Collateral Damage of a Night out Drinking
Title: Collateral Damage of a Night out Drinking
Pairing: Jimin/Jeongguk
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fluffy fluffballs of fluff.
Word Count: 4'878.
Warning: (none)
Disclaimer: While the content of this story is inspired by real events and people, any references made are entirely thought up by the author and in no way reflect actual actions and opinions. Any similarities are coincidence.
Summary: The day Jimin and Taehyung come home drunk is the day that Jeongguk realizes alcohol leads to an exponential increase in Jimin's expression of affection.
Note: Written in response to this prompt. Dedicated to the requester, and to Zoe for letting me scream incoherent essay-length ramblings at her about BTS. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr.
Collateral Damage of a Night out Drinking
Everyone except for Yoongi was still awake at the dorms when Jimin and Taehyung stumbled in after their night out drinking to celebrate their first evening off in however long it had been, giggling madly and causing a ruckus. Jeongguk reluctantly abandoned their game of Mario Kart to pad after Seokjin and Hoseok out into the hallway. He was glad he’d hung back when he saw Jimin and Taehyung immediately latching onto them like needy koalas. It seemed they hadn’t let their first opportunity for drinking since coming of age go to waste.
“Hyung”, he heard Jimin whine into the expanse of Seokjin’s throat. “I love you sooo much! Sooo much! You’re the besht hyung in the entire world!”
“Thank you, Jiminnie”, Seokjin answered politely and patted Jimin’s back, exchanging a glance with Namjoon, who had just poked his head into the hallway from where he’d been relaxing in his and Jeongguk’s room.
While Seokjin and Namjoon managed to wrestle an exuberant Jimin to the ground to pull his shoes and jacket off, Hoseok had his hands full trying to stop Taehyung from leaving their dorm to fulfill his sudden craving for greasy junk food. Jeongguk caught his desperate look from above Taehyung’s head and finally moved to help. To the sounds of Jimin’s drunken singing from the bathroom, Hoseok eventually just plopped down to the ground with Taehyung clutched in his lap to keep him pinned as Jeongguk dragged his shoes off.
Taehyung stopped squirming at that, blinked down at his feet and wiggled his toes. They used his moment of contemplation to hoist him upright again.
“Let’s not allow them to go drinking alone again”, Hoseok muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead and patting Jeongguk’s arm in thanks.
Jeongguk wasn’t sure how successful they’d be with that, but nodded anyways.
Jimin was still singing in the bathroom, sounding muffled now, probably because Seokjin had made him brush his teeth, and Taehyung suddenly seemed to come back to life with a start and a grin. He grinned happily at Jeongguk and made a grab for his hands. “Let’s dance, Jeonggukie!”
Jeongguk quickly stepped out of his reach. “What? I don’t want to dance, hyung.”
“But Kookie”, Taehyung pouted, sticking out his lower lip and making grabby hands at him.
Hoseok laughed at that and took Taehyung’s hands in his own. “Come on, Tae, let’s go dance in the bathroom and then you can sleep.”
“Okay”, Taehyung beamed and peacefully let himself be led away.
Jeongguk decided he had no desire to help put his drunken hyungs to bed and instead returned to the couch to have another go at Mario Kart. From the bathroom, he could hear Taehyung trying to harmonize with Jimin’s singing, then echoing fits of laughter when he failed. It only ended ten minutes later, when the hyungs apparently managed to put their intoxicated group members to bed. The dorm quieted down afterwards and Hoseok and Seokjin returned for another few rounds of their game before they eventually went to sleep as well, leaving Jeongguk sprawled on the couch, scrolling through their Twitter replies.
He was just thinking about calling it a night himself when there was muted banging in the kitchen and then Jimin appeared in the living room. He looked hilariously cute in his pajamas, his hair sticking out wildly, and carrying a glass of water with a look of utmost concentration on his face. His eyed had crunched up into narrow slits and his tongue was poking out. Jeongguk had to bite back a grin as he watched him slowly waddle towards the couch.
“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?” he asked when Jimin had successfully managed to seat himself next to Jeongguk’s feet.
“Yeah”, Jimin said, his voice scratchy from sleep and alcohol, an octave lower than usual, “but I woke up and I was so thirsty.” He gulped down his water, grabbing the glass with two hands like a child, and let out a satisfied “haaa” afterwards, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
Jeongguk had to smother his laugh in a sofa cushion because Jimin was acting like an adorable three-year-old. He heard the clang of the glass being set on the couch table and then Jimin’s warm weight settled on top of his legs, arms winding around his waist. With a yelp, Jeongguk jerked his face away from the cushion and tried to wriggle away from Jimin’s face, currently buried in Jeongguk’s belly. “What’re you doing! Let go!”
“Jeonggukie”, Jimin purred into his shirt, pressing his nose into Jeongguk’s belly button which tickled quite a bit. His warm breath heated the skin beneath and made Jeongguk shiver with the sensation. “Jeon Jeonggukie, hyung loves you a lot. Do you know?”
“Yes, I know, you tell me all the time. Now please, can you let go?” Jeongguk futilely pushed at Jimin’s shoulder.
When Jimin lifted his head, for a moment Jeongguk thought he’d gotten his wish, but Jimin just crawled higher up his body. He kneed Jeongguk in the hip in the process, so Jeongguk was incapacitated with pain for a short moment. It was enough for Jimin to latch onto him and mesh his face into his neck.
More attempts at pushing got him nowhere. Bucking just made Jimin grip tighter. Jeongguk tried tickling him, but the usually so sensitive Jimin just giggled and hooked a leg around Jeongguk’s thigh. Annoyed, Jeongguk slapped his shoulder. “Hyung, come on. Get up, you’re heavy.”
Jimin didn’t even react to the words “heavy” or “hyung,” too busy breathing deeply and evenly into Jeongguk’s neck.
By now, Jeongguk was very much hoping Jimin wasn’t falling asleep on top of him and seriously contemplated just rolling them both off the couch, when Jimin spoke again.
