and his eyes widen. “Jimin?” 

Weird. Do they know each other? “Um, yes. That’s me.” 

“That’s you,” the guy says, as if dazed. He hands Jimin the order and takes a disconcerting step closer. “You…” 

Okay, definitely weird. Better to get this interaction over as quickly as possible. “How much do I owe you? I couldn’t pay on the app for some reason—” 

“Oh, no charge,” the guy says with a wide, dreamy smile. “For you, no charge at all.” 

“What…” Jimin frowns. “Thanks, but I’d still rather pay.” 

“I won’t take no for an answer!” His expression turns pleading as he takes a step forward. “Let me do this for you!” 

“I…” What the fuck. “Thank you? Do I know you? Sorry, but I don’t remember.” 

“I’ve never had the pleasure.” He pulls a little notebook from his back pocket and shoves it towards Jimin with a pen. “Please give me your number!” 

Jimin takes a step back, genuinely starting to get freaked out now. “I don’t think that’s—” 

“Hyung?” 

Thank god. “Jungkook-ah.” He beckons him over urgently. “I’m sorry, I have to go,” he tells the guy before slamming the door in his face. 

He looks up at Jungkook with wide eyes, clutching the bag of food to his chest. 

“What happened?” 

Jimin explains everything hurriedly. 

“Hyung, I don’t think—” 

The doorbell rings again. 

Jimin pushes him towards the door. “You get it! Tell him I’m in the shower.” 

Jungkook looks confused, but he pads over anyway. 

“Hey, I don’t know how but I didn’t get the payment for—” The guy stops again, even though Jungkook’s done nothing but open the door and look at him. Jimin can only see his back from here. 

“Sorry, must have been a misunderstanding!” Jungkook says with all the kindness in the world. “I’ll go get my wallet, just one second—” 

The guy reaches out to snatch Jungkook’s wrist in his hand and Jimin jumps. 

Jungkook scowls at him. “What are you doing?” 

“Please,” the guy says with the same voice he used on Jimin, “what’s your name, beautiful?” 

Fucking really? 

Jungkook looks supremely uncomfortable, pulling away from the man and backing up. “Don’t touch people like that,” he tells the man. “It’s not cool.” 

“But I needed to,” the man says, taking a step inside with desperation climbing in his voice. “I had to know what it’s like to touch the most gorgeous—” 

Taehyung comes out of his room in a rush. “What’s all this noise? Some of us are dying here!” 

Incredibly, unbelievably, it happens again. 

The man re-centers all his attention on Taehyung, immediately forgetting about Jungkook and Jimin and going after him instead. “Oh, can I--” 

“Alright,” Jungkook says, exasperated and clearly weirded out, “time to go now.” 

He reaches for the man’s shoulders and shoves him out, despite his loud protesting. He slams the door closed, and double locks it, putting on the little chain Jimin never bothers with. 

“What the fuck was that guy on?” 

Taehyung, who hadn’t witnessed the beginning of all this, shrugs it off easily. “Who cares, is that dumplings? Jimin, my love, you got me dumplings?” 

“I got all of us—oh, okay.” Taehyung’s thrown himself at him, pressing a bunch of forceful little kisses to Jimin’s cheeks. “Yes, you’re welcome, you’re welcome.”

They start taking things out on the coffee table, but Jungkook still seems a bit thoughtful, eyes glued to the door like he’s worried the guy will push it down to come back in. 

“Jungkook-ah.” Jimin can’t help ruffling his hair, though he sees the way he goes all still. “Hey, forget about that guy. I’ll report him on the app and he’ll never come bother us again, hm?” 

“I don’t know, hyung,” Jungkook says, settling on the floor next to him. “I’ve got a bad feeling.” 

Taehyung elbows him. “Yah, can you both quit being so dramatic? We got the spurned lover over here, getting wasted over a tinder date, and Jungkook’s spidey senses tingling over a weird delivery boy, I swear, it’s like you want—” 

Jimin shoves one of the containers towards Taehyung. “Eat your food, already. That’s four take-outs you owe me, Kim Taehyung.” 

⚡ 

On Monday, something weird happens. 

It’s the end of his last class, so Jimin’s shaking the afternoon sleepiness away and already dreaming about the coffee he’s going to buy on the way home, when a guy gets between him and the door.

“Can I help you?” 

“Here.” A pen is handed to Jimin, and he realises--it’s the guy who was sitting in the front row. He’d asked for a pen at the start of class. “Thank you.” 

“Oh!” Jimin smiles and takes it. “No worries. Really, thanks for giving it back. Most people would just take it.” 

“Couldn’t do that to you.” Jimin laughs, but the guy remains ultra straight-faced, voice serious. “Couldn’t hurt you like that.” 

“Okay… thanks? Bye, now.” He tries to move past the guy, but he remains firmly in Jimin’s way. “Sorry, I need to be going.” 

“Can I have your number?” 

Jimin frowns. The guy looks—okay, Jimin’s not one to stereotype, right? Self-expression can come in all kinds of forms, and putting anyone in boxes doesn’t do anyone any good—but this guy looks so straight. He looks like he goes to bed hugging a basketball. 

“Why? Gonna need more pens?” 

“To go out.” 

“To where?” 

“Out. Date. You and me.” 

Call Jimin shallow, but if he dates someone, he’d like for them to speak in full sentences. “I can’t. Sorry.” 

“Why not?” 

“Just can’t.” He brushes past the guy quickly, darting away when he tries to catch Jimin’s wrist. “See you!” 

He rushes away, nearly running out of the building with a quickening pulse. He thinks about the weird delivery guy incident, and privately wonders what the hell is up with people recently, but he puts it all out of his mind soon enough—he needs to get home and get started on an assignment. 

Except on the way home, it happens again. It’s a woman this time, asking him directions and then refusing to leave, walking with him for two blocks. He has to take the bus, even though he doesn’t need to, just to get rid of her. He walks back home through unfamiliar streets, lamenting all the time he’s wasted because of this. The universe is conspiring to keep him from his revision, all while the last remnants of his hangover still dull his brain. 

As soon as he gets home, he says, “Taehyung-ah, you won’t believe the day I’ve had! I swear, people—what’s wrong?” Taehyung is curled up on the couch, pillow over his head. “Hey, you okay?” 

“My stomach,” he says, sounding truly, truly miserable—Jimin knows when Taehyung is just being dramatic for attention and this isn’t that. “It’s been killing me all morning.” 

“Oh, Tae-tae,” Jimin mutters, running his hand comfortingly down Taehyung’s back, and all thoughts of his strange day fly out of his head. “You think it was that take-out?” 

“Don’t know, but I called in sick to work again, and that bastard said to come in or to forget my job.” 

“Shit, again?” Taehyung’s been flitting from job to job since he dropped out—none of them have lasted more than a couple of months so far, but this one was brand new, barely out of the training period. “That asshole, I swear—” 

And because when it rains, it pours, his phone lights up with a chat notification.

hyung, can we meet? 
today? 

can’t today jungkook-ah, busy
and taehyungie’s sick 
is this what you want to talk about? did you get it too? 
we think it might have been the delivery 

i don’t have food poisoning
you really can’t meet? 
i need to talk about something

i’m sorry i’m really swamped with school work
i’d tell you to come here but i don’t want you to risk getting whatever taehyungie has on the off chance it wasn’t the food 
but let’s do thursday! he’ll be better by then
what do you say? 

okay
thursday’s fine then 

He spends the rest of the night at Taehyung’s beck and call, squeezing some revision in when he can, and he forgets all about messages and pens and delivery guys. 

⚡ 

Jungkook’s choice of bar is strange. It’s a block or two from campus, and by no means where most of the uni kids hang out. It’s stuffy and ugly, the last resort sort of place. Jimin’s a bit glad for it, though. It’s not crowded. He’s feeling a bit spooked about crowds right now. 

He can push all this away from his mind, though, to see Jungkook. It’s always fun to see Jungkook, and he’s hardly ever the one to ask, so this must be special. It’s nice to be out, too, after days of playing nurse and only getting out of his studying hole to go to class. 

Jungkook is sitting in a booth in the very depths of this bar, where the smell of smoke lingers the strongest. It’s so tucked away it’s not visible from the entrance, so Jimin wouldn’t even have known to find him without the message explaining his exact whereabouts. 

He’s already got three beers waiting for them, having not started on his own without them. 

Jimin smiles at him as he slips into the booth. “Jungkook-ssi, buying alcohol for your hyungs? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Don’t expect me to pour for you next time, I’m telling you right now.”  

“Sorry. Hi.” 

“Just kidding! Thank you for the beers. I’ll get the next round, hm?” Jimin takes a good look at him, noticing the nervous air about him. “Everything alright?” 

Jungkook only nods. Seems Jimin might need to get things rolling with the conversation tonight. 

“Well… it was nice to hear from you. We’re always the ones running after you, so I felt honoured, really, seeing a text from Jungkookie asking me to meet.” 

Jungkook’s still looking pale and worried, his leg bouncing under the table. 

“Hey.” When Jimin touches his knee, he stops immediately, as if startled. Jimin pulls his hand away. “Are you really okay? You look a bit sick.”

“I need to tell you something.” He keeps looking in the direction of the entrance, ducking his head down when some people come and sit at a nearby table. “But I don’t know how you’ll react.”

“What, did you click on the wrong streaming link and discover a new kink or something?” Barely any reaction--not even the expected embarrassed huff. “Jungkook-ah, you’re freaking me out. Whatever it is, it’s not that bad, is it? Are you actually sick?” 

Jungkook shakes his head. “No, I don’t—I don’t think that’s it. But hyung, I…” He takes a breath, and then says all in a rush, “Weird things have been happening to me.” 

Jimin blinks. “Weird like how?”   

“Like…” He sighs. “Like, I was at practice, just warming up. And this girl was in the stands the whole time. I didn’t really know her, but she kept waving at me and calling me over. She ran after me after practice too, tried to get in the locker rooms.”

“Who was she?”

“I don’t really know? At first I thought she was the girlfriend of some guy in the team, but then why would she be screaming after me the whole time? I asked the others and she wasn’t there for them.” 

“What did she look like?” 

A shrug. “Normal. Long hair. Short, cute.”

“I should know her then. Us cute short people all know each other.” Once again, the joke doesn’t land at all. “Hey, Jungkook-ah, that’s not that weird. Maybe she’s in one of your classes and thought she’d shoot her shot. You’re all worried about that? Did she look… dangerous, somehow?” 

“But that’s not the weird thing. That was only the first time.” 

Jimin frowns, something uncomfortable stirring in his chest. “What do you mean?” 

“Well, that was just Monday. On Tuesday, I was coming out of class—”

As Jimin gets through the first half of his beer, Jungkook tells him all about his week. Unexplained, random meetings with people he’s never met before, coming up to him and trying to talk: a girl chatting him up in line for the cinema while actively holding her girlfriend’s hand, a guy buying him a coffee without asking and then refusing to sit elsewhere. 

By the time he’s done talking, this is all sounding a little too familiar. 

“That’s impossible.” 

He looks at Jimin and lowers his eyes. “You don’t believe me.” He’s rocking the entire table from his leg bouncing up and down. “I know it’s crazy, but hyung, I wouldn’t just make this up. Please. I don’t really—it’s been days like that, and I don’t know what to do to—” 

“I believe you,” Jimin says, putting his hand over Jungkook’s on the table. This time there’s no start, so he holds on. “I do, I really do.” 

Jungkook’s eyes are big and vulnerable. “Really?” 

Jimin nods. “I do, because Jungkook-ah—it’s been happening to me too. It’s like—fucked up meet cutes, almost?” 

“Meet-cutes?” 

“Yeah, like…randos coming up to talk to me at the library, at the grocery store… even at the pharmacy! Really, who hits on someone at the pharmacy? I was right by the gut medicine. No one in their right minds would want to go near that.” That one had stuck with him enough to even tell Taehyung when he came back home, but his flatmate just shrugged and begged Jimin for a glass of water, ever the baby when he was sick. “Even happened on the way here! I told this guy his dog was cute, and he said no, you are!” 

Saying it now, he realises just how often it’s been happening; it’s been non-stop. Adding Jungkook’s instances to the mix, the dial turns from weird up to creepy. He takes a quick swig of beer to calm his nerves, but it sloshes a little on the way down, spilling on the table. He wipes it away hurriedly, crumpling the napkin away after. 

Jungkook reaches for the napkin Jimin threw and wipes the remnants of Jimin’s mess on the table carefully. “But if it’s been happening to both of us—” 

They both startle when the chair opposite them gets scraped back violently, but it’s only Taehyung. Taehyung in… a hood and a mask and sunglasses. He hunches over the table and looks over his shoulder like he’s scared someone’s following him.

Jimin’s mouth works before his brain. “Are you on the run?”

“You’re not going to fucking believe this,” Taehyung whispers. “I have had three modelling agency scouts come up to me to try and sign me.”

The tense atmosphere of before dissipates as both he and Jungkook exclaim in surprise. “What?” Jimin slaps him on the shoulder. “That's insane!”

“Yes, exactly. Insane. First of all, what the fuck. And then, this isn’t like, three people from the same agency saw me and gave me a business card. This is three different agents, coming up to me and hounding me to agree to a meeting. One of them followed me into the uni building. Security had to take him away!” 

Shit, yeah, that does sound less fun. “Why don’t I know about this?” 

“Jimin, this was all today.”

Jimin laughs incredulously. “What! You don’t leave the house for three days and then this? I’m telling you you’re too handsome for your own good, even after three days of stomach bug.” 

“Someone tried to follow you?” Jungkook taps Jimin’s hand, looking at him meaningfully. “Hyung.” 

“What the hell is going on?” Jimin mutters to himself. 

“Took the words right out of my mouth.” Taehyung takes off his sunglasses and points them at Jimin and Jungkook accusingly. “Which one of you set this up?”  

“Why would we set that up?” 

“To mess with me!” 

“Settle down,” Jimin says, pushing the beer towards Taehyung. “It’s not all about you, remember?” 

“Oh? Then why am I the one—” 

Jungkook cuts in. “It’s been happening to us too.” 

Taehyung stares. “Huh?” 

“Not modeling agencies. Jimin-hyung has been confessed to by a whole bunch of people, and I’ve had these weird interactions with strangers, too. Like, they’ll…uh…” 

“They’ll hit on him. Out of nowhere,” Jimin completes. 

Taehyung frowns, considering. “And you’re not pranking me?” 

“No one is pranking anyone,” Jungkook says in exasperation, a sight so rare Jimin is momentarily distracted. “Honestly, no one has the time to set it all up, and it’s horrible!” 

Taehyung squints at him for a second longer, but eventually seems convinced of his innocence. “Okay. Is this happening to anyone else?” 

“Like, our friends?” 

“Our friends, the news, what do I know?” 

“I don’t think so,” Jimin says. “I haven’t noticed anything weird. Maybe it’s a fluke,” he reasons. “A weird coincidence.” 

“What, everyone woke up horny every day this week?” Taehyung says. “Not exactly an expert, but I don’t think that’s how that works.” 

“Hold on, when was the first time?” Jungkook asks, leg still bouncing up and down nervously. “Hyung, was it the pen guy? On Monday?” 

“Yeah. And for you, the girl. At the field, Monday too.”

“Except, what if it’s not,” Jungkook says. “What if it was that guy. For all of us. Sunday morning. That delivery guy. Remember? He was being weird. He was being weird in this exact same way, with all of us.” 

This can’t actually be making sense. “Hold on, now. What would that even mean?” 

“A curse,” Taehyung says gravely. “We were fucking cursed.” 

Jimin blinks. “Be serious. There’s no such thing.” 

“What is this, then?” He slips his sunglasses back on, shoulders hunching. “Does it feel normal to you?” 

“Whatever it is, I hate it,” Jungkook says, voice small. “It’s stressing me out.” 

“But if it’s a curse, then why aren’t we affected?” Taehyung continues. “Jimin-ah, do you want to jump my bones right now?” 

Jimin rolls his eyes. “I hardly think all those people were after bone jumping—” 

“Are you?” 

“No,” he admits. “Neither of your… bones.” 

Jungkook hurries to add, “Me neither.” 

“Okay. So us three, we’re unaffected. And it started Sunday morning, with the delivery guy. Right? No weird incidents beforehand?” They both nod their heads. “Okay. So, that means the curse was activated Saturday night.” 

Jimin interjects, “Can we stop calling it a curse—” 

“At the bar!” Taehyung exclaims, looking at Jungkook. “Right after—”

“At the bus stop, oh my god, that lightning strike!” 

Jimin puts his hands up. “Wait, wait—stop! You can’t be serious! We can’t be cursed because of a lightning strike that didn’t even strike us.” 

“Maybe it was an omen,” Taehyung says, wide-eyed and passionate. “Maybe it was in that precise moment that it took effect.” 

“You’ve been hanging out with Namjoon-hyung too much.” Jimin leans back on the booth, crossing his arms over his chest. He’s starting to get a tension headache. “Omens and legends and things.” 

“Think about it, though, Jiminie-hyung.” Jungkook turns to Jimin, leaning closer with those big open eyes of his, honest and clear. He looks a lot more trustworthy than Taehyung in his idol disguise get-up. “You were raging against men and love and all these things at night. Swearing it all off. You yelled as we walked to the stop.” 

“And then there was the lightning,” Taehyung completes. “Jimin-ah, it’s you. You did this.” 

Fuck, what? Yes, he had felt like utter shit that night, wanting to curse the world and filled to the brim with frustration, but this? “But I didn’t mean that. Of course I didn’t.” 

“Well, then someone decided to call you on your bluff.” 

The table stays silent for a minute as the information settles. As much as Jimin wants to insist, wants to argue that curses aren’t real and even if they were, no one would be listening to him and his stupid broken heart, he can’t—because everything they’re saying is making a little too much sense.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters. “If I—if I was the one who did this.” He almost goes to catch Jungkook’s hand, next to his on the booth, but Jungkook pulls away, putting both hands between his thighs. “I’m sorry.” 

Taehyung kicks him lightly under the table. “Hey, don’t worry about it, Min. It’s kind of cool really. You brought a curse upon our house.” He plays with his eyebrows. “Kind of apocalyptic. I like it.” 

Jimin kicks him back, a little relieved. “Shut up, it was an accident.” He straightens up. “And stop calling it a curse. That’s ridiculous.” 

“We have a very strong spiritual heritage, you know,” Taehyung says, affecting the smartypants tone he likes to pull out sometimes. “Namjoon-hyung told me all about it.” 

“Does Namjoon-hyung specialise in curses?” Jungkook says, and they all huff. “I don’t know how many more days of this I can take.” 

Jimin turns to him again. “Whatever it is, maybe it’ll just go away. Fade on its own.” It has to, because Jimin doesn’t have time to deal with this, on top of everything. “You’ll see. It’ll be gone in no time.” 

⚡ 

Except it fucking isn’t. 

Every day, Taehyung comes back from his job search with more stories to tell. Jimin can’t do anything but listen, a mounting sense of dread. He’s not really left the house much in the past few days other than for classes, and he’d love to pretend it was just a fluke—but really, he’s worried. He doesn’t want whatever this is to get worse. 

But today he’s made plans to meet Jungkook at the library for some much needed cramming, so he grabs a giant pair of sunglasses, following Taehyung’s example, and makes his way to campus. 

Jungkook's sitting all hunched up on the back of the bench outside the building, headphones in, bent over his phone and decidedly ignoring the world around him. When Jimin plops down next to him, Jungkook startles so badly he almost knees him in the face.

“Holy shit!”   

“You almost knocked my teeth out!” 

He hangs his headphones around his neck. “You scared me! Warn me next time.”

“How am I supposed to warn you? You were dead to the world. I would have startled you no matter what.”

Jungkook leans down to check Jimin's face for any damage. “Did I get you?” 

“It's fine, I dodged it. I'm athletic.”

Jungkook raises an eyebrow. “Right.”

“I'm athletic!” Jimin protests, mock offended. 

“I didn't say anything.”

“Your tone said it all. You almost kill me and then you insult me? I'm having a horrible time so far, Jungkook-ah. Do better.”

Jungkook shifts and his knees get too close to Jimin’s face again. Jimin puts an arm over them, hugging them steady. 

“Really though, what if someone sneaks up on you? At least don't have your headphones on when you're by yourself.”

Jungkook chews his lip. He hesitates for a second. “If I look really busy, sometimes less people come.”

Oh. “How many today?”

Jungkook sighs, scratches at the back of his neck. “Two? And I'm pretty sure someone tried to catch up to me after practice, but I ran away.”

He sounds so tired. Looks it too. His shirt is all crumpled, his hair could use a wash. Jimin's heart clenches. If it were Taehyung, he would give him a tight hug, maybe tickle him until he cracked. But Jungkook isn’t like that, so Jimin needs to think of something else.

“Okay, get up.”

“What? Why?”

“I'm buying you coffee. Let's go.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm so nice. Up, up. Before I regret it.”

He pulls on Jungkook's bicep, and he scrambles to slip the phone into his pocket and pick up his bag. Jimin keeps a hand on his arm, shooting a warning look at a girl who was coming their direction. 

“Can you not drag me like that? I'm coming.”

“Since I'm so weak, you can slip away easily.”

“I never said you were weak, hyung, that's your own baggage—”

“Who's got baggage!”

He makes his voice as annoyed as he can, and it finally gets Jungkook to smile. 

Jungkook pokes him on the side. “So, this coffee. How fancy?”

Jimin side-eyes him. “Depends.” 

“On what?”

“On how nice you are to me.” 

“I'm always nice to you!”

Jimin sticks a hand out and counts on his fingers. “An assassination attempt, sycophantic assertions about my athleticism—”

Jungkook raises his hands in surrender. “Watch out, he's breaking out the lit degree.”

“—and you haven't even apologised. Do I have to beg for basic decency, Jungkook-ah?” Without a word, out of nowhere, Jungkook hands Jimin his backpack. “And on top of all that, you want me to carry your things? No, no, no.” 

Jungkook turns his back to Jimin and crouches a little. “Carry that so I can carry you.”

It takes a second for Jimin to catch up, but when he does, a smile breaks out unbidden. “Really?” Jungkook never invites this kind of thing. Once, when they were drunk, he picked Jimin up and spun him around as a joke, and Taehyung hasn’t stopped teasing him over it, so Jimin thought there was no chance he’d do it again—but here he is, asking for Jimin to climb onto his back. “Are you sure?” 

“To apologise for grossly offending my Jimin-hyung.”

Jimin seizes his chance and jumps up on Jungkook's back, slinging his arms around his neck. Jungkook barely seems to feel the added weight, and starts walking. 

“And?”

“And I'm very sorry I implied he's not strong and well-built and—”

“Graceful.”

“—graceful.”

“And?”

“...and?”

He pokes Jungkook in the cheek. “To thank me for buying you a fancy caramel macchiato.”

Jungkook swings his head to look at him, smiling widely. “You are?”

Jimin nods. “Because I am the best.” 

“Because you are the best,” Jungkook parrots, before adding, “at buying me food and coffee.”

“I'll take it,” Jimin nods, satisfied. Jungkook laughs, and Jimin feels it all over his chest.

There’s two people ahead of them in line.

“So, I'm getting you your caramel thing, what should I get?”

Jungkook shrugs, hands in his pockets. He always huddles half a step behind Jimin when they’re out somewhere, so Jimin feels his towering presence over his shoulder as a familiar comfort. “What are you in the mood for?” 

“I don't know, hyung, maybe you— should—” and then he sneezes so damn loud, Jimin winces—but the barista startles even worse, spilling some coffee he was about to lid.

Jungkook looks up wide-eyed, already apologising, and Jimin watches in real time as the boy behind the counter takes Jungkook in and gets that lovestruck look.

Jungkook doesn’t notice, too busy scrambling to reach for a napkin to clean up the mess. “I’m so sorry,” he says again, dabbing uselessly at the puddle of coffee. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“That’s alright,” the boy asks sweetly, not even sparing Jimin a glance. “You might find some way to make it up to me.” 

Jungkook catches on, then, eyes widening. “Oh, I--I can pay for that coffee.” 

“How about you pay for dinner?” 

“R-really, I can pay for the coffee.” 

“If you insist,” the guy says, and the way he leans over the counter to try and get close looks almost painful. “But yours is on me, handsome.” He winks, hand snatching Jungkook’s wrist as it was about to take another napkin. “What can I get you? Other than my phone number, of—”

Suddenly, Jimin is done with all this. He steps half in front of Jungkook, hand on his hip to keep him behind him, and says,  “A latte for me and a caramel macchiato for my boyfriend, please.”

The barista’s face falls so quickly it’s almost funny.

The boy looks at Jimin, taking him in from top to bottom and clearly finding him lacking. Jimin shifts closer to Jungkook instinctively, as if that will protect him from the scorned barista’s scrutiny. “Payment's card only,” the guy says with audible disdain, and turns away.

Jimin storms his way outside, Jungkook hot on his heels. 

“The nerve of that guy!” He huffs. “I bet he spit in my coffee. Sleazy ass—"

“Hyung,” Jungkook interrupts, sounding stunned,  “Wait a minute.” 

Jimin rushes ahead, library-bound, probably, but still fuming. “Who does he think he’s going to get with lines like that? Grabbing you? Really, can’t he see you’re not interested?” 

“Hyung!” Jungkook tugs him to a stop, and Jimin finally snaps out of it when he sees his wide eyes. “What was that?”

Everything that happened catches up to him quickly, and oh, instant regret. 

He feels compelled to plead his case anyway. “I’m sorry, Jungkook-ah, but he was about to leap over the counter and swallow you whole! The idea popped into my head and I just acted. I didn’t think.” He goes to put a hand on Jungkook’s arm in reassurance, but stops himself, figuring it might not be most welcome now. “It worked, though. He backed off.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Jungkook mutters, eyes on the ground. He looks so beat down, suddenly, like he just wants to sit down and cry. This coffee was meant to cheer him up. “God, today just won’t end.” He runs a hand over his face. “I've already had to turn down two people today, and class was shit, and this whole time I've been waiting for it to happen again and then it did and just… it never stops, does it?” 

The fight goes out of Jimin instantly. “Class was shit? The one you were writing that paper for?”

Jungkook blinks at the sudden change in topic. “I—yeah. Got it back. Barely above a fail.” 

“That's impossible. You spent a whole weekend on it.”

Jungkook shrugs, looking away. “Guess I wasn't good enough.”

God, he just wants to give Jungkook a hug and find a bed for him to nap in. “Jungkook-ah—'” he starts, ready to start the reassuring lecture he’s heard Namjoon give to his students multiple times, but Jungkook’s sad eyes stop him. “That sucks,” he says simply. “I’m sorry.” 

Jungkook just shrugs like it can’t be helped. He doesn’t look like he can handle another afternoon of studying without crying. 

“Hey," Jimin says on whim, "how about we go home and watch a movie?” 

“But, the library?” 

“I have a headache." He winces, hoping it makes his change of heart more believable. “I was going to tell you before, but then the coffee shop guy pissed me off so bad it made it worse. I don’t think I can study. Let’s go watch something. What about the sequel you were talking about?” 

“Oh, yeah!” Jungkook’s eyes light up. “Sure. Hyung, I think you’ll really like it!” 

When they get home, they find a fuming Taehyung pacing up and down the living room. “Where have you been! I’ve been calling!” 

“What happened?” Jimin checks his phone, and yeah, three missed calls. “Are you okay?” 

“There’s a group of girls who have been taking turns asking me to pose for their photography finals all morning. I turned them down five separate times!” He rants about it for a while, keeping up his pacing as Jimin and Jungkook sink down onto the couch. 