“Jeon Jeonggukie, when you’re old enough, hyung will drink with you”, he explained to Jeongguk’s throat.
“That’s… nice?”
“Don’t go drinking with Yoongi-hyung.” He lifted his head and blinked at Jeongguk from up close. “Go drinking with me. I’m more fun”, he declared loftily, staring earnestly.
Jeongguk blinked back, at a loss. “O-kay?”
“Yes.” Jimin nodded emphatically. “But you never want to do things with me”, he continued sadly, his face morphing into a picture of desolation before he burrowed back into the crook of Jeongguk’s neck. “You don’t like me at all, Jeonggukie.”
“That’s not true at all”, Jeongguk replied in exasperation. “I do things with you all the time and of course I like you!” He broke off as he realized that he was trying to argue with someone who was beyond logic at the moment. “Hyung”, he sighed, “you’re drunk, so let’s not talk about this right now, okay? Can we just get up and go to bed?”
He groaned when Jimin suddenly started giggling. “I can feel it in my nose when you speak!”
Jeongguk just sighed and stared up at the ceiling.
“Your voice is so pretty, Kookie. And your eyebrows are pretty, too. And… and your name is so pretty. Jeon Jeonggukie. Jeon Jeonggukie! Jeon Jeongg--”
Jeongguk clasped a hand over the back of Jimin’s head and pushed his mouth forward into his own neck to shut him up. “I get it, I get it. It’s all pretty.”
Without warning, Jimin licked a wet, hot stripe up Jeongguk’s throat and let out a breathy moan right next to his ear. Jeongguk shuddered at the sudden bloom of heat low in his belly, unexpected and overwhelming, and immediately felt a corresponding warmth spread across his cheeks. “What the fu--”
“And you taste really good”, Jimin cooed, experimentally licking his skin again.
Jeongguk jolted and tried to crane his neck away. “Jimin, what the hell are you doing? That’s gross!”
Jimin hummed in disagreement and wiggled closer. Jeongguk’s breath caught in his lungs, the spike of heat from before transforming into a slow, steady burn with the sensation of cool air on his wet throat, Jimin’s warm body squirming on top of him, the hot puffs of air against his ear, the little sighing noises he made.
He really needed to get out of there. He needed space.
“Mmmh, Jeonggukie”, Jimin whined and finally loosened his death grip on Jeongguk’s shoulders to push himself up on his hands and stare Jeongguk in the face.
Jeongguk stared back, fighting the urge to swallow as he took in the intoxicated flush of Jimin’s cheeks and his blown pupils. “Let me up, please. Hyung.”
Jimin seemed not to have heard him, blinking slowly and frowning in concentration. Then he suddenly dipped his head and pressed his lips to Jeongguk’s in an open-mouthed kiss.
Jeongguk froze, surprised and utterly conscious of how Jimin’s lips seemed to melt into him, soft and pliant, molding around his in a tender, worshipful movement. There were strands of hair falling into Jimin’s forehead and tickling the bridge of Jeongguk’s nose and he could smell a hint of soju behind the toothpaste mint of Jimin’s tongue that slowly, tenderly swept the tip of his and left him trembling, before gentle teeth scraped his bottom lip. Jimin kissed him lovingly and affectionately, like Jeongguk was precious, and he had no idea what to do, no thought left in his head, so he didn’t do anything at all and just felt. Just for a while.
“Jeonggukie”, Jimin whispered against his lips, carefully pressing another kiss to them before leaning their cheeks together. “I’m tired now. I’ll go to sleep now, okay?”
Jeongguk could only nod mutely. Jimin graced him with a blinding, glowing smile that made his eyes scrunch up adorably and slid off him to pad off to his bedroom, yawning deeply.
For all that Jeongguk had wanted to get away from the couch so badly the past minutes, he now felt like he was glued to it and nothing would ever be the same if he got up. He stared at the ceiling, trying to process what had just happened and why he wasn’t even sure what he was feeling. His heart was racing in his chest, heat still curled in his abdomen, and fuck him if he wasn’t having the urge to dumbly touch his own lips like a character from a drama.
He needed to get to bed. He needed to get to bed and sleep it all off, so he finally pushed up from the couch and mechanically went through his bathroom routine. By the time he crawled into bed, his body and mind felt like molasses, so he lay down gratefully and closed his eyes.
--
The next day, Jimin didn’t remember a thing.
At least that’s what Jeongguk assumed when Jimin just went about his business as usual, except maybe a little more gingerly because his head and stomach appeared to be troubling him a bit. In general, however, he behaved like nothing had happened.
It made Jeongguk frustrated because he sure as hell couldn’t just go on like everything was the same. He felt like his entire world had been turned upside down, without warning, just like that. For the first day, he welcomed the anger, relished in it. It would be awful if he could accept such a fundamental change so easily, that would feel like giving in. Like giving up, maybe.
On the second day, after he had spent the night tossing and turning in bed in the clutches of confusion, he decided trying not to think about it at all and just pretending that nothing had ever happened was the way to go. Maybe ignoring it hard enough would bring a placebo effect to kick in, making the whole memory disappear forever and things go back to normal.
So Jeongguk did his very best to avoid Jimin as inconspicuously as possible.
He carefully spent his time either by himself, doing school assignments, working on music or fiddling with his phone, or hung around the other hyungs, trying to do nothing he wouldn’t usually do. It was when they were all together in one place that, strangely enough, avoiding Jimin was the hardest. He had to keep track of Jimin at all times, all without drawing notice, and then pretend to coincidentally wander away whenever Jimin came too close for too long.
And yet, despite his best efforts to forget, every ridiculous little thing seemed to remind him of that night on the couch. Drinking water during practice break had his mind flashing to an image of a bleary-eyed Jimin with his glass of water and his throat bobbing in time with his gulps.
Taehyung’s breath on his neck when he wrapped himself around Jeongguk made him remember how Jimin had blown puffs of hot air on his skin and how he had shivered. He quickly shrugged away from Tae at those points and jabbed him in the ribs to cover his flushed cheeks.
During meals, Jeongguk had to focus on keeping his eyes on his food because if his gaze got caught on Jimin, he’d helplessly watch Jimin’s lips close around his chopsticks with every bite, watch his tongue lick the corners of his mouth, watch his teeth nibble on his lower lip until Yoongi would nudge him out of his daze with a well-aimed slap to the head.
And at every possible moment, when he was least expecting it, his mind wandered back to Jimin’s voice, husky and scratchy from sleep and alcohol, and the breathy, stuttering moan right next to his ear, rushing straight through his brain and down, down, down till he felt the burn in his loins and his veins and in every part of his body. The memory of it alone made his breathing hitch, so he shoved it aside violently and attempted to focus on his task at hand.
Jeongguk really tried his hardest, but then the memory started invading his dreams in weird, distorted snippets that left him with a racing pulse, staring at the ceiling in confusion. It got to the point that Namjoon commented on his suddenly restless sleep, looking at him with concern. Jeongguk didn’t have an explanation for that. His dreams were neither nightmares nor particularly sexual, they just left him with phantom sensations and goose bumps and a strange aching in his heart that he didn’t understand. So he just shrugged helplessly at Namjoon and tried to tire himself out by working harder during dance practice or in the studio or the gym.
Roughly a month after the couch incident, Jimin staged an intervention.
He must have planned it out and talked Taehyung into helping, as suddenly Hoseok and Seokjin got dragged out of the dorm to run mysterious errands, leaving Jeongguk alone with Jimin, since Namjoon and Yoongi were still at the studio, poring over music.
Jeongguk looked up at Jimin from the couch with a misplaced sense of déjà-vu, because the couch situation in his memory certainly didn’t involve a very sober Jimin staring him down with a grave expression from the other side of the coffee table.
Realizing that Jimin’s position strategically blocked any attempts at escape, Jeongguk tried for lightness. “Something up?”
Jimin eyebrows and lips pulled down into a small frown and he mutely regarded Jeongguk for a few seconds, before he made his way around the coffee table and sat down on it, right in front of Jeongguk. “Jeongguk-ah”, he said uncertainly, looking down to where he was fiddling with a ring on his finger, “did something… after Tae and I went drinking that night, did I-did I do something to make you uncomfortable?”
Jimin glanced up through his lashes at him then, leaving Jeongguk blinking stupidly, frozen in place, because what the hell was he supposed to answer? He watched Jimin’s cheeks bunch up in a sheepish grin.
“If I did, I’m really sorry. I, well, I don’t remember much, only bits and pieces and everything’s kinda blurry, but you seem a little strange ever since then so I just… yeah…”, he trailed off awkwardly.
At a loss for words, Jeongguk just said, “oh.” He swallowed, wondering how he was going to get out of this with both his and Jimin’s pride intact, or without sounding like a first grader sulking about cooties during his explanation. But then Jimin bit his lip in a nervous tic, Jeongguk’s eyes zeroed in on the movement and the flash of teeth and the delicate flesh and he just blurted, “You kissed me.”
Jimin looked about as shocked as Jeongguk had felt that night, turning pale and then blushing furiously. He buried his face in his hands, curled in on himself and groaned piteously. “I did what? Oh God, I’m so sorry, Jeonggukie! I must’ve been so drunk to do that and now you can’t even look at me anymore, I’m so, so sorry!”
Seeing Jimin agonize over his drunken slip made Jeongguk feel sorry himself for causing his hyung so much mortification, so he reached out and pried Jimin’s hands away from his face. Jimin was still an alarming shade of red and he looked about ready to dive under the coffee table to hide, but at least he managed to peer tentatively at Jeongguk through scrunched eyes. “Please don’t hate me forever”, he pleaded.
That startled a scandalized “hyung!” out of Jeongguk. “I don’t hate you! What are you saying? That’s just really stupid!” And it was, because, yes, Jeongguk felt like he had been in over his head with the situation, but he would never hate Jimin for something like that. He wasn’t sure he could hate Jimin, even if he wanted to.
“Oh”, Jimin said, “that’s… that’s good to know.” He eyed Jeongguk carefully, swallowed once again, and then very slowly reached out a hand as if Jeongguk might bolt at any second. It seemed to take forever, but then Jimin’s fingers gingerly touched Jeongguk’s clothed knee and came to rest on his leg in a tentatively questioning touch. Jeongguk froze involuntarily when the heat of Jimin’s hand seeped through his jeans and just stared at the small digits trembling on his thigh.
With a sigh, Jimin abruptly pulled his hand away. “I’m really sorry, Jeongguk. I’m sorry I frightened you like that.” He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. “Do you think… we can forget it ever happened and just-I don’t know-go back to how we were before maybe? I miss you.”
Even though that was exactly what Jeongguk had wanted and tried for the past weeks, hearing it from Jimin’s mouth like that made him a little angry. How was he supposed to do that, to just forget and move on? It didn’t work that way. It wasn’t that easy, and he felt betrayed that Jimin would even ask that of him because he was the one that had turned around Jeongguk’s entire world in a handful of minutes. Jimin didn’t get to go on with his life so easily. He didn’t get to just move past it when Jeongguk was still living with the consequences every day.
“Can you really forget it that easily?” he asked, almost accusingly and tried to stare Jimin down.
Jimin colored but stood his ground with a stubborn tilt to his jaw. “I want to.”
“Why? You don’t even remember it properly!” Jeongguk retorted with a bitter huff. “Is the mere idea already so disgusting to you that you can’t even stand to think about it?”
By now, Jimin’s face had turned scarlet again, but this time it seemed to be in anger, with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth. “Ya! Is that really what you think of me, Jeon Jeongguk? That I go around doing things I hate when I’m drunk and then when I’m sober, I pretend that it wasn’t me at all?”
“You are the one who wants to forget about it all!” Jeongguk shouted, offended. “What am I supposed to think?”