“I swear it’s getting worse,” Taehyung says, all worked up. “It used to be insistent, maybe one or two people per day. I had five this morning! It takes forever to go anywhere!”

Coming up short on any words of consolation, Jimin just offers Taehyung a bit of his coffee. 

“At least the barista from your favourite coffee place didn’t hit on you,” Jungkook says miserably. “Can’t go back there, now.”

“I can go with you again next time. Get him to back off again.” Jimin laughs, figuring this might distract Taehyung enough to calm him down. “Tae, you won’t believe what I did.” 

Taehyung listens to Jimin’s recap attentively, the anger draining out of him and being replaced with a different sort of wired energy by the time Jimin’s done. 

“Jimin-ah, that’s such a great idea.” 

“It was more a dumb impulse, but thanks.” 

“No, seriously!” He butts in between him and Jungkook on the couch, throwing an arm around Jimin’s shoulders. “It’s a good plan! Not for me, because my curse seems to be, like—business oriented, but for you two! Even for me, actually,” he says after a second, “could say my boyfriend doesn't want me doing that stuff! Modelling or acting or whatever.”

“Are you suggesting we do this again?” Jimin says incredulously. 

“Why not? It was effective, wasn’t it?” 

Taehyung is practically vibrating in excitement, but Jungkook pipes up from the side uncertainly.  “I don’t know about this.”

“Think about it!” He slings the other arm around Jungkook’s shoulders, linking them all. “Whatever this is, it’s getting more frequent every day. Maybe if people think we’re in a relationship, they won’t dare come talk! Honestly, Jimin-ah, I’m impressed. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this first.”

Jungkook’s still looking at them like they’ve gone crazy. “How would we even do that?” 

Taehyung scoffs. “Easy. Hold hands. Kiss on the cheek. Introduce each other as boyfriends.” 

“Hyung—” 

“Dude, come on. It’s really not that serious! Isn’t it better than having to reject multiple people a day?”

Jimin pipes in, starting to be convinced himself, “You said it yourself, Jungkook-ah, how hard it’s getting. How stressful.” 

Jungkook is adamant. “We should think of how to get rid of it! Research. Find out what's causing it.” 

"No guarantee that will stop it, and then we'd be screwed. So many hours wasted, hours I don't have.” Skipping the library today is already putting Jimin behind schedule. 

Taehyung's in full pitch mode. “We don’t know how long this weirdness is going to last. We can just try this for a while, see if it works. Bonus,” he says with a sleazy little smile, “you get to hold my hand.”

Jimin puts his whole palm on his face to push him away, rolling his eyes. “Please. If anything, it’s a bonus for you to get to hold mine.”

“Your hand is tiny,” Jungkook mumbles absentmindedly, playing with the straw on his cup. 

“Yeah, Jungkook, thank you for your input.” Taehyung slaps his thigh. “Come on. What do you say?”

Jungkook looks between them both. His eyes flick away, considering. He looks troubled about it, hesitant. It’ll be harder for him than for them two—he’s much less touchy, more private, reserved. But Taehyung isn’t wrong, here. It’s a plan, and a plan is better than nothing. 

“Jungkook-ah,” he says, as softly as he can. “Let’s just try. Let’s help each other, hm?”

Agreement comes a few moments later in the form of slumped shoulders and a resigned nod, but it’s agreement all the same. “Fine,” Jungkook mumbles, twisting the straw in his hand. “Let’s try.” 

Chapter Text

Jimin’s in a rush as he steps into the elevator in this building. He politely bows his head to the man already inside, vaguely recognising him as the neighbour from upstairs, but he doesn’t look at him twice—he’s too busy mapping out the fastest way to get to campus in his mind. 

The man clears his throat, and Jimin instinctively looks to him, smiling tightly as they cross eyes. Really, even if he’s a little late to class, it’s okay—he can slip into the very back row, away from others, and avoid speaking to anyone, just in case. 

“Excuse me,” the man says. Jimin doesn’t think he’s ever heard his voice before, but it already sounds a little too eager. “I’ve seen you around here before, haven’t I? You live on this floor?” 

“I’ve seen you around too,” Jimin says, faking a smile, stomach tightening, “with your wife. And your baby, last time. You make a beautiful family.” 

The mention of his wife and child does nothing to dull the creepy eagerness the man is practically exuding, now. He takes a step closer, so Jimin leans away, pressing himself to the wall. 

“I knew we’d crossed paths before. I wouldn’t forget a face as pretty as yours.” 

The elevator dings, door opening to a woman—and Jimin seizes his chance. He darts out without a word, brushing past the woman despite the exclamations of protest from the man, and rushes to the stairs. 

“Shit,” he mutters under his breath as he takes them two by two to beat the elevator down, “shit, shit, shit.” 

This, and worse than this, has been happening every time he leaves the house for the past week. It’s always different—the setting doesn’t seem to matter, nor the hour of day. It’s usually people around his age, but this man was in his forties, easily, so maybe age doesn’t factor in either. 

Every day brings with it a new incident and a new opportunity to put their new plan to practice. It mostly consists of handholding so far, and a couple very pointed my boyfriend dropped into sentences. Taehyung is thriving with it, seeing it as a fun little acting exercise. 

Jimin hasn’t seen Jungkook though; not since they made the plan.   

The campus is busy when he finally gets there. He’s glad for the cap he wore, as he weaves through people in the walk-ways on his way to his building, checking his watch—class starts in five minutes, and he’s about a seven minute power walk away, so it should be—

“Hyung?” 

He looks up to see Jungkook rushing towards him, fresh off the bus. He lowers the mask he always wears and reveals a pretty smile, and Jimin waves him over, a matching one forming on his face as Jungkook falls into step next to him. 

Up close, Jungkook looks a bit dishevelled. Hair’s a little wild from the headphones he always wears, something tired around the eyes. 

“Hey,” Jimin says, knocking shoulders with him when he’s within knocking distance. Jungkook sways a little, but lands back close, his bag pressing into Jimin’s hip. “Heading to class?” 

He shakes his head, one strand of hair on that wild head falling into his face. “Library. Assignment. Cramming. Kill me.” 

Jimin laughs. “Nah, I think I’ll let you suffer. Did you stay up late last night?” 

“Mm. Couldn’t sleep, so I watched a movie. And then a second movie. And then—” 

“Yeah, I got the concept.” He can’t help himself playing the hyung, though. “You should sleep, though, Jungkook-ah. How are you going to concentrate if you’re exhausted? I know it’s hard sometimes, but—” 

Jungkook leans further into him, looking worriedly over his shoulder. 

Alarm bells immediately go off in Jimin’s head. God, not another one. “What? Is someone following us?” He tries to turn, but Jungkook grabs his forearm in warning. 

“Don’t—she’ll just come quicker if you look at her.” 

“Who is she?” 

“She was in the same bus as me, she was all—glued to me, and I thought I’d lost her getting out, but she must have followed me.” He sounds like he’s trying to keep his cool, but he’s still clutching Jimin. “Pink skirt.” 

Jimin would have spotted her easily even without the skirt—she’s got the air of someone on a mission, brushing past people carelessly as she makes her way to them.

Shit, okay, quick: boyfriend mode activated. “It’s okay. We’ve got a plan, don’t we?” He thrusts his hand to Jungkook. “Take this.” 

Jungkook looks at the proffered hand, then back up to Jimin. “Right.” He takes hold of it gently, like he doesn’t know what to do with it. “Now what?” 

“We escape.” He tugs on their hold. “Come on.” 

They walk in silence for a bit, and Jimin’s never been so aware of Jungkook’s body next to his before, tense and towering above him. He feels warm, somehow. “Hand holding is going to pull a lot of weight for us, isn’t it? The ultimate couple thing.” 

“I wouldn’t know,” Jungkook mumbles, eyes darting to check if the girl is still there, “but it seems like it, yeah.” 

“How’s that?” Jimin readjusts his hold. Jungkook’s hand is limp in his, like he doesn’t dare hold on properly. “Didn’t you hold hands when you’ve dated before? Or are you a waist kind of guy?”

He’s really just talking to talk at this point to distract Jungkook, who’s gone a bit tense and quiet. That girl doesn’t look dangerous, but Jimin has to admit that being followed is a whole other level of insane.  

“What’s a waist guy?” 

“Self-explanatory,” Jimin laughs, “isn’t it?” 

Jungkook looks at him blankly. “You mean…being into waists?” 

Ah, this kid. Where did he even come from. Innocence pours out of him in disconcerting amounts, and Jimin is overcome, not for the first time, with the urge to squish his cheeks. “No, Jungkook-ah.” He releases his hand from Jungkook’s loose hold and wraps his arm around Jungkook’s waist, settling it on his hip. “See? Like that. Is this more your thing?” 

Laughable, really—it’s worse than the hand-holding, now. It’s like Jungkook’s barely breathing. 

“I don’t know.”

“Hey.” Jimin pokes him on the side. “It’s only me. I’m not much of a waist guy either, so help me out here, huh? Don’t be so tense.” 

Slowly, as they walk on, Jungkook does relax, a tiny little bit, into Jimin’s side.

People look at them as they continue down the path, but Jimin pays them no mind. He checks over his shoulder for the girl that was in pursuit of Jungkook, and sees her frowning mightily at them, but still keeping pace. Seems like Jimin’s going to have to walk Jungkook all the way to the library, then. 

“Although,” he continues his inane rambling, “I guess it would be the other way around. You’d be the one holding her waist, if you had a girlfriend.” 

The conversation does not seem to be working to ease Jungkook’s nerves. “I don’t think that’s it.” 

“Mm. So a shoulder guy, then.” 

“Not any kind of guy,” Jungkook says. “I didn’t really date before.” 

“What, at all?” 

“A little,” he concedes, “but way back. Middle school, if that counts.” 

“Aw,” Jimin says with a smile, picturing little Jungkookie, in a pressed white shirt and a backpack too big for him. “That’s adorable. You started young, did you?” 

He shrugs. “A girl asked me to be her boyfriend and I said yeah. That was all. We just sat next to each other when we ate our lunch. Didn’t even really speak to her.” 

“Why did you say yes, then?” 

“She wore black nail polish. It was cool.” 

Jimin laughs. “That’s all it takes, huh? You’re down bad for the cool ones? That’s your type?” 

“No type, hyung. I’m telling you I’ve never dated since.” 

“But you must have liked people. Everyone has a type!” 

Jungkook clears his throat. “What do I do with my arms?” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Like this I bump into you. If I let them down it’s awkward.” 

“Here,” Jimin says easily, draping Jungkook’s arm over his own waist. Jungkook doesn’t necessarily seem thrilled about it, but he doesn’t look like he’s going to faint, so. “Double waist holding. Ultimate boyfriend move.” 

“Isn’t that too much?” 

“It’s more comfortable, isn’t it? Plus, shows we’re clingy. Maybe that will get people to back off sooner.” 

“Let’s hope so,” Jungkook mutters, looking resolutely ahead. He hasn’t looked at Jimin once this whole time. It’s a little bit cute, really. Jungkook is always terribly cute, despite his protestations, and Jimin can’t help but poke at it a little bit more. 

“I don’t get it though, Jungkook-ah,” he prods. “How come you haven’t had a girlfriend since middle school? You’re gorgeous. I bet girls ask you out all the time.” 

Much to Jimin’s delight, Jungkook blushes. “No.” 

“That can’t be right. I bet so many people like you and you just don’t notice because you’re too busy with school and games and movies. I’m right, aren’t I?” 

“No one’s ever confessed to me before. Not before this.” He says it with a kind of resigned distaste that makes Jimin’s guilt flare. “And this doesn’t count.” 

He seems a little upset, and that’s not what Jimin wanted at all. He’s about to change the subject, or say something to comfort, anything to get that dejected little look off his face, when the arm around his waist falls away. 

“We’re here.” 

The library stands huge and imposing in front of them, students shuffling in and out leisurely. Jungkook looks behind Jimin, scans the area, and he seems to slump in relief. “Okay. I can’t see her.” He runs a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh. “I think we lost her.” 

“Good.” Jimin hadn’t even realised they’d arrived, too engrossed in the conversation. “First boyfriend mission was a resounding success.” 

Jungkook huffs a little, a release of tension. He’s holding onto his backpack straps like they’re the security bars of a theme-park ride. “Are you staying?”

“I have class.” 

“Right.” He nods. He looks between the library and Jimin, biting at the inside of his mouth. “Okay. Thanks for—” 

A girl comes rushing out of the doors, brushing by a bit too close, and Jungkook scrambles to move to Jimin in panic, arm wrapping around his waist immediately.

Jimin’s stomach tightens. He finds this whole thing annoying, but Jungkook seems to find it distressing. The guilt’s going to eat Jimin alive, at this rate. 

“Hey.” He puts his hands to Jungkook’s shoulders gently, and that pretty, spooked face turns to him. “It’ll be alright, hm?” A reassuring pat. “I went to the library yesterday. Just kept my head down and didn’t speak to people, and no one came to bother me. Two whole hours.” 

Jungkook repeats, like he’s trying to memorise a text, “Keep my head down.” 

“And if something happens, I’m one call away. I’ll run over so fast my lit professor will just see a whiff of smoke.” He chucks him under the chin. “Got it?”  

Jungkook’s eyes brighten at that. “Got it.” 

“And you know what I think?” He leans up on his tip-toes, close to Jungkook’s ear to whisper, “You have great potential as a waist holder.” 

Jungkook jerks back, flushing to the roots of his hair, and he disappears into the library to the sound of Jimin’s giggles. 

⚡

“So you just left him there?” 

“You say that like I threw him to the wolves,” Jimin says, looking through the menu. 

They’re in a place Namjoonie-hyung had suggested a while ago. In their infinite uni student broke-ness, they hadn’t gotten the chance to come yet—but what with the curse, as Taehyung has taken to calling it, and Taehyung once again puppy-eyeing his way out of his cooking turn again, they’re here. 

“And I told him he could call me if something happened, which means nothing happened.” 

“Jungkookie’s shy, though. He might not have wanted to bother you.” 

“He knows he can,” Jimin insists. 

“I’ve known him longer than you,” Taehyung reminds Jimin. He loves to do that, and sometimes it gets on Jimin’s nerves. Okay, they knew each other as kids. Big deal. It’s hardly worth lording it over Jimin as an argument every time he wants to be right. 

He holds his eye-roll back and changes the subject, not looking to be even more annoyed after the morning he’s had. “How was your day?” 

“Two proposals,” Taehyung says in a bored, flat way. “An ad campaign about a perfume and a man who just kept saying we’ll make magic together. Not sure that one was about business.” 

“Jesus,” Jimin mutters. “This thing just won’t stop, will it?” 

“I told you it wouldn’t.” 

“How can you know?” 

“I can sense these things. It won’t just fade by itself. We need to do something about it.” 

“We are,” Jimin says. “This whole fake dating business, that is doing something.” 

“Yes, Jimin-ah, but really, Jungkook was right. We’re just holding it off. We’re not actually doing anything to stop it.” 

This again. What exactly can they do? No one ever taught Jimin what to do in case of random love curse.

“If you’ve got a way to make this go away for good, I’m all ears,” he all but snaps. “Do you?” 

“You know I don’t.” 

“Well, then. I’ve got school to think about, I can’t just drop it all and start—what? Researching? How do we even look? News articles on lightning strikes? Blogposts about weird love spells? Maybe we should just ask reddit what to do when you suddenly get cursed next to a bus stop.”

“Alright.” 

“You’re busy too! You’ve only just started the new job, you need to pull overtime and show them good will, and Jungkook’s barely sleeping at night, working on school stuff—we don’t have time for all that!” 

“I said alright.” 

When the waiter comes, he pauses for a second before addressing them, maybe sensing the tension at the table. Then again, when he speaks, his voice is flat and bored, so maybe not. “Have you decided what you want?” 

“Yes, I will have the number 10, please.” Still fuming a little, Jimin points to the relevant section in the menu. “And a cold beer. Thank you.” 

The man writes it down, raising his eyes to Jimin. “And would that be—Would that be all, sir?” His voice turns into something sugary and strange, his eyes glazed over. 

Fucking hell. 

Before Jimin even has the chance to react, Taehyung takes his hand. “Yeah, babe, what about my order?” He smirks at Jimin, winking, and tangles their fingers together. “You know me so well, so why don’t you order for your boyfriend too, hm?” 

The guy’s expression sours. 

Jimin huffs in amusement, easing a little. “Of—of course, babe. Ah, he will get—I mean, the number 8, mildly spicy, for my boyfriend, please. And a beer for him, too.” 

“Thank you darling,” Taehyung says, bringing Jimin’s hand to his lips for an exaggerated kiss. Jimin kicks him under the table, but he can’t hold down his smile.  

The waiter notes down their orders, still looking pissed, but leaves them alone without further incident. 

Jimin tries to pull his hand away, but Taehyung brings it to his lips to scatter more kisses over it with loud smooching sounds. Jimin does burst into laughter then, swatting him away to get his hand back, and just like that, all is well again. 

It’s easy, with Taehyung. It just makes Jimin think of Jungkook, blushing and huffing and tensing his way through their walk earlier. 

He’s always been a shy person. Maybe he’s just not used to being touched with such ease. Thinking about it, he’s always looked at Jimin and Taehyung with a strange intensity whenever they would be touchy in front of him—second nature to them, but evidently striking outsiders as odd. 

“Are you,” he’d paused in mortified awkwardness, “together?” 

They’d both laughed in his face, which hadn’t helped the awkwardness. Once they’d explained things—Jimin being too busy to date and Taehyung having no interest in it, and that their relationship was just physically close because they both liked it being so—Jungkook seemed to understand. Still, Jimin got the impression he wasn’t all that comfortable with it. 

All through the meal, the niggling worry doesn’t quite leave him, but he manages to brush it aside in the presence of Taehyung. It comes back later though, somewhere around three am, when he’s hunched over the desk trying to catch up on revision, mind drifting back to the matter of touch. 

He thinks of random men, some of whom did get touchy. He’s had arms around his shoulders, hands at the small of his back, even someone who had the audacity to pat his head. He shakes his hand a little, trying to get rid of the sensation of skin on skin from weird strangers. 

Jimin’s issue obviously isn’t with touching. He can be tactile to the point of clinginess. Him and Taehyung are the prime example. He’ll always hug Namjoon-hyung too, despite his awkward blushing, and link elbows with him as they walk down the street. 

Jungkook is a whole different story. 

Back when they first met, Jimin had felt an instant kinship with Jungkook, somehow, so he’d thoughtlessly extended his friendly cuddliness to him too—but he quickly noticed Jungkook getting stiff under his touch, stilling when Jimin slung an arm around his shoulders, when he rested a hand on his knee as they sat next to each other. Though he never said anything, it was clear enough, so Jimin learned to suppress the urge.

Over time, Jungkook started reaching out by himself here and there. Little touches: a palm on Jimin’s shoulder, a tap on the back of his hand. A poke. He does love to poke, into Jimin’s side, thigh, and once, when he was drunk, Jimin’s cheek. And the piggyback—two piggybacks, now, but that’s the exception, not the rule. 

He doesn’t really know where Jungkook’s limit is. Taehyung doesn’t have one, but Jungkook is hard to read sometimes, which is strange for someone with such an expressive face. Jimin can see him holding back, but he has no idea what it is he’s holding back. Taehyung, for all his superior Jungkook knowledge, doesn’t seem to have noticed—or if he has, he hasn’t told Jimin anything.

He wonders if his aversion to touch is why Jungkook was hesitant to join in on this fake boyfriend plan in the first place. A hand on a waist might not be a problem for most people, but given how awkward and shy Jungkook had gotten…

Anxiety takes root in Jimin’s stomach. What if that had been too much for Jungkook?

He worries his lip, grabbing his phone. 

hey, are you up? 

A message comes seconds later, before Jimin even has the time to regret it. 

I am
why are you? 
why aren’t you practicing what you preach 

what do you mean? 

all that ‘you gotta sleep’ crap 

calling hyung’s advice crap??? watch it 

or what :) 

or i’ll come over there and give you a piece of my mind
teach you how to respect your elders
you don’t talk to taehyung this way 

yes i do 

yes you do, nevermind 

hehehe
it was good advice hyung, i just can’t follow it 
it’s not like i’m doing it on purpose 

why then? insomnia? 

mm yeah. a bit. my brain’s just full of thoughts 

a newfound experience for you
i understand how it can be unsettling 

yah!! who’s disrespectful now!! 

i’ll give as good as i get, kook, don’t test me 

Silence for a bit—dots appearing, disappearing, appearing again. Maybe Jungkook’s too tired to talk, Jimin thinks, so he quickly wraps it up. 

anyway, i have to go now, i have to study 
[photo.png] this is all the stuff i have to get through tonight 
and you need to sleep 

no promises

you need to try! 

I’ll try, i’ll try 

and i just wanted to say 
earlier 
did you have any more trouble? 

at the library? not really 
the librarian looked at me funny but i think it was because i accidentally blasted TWICE when my headphones disconnected 

okay, good 

oh yeah good that i can’t show my face in the library again
have to study in my dorm desk that’s built for kindergarteners 
the chair is so uncomfortable 

i’ll come with you again next time if you like 
like that you won’t be embarrassed 

okay 
yeah, let’s do that :) 

and any time you need, you just call, alright? 
i can’t help but feel responsible for this 
so you call me if you have trouble 
i mean it 

i will 

for real? 

[image.png] crossing my heart 

good 
now go to sleep

⚡

The incidents, as Jimin has taken to calling them in his head, do not stop—in fact, they seem to be increasing. 

Taehyung comes home with multiple encounters every night, business cards flowing out of his backpack. He swings between being totally unbothered and loudly pissed, depending on how many reprimands he gets from his new boss about flirting with customers on any given shift. 

“I wish I were flirting,” Taehyung says with a scoff on one particularly bad night. “At least that’d be fun! But no. You know what I had today? A man begging to leave me the law firm that has been run by his family for generations. He said he could tell by my jaw I’m a good speaker.” 

Sometimes they laugh about it. Other times, Jimin just lets Taehyung rant until the frustration settles. 

“I just wish I could make something out of it,” he says one night, staring at the fancy black business card he came home with. Jimin can see the word modelling agency in tasteful gold letters. 

“You can’t though, you know that.” He tries to be gentle, even though the very idea of Taehyung following up on these fills him with dread. “These people made these proposals out of some weird impulse. Who’s to say it won’t grow if you spend more time with them on a set? What if it’s dangerous?” 

He removes the card from Taehyung’s grasp slowly, and he lets it go. 

While Taehyung is incredibly forthcoming with his encounters, Jimin has to pry Jungkook’s out of him with subtle needling. Not too bad, is what he tends to say, but he still calls asking to be escorted to places, just in case. 

He asks it delicately, with a no worries if not air about him. Jimin does a lot of worrying despite that. 

Jimin had been wrong about hand holding being enough. People don’t register them as a couple—and Jimin’s getting angrier about that with every passing day. If one of them were a girl, they’d only have to walk side by side for people to assume they were dating. 

They’ve taken to walking with Jungkook’s arm around Jimin’s shoulders, Jimin tangling their fingers together over his own—settling an arm around Jungkook’s waist for good measure. They couldn’t get more obvious if they tried, and that finally seems to work a little better. 

Jungkook got all shy the first few times, tense and out of step. Jimin tried to ask, try to suggest something else, but Jungkook held on firmly, despite his cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink. It feels like his tolerance to touch is building up, slowly but surely. He’s rarely the one to initiate contact physically, but he’s getting better at asking for it—asking for help. 

“It’s not easy on him though, I can tell. And he’s still having trouble sleeping,” Jimin explains to Taehyung as they walk away from campus together. “He sends me memes until like, four am.” 

“Mmhm,” Taehyung says, clearly distracted. 

Jimin narrows his eyes. “And then he told me he’s dropping out to sail across the world in eighty days.” 

“Right.” 

Jimin flicks him on the forehead. “Have you heard a single word I said?” 

“Jungkookie something,” Taehyung says, rubbing the reddening spot over his eyebrow, “sweet baby something something.” 

“Not even close!” Jimin huffs. “What’s with you?” 

“Those two,” Taehyung says, frowning. “They just won’t fucking quit.” 

Jimin turns to where Taehyung’s subtly pointing him to and sees them: two girls, whispering to each other feverishly while glancing their way, like they’re formulating a plan of attack to kidnap Taehyung here and now. 

“They’ve already come up to me once. I've already told them I have a boyfriend who doesn’t like me doing stuff without his permission.” 

“Oh, so I’m possessive,” Jimin says casually. “Good to know.” 

“We're literally holding hands. Can you like, grope my ass or something?”

Jimin bursts into laughter. “Dude!” 

“I’m serious! Be more possessive, will you? Glare at them. What more do they need? Oh, god, Jimin-ah.” He tugs on Jimin’s hand. “She's coming this way.”

Jimin holds eye contact with the girl who’s fast approaching, raising an eyebrow at her. She falters for one second, looking unsure, but then she shakes her head and presses forward, coming towards them, leaving her friend behind. 

Taehyung’s palpable anxiety brings back those unwanted phantom touches of all those men, Jungkook’s sad demeanour that borders on hopeless the more days go by. The fear, before leaving your door, that harassment is imminent, but having to grit your teeth through it anyway. 

Would she come up to a couple if she saw them holding hands, whispering to each other? Would she interrupt a boy and girl who were clearly close and didn’t want to be bothered? Jimin’s starting to get really fucking pissed, here. Really, it’s punching those girls or something equally radical.  

“I'm gonna kiss you now,” Jimin proclaims, and before Taehyung even has the chance to respond, Jimin grabs him by the back of the neck and brings him in for a solid kiss. 

It lasts no more than a second, but the message is clearly sent. Jimin glares at the girl as Taehyung blinks in surprise, pulling away. Her jaw is hanging open. Jimin tilts his head at her with a smug smile, waving her away with a flick of his hand. She scowls, huffing, and turns on her heel, running back to her friend. 

His stomach flutters happily with the feeling of a win. 

It lasts all of a second before the truth of what just happened crushes down around him. Fuck, here he was, angry about people talking and touching without permission, and he practically jumped Taehyung like that—he wasn’t even thinking, he just did. “Oh my God, Tae, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry?” Taehyung exclaims, grabbing Jimin’s face between his hands and, oh, returning the kiss with a loud smooch. “You're a genius! God, it's been days with those two!”

Jimin laughs, relieved, surprised, and suddenly in need of a drink. “You didn’t mind?” 

“Mind? Jimin-ah, that has been the single most effective thing we’ve done so far. Forget hand holding!” he says, though he still grabs Jimin’s hand. “That's a great trick. We need to remember it.”

⚡

The days continue to pass that way, between classes, cramming, and being cornered by insistent love-zombies. The three of them become better at anticipating, accompanying each other to things as much as they can—buddy system all the way. Boyfriend system, Taehyung says smugly, a little too proud of it. 

But what with all the fake boyfriend duties, Jimin has been falling behind on revision—for real this time. His meticulously planned schedule is days out of sync, and today, he’s in the library catching up. 

He’s busy looking through the shelves for source texts for an essay he really should have finished a week ago, when Jungkook suddenly appears, looking cuddly in a way oversized sweater. 

Jimin can’t help but smile at his slow little shuffle. “Hey, you. I didn’t know you were coming today.” 

Jungkook waves a little, leaning his head on the shelf next to where Jimin's looking. "Emergency cramming session. Extra-credit paper.” 

“Wow, Jeon Jungkook,” Jimin huffs. “Here I am struggling to make it through the normal course load, and you come talk to me about extra-credit? How dare you?” 

“I mean, it’s because I missed an assignment deadline worth 30 per cent of my grade.” 

Jimin’s eyes widen, a sympathetic stab of panic in his chest. “What?” 

“Mm. Was gonna pull an all nighter for it. Fell asleep on my books.” He rubs his eyes now, looking barely awake. “Missed it.”

“You don’t do all-nighters,” Jimin says, and when Jungkook scoffs, he amends, “I mean, you hand in your work on time. You’re careful about it. What happened?” 

Jungkook shrugs. “I don’t know,” he mutters, fingers idly trailing over some books on the shelf in front of him. 

This isn’t the first time Jungkook has mentioned struggling. That other paper he failed, his general air of stress and frustration… Jimin’s starting to think this is deeper than normal school fatigue. And it rings alarm bells in his mind, because he's seen this before, almost bit for bit, in Taehyung. Turning in papers late, failing things he could have easily breezed through a couple months prior. Total plunging fall in motivation, spending his days procrastinating and his nights cramming, only to explode two months before the end of the year and announce he’s either dropping out or faking his death, but either way, he’s not making it to graduation. 

“Jungkook-ah,” Jimin starts gently, but Jungkook speaks over him. 

“Are you going to stay here long?”

It’s only because he looks defeated already that Jimin allows it. “Just need to check a couple books out and I'm ready.” 

“So like, fifteen minutes?” 

He narrows his eyes at him, suspicious. “Did Tae send you?”

Jungkook doesn’t even try to pretend otherwise. “He says you've been here all day and there's a pizza in it for me if I can get you home before eight.”

Jimin snorts. “He'll get it for you anyway.”

“Are you underestimating my abilities, hyung?” Jungkook seems a bit out of it, teasing half-hearted at best. He catches the hem of Jimin's shirt between his fingers, picking at it absent-mindedly. 

“You can't get me to do anything I don't want to, Jungkook-ah. Trust me.”

“I know,” he says, softly. He crosses his arms across his chest, leaning fully on the shelf. “What are you looking for?”

Jimin tells him all the books he needs for this paper. He also spouts off the list of fall back options, since he knows the university library isn't that well stocked. Jungkook’s eyes are closed, but he hums to show he's listening. 

Jimin smiles, endeared. “Sleepy?”

“Mmm, no, I’m okay,” he says, but a yawn betrays him before he can even finish the sentence properly. 

“Right.”

“It's because you were talking.”

“Wow, thanks. Why ask if I'm so boring?”

Jungkook's eyes widen. “No, that's not—I just meant—”

Jimin reaches out to ruffle his hair with a laugh. “I'm just messing with you.” He turns back to the shelves. “Go sit down, hm? If you’re going to fall asleep, do it on a chair.” 

Jungkook does push away from the shelves, but instead of heading away towards his table, wherever that is, he does something much more surprising: moving to stand behind Jimin, he wraps his arms around Jimin's waist, hooking a chin over his shoulder. 

Jimin’s stomach flutters in gentle shock. “What's wrong?”

Right next to his ear, a hum. “Mm?” 

“Is someone looking at you?”

“...Yeah,” Jungkook mutters after a second. He’s all warm and solid against Jimin’s back. “Yeah, it's—there’s the night shift reception girl, you know.” 

Oh, Jimin knows. She has given Jungkook trouble every single time they’ve run into her here. The familiar annoyance flickers to life in his chest. “But you turned her down twice already! Did you tell her you've got a boyfriend?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” 

“Well,” Jimin says, turning around in Jungkook’s arms, books momentarily forgotten, “let me just go make sure she remembers that.” 

Jungkook tightens his hold, eyes widening with panic. “No, wait!”  

He’s too nice—really, too nice. Jimin doesn’t have an issue being the not nice one when he has to, and he’s ready to give this girl a piece of his fake-boyfriend mind. “Jungkook, polite doesn't work on some people.”

“Don't go right now, just—just stay like this for a minute, she'll get it." His arms frame Jimin's waist again. “Please.”

As if Jimin can say no to that, spoken all soft, puppy eyes and everything. He sighs. “Fine. Let's just make sure she's really got it.” He locks his arms behind Jungkook's neck, stepping a bit closer. At Jungkook’s sucked-in breath, he asks, “Is this okay?”

“Yes, yeah. Sorry.” 

“I told you.” Jimin brings a hand to his cheek, tilting Jungkook’s head up to face him. “I’m here whenever you need. No reason to be sorry.”

Up close, Jimin can see how worn out he is. He can read the sleepless nights in the tired lines under his eyes. He traces them lightly with his thumb, and has the pleasure of seeing Jungkook’s eyes flutter closed for a second. 

“Have you been sleeping at all?”

“Ah, hyung.”

“So, that's a no.”

“I've been trying,” he says, pouting. “Does that count?”

Jimin's thumb is still tracing the soft skin under Jungkook's eyes. He hates seeing him like this, dimmed and tired. The Jungkook from the beginning of this year was a shy thing, but bright. He would laugh and tease and squat Jimin and Taehyung’s home all the time, playing video games, using their fancy TV to watch things that were too good for his shitty laptop… 

Jimin misses that person. Jimin really, really liked that person. 

Jungkook sighs, and whatever spell the closeness had cast on Jimin breaks. There’s the hush of the library, and then there’s whatever’s happening here between them in the tiny, negligible distance between their bodies, standing nearly nose to nose. 

“Is she still looking?” 

Jungkook flicks his eyes over Jimin’s shoulder. “Yeah.” 

Jimin turns to face the shelves again, breathing a little easier. He takes Jungkook’s hand and pulls until he’s got him snug against his back again. “Stay here for a bit, then.” 

Jungkook puts his head on Jimin's shoulder, soft breaths falling against Jimin’s neck.  

It takes a lot of effort to focus on what he was doing. His mind just hovers around Jungkook and his ever-growing exhaustion, the flat way he talks about school. It’s been going on for a while, Jimin realises. 

He doesn’t know how to help him. Getting him to talk about it might backfire, so maybe for the moment all he can do is make sure Jungkook doesn’t feel alone. 

Just another minute. He'll let them stay like this for just another minute. Then he'll take the books he already has, move away from Jungkook. He'll take him back home, Tae will buy him pizza. He’ll keep him there until buses stop running and offer their couch to sleep in, and then maybe Jimin will wake up tomorrow and that tight feeling in his chest whenever he thinks of Jungkook rushing through his day with his head lowered won't be there anymore. 

Next time Jimin checks, they’re alone in the aisle—the coast is clear. 

“Jungkook-ah, I’m done, let’s go.” No answer. He says again, “Let’s go, Kook.” No movement, which can only mean— “Yah, did you fall asleep on me?” 

“Mmm?” Jungkook stirs, a tiny bit of weight lifting off of Jimin’s back for a second before settling again. “Who? No.”

If Jimin sounds half as fond as he feels, he’s in trouble. “Liar.” 

His lips are right against Jimin's neck, making him shiver. “You're comfortable.”

“If you think I'm comfortable, our couch will blow your mind.”

Jungkook huffs a laugh. Jimin feels it everywhere. 

“Come on, baby.” He slowly unlaces Jungkook’s arms from around him. “Let's go make Tae buy you a pizza.”

Jungkook stretches, groaning a little. “Mmm, pizza.”

He turns around, leaving Jimin to stare after him, that tight feeling twisting around his lungs. 

He breathes once, twice, and then follows.

“It really is a curse,” Taehyung says over the promised pizza, after recounting the record high of eight different incidents of the day. “Someone cursed us. I was joking before, but actually I think it’s true now.”

Jimin squeezes his thigh in comfort and Taehyung takes it as an invitation, getting all snug and comfortable against his side. Jimin puts an arm around him.

Jungkook has been sulking ever since he finished his share, staring longingly at Taehyung’s. He’s crossing his arms, melded with the cushions, only nose and mouth visible from where he's pulled the hood of his sweater over his eyes. “I told you it wouldn’t go away,” he mutters miserably. “It's unfair, you know. You just keep getting business proposals left and right. You could make bank out of this.”

“No, he couldn’t,” Jimin says definitively. “It wouldn’t be safe. We’ve talked about this.” Long and hard arguments with Taehyung over this have always ended in Jimin’s favour. “No taking anyone up on anything.” 

“Yeah, but he could,” Jungkook insists. “Meanwhile, what do I get? Somebody literally sent their dog after me to catch up to me! It almost bit me!”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “You’re a weirdo, so you attract weird stuff. Don’t blame it on me. Also, excuse me, you think I’ve had it so easy? I’ve literally got to disguise myself to get home. You’d think I was a damn idol.”

Jungkook scoffs. “Oh, like that’s such a hardship. Oh no, my face is too pretty. Oh no, people are throwing money at me!” 

“What about Jimin?” Taehyung says. “Followed home twice this week! Can’t walk into class without getting swarmed!” 

“It’s the same for me! I haven’t gone to practice in weeks, let alone a game! As soon as people see me, they—” 

And Jimin can’t help it anymore—he just bursts into the laughter he’s been desperately holding in, watching their crazy ping-ponging argument. Between the grease on Taehyung’s chin and the way Jungkook looks like an angry fabric blob, it’s all just a bit too absurd. 

Taehyung looks at him, a ghost of a smile on his lips too. “What?”

Jimin keeps giggling, a touch hysterical. “Nothing.”

Jungkook’s eyes are darting between them, wide and interested. He looks so funny, just a ball of fabric with two huge black orbs peeking out. Jimin’s laughter gets louder, and he falls onto Taehyung’s lap.

“Seriously, Jimin-ah, what?” Taehyung shakes him until Jimin rights himself again, getting himself under control.

“Nothing, just–we’re sitting here, like, fighting over who’s got it worse because everyone’s too in love with us.” He collapses into giggles again, bringing a hand to his mouth. “We’re competing over it! Isn’t that crazy?”

Taehyung snorts, shaking his head as he considers this. Jungkook’s smile has been growing on his face slowly the more Jimin giggled, and now he’s laughing along too, shoulders shaking. 

“Beats never leaving the house again, right?” Taehyung says. “Hey, let’s make a list. The most extreme ways people tried to hit on us, and also the weirdest things we had to do to escape.”

“That’s two lists,” Jungkook says as Taehyung shouts over him, having expected the response, Jimin-ah, you first! 

“Jungkookie jumped off a bus ten stops ahead and had to walk half an hour in the rain,” Jimin offers.

“I pulled a fire alarm to evacuate the building,” Taehyung pronounces shamelessly. 

“Jiminie-hyung pretended to be deaf!” 

Jimin snorts. “Shit, that one was a disaster. I also hid under a desk to avoid that pen guy from class.” 

Jungkook chuckles. “Taehyungie-hyung leapt over a fence, didn’t you?”

“Sure did. And Jiminie kissed me a few times. That one’s pretty weird. But super effective.”

The smile is instantly wiped off Jungkook’s face. “What?”

Taehyung sniffs. “What?”

Jungkook sits up straight for the first time this evening, looking between them with a scowl. “You guys kissed?”

“Uh, yeah?” 

Jungkook looks to Jimin, like he doesn’t trust Taehyung not to fuck with him. Jimin nods, feeling a little bashful for some reason He grabs Taehyung by the chin, wiping away the stain. “We did.”

Jungkook frowning hard, like the information is just not processing. 

Jimin feels the need to explain as he wipes his own fingers down nervously with the shitty sandpaper napkin. “It was these girls that had been following Tae around for a while, and nothing else worked, so. Spontaneously, I just did it, and it worked.” 

“You said a few times.” 

“Since it worked, we kept doing it,” Taehyung says with a nonchalant shrug. “Grocery store, in the school cafeteria… Am I forgetting one, Jimin-ah?” 

“It’s really not that big a deal,” Jimin tells Jungkook.

Jungkook clearly disagrees. “You kissed.”

Taehyung doesn’t seem to want to help. “Several times.”

“But how?”

Taehyung smiles, teasing. “What do you mean, how? You do know how people kiss, don’t you Jungkook-ah?” 

Jungkook flushes, ducks his head. “Ugh, shut up, yes I know how people kiss. But you’re—I mean, how do you feel okay doing that with each other? Doesn’t it feel wrong?”

“Yah, where do you get off saying kissing me would feel wrong. Watch your mouth, huh?”

Jungkook’s not responding to the teasing, still clearly perplexed. “But—” Jungkook huffs, frustrated. “I don’t get it.” 

“Jungkook-ah, it’s really not that complicated,” Taehyung says. “Look, come here.  I’ll give you a kiss. You’ll see it’s really nothing.”

“I—hyung—”

Jimin slaps Taehyung’s arm. “Yah!” Taehyung and his bullheaded refusal to read the fucking room is going to give Jimin an ulcer one of these days. “You’re just saying that so you can cross him off your list.” Jimin leans towards Jungkook, lowering his voice like he’s telling him a secret. “Taehyung has a list of all his hot friends he’s planning to kiss. Don’t fall for his plan, Jungkook-ah.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Nothing to do with that! Just trying to be a good teacher. What’s a little kiss between fake boyfriends?”

“I thought you didn’t even like kissing?”

“It’s about knowing I could, Jungkook-ah, keep up.”

It all devolves into the usual bickering from there, so Jimin takes a step back and lets them as Jungkook’s expression eats away at his thoughts. 

It wasn’t quite confusion at the idea of friends kissing. It wasn’t Jungkook being scandalised either; he knows Jimin’s gay, he knows him and Taehyung are close. Could it be he didn’t realise that closeness could extend to this? 

Jimin had felt the urge to defend himself, to explain: it’s only for the act, Jungkook-ah, for driving people off. I would do it with you, if needed. 

He would, wouldn’t he? Jimin could. Jungkook probably wouldn’t be able to, though—holding a man’s hand is one thing, but kissing wouldn’t be as easy to a straight boy—so maybe it’s for the best the conversation had veered off before Jimin could pull that particular argument. 

⚡

In a blink, another week has gone by. Jimin has been consumed by classes, and in between those, by thoughts of Jungkook. 

The more he turns it over in his mind, the more Jimin wants to talk to him. Now that Jimin’s noticed the warning signs, he can’t help but want to help Jungkook in the way he didn’t manage to help Taehyung. But that’s not the kind of thing that happens in between cramming sessions in the library, nor over evening pizza with all three of them. When Taehyung’s there, things are always jokier, conversations veering off into silly things. No, if Jimin wants to get Jungkook to open up about what’s been troubling him, it needs to be when they’re alone. 

So one night, when Taehyung’s still busy with work, he texts Jungkook. 

want to come over for dinner tonight? 
hyung’s treat 

was taehyungie hyung’s shift cancelled? or is he calling in fake sick again 

neither
it’ll just be you and me 

at your place? 
ordering in? 

i’m a bit too broke for that >:( how about we make a fancy budget meal 
you’re good at cooking jungkook-ah, come up with something for me 

i have a couple ideas
you mean we’re cooking? at your place? 

sure :) 

okay 
yeah, i’ll come over then :)
should i bring something? 
like to drink maybe? 

let’s go do the groceries together 
just in case any cashiers want to jump my bones 

Jungkook looks a lot better than last time they saw each other. For once, his hair isn’t flying in unruly waves all over his face, but falling prettily to frame it, almost as if he took the time to fix it up. He’s even out of sweatpants for the first time in weeks, wearing some dark denim jeans Jimin remembers seeing last time they went out for drinks. 

Jimin’s glad to see it, so he remarks on it teasingly as he reaches for Jungkook’s hand to lead him into the supermarket. “You’re putting hyung to shame, Jungkook-ah. If I knew you’d show up looking this nice, I’d have made much more of an effort.” 

“It’s not…” Jungkook fixes his hair nervously, tucking a curl behind his ear. “It’s nothing. Hyung looks nice, too.” 

He reaches for the basket Jimin’s holding, but Jimin snatches it away. “I’ve got the basket and the list, you get the stuff. Nothing goes in the basket unless it’s on the list, got it?” 

Jungkook rolls his eyes, pulling Jimin ahead by the hand. It’s not long before he’s walking around humming to himself, plucking out anything that seems interesting and trying to argue its relevance when Jimin brandishes the strict list in his face. 

“I’m telling you, this is the best sauce,” Jungkook tells him, holding the bottle to his chest like it’s his own child. “I’ve made it with this recipe before and it’s amazing. So spicy and good. You’ll love it, I promise.” 

Jimin crosses his arms, struggling to keep down his smile. What’s he being so cute for? “And what am I going to do with a whole bottle afterwards? Taehyung can’t eat spicy.” 

Jungkook shakes his head, deeply cute and passionate about the sauce. “Hyung, I’m telling you, you need this. We need this. The meal won’t work without it. We might as well not eat at all. It will be a total waste.” 

Jimin can’t help but laugh fondly at his giant pleading eyes. All this over a bottle of sauce. “Fine, you win. Let me see—” 

Someone bumps into him, and his stomach digs into the cart handle uncomfortably. 

“Oh, excuse me—” 

It’s a woman’s voice. Jimin turns to say that it’s okay, coming face to face with one of his professors. 

“Excuse me!” He bows his head at her immediately. “I didn’t see you. I should have watched where I was going.” 

“On the contrary,” she says, and Jimin feels the creeping sense of doom as her voice shifts into something he’s never heard from her in almost a year of teaching. “It was my fault entirely.” 

“It’s fine,” he tells her as he watches the glazed lovesick look take over her eyes with horror. “Don’t worry.” 

“Jimin-ssi, I’m really so sorry. Please,” she says, in a saccharine sweet voice with the determination of the hexed. “You must let me take you out to apologise.” 

“No need!” Jimin grabs Jungkook’s wrist, bowing one more time as he backs away. “We’re in a hurry, we have to go. Please excuse us, gyosu-nim!” 

Safely in the next aisle, Jimin leans against the shelf, slumping a little against it. “Ugh.” 

Jungkook stands between him and the turn they took, just in case she comes back. “She's your professor?” 

“Contemporary theatre class.” Shit, did this really have to happen now? All those random people, each one weirder than the other, that’s annoying, but whatever. A professor though? Jimin’s fucking luck, really. 

The woman reappears at the end of the aisle, eyes lighting up when she catches sight of Jimin again. She waves at him cheerfully and starts to walk towards him, and Jimin panics. 

“Shit, she’s not going to back off.” He’s fucked, he’s fucked. “She’s not some random stranger I can reject. She’s my professor. I’m going to be in her class all year. Who knows how she's react when this goes away? Maybe she’ll remember and hate me for it. Fuck.” If only Taehyung were here instead. “I can’t afford to reject her.” 

“Let’s go.” Jungkook tugs at Jimin’s sleeve. “Let’s just go.” 

“Too late.” She’s waving at them, calling him over. He can’t move. Shit, she’s walking their way. “Fuck, too late.” 

He’s too busy spiraling about his academic career to notice Jungkook moving closer before he turns Jimin’s face and kisses him. 

It’s not a nervous kiss. 

Jungkook’s hands are sure on him. One still settled firmly on his jaw, the other gripping his waist. There’s no hesitation anywhere, and Jimin reaches for the shelf at his side for something to hold onto. 

There’s a second’s reprieve, the smallest moment where they seem to be pulling apart, but they’re brought back together instead—Jimin doesn’t know if he’s the one to press his lips to Jungkook’s this time, but it’s happening, and it’s dizzying. The shelf isn’t cutting it anymore, so he grabs onto Jungkook’s shirt instead, and Jungkook inhales deeply through his nose and tilts his head, pressing closer. 

Kissing Taehyung was nothing like this, is all Jimin has time to think before the kiss turning into a thing of the past. Jungkook pulls back, and Jimin can’t help but look at him in stunned silence. His hand is still cupping Jimin’s face.

“Okay?” Jungkook asks, voice a little rough. 

Jimin blinks, then nods. “Yeah. Yeah. Um.” He closes his eyes to come back to his senses, trying to think about anything other than Jungkook’s mouth on his. “Is she—” 

“She’s gone,” Jungkook says, nodding reassuringly. His hands have moved down to Jimin’s arms now, and Jimin can almost imagine them keep going further down, hooking around his waist. It’d be so easy to close the distance again, take one more kiss, and then another–

What the fuck is he even thinking? 

He steps back, putting some distance back between them. “Thank you. Good, um. Good thinking. Quick.” He picks up the basket that embarrassingly fell to the floor when Jungkook kissed him, what the hell. “Let’s go?” 

“Let’s go,” Jungkook agrees, cheeks a little pink. 

The way back home is excruciatingly silent. 

It’s never this silent between them. One of them usually will be talking the other’s ear off about something, but right now, not a single word is being exchanged. They’re just walking side by side, Jimin overthinking every single brush of their elbows. It feels like his lips are pulsing. A big neon sign saying this guy just kissed me with a big arrow pointing to Jungkook. 

Did they even finish shopping? Jimin can hardly remember paying, but there’s a bag in his hands and in Jungkook’s—the hands that were cupping his face—so they must have. 

This is silly. Right? This is silly. He needs to just say something. Break the ice. 

“You—” 

“Can I just—” 

Of course. 

“Hyung first.” 

“Okay.” He clears his throat again, just for something to do. “I just wanted to say, um, again. Thank you. For back there.” He nods. “I couldn’t tell her no, and I just didn’t know what to do, I panicked, and you—you came up with the solution. You saved me.” He smiles, a darting thing that lasts mere seconds. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome,” Jungkook murmurs. He’s holding the plastic bag with both hands, swinging from side to side nervously. 

“And I hope that I didn’t cross a boundary,” Jimin says, a little lower. “With the—um. Back there.” 

“You?” Jungkook says incredulously. “If anything, I was the one—” 

“No, no,” Jimin reaches for his wrist, “I swear it’s okay. You did me a favour.” He smiles. “And it’s no big deal, hm? I told you, I do it with Taehyung all the time.” 

Jungkook averts his eyes, still a little shy. “Right. No big deal.” 

“Right.” Chest a little lighter, Jimin sighs. It’s okay. Jungkook’s not mad. A little confused, maybe, like Jimin is, but not mad. “Ah, god. How awkward, huh? My professor, of all people?” He groans. “I hope she doesn’t do it again during class. Shit, what if I can’t go to class anymore until we fix this?” 

“Maybe she’ll back off now she thinks you’re…” He shrugs. “You know.” 

“Maybe my big buff boyfriend scared her off, you mean?” He nudges Jungkook with his elbow and gets half a smile for his troubles. “Scared her off real good. You’re right, I think she won’t bother me again.” 

“Even if she does, hyung,” Jungkook says, a little slow and hesitant, “even so, it’s the same for you. What you told me. You can call me too when you need it.”

Awkwardness forgotten, Jimin loops his arm around Jungkook’s. “Really? Don’t give me too much power, Jungkook-ah, I’ll abuse it. “I’ll be calling you over for any old thing.” 

Jungkook gives him a real smile, then. “I’ll only come if it’s curse related.” 

“Don’t call it a curse!” He slaps his chest. “Aish, you two, you’re so annoying. Why do you want us to be cursed so bad?” 

“Because that makes us the main characters. That’s what Taehyungie-hyung would say.” 

“Well, he’s a fool,” Jimin says with a laugh, heart feeling light for the first time in a while. With Jungkook by his side like this, being sweet and silly, he feels the very furthest from cursed. 

Chapter Text

Jimin is being stood up. 

He’s been up since six, submitted extra credit work for three classes, rebuffed two very insistent boys’ attentions, started and finished an assignment, and now here he is, alone, at the cinema for a movie he doesn’t give a crap about.

They’re late. Both of them. The movie's about to start, and no calls, no texts, no sign of either of them.

There's no fucking way he's sitting through this thing on his own. If they're not here by the time the trailers are over, he's getting up and going home and that's that. 

What are the chances that something happened to both of them? Did they just forget? How the hell could Jungkook forget? He's been talking about this movie for months. It’s the only reason Jimin even agreed to come to the late night premiere—Jungkook hasn’t been this excited about something in forever, and Jimin couldn’t say no, even though he knew he’d be a wreck by this point of the day. 

He jumps when he hears a familiar voice from the back of the room. “It started.”  

“It didn't, it's just the trailers.”

Taehuyng's holding a popcorn bucket as big as their bathtub, face half hidden behind it. Jungkook has three drinks in a cupholder precariously balanced in one hand and the tickets in the other, squinting at them in the dim light, trying to find their seats. 

They look ridiculous. A tired giggle escapes Jimin before he can hold it back, and some frustrated movie-goer shushes him aggressively. 

Jungkook's heard him too, though, head jerking up and scanning the room until they lock eyes. Jimin can’t quite see clearly, but he thinks Jungkook’s face scrunches up in a smile before he pulls the tub of popcorn with Taehyung’s legs towards Jimin.

“Hi hyung,” Jungkook whispers as he plops down to the right of him. He plucks a piece of fallen popcorn off Jimin's bangs, smiling at the crunch. 

Jimin slaps his hand lightly. “Don't eat that.”

“Too late. Here's your drink.” 

There's a giant coke in Jimin’s hand.

Taehyung says, “Here, Jimin-ah.” 

And a tub of popcorn in his lap.

“Where have you been? You almost missed the start.”

“Hyung's fault,” Jungkook says, through a mouthful of popcorn. 

“He's lying. How was your day?”

“Full. We're not meant to be talking, you know.”

“It's fine, it hasn't started, and I haven't seen my Jimin all day,” Taehyung says, pinching his cheek. 

“If you talk like this during the movie,” Jungkook warns, “me and the popcorn are going to switch seats.” 

“I paid for that, you uncivilised—”

Another mighty ssssssh! comes from a few rows behind them, but all it does is reduce them to stifled giggles. 

“That was fucking awesome!” Jungkook practically yells as they come out of the cinema. “Hyung, wasn't it amazing? Wasn't it the best thing you've ever seen?” 

He’s so cute, smiling wide with stars in his eyes, that Jimin can’t help but agree. “Best thing I've ever seen.”

“I don't know, I think it could do with some improvements,” Taehyung says, shuffling along next to them. 

“What!” Jungkook exclaims, offended. “No, you don't.”

“No, he doesn't, he’s just messing with you.” Jimin pulls Taehyung close, looping their arms together. “Let him gush, he's so excited.”

“Yeah, let me gush!” Jungkook says, and then proceeds to do just that, for fifteen uninterrupted minutes.

“Great!” Taehyung claps the very second there’s a lull in Jungkook’s tirade, rushing to change the subject. “Namjoon-hyung texted me, said him and Yoongi-hyung are at a bar closeby. Let’s go join them for a drink!”

Oh, there’s no way. Jimin was only keeping himself upright by bouncing off their energy, but there’s no way he’ll keep if they have to go to a bar. Not even the prospect of spending more time with the legendary Min Yoongi and seeing Namjoon in boyfriend mode is enough to entice him. 

“Actually, I'm kind of tired?” Jungkook says, thank fucking God. “And bars aren’t really good for—you know. Our situation. People will definitely come up to us. Can’t deal with that right now. Sorry.”

“Plus,” Jimin comes in as reinforcement, “we can’t just crash their date.” 

“But I want to go,” Taehyung says with a pout. 

Jungkook says, “Go by yourself, then.”

“He can't do that,” Jimin scolds lightly. 

“Well, if neither of you want to come, what, then?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I haven’t had dinner yet.”

Jimin rushes to endorse the plan.  “Ooh, that sounds good. Let’s do that, I’m hungry too. Take-out at our place.” 

“You're walking right into his trap, you know,” Taehyung scolds Jimin, as if Jungkook isn’t over every other day anyway. “He just doesn't want to pay for his meal.”

“Come on, Tae, we can watch a little movie, too, doesn't that sound so nice?” He slips a hand into Jungkook's, signaling with a squeeze, and his expression mirrors Jimin’s instantly, catching on lightning-quick. 

“So nice, hyung.”

Taehyung crosses his arms. “You both think you're so cute, don't you.”

“Well, yeah.” Jimin smiles his cutest smile. “Please?”