“I’m not doing it because I hate you, you idiot!” Jimin shouted back, looking like he wanted to strangle Jeongguk. “I’m doing it because I like you too much, okay? I’m trying to do you a favor!”
“How is that a favor?” Jeongguk retorted hotly, before his brain caught up with his mouth and he stopped short, because Jimin was trying to apologize and he hadn’t purposely tried to provoke Jeongguk, he just wanted to help and apparently the thought of having kissed Jeongguk wasn’t bothering Jimin so much as the thought of having upset Jeongguk did. He deflated back into the couch. “Sorry.”
Jimin sighed again, his anger evaporating abruptly at the apology, and tiredly rubbed his face. “No, I’m sorry.”
Silence hung between them like a heavy cloud until Jeongguk said “hyung” and gently patted the empty space next to him. Jimin switched seats immediately, leaning back into the couch until Jeongguk could feel his body heat crossing the inch of distance between their sides. It felt comfortable, sitting next to each other again like that and Jeongguk hadn’t even realized how much he had missed it.
For a while, they just got lost in their own thoughts. Jeongguk was pondering if maybe it was indeed possible for them to just forget the whole incident and go back to easier times, when Jimin suddenly spoke up again in a soft voice.
“Did it really bother you that much? The kiss?”
Jeongguk fidgeted uneasily because yes, he was bothered, his mind seemed stuck on it and he just couldn’t figure himself out, but also no, he wasn’t bothered by the kiss itself so much, but more by the fact of how little it actually bothered him. Apart from the surprise, he had been fine with being kissed by Jimin, had liked it, had wanted it, and he had really, really tried, but he just couldn’t un-want it, even when he tried to bury the memory and never think about again. How could he even begin to explain that though? So he just said, “I don’t know. Doesn’t it bother you?”
“Me?” Jimin answered with an incredulous laugh. Jeongguk glanced at him and saw his face scrunched up in such amusement that his eyes practically disappeared. It made him want to cradle Jimin’s head and press their lips together so he could feel Jimin’s smile on his skin, breathe it in.
The thought surfaced so abruptly that it set Jeongguk’s heart pounding before he could shove it away. “Yeah”, he pressed out.
Jimin was still smiling. “No, it doesn’t bother me at all.”
“Ah.” Jeongguk chewed on his lip. Was that a good or a bad thing? Was Jimin so unruffled because he considered Jeongguk so firmly in the ‘friends only’ category that just about nothing could shake that or rather the opposite?
“Is that weird?” Jimin asked, but he sounded relaxed now, like laughing had released all of the tension on his side, so Jeongguk was left jittery and breathless alone.
“I don’t know”, he repeated dumbly, nibbling at a patch of rough skin on his lip and studiously avoiding any look at Jimin. “I mean, why wouldn’t you be bothered? Isn’t kissing friends like that strange for you?”
Jimin laughed again and then his hand smoothed down the back of Jeongguk’s head until it came to rest at the nape of his neck, warm and heavy. “Not if it’s Jeonggukie”, he cooed, petting gently.
Jeongguk furrowed his brows at being treated like a kid, but all the same, Jimin’s touch made a tingle race down his spine, made the fine hairs on his arms stand on end, made him feel warm and cold and floaty and grounded and deliciously strange, like his body wasn’t his own and yet its sensations were amplified tenfold.
“I really like you a lot, Jeonggukie”, Jimin said in a low voice, continuing to softly stroke his fingers down Jeongguk’s neck. “So maybe it’s weird for you, but for me, giving you a kiss is just because I like you so much. I’m sorry if I upset you that night.”
“You didn’t”, was all Jeongguk managed to say to that, his eyes closed against the feeling of Jimin’s fingertips as his whole body hummed.
“Then why did you avoid me, brat?” He shook Jeongguk’s neck once in playful exasperation.
His brain must have short-circuited with all the nerves firing along his skin wherever Jimin was touching him, because before he knew what he was saying, his mouth moved and whispered, “Because I liked it too much.”
Jimin’s fingers stilled for just a moment, then he used his grip on the back of Jeongguk’s head to gently turn his head to face him. Jeongguk reluctantly opened his eyes, but only managed to look back at Jimin’s shocked features for a few seconds, before his gaze nervously flitted to his shoulder.
“You liked it?” Jimin repeated in a whisper of his own, sounding caught between awe and astonishment. “Really?”
Figuring that it was too late for excuses and lies now, Jeongguk just nodded mutely.
“…want me to do it again?”
His eyes jerked back to Jimin’s face in shock, only to find him watching him with a not-quite smile of reluctant hope and self-conscious humor. It didn’t look as if Jimin really expected him to say yes to that particular question, but Jeongguk had tried so hard to pretend and move on the past few weeks and he was just tired of trying anymore. So he nodded, scooting infinitesimally closer to Jimin.
At that, Jimin’s face relaxed into a proper smile and he leaned forward and up until his mouth was pressed against Jeongguk’s, warm and familiar. Even with closed eyes, Jeongguk felt the happy curve of Jimin’s lips, felt his own curving up in response until they weren’t really kissing anymore but rather smiling against each other’s mouths. The feeling travelled down all the way to Jeongguk’s stomach, settling there and melting sweet and sticky and delicious like caramel.
Eventually, Jimin found it in himself to tilt his head a little more, to pull Jeongguk closer by the back of his neck and to let his lips whisper over Jeongguk’s with soft, slow caresses. They strung up, languid and unhurried, one kiss flowing into the next with endless patience and want. Blood rolled like molten lava through Jeongguk’s veins when the heat of Jimin’s mouth burned through his lips, until every inhale felt like it fanned the flames lighting him up from the inside and he just couldn’t take it anymore.
He drew back with a shuddering breath, a little lightheaded.
Jimin laughed breathlessly, leaning his forehead against Jeongguk’s. “Don’t start avoiding me again now.”
Jeongguk huffed out a laugh in response, leaving a quick peck on Jimin’s lips. “I won’t. Because I like you too much. But”, he added, blinking earnestly into Jimin’s smiling face, “you’re only allowed to go drinking with me from now on.”