Taehyung keeps the serious face on for two more seconds and then cracks, thus admitting defeat.  

Jungkook slings his unoccupied arm around Taehyung's shoulders. “Yeah!”

He squints suspiciously at Jungkook. “That’s a lot of energy for someone who’s tired.”

Jungkook immediately slumps over Taehyung’s shoulder, putting all his weight on him. “So tired."

Taehyung laughs and pushes him off, to Jimin’s side, and Jungkook doesn’t move away.  

The delivery goes off without a hitch this time, and then it’s just them and their weight in take-out sprawled over the living room floor. 

Jungkook sighs in perfect contentment through a mouthful of noodles. “Ugh, what's better than a night in with a mountain of food?” 

“It'd be better if we didn't see the food being chewed, actually,” Jimin says, tapping at Jungkook's chin with the end of his chopsticks. 

“Sorry. It's just so good.” Jungkook raises a bite up to Jimin's mouth. He’s right; it’s delicious.

Jimin has been watching him like a hawk for signs of awkwardness, but there’s been nothing different about Jungkook since the little incident at the supermarket. They haven’t talked about it, either. Jungkook seems to have forgotten it entirely. 

It should be a relief. 

It is. 

It is, but something still isn’t sitting right with Jimin. Probably the fact he didn’t get to talk to Jungkook about school—he’d been way too frazzled, afterwards, and it hadn’t felt like a night for serious conversation. 

He hasn’t forgotten about it, though. If school is making Jungkook miserable to the point Jimin suspects, then he needs to at least be able to talk about it with someone. 

At least Jungkook seems to be feeling well today. He was so excited about his premiere, so satisfied with the food—its making Jimin feel better about today too by proxy. 

The last vestiges of Jimin’s bad mood have only just washed away when Taehyung decides to fuck it up again. “Jimin-ah, did you submit those papers? Did you make it in time?” 

Jimin shoots Taehyung a look. “Yeah.”

“Papers?” Jungkook says, wide-eyed. “Plural? Jimin-hyung! Why didn't you say you had deadlines?” 

“The deadline wasn’t until tomorrow,” Taehyung says, “but you wanted to go to the movie.” 

“We could have gone out tomorrow!”

“It's fine,” Jimin says, and stuffs some meat into Jungkook's open mouth. 

“It's not!”

“Don't chew at me.”

Jungkook scowls and swallows. “I bet you barely slept last night to write them.”

“I slept fine.”

“He went to sleep at 4am, I heard him.”

Jimin slaps Taehyung’s arm, hissing, “Will you stop.”

Taehyung innocently munches on some chicken, either unaware or uncaring of the damage he’s caused.

Said damage is plain to see on Jungkook’s sad little face. “We could have just done this tomorrow! Did you even enjoy the movie?” 

“Of course I did! I told you, didn't I?”

Jungkook frowns at him, unconvinced. “The point of going tonight was to enjoy it together,” he says, and Jimin feels that all too familiar urge to crush him in a hug until all his worries fall away. “Not to see it first. I didn’t mean to be pushy about it.” 

“You weren’t, Jungkook-ah, we agreed! I agreed. I wanted to come. Look,” Jimin says, speaking softer now, “what if I choose the movie we watch tonight, hm? To even it out.” 

“If you choose another fucking rom-com,” Taehyung starts, but Jungkook interrupts, nodding eagerly at the idea of justice restored. 

“Yes! Let’s do it!” 

It’s mostly to get that sad, guilty little look off Jungkook’s face, but Jimin can’t deny that settling down to watch his favourite movie at the end of a long day (at the end of a long week, in the middle of a long year) is more than welcome. 

He’s ready to turn his brain off for the night, but Jungkook pokes him in the side, face still all conflicted, and okay, Jimin needs to deal with that first. 

He leans in close, whispering, “I had a really good time. I promise.” 

“But you were so tired.”

Jimin waves a hand, dismissive. “But I was with you.”  

Jungkook’s expression softens before a frown comes to settle on his face. He just keeps looking at Jimin, and Jimin doesn’t know what else to say to get him to shed this unnecessary guilt over such a small thing. He’s a little distracted, too, by how close Jungkook is. Last time they were this close, they were kissing. 

Jimin’s been trying not to think about that kiss, and it’s been going about as well as one would expect. If he had to choose a word, it would be haunted. 

He can recall the feeling of it so vividly. The tight, surprised feeling in the pit of his stomach relaxing the more Jungkook kissed him, and kissed him so well… Who knew Jeon Jungkook could kiss like that? One middle school girlfriend, his ass. No one gets that good at kissing without practice. 

Taehyung puts his head on Jimin’s shoulder, thankfully breaking him out of the trance he was in looking at Jungkook’s mouth. “What are we whispering about?” 

“Nothing,” Jimin says, and presses a kiss to the top of Taehyung's head, turning his inappropriate kissing thoughts into wholesome kissing actions. “Watch the movie.” 

“Please, as if I don’t know it by heart already,” Taehyung grumbles, but lies down comfortably, legs over Jimin and Jungkook's laps.

The two of them fall silent as the movie begins, but Jimin can't settle. He keeps wanting to change position, fidgeting. He’s wired now, all of a sudden, mind flooding with the thoughts he can’t seem to escape, especially now he can feel Jungkook so close again. It’s like his proximity has awakened something in him, and he’s not handling it very well at all. 

To his immense surprise, from one second to the other, he finds himself pulled closer, pressed fully to Jungkook’s side. 

Jungkook very pointedly doesn’t look at him. “Settle down, okay? Watch the movie.” 

Jimin nods, feeling less wired already. Who knew his Jungkook is too close problem would be solved by having Jungkook even closer? He gets comfortable all snuggled up against Jungkook’s chest. “Sorry. Do you like it? You haven't seen it before right?”

“Ah, no. Never. It's cute.”

“Cute?” Jimin lifts his head up a little, smiling up at Jungkook. 

Jungkook nods, finally catching Jimin’s eye again. “Cute.” 

Jimin chucks him under the chin because he can, because he’s close, and Jungkook’s eyeroll makes him laugh. 

Finally, he can relax; the food in his belly, the weight of Taehyung's legs on his lap, the warmth of Jungkook all pressed around him—Jimin can feel the tension melt out of him minute by minute. 

“You like romance movies, don’t you?” Jungkook whispers from above him. 

“Mm,” Jimin says, comfortably drifting. “I do.” 

“Let’s watch one together sometime.” 

Jimin smiles. “Other than this one?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Taehyungie doesn’t like them,” Jimin whispers. “He only tolerates this one because it’s my favourite. It would have to be just us.” 

Jungkook hums. “Okay.” Eventually, his cheek comes to rest on top of Jimin’s head. “It’s a bit like a movie, what’s happening to us. Isn’t it?” 

“If it is, someone wrote it weird,” Jimin says, really finding it hard now to not slur his words. “Movies are supposed to be interesting. And they’re meant to make sense. Nothing about what’s happening to us is making sense.”

“Yeah, I guess… I guess if this were a movie, there would be a clue about how to solve things, right? In the beginning.” He hums again, consideringly. “Do you remember anything from that night?” 

“With all that drinking we did? Not really. Only sobered up after the lightning almost hit us.” 

Jungkook snorts. “Right. Crazy.” 

“Crazy,” Jimin agrees. 

“I remember one thing from the bar,” Taehyung pipes up—Jimin jerks a little, having thought him asleep. “You were going on about looks.”

“Like, visuals?” 

“Like people looking at you like they want you,” Taehyung says, cheek squished into the pillow. “I remember it because I thought it was silly. No offence. Something about looking at you like they want you. You said it again and again.”

He lets the silly comment slide, trying to focus back on the movie, but minute by minute, disjointed images start slowly resurfacing, one after another. Sunglasses and caps and kept my head down, two whole hours. Meeting people’s eyes just to see that creepy glaze come over them. 

He mutters, “Looking… “ 

In Jimin’s tired brain, something clicks. 

“What if that’s how it starts? With a look.”

Taehyung frowns, confused. “Huh?” 

“Eye contact. Think about it! Not everyone comes to us, but the people who do—isn’t it always after making eye contact?” 

“I don’t know,” Taehyung mutters. “Is it?” 

“That weird delivery guy we opened the door for, the day it started—it switched on as soon as he looked us in the eye! I always get bothered the least in the library, because everyone’s got their nose stuffed in a book!” 

The more Jimin thinks about it, the more it makes sense. Catching people’s eye in the street, the elevator, the convenience store, the coffee shop… He can’t know a hundred percent, but this feels right. 

“In that case, we just have to avoid catching people’s eye, then.” 

“Until when?” Jungkook’s been staring at him silently this whole time and now Jimin stares back, still so close. “Until it fades?” 

“We can talk to Namjoonie-hyung.” 

“Tae,” Jimin starts to protest, but Jungkook asks over him, “What about him?” 

“He studies folklore for a living. He’s read into all kinds of spiritual stuff. If there is a precedent for this sort of thing, he’ll know. And now we know a bit more about it, about what activates it, we can give him something to work with.” He looks at Jimin. “Come on, Jimin-ah. Let’s get coffee with him, tomorrow. Just an hour before class. We’ll tell him what’s going on and he can look for a way to help. An hour isn’t anything, is it?” 

Jimin looks between them: Taehyung and his bright eager eyes, Jungkook and his worry-bitten lips. 

They’d been smoother when Jimin kissed them. He wants to press his thumb to them, then chase it with his mouth, but those are the thoughts of the stressed and exhausted and lonely—so instead, he finds the last remnants of reason and agrees, “One hour.” 

⚡

Namjoon joins them already confused. “Hey, sorry I’m late, I was halfway to our usual place by the time I remembered.” 

“Can’t go there anymore,” Taehyung says, patting the chair next to him for Namjoon to sit on. “The barista hits on Jungkook every time.” 

“Even after we pulled the boyfriend trick,” Jimin says, ticked off even at the thought. “The nerve of that guy, I swear.” 

Taehyung stares at him provocatively. “You’re just mad because he doesn’t see you as a threat.” 

“He should,” Jimin fires back. “I’m his boyfriend, he should show some damn respect.”

“You’re not really his boyfriend.”

“That guy doesn’t know that!” 

“So, your text,” Namjoon says, cutting in before they can continue. “You weren’t fucking with me?” Three heads shake no at the same time. “People hit on you. Everywhere you go.” 

“Compulsively. It all started one night, when we all got drunk and Jimin—” 

“Let’s spare hyung the details,” Jimin says quickly, sick to death of thinking about that night, “but basically, I wished for something off the cuff and then lightning almost struck us and now we’re… ” 

“Cursed,” Jungkook supplies. 

“In a pickle,” Jimin corrects. 

“So we’ve tried to get around this curse,” Taehyung says pointedly, an insufferable arch to his eyebrows, “by pretending we’re dating each other. Gets rid of people quicker.”

“Compulsively,” Namjoon mutters, repeating Taehyung’s word from before. “That’s fascinating. Can I see it? Can you do it now?”

“We can do it anytime, any place.” Taehyung gets up. “I got you, hyung. We’ve been meaning to test a theory, too.” 

He walks slowly to the counter, where the barista has been looking bored out of their mind, picks up an extra napkin, and—

“There it is,” Jimin mutters as their eyes meet, the glaze taking over immediately.  

“Shit,” Jungkook hisses, and Jimin catches him ducking his head down at the same time that a guy gets up from a nearby table and makes his way decisively towards them.

Jimin scoffs, out of his seat and into Jungkook's lap in a flash. 

Namjoon watches it all happen with wide eyes. “Wow. You guys really weren't exaggerating.”

Jimin glares at the guy until he backs off, wrapping Jungkook’s arms around his waist for the extra bit of fuck you. “I wish we were.” 

Jungkook peeks from behind Jimin, carefully checking if the coast is clear. Relieved, he pushes his forehead against Jimin’s nape for the duration of a sigh. Just as Jimin thinks he should probably get off his lap now, Jungkook puts his chin on Jimin’s shoulder, so Jimin can’t ever move again. 

“You were right, Jimin-ah,” Taehyung says as he takes his seat again. “Good catch.” 

“This happens every time?” Namjoon asks, disbelieving.

Taehyung’s response is casual. “Every time. Women and men, doesn’t really matter. Those two mostly get confessed to or asked out, and I get business proposals.” He shrugs. “Unsolicited attention, anyway.” 

“But how come it’s not happening with me?” Namjoon asks. “I like men. Theoretically, I would be part of this, wouldn’t I? I’ve been looking at you in the eye this whole time.” 

Jimin exchanges a look with Taehyung, both stumped—until Jungokook pipes up, gently, “You’re in a relationship, aren’t you?” 

“Yes.” 

“You’re in love.” 

“Yes,” Namjoon says, though it wasn’t really a question. 

“Maybe that’s it, then.” He shrugs, laying his head on Jimin’s shoulder like he wants to sleep on it again. “I don’t know.” 

“Or maybe because we knew each other before. Who knows.”  

“So, wait, what do you actually know about it?” Namjoon asks. “Do you know what’s causing it?”

“That’s where you come in,” Taehyung says, patting Namjoon on the arm. “This is your area of studies, right? Mr.  I-wrote-my-thesis-on-shamanism-in-the-modern-age, we figured you could help.” 

Namjoon doesn’t seem surprised by the request—that massive brain of his, maybe he’d made the connection already. He looks hyper-focused, instead, like he should be holding a clipboard. “Is now a good time for questions?” 

Taehyung smiles, slinging an arm over his shoulder. “Shoot.” 

Namjoon asks—Did it start during the night or during the day? Any strange flashes of light? Have you had strange dreams?—they answer, and soon, everything is written down on some loose pages ripped out of Jungkook’s notebook. Time, place, details of encounters, all the stray information they can think to share. 

A solid half hour into it, Jimin feels a poke on his side. He turns to Jungkook over his shoulder. “Hm?” 

“Do you really not think it’s a curse?” he asks, low, not to interrupt Taehyung and Namjoon’s intense back and forth before poking again. 

“It’s a pain in the ass, that much I know,” Jimin says, catching Jungkook’s hand under his before a third poke is attempted. “But a curse? Who would care to curse someone as boring as me? Surely there’s more fun people to play with out there.” 

“Hyung’s not boring.”

“Ah, as my fake boyfriend you have to say that.” He tangles his fingers with Jungkook’s. “But as my friend, you know all I do is sleep and study.” 

“Sometimes you go out,” Jungkook protests in a mumble. 

“Speaking of,” Taehyung intercepts them, and they both startle a little, “my birthday party. Bar, drinks, club, more drinks. Hyung, are you coming? Wait, never mind. You’re coming. And you’re bringing that elusive boyfriend of yours.” 

Namjoon blushes and smiles at the same time. “Ah, I don’t know…” 

“Come on, what's wrong with all of you! I've been trying to get those two to go out for ages, and now you too?” Taehyung slaps him on the arm. “It’s my birthday, so I don't care about any curses or excuses!”

“Did you know about this?” Jimin whispers to Jungkook. 

“First I’ve heard of it,” Jungkook whispers back. 

“You’re all coming, and that’s final!” 

When they get up to leave, Jimin doesn't manage to go far before Jungkook reaches for his backpack, slinging it over his own shoulder. “Class?"

It’s the class with that professor. Jungkook’s been walking him there every time, making sure to let her see them before leaving Jimin to it. At Jimin’s nod, he says, “Let’s go.” 

Jimin smiles apologetically. “I need to have a word with Joonie-hyung for a minute. You go ahead.” 

After a second of stillness, Jungkook listens. Hands in pockets, still wearing Jimin’s backpack, he leaves them behind. Taehyung throws an arm around him as soon as he’s within reach. “So, about the birthday thing—” 

“How have you been?” Namjoon asks, sympathetic. 

“Oh, you know,” Jimin shrugs, “tired. Guilty.” 

Namjoon pats him on the arm comfortingly. “I’ll do my best to help, Jimin-ah.” 

He squeezes before letting go, and Jimin shuffles closer, not ready to yet. He missed his hyung, really. Only seeing him now does he realise how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other. 

“You look good, though,” he prompts. “Married life treating you right?” 

Namjoon startles so badly he almost trips over his own feet. “We’ve been dating less than six months.” 

Jimin laughs, loud and pleased. Jungkook’s gaze flicks back to them and leaves again. “I know, I know. But you’re crazy about him, aren’t you? Even when you were barely dating.” 

“I am…” Namjoon laughs, “absolutely fucking stupid over him.” 

The happiness spreading on Namjoon’s face even now just thinking of Yoongi is contagious. “My smartest hyung. What a waste.” He crosses his arms across his chest, heart a little heavy with envy. “You hold onto him, hm?”

“You don’t seem to be doing so badly yourself.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same. You know Taehyungie and I aren’t like that. And Jungkookie…” He trails off for a second, the kiss flashing in his mind again before he shoves it away. “He’s straight, I’m pretty sure.” 

“Awfully comfortable spooning you for a straight man.” 

“That’s just the plan in action. He’s not like that with me, usually.”

“Right.” 

The tone of it implies too much, all much too embarrassing. Jimin keeps thinking kiss kiss kiss. 

“And you’ve talked about it? The limitations of this role? This kind of situation…” He rubs his chin, a very teacher-like gesture Jimin would tease him about at any other time. “It seems really stressful. For some of you more than others. Me and hyung, we’ve been talking a lot about boundaries—” 

“Oh, you and hyung,” Jimin teases with a nudge of his elbow.

“Me and hyung, shut up,” Namjoon continues, a blush on his cheeks, “we’ve had to talk that shit out a lot. It’s hard to know what the other person’s thinking sometimes, and you overstep, or you don’t do enough, and it all just fucks things up.”

It's not like Namjoon is wrong, but… “He doesn’t really talk, hyung. We’re close in other ways, but he doesn’t really say what’s on his mind. I’ve been trying to get him to, because I can see there’s something…” He sighs, his frustration rippling through him. “But we just haven’t had the chance.” 

“Jimin-ah!” 

Jimin jerks at Taehyung’s call, way too loud for the small distance that separates them. “Where’s your class now? We’ll drop you off!” 

Jimin opens his mouth to answer, but Jungkook gets there first. “Building C."

Taehyung groans in protest. “But that’s all the way across campus!”

“And?” Jimin fires back quickly. “Shouldn’t be a problem for those long-ass legs of yours.”

“But we’re walking with you and your tiny legs,” Jungkook says, voice lilting in a half-singing tease.  

“How dare you.”

Taehyung smiles. “You are tiny, Jimin-ah. Tiny and adorable."

“We are practically the same height.”

“We aren’t, babe, but if it helps you.”

Jimin catches up with them quickly, mock offended. “I don’t need your pity when it’s the truth–”

“Guys,” Namjoon says, and they all turn to him simultaneously. He hasn’t moved from where Jimin left him. He smiles and points in the other direction. “I have to go that way. I’ll look into things, I promise. I’ll let you know when I find something, okay?”

In a flash, Taehyung runs over to Namjoon and ruffles his hair. Namjoon groans and tries to bat him away, but Taehyung’s already jumped back over to them. “See you, on my birthday! This weekend, no take-backs!” He puts an arm through Jimin’s. “Let’s go, tiny,” he says, and Jungkook laughs.

Jimin lets it go this time.   

⚡

Taehyung, of course, gets his way. 

He wants a bar, he gets it. Secluded corner with their backs to the other tables so they don’t accidentally make eye contact with anyone, but he gets it. Messy street-food to make sure their stomachs are prepped for a night of drinking, and finally, club. 

It’s stifling, as expected, getting worse the more drinks they down, but Taehyung has requested everyone get sloshed enough to forget we’re cursed, and that takes a while. 

They get there, though. The night becomes flashes of strobe lights, bodies dancing, sweaty skin sticking when they brush against each other. Jimin’s mouth tastes pleasantly fruity from his last cocktail, and he’s just living for the sync of his heartbeat to the music. 

He doesn’t meet anybody’s eyes because he’s got his own closed, head titled back. He’s lost track of Taehyung and the happy couple, but Jungkook is next to him, in a similar state of drunkenness. 

Jimin opens his eyes when he hears Jungkook’s voice, just the low hum of it over the music, a little distressed. Next thing he knows, Jungkook stumbles onto him, trying to back away from some guy. He’s clearly beyond drunk too, uncoordinated, but determined to touch Jungkook when Jungkook clearly doesn’t want to be touched. 

Jimin’s temper ignites, ugly and dangerous, and he shoves the man back. 

“You’ve got a habit of making moves on other people’s boyfriends?” 

The guy glares. “How was I supposed to know? He didn’t say anything!” 

“Yes, he did,” Jimin insists, turning to put a possessive arm over Jungkook’s shoulder. “But you didn’t care. I’m telling you too, now: back off.” 

He turns his back on the guy, uncaring about anything other than Jungkook. 

“Hyung,” he sees him say, and he pulls Jimin in by the waist. Jimin’s arms lock around his neck properly, bodies pressed together. He brings Jungkook down with a hand on his neck to be heard over the booming music. 

“Everything okay?” He feels Jungkook nod and press closer. “I thought so. Why didn’t you tell me? I was right next to you.” 

“You looked like you were having fun.” 

“You were looking at me?” Jimin smiles, flattered somehow in his drunk mind. “Did I look good?” 

“Mhm,” Jungkook hums. His nose nuzzles against Jimin’s temple, cuddly in a way he never gets when sober. “I bet everyone wants to dance with you.” 

“How about you?” Jimin mutters right into Jungkook’s ear. “Does Jungkookie want to dance with me?” There’s no answer other than a tightening of the arms around his waist. “I’ll dance with you. I won’t dance with any of them, but I’ll dance with you, Jungkook-ah.” 

Through the haze, Jimin hears a soft, “Dance with me, hyung.” 

Jimin lets himself go back to before his dancing was interrupted, music beating against every part of him and brain long gone; he’s just feeling now, moving to the beat easily, loving the weight of Jungkook’s arms around his waist, pressed all the way against him. Jimin lets his mind free and his hands roam, from Jungkook’s neck to his chest to around his back. 

What he’s not expecting is for Jungkook to touch back. Before Jimin knows it, he’s being turned back to Jungkook’s chest, and a hand lands on his hip and grips it, almost possessively.

Jimin is kind of ecstatic about this, dancing back against him. He brings a hand to the back of Jungkook’s neck and pulls him down to whisper to him, just because it feels like he should, but he doesn’t know what’s going to come out of his mouth until it does. 

“You really wanted to dance with me.”

Jungkook huffs a laugh, and Jimin feels it against his back. Jungkook’s mouth is at his ear too now. Jimin thinks he’s smiling. 

“I could say the same thing about you.” 

Jimin turns around in Jungkook’s arms again to see him better—he prefers it this way. Jungkook looks so terribly pretty under the colourful lights, face a little shiny with sweat. Jimin slings his arms around his neck slowly. “I always want to dance.” 

Jungkook pouts a little. “Are you saying I’m not special?” 

He’s drunk a lot, fuck. 

He runs a hand through the back of Jungkook’s hair. He takes in his pretty smile, big big shiny eyes. He pulls him down with a hand on the back of Jungkook’s neck, letting his lips trail over his cheek. “You’re so fucking special.” 

He doesn’t mean to drop a kiss on Jungkook’s jaw—he just does it, unthinking, and then his whole body tenses in excitement when he hears Jungkook’s sharp inhale of breath through the deafening music. Heart pounding to the beat, he kisses the same spot once, twice, before moving down to Jungkook’s neck, to that stupid little mole that Jimin thinks way too much about. 

He hears a faint hyung come from Jungkook’s mouth, and Jimin’s head swims, further disconnecting from his body. He doesn’t remember deciding to start sucking down on that very spot he’d been chastely kissing a second ago, but it happens, and it feels good, and it makes Jungkook gasp, and that feels even better. 

He licks at the spot, kisses it, and it’s too loud in this fucking club—he wishes they were somewhere quiet, somewhere he could hear every single sound he won out of Jungkook. For now, he settles on feeling Jungkook’s shortened breath in the rise and fall of his chest. 

There’s a hand grasping at Jimin’s hair, but he’s not pulling him away. It seems Jungkook’s just looking for something to hold on to, and Jimin likes that. 

“Jimin-hyung,” Jungkook says, and then hand in his hair tightens. “Jimin.”

A thrill runs down Jimin’s spine hearing his name said like that: breathless, needy, and in Jungkook’s voice. He tips his head up and their mouths are so close it would take nothing, nothing at all to steal a kiss, and this one would be filled with heat and drunk boldness. He almost does it, really, almost—but Jungkook says his name again, so he has to answer. 

“What is it?” 

Jungkook leans a little more, so close, so close. Jimin’s head is swimming. 

“Why…” He licks his lips, takes a breath. “Why did you do that.”

Jimin comes back to himself in a fraction of a second. Bucket of ice water dumped on his head. His sober brain pushes through the jungle of his drunk brain, re-emerging just for a long, panicked second. 

Think of something, fuck. 

“I…”  He fails. He breathes in, tries again. “That guy was still looking over here,” he spits out the first thing that comes to mind. “And I just figured it’s good to have, um, proof, you know, for when—because Tae and I can’t be around all the time, so something like this—it, ah, it lets people know.”

The expressions that ripple over Jungkook’s face are too delicate and gone too quick for Jimin’s muddled brain to decipher, but he just knows it’s not good. Jungkook’s eyes are round and big and sad, and he’s biting his lip so tight it looks like it hurts. 

He touches the spot Jimin just had his mouth on, averts his gaze, and runs away. 

Jimin stays rooted to the spot, unable to take a single step. Cold hard dread has seized him—his stomach is turning and he needs to be outside or he’ll empty it all out right on this dance floor. 

He stumbles his way to the exit before someone comes up to him to dance and gets a shove for their troubles. 

The freezing air helps his head clear, but the nausea doesn’t subside. He drags himself away from the exit, around the corner where it’s less crowded. He ignores the couple feverishly making out at the end of the alleyway as he puts his head between his knees and prays for the world to stop spinning. 

⚡

Jimin gets slammed with a headache immediately upon waking, and he thinks that’s only right. He’s in Taehyung’s bed, Taehyung’s arm slung around his waist. The warmth at his side is nice, but Jimin’s still in last night’s clothes, and it’s suddenly suffocating. 

He slips away from him and sheds them all quickly, leaving a trail of club smoke and regret all the way to the bathroom. 

The whole time he’s in there, he thinks about Jungkook. 

Most of all, he thinks about how much Jimin fucked up in there. He never should have pushed this hard. He doesn’t even know himself what he’s playing at, kissing him like that. He's no better than that guy Jimin supposedly saved Jungkook from, only he's not under the influence of some weird curse. Worse, using the pact they made in trust to explain away some weird, pushy urge. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

If Namjoon and his boundary talk could see him now. 

The night after the kiss comes to him only in flashes, but he remembers a car pulling up to the curb and Namjoon ushering a small, tired looking Jungkook inside. Jimin had watched the car disappear down the street, shame curling in his already upset stomach. 

Jungkook must have woken up with a matching headache, with the extra hickeys on his neck. Jimin imagines him looking in the mirror and wincing in shame, worrying about how to cover it. 

He’s never seen Jungkook with a hickey. Never seen any sign of a hook-up at all. Not a text he’s tried to hide, not a mention of anything. Never dated, he remembers him saying. 

And Jimin still was shameless enough to throw himself at him like that last night. 

He grabs his phone as soon as he’s out of the shower. 

i think this is the worst hangover of my life, he sends. 

It goes ignored for hours. 

When he does get a reply, he nearly drops his phone rushing to open it, only only to find a plain, uninterested, that sucks and nothing else. 