Pairing: Jimin/Jeongguk
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fluffy fluffballs of fluff.
Word Count: 4'878.
Warning: (none)
Disclaimer: While the content of this story is inspired by real events and people, any references made are entirely thought up by the author and in no way reflect actual actions and opinions. Any similarities are coincidence.
Summary: The day Jimin and Taehyung come home drunk is the day that Jeongguk realizes alcohol leads to an exponential increase in Jimin's expression of affection.
Note: Written in response to this prompt. Dedicated to the requester, and to Zoe for letting me scream incoherent essay-length ramblings at her about BTS. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr.
Collateral Damage of a Night out Drinking
Everyone except for Yoongi was still awake at the dorms when Jimin and Taehyung stumbled in after their night out drinking to celebrate their first evening off in however long it had been, giggling madly and causing a ruckus. Jeongguk reluctantly abandoned their game of Mario Kart to pad after Seokjin and Hoseok out into the hallway. He was glad he’d hung back when he saw Jimin and Taehyung immediately latching onto them like needy koalas. It seemed they hadn’t let their first opportunity for drinking since coming of age go to waste.
“Hyung”, he heard Jimin whine into the expanse of Seokjin’s throat. “I love you sooo much! Sooo much! You’re the besht hyung in the entire world!”
“Thank you, Jiminnie”, Seokjin answered politely and patted Jimin’s back, exchanging a glance with Namjoon, who had just poked his head into the hallway from where he’d been relaxing in his and Jeongguk’s room.
While Seokjin and Namjoon managed to wrestle an exuberant Jimin to the ground to pull his shoes and jacket off, Hoseok had his hands full trying to stop Taehyung from leaving their dorm to fulfill his sudden craving for greasy junk food. Jeongguk caught his desperate look from above Taehyung’s head and finally moved to help. To the sounds of Jimin’s drunken singing from the bathroom, Hoseok eventually just plopped down to the ground with Taehyung clutched in his lap to keep him pinned as Jeongguk dragged his shoes off.
Taehyung stopped squirming at that, blinked down at his feet and wiggled his toes. They used his moment of contemplation to hoist him upright again.
“Let’s not allow them to go drinking alone again”, Hoseok muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead and patting Jeongguk’s arm in thanks.
Jeongguk wasn’t sure how successful they’d be with that, but nodded anyways.
Jimin was still singing in the bathroom, sounding muffled now, probably because Seokjin had made him brush his teeth, and Taehyung suddenly seemed to come back to life with a start and a grin. He grinned happily at Jeongguk and made a grab for his hands. “Let’s dance, Jeonggukie!”
Jeongguk quickly stepped out of his reach. “What? I don’t want to dance, hyung.”
“But Kookie”, Taehyung pouted, sticking out his lower lip and making grabby hands at him.
Hoseok laughed at that and took Taehyung’s hands in his own. “Come on, Tae, let’s go dance in the bathroom and then you can sleep.”
“Okay”, Taehyung beamed and peacefully let himself be led away.
Jeongguk decided he had no desire to help put his drunken hyungs to bed and instead returned to the couch to have another go at Mario Kart. From the bathroom, he could hear Taehyung trying to harmonize with Jimin’s singing, then echoing fits of laughter when he failed. It only ended ten minutes later, when the hyungs apparently managed to put their intoxicated group members to bed. The dorm quieted down afterwards and Hoseok and Seokjin returned for another few rounds of their game before they eventually went to sleep as well, leaving Jeongguk sprawled on the couch, scrolling through their Twitter replies.
He was just thinking about calling it a night himself when there was muted banging in the kitchen and then Jimin appeared in the living room. He looked hilariously cute in his pajamas, his hair sticking out wildly, and carrying a glass of water with a look of utmost concentration on his face. His eyed had crunched up into narrow slits and his tongue was poking out. Jeongguk had to bite back a grin as he watched him slowly waddle towards the couch.
“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?” he asked when Jimin had successfully managed to seat himself next to Jeongguk’s feet.
“Yeah”, Jimin said, his voice scratchy from sleep and alcohol, an octave lower than usual, “but I woke up and I was so thirsty.” He gulped down his water, grabbing the glass with two hands like a child, and let out a satisfied “haaa” afterwards, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
Jeongguk had to smother his laugh in a sofa cushion because Jimin was acting like an adorable three-year-old. He heard the clang of the glass being set on the couch table and then Jimin’s warm weight settled on top of his legs, arms winding around his waist. With a yelp, Jeongguk jerked his face away from the cushion and tried to wriggle away from Jimin’s face, currently buried in Jeongguk’s belly. “What’re you doing! Let go!”
“Jeonggukie”, Jimin purred into his shirt, pressing his nose into Jeongguk’s belly button which tickled quite a bit. His warm breath heated the skin beneath and made Jeongguk shiver with the sensation. “Jeon Jeonggukie, hyung loves you a lot. Do you know?”
“Yes, I know, you tell me all the time. Now please, can you let go?” Jeongguk futilely pushed at Jimin’s shoulder.
When Jimin lifted his head, for a moment Jeongguk thought he’d gotten his wish, but Jimin just crawled higher up his body. He kneed Jeongguk in the hip in the process, so Jeongguk was incapacitated with pain for a short moment. It was enough for Jimin to latch onto him and mesh his face into his neck.
More attempts at pushing got him nowhere. Bucking just made Jimin grip tighter. Jeongguk tried tickling him, but the usually so sensitive Jimin just giggled and hooked a leg around Jeongguk’s thigh. Annoyed, Jeongguk slapped his shoulder. “Hyung, come on. Get up, you’re heavy.”
Jimin didn’t even react to the words “heavy” or “hyung,” too busy breathing deeply and evenly into Jeongguk’s neck.
By now, Jeongguk was very much hoping Jimin wasn’t falling asleep on top of him and seriously contemplated just rolling them both off the couch, when Jimin spoke again.