He still tries again. 

did you get home safe last night? i lost sight of you 

namjoon-hyung took care of me, comes the response half an hour later. 

oh good 

tae got his rager after-all, huh? i’m feeling destroyed 

i don’t know what was in those drinks but i’ve never gotten drunk like that in my life 

No response for a while. 

hey, you want to come over? I’ll order take-out like last time. taehyung’s just about woken up, i’m placing the order now. 

hyung’s treat 

It’s a lie. Taehyung’s still deep asleep. Jimin’s not planning on ordering anything, certainly not placing any orders right now; he just feels the need to see Jungkook’s face, to judge for himself how much he fucked up last night. 

not feeling like it, sorry hyung

next time 

It stings, but Jimin types back okay, next time and goes back to bed, spooning Taehyung from behind and letting his breathing calm Jimin’s worried, racing heart. 

Next time. 

⚡

Next time doesn’t come soon, and not for lack of trying. 

Jimin sends so many unanswered texts he starts to feel creepy, spacing them out purposefully. His phone becomes surgically attached to his hand, nails stress-bitten and ugly. 

Jungkook doesn’t come over. He doesn’t reach out. Gone are the bombardments of messages, filled with photos, silly videos, links to music Jungkook thinks Jimin absolutely needs to listen to. Their chat is now mostly Jimin asking after Jungkook and Jungkook getting himself out of meeting up. No library, no movie nights at home. Not even any fake-boyfriend aid calls, and that’s the one that worries Jimin the most, because he knows full well this thing hasn’t stopped, not for him, not for Taehyung—so not for Jungkook, either. 

The silence is eating Jimin alive. 

He can’t stop thinking about it. He’s run over the events of that night so many times in his head, even though he can’t be sure what’s real and what’s his drunk mind embellishing things. He remembers Jungkook’s arms around him on the dancefloor, his lips to Jimin’s ear—it was fun. It was silly and a little out of control and shattered from one second to the next. 

In the absence of Jungkook and with Taehyung pulling ten hour days at his job, Jimin throws himself into studying more than ever. Sleeping and studying are all he does, even getting ahead in the course-load in two of his classes.

He tries to feel good about it. School is the priority. It’s what matters the most. 

He tells himself that again and again.

Chapter Text

The cafe is busy, so Jimin’s keeping his eyes down. He’s wearing a hat he’s pretty sure is Jungkook’s, left in their apartment back when he still used to hang around. 

He checks for any new messages—nothing—before indulging his latest self-destructive habit and scrolling up to the obvious point where their messages went from frequent, excited things to stilted short sentences: the day after the club. 

He slides the keyboard up, thumb hovering over the letters. 

Hey, how ar—

Delete. 

Did you see that new trailer for—

Delete. 

I’m worried about you—delete, are you mad at me—delete, delete, fuck. He drops the phone on the table screen down with a frustrated sound. 

“Spam calls?” 

Namjoon squeezes his shoulder in hello before taking the seat opposite him. He’s wearing a cardigan and thick glasses today, and Jimin absently thinks he looks every bit a professor. 

“Something like that.” He scrounges up a polite smile. “Hyung, thanks for meeting with me. I know you’re busy.” 

Namjoon’s own smile is genuine. “Ah, I’m always busy. Busy can wait a couple hours.” 

“How are you? How’s Yoongi-hyung?” 

“Great, we’re great. Complains about how much I work, but he’s just as bad, so I get to complain back and it cancels itself out.” He takes a sip of his coffee. It occurs to Jimin that he must have come in and waited and watched Jimin have his little breakdown over his phone, which is embarrassing. “So, what did you want to talk about? I’ve actually been meaning to call, too.” 

“Right, yeah.” Jimin shoves his guilt away, leaning forward a bit and readying himself to ask the question he’s come here to ask. “Have you heard—” 

“I’ve been looking into your situation.”

Confused, Jimin halts. “My…” 

“The curse.”  

He winces. “Don’t.” 

“The predicament. The pickle,” Namjoon says, indulging him with an amused expression. “I figured you wanted an update. Although I would have expected all three of you to swarm me together again. I thought you guys didn’t go anywhere alone anymore.” 

“Taehyung’s at work,” Jimin mumbles.

“And Jungkook?” 

Here’s his chance. “Jungkook hasn’t really been around much,” he says, scanning Namjoon for his reaction, “since that night at the club.”  

It’s strange; been stressing about this so badly for weeks, but now Namjoon’s in front of him it feels awkward to ask, awkward to talk about. But he has to know, one way or the other. 

Namjoon leans back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Jimin leans forward again, grabbing the napkin that came with his coffee for something to do with his hands. “Hasn’t come over, hasn’t given news… nothing.” 

“Strange. That doesn’t sound like him at all.” 

“It isn’t. That night… um, Jungkookie…” Ah, how does he put this? “Jungkookie was being bothered by someone, so we danced together. For a while. And then…” Jungkook’s crestfallen, disappointed face in the strobing lights. “He just left. He seemed really out of it, but he just left, and I saw you talk to him and help him into a taxi… I think you left together.” 

“Yeah.” Namjoon nods. His expression betrays nothing. “We did. I brought him back to his dorm.” 

Jimin swallows hard. “Right.” He twists the paper more and more until it thins, strains under the pressure. “Have you been able to get a hold of him since that night?” 

Namjoon frowns. “I have.” 

“Is he okay?” 

“He had a horrible hangover, if that’s what you mean, but I assume it must be gone by now.” 

“But he talks to you,” Jimin says, the napkin ripping in his hands. He crumples it roughly, sees it become smaller and smaller. “He answers your texts.” 

“Jimin-ah, me and Jungkook don’t talk all that much. I know him through you and Taehyungie.” Namjoon shifts on a sigh. “Listen, sorry if I’m overstepping here, but… did something happen between you that night?” 

Jimin doesn’t know how to answer that, even though it’s been on his mind non-stop every single day since then. Yes, very nearly yes. No, not even close. More than Jimin should have let himself do, less than he wanted, something and everything and nothing all at once. 

Namjoon doesn’t push him to talk. He takes a sip of his coffee, leaving Jimin plenty of time to answer, and when Jimin doesn’t, he takes over instead. 

“Remember when I saw you guys in the cafe? Remember when I asked you about boundaries? I still think that’s important in what you’re doing here. It’s a good solution you’ve come up with, right? It works, it keeps people away, so by definition, it’s successful. But man, Jimin-ah, you and Taehyung need to be careful. You’re so close that nothing shocks you guys anymore. You could do anything together and just move on after. But not everyone is like that.” 

This confirms what Jimin’s been thinking, this whole time. “I crossed a line.” 

Namjoon sighs. “I don’t know. I don’t know the details. He didn’t tell me anything. Just asked if I could get him out of there, so I did.” 

For a moment, despite the mix of anger, disappointment, and dread in his stomach, Jimin feels grateful for Namjoon. God knows why Jungkook didn’t go to Taehyung—maybe he thought he would be too close to Jimin to take his side. The mere thought breaks his heart. 

“He really didn’t say anything?” 

“He said, it was too much. Everything was too much. That’s all.” 

Jimin nods, trying to keep the tears at bay. His eyes dart around the cafe to keep them from falling, never straying too high in fear of meeting somebody’s gaze and activating the fucking pickle. 

There’s something viscerally wrong about hurting Jungkook this way, making him so distressed he can’t even say what’s wrong. 

“But, as I was saying,” Namjoon tries again, clearing his throat, “I’ve been looking into things for you guys.”

It’s the last thing on Jimin’s mind right now, but maybe it shouldn’t be. He sniffs, concentrating, nodding at Namjoon to go on. 

“I looked into korean mythology for anything relating to love curses,” he starts. “Even if it wasn’t a thrall like in your case. Figured we might find resemblances. It was kinda nice. It’s been a while since I was in research mode. Teaching is really different.” He looks wistful, almost, like he misses it. Trust Namjoon-hyung to miss the library. “But the bad news is, I didn’t really find much, even after expanding my search to look at international sources.” 

Fuck. 

“Then I looked online too, in forums and spaces for modern witchcraft and shamanism, and there wasn’t anything like what you’re describing. Although I am now getting some worrying spam calls, so I think I need to throw my computer away.”

Jimin doesn’t have the heart to laugh, and Namjoon sobers up, reaching over to pat his hand in comfort, sending some napkin bits floating down onto the floor. 

“I’m sorry. I did what I could.”

So that’s it then. 

Their only hope at figuring this out, their only guiding light, a dead-end. 

Jimin can’t tell Jungkook and Taehyung that—he just can’t. “There’s really nothing else?” 

“I mean…” Namjoon considers. “The section here is limited. Even during my degree, I had to rely on other universities’ resources. The one in Busan had the most extensive collection… But you need a researcher ID from the relevant department to get in, and they don’t loan their books outside of campus. I’m sorry, Jimin-ah, but I really don’t have the time to go down there.” 

And really, it’s no decision at all. 

All Jimin has been doing is letting Jungkook and Taehyung down. Not just bringing this thing down on them, but brushing off efforts to find a solution, letting it get worse and worse. 

If they’d tried to fix this earlier, maybe they’d be free by now. Jungkook wouldn’t have anyone harassing him at the club, so Jimin wouldn’t have needed to come to his rescue, and things wouldn’t have gotten out of hand. 

There comes a time to take responsibility. 

⚡

Taehyung, at home on a rare day off, doesn’t seem to want to leave him alone. 

“What do you mean, you’re going away?” 

“Self-explanatory, isn’t it?” Underwear, check, socks now—fuck, why are there only two pairs in the drawer? Just how long has it been since he’s done laundry? “I need to borrow some socks.” 

“Jimin, wait a damn second.” He gets in between Jimin and the wardrobe he’d been randomly plucking clothes out of. “Going where? Is your family okay?” 

“They’re fine. I’m just going.”  

“What about classes?” 

There’s a kernel of anxiety at the bottom of his stomach at the thought, but he suppresses it. “I’ll miss some.” 

“What about exams? Exams are soon.” 

“I’ll be fine.” 

Taehyung looks at him like he grew a second head. “What about your perfect attendance? What about your revision schedule?” 

Jimin shakes his head. “I don’t care.” 

“You don’t care.” By this point, Taehyung probably thinks Jimin’s being possessed. “Park Jimin, resident overachiever. You don’t care.” 

“There’s more important things.” 

“Like what?” He grabs Jimin by the shoulders, shaking him lightly. “What’s up with you?” 

He’d really wanted to go at this alone, but he should have known Taehyung would have been a pain in the ass about it. 

“Namjoon-hyung didn’t find anything.” 

Taehyung visibly recalibrates, catching up. “Wait, the curse? This is about the curse? Fuck, dude, you scared me!” He pushes Jimin away. “Jesus. I thought something was wrong.” 

And somehow, that’s the last straw. Jimin snaps, “Of course something’s wrong! Isn’t that enough? Isn’t it enough that this thing has taken over our lives, made us—made us restructure everything, made us lie—” 

“You were fine with that a month ago! No time for that, need to focus on school, sound familiar? That was you!” 

“I was wrong. Is that what you want to hear? There you fucking go!” 

He tries to push him out of the way to get back to his drawer and get the fuck on with it, but Taehyung holds him still again. "Jimin." His eyes pierce Jimin through. “Tell me what this is really about before I start to worry.” 

How can he explain the sense of helplessness that just keeps growing every day? The sense of massive absence, of guilt, knowing that something that’s his fault is causing Jungkook so much hardship? 

Directly and indirectly, Jimin’s been fucking up their lives. A curse, a club, it doesn’t really matter when the result is the same. 

What comes out sounds a lot smaller. 

“Jungkook’s been acting weird.” He’s still absurdly holding on to a single sock, so he throws it carelessly on the ground. “Since the fake boyfriend thing, he’s… been awkward around me. Sometimes it seems like it’s nothing to him, and sometimes… I feel like I’m forcing him.” God, there’s no way he’s making it out of today without crying, fuck. “I just need this to be over. For all of us.” 

“Sounds like you need this to be over for you and Jungkook,” he says, although there’s nothing accusatory there. He’s frowning at Jimin like he’s trying to figure something out. 

“There will be no me and Jungkook if I don’t find a way out of this.” And here comes the biggest fear, the one he hasn’t even admitted to himself, coming out in a pathetic little whisper. “I don’t want to lose him over this, Tae.” 

“Don’t be stupid, now. Why would you lose him?” 

“He’s already pulled away from me!” Sounds stupid when he says it like that, so much lighter than the weeks of heavy absence. “He’s not—I know he’s not touchy, I know he doesn't like it, but this whole thing, it’s based on touch, so how can I… I try not to overwhelm him, but it seems like no matter what I do, it’s too much.” He sniffs, rubbing at his eyes desperately in an effort to keep them dry. “You know what I mean?”  

“Not really.” 

“You know, the…” He shrugs. “He’s really tense every time. It’s like he’s—touch averse,” he digs up a term he learned when he was researching asexuality after Taehyung came out to him. “I can’t even ruffle his hair without him going all stiff.” 

Taehyung cocks his head to the side, his face scrunching up in confusion for good measure. “Jungkook? Really?” He shakes his head. “He’s not like that with me.” 

“Now isn’t the time for shitty jokes.” 

“I’m not joking.” 

Jimin frowns at him, a sense of blooming panic fluttering in his chest. “Jungkook is shy.” 

“Yeah, with strangers, not with me. He got a bit awkward when we first started this whole boyfriend act, but he’s all good now. Nothing to it.” 

That makes no sense. That makes no sense with the Jungkook that Jimin has come to know, not unless—

Unless Jimin is the one who’s been making him uncomfortable this whole time. Not touch—Jimin. 

Dozens of instances circle his mind—Jungkook avoiding his eyes after a hug hello, letting his hand sit loosely in Jimin’s as they walk down the street… so much, across their entire friendship. 

It’s always been there. Jimin’s just not been seeing it clearly. 

Somehow, it’s even worse than he thought. Ah, why does this sting so badly? 

“Now, why are you wilting like that,” Taehyung whines, dragging Jimin into a hug. Jimin clings back desperately. “Ah, you two, really… If I had known you’d be so much trouble when I introduced you…”  

Even as he tries to muffle his hitching breaths on Taehyung’s shoulder, all he can think is this feels nice. Hugging like this. Just warmth, comfort—no one pulling away in disgust, no one tensing up in shock or annoyance or whatever the fuck else. 

Where does he even begin to fix this? 

Curse first, he reminds himself. When that’s out of the way, he’ll worry about all the rest of it. 

“Hey.” A squeeze. “You’re set on this? The trip?”

Heart heavy, Jimin nods.

“Then here’s what we’ll do. I’ll convince Jungkook to come with us. Get you guys in the same room again. We can all look together. Way faster like that.”

This is why he didn’t want to say anything. “Taehyung-ah, I don’t want to drag you—”

“Too bad it’s not your call.” Jimin smiles at Taehyung’s resolute tone, burrowing deeper into his arms. “Trust me, Jimin-ah. We’ll fix this.” A kiss is pressed to his shoulder. “You trust me or what?” 

⚡

Taehyung makes good on his promise. 

He fills the silence of the car with chatter. He’s sitting in the passenger’s seat and going on about all kinds of things, about the hotel, the research, the sickness he faked to be here. Jimin’s quiet, looking straight ahead, occasionally stealing glances in the mirror.

Jungkook’s got his head against the window, unbothered by the motion of the car. His eyes are closed but there’s a frown marring his face, so Jimin doubts he’s asleep. Once, when he checks back, their gazes cross—Jungkook looks away first.

He had greeted Jimin so lifelessly when they picked him up you’d think they were strangers.

Jimin lets himself panic about it at the first rest stop, water running down his face in the bathroom.

Fuck, it’s too much. How can they spend days together like that? Taehyung can’t always be in the room. Even with him there, the car is fraught with tension that Jimin can’t breathe through.

He should have sucked it up and gone alone, curse be damned. Should have let them stay back and take care of each other, since Jungkook prefers Taehyung anyway, while Jimin went away and didn’t come back until he found a solution.

When he leaves the bathroom he’d escaped to, he spots Jungkook struggling with the battered vending machine right outside the store.

He takes a second to watch him from afar, his chest tight. He seems frustrated, that frown from before still firmly in place. Jimin tries to remember the last time he saw him truly carefree and has to go back too far for comfort. 

“They do coffee inside, too,” he tells him as he approaches, not missing the startled look Jungkook gives him. “At the counter. Can’t be much better than this, but still.”

Jungkook turns back to the machine. “I don’t want to deal with that right now.”

“Ah. Yeah.” He puts some cheer into his voice. “I can go get it for you. It’s no trouble.”

“No, thank you.”

Jimin shuffles from one foot to the other as Jungkook keeps punching numbers into the machine, yielding no results. He thinks about going to the car. Thinks about spending the remaining five hours in that same thick atmosphere, never meeting Jungkook’s eyes. 

And he decides that’s not an option. 

“Jungkook-ah, did Taehyung force you to come?” It’s easier to talk when he doesn’t look at Jungkook’s face, so he focuses on his shoes, instead. Big, chunky black sneakers. Jimin knows them well, knows them best right next to his front door, settled neatly next to his own. “I was going to go alone. I didn’t want to take any more time and trouble out of anyone’s life for this.”

“He didn’t force me.”

“Okay.” Jimin nods, even though Taehyung’s idea of forcing and Jimin’s aren’t quite the same thing. “Good. Still, if you want to go back, you can. This whole thing is my fault, so I’m the one who has to fix it.” 

One of Jungkook’s hands is on the machine, and the other is by his side, fidgeting. He’s scratched around his nailbed so badly it’s inflamed. Looks like it hurts. “If I turned back now, I’d be in Seoul alone. And if Taehyungie-hyung came with me, then you would be alone.” He shakes his head, resolute. “All three of us go or no one does. That’s the deal.” 

“Has it been better recently?” Jimin clears his throat. “You haven’t called.”

“It’s been the same.” 

The admission settles in Jimin’s chest, expected but shitty all at once.

“I know everything that’s happening hasn’t been easy on you… but that’s why this is important. It’s our chance to end it.” He tries to make his smile reassuring, more for his own benefit than Jungkook’s.

“Heading back to Seoul will be different, you’ll see.” 

They look at each other for a long, silent moment. Jimin almost doesn’t know what to do with it, so he says, gently, “Will you let me get you that coffee?” 

The question hovers between them for long enough that Jimin starts to worry about the response. Watches Jungkook’s eyes raise to the sky, flick from one direction to the other and imagines all kinds of rejections, ranging from polite to cruel.

Eventually, Jungkook nods. Just nods. “Thanks.”

Relief washes over him, and Jimin smiles. A flicker of hope. “You got it.” 

⚡ 

As soon as they arrive, the clock starts ticking. 

They have three days. That’s how long they’ve booked the hotel for, and that’s how long Taehyung can pretend to be sick for, so they need to be on their way back to Seoul in seventy-two hours. 

As they wait for their orders at the first noodle place that looked half decent from the car, Jimin’s so anxious he probably won’t be able to stomach anything. 

Jungkook is on the other side of the table, one arm on the back of Taehyung’s chair, and that’s not helping either. 

Taehyung, though, seems downright cheery. He’s not even faking it, Jimin can tell. He seems to be genuinely content, fingers tapping a little rhythm on the table’s surface. 

Jimin wishes he lived in such ignorant bliss.  

Focusing on something concrete helps, so he mentally reviews his plan quickly before he clears his throat. 

“So, here’s what I’m thinking.” He takes a steadying breath. “After this, we head straight to the library. We can check into the hotel later, but we’ve already missed the whole morning. We need to start working. This,” he passes Taehyung his phone, “is the list of books Namjoon-hyung sent me. I’ve also emailed it to you both.” 

He crosses his arms over his chest as Jungkook and Taehyung lean close enough for their heads to touch to read the screen. “We divide it, and we get through it quickly. I’ve also compiled a list of key words we need to be looking for to avoid wasting time on irrelevant material. We need to be quick and efficient.” 

Taehyung salutes him, clearly amused. “Yes, sir.” 

“You really think we can get through all this in three days, hyung?” Jungkook scrolls through the list carefully, ignorant of the way Jimin’s stomach tightens at the first time he’s addressed him properly in weeks. “These look intense.” 

“Jiminie’s a pro,” Taehyung says, nudging Jungkook with his elbow. “You know he’s a beast in the library. He’s been practicing his whole life for this.” 

Jimin nods, continuing the joke. “All my years of studying have led me to this moment,” he says gravely, and Taehyung throws his head back in a laugh.

Jungkook doesn’t, not quite, but his eyes linger on Jimin for a moment, the ghost of a smile around his mouth. 

Better than nothing. 

⚡

Jimin had expected difficult, but he hadn’t expected boring. 

He made this plan up in a rush of frustration and adrenaline, so he figured it would carry him through the research portion as well, but no such luck.  

The books are dense and headache-inducing, even to Jimin as a lit student fluent in stuffy literary academic speak. Jungkook is slow, but he makes his way through in his methodical way, trained by endless hours of his own studying. Taehyung, though, is a nightmare. He huffs and he puffs and he squirms and he turns the pages roughly enough for the library lady to throw him venomous looks—Jimin has to kick him under the table to stop him on more than one occasion. 

“I can’t even read anymore,” he says, exasperated, three hours into their second afternoon of work. “Things just slide away from my eyes.” 

“What does that even mean,” Jungkook mutters, cheek squished into his palm, looking bored out of his brain himself. 

“Entertain me.” Taehyung kicks Jungkook’s chair. “Come on. I’m dying.” 

“Good thing you dropped out, huh.” Jimin says under his breath, eyes burning. “Chill, okay? We can go soon. Grab a bite somewhere.” 

“How soon is soon?” 

Jimin laughs, a little hysterical. “What are you, a toddler? We’re not there yet. Go back to sleep.” 

Taehyung harrumphs. He sits quietly for two more minutes, scrolling on his phone, before he exclaims, “That’s it. I’m done. I’ll meet you back at the hotel. I’m gonna go do something else.” He waves his hand over the books with a face of disgust usually reserved to cockroaches under their sink. “You guys have fun.”  

Jungkook waves without lifting his eyes from his book. “Bye bye, now.” 

“Don’t forget your—” Taehyung’s already gone. “Cap. Ah, he’s going to get swarmed.” 

“He can buy a cap,” Jungkook says, lips sticking out in a pout. “Or he can run. He likes running away from people.” 

“That’s his preferred anti-curse method?” 

“Mm.” 

Eager to keep the conversation going, Jimin clears his throat and asks casually, “Do you have one?” 

Jungkook raises his eyes to Jimin’s and it already feels like a win. “What about you?” 

The response that pops into his head—Jungkookie, of course—doesn’t feel appropriate right now when Jungkook’s only started talking to him again. “Ah, just keeping my head down seems to work fine. Curse prevention, more than anything.” 

“When did you start calling it a curse?” 

“I don’t know,” Jimin mutters. “I guess when it started to feel like one.” 

Jungkook hums, going back to his book. Jimin’s knees are weak. 

Focus. He needs to focus. Curse first, then everything else. 

He grits his teeth and powers through the rest of the evening, through the very driest, most academic writing he’s ever had the misfortune to read. 

His concentration only breaks at closing time, when all the nearby tables start packing up. He turns to let Jungkook know it’s time to go, only to find him with his head pillowed on his arms, breathing softly. 

He doesn’t blame him. They were on the road early, aiming to reach Busan by lunch, and these scholars and their page long paragraphs are more than enough to put people to sleep. 

Jimin is loath to wake him—god knows how long since he’s gotten a proper night’s rest. They have to, though. The reception lady has started making her rounds, and Jimin doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of her glare. 

He packs up all their stuff himself, making sure to get all of Jungkook’s notes out of the books before bringing them all back to the desk.  

Jungkook is unmoved when he comes back.

“Jungkook-ah.” He barely even stirs, so Jimin brushes a hand through his hair. The familiar motion tugs something in his heart—he’s missed this boy way too much. “Jungkook-ah, come on. We have to get going.” 

“Mm?” A flutter of eyelashes. A light lifting of the head. “What? Hyung?” 

Jimin smiles. “Come on, baby. Time to go. The lady’s going to kick us out. Let’s go back to the hotel so you can sleep in a proper bed, hm?” 

Jungkook follows him out, a little dazed. 

“How long was I asleep?” 

“I don’t know. A while, I think.” 

“Sorry.” He even walks a little wonkily, uncoordinated. Their shoulders brush. “I didn’t get through my pile.” 

“It’s okay,” Jimin tells him with a smile. “We can try again tomorrow.” 

It feels strange, walking outside like this and not being linked somehow—Jimin can’t remember the last time they walked side by side and didn’t hold each other in some way to fend people off. It feels like Jungkook is mad at him. 

He doesn’t want to go to the hotel and go their separate ways just yet, each in their rooms for the night. 

Maybe this is his chance, now they’re alone. Maybe now’s their chance to finally talk. 

Jimin’s not very good at curse first, turns out. 

“Want to go to the beach?” 

Jungkook blinks at him blearily. “Now?” 

“Now. We’re not too far. I need a walk, I think. My head’s all stuffed from reading.” 

“You’re not hungry?” 

Jimin shakes his head, heart in his throat. “Just for a bit.” 

“Okay,” Jungkook says softly, after a second of consideration. “Just for a bit.” 

The streets are quiet for a while, and so are they. The closer they get to the beach, the more people they start to cross, though, and when one guy comes towards them, his eyes fixed on Jungkook, Jimin reaches out his hand first, hearing Jungkook’s muttered thanks with a heavy heart.  

They settle next to each other on the beach. Jimin’s got half a mind to come closer until their knees brush, but he doesn’t know what he would do if Jungkook moved away. 

There’s scattered people here and there despite the late hour, but no one approaches them. They’re in twos, mostly, maybe couples that came here in search of a romantic moment. 

The smell of the sea does something to Jimin’s insides. It’s like it’s tapped into something deep inside of him, tugging things out. He can almost feel tears push their way to the surface. 

“Hey.” 

Jungkook turns his eyes to him immediately, attentive. He looks a little like he’s been dragged out of bed, which Jimin supposes is partly true. 

“Thanks for coming with me.” 

Jungkook nods. His fingers are slowly drawing little circles in the sand. “Couldn’t leave you alone.” 

“I’m sorry,” he says, and it tugs something loose. “I’m sorry about all of this, Jungkook-ah. All of it. I’m sorry I started it, and I’m sorry it’s taking so long to fix it.” 

“It’s not your fault.” 

“It literally is.” Jimin laughs, but there’s no joy anywhere in him. “Whose fault is it, if it’s not mine?” 

“Even if it was you, it’s not like you could have known. You didn’t know the skies would open and we’d almost get whacked with lightning and cursed with whatever the hell this is.” 

He supposes that’s true, although it does little to make him feel better. “It’s a bit pathetic, though, isn’t it. I was so bitter and lonely I brought a literal curse down upon us.” 

“Hyung.” Jungkook reaches out to him, placing his hand right next to Jimin’s on the sand. “You’re not pathetic. You just know what you want. That’s a big deal. That’s… ” He shakes his head. “If the universe is punishing you for that, then the universe is backwards.” 

He’s so sweet, so endlessly sweet Jimin can’t help but want to lean into him. He holds himself back, though he lets his pinky brush Jungkook’s, a whisper of a touch. “Ah, spoken like a true boyfriend. It’s the universe that’s wrong, not me. Very romantic, Jungkook-ah.” 

“I really think so,” he mutters. 

“You’re a charmer,” Jimin says, casting his eyes back out into the sea so he doesn’t have to look into Jungkook’s, big and pretty. “One day you’re going to make some girl very, very happy.” The thought lodges a knot in Jimin’s throat. “Just, when you do… don’t disappear, okay? Hyung will miss you too much.” 

Jungkook says, voice low and tight, “That’s not going to happen.” 