“Jeon Jeonggukie, when you’re old enough, hyung will drink with you”, he explained to Jeongguk’s throat.
“That’s… nice?”
“Don’t go drinking with Yoongi-hyung.” He lifted his head and blinked at Jeongguk from up close. “Go drinking with me. I’m more fun”, he declared loftily, staring earnestly.
Jeongguk blinked back, at a loss. “O-kay?”
“Yes.” Jimin nodded emphatically. “But you never want to do things with me”, he continued sadly, his face morphing into a picture of desolation before he burrowed back into the crook of Jeongguk’s neck. “You don’t like me at all, Jeonggukie.”
“That’s not true at all”, Jeongguk replied in exasperation. “I do things with you all the time and of course I like you!” He broke off as he realized that he was trying to argue with someone who was beyond logic at the moment. “Hyung”, he sighed, “you’re drunk, so let’s not talk about this right now, okay? Can we just get up and go to bed?”
He groaned when Jimin suddenly started giggling. “I can feel it in my nose when you speak!”
Jeongguk just sighed and stared up at the ceiling.
“Your voice is so pretty, Kookie. And your eyebrows are pretty, too. And… and your name is so pretty. Jeon Jeonggukie. Jeon Jeonggukie! Jeon Jeongg--”
Jeongguk clasped a hand over the back of Jimin’s head and pushed his mouth forward into his own neck to shut him up. “I get it, I get it. It’s all pretty.”
Without warning, Jimin licked a wet, hot stripe up Jeongguk’s throat and let out a breathy moan right next to his ear. Jeongguk shuddered at the sudden bloom of heat low in his belly, unexpected and overwhelming, and immediately felt a corresponding warmth spread across his cheeks. “What the fu--”
“And you taste really good”, Jimin cooed, experimentally licking his skin again.
Jeongguk jolted and tried to crane his neck away. “Jimin, what the hell are you doing? That’s gross!”
Jimin hummed in disagreement and wiggled closer. Jeongguk’s breath caught in his lungs, the spike of heat from before transforming into a slow, steady burn with the sensation of cool air on his wet throat, Jimin’s warm body squirming on top of him, the hot puffs of air against his ear, the little sighing noises he made.
He really needed to get out of there. He needed space.
“Mmmh, Jeonggukie”, Jimin whined and finally loosened his death grip on Jeongguk’s shoulders to push himself up on his hands and stare Jeongguk in the face.
Jeongguk stared back, fighting the urge to swallow as he took in the intoxicated flush of Jimin’s cheeks and his blown pupils. “Let me up, please. Hyung.”
Jimin seemed not to have heard him, blinking slowly and frowning in concentration. Then he suddenly dipped his head and pressed his lips to Jeongguk’s in an open-mouthed kiss.
Jeongguk froze, surprised and utterly conscious of how Jimin’s lips seemed to melt into him, soft and pliant, molding around his in a tender, worshipful movement. There were strands of hair falling into Jimin’s forehead and tickling the bridge of Jeongguk’s nose and he could smell a hint of soju behind the toothpaste mint of Jimin’s tongue that slowly, tenderly swept the tip of his and left him trembling, before gentle teeth scraped his bottom lip. Jimin kissed him lovingly and affectionately, like Jeongguk was precious, and he had no idea what to do, no thought left in his head, so he didn’t do anything at all and just felt. Just for a while.
“Jeonggukie”, Jimin whispered against his lips, carefully pressing another kiss to them before leaning their cheeks together. “I’m tired now. I’ll go to sleep now, okay?”
Jeongguk could only nod mutely. Jimin graced him with a blinding, glowing smile that made his eyes scrunch up adorably and slid off him to pad off to his bedroom, yawning deeply.
For all that Jeongguk had wanted to get away from the couch so badly the past minutes, he now felt like he was glued to it and nothing would ever be the same if he got up. He stared at the ceiling, trying to process what had just happened and why he wasn’t even sure what he was feeling. His heart was racing in his chest, heat still curled in his abdomen, and fuck him if he wasn’t having the urge to dumbly touch his own lips like a character from a drama.
He needed to get to bed. He needed to get to bed and sleep it all off, so he finally pushed up from the couch and mechanically went through his bathroom routine. By the time he crawled into bed, his body and mind felt like molasses, so he lay down gratefully and closed his eyes.
--
The next day, Jimin didn’t remember a thing.
At least that’s what Jeongguk assumed when Jimin just went about his business as usual, except maybe a little more gingerly because his head and stomach appeared to be troubling him a bit. In general, however, he behaved like nothing had happened.
It made Jeongguk frustrated because he sure as hell couldn’t just go on like everything was the same. He felt like his entire world had been turned upside down, without warning, just like that. For the first day, he welcomed the anger, relished in it. It would be awful if he could accept such a fundamental change so easily, that would feel like giving in. Like giving up, maybe.
On the second day, after he had spent the night tossing and turning in bed in the clutches of confusion, he decided trying not to think about it at all and just pretending that nothing had ever happened was the way to go. Maybe ignoring it hard enough would bring a placebo effect to kick in, making the whole memory disappear forever and things go back to normal.
So Jeongguk did his very best to avoid Jimin as inconspicuously as possible.
He carefully spent his time either by himself, doing school assignments, working on music or fiddling with his phone, or hung around the other hyungs, trying to do nothing he wouldn’t usually do. It was when they were all together in one place that, strangely enough, avoiding Jimin was the hardest. He had to keep track of Jimin at all times, all without drawing notice, and then pretend to coincidentally wander away whenever Jimin came too close for too long.
And yet, despite his best efforts to forget, every ridiculous little thing seemed to remind him of that night on the couch. Drinking water during practice break had his mind flashing to an image of a bleary-eyed Jimin with his glass of water and his throat bobbing in time with his gulps.
Taehyung’s breath on his neck when he wrapped himself around Jeongguk made him remember how Jimin had blown puffs of hot air on his skin and how he had shivered. He quickly shrugged away from Tae at those points and jabbed him in the ribs to cover his flushed cheeks.