“Hasn’t it already?” He’s almost trembling, now. “Haven’t seen you in a while. And even before that, things have changed.” 

Jungkook pulls his hand away, tucking it around his waist. “I…” 

“You don’t have to defend yourself, hm? It’s okay. I’m sure you had your reasons. I just… lately I've been noticing you've been a bit… different.” His trained eye catches Jungkook tensing even more. “Something has been weighing on you, hasn't it?”

Jungkook stays silent long enough for Jimin to feel dread fill him from head to toe. 

“I just needed some space, to… to figure some things out.” He sounds so hesitant, so small. “And I couldn’t do that when I was around you all the time.” 

And fuck if it doesn’t hurt to heart that. 

“I could have helped you, whatever it was,” Jimin mutters, a little embarrassed, a little sad. “I could have… You didn’t need to disappear.” 

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.” 

“You could ask me for anything,” Jimin says, finding with a burning sense of rightness that he’s telling the absolute truth. “Anything, Jungkook-ah.” 

He tries to think of more words to articulate what he wants to say: that there’s nothing that could turn him away from Jungkook, nothing that Jimin wouldn’t help him through—but he finds he’s said it all already. 

It takes a few long moments of charged silence before Jungkook speaks again. 

“I’ve just been—lately, I’ve been… struggling. With the curse, with others, with…” 

With school, Jimin finishes in his head.

“With myself.”

Surprised, Jimin turns to look at him. 

Jungkook seems to consider his next words carefully. “That thing you were saying, about me making some girl happy…” He swallows hard. “Hyung, I don’t think that’s me.” 

Completely thrown, Jimin blurts, “What do you mean, of course you would. You'd make a good boyfriend, I know it.”

“Not… not to a girl.”

He’s still trying to figure out how all this relates to Jungkook struggling with his degree, so it takes a second for the implication to reach Jimin’s head—but when he understands, he almost gasps. 

“Oh.”

With myself. 

So this is what this was about. 

He tries to wrap his head around the information, reeling a little, just from being blindsided like this. He really was on the wrong track here, huh. 

When he turns to look at Jungkook, he meets a pair of terrified, shining eyes. A hand lands on Jimin’s knee, gentle like he’s scared Jimin will push it away. Ridiculous, since Jimin is exerting effort right now not to wrap Jungkook up in a hug. 

“Say something.” 

Jimin takes his hand in both of his. He thinks of the very best thing to say—the right thing, the thing he would have wanted to hear if this was him, scared and vulnerable, coming out to someone for the first time. 

“Jungkook-ah, can I hug you?” 

The vigorous nod comes even before Jimin has finished his sentence. They meet in the middle, Jungkook closing the distance and Jimin putting an arm around him, pulling him close so that Jungkook’s head is tucked between Jimin’s head and his shoulder. Jungkook goes without resistance, letting go of a shuddery breath. 

It’s not long before Jimin can feel tears on his skin. 

“Oh, baby,” he says, pressing a kiss to Jungkook’s hair. “It’s okay. Thank you, hm? For trusting me.” He draws his thumb up and down Jungkook’s neck, gently, the moment stretching out preciously. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“It’s been…” It takes a few moments for Jungkook to manage to speak, voice all tight with crying. “Horrible, just. This thing, this curse, what it did, it’s… All these men coming up to me all the time, and I had to say it so many times, I said I’m not gay, I’m sorry, I’m not gay… and every single time, hyung… somewhere in me, I knew I was lying.” 

Jimin tucks him closer, tears filling up his eyes too. 

“And… and then we came up with the solution, and it worked, only now I had to go around and say my boyfriend,” his voice cracks, finally, “and the way that made me feel…” 

Fuck. 

Jimin presses a kiss to Jungkook’s forehead, lays his cheek on Jungkook’s head, mindlessly giving in to his affectionate urges. “I know.” 

“Do you?” 

“Of course I do, baby. I had to figure this all out once, too. I didn’t have a curse hanging over me, not like this, but people assumed. All through my teens, people just assumed.” It’s so easy to reach for the memories, even with so much time gone by. They still hurt, even if it’s dull, toothless sort of hurt now. “And I had to say no I’m not, I got angry at if—as if it were a bad thing to be. Deep down I knew it, but I tried so hard to fool myself.” 

He stares out into the waves and feels Jungkook’s warmth at his side and it really does seem funny, now, tiny compared to what Jungkook’s had to go through. He’d say sorry again, but he’d only be rebuffed, and the moment is too precious to get into an argument about faults and curses. 

Jungkook untucks himself from his position, and Jimin smiles to see his face again, puffy and tear-stained and everything. “There you are.” He thumbs away the stray tears from under Jungkook’s eyes. It stays there, just because it feels good to run his finger over Jungkook’s cheek, in this little bubble of quiet, of just them. “Feeling better?” 

Jungkook nods. “Tired.” 

“Let’s lie down for a bit then.” 

Jungkook’s face scrunches. “The sand.” 

“It’s okay,” Jimin starts to lean back but Jungkook pulls him back from the front of his shirt—they end up nose to nose, and Jimin smiles, despite the tears still refusing to subside. “Jungkook-ah, it’s fine.” 

Jungkook takes off his jacket and lays it down on the sand, fussing with it for a moment before it’s to his satisfaction. “Give me yours.” 

Jimin does, looking at him in endless endearment. He rolls it up carefully and places it at the top of his own, creating a makeshift pillow. “There,” he mutters, “ready.” 

Jimin lies down on it. “Oh, comfy.” He pulls on Jungkook’s arm, because he’s sick of it—the distance between them all these weeks. It feels good to have Jungkook close, feels safe, feels right, and Jimin needs that right now. “Will you come lie down with me?” 

“It’s not big enough for—” 

“We'll make it work,” Jimin repeats, tugging one more time. Jungkook indulges him, lying half on the pillow and half on his arm. Jimin’s heart flutters happily. “See? Comfy?” 

“Mm,” Jungkook says, “hyung is really comfy.” 

As they lie there, looking at the stars, Jimin thinks about the boy tucked into his side. 

It must have been hell, to go through all of this alone. No wonder he hasn’t been sleeping. He thinks back to the early days of the curse, Jungkook saying i don’t date, rebuffing every comment Jimin made about him getting a girlfriend. 

Jimin should have noticed sooner. Some hyung he is. Done nothing but created trouble for Jungkook, when he’s supposed to take care of him. Made things actively worse for him, pushing him into a realisation he didn’t seem ready for. 

“Will you scold me if I apologise again?” he asks, murmured. 

“Hyung doesn’t have anything to apologise for,” Jungkook insists, raising his head again. 

There’s a long, drawn out moment where Jungkook just… looks at him. He maps Jimin’s entire face, as the cogs visibly turn in his brain—to what end, Jimin doesn’t know, but he doesn’t mind just lying there, under the stars, under the sweet scrutiny of Jungkook’s eyes.

But there’s still something he needs to ask. 

“Why did you run away from me?” He brings his hand up to draw Jungkook’s hair back, off his face. “Hm? At the club?” 

“Ah,” Jungkook says, a little shy. “That night… It was overwhelming.” 

“The night, or me?” 

“Both.” 

He remembers that guy that hit on Jungkook, insistently grasping his wrist, and something ugly curls in his stomach. He wonders about the rest of it, too, if it’s always that rough. 

“Jungkook-ah,” he says, “when people ask you out, what is it like?”

“They’re direct,” Jungkook says. “They get straight to the point. They take a look at me and immediately come and say something like, I noticed you and I couldn’t help myself. It’s a bit funny, really, cause I can see it happen. They don’t know it’s the curse putting that fire in them. They think it’s real.” His voice grows quiet, contemplative. “I always wondered what they feel like after we’re gone. When we walk away from them and they snap out of it, what is it like?”

“I guess the same thing that happens when you fall out of love, just… quicker.”

“And what’s that?”

“I don’t know,” Jimin mutters. “Never happened to me.”

Jungkook comes up to look at him. “Never been in love?”

Jimin shakes his head. “Why do you think I want this so badly? The real thing.” A real relationship, a real partnership. “I can’t tell you how much. I feel weak sometimes, wanting it so badly. Badly enough that I called the wrath of the gods or whatever, and it fell on you too.” 

Sniffly but calmer, Jungkook asks, “When you picture him, the real thing… what do you picture?” 

“Nothing fancy, you know,” Jimin says with a smile. It feels delicate to share, but Jungkook is safe, so he doesn’t even worry for a second before baring his heart. “Someone who knows me. Someone who thinks I’m funny, someone who wants to spend their time with me. Someone who will think of me and be with me and take care of me. Protect me. Let me do all that and more back.” The water-works almost come back at the thought, but he soldiers on. “Someone who wants me, and who looks at me like I matter to them.” 

Jimin closes his eyes and listens to the lapping of the waves, feels Jungkook’s chest against his own, breath after breath.

“Hyung, before, you said something.” 

Jimin smiles. “And you remember everything, don’t you?” 

“It was only just now,” Jungkook mutters. “You said I could have asked you for anything.” 

Jimin nods. “Anything at all.” 

“Why?” He sounds nervous. “Because we’re friends?” 

Jimin is a little surprised at the question. “Of course. Why else?” 

Jungkook nods, then smiles; but something in his eyes has dimmed. “Of course.” He lies back down on Jimin’s arm. “That’s what I thought.” 

“Excuse me.” 

It’s a woman. Jimin hadn’t even noticed her approach. They both sit up, and Jungkook greets her politely with a bow of his head. Jimin doesn’t, resentful of the intrusion. Can’t she see they’re busy? 

“Sorry, do you guys have a lighter?” 

As soon as Jimin looks at her to say no, the curse slaps that awful look across her face. 

Fuck. That’s all they need right now, isn’t it? 

“It's okay,” she says with a smile, taking a step closer. “I'll find one somewhere. What's your name? Can I sit with you?”

Their bubble well and truly burst, Jimin’s annoyance bleeds out into his voice. “You can’t, sorry. I'm busy.”

“I'm sure your friend wouldn't mind letting us talk for a minute.” 

“He would,” Jimin says, eye twitching at the word friend, “since he's my boyfriend.”

The girl laughs, waving a dismissive hand in his face, looking down on them. “No, he's not. Come on, let me sit with you.” 

Fucking seriously, what it wrong with straight people? What do they have to be doing for it to clock as something romantic, something you can’t disturb with lame propositions and pick up lines. 

“Listen here—” 

A tug on his shirt stops him. A little caught off guard again, he looks at Jungkook questioningly. 

Jungkook flicks his eyes down to Jimin's lips, then back up. Maybe he wants her out of here as much as Jimin does. 

“Are you sure, baby?” he whispers. “We don't have to.”

Jungkook matches his volume, speaking low and sweet. “I'm sure.” 

He tugs one more time, and Jimin tips forward, at his mercy. 

Their lips meet in a solid, claiming kiss. It’s for the benefit of the woman, but Jimin forgets her very existence in mere seconds, catching the collar of Jungkook’s shirt, touching back mindlessly. 

Jungkook's hand grips Jimin's neck, holding him in place. His thumb presses into Jimin’s pulse point, and Jimin doesn't know what it's like to be struck by lightning, but he imagines it might feel a little like that. 

Jimin’s glad to be sitting down when the woman leaves and Jungkook pulls away, muttering, “She was pretty pissed.” 

“Good,” Jimin replies, mouth still tingling, “Fuck her.” 

Jungkook laughs, practically still kissing him. Jimin grins too, bursting into relieved, happy giggles as Jungkook dips into his neck, body shaking with chuckles. 

They find nothing the next day, but as they drive home, Jimin has a smile on his face at the thought of Jungkook in his arms at the seafront, heart open and mended. 

Chapter Text

Seoul greets them with rain and a return to reality. 

Exam season is fast approaching, so they must push everything from their minds that isn’t school related. Now that things with Jungkook are back to normal, they fall back into old habits, their chat reanimated, their afternoons filled with studying side by side. 

Taehyung’s return to routine isn’t half as pleasant. 

He storms in one evening when Jungkook and Jimin were trying to push through one last hour of work, a cloud of frustration and discontent following in his wake. He jumps on the couch and drapes himself all over Jimin miserably, crumpling up many many diligently written out pages of notes.

Jungkook looks at him sympathetically from the floor, his own textbooks on his lap. “Again?” 

“Again.” 

“What was it this time?” 

“Does it matter? All that matters is I’m out of a job.” He sticks his head between Jimin’s neck and shoulder like he’s trying to hide from the world and all its problems. “I swear, I’m done with this. I will change career paths. Be a kept man.” 

Jimin snorts, hugging him close. “That wouldn’t work.” 

“Why wouldn’t it? Just because I wouldn’t be in love with them or have sex with them? Whatever happened to companionship, huh?” He sounds adorably grumpy. Jimin doesn’t have to see the pout to know what it looks like. 

“Ah, hyung.” Jungkook pats his ankle in comfort. “Sucks.” 

“Seriously, though. All these dead-end jobs, I don’t know if I’ve got another one in me.” 

“You’ll find something,” Jimin reassures him, as he always does. “Take a day to rest, hm? In the meantime, I’ll ask around in the student groups, see if anyone knows anything. We’ll look together.” 

The spiel is so familiar, he doesn’t even think about it, attention back on his book. 

It doesn’t work this time. 

“No, Jimin-ah, I’m done. I’m done. What’s the point? I can’t keep doing this forever. I’m over here struggling to make ends meet, going through shitty job after shitty job, while I’ve got a mountain of business cards in there,” he points to his bag, “and people begging me to work for them every time I leave the house. I had two more on the way back. Just on the way back.” 

The frustration in his words is enough to make Jimin sit up and put the book aside, alert and alarmed. “But you can’t.” 

“Why can’t I?” Taehyung sits up too, staring Jimin down as if in challenge. “I’m serious. Out of all those people, there must be something I can do, and do well. Why wouldn’t I do it? Isn’t it an opportunity like any other?” 

“But the curse,” Jimin starts.

“The curse, the curse. Whatever. What if we never get rid of it, huh? Am I just going to let it ruin things forever?” 

“But those people, you don’t know how they’ll react if they have you there again—” 

“So come with me! One of you. Come with me. Make sure I’m safe.” He gets up, straightening his shirt before heading away, down the corridor. “It’s either that or I go alone. I’m going either way.”  

Jimin’s got the arguments—everything he’s already said to Taehyung every other time they’ve had this fight sits right on the tip of his tongue. He’s halfway out of his seat, about to follow, when he feels a touch on his knee.  

Jungkook subtly shakes his head, and Jimin swallows it all back down. 

⚡

The project Taehyung chooses in the end is a simple one—photography. A band of girls with a small budget for their masters thesis are looking for fresh-faced models, and Taehyung fits the bill. 

Jimin is worried, standing by the set like a hawk. He doesn’t have to try too hard for the overprotective boyfriend to come out. He had hoped Taehyung would change his mind when he cooled off, soften to Jimin’s perspective and see sense, but no. He’d spent hours going through the business cards for potential jobs before making his choice. 

“With or without you,” he’d reminded Jimin, and all Jimin could do was follow. 

To his surprise, though, nothing bad happens at the shoot. The girls are nice. They speak to Taehyung like he’s one of the nine muses, stars in their eyes. The photoshoot goes off without a hitch, and suddenly, Taehyung has the start of a portfolio. 

And so he calls up another number from his pile of cards. And then one more. Jimin or Jungkook go with him every single time, and things keep turning out okay. 

The first time the money safely lands on Taehyung’s bank account, it all starts to feel real. Taehyung squeals, leaping to hug Jimin, smacking kisses all over the side of his face, and Jimin has to admit to himself that maybe he’s been worrying a little too hard over this. 

⚡

“Nothing happened?” 

“Nothing happened,” Jungkook promises. “The photographer just shook our hands and got on with it.” 

Their thighs are pressed together on the bus, and they’re brought even closer with every single bump in the road. Jungkook’s holding Jimin’s hand, as per fake boyfriend rules. He’s also laying his head on Jimin’s shoulder, which is going the extra mile. 

Since they came back, there’s been a shift in Jungkook. Even though the research trip was a complete and utter failure in terms of curse solving, their talk at the beach seems to have shaken something loose. Jungkook’s back to his old self—smiling easier, rambling, goofing around. 

And he’s more generous with his touch, too. 

Jimin is a little overwhelmed. 

The first time Jungkook reaches for his hand first, Jimin startles. The first time he casually tucks his chin over Jimin’s shoulder at the supermarket cash register line, their cheeks brushing together, Jimin’s breathing stops entirely. 

He just doesn’t know what to do with it. He doesn’t know where Jungkook’s reticence went—he’s glad it seems to be gone, but the sudden shift is a little difficult to make sense of. He’s found himself blushing at Jungkook’s casual touch more than once, and it feels silly. Isn’t this what Jimin wanted? The same easy affection he has with Taehyung? 

Somehow, though, just as everything else, it’s different with Jungkook. 

“Hyung?” A tug on his hand. “Our stop, come on.” 

As soon as they get off the bus, Jimin picks up the conversation thread he’d let drop. “I just don’t know why people aren’t reacting to him the same way. These are the same people that ran after him in the streets, begging to hire him, right? So where’s that energy now he’s on the project?” 

“I don’t know,” Jungkook admits. His arm is around Jimin’s shoulder, solid and warm. Jimin didn’t even have to remind him. “It’s a bit weird. You’d think it would reactivate when they crossed eyes again.” 

“Right? So why isn’t it? Is it a one time deal?” 

Jungkook shakes his head. “Your professor still gave you eyes whenever I dropped you off. She was still under some kind of influence.” 

Jimin sighs, confused. “I don’t get it, then.”

“Par for the course.” He huffs when Jimin pokes him on the side scoldingly. “I mean,  none of it has made any sense since the beginning. I don’t get it either.” He goes on pouting a little, "I guess we should be grateful it’s like that for Taehyungie-hyung, though. At least he isn’t getting into trouble.” 

Turning the corner to the library, Jimin groans at the queue already starting to form. It doesn’t even open for another twenty minutes. 

A few minutes into waiting, Jimin lilts to the side, yawning.

“Go sit,” Jungkook tells him, pointing to the bench. “I’ll stay in line.” 

“No way.” Jimin takes hold of his hand, threading their fingers together. “Don’t be trying to get rid of me. We’re in this together, aren’t we?” 

Jungkook laughs, pretty eyes crinkling. “Hyung, just go. No reason for the both of us to stand here.”

Jimin shakes his head, holding his ground. A little sleepy, though, he leans into Jungkook, tucking his head onto his shoulder. 

“You’ll fall asleep on me too?” 

“I’m just protecting you,” Jimin says, putting his arms around Jungkook’s waist for extra support. “I can’t leave you alone. What if some curse-crazed hot guy comes and whisks you away?” 

“Why is he hot?” Jungkook chuckles. 

“Just because he’s cursed doesn’t mean he’s not hot.” 

“I thought we were the cursed ones."

“Yeah, see? Cursed and hot.” 

He does almost end up falling asleep on Jungkook’s shoulder before they make it in, but that’s only because Jungkook plays with the ends of his hair, in a move Jimin would never have seen coming in a million years. 

He wants it forever. He hates the library for opening on time, ushering everyone in and forcing him to disconnect from Jungkook’s warmth. 

He doesn’t go very far, though. Since it’s cramming time for the entire student population, the library is extremely crowded, so they squeeze into an already taken table most of the time, knees bumping under the surface. It’s become second nature now to sling an arm around the back of Jungkook’s chair, sending a warning look to the rest of the students, just in case. 

Throughout the day, Jungkook leans in to whisper things into Jimin’s ear, just to mess with him for a break. Just hyung, I’m bored, or hyung, what if I gouged my eye out with a pen?

At some point, the heating goes out and Jungkook tucks his hand between Jimin’s thighs for warmth, hyper-focused on his own material as Jimin blushes to the roots of his hair. 

He does manage to concentrate again eventually, though, and day turns into night in the same cramped little table. Just like that, they’ve broken their personal record. 

Jimin's eyes are burning, words having stopped registering as real long ago—the last one that made it in was ‘manuscript’, but then the letters started flying around the room. 

A nudge to his foot. Jungkook says, low not to disturb the people studying and sleeping in equal measure around them, “Where are you at?” 

“Text, read. Three new chapters. Four pages on my assignment.” 

“Time to go?” 

Jimin rubs his hands over his face and checks the time. It’s almost fucking midnight. “Yeah,” he mutters. “Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here.” 

Jungkook scrapes his chair back, making Jimin wince. The girl sitting in the next table over gives them the stink eye for the noise, and Jungkook flashes her an apologetic smile. At least she doesn’t seem to be falling in love with either of them at first sight, and neither has anyone the entire day. Small mercies. 

Jimin gets up a bit too quickly, and okay, the room’s spinning a bit. He takes a breath to steady himself and stuffs his books and laptop inside his backpack. He’s so ready to go the fuck home. 

“Hyung?” Jungkook’s looking at him, hand hovering close. “You okay?” 

“Hmm? Fine. Why?”

A cute, sceptical frown forms on Jungkook’s face. “You just kinda look like you're gonna fall over.”

Too exhausted for words, Jimin simply sticks his tongue out. 

Jungkook rolls his eyes at him, reaching down and slinging Jimin’s backpack onto his shoulder over his own. 

“Yah, are you robbing me?” 

“Yes, all these poetry notes are of great value to me, a business student.”

He picks Jimin's jacket up from where it was thrown over the other chair, holding  it up for him to put on. 

“You might want to sell them to other lit students.” Jimin slips his arms into his fluffy jacket, shivering pleasantly when it’s on. “Exams are soon. My notes are fucking excellent. That's good business.”

Jungkook's got a hand at the small of his back, leading him to the library exit. There’s no one at reception; presumably the person has gone to make sure nobody is drooling over any library books before sending them away for the night.  

“Do you want me to rob you?”

“You're so polite to ask before you rob. Great customer service.”

Jungkook winks as he pushes the door open. “That's good business.” 

The wind hits Jimin like a slap to the face. He shivers again, instinctively shuffling closer to Jungkook. 

“Why don't you zip that up if you're cold?”

Exhausted and not above being babied, Jimin pouts. “It’s too cold to take my hands out of my pockets.”

Jungkook hums. “I see.” 

He leans into Jungkook’s side and says, sugary-sweet, “Do it for me, Jungkook-ah.”

“Do it yourself.”

“What happened to the polite robber I was just talking to?”

“He's a robber, not a butler. Not in his job description.”

“Jungkook-ah, when I freeze and die, how will you face my mother knowing you could have saved her son and just chose to be a smartass instead?”

“I'll just tell her that her son was a lazy bastard and she won't be sad you're gone anymore.” Despite all that, he does as he’s told, closing the jacket up with one swift zip, flicking Jimin in the nose when he’s done for good measure. 

“Yah! Do you have no respect for the dead? Do you want me to haunt you when I'm gone?”

“You're haunting me now.” He tries to look put-upon, but his eyes are bright with teasing as he pulls at Jimin's hand. Jimin puts up resistance for two seconds and then goes with him, giggling. God, he's tired. 

Jungkook's got an arm around his shoulders (unprompted, again), making sure he's walking along. That works perfectly fine for Jimin. It might make him a little bit shy, weirdly, but he likes this a lot. He has to stop himself from doing the same when they’re alone, sometimes. For the second time since knowing Jungkook, Jimin’s urge to always reach for him has to be actively suppressed. 

It’s harder now than it was back then, though. 

He's so hazy and distracted that he doesn't realise what's going on until they're almost to his house. 

“Wait. Why are you here?”

Jungkook squints at him. “Did you actually fall asleep walking?”

“No! You don't live this way.”

“That's right. There’s hope for you yet.”

Jimin slaps his chest lightly. “Why did you leave campus! I could have walked home by myself!”

“Hyung, first of all, I have your backpack. Secondly, you can barely walk in a straight line. You'd have walked into traffic the instant I let you out of my sight.”

Jimin pouts, but he has to recognise the truth of the matter. “But it's a long walk back. In the cold, too…aish, Jeon Jungkook, you’re making me look like a bad hyung.” 

“Go to sleep,” Jungkook says, unimpressed, poking Jimin’s chest to push him towards the door. “There’s a good hyung.” 

Jimin slaps his hand away, but catches it before it goes too far. “Thanks for walking me home, brat.” 

“It's nothing.” He swings their joined hands from side to side, ever restless. “It's good to stretch my legs a bit after sitting down for that long.”

“So you're saying you did it for the exercise?” Jimin steps closer, armed with his best puppy eyes. “Not to make sure your best hyung gets home safe?” 

It has the desired effect—Jungkook gets all fidgety and embarrassed, and this feels right. “I never said you were my best hyung.”

Jimin smiles a little sweetly, a little smugly, tilting his head to the side. “I am though, aren’t I?”

Jungkook huffs and shakes his head. He juts his chin towards the door. “Can you make it upstairs in one piece?”

“Not sure. Carry me!”

He goes to jump in Jungkook’s arms, faking it just for the pleasure of seeing Jungkook’s widened eyes and watching him scramble for a catch. He makes a garbled little sound, huffing when he realises Jimin was never really going to jump. 

Jimin bursts out laughing, all the exhaustion hitting him at once. He’s somehow ended up with both his hands around Jungkook’s neck, hanging off as he laughs and laughs. When it peters out, he feels all loose and tired and happy. 

“I promise I can get up the stairs without tripping,” he says, rubbing tears away from the corners of his eyes and fishing his keys out of his pocket. “Goodnight, baby.”

“Goodnight,” Jungkook says, a little garbled again, though Jimin doesn’t know what for. 

He’s already halfway down the street before Jimin cups his hands around his mouth to yell, “Jeon Jungkook!”

“What!”

“You said you weren't robbing me!”

He gestures to his backpack and Jungkook jogs back, looking a little embarrassed.  

“Goodnight,” he says again, looking at Jimin expectantly, and Jimin waves him away with an amused smile that stays on his face all the way until he gets to bed.

Under the covers, he settles comfortably and sighs in contentment. An entire day lost to revision and yet he’s in such good spirits, filled with the joy of having Jungkook back by his side. 

Jimin hadn’t realised just how huge a part Jungkook played in his days. How much he relied on him for company, for laughter, for support. He’s more than joyful to have him back—he’s giddy. He’s happy. Park Jimin, happy, during exam season. Miracles do happen. 

As he drifts pleasantly between wakefulness and sleep, he wishes Jungkook hadn’t left. They could watch a movie, eat something, just sit and talk…Jimin’s pretty sure they could do it until the morning. 

They have, before—they only stopped when Jimin would get too sleepy and need to lie down. But they could keep going, if they both came to Jimin’s room. They could huddle in and keep talking until they fell asleep mid-sentence. That would be nice. Jimin thinks of Jungkook’s arm around his waist as they were walking home, thinks of Jungkook’s lying on his chest at the seafront, and wishes he hadn’t let him leave.

⚡

Washing dishes after midnight isn’t exactly Jimin’s preferred time, but it’s the only time he can, what with studying taking up his whole life now. At least a week and a half’s worth of crusty, disgusting plates have accumulated in the sink, and restless as he is, he’s decided to tackle it. 

Taehyung chooses that exact time to come back home, whistling. 

“Oh, beautiful,” he says, coming behind Jimin and dropping a kiss on his nape. “I owe you one.” 

“You owe me five,” Jimin grumbles. He's moody from a long, lonely day at home. Library was closed today. “Most of these are yours. I’ve been eating out recently.” 

“That’s why you’re the best flatmate in the world. I love you."

He smiles broadly, way too awake and cheerful. His eyes are still smoky with eyeshadow from whatever job he was at, his lips tinted dark pink. A little dishevelled, but no less beautiful. 