During meals, Jeongguk had to focus on keeping his eyes on his food because if his gaze got caught on Jimin, he’d helplessly watch Jimin’s lips close around his chopsticks with every bite, watch his tongue lick the corners of his mouth, watch his teeth nibble on his lower lip until Yoongi would nudge him out of his daze with a well-aimed slap to the head.
And at every possible moment, when he was least expecting it, his mind wandered back to Jimin’s voice, husky and scratchy from sleep and alcohol, and the breathy, stuttering moan right next to his ear, rushing straight through his brain and down, down, down till he felt the burn in his loins and his veins and in every part of his body. The memory of it alone made his breathing hitch, so he shoved it aside violently and attempted to focus on his task at hand.
Jeongguk really tried his hardest, but then the memory started invading his dreams in weird, distorted snippets that left him with a racing pulse, staring at the ceiling in confusion. It got to the point that Namjoon commented on his suddenly restless sleep, looking at him with concern. Jeongguk didn’t have an explanation for that. His dreams were neither nightmares nor particularly sexual, they just left him with phantom sensations and goose bumps and a strange aching in his heart that he didn’t understand. So he just shrugged helplessly at Namjoon and tried to tire himself out by working harder during dance practice or in the studio or the gym.
Roughly a month after the couch incident, Jimin staged an intervention.
He must have planned it out and talked Taehyung into helping, as suddenly Hoseok and Seokjin got dragged out of the dorm to run mysterious errands, leaving Jeongguk alone with Jimin, since Namjoon and Yoongi were still at the studio, poring over music.
Jeongguk looked up at Jimin from the couch with a misplaced sense of déjà-vu, because the couch situation in his memory certainly didn’t involve a very sober Jimin staring him down with a grave expression from the other side of the coffee table.
Realizing that Jimin’s position strategically blocked any attempts at escape, Jeongguk tried for lightness. “Something up?”
Jimin eyebrows and lips pulled down into a small frown and he mutely regarded Jeongguk for a few seconds, before he made his way around the coffee table and sat down on it, right in front of Jeongguk. “Jeongguk-ah”, he said uncertainly, looking down to where he was fiddling with a ring on his finger, “did something… after Tae and I went drinking that night, did I-did I do something to make you uncomfortable?”
Jimin glanced up through his lashes at him then, leaving Jeongguk blinking stupidly, frozen in place, because what the hell was he supposed to answer? He watched Jimin’s cheeks bunch up in a sheepish grin.
“If I did, I’m really sorry. I, well, I don’t remember much, only bits and pieces and everything’s kinda blurry, but you seem a little strange ever since then so I just… yeah…”, he trailed off awkwardly.
At a loss for words, Jeongguk just said, “oh.” He swallowed, wondering how he was going to get out of this with both his and Jimin’s pride intact, or without sounding like a first grader sulking about cooties during his explanation. But then Jimin bit his lip in a nervous tic, Jeongguk’s eyes zeroed in on the movement and the flash of teeth and the delicate flesh and he just blurted, “You kissed me.”
Jimin looked about as shocked as Jeongguk had felt that night, turning pale and then blushing furiously. He buried his face in his hands, curled in on himself and groaned piteously. “I did what? Oh God, I’m so sorry, Jeonggukie! I must’ve been so drunk to do that and now you can’t even look at me anymore, I’m so, so sorry!”
Seeing Jimin agonize over his drunken slip made Jeongguk feel sorry himself for causing his hyung so much mortification, so he reached out and pried Jimin’s hands away from his face. Jimin was still an alarming shade of red and he looked about ready to dive under the coffee table to hide, but at least he managed to peer tentatively at Jeongguk through scrunched eyes. “Please don’t hate me forever”, he pleaded.
That startled a scandalized “hyung!” out of Jeongguk. “I don’t hate you! What are you saying? That’s just really stupid!” And it was, because, yes, Jeongguk felt like he had been in over his head with the situation, but he would never hate Jimin for something like that. He wasn’t sure he could hate Jimin, even if he wanted to.
“Oh”, Jimin said, “that’s… that’s good to know.” He eyed Jeongguk carefully, swallowed once again, and then very slowly reached out a hand as if Jeongguk might bolt at any second. It seemed to take forever, but then Jimin’s fingers gingerly touched Jeongguk’s clothed knee and came to rest on his leg in a tentatively questioning touch. Jeongguk froze involuntarily when the heat of Jimin’s hand seeped through his jeans and just stared at the small digits trembling on his thigh.
With a sigh, Jimin abruptly pulled his hand away. “I’m really sorry, Jeongguk. I’m sorry I frightened you like that.” He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. “Do you think… we can forget it ever happened and just-I don’t know-go back to how we were before maybe? I miss you.”
Even though that was exactly what Jeongguk had wanted and tried for the past weeks, hearing it from Jimin’s mouth like that made him a little angry. How was he supposed to do that, to just forget and move on? It didn’t work that way. It wasn’t that easy, and he felt betrayed that Jimin would even ask that of him because he was the one that had turned around Jeongguk’s entire world in a handful of minutes. Jimin didn’t get to go on with his life so easily. He didn’t get to just move past it when Jeongguk was still living with the consequences every day.
“Can you really forget it that easily?” he asked, almost accusingly and tried to stare Jimin down.
Jimin colored but stood his ground with a stubborn tilt to his jaw. “I want to.”
“Why? You don’t even remember it properly!” Jeongguk retorted with a bitter huff. “Is the mere idea already so disgusting to you that you can’t even stand to think about it?”
By now, Jimin’s face had turned scarlet again, but this time it seemed to be in anger, with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth. “Ya! Is that really what you think of me, Jeon Jeongguk? That I go around doing things I hate when I’m drunk and then when I’m sober, I pretend that it wasn’t me at all?”
“You are the one who wants to forget about it all!” Jeongguk shouted, offended. “What am I supposed to think?”
“I’m not doing it because I hate you, you idiot!” Jimin shouted back, looking like he wanted to strangle Jeongguk. “I’m doing it because I like you too much, okay? I’m trying to do you a favor!”
“How is that a favor?” Jeongguk retorted hotly, before his brain caught up with his mouth and he stopped short, because Jimin was trying to apologize and he hadn’t purposely tried to provoke Jeongguk, he just wanted to help and apparently the thought of having kissed Jeongguk wasn’t bothering Jimin so much as the thought of having upset Jeongguk did. He deflated back into the couch. “Sorry.”
Jimin sighed again, his anger evaporating abruptly at the apology, and tiredly rubbed his face. “No, I’m sorry.”
Silence hung between them like a heavy cloud until Jeongguk said “hyung” and gently patted the empty space next to him. Jimin switched seats immediately, leaning back into the couch until Jeongguk could feel his body heat crossing the inch of distance between their sides. It felt comfortable, sitting next to each other again like that and Jeongguk hadn’t even realized how much he had missed it.
For a while, they just got lost in their own thoughts. Jeongguk was pondering if maybe it was indeed possible for them to just forget the whole incident and go back to easier times, when Jimin suddenly spoke up again in a soft voice.
“Did it really bother you that much? The kiss?”
Jeongguk fidgeted uneasily because yes, he was bothered, his mind seemed stuck on it and he just couldn’t figure himself out, but also no, he wasn’t bothered by the kiss itself so much, but more by the fact of how little it actually bothered him. Apart from the surprise, he had been fine with being kissed by Jimin, had liked it, had wanted it, and he had really, really tried, but he just couldn’t un-want it, even when he tried to bury the memory and never think about again. How could he even begin to explain that though? So he just said, “I don’t know. Doesn’t it bother you?”
“Me?” Jimin answered with an incredulous laugh. Jeongguk glanced at him and saw his face scrunched up in such amusement that his eyes practically disappeared. It made him want to cradle Jimin’s head and press their lips together so he could feel Jimin’s smile on his skin, breathe it in.
The thought surfaced so abruptly that it set Jeongguk’s heart pounding before he could shove it away. “Yeah”, he pressed out.
Jimin was still smiling. “No, it doesn’t bother me at all.”
“Ah.” Jeongguk chewed on his lip. Was that a good or a bad thing? Was Jimin so unruffled because he considered Jeongguk so firmly in the ‘friends only’ category that just about nothing could shake that or rather the opposite?
“Is that weird?” Jimin asked, but he sounded relaxed now, like laughing had released all of the tension on his side, so Jeongguk was left jittery and breathless alone.
“I don’t know”, he repeated dumbly, nibbling at a patch of rough skin on his lip and studiously avoiding any look at Jimin. “I mean, why wouldn’t you be bothered? Isn’t kissing friends like that strange for you?”
Jimin laughed again and then his hand smoothed down the back of Jeongguk’s head until it came to rest at the nape of his neck, warm and heavy. “Not if it’s Jeonggukie”, he cooed, petting gently.
Jeongguk furrowed his brows at being treated like a kid, but all the same, Jimin’s touch made a tingle race down his spine, made the fine hairs on his arms stand on end, made him feel warm and cold and floaty and grounded and deliciously strange, like his body wasn’t his own and yet its sensations were amplified tenfold.
“I really like you a lot, Jeonggukie”, Jimin said in a low voice, continuing to softly stroke his fingers down Jeongguk’s neck. “So maybe it’s weird for you, but for me, giving you a kiss is just because I like you so much. I’m sorry if I upset you that night.”
“You didn’t”, was all Jeongguk managed to say to that, his eyes closed against the feeling of Jimin’s fingertips as his whole body hummed.
“Then why did you avoid me, brat?” He shook Jeongguk’s neck once in playful exasperation.
His brain must have short-circuited with all the nerves firing along his skin wherever Jimin was touching him, because before he knew what he was saying, his mouth moved and whispered, “Because I liked it too much.”
Jimin’s fingers stilled for just a moment, then he used his grip on the back of Jeongguk’s head to gently turn his head to face him. Jeongguk reluctantly opened his eyes, but only managed to look back at Jimin’s shocked features for a few seconds, before his gaze nervously flitted to his shoulder.
“You liked it?” Jimin repeated in a whisper of his own, sounding caught between awe and astonishment. “Really?”
Figuring that it was too late for excuses and lies now, Jeongguk just nodded mutely.
“…want me to do it again?”
His eyes jerked back to Jimin’s face in shock, only to find him watching him with a not-quite smile of reluctant hope and self-conscious humor. It didn’t look as if Jimin really expected him to say yes to that particular question, but Jeongguk had tried so hard to pretend and move on the past few weeks and he was just tired of trying anymore. So he nodded, scooting infinitesimally closer to Jimin.
At that, Jimin’s face relaxed into a proper smile and he leaned forward and up until his mouth was pressed against Jeongguk’s, warm and familiar. Even with closed eyes, Jeongguk felt the happy curve of Jimin’s lips, felt his own curving up in response until they weren’t really kissing anymore but rather smiling against each other’s mouths. The feeling travelled down all the way to Jeongguk’s stomach, settling there and melting sweet and sticky and delicious like caramel.
Eventually, Jimin found it in himself to tilt his head a little more, to pull Jeongguk closer by the back of his neck and to let his lips whisper over Jeongguk’s with soft, slow caresses. They strung up, languid and unhurried, one kiss flowing into the next with endless patience and want. Blood rolled like molten lava through Jeongguk’s veins when the heat of Jimin’s mouth burned through his lips, until every inhale felt like it fanned the flames lighting him up from the inside and he just couldn’t take it anymore.
He drew back with a shuddering breath, a little lightheaded.
Jimin laughed breathlessly, leaning his forehead against Jeongguk’s. “Don’t start avoiding me again now.”
Jeongguk huffed out a laugh in response, leaving a quick peck on Jimin’s lips. “I won’t. Because I like you too much. But”, he added, blinking earnestly into Jimin’s smiling face, “you’re only allowed to go drinking with me from now on.”