“You piss me off,” Jimin says, aiming a kick at his shins. 

Taehyung only laughs. “Why? The dishes? Get out of the way, I’ll do them, then.” He butts Jimin on the side, pushing him to move. 

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I like to do it. It helps me relax from all the,” he waves his hand around, soap suds flying everywhere, “stuff.” 

“Stuff?” Taehyung says with interest, jumping onto the counter. “What stuff? Tell me everything.” 

Jimin intends to talk about school. He opens his mouth thinking he’s about to recount his insane exam schedule which just came out today, but that’s not what ends up coming out. 

“Jungkookie’s been different lately.” 

“Different how? Oh God, you need me to intervene again? Is he being weird? I’ll kick his ass.” 

“No, no,” Jimin huffs, amused despite himself. “Not in a bad way. Just different. Haven’t you noticed?” 

“Haven’t really seen him much.” Taehyung shrugs. “He came with me to a couple photoshoots, but he didn’t really stay. He dipped as soon as he made sure things were okay.” 

“And while he was there, you didn’t notice a difference?” He needs to be more specific, doesn’t he? He can’t keep dancing around it. “In how he goes about the fake-boyfriend thing. Like, he’s… touchier than before. A lot.” 

“Is he?” Taehyung shrugs again. “Okay. So what?” 

“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t expecting it. It was quite a sudden change, you know, so it just. Caught me by surprise. So I wanted to check in with you.” The more he describes it only for Taehyung's face to remain unmoved and indifferent, the creepier he feels. Self-conscious, he says, “Whatever, forget I said anything.” 

He ducks his head, scrubbing at a stubborn bit of sauce staining a bowl red. Taehyung’s eyes stay on him, intensely scanning him. Jimin tries not to squirm. 

“Jimin-ah, is this about your little crush?” 

The bowl nearly slips out of his hands. “What?” 

“Your crush on Jungkook.” 

“I don’t have.” He laughs, feeling a little hysterical. “A crush—a crush on Jungkook. What are you—” 

“Come on, it’s just the two of us here.” He doesn’t sound like he’s teasing Jimin. Taehyung can fake-out with the best of them, but Jimin knows what that sounds like, and this isn’t it. This is spoken matter-of-factly, casually. “You don’t have to be like that.” 

“Tae, I don’t.” 

Taehyung stares at him. “Yes, you do. You always have. Come on, now.” When Jimin only looks back, slightly horrified, Taehyung seems to catch up. “Seriously? I thought we just weren’t saying it. You seriously didn’t know?” 

“I…” Jimin grabs the towel, drying his hands until it hurts a little. “Oh my god.” 

He feels slightly dizzy. He thinks about yesterday. He'd been studying all day, at Jungkook’s side, and the exhaustion only hit him when they parted ways like the crash after the sugar high. How moody he was today, all alone at home.

Surely that's not conclusive evidence to a crush, but. It's not just yesterday. It's every single time he spent hours texting Jungkook. Laughed a little too hard at his jokes, happy just being around him. Agonising over him, worrying over him, thinking it him all the time.

All these loose feelings he’s had for Jungkook since the beginning slot into place. He almost wants to sink to the floor now, cover his face in shame. 

“Yeah.” Taehyung watches his silent break down from up close. “That’s why I never took your little dating spree seriously. I figured you were only trying to make Jungkook jealous.” 

He feels slightly hysterical. “Jungkook was straight.” 

“Was?” Taehyung says with a glint in his eye. “Did he finally catch up, too?” 

“Shut the fuck up,” Jimin says, whacking him with the towel. He leans next to him on the counter, the world spinning a little. “Fuck.” 

“I’m sorry, but it was obvious. I know he said he was straight, but that was so long ago, and it’s just.” He shrugs. “Obvious.” 

“Not to me. And not to him, either.” 

Taehyung smirks. “Guess I’m the smartest in the bunch, then.” 

“Shut,” towel whack, “the,” towel whack, “fuck,” towel whack, “up.” 

Taehyung only laughs. When Jimin’s done with the whacking, he grabs his forearm and pulls him over, crushing him in a hug. “Ah, my Jimin-ah, don’t be like that. You’ve got school smarts, I’ve got street smarts.” 

Jimin melts against Taehyung’s chest, once again having to recontextualise his whole entire life. Just how dumb is he, exactly? 

He’s been thinking about Jungkook non-stop. Non. Stop. He wakes up with Jungkook on the brain and thinks of him all the way until they meet—which is most days. They go to the library together, eat lunch together, study through the afternoon, and leave when their stomachs beg them for dinner, which they grab at their favourite take-away spots, and still Jimin doesn’t feel satisfied. 

What the hell did he think all that was? 

“I’m such a dumb motherfucker.” Taehyung howls in laughter above his head, rocking him from side to side as Jimin keeps hiding his face during his little meltdown. “I’m serious! What the fuck do I do?” 

“Tell him, obviously.” 

“No,” Jimin kicks back immediately, “no, no. I can’t. School—exams. I can’t distract him with this shit. No way.” 

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “You and your school. Did you ever think that putting that above everything else is what’s causing all your problems?” 

“It’s really important that he does well,” Jimin insists. “He’s worked so hard. I can’t throw a curve-ball like this at him right now, Taehyung-ah.” 

Taehyung pats his shoulder. “Okay, okay. Tell him afterwards, then.” 

“But—” 

“Jimin.” He says it so firmly Jimin shuts up immediately. “I cannot live with you making eyes at Jungkook for the rest of our goddamn lives. I’ve been quiet about it this long only because I thought you were building up to something!” 

Giving Jimin entirely too much credit. 

Because the world is cruel and exam season is relentless, after that, Jimin has to go back to studying. 

He’s taken his laptop to bed, trying desperately to get through this one last text. He needs to finish it, at least this, before sleeping. Around 3am, the words start swimming in front of him, so he reaches for his phone, automatically searching for a momentary dopamine hit to pull him through. 

It unlocks straight onto his chat with Jungkook, because of course it fucking does. 

i’m going to watch all these tomorrow, he had written in response to a bunch of videos Jungkook had sent his way, need to hunker down and get some work done

fighting!! Jungkook had written back, and Jimin had locked the screen and forgotten about it for hours—except Jungkook is still online. 

The little flutter in Jimin’s stomach is telling enough, but he swats Taehyung’s smug face mentally away. He takes a moment to feel stupid again before typing a rapid fire message.

yah, are you still awake? 

[unoreversecard.png]
hyung don’t tell me you’re still studying 
it’s 4am!!! 

trying, but it’s not happening 

no fucking duh. go to sleep 

i need to get this done 

you can’t if your brain is leaking out of your ears
go sleep! how dare you waste sleep like this when i’m suffering to fall asleep every night :( 

put your phone aside, maybe that will help

ok mom 
i’ve not even been on my phone for hours 
i just can’t sleep 
so you should sleep for me 

but!!! work 

hyung oh my god i bet you already know all this stuff
i bet you’re torturing yourself over nothing 

i need to get this done 

okay then how about this 
you get this done now but you take a break tomorrow 
a real break
supervised

who'll supervise me ? taehyung's on a shoot tomorrow

I will
I'll come over for dinner :) 

ah ‘supervising me’ means getting a free meal out of me 
i see your tricks
You better cook me something delicious

of course
I'll come cook and supervise
a whole evening with no studying
it will be good for me too
pretty sure i’m going permanently cross eyed from book learnin 

I'll wait for you then
now sleep 

okay :) 
goodnight hyung!! 

goodnight 

This will be the perfect opportunity, Jimin thinks to himself. To observe himself, to understand if this crush is a thing worth sharing. Worth risking a perfectly good friendship for. 

If it’s a passing thing, he can just live through it. A few butterflies never hurt anyone, after all. If it’s deeper than that... 

Jimin will cross that bridge when he gets there. 

⚡

Jimin’s entire task list as a sous-chef starts and ends at take care of the playlist, but the boss is really quite demanding. Jimin’s busy, on his little perch up in the counter, skipping perfectly good songs left and right for the sake of cultivating the right creative conditions for cooking. 

So Jimin’s been purposefully choosing songs he knows will bug Jungkook, just for that. 

It’s working, and it’s delightful. 

“No, not that one,” Jungkook winces, “skip, please.” 

“What? I like this one.” 

“No.” 

“No, I don’t like it? Are you calling me a liar?” 

“Hyung,” he groans, “come on, it’s making my ears bleed. Seriously. I can’t cook in these conditions.” 

“Tough, because I’m not skipping it.” 

He does not expect Jungkook to fight him for it—between one second and the next, Jimin finds himself trapped against the counter, raising his phone up as high as he can to keep out of Jungkook’s reach. 

He giggles. “Yah, yah! Keep back! Stop attacking me!” 

“You’re attacking me! Come on hyung, I thought I’d trained you out of this awful taste in music—” 

Jimin manages to push him firmly away and hold him there for a second as Jungkook giggles at his own audacity. “Train me like I’m your dog! Stay back! Just for that, we’ll listen to it on a loop!” 

Jungkook opens Jimin’s legs and slots himself between them, and the shock of it is enough to catch Jimin off guard. He lowers the phone and Jungkook snatches it away. Jimin catches him before he moves away, throwing his arms over Jungkook’s shoulders from the back. 

“Don’t! Stay here. Stay.” 

“Now who’s treating who like a dog?” 

He headbutts Jimin backward, head falling onto Jimin’s shoulder. Jimin leans forward, puts his weight on him, and Jungkook grunts, but settles. He keeps scrolling down the song list, adding things to the queue, effectively firing Jimin from his sous-chef role. 

“Mm, you’re warm,” Jungkook  mutters, sounding distracted. He sounds pleased about it, so Jimin doesn’t budge. 

“Am I?” He burrows in closer, properly hooking his chin over Jungkook’s shoulder. He’s practically piggy-backing him now, and not only Jungkook doesn’t mind, he hooks his hand over Jimin’s thigh to secure it around his own waist. 

Brave new world. 

Jimin is definitely, definitely in trouble, and hes’s most definitely fucking stupid for not noticing before the way he reacts to Jungkook. Is he so blind to himself that he didn’t catch himself being a total idiot over him? 

They spend the entire night giggling together—things aren’t even that funny, it’s just Jimin being drunk on Jungkook's proximity. Jungkook will make a cute face, Jimin will laugh. Jungkook will make a cute noise, Jimin will laugh. He’ll do a funny voice as he sings along to the song that’s playing, Jimin will fold himself in half giggling. It’s hopeless, really. Absolutely hopeless. 

As for when they touch—forget about it. Jimin’s stomach erupts in butterflies like something out of a shitty romance novel. It’s embarrassing, really. He’s embarrassed for himself. 

But Jungkook is so pretty and he came all the way here to cook Jimin his favourite tteokkbokki and make sure he takes a break, so really, shouldn’t Jimin be allowed to melt, just a little? 

Even now, Jungkook’s recounting the plot of some movie he watched beat for beat, and all Jimin can do is sit there with his head resting on his palm and listen with hearts coming out of his fucking eyes. God, he’d smack himself if he could. 

“It was predictable, really,” Jungkook says, munching on the last few bites of his second serving as Jimin tunes back into his words. “They were miserable for a while, before they ran into each other and realised they’re going through the same thing and fell in love, just like I thought was going to happen.”

Jimin smiles, putting his own bowl on the coffee table to deal with later as Jungkook does the same. “You know your stuff, huh?” 

“Of course,” Jungkook says with a beaming smile, turning to look at him, “I’ve seen a million movies like this one.”

Jimin stretches, belly full, body relaxed. His arm lands behind Jungkook on the couch—cliche, cliche—and he taps him on the shoulder, just to touch him. They’re practically cuddling right now, Jungkook looking up at him all trusting and cute. “What about our movie?” 

“Mm?” 

“You said once this is like a movie. The curse. What’s the end of our movie?” 

“You find love,” Jungkook says with a shrug like it’s obvious. “According to like, film history.” 

“Do I? Reassuring. And what happens to you?” He can’t help himself from playing with the ends of Jungkook’s hair at his nape, channeling his energy there instead of just staring at his mouth. Fuck, how did he never notice?  “What happens to you at the end of our movie?” 

“I’m your sidekick,” Jungkook says, “so that means I have a flat personality and maybe one defining trait, if I’m lucky. So I guess it would be… passing my exams? Or maybe failing spectacularly. Depending on what kind of movie this is.” 

“I’d never let you fail in my movie.” 

“You’re not writing it,” Jungkook reminds him. “You’re just the lead.” 

“I won’t let you fail.” He catches Jungkook’s chin. “You hear me?” 

Jungkook holds his eye, and the air between them suddenly becomes charged. Jimin’s reminded of the club, of bodies pressing close and breaths almost shared. 

Jungkook’s eyes flick to his lips for a second, and Jimin’s breath cuts. Like this, faces aligned, all it would take is one of them dipping forward slightly to close the distance. 

Jungkook takes Jimin’s hand down from his face and extends his pinky. “Promise, yeah?” 

Jimin hooks onto it with a grin, endeared down to his bones. “Promise.” 

Jungkook moves their hands up and down, joined still. “Can’t believe Busan was a bust. I was hoping there would be something.” He sighs. “Namjoonie-hyung really didn’t find anything else?” 

Jimin shakes his head. "No news.” 

"Shame,” Jungkook says, catching on immediately. He hums, thinking, before he lies down on the couch to stare at the ceiling, the top of his head pressing into Jimin’s thigh. “The way Taehyung-hyung was raving about him, I thought he'd be able to help.” 

“He's a professor, not a miracle worker,” Jimin says. “Or maybe we're just hopeless.” 

“We’ve done okay,” Jungkook says, pretty eyes looking up at Jimin questioningly. “Haven’t we?” 

Jimin draws the hair away from Jungkook’s face and then stays, combing his fingers through them gently. “I should have talked to you about stuff, in the beginning. Boundaries, I mean. We should have made a plan, or a…I don’t know, a list of what we’re comfortable with. I feel like I strong-armed you into it, somehow. I’m sorry.” 

Jungkook sighs, eyes closed, seemingly enjoying being petted. “You’re always apologising to me.” 

“Setting a good example.” 

“I know you wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt me, hyung. I know what you’re like.” 

He says it with an emotion behind it Jimin can’t quite identify, but it sets something alight in his chest. 

And what are you like, Jimin almost asks, but then he notices Jungkook’s breathing getting deeper, his whole body relaxing into the couch. 

Jimin lays his head on the back of the couch, continuing the movement. Hopefully it will lull Jungkook into a deep sleep and let him finally rest. 

He sits there, watching his chest rise and fall. Running his knuckle gently over Jungkook’s soft cheek, Jimin has to admit to himself he’s actually quite fucked. 

This isn’t some little crush. His feelings for Jungkook, now they’ve been given a name, are floating all around him, magnifying every look, every touch.  

There’s nothing little about this. Nothing that can be simply ignored. 

After exams, Jimin has to tell him. 

Chapter Text

The first thing Jimin sees when he steps out of his second-to-last exam is Jungkook waiting for him. He’s got two coffees in hand, burdened with the haggard, lost look of someone who’s spending every waking hour studying and questioning the meaning of life. 

When he sees Jimin, his eyes sharpen, the glaze of exhaustion slipping away. 

“So?” he asks as Jimin walks closer. “Did you ace it?”

Pout firmly on his face, dejected slump in his shoulders, Jimin comes to a stop in front of him. “Honestly, I…” He breaks into a grin. “I fucking aced it.”

“I knew you would!” Jungkook laughs, ducking in for a hug despite the coffees. He picks Jimin up off the ground easily, just enough to risk a burn on his hand, but Jimin makes it back down without injury to either of them, beaming. “You always do this lame fake-out thing, like I don’t know you’re top of your class.”

Jimin takes the coffee with his name on it, sticking his tongue out at Jungkook. “I know you believe me. Even just for a second.”

“I don’t.”

“You do,” Jimin says, tangling their fingers together when Jungkook reaches for his hand, second nature by now. “Admit it.”

“Okay, fine,” an eye-roll, “just for a second. But deep down I know you’re fucking with me.”

“You’re just so easy to fuck with,” Jimin says, leaning closer, happily swept away in Jungkook’s presence. He could practically take flight now, anyway, with the relief of being almost done. After a second, he asks,

“Are we going somewhere?”

“Park,” Jungkook announces. “Meeting Taehyungie-hyung.”

Jimin vaguely remembers Taehyung mentioning something about it, but he’d been knee-deep in pre-exam stress to properly register the information. He smiles, tugging on Jungkook’s hand to go a bit faster. 

The park is pretty quiet for a day as beautiful as this. The sun is shining, a blessed break from a week of relentless rain. It also marks a week since the last time he’s properly seen Taehyung—he’s been away on a commercial shoot on the other side of the city, in a hotel paid for by production.

Taehyung is already sprawled on the grass when they get there, lying comfortably on his arms, big sunglasses on. He looks perfectly at peace with the universe, a rare look on any of them these days. 

“Yo,” Jungkook says, kicking his feet. “Move over.”

“There’s a whole park here.”

“I want this spot,” Jungkook says, kicking again.

“Move over.”

“Jimin-ah, rein in your boyfriend,” Taehyung tells him, dragging himself to a sitting position.

“He’s both our boyfriend,” Jimin says with a laugh, and a what the fuck look over Taehyung’s head.

“Wasn’t that the plan?”

“Not anymore, babe. I told you both I’m too busy for a relationship. You two have been exclusive since the moment I signed my first deal.” Taehyung tugs Jimin closer to put an arm around his shoulder, dropping a kiss to his temple for good measure. “You look happy.”

“He just aced his second-to-last exam.”

“Did he?” Taehyung beams. “How about you, Jungkook-ah?”

“Still has two to go,” Jimin says, and Taehyung scoffs.

“Did you switch bodies? Why won’t you answer for yourselves?”

Jimin laughs it off, pushing him away. “Yah, how about you? How was it?”

Taehyung grins smugly. “Amazing. They loved me. They already booked me on two more ads.” 

“No awkward incidents? No one gave you a hard time?” 

Taehyung shakes his head, lying down on Jimin’s thigh and throwing his legs over Jungkook’s. “It was all fine, just like the last five times. Just worked. I even had fun! Imagine, work being fun.” He beams at them, and for the first time in a really long time, Jimin sees him totally unburdened. 
Maybe Jungkook’s right about his constant apologising, but Jimin can’t help adding one more to the list. 

“I’m sorry I kept you from it for so long,” he tells him, reaching out to squeeze his nose to ease the tension he’s feeling. “You could have had this months ago.”

“You were worried.” Taehyung presses a kiss to Jimin’s hand before flicking it away. “I wouldn’t have let you either. Yah,” he says, suddenly kicking Jungkook, “what, no coffee for me?” 

Jungkook pretends to not listen as Jimin passes Taehyung his own cup for a sip to mullify him, but inwardly, he can’t stop himself from feeling special. 

“Anyway, good thing your torture is almost over,” Taehyung says, pinching Jimin’s cheek, “I’ll finally get to see my Jimin again. I’ve lost you to the library for months now.” 

“That’s right! Curse school, curse getting an education—mmh!” 

Jungkook puts his hand over Jimin’s mouth as Taehyung sets off into laughter again. “Let’s not use those kinds of words anymore, Jimin-hyung!”

“Especially when we’ve still got no fucking clue how to solve the one we already have,” Taehyung adds. “But hey, that works out for me, in the end. More business.” 

“You’d be okay without it,” Jungkook shoots back.

“You’ve been picking from your pile this whole time, haven’t you? And getting more work off of that. Solving the curse wouldn’t affect your work.” 

“It wouldn’t,” Taehyung admits, “but while you smarty-pants work on solving it, it won’t hurt to have a few more enchanted agents beg at my feet.” 

“We’re stumped, too,” Jimin says. “Not a lot of leads after Busan.” 

“You’ll think of something,” Taehyung declares, patting both of their heads. 

Jimin really hopes so.

The rest of the afternoon unfolds leisurely in the sun, and for a blessed three whole hours, no one comes to bother them at all.

⚡

The last exam, as the legend goes, is always the worst one. Exhaustion is bone deep by now, and the light of vacation at the end of the tunnel is barely enough to give him any hope. Jimin finds himself walking around campus in a daze, his nose stuck in his notes. It’s a wonder he doesn’t walk into oncoming traffic. 

He’s in the middle of revising on the go, walking up and down in front of the library’s steps waiting for it to open, when he hears his name being called.

It’s Namjoon, waving cheerfully at him. The smile melts a little off his face the closer he gets.

“Jimin-ah, hey! Are you…okay?” 

“Perfect, yeah.” He tries to smile, but it feels like only half his face follows his brain’s order. “Just studying.” 

“Right.” Namjoon looks him up and down worriedly. “Have you had breakfast?” Jimin shakes his head no. “Dinner last night?” 

“I think I had instant ramyeon around 4am?” 

“Okay.” Namjoon’s hands fall on his shoulders, turning him away from the library. “Let’s go get breakfast. My treat.” 

Jimin’s about to protest, but his traitorous stomach grumbles loudly at the mention of food, so he reluctantly follows. 

With a heavy dose of coffee in him, the haze in Jimin’s brain starts to clear. He looks around the cosy little coffee-shop, munching on the pastry Namjoon ordered for him—some kind of delicious sweet cream fills his mouth, and the shock of sugar wakes him up even further. 

“Good?” 

“Amazing,” he mutters, cheeks full like a chipmunk. “Thanks, hyung. I never even knew about this place.”

“Faculty’s best kept secret,” Namjoon says conspiratorially. There’s an honest to goodness briefcase set down by his feet, and Jimin almost makes fun of him about it—almost. For one thing, he can’t tease the man who just bought him the most delicious breakfast, and for another, it suits him rather perfectly.

They do some catching up as Jimin gets through the first coffee and orders a second. Despite the caffeine coursing through his blood, Jimin relaxes into the familiarity—hanging out with Namjoon has always been calming.

“It’s good to see you,” he tells him with a smile when Namjoon finishes telling him a story about a student in his class that has been improving recently, eyes filled with pride. “Last time was what? A month ago?”

Namjoon nods. “You seem much happier today. Did you find your solution?”

“Ah, not quite,” he says, flashing back to the piles and piles of library books back in Busan. “We looked hard. But nothing.”

“So the curse is still in effect?” Jimin nods, and Namjoon’s eyebrows shoot up. “That’s… hm. Okay.” Jimin cocks his head at him, so Namjoon waves a hand in response. “No, no, nothing, I’m just… you really seem lighter, Jimin-ah.” 

“You literally found me half-awake and malnourished on the library steps.” 

“No, no, it’s not school stress. There was something about you last time. Deeper. There’s none of that now, so I assumed it was because the curse was lifted.”

“Well…” Jimin shrugs. He can think of one major difference. “I mean. Last time we met, I was kind of… not fighting, but… me and Jungkook, we weren’t okay. You know.” He doesn’t like revisiting that, so he brushes over it. “But we talked when we were in Busan, and we’re all good now.”

“You talked.” Namjoon nods a little too fervently.

“Good. Talking is good. So, you’re really okay now?

"Better than before. Something really clicked there for us. Jungkookie was carrying some things, and I was too, and we managed to talk through and now…” He shrugs, smiling. “We’re closer, now.” 

“Right.” Namjoon looks at him like he’s expecting something. “And?” 

“And…” Jimin doesn’t really know what he’s expecting to hear, so he backtracks a little.

“Taehyungie’s doing great too. He’s working as a model now, did he tell you?”

Namjoon’s eyes widen. “A model?” 

“Yeah!” Jimin explains the situation quickly. “He’s really busy. I’ve barely seen him recently, really. His schedule’s all weird now. So he’s making the curse work for him. Good thing he didn’t listen to me. I advised him against it this whole time.” 

“Taehyungie’s brave like that. Reckless, sometimes, but brave.” 

Jimin hums in agreement, twirling his straw around the remnants of his coffee. 

“Have you ever thought that’s what all this was for?” 

Jimin cocks his head. “What do you mean?” 

“Well, think about it. In stories, sometimes curses are punishment. For hubris, or bad actions, or bad thoughts… that’s the tragedies. In others, instead of a punishment, it’s a path, leading you to your destiny. Or maybe it’s a good old-fashioned lesson you need to be taught.” 

Jimin’s nose wrinkles at the mere notion of having to be taught another thing, but other than that, Namjoon is making sense. “Yeah. I guess… I guess I didn’t really think about all that. We were focusing on solving it.”

“But couldn’t this help with solving it? From what you’ve said, this thing is hinging on your… well,” he laughs self-consciously, “for lack of a better phrase, your heart’s desire, right? People wanting you. So that has to be part of it.” His eyes are bright. “You need to figure out the kind of story that you’re in, and then you can act accordingly.”

Namjoon’s phone buzzes, screen flashing with an alarm. 

“Shit, I need to go.” He hurriedly drinks the last bits of his coffee, knocking into the table in his haste as he gets up. “I’m late. This is my you’re late alarm.” 

Jimin laughs. “Go, go. Jungkookie’s waiting for me at the library, anyway.”

“Right.” Jimin’s starting to really dislike the way Namjoon says that. He hugs Jimin tightly before leaving. “Tell him hi from me.” 

Jimin sits at their table for another moment, trying to gather his thoughts. The word destiny keeps bouncing around the walls of his mind. 

What kind of story could he be in? 

He outright rejects the lesson idea. What could possibly be derived from this as a lesson? Rejecting people isn’t fun? Be careful what you wish for? Lame. 

Thinking back to that night, his words had a certain amount of vitriol in them. Could this all be a punishment for that? Could his moment of weakness have made it up to the skies and pissed someone off? 

But it would be unfair. If Jimin was the one to offend, then Jimin should have been the only one to suffer. All the frustration and pain he put his friends in can’t be that meaningless.

Which only leaves one option.

A path, Namjoon said. How can it be a path? Jimin doesn’t even know if he believes in destiny.
But then he thinks of Taehyung, bright and happy on the grass in the park. He thinks of Jungkook, tearfully telling him he’s gay on the beach in Busan.

“Was everything alright, sir?” 

Jimin shakes himself away from his musings, smiling politely to the waiter. “Lovely, thank you. Could I get the bill?” 

“Certainly. Will you be needing anything else?” 

He thinks of Jungkook in the library, buried between the piles of books, and says, “A caramel macchiato to go please, for my boyfriend.” 

It isn’t until he catches sight of Jungkook at the library that he catches up with his own words. He’s writing something down on a flashcard, frowning when the ink smudges. So unbearably lovely. Jimin would be proud to call him his boyfriend and mean it. 

Is that even a possibility? What are the chances Jungkook outright rejects him? He’d be nice about it, Jimin’s sure, but what if that’s where they’re headed? Solid, cold fear seizes him momentarily, the thought spiral starting to form. What if he rejects Jimin, distances himself again? What if their friendship suffers? What if it doesn’t survive? 

Jimin can’t live with that possibility. 

After exams, Jimin reminds himself. I’ll worry about it then. 

As if Jungkook can feel Jimin’s eyes on him, he raises his head. He breaks into a grin as soon as he spots Jimin, waving him over with a whisper shout of hyung! over here! 

The butterflies in Jimin’s stomach swarm and swarm until he swears he’s lifted off the ground.

⚡

His last exam goes off without a hitch. He sleeps a full twelve hours after, stumbling back into the outside world barely remembering how to function, but the relief he feels is immeasurable. 

He also feels entirely lost, and nauseous with anticipation. 

Now the school distraction is out of the way, all he can think about is Jungkook and the curse. His brain ping-pongs between the two subjects way too much, but he’s running on fumes, so nothing really comes of it. 

Taehyung’s busy with work again and Jungkook is pushing through the last couple days before his own last exam, so there’s no one to bounce ideas off of. He doesn’t want to risk Namjoon and his smug little rights full of implications. He can figure it out alone. 

He pores over the notes he took in Busan. He writes down everything that happened to him and the others, squeezing his brain dry for the very last detail. Somewhere in there maybe there’s a clue as to what’s going on, he tells himself and tries to steer clear of words like path and destiny. 

⚡

The night before Jungkook’s last exam, Jimin is just about getting ready for bed when he receives a text. 

i think i’m panicking 
can i come over 
can i stay with you tonight 

His heart clenches in sympathy. He hasn’t really heard of him in a couple days, so he immediately responds with of course. 

Jungkook show up a bundle of nerves, notes haphazardly thrown into his backpack. He tips over onto Jimin’s shoulder, groaning in lieu of hello. Jimin catches him, a hand on the back of his head. 

“I only got 65 per cent in the last practice test” he says, words muffled in Jimin’s shirt. “I’ll probably fail.”

Jimin’s heart hurts to see him so twisted up about it, so he pushes him away to look at his face. “Hey. No, you won’t.” Jungkook watches him with massive, preoccupied eyes. “You know this. All of this, okay?”

Jungkook nods, but says, “I think I’ll black out when I’m in there.”

“No, you won’t,” Jimin chuckles. “You’ll be absolutely fine. And even if you black out for a moment, you’ll just take a big breath, calm down, and it will come back.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Of course I can, Jeon Jungkook, you think it hasn’t happened to me?”

“Has it?”

“Of course it has.” He holds Jungkook’s face between his hands and squeezes his cheeks.

“That’s why I’m the older one.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” His words come out muffled and Jimin has to fight not to plant a kiss to his mouth. “I think it’s the other way around.”

“Jungkook. Repeat after me.”'

“After me.”

Jimin holds his laughter in. “I studied for this exam.”

“I studied for this exam.”

“I know the material.”

“I know the material.”

“I’ll go in tomorrow, do well, and come out a free man.”

“I’ll go in, do well, and come out a free man.”
“And cook my most favourite Jimin-hyung a delicious meal to thank him for helping me.” 

“And cook my most fav—hey!” 

Jimin laughs. “Fine, that one is optional.” He releases some of the pressure on Jungkook’s cheeks, just holding him now. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Jungkook says, looking a little calmer. Jimin might have imagined it, but it almost feels like Jungkook nuzzles his head into his palm.

“Okay.” He takes a breath and steps away from Jimin’s reach. “I still need to go over some things, though.”

“Fine.” Jimin sighs, giving into the inevitable. “Do you have flashcards?” 

Jungkook looks up at him with big, grateful eyes. Jimin smiles, pulling him deeper inside with a ruffle of his hair.. “I’ll make some coffee.” 

Just as Jimin thought, Jungkook is well prepared. It’s his stress that’s eating away at him, and he has faith in him to push through it during the actual exam tomorrow. He tells Jungkook as much, but he doesn’t seem to take it to heart. When Jimin tries to grab the book away and put an end to the night, Jungkook keeps it firmly in his lap.

“You can go to sleep. Thank you. I’ll just go over this bit one more time, and—” 

“I said no.” Jimin takes the book away from him, catching Jungkook’s hands in his. “You’re done. There comes a time where hyung has to step in.” 

“Just one more time—” 

“Jungkook-ah.” He says it firmly, trying not to give into Jungkook’s puppy eyes. “You need to sleep. Right now. Let’s go.” 

“Go..?” 

“If I let you out here, you’re just going to keep going in secret,” Jimin says, pulling him up. Jungkook goes without protest, tacitly admitting the truth in Jimin’s words. “So you’ll go in my room. I’ll sleep out here.” He pats Jungkook’s butt lightly. “Go on.”  

Jungkook doesn’t move. “I can’t kick you out of bed when you’ve been helping me the whole night.” 

“What then?” Jimin’s smile is teasing, but his heart starts to pound even at the notion. “We sleep in the same bed?” 

“Is it big enough?” 

“You can’t sprawl,” Jimin says, “but it can work.” 

“Well.” Jungkook nods, a shyness around him. “Let’s go, then.” 

They get ready for bed quickly. Jimin’s buzzing at the idea of sleeping in the same bed, so close to each other. Jungkook’s slept over so many times, but always on the couch. This feels different. An empty apartment, a quiet night, their knees brushing under the covers… Jimin’s having a difficult time not doing something incriminating. 

Tomorrow, he thinks. The time is almost here, and it’s tomorrow. 

“Hyung,” Jungkook says, “is it okay? Do you have enough space?” 

“It’s fine. Never mind me,” Jimin says, turning to look at Jungkook in the dark. “Are you going to be able to sleep? How do you feel? About tomorrow?” 

“Stressed. I’m stressed. It’s my worst subject.” He sighs. “Just telling myself it’s the last one.” 

“And then we’re free men.”

“Just will have the curse to take care of after,” Jungkook reminds him, as if Jimin could have forgotten. “With exams and everything, there was no time, but after tomorrow, I’ll be ready.” He puts his fists up and punches the air playfully. “Put me in, coach. I’ll read all the books. Just point me at ‘em.” 

With a tired laugh, Jimin says, “There’s no more books. We read them all in Busan, remember? Namjoon already went through stuff here. He said there was nothing.” 

Jungkook slumps, turning to look at Jimin too, hand under the pillow. “Oh. Right. Still, there could be something else. We were kind of rushing through them… maybe we could go back! Stay a few more days, split them fifty-fifty?” 

“Barely even done with the semester and you want to run back to the library? Jeon Jungkook, how studious you are.” Jimin chucks him under the chin. “Unless you just want to take me on a beach-side holiday.” 

Jimin expected an eye roll, but instead Jungkook blinks and looks away with an awkward huff. “We can’t give up.”  

Jimin’s stomach tightens. “No,” he agrees, wishing Jungkook would turn to look at him again, “no, we can’t.” 

Jimin wishes he had the answers more than anything, so Jungkook could walk out of the exam center tomorrow in a world where the curse is lifted—but really, for all his trying, he’s no closer to a solution at all. 

⚡

Jimin wakes up to the crack of thunder. 

Dazed, he checks the clock. 5am. It’s still dark outside. Jungkook’s sleeping next to him, mouth slightly open. Jimin tucks him under the covers and gets up. His sleep was shallow, anyway, heart all twisted, stressed. 

As stressed as Jungkook is for his exam, Jimin’s just as worried about tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day he tells him, for better or for worse. Strangely warm inside, he puts his shoes on and heads outside, climbing the last little half floor towards the roof. Their view isn’t anything to write home about, but  since the roof is on the fifth floor, you only need to look up to get an eyeful of sky. 

Tonight, that sky is loaded, the air heavy and humid with the threat of rain. Jimin has half an hour at most before the heavens open, if the crack of thunder in the distance is any indication. 

Jimin stares up looking for stars and finding clouds instead. His head is an overwhelming mix of everything now, blending it all together: everything from that first flash of lightning. He sees it in his friends shuttered expressions, his hasty messy notes, Taehyung’s theories, Namjoon’s help… all of it, leading him here, still just as lost as back then. 

More than anything, coming as no surprise, he thinks of Jungkook. How he struggled in silence for months, figuring himself out under the pressure of some sort of supernatural joke. How the curse robbed him of a real first kiss, a real first boyfriend. 

Jimin leans onto the railing, the cold metal a shock on his soft, sleep-warmed palms. The streets underneath him are practically deserted. Maybe people are afraid of getting caught in a storm. 

Given what happened last time Jimin was in one, maybe he should be a bit more scared too. All he feels is a kind of sick anticipation as he stands up there for god knows how long, twisting Namjoon’s words over in his mind. 

He wracks his brain, trying to think. Heart’s desire, Namjoon said. I want people to want me, so I can be the one to reject them. 

That’s not the case anymore. If anything, his heart’s desire now is for Jungkook to be free. Himself and Taehyung too, but Jungkook—Jungkook deserves a life unburdened, where he gets to explore who he is, what he wants… 

Even if that isn’t Jimin. 

Fuck, what if. 

What it’s not a punishment, or a path, but a challenge? 

What if the point is Jimin putting himself in rejection’s path willingly this time, with more to lose? What if that's the only way to have something real? 

Something shifts in the charge of the air, warning of the impending storm. 

“Fuck,” he mutters, fears confirmed. “Fuck.” 

He huffs, starting to get emotional. “Why is that it?” he asks the heavy sky. “What does that have to be it, huh? Why me in the first place? Why listen to my drunken ramblings? Were you just looking for someone to mess with?” 

“Well, congratulations. You succeeded. I don’t know how the fuck it happened, but you managed! I have to tell him, don’t I? To solve this stupid curse. To…” He brings his hand to his chest, his pounding heart. “To give him a chance.” 

He’s still sleep-addled, head-achey, anxious. 

“How would I even say it? Jungkook-ah, I like you. I like—no. Out of nowhere, no, I can’t just—” He groans, annoyed at himself already. “Maybe explain the context? Yeah. That’s what you do. You don’t just launch into your subject, you provide the context first.” He nods. “Right. So, Jungkook-ah, hyung needs to talk to you about something.”

He takes a deep breath and tries to recap his thoughts, putting them all in proper order. He imagines Jungkook across from him, hanging on his every word, and somehow, it gets harder. 

“The curse is built around rejection, isn’t it? It clung to my words when I said I wanted to reject people, to see what it’s like for once. Didn’t want to be on the receiving end anymore.” He takes a deep breath. “But I think… I think in order to break it, I’m going to have to be. And that’s really scary, Jungkook-ah, because if I do this and it goes wrong, I’m risking a lot more than just a bit of bitterness and a hungover.”

He thinks of Jungkook, rushing and tripping all over his words in excitement when he tries to explain the plot of a new movie he likes. Of the ink on his face when he fell asleep on his notes once and woke up with it smudged all over his cheekbone. Of his sweet humming as he cooks, and the smile when he catches Jimin’s eye over his shoulder. 

It feels impossible to put this on the line, even to solve the curse—is it really worth it, if Jungkook reacts badly? If he doesn’t even consider Jimin that way at all? What if he’s surprised, or worse, hurt? Mad at Jimin for harbouring these feelings and hiding them away, taking advantage of their situation to be close to him anyway? 

Maybe it’s panic talking, but Jimin’s feeling a lot of it right now. 

But even if Jungkook doesn’t feel the same way, Jimin decides there and then, it doesn’t matter. What matters is breaking free of this—what matters is Jungkook getting a chance to live as himself, fall in love as himself, even if it isn’t with Jimin.

“God, if that isn’t fucking love, what is?” he mutters bitterly under his breath. “I‘m in love with him,” he says, then repeats it one more time, “I’m in love with Jungkook.” Chest filled with all kinds of nameless, horrible, beautiful things, he raises his eyes up to the sky again. “You hear me? I said it. I said it! So all that crap I whined about when I was drunk, that’s yesterday’s news, okay? I couldn’t give a fuck about anyone else. Jungkook is all I want.” Volume rising, chest filled with something powerful and heavy, emboldened by the flash of lightning in the distance, he says it again, firmer this time: “He’s all I want!” 

“Hyung?” 

His stomach drops. 

All the mounting emotion that had been building in him simply evaporates, replaced by utter panic. 

He turns around and meets Jungkook’s wide eyes. “What—what are you doing here?”  

“I woke up and you weren’t there,” he says, stepping closer with a confused, surprised expression. “Your shoes weren’t by the door, and I thought maybe something happened, so I—what were you saying?” 

There’s a chilly breeze ruffling his hair, but Jimin’s burning up right now. “How much did you hear?”

“A lot,” Jungkook answers. “I heard my name.” 

“Oh.” Jimin smiles, feeling a little crazy. “You did? Of course you did. I was practically screaming it.” 

“Why...?” He looks like he’s about to keel over any second now. “What—what were you saying.” 

Jimin closes his eyes. He takes a fortifying breath. This is it, isn’t it? He can’t very well tuck Jungkook back into bed and tell him to ask again tomorrow. 

If he’s right, they’ll be free. If he’s right and lucky, they’ll be more. 

If not… 

He reaches out to grasp Jungkook’s hand, desperate for something to hold onto. “Jungkook-ah, I think I know how to fix it.” He can’t look him in the eyes. “I’m sorry to spring it on you like this. I’d like more time to do it better. To find the right words, and explain well, and have it all—proper, and clear. Thoughtful. Like you deserve. But I somehow ended up here, saying all those things,” he laughs, shrugging, “yelling them at the sky.” 

Jungkook looks up at the grey sky, confused, then back at Jimin. “Nothing happened, though.” 

He’s looking at him like Jimin has all the answers, and it cracks something open in Jimin’s chest. 

“That’s because I needed to tell you.” 

“Tell me that…” Jungkook’s blushing to the roots of his hair, “that I’m all you want?” 

A strange relief takes over Jimin. Jungkook doesn’t look disgusted. He looks sleepy and a little shy, big wide eyes trained on Jimin. His very favourite version of Jungkook. 

“Exactly,”he says, calmer now. At peace with whatever comes. “So, I’m about to fix it.” He steps closer, leans his forehead against Jungkook’s. “Are you listening?” 

“I’m listening.” 

“Jungkook-ah.” He smiles, stepping off the ledge, a free man. “You’re all I want.” 

Thunder sounds, and the skies open. 

The rain batters mercilessly against Jimin’s face, hair, everywhere, zero to drenched in a single second. He laughs, relief making him so light he swears he could take flight. He stumbles when Jungkook tugs on his hand, pulling him towards the entrance back into the building, but he follows, ready to go inside and take cover—but right as he’s about to reach for the handle, Jungkook turns him around, pressing his back to the door. 

“Hyung.” Jungkook’s hair is already dripping down his cheeks, but the sleepiness has disappeared. It looks like he’s running on pure adrenaline. “Do you mean it? You want me?” 

“Of course I mean it! Didn’t you hear the thunder? Didn’t you see how the sky opened?” He laughs. “What more proof do you need?” 

Jungkook keeps him still. “But what does that mean?” 

“I said it all, Jungkook-ah, didn’t I? I yelled out into the universe that I’m in love with you—” Jungkook’s eyes get even wider. “Oh,” Jimin says, realising. He giggles, feeling like he’s floating. He pulls the wet locks away from Jungkook’s forehead. “I guess you didn’t hear that bit?” 

Jungkook chokes out, “In love?” 

“That’s what I said.” Since Jungkook seems so set on staying out here, Jimin pulls him closer, tries to get them both under the little cover above the door, but all that does is cover their heads—all the rest of them is still getting drenched. 

“Since when?” 

“Since…” He drops his head back and decides fuck it, they’re already wet. “Oh, really, does it matter? I don’t think I know. I don’t think I noticed when it started. I just know one day you were there.”

“Where?” 

Jimin goes for broke, taking Jungkook’s hand and placing it onto his heart. How’s this for romcom? “Here, dummy.” He smiles at Jungkook’s cute, still surprised face. “Ah, baby, don’t panic, okay? I’m not expecting anything from you. I don’t know if you ever could like me back that way, and you might not feel ready to date a guy, but I just want you to have the chance, without this stupid—” 

He’s being kissed silent. 

Jungkook’s pushed him up against the door, hands on Jimin’s face, gripping him tightly. The kiss is rushed, hasty, like he’s scared Jimin might take all those words back. 

Jimin is planning to do no such thing.

It’s very brief, but then Jimin’s being crowded against the door and hugged. Jungkook’s arms slip between the door and circle his waist, his head tucking into Jimin’s neck. He can feel Jungkook’s chest expand and retreat in deep, overwhelmed breath. He can feel him burning up against his skin. 

Jimin smiles, slipping a hand into his hair to press him closer. “Ah, so does that mean you could  like me back?” 

Shyness settles in eventually, when they’re sitting, freshly showered, on Jimin’s bed.

They were all giggles when they stepped through the door, hands held giddily between them, but right now, it all feels very tender, as neither of them seems to know how to start.

Jimin’s still on cloud nine, though, so he doesn’t mind taking the lead. He pokes 
Jungkook with his foot. “I can still take the couch.” 

Jungkook shakes his head. “You don’t have to.” 

“Okay,” Jimin says with a smile. “Then I won’t. But you should sleep. You still have your exam in a few hours.” 

Jungkook turns to pin him with a look. “You really think I could sleep right now?” 

Jimin smiles. “What should we do, then?” 

“Talk. We should talk.” Another moment of silence goes by before he huffs, cheeks a little pink. “I’m just in shock, I think.” They both laugh. “Just ‘cause. I thought I’d just come here and study and then…” He licks his lips. “I wasn’t expecting all that.” 

“Mm. If it helps, it wasn’t my plan either.” He sighs. “I was debating whether or not I should tell you at all. I didn’t know how you would take it.” He pinches Jungkook’s chin gently, just to touch. “But it seemed to be a welcome surprise.” 

“You have no idea.” 

“Then tell me.” Jimin turns to his side, throwing his legs over Jungkook’s lap. Happy at the point of contact established, he rests his chin on his palm and flutters his eyelashes. “Tell me everything.” 

Jungkook squirms a little. He hugs Jimin’s legs closer. “I don’t know what to say.” 
He seems to struggle for another moment, before laughing awkwardly. “I don’t… I mean, I like you.” He doesn’t notice the way Jimin’s smile takes over his whole face. “I like you so much.”

“That’s an amazing start,” Jimin teases. “Please continue.” 

“I really don’t know… how to talk about it. I’ve never done this. I never talked to anyone about crushes, or anything. I just know how to keep it all in.” 

“There’s nothing you have to say,” Jimin reassures him. “But is there anything… anything you think I should know?” 

Jungkook looks at him for a second before nodding. “There’s one thing.” Jimin somehow knows what he’s about to say before he says it. “That night, at the club.” 

“I’m sorry about that, Jungkook-ah,” Jimin rushes to apologise again, but Jungkook doesn’t let him get far. 

“I think you might have thought that you made me uncomfortable or something,” he starts, “but that wasn’t it. I was, um. I was really into what we were doing. I wanted to kiss you that night. I almost kissed you.” He looks at Jimin, a lingering old sadness in his eyes. “But you said you only did it because someone was watching.” 

Fuck. 

“And so I felt—I felt like an idiot, I felt like I had been letting you do all that to me thinking all these things, that we were doing something because we wanted to, not because of—a curse, or a thrall, or whatever. I felt… I felt sick, when you said that.” He nods, staring firmly at his hands where he’s picking at his nails. “That’s why I left. That’s why I didn’t come for a while.” 

“Distance,” Jimin repeats Jungkook’s words from Busan. “Distance to…” 

“To swallow down all my feelings for you.” 

Jimin’s eyes widen. “All the way back then?” 

Jungkook looks at him and cocks his head to the side, a sad little smile on his lips. “Hyung.” 

And Jimin’s mind starts to race back—to before the Busan beach, and the stifling club, all the way to awkward first hand holds. Further back to library today? texts, hours and hours spent next to each other, to long stares that Jimin caught in the corner of his eye, to stiffening at something as small as a ruffle of hair. 

It was never because it made Jungkook uncomfortable. All this time, it was because—

Jimin brings his hands to his mouth, disbelieving. “Jungkook-ah.” 

Jungkook groans. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. Ah, that’s so embarrassing.” 

“For me, you mean!” God, he’s so fucking sick of re-writing their own history in his head. “Saying all these things about girls chasing you when you don’t even—and you liked—god, I’m just blind, aren’t I? I’m blind. And here I was thinking you were being oblivious.” 

“No, you were pretty damn blind.” Jungkook finally cracks a smile when Jimin elbows him scoldingly, but he sobers up again quickly. Sometimes, I thought maybe. Maybe there was something real there. But I could never be sure if it was just you playing the fake-boyfriend.” 

“Really, Jungkook-ah, I’m not that good an actor.” Jimin relaxes out of his embarrassment a little. “I got used to calling you baby pretty quick.” 

“What did you call Taehyungie-hyung?” 

“A pest.” They laugh again, and Jimin takes hold of Jungkook’s hand—he never knew he liked to hold hands so much. “It was different with you. It just took me a while to figure out why.” 

They fall into a silence filled with looking. Jimin doesn’t think he’s even done this for this long: just stayed, comfortable saying nothing, content to just be here and look at Jungkook. 

“You really weren’t going to tell me?” 

“As soon as I figured it was linked to the curse, I had no choice. I needed this over. But before, I just… what if it all went really wrong and I lost you?” He threads his fingers with Jungkook’s. “I’ve been really scared of losing you, lately. First to a girl, then just to that distance… then this. Really, that should have been a clue. When feelings run that deep, they can’t be held in, can they?” 

Eventually, Jungkook says, “There’s one more thing I wanted to say.” 

“Is it going to make me feel even more stupid? Because honestly, baby, then maybe it needs to wait for another—” 

This kiss is slower. 

He’s practically in Jungkook’s arms, held close to his chest. There’s infinite care in how he touches him, and a certainty that echoes that first time. Jimin melts, arms coming up to lock behind Jungkook’s neck. 

He had half a mind to ask after Jungkook’s own feelings—the specifics of when, the how, the why, but being kissed like this, with Jungkook responding to every tiny hitch of breath, every touch, that all feels obvious already. 

On the off-chance the skies are still listening, Jimin sends up a silent prayer for countless more kisses like this one. 

⚡

For Jungkook’s exam, Jimin wants to do something special.

He'd been asleep when Jungkook left that morning, only stirring for long enough to wish him good luck. He wants to celebrate somehow, so here he is, a small bouquet of sunflowers hiding behind his back. He’s nervous, rocking back and forth on his heels, right at the door of the exam building. Is it too much? They've only just confessed to each other, is this going too far? 

He feels a poke on his side and jumps, slapping Jungkook’s hand away. “Yah!” 

“I didn’t know you were coming,” Jungkook says. He’s smiling from ear to ear, an infinite sweetness to his expression—or maybe that’s just Jimin being too far gone. His eyes catch the bouquet, exposed by his poke attack, and they widen, mouth forming a pretty little o. “Are those for me?” 

“Of course they are, but you couldn’t let me give them to you properly, could you?” He slaps him gently on the arm, mindful of the flowers. “You had to go and scare me.” 

Jungkook holds them preciously, staring at them like he’s got no idea what to do with them. 

“How did you do? Did you kill it? I bet you killed it.” 

“I killed it,” Jungkook confirms, blinking down at the bouquet, still. When Jimin steps closer, putting his hands on his shoulders, he sees his eyes watering. “Ah, I’m just—” He huffs, trying to turn away to wipe at the tears, embarrassed. “Sorry, sorry, I was just—carrying a lot of tension with the exams, and now I'm done, and—I really like these,” he says, shaking the bouquet a little. “Um. Yeah.” 

Jimin’s heart has grown three sizes, he’s pretty sure. Pushing himself up on his tip-toes, he touches his forehead to Jungkook’s, slinging his arms over his shoulders.

“Good job, baby.” A peck. It must look casual to an outside eye, but Jimin’s knees are shaking a little. This is the first time he’s kissed Jungkook without the fake boyfriend pretense. “You did so good. Free man, hm? What do you want to do with your freedom?” 

Jungkook immediately pulls Jimin into another kiss, more knee-shake worthy than the last. 

Jimin could really get used to this. 

"Let's go celebrate properly, hm? Taehyung's free too. Let's go for a drink."

"It's barely lunch time."

"It's a special occasion."

Jungkook lets himself be dragged, still smiling every time he looks at his flowers. 

“You’ll let me buy this time.” He’s adamant about it as they wait in the bar, orders placed. Jungkook’s arm is resting behind Jimin on the bench, and every time he brushes back against it, Jimin feels absolutely giddy. School boy giddy, oh my god, I just touched my crush giddy. “It’s liberation day. I’ll even buy Taehyung his drinks.” 

“Hyung, I’m the one who finished today, so I should be the one—”  

“Jimin-ssi?” 

“Gyosu-nim!” Jimin shoots up at the sight of his professor, bowing his head. Shit, they haven’t tested the theory yet, checked to see if it's really over. What if… “Hello.”

Jungkook, recognising her, scoots a bit closer. 

“Hello.” She smiles, serene. Jimin doesn’t think there’s that curse creepiness in her look, but then again… “I just wanted to say happy holidays. It’s been a long semester, but you’ve made it through.” 

“Thank you.” She doesn’t seem to be holding any grudge—she looks completely normal, nothing of the curse lingering on her. 

“And between you and me,” she leans in and lowers her voice, “I just corrected your paper. You’ve done excellently, as expected. Top marks.” 

Jungkook catches his hand, and Jimin turns to see him smiling proudly. 

“I’ll leave you to your night.” She bows her head in acknowledgement to both of them before calmly joining another table in the corner of the room, not looking back even once. 

“Was that…” 

“Yes.” Jimin slumps back onto the bench, only not tipping over because Jungkook catches him around the waist. “It was fine, right? She was normal! She doesn’t remember anything!” 

“If she does, it doesn’t seem to be against you,” Jungkook says with a smile. “It’s all good.” A poke to Jimin’s side. “Did you hear that? Top marks.” 

Jimin giggles, relief turning his limbs into mush. “God, thank fuck.” 

“Two things to celebrate. No, three?” He cocks his head to the side. “End of the curse, end of exams, and now you’re acing everything—mm!” 

Jimin can't help himself from pulling Jungkook down to him for a kiss. It’s short and giggly but it turns sweet quickly, what with Jungkook’s arm around him already. He’s everywhere, and Jimin is more than happy to sink into him. 

He sighs a happy sigh, and Jungkook presses one more kiss to his mouth. 

“Enjoying ourselves?” 

They both start. It’s Taehyung, sitting down across from them with a smirk. “Hello, lovebirds.” 

They separate, Jimin bringing his hand up to his mouth with a self-conscious laugh. 

“Hi, hyung,” Jungkook says, clearing his throat. “We ordered you a beer.”

“I’ll need something stronger if you keep doing all that in front of me,” Taehyung shoots back, but he’s smiling. “So, that didn’t look like it was for the benefit of the curse. Am I right?” 

Taehyung is, of course, right. 

The night ends the way all drunken nights seem to—on the floor of their living room. 

Jimin’s in the middle, lying on Jungkook’s arm, Taehyung attached to his side. One of them was talking just now, but Jimin can’t really keep track of the conversation. 

He’s floating, happy and safe and free. And quite fucking drunk, since he has barely touched alcohol since that fateful night. 

“You know,” he says, slurring his words a little, sappy with drink, “this whole thing, it was hard, but it was fun too, wasn’t it? I don’t know what I would have done without you two.” 

“You’d probably have gotten struck by lightning,” Jungkook mumbles, lips on the crown of Jimin’s head. “Gotten some cool powers.” 

“Or fried to a crisp.” 

“Or that.” 

Jimin giggles, turning to Jungkook. Their noses squish together. “You’re funny. Both of you.” He ruffles Taehyung’s hair blindly. “I’m glad I was cursed with you, of all people.” 

In the tone you use for drunkards and babies, Taehyung responds, “Us too, Jimin-ah.” 

Really though, Jimin means it. He can’t imagine a single other person in his life he could have been cursed with like that and come out not only unscathed, but better—closer. Ah, he loves them. He loves them so much. 

“I wish we could just stay—” 

Taehyung slaps his stomach at the same time as Jungkook puts a hand over his mouth, halting the drunken words. 

“No,” they both say in unison. 

“Use your brain, Jimin-ah! I’m not spending my summer cursed, for fuck’s sake!”

Jimin bursts out laughing first, but they follow suit soon enough. 

“No more drinks for you,” Jungkook says, pressing a sweet consolation peck to the corner of Jimin’s mouth. “And no more wishes.” 

What else is there to wish for, Jimin thinks, when he’s got everything right here